Your Top 5 RPGs (and why)

[Kaylia]

Bah take out Earthbound, replace that with Secret of Mana!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I had time, i would make an animated gif zooming on the "edit" button.

[Vail]

#1 - Chrono Trigger
-great cast of characters
-good story
-fast paced action
- <3 music <3
- 1st RPG I ever bought... costing me $70 at release D:

#2 - Final Fantasy VI
- some of my all time favorite characters are from this one
- well paced story
- fun combat system
- (draw back for me) horrible balance late game, taking 0-1 damage from attacks, always hitting 9999, magic being poorly effective vs melee damage

#3 - Suikoden III
- something about the 3 main character split story line really drew me in
- well liked characters (few but enough to enjoy) rest of the characters weren't very likeable
- Fubar being a griffon, and Sgt Joe was the man ('-'*)

#4 - Suikoden
- great character cast
- emotional story
- Magic being stronger then melee attacks always sells me over on a truely balanced game

#5 - Breath of Fire II
- favorite among friends and myself from when I was young
- I like the character cast and balance of abilities between different characters


additional thoughts:
newer RPGs just haven't done it for me, lack of challenge, horribly unbalanced combat mechanics (infinate re-reraise loops, free attacks being more effective then limited use magic)

Storys for newer games are pretty good though, but are sometimes rushed. Examples Xenosaga series

I HATE any spell/ability that takes more then 10 seconds of time(Legend of Dragoon magic, all summons and high end magic in final fantasy 7-12), long drawn out animation scenes are lame, unless it does enough damage to make up for the time taken (hi2u Freya's Ether Strike)

challenge in newer games is fairly limited, most challenges come from self inflicted penalitys (low level games, etc.) I'd like to see a game that's challenging on it's own without requiring me to penalize myself to make the game more of a challenge.

P.S. I hated Final Fantasy 7 and Tatics, terrible balance, boring storys... and I quit FFX half way through, doubt I'll pick it up again

[blister1]

1. FF8 (First RPG in general, I was engulfed in it. Hadn't played a game with such a deep storyline until then.

2. FF10 (200+ hours, most I've spent on any non online game, ever. Most of it was spent on the monster Colosseum thingy)

3. Kingdom Hearts (Completely caught me off guard and loved every second of it)

4. FF9 (Card game had me hooked for hours on end)

5. Tossup between Grandia/Baldur's Gate/FF7

[Elcura]

I HATE any spell/ability that takes more then 10 seconds of time(Legend of Dragoon magic, all summons and high end magic in final fantasy 7-12), long drawn out animation scenes are lame, unless it does enough damage to make up for the time taken (hi2u Freya's Ether Strike)

challenge in newer games is fairly limited, most challenges come from self inflicted penalitys (low level games, etc.) I'd like to see a game that's challenging on it's own without requiring me to penalize myself to make the game more of a challenge.

P.S. I hated Final Fantasy 7 and Tatics, terrible balance, boring storys... and I quit FFX half way through, doubt I'll pick it up again

I agree with you for the most part here, though I wouldn't call Ether Strike long and drawn out, no matter how much damage it ends up doing.

[Vail]

I HATE any spell/ability that takes more then 10 seconds of time(Legend of Dragoon magic, all summons and high end magic in final fantasy 7-12), long drawn out animation scenes are lame, unless it does enough damage to make up for the time taken (hi2u Freya's Ether Strike)

challenge in newer games is fairly limited, most challenges come from self inflicted penalitys (low level games, etc.) I'd like to see a game that's challenging on it's own without requiring me to penalize myself to make the game more of a challenge.

P.S. I hated Final Fantasy 7 and Tatics, terrible balance, boring storys... and I quit FFX half way through, doubt I'll pick it up again

I agree with you for the most part here, though I wouldn't call Ether Strike long and drawn out, no matter how much damage it ends up doing.

