Your Top 5 RPGs (and why)

[Elcura]

Sweet. Maybe I'll pick those up sometime.

[Vinen]

Sweet. Maybe I'll pick those up sometime.

Hope you have a small monitor it really does not age well lol. Awesome game but I had to pull out my ol crapbox to make it an enjoyable experience a few months back.

[Maxxthepenguin]

They both have aged fine for me, it takes a bit of adjustment when you start but once you get over it, it's all good. The low-res of Planescape Torment is disconcerting but all it really means is that it wont wow you, it's just as functional and fun as it ever was.

[Viq]

They both have aged fine for me, it takes a bit of adjustment when you start but once you get over it, it's all good. The low-res of Planescape Torment is disconcerting but all it really means is that it wont wow you, it's just as functional and fun as it ever was.

The low res isn't so much the issue, as is the fact that a lot of people here have monitors with native 1900x1200 or 1680x1050. Older games with los res + non-native resolution = who threw up on my screen?

[Kenai]

I can't put these in any particular order, would be too hard, BUT anyway:

Dragon Warrior 4: Not my first RPG on the NES, but definitely my favorite. After FF's grueling quests with almost no character development (outside of leveling/class advancement), it was very exciting to see characters with real personality behind them. What might be considered cliche now definitely wasn't back then (at least to me). A knight in shocking purple armor who befriends a monster instead of killing it? A tough tomboy princess who actually had a punch to back up her mouth? A mini-game where you got to buy/sell as one of the shop owners to earn money? And then finally playing as the hero who gathered all these fine troops together (male or female hero! mind blown on NES games), in a story mixed with tons of exploration, rare items hidden in dungeons/dropped by monsters, a villan with an actual story instead of "Oh man I'm so evil for no reason lulz"...just awesomeness.

Earthbound: After being raised on potions and medical herbs, fighting imps, goblins and dragons with sword and shield, it seemed bizarre to beat up such enemies as Cranky Old Ladies, New Age Retro Hippies, Flying U.F.O.s and cultists worshipping the color blue with frying pans and psychic energy, but it all worked out so well. Baseball bats, pizza, bottle rockets and hamburgers replaced everything I thought I knew about an RPG and made it oh so AWESOME. The humor, the pacing, the powers, the revolving life totals (still not used anywhere else to this day, despite how awesome they were), all leading up to one of the most epic final boss encounters in videogame history. Yes, please.

Chrono Trigger: I can't say much more that's what already been said about this game, but the Team Attacks really stood out to me as creative and amazing, and (for one of the first times, and last times since), made me want to fully explore and use every character. The fact that the rest of the game was awesome also helped.

Suiikoden 2: How do I love thee? Let me use any character I want out of 60-70 in my 6 man team, with tons of customization, a compelling story, beautiful visuals, various team attacks, and a competent story behind all those characters? Lead an army against an evil empire while weilding a power that was used to create the world? Sharpening weapons instead of having to track down and buy new ones? Oh yes, and an epic final encounter with your best friend...good times...

The final one...I have too many I could list. Super Mario RPG for the SNES or the Gamecube's 1000 Year Door version, Baiten Kratos Origins, Persona 3, FFT, Shining Force, Ogre Battle 64, Pokemon (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald or Diamond), Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, or FF9 all immediately come to mind, but there are more that I could put up. And I could never really decide. <3

[Amiel]

I can't put these in any particular order, would be too hard, BUT anyway:

Dragon Warrior 4: Not my first RPG on the NES, but definitely my favorite. After FF's grueling quests with almost no character development (outside of leveling/class advancement), it was very exciting to see characters with real personality behind them. What might be considered cliche now definitely wasn't back then (at least to me). A knight in shocking purple armor who befriends a monster instead of killing it? A tough tomboy princess who actually had a punch to back up her mouth? A mini-game where you got to buy/sell as one of the shop owners to earn money? And then finally playing as the hero who gathered all these fine troops together (male or female hero! mind blown on NES games), in a story mixed with tons of exploration, rare items hidden in dungeons/dropped by monsters, a villan with an actual story instead of "Oh man I'm so evil for no reason lulz"...just awesomeness.

