What's your lineage of favorite RPGs?

[Metal Jesus]

Ultima IV: The Quest for the Avatar changed my life when I played it originally on the C64. The whole idea of the game was, and still is, incredibly original and fresh. There has never been anything like it that I know of.

I also really loved the gold box SSI D&D RPGs like Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds were really ground breaking at the time. So was Dark Sun: Shattered Lands back in 1993.

However, Baldur's Gate II, Planescape Torment and the original Fallout are probably my all time favorite RPGs, because of the amazing stories, great characters and worlds they take place in.

[ksloth]

Ultima IV: The Quest for the Avatar changed my life when I played it originally on the C64. The whole idea of the game was, and still is, incredibly original and fresh. There has never been anything like it that I know of.

I also really loved the gold box SSI D&D RPGs like Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds were really ground breaking at the time. So was Dark Sun: Shattered Lands back in 1993.

However, Baldur's Gate II, Planescape Torment and the original Fallout are probably my all time favorite RPGs, because of the amazing stories, great characters and worlds they take place in.

Ahhh the gold box games. How many hours did I spend on Secret of the Silver Blades, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and all those others.

[GameMasterGuy]

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (GBA version) was my favorite for a while, not only my favorite RPG but my favorite game of all time. It took until The World Ends With You to beat it, which held the title for an awfully long time. I liked Final Fantasy 4 (GBA version once again), but was told that 1) 6 was better in every way 2) the ATB meter was glitched and made the game too easy and 3) Insert random FF7 fanboy crap here. I ignored this advice, however if I had paid attention, Final Fantasy 6 would have gained this title before the end of all possible competition. After getting into retro gaming, I heard about Earthbound and bought a copy. I loved it more than any other game I had ever played, joined a forum for it, and heard the sequel was even better. I complained that games shouldn't be that expensive (as SNES games tended to be cheaper if you imported them), that nothing could top Earthbound, and that using a text guide for an RPG so that I could understand it would be painful. Eventually, I imported it. I had a new winner; best RPG. Best game. Best any form of media ever.

Mother 3

[Redfield_Lynch]

This one is very tricky...

If we count Zelda like a full-on RPG, there's a very special place in my heart for Wind Waker... all that cartoon feel made it memorable till this day... on the other hand, because it has all the elements of a more traditional RPG, but with sufficient changes to it, i have to be honest, The Last Story is rapidly becoming one of my favorite games of all time and, along with it, the best RPG i've ever played... it's not "official", but really, for everyone who loves a good RPG, this game alone, for me, it's well worth the acquisition of a Wii...

[sgt.flanders]

Ogre Battle 64, 'nuff said

[Xeogred]

Nice thread.

I was emulating in grade school, so it's kind of hard to remember exactly what was going on back then haha. But I'd say the first real complete RPG experience I had was Super Mario RPG when it was brand new. Had no idea what I was doing then, once I got that "See Ya!" item I'd just run from every battle... and whenever I leveled up, I just went for HP since it was the highest number. I was so young and clueless! Somehow, I still beat it. I remember the Axe(?) Rangers being really tough. I've replayed this game a lot and still love it.

From there, I emulated Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy VI. I love these three games to death, but I'll be honest, Secret of Mana has pretty much always been my favorite of this selection. Truly one of my all time favorite games and completely timeless. Still one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played, yes, with sprites, it sucks me in (a shame composer Hiroki Kikuta has never been that active, but I guess that just makes the Mana games all the more special and unique). I remember playing Seiken Densetsu 3 when it was fully translated and started floating around, completely blew me away and I've since then replayed both the first two Mana games like 20 times each or something. SD3 is very important to me, every single time I or the family got a new computer, reformatted, or whatever, the first game I'd download was always SD3.

I was a Nintendo fanboy back then. Didn't jump on the PSX bandwagon for awhile, but boy when I did, I went nuts. The JRPG madness had begun, I was in Jr. High, life was easy and simple. I played these games back to back one after another like nothing, haha. The first game I got when I finally bought a PSX was Chrono Cross when it was brand new. From there, I played Final Fantasy VII next which I had seen a lot of growing up with a friend who had it, then played Final Fantasy IX, and then Final Fantasy VIII. Somewhere in there, Legend of Dragon, Final Fantasy Tactics, Suikoden 1-2, Vagrant Story, Arc the Lad 1-2, Breath of Fire IV, Final Fantasy Origins / Chronicles / Anthology, etc were tossed into the mix. I remember my friend getting into Xenogears, Wild Arms 1-2, Lunar 1-2, and a few others I didn't get around too for awhile.

After that it gets foggy. I know the PS2 still has plenty out there, but I still have to track them down. On the PS2 I'd say the Xenosaga games and Suikoden V were my favorites. Final Fantasy X wasn't bad, but not my favorite. I liked Tales of Symphonia a lot too on the Gamecube. Probably a handful of others I'm forgetting during this era.

Then I got into some of the Bioware's later stuff though. I absolutely loved KOTORII and what I played of Jade Empire. I guess that's all that kind of comes to mind before Mass Effect though.