I ment that the time it takes to perform ether strike is worth the damage dealt by it, so it's not long winded. Valkyrie's Lv3 move is alot more long winded and does less damage then ether strike.

some attack that takes like 15sec of visual effects for x20 normal damage is d('-'*) A-OK
OMG super power magic spell that takes 30 long ass seconds just to do twice a normal attack !? fuck that.

[Reapz]

1. Final Fantasy VIII. While each FF that comes along will be my favourite for a while due to it being new and me not knowing what is going to happen throughout the storyline, once they are finished this still remains my favourite for the fact it was my first FF and got me into the franchise.

2. Final Fantasy VII. A classic, looking forward to Crisis Core!

3. Kingdom Hearts 1/2. Awesome games, preferred #2 because organization 13 is badass but #1 is still good enough.

4. Final Fantasy IX/X/X-2/XI. I will cram these into one I don't care if its cheating I like lots of Final Fantasy! IX had the best music and FMVs, X was cool, X-2 had a great battle system but was lol, XI I have been playing for over 3 years and I am still at it because the storyline turns out to be awesome each expansion.

5. Tales of Symphonia. I didn't really like this at first, I got a few hours into it then stopped for ages, I randomly restarted it and i'm glad I did because it turned out to be an awesome game with a great storyline.

[Elcura]

I HATE any spell/ability that takes more then 10 seconds of time(Legend of Dragoon magic, all summons and high end magic in final fantasy 7-12), long drawn out animation scenes are lame, unless it does enough damage to make up for the time taken (hi2u Freya's Ether Strike)

challenge in newer games is fairly limited, most challenges come from self inflicted penalitys (low level games, etc.) I'd like to see a game that's challenging on it's own without requiring me to penalize myself to make the game more of a challenge.

P.S. I hated Final Fantasy 7 and Tatics, terrible balance, boring storys... and I quit FFX half way through, doubt I'll pick it up again

I agree with you for the most part here, though I wouldn't call Ether Strike long and drawn out, no matter how much damage it ends up doing.

I ment that the time it takes to perform ether strike is worth the damage dealt by it, so it's not long winded. Valkyrie's Lv3 move is alot more long winded and does less damage then ether strike.

some attack that takes like 15sec of visual effects for x20 normal damage is d('-'*) A-OK
OMG super power magic spell that takes 30 long ass seconds just to do twice a normal attack !? fuck that.

Sounds a lot like Great Magic in VP2 lolz. NV3 can do good damage if you put effort into buffing Valkyrie, but at least everyone of those animations has a skip button.

[Holman]

Bah take out Earthbound, replace that with Secret of Mana!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I had time, i would make an animated gif zooming on the "edit" button.

Had?

[Phraust]

FF VI: Lateral movement accross the game, the linear path was minimal, with was PERFECT game desing imo. Making actual choices, which extended game play, like Ragnarok Esper or Sword, etc. Awesome plot. And "Beating the game" only to find you were only 1/3 the way through.

Guardian Legend: If you don't know this game DIAF... It had everything... Like.. Everything everything... Probably one of the most original and challenging games to date, and to boot, it was on the nintendo, motherfucking nintendo.

Castlevainia SotN: Item whores rejoice! Christ, once you discover EVERYTHING in the game drops something, the game becomes a massive treasure hunt... Untill... Crissagrim. Then the games broken and over... until you get 2! then it is rediculous. Amazing soundtrack also.

Chrono Trigger: Really awesome concept and implimentation, absolutely perfect character developement. Soundtrack ain't too bad either. My only complaint was the lack of weapons for the most part, but that's easily dissmissable thanks to "skillchains" (charm was the best! extort gifts from mobs via womanly charms lawl.)

Metroid Prime: I dont' give a shit if you consider this a RPG or not. It was a fucking amazing game. I will admit I was a little PO'd by the Game Cube interface, but it wasn't that bad once you got use to it. Still think that FPS will always be better on keyboard/mouse. My ONLY gripe aside form controls, was the "humming" you hear when there's an item near. I think that little 'crutch' could have been left out of the game completely.