Earthbound: After being raised on potions and medical herbs, fighting imps, goblins and dragons with sword and shield, it seemed bizarre to beat up such enemies as Cranky Old Ladies, New Age Retro Hippies, Flying U.F.O.s and cultists worshipping the color blue with frying pans and psychic energy, but it all worked out so well. Baseball bats, pizza, bottle rockets and hamburgers replaced everything I thought I knew about an RPG and made it oh so AWESOME. The humor, the pacing, the powers, the revolving life totals (still not used anywhere else to this day, despite how awesome they were), all leading up to one of the most epic final boss encounters in videogame history. Yes, please.

Chrono Trigger: I can't say much more that's what already been said about this game, but the Team Attacks really stood out to me as creative and amazing, and (for one of the first times, and last times since), made me want to fully explore and use every character. The fact that the rest of the game was awesome also helped.

Suiikoden 2: How do I love thee? Let me use any character I want out of 60-70 in my 6 man team, with tons of customization, a compelling story, beautiful visuals, various team attacks, and a competent story behind all those characters? Lead an army against an evil empire while weilding a power that was used to create the world? Sharpening weapons instead of having to track down and buy new ones? Oh yes, and an epic final encounter with your best friend...good times...

The final one...I have too many I could list. Super Mario RPG for the SNES or the Gamecube's 1000 Year Door version, Baiten Kratos Origins, Persona 3, FFT, Shining Force, Ogre Battle 64, Pokemon (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald or Diamond), Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, or FF9 all immediately come to mind, but there are more that I could put up. And I could never really decide. <3

Been replaying Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest 4 on the DS. It's definitely one of my favorite rpg. As for Chrono Trigger...I can't seem to get my hands on an affordable copy of it to replay :'(

[Maxxthepenguin]

Hey, speak of the devil, CVG did PC gaming's 10 best and worst characters with HK-47 from KOTOR and Morte (the floating skull) from Planescape: Torment.

Morte's Description:

Everyone has a friend they don't really like - an abusive arsehole who lives to see you suffer, but who you still like having around. Mortimer Rictusgrin - Morte to his friends - is exactly that guy... well, head.

He's a sarcastic, lying and stunningly witty flying skull. (SPOILERS) Amongst a pack of memorable characters, Morte is the one you love Planescape for.

Link is http://www.computerandvideogames.com/ar ... ?id=183044, MAJOR SPOILERS IN THE TEXT THOUGH ESPECIALLY FOR KOTOR, DONT GO IF YOU ARE GOING TO EVER PLAY KOTOR

Seriously, most of you shouldn't read HK-47's description and should stay away from all KOTOR spoilers, spoiling KOTOR would suck

Seriously, KOTOR's plot deserves to not be spoiled, I can't emphasize this enough.

[Kenai]

I can't put these in any particular order, would be too hard, BUT anyway:

Dragon Warrior 4: Not my first RPG on the NES, but definitely my favorite. After FF's grueling quests with almost no character development (outside of leveling/class advancement), it was very exciting to see characters with real personality behind them. What might be considered cliche now definitely wasn't back then (at least to me). A knight in shocking purple armor who befriends a monster instead of killing it? A tough tomboy princess who actually had a punch to back up her mouth? A mini-game where you got to buy/sell as one of the shop owners to earn money? And then finally playing as the hero who gathered all these fine troops together (male or female hero! mind blown on NES games), in a story mixed with tons of exploration, rare items hidden in dungeons/dropped by monsters, a villan with an actual story instead of "Oh man I'm so evil for no reason lulz"...just awesomeness.

Earthbound: After being raised on potions and medical herbs, fighting imps, goblins and dragons with sword and shield, it seemed bizarre to beat up such enemies as Cranky Old Ladies, New Age Retro Hippies, Flying U.F.O.s and cultists worshipping the color blue with frying pans and psychic energy, but it all worked out so well. Baseball bats, pizza, bottle rockets and hamburgers replaced everything I thought I knew about an RPG and made it oh so AWESOME. The humor, the pacing, the powers, the revolving life totals (still not used anywhere else to this day, despite how awesome they were), all leading up to one of the most epic final boss encounters in videogame history. Yes, please.

