Your Top 5 RPGs (and why)

[Amiel]

<.< I'm asking this question but I can't seem to answer it myself Played too many and they all hold a special little spot in me!

[Exoduso]

1. FF9 -- Not my first FF, not even my second, but i've always been obsessed with the OST and story, probably the best FF to date in my book.

2. Xenosaga series (cus 1 and 2 suck but they're needed to get the whole experience out of #3) -- a very solid series, many people hate it because of the impression the first couple of episodes left (and then they wouldn't even give #3 a try, which was a very good game). Awesome story, awesome characters, awesome OST. Just awesome.

3. Kingdom Hearts -- I remember the skeptics who laughed at the whole Square/Disney orgy, it actually worked out pretty well and the series seems to be taking off with each new title that is being announced. Probably my favorite action/adventure game(s).

4. FF8 -- my first FF, gotta have it up here purely for fanboyish reasons. But on a more serious note, i'll probably have to say the new .Hack//G.U. series. It was made of so much japanese anime-esque drama and yelling, made it pretty damn epic.

5. Mass Effect -- Don't really need to say more... just play the damn game. Like, right now.

[Trichocyst]

5. Final Fantasy
My first Final Fantasy and probably the one I've beaten most in a variety of different ways.

4. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
For a 6-7 hour game I've logged days trying to break 200%.

3. Chrono Trigger
One of the greatest soundtracks, storyline, and one of the most innovative RPGs of all time.

2. Suikoden II
In my opinion, the finest RPG storyline I've ever played. There is just so much depth.

1. Final Fantasy VI
The first Final Fantasy that really blew my mind. Full of adult themes, memorable characters and linear/non linear storylines.

[Vinen]

1. Valkyrie Profile
Lezard Valeth
2. Star Ocean: The Second Story
Great Story, Great Characters, Awful Voice acting. Luckily.. the first two overshadow the third by an tremendous amount. This is the only game I've ever spent more then 200 hours on.
3. Tactics Ogre
The choice you are given at the end of the first chapter... so fucking awesome. More difficult then the ez-Mode Final Fantasy Tactics.
4. Lufia 2: Rise of the Sintestrals
First game I ever played that had a depressing ending. That in and of itself holds it up there as one of my top five RPGs.
5. Shadow Hearts -> Shadow Hearts 2
The main character is different. I honestly haven't seen a game where a main character undergoes as large of a transformation as Yuri does. I am lumping SH1 and SH2 together because they are so closely linked I could count them as one game.

[Sasarai]

1. Suikoden 2. Hard to decide between this and 3, but sheer nostalgia wins out in the end. Easily the most enjoyable RPG available.

2. Suikoden 3. See above, a very very close second. Alot of changes but they were brilliant. Trinity Sight gave so much depth and viewpoint to the storyline that it's a wonder the concept isn't used more frequently.

3. Grandia. Brilliant game with a great cast. Lots of fun and adventure and one that I don't think I'll ever stop going back to play...just for the sake of playing.

4. Chrono Cross. Two disks of pure win. Lots of characters, a brilliant musical score and one of my favorite storylines.

5. So many options in VP2, SO3, SH:C, BoF(any), SoAL etc, but for the purposes of this list I'm going to say Radiata Stories. Addicting, fun and the perfect combination of comic relief and serious RPG plot.

[izembo]

personally i enjoyed a lot of different ones, although i generally prefer strategy rpgs to the regular ones, so heres my list.

5. Final Fantasy IX
4. Legend of Legaia
3. Final Fantasy XII
2. Final Fantasy Tactics
1. Shining Force 2

i really wish they'd come out with another shining force srpg

[Bweigelt]

5. Mass Effect - Just so much Win in that game.

4. Final Fantasy VIII - I can't really explain why I like this game so much, it just works for me.

3. Final Fantasy Tactics/Tactics Ogre - Love both of these but have to put these together to keep my list at five.

2. Chrono Trigger - Nothing to say here, just epic.

1. Final Fantasy VI - My first RPG, the story is just so deep and it has the best character ever, Locke.

[Turambar]

5. Chrono Trigger
4. Xenogears
3. Xenogears
2. Xenogears
1. Xenogears

[Kaylia]

None of you said Xenogears? </3 BG


In no particular order, because I can't pick

-Xenosaga series: Had one of the best story, if not the best.
-Xenogears: Same as above, awesome gameplay and huge game
-Chrono Trigger: The game is the perfect example of a good rpg. Simple but fun, unique world [doesnt feel generic like many rpg], great music, great character
-Star Ocean 2-3: Great gameplay, great story, nice character. Both game had many awkward scenes imo, but they are still awesome
-Shadow Heart I-II: I prefer SH2, but both are nice.

Hmm,no more place for FF game. I could swap SO2-3/SH1-2 for FF6-12 (minus 11) I guess, but meh

[Sasarai]

Xenogears was highly overrated :\ not a bad game, just not as good as the hype suggests.

[Amiel]

I just noticed no one mentioned "Skies of Arcadia" no GC love! (T_T)

[Viq]

I just noticed no one mentioned "Skies of Arcadia" no DC love! (T_T)

[Amiel]

I just noticed no one mentioned "Skies of Arcadia" no DC & GC love! (T_T)

fixed

Which reminds me "Shenmue" anyone?

[Kazen]

#1 Xenogears - Do I even need to say why?

#2 FF7 / 6 - Probably because it was the first FF I played, but 6 ties with this spot as well for me.

#3 Grandia - Pretty awesome game, I liked it the most out of the series, and whats not to like about "Gadwins secret move! Dragon King Slice!"