[Reality]

1. Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)
First RPG I had ever played, and to this day I haven't played an RPG that had as much replay value. There's just so much going on, there's always something more that you can do. The game never gets boring. I still find myself playing it to this day
2. Final Fantasy X (Playstation 2)
Tons of replay value, almost as much as FF6. I love what they did with the Sphere Grid system.
3. Xenogears
I imported this from Japan, with absolutely no knowledge of the japanese language. However from what I had read about the storyline through previews in various gaming mags (GameFan, EGM, Gamepro, etc.), it sounded like it could truely have one of the best storylines ever in a game. And I honestly think it still holds it's own, to this day. The battle system left a lot to be desired, though (The gear battle system was a bit more in-depth, however the on-foot system was primarily combo-based and rather simple)
4. Final Fantasy 7 (Playstation)
Nothing left to say here. It's FF7, the grand-daddy of the Next Generation RPG style of graphics and gameplay. The story at times was rather simplistic, but Square made up for it with massive amounts of gameplay and replay value. Also, imported this from japan

5. Vandal Hearts
This was the first turn-based "battle-grid" style of RPG I had ever played, and I was hooked instantly. Pretty nice story too

[Chreman]

1. Ephemeral Fantasia
Absolutely terrible game, no lie. But it was my first RPG and it'll always hold a special place in my heart no matter what.

2. Final Fantasy VIII
The junction system really struck a chord with me, not too complicated and not too simple. Great music, fun battles and (imho) a subtle flow of character development across the board.

3. Oblivion
Would have been flawless if it weren't 1st person. . .

4. Super Mario RPG
Made me feel like a kid again

5. Pokemon (original ofc)
Anyone who doesn't have this on their list is either a liar or a communist.

[Elcura]

rofl, even though I thought Ephemeral Fantasia was a bad game (though not awful) it still had something special about it, I dunno why but I really liked it that and it was my first true RPG on the PS2.

[Charismatic]

I always thought Ephemeral Fantasia looked cool in the magazine scans and stuff, wanted to play it so bad, but never got around to it.

[layoneil]

it wasn't a good game but it had some really interesting elements. i loved the whole concept of the game but the execution was subpar, a lot of it had to do with it being a Dreamcast port.

[Reapz]

Oh I forgot Skies of Arcadia D:

[Viq]

All I remember of Ephemeral Fantasia was the weak Guitar Freaks mini-game, the worst load times I can remember, and absolute rage when I couldn't find my receipt.

[Vinen]

Oh I forgot Skies of Arcadia D:

Since someone mentioned skip buttons in a previous post... this game would have been 100% better (awesome game +100% =?) if there was a skip button during certain portions of air battles.

[Zarath]

Oh I forgot Skies of Arcadia D:

Since someone mentioned skip buttons in a previous post... this game would have been 100% better (awesome game +100% =?) if there was a skip button during certain portions of air battles.

=Perfection. Would be nice but as it stands, ur in air battles maybe 10% of the time? So I don't mind it too much, but it does eat up a lot of time.

Most things don't even last more than 5 turns after a while, hell even 3 turns near the end (including the last boss lol) so I don't hugely mind it.

[coops]

1: Suikoden II: Forget best RPG, this is the best game i've ever played.
2: FFIX: Didn't expect it'd get so much love here, but I personaly think it's the best FF.
3: Suikoden V: Love suikoden, what can I say.
4: Suikoden: see above.
5: FFT: great game play, even better story.

[Krandor]

5. Vandal Hearts
This was the first turn-based "battle-grid" style of RPG I had ever played, and I was hooked instantly. Pretty nice story too

The first one is slightly "bleh" to me, but Vandal Hearts II still has the best SRPG battle system I've seen, and a wicked awesome story to boot.