Obviously the late PSX era and my time in Jr. High is a nice highlight, when I just ran through JRPG's back to back. I missed some like I mentioned above, and two that really standout are Xenogears which I played in late 2010 and now easily ranks among my top favorites in terms of story/characters (next to Suikoden II), and then Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together which I played early last year, another insanely good one in terms of story, and I personally like it way more than FFT (never loved FFT, have finished it twice though).

I don't really like to throw out the "lack of time" excuse when it comes to my time with RPG's slowing down throughout the years, it's more like, the genre has just obviously slanted. I won't say it's gone downhill or anything, but it's not as big as it was in the late 90's and I kind of miss that. The good news, is I'm doing a lot of catching up on PC gaming, and I have tons of WRPG's to hit up eventually. I'm pretty stoked for the Enhanced Baldurs Gate releases and curious to see how they'll turn out. I also pretty much bought a Wii for Xenoblade and Zelda (Zelda's not an RPG to me, but I don't care. It's the Zelda genre, one of the best).

[Jmustang1968]

My first true RPG experience was a strategy RPG in Shining Force 2 back when I was in 6th grade. That game and series still stands as one of my favorites. I then followed it up with SF1, ya a bit backwards lol.

My next big RPG and has to be one of my favorites of all time is Final Fantasy VI. I was so engrossed in this one and couldnt wait to get home from school each day to play it. I then borrowed Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana from my friend and went through those classics as well.

Around this time, my local blockbuster also happened to have a copy of Ogre Battle for rent. I would rent this every other weekend and beat it in the weekend rental. This game set up my love for the Ogre series.

Not too long after I got into Diablo, which was my first PC RPG experience.

The rest of my RPG timeline gets a bit fuzzy. PS1 came around and I went through great RPGs FFVII, FF Tactics, both Suikoden 1 and 2, Tactics Ogre, and Ogre Battle 64. This was about the time I discovered Baldur's Gate and became completely addicted.

I then got BG2 on release day. I also played Icewind Dale and Diablo 2 around this same time frame, late high school ish.

In college started the PS2 days and I went through FFX, and after that FFIX. I never had IX, but my freshman roommate happened to own it which was good luck for me. I then kept up with my PC RPG gaming and played Neverwinter Nights, but my PC sucked at the time and it would crash often. I never beat it.

I also played Suikoden 3 at the time and enjoyed it a lot. I always seem to have no issue beating Suikoden titles. I kept up with Bioware and beat Kotor.

Then MMOs became the death of RPG progression for me. I played some FFXI and then switched to WoW when it came out and was hooked for years. I still played some PS2 RPGs in the meantime but didnt stick with them (Star Ocean, Xenosaga, Disgaea etc...)

I went back to PC RPG gaming with NWN 2, Dragon Age, and Fallout. And have played through the Mass Effect series. At this time I got into the handheld rpg craze and went through Luminous Arc, FFIV and VI remakes, Tactics Ogre.

There were several others I played along the way, but I just mentioned the highlights.

[foxhound1022]

If I had to choose, it would have to be the FF series, starting on NES. After that, I played Mystic Quest; wasn't groundbreaking, but still appeased my want for traditional RPG's. Don't get me wrong: I love LttP, and is still the best one IMO, but Zelda has always been more action/adventure to me.

The biggest standouts on SNES for me were Ogre Battle and F.F. lll (Vl). Chrono Trigger just never struck me the way these 2 did, yet Super Mario RPG will always have a place in my heart.

Seeing as how there were so many epic stories played out on SNES, I was sorely disappointed with the lack of RPG's on N64. Still loved OB64.

PS1 yielded many great games for me: F.F.7, Legend of Mana, Suikoden 1&2, Lunar 1&2, Vagrant Story, Persona, and 2 of my favorites: F.F. Tactics, and Tactics Ogre. Also loved the Arc series.
Still have yet to play Grandia.

Never had a Saturn until about 5 years ago, but there are many solid titles that I really enjoyed: Shining Force lll, PDS, & Shining the Holy Ark. I also thought Albert Odyssey was very well done.

DC has the obvious choices: Skies of Arcadia, Grandia ll, P.S.O., Record of Lodoss War, very Diablo-esque. I played both Evolution titles and they were... meh.

Honestly, I've never had the chance to play many PS2 RPG's outside of Grandia lll, Grandia Xtreme, and Radiata Stories, which I liked very much.

Other than that, the only ones I can commit to memory are the Fire Emblem GBA titles, and GC port, Rondo of Swords on DS, Operation Darkness for 360, and the Diablo games.

Oh, I've been contemplating Resonance of Fate for 360; does anyone have any opinions on this? Any input would be appreciated.

[Menegrothx]

Only two mentions of Ultima so far? Ocarina of Time? Lord British demands an explanation for this BS!
:

[Zing]

banging head against wall at people calling Zelda games rpgs....

I don't keep up with modern gaming, but I wonder if something has happened to the modern RPG genre that allows people to retroactively categorize Ocarina of Time as an RPG. I don't consider it an RPG by any stretch and certainly no one back in 1996 would have called it an RPG.

Why suddenly do people think it is an RPG? Are modern RPGs so watered down that simply walking around, talking to NPCs, and fighting monsters classifies a game as an RPG? Has the rise of the MMORPG style gameplay permitted every action/adventure game to shoehorn its way into the RPG category?