Your Top 5 RPGs (and why)

[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.

Revising...

1. FF9
2. Lost Odyssey
3. Xenosaga series
4. Mass Effect
5. .Hack//GU series

[Tajin]

1.- Chrono Trigger
2.- FFVI
3.- FFVII
4.-FFIV / Secret of Mana
5.- Legend of Mana / Seiken Densetsu III
6.- Xenogears / Breath of Fire III & IV

[Maxxthepenguin]

What's with the complete aversion you guys seem to have to western RPGs? There is so much goodness in both jRPGs and western styled ones.

[Exoduso]

Mass Effect. <3

BTW Maxx, Gamefly are being dicks and still haven't sent me KOTOR, i'm sad. ;;

[Maxxthepenguin]

Lame :/ If you have a decent enough PC, just download it. It's a better version anyways

[Exoduso]

Oh there's a pc version? I'll look for it on blackcats when I get home.

[Elcura]

What's with the complete aversion you guys seem to have to western RPGs? There is so much goodness in both jRPGs and western styled ones.

I dunno, western RPGs don't seem as accessible to me. That and I don't really have much free time to fully enjoy and experience all that western RPGs have to offer. I think the last wRPG I played was Buldur's Gate II? I dunno. There was another one that was pretty cool and lame at the same time, I think you had a dragon, and could choose between archery, magic and swordmanship skills. Man character was a chick. Yeah...

[Kaelan]

What's with the complete aversion you guys seem to have to western RPGs? There is so much goodness in both jRPGs and western styled ones.

Western RPGs just aren't that great to me. I still like the good western ones like Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights (actually playing NWN2 right now), it's just that for every one Oblivion I can think of, I can also think of at least five Final Fantasy VIIs/Xenogears/Chrono Triggers and the like that match or surpass it's quality. It's not that the western ones are bad, but I've just never had the "holy shit, epic game" feel from one (which it doesn't need for me to enjoy it, but it certainly does to qualify on my top 5 ever).

If we were talking about RTS games, it would be the same thing backwards; <3 starcraft/warcraft III/the Caesar games, can't even remember last time I played a good japanese one.

[Tajin]

What's with the complete aversion you guys seem to have to western RPGs? There is so much goodness in both jRPGs and western styled ones.

I liked KoTOR/II, Dungeon Master or whatever that RPG from Microsoft was called, and warcraft III. But they are not on my top5. Also western RPGs tend to use 'you' as the main character, which most of the time lacks a personality.

And do not like first person RPGs either.

[Ryushii]

Can someone explain to me what exactly a jRPG and a wRPG are?

[Charismatic]

Japanese, Western.

Also, I don't think most people here have anything against wRPGs, they just aren't top 5 material.

[Exoduso]

Mass Effect is... but yeah, they generally aren't.

Can someone explain to me what exactly a jRPG and a wRPG are?

Um.. >.> Japanese RPGs and Western RPGs; ie, Final Fantasy/Lost odyssey and Mass Effect/KOTOR.

[Charismatic]

Forgot about Mass Effect.
No way for me to play it atm, I would like to someday though.

[Ryushii]

Yes, I did realize what jRPG and wRPG stood for, but what's the difference? It is just Japanese vs American?

[Exoduso]

Pretty much. FF vs KOTOR/oblivion/whatever.. obviously there's a different trend. jRPGs tend to have girlish looking teens as the main chars, western are more cereal.

[Elcura]

Well, I would say the main difference is wRPGs are more open ended while jRPGs are more like a story on rails.

[Kaelan]

jRPGs usually more story focused vs wRPGs and more gameplay, and even then the gameplay style is usually different (turn based vs action based, for example). wRPGs tend to generally borrow things from D&D (in varying degrees, some more than others but the influence is generally there), whereas jRPGs have a different kind of tradition (i.e. the final fantasy/dragon quest type). And there's the art, of course, jRPGs obviously being heavily influenced by manga art 9 times out of 10, whereas western RPGs tend to prefer the usual manly shirt-ripping superman who can take take 5 bullets to the gut and bandage themselves with leftover pieces of aforementioned shirt before continuing on. That's just a broad description though, in the end it still varies a lot from game to game

[Maxxthepenguin]

Well, I would say the main difference is wRPGs are more open ended while jRPGs are more like a story on rails.

That's how I tend to view it. Personally, my top 6 (I have 6, deal with it) list is:
Chrono Trigger (honorable mention for Chrono Cross)
FFVI
FFXII
KOTOR
Baldur's Gate II / Throne of Bhaal
Planescape: Torment

The thing about KOTOR, Planescape: Torment, and BGII is though your character is made by you and you have your own choices to role play (RP in my RPG? No fucking way) but at the same time there are some VERY interesting and cool plot-centric character traits. Those who played them know what I'm talking about, those who haven't should not pursue what I just said any further due to spoilage (and in KOTOR's case, the absolute best twist ever.) Furthermore, though the main character is determined by you and thus is a blank slate, the other characters in both games are far better developed than they are in most jRPGs due to side quests, banter, etc. wRPGs tend to have a lot more balls to give clues and exposition

Planescape Torment, however, is unlike any other RPG I have ever played. It is mostly dialog driven and though it is a wRPG it is completely focused on plot. Though you build your character, you don't do it in your standard way and the choices are plot driven. Everybody starts as a character that is almost exactly the same as everybody else's, you change based on what you do. The dialog is also miles better than almost anything and the world is a D&D world that isn't Tolkien derivative. It's just pure awesome and vastly underplayed. Just to give you a taste of the characters you get in your party: Yourself, an immortal who loses memories whenever he dies and is constantly tormented by this fact (suck it Lost Odyssey), a floating skull who is your main tank and who seems to know way too much, a dude who insists on being your slave, a wizard who had a portal to the elemental plane of fire placed on his body (permanently engulfing him in flames) as punishment for his pyromania, a robot who is all fucked up due to exposure to the plane of chaos, and a succubus who runs a brothel dedicated to satisfying people's lust for intellectual pursuits rather than physical ones.


Also I would like to point out that I am NOT an oblivion fan; I find it far to unfocused with a crappy plot and technically good but aesthetically ugly graphics (though Shivering Isles was a lot better in both regards).

Yes, I did realize what jRPG and wRPG stood for, but what's the difference? It is just Japanese vs American?

More like Japanese vs western world (including Europe, Canada, etc). In a sense, FFXI is much like a wRPG.

And there's the art, of course, jRPGs obviously being heavily influenced by manga art 9 times out of 10, whereas western RPGs tend to prefer the usual manly shirt-ripping superman who can take take 5 bullets to the gut and bandage themselves with leftover pieces of aforementioned shirt before continuing on.

What freaking wRPG are you thinking of? Most that I've played consciously stay away from that with most of the characters, Mass Effect being the exception because it was dumbed down to appeal to the 360 crowd.

[Elcura]

Like I said, I want to get into wRPGs but I don't really have the time... How long would you think it would take to play KOTOR fully and enjoy it? Though Planescape Torment sounds interesting as well, mainly due to the weird elements in it.

And I agree about Oblivion completely. I think I spent more time making my character not look like a horse's arse than I did actually playing the fucking game. And when I did play it, the story was so uninteresting that I just quit.

[Maxxthepenguin]

KOTOR is like a 30 hour game

Planescape: Torment is like 40-50 hours