#4 Lunar SSS and Lunar 2 - Pretty epic storyline for both games.

#5 Persona 3 - This might be 5th because I just played it, but the storyline was epic as hell and the plot twists were amazing, I cant wait for Persona 3: FES if it hits the states.

[Zanz L. Barre The 3rd]

1. Final Fantasy VIII (Such a profound story, with numerous philosophical and scientific concepts and theories).
2. Final Fantasy VI ( Excellent story and a most sinister villain. Locke will always have a piece in my heart).
3. Chrono Trigger (Phenomenal music, and an emotionally inflicting tale. Can't stress enough how amazing this story is).
4. Phantasy Star Online (Story is pretty lacking, but play along with some good friends, and you've got HOURs of addicting gameplay).
5. Breath of Fire IV (Had a pretty decent story, and had some really elaborate attack animations).

FF7 is an honorable mention; it is indeed an amazing game but my foolish inclination to be "anti-commercial" blinds me from granting it true recognition.

Final Fantasy Tactics has one of my favorite job and leveling systems by far also.

[Meriandle]

Xenogears was highly overrated :\ not a bad game, just not as good as the hype suggests.

While I hate to comment and not add my top 5. Never have I really heard a lot of hype about Xenogears. If this comment was made about FFVII then I would be understanding, and then disagree. This being said about Xenoears though, I can only voice my disagreement.
Wonderful game fully deserving of the praise it does get when it is not being overshadowed by Square's other OMFG HUEG series that kinda shunted this one off to the side.

[Eaglestrike]

1) Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - So much variety, FFT battle system (came before FFT, same team) but with more options and bigger differences depending on what jobs you leveled with.

2) Suikoden II - Just amazing.

3) Shining Force II - I don't think I'll ever beat a game as much as I did this. I beat it on Genesis at least once a week for a year or two, seriously.

4) FFVII - My first FF and I really enjoy the storyline and world that was created with it. It being overcommercialized since then doesn't change how good the original game is/was.

5) FFT - Great storyline to go with a solid battle system.

I'm a real fan of turn-based strategy systems like FFT/TO/Shining Force. Just wish I could find more.

[Zarath]

I'm a real fan of turn-based strategy systems like FFT/TO/Shining Force. Just wish I could find more.

It's unfortunate that a lot of it is still JP only =/. And I wish SF went back to their turn base strat roots not this crap we have now ><;

[Elcura]

This is incredibly hard, I won't list any in order of greatness, since I loved a lot of RPGs, I'll list the main ones that had an impact on me.

Suikoden II; amazing game, great EVERYTHING. never has a game held such a strong hold on my memories (old and new). Nostalgia GOOGLES DO NOTHIN! The true ending is one of the most satisfying endings ever experienced. Suikoden I and V go in here for similar reasons.

Star Ocean II: amazingly fun, I must have played this game like 20 times, and put in hundreds of hours of gameplay. It's that much fun. Good story, nothing outstanding but it flowed well, had interesting characters (ashton ) and great music. mentioning SO3 for the boost in gameplay, amazingly fun to play, story is amazing and excellent until a certain point. I don't think I have ever played a game with such an amazing build up to disaster, but that mood was ruined later on (up to, and on planet Styx was supurb). NOSTALGIA GOOGLED THE STORY

FFIX: my one true FF love, there's so much right with this game. the music is perfect, the characters charming and memorable (Vivi, Steiner, Kuja, etc). one of the tag lines in the intro stays with me even today, I can't say why I like it. I just do: "You don't need a reason to help people..." I think each character had a line like that. NOSTALGIA GOOGLES DO NOTHIN!

Valkyrie Profile series: both games are here, because frankly they are amazing. the only thing that let me down in the first game was fixed in the second, while expanding and improving on the already lovable battle system (break mode = ownage). the thing I didn't like about 1 was how jilted and randomly the story was. the characters history and events up to their death is nice (although, only arngrim/jelanda had the level of detail I think each character needed). the story and random recruitments are not satisfying until you get to a certain chapter on the route to the A ending. then it picks up hard and becomes amazing. the second had a continuous story which I felt more connected with and the events flowed smoother. both games have great voice acting (who would have thought that the pokemon VAs were good?) and I love the lines they say in battle (PREPARE TO BE CLEANSED! DIVINE ASSAULT: ETHER STRIKE!)

Chrono Trigger: If you've played this you'll know why it's here. to make things even better, I played the game for the first time recently (a couple of years ago, no googles at all) and some scenes still gave me goosebumps with their awesomeness. along with great characters, music and a fun battle system you have simply an amazing game. also mentioning chrono cross, since I played that before trigger with full google vision I thought some parts of the story were excellent and some scenes really made an impression, the music "people imprisoned by destiny" made every fight it played in fucking epic, I mean, along with the build up and dialogue that went with them.

honourable mentions: parasite eve (oh god, wtf is that?!), xenogears (WHY GOD WHY?!), threads of fate (mint), grandstream saga (what I thought was a good story and fun gameplay), disgaea (funniest game I've played), Odin Sphere (not an RPG, but the story is a-fucking-mazing. one of the most emotion I've experienced). Uhh, probably others I can't remember right now, there were more PS2 titles but I can't remember all to list them.

[Exoduso]

FFIX: my one true FF love, there's so much right with this game. the music is perfect, the characters charming and memorable (Vivi, Steiner, Kuja, etc). one of the tag lines in the intro stays with me even today, I can't say why I like it. I just do: "You don't need a reason to help people..." I think each character had a line like that. NOSTALGIA GOOGLES DO NOTHIN!

You win.