Chrono Trigger: I can't say much more that's what already been said about this game, but the Team Attacks really stood out to me as creative and amazing, and (for one of the first times, and last times since), made me want to fully explore and use every character. The fact that the rest of the game was awesome also helped.

Suiikoden 2: How do I love thee? Let me use any character I want out of 60-70 in my 6 man team, with tons of customization, a compelling story, beautiful visuals, various team attacks, and a competent story behind all those characters? Lead an army against an evil empire while weilding a power that was used to create the world? Sharpening weapons instead of having to track down and buy new ones? Oh yes, and an epic final encounter with your best friend...good times...

The final one...I have too many I could list. Super Mario RPG for the SNES or the Gamecube's 1000 Year Door version, Baiten Kratos Origins, Persona 3, FFT, Shining Force, Ogre Battle 64, Pokemon (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald or Diamond), Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, or FF9 all immediately come to mind, but there are more that I could put up. And I could never really decide. <3

Been replaying Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest 4 on the DS. It's definitely one of my favorite rpg. As for Chrono Trigger...I can't seem to get my hands on an affordable copy of it to replay :'(

They re-released it with another PS game of some type iirc, but I don't know if that game is hard to find or not. I think it was the FF compliation, not sure about that though...

[Ryushii]

I can't put these in any particular order, would be too hard, BUT anyway:

Dragon Warrior 4: Not my first RPG on the NES, but definitely my favorite. After FF's grueling quests with almost no character development (outside of leveling/class advancement), it was very exciting to see characters with real personality behind them. What might be considered cliche now definitely wasn't back then (at least to me). A knight in shocking purple armor who befriends a monster instead of killing it? A tough tomboy princess who actually had a punch to back up her mouth? A mini-game where you got to buy/sell as one of the shop owners to earn money? And then finally playing as the hero who gathered all these fine troops together (male or female hero! mind blown on NES games), in a story mixed with tons of exploration, rare items hidden in dungeons/dropped by monsters, a villan with an actual story instead of "Oh man I'm so evil for no reason lulz"...just awesomeness.

Earthbound: After being raised on potions and medical herbs, fighting imps, goblins and dragons with sword and shield, it seemed bizarre to beat up such enemies as Cranky Old Ladies, New Age Retro Hippies, Flying U.F.O.s and cultists worshipping the color blue with frying pans and psychic energy, but it all worked out so well. Baseball bats, pizza, bottle rockets and hamburgers replaced everything I thought I knew about an RPG and made it oh so AWESOME. The humor, the pacing, the powers, the revolving life totals (still not used anywhere else to this day, despite how awesome they were), all leading up to one of the most epic final boss encounters in videogame history. Yes, please.

Chrono Trigger: I can't say much more that's what already been said about this game, but the Team Attacks really stood out to me as creative and amazing, and (for one of the first times, and last times since), made me want to fully explore and use every character. The fact that the rest of the game was awesome also helped.

Suiikoden 2: How do I love thee? Let me use any character I want out of 60-70 in my 6 man team, with tons of customization, a compelling story, beautiful visuals, various team attacks, and a competent story behind all those characters? Lead an army against an evil empire while weilding a power that was used to create the world? Sharpening weapons instead of having to track down and buy new ones? Oh yes, and an epic final encounter with your best friend...good times...

The final one...I have too many I could list. Super Mario RPG for the SNES or the Gamecube's 1000 Year Door version, Baiten Kratos Origins, Persona 3, FFT, Shining Force, Ogre Battle 64, Pokemon (Yellow, Crystal, Emerald or Diamond), Skies of Arcadia, Grandia 2, or FF9 all immediately come to mind, but there are more that I could put up. And I could never really decide. <3

Been replaying Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest 4 on the DS. It's definitely one of my favorite rpg. As for Chrono Trigger...I can't seem to get my hands on an affordable copy of it to replay :'(

They re-released it with another PS game of some type iirc, but I don't know if that game is hard to find or not. I think it was the FF compliation, not sure about that though...

It was released with FF4 on PS. I don't know the name of the compilation, but it is two separate discs. Try ebay?

[Kazen]

Its name is Final Fantasy Chronicles, you can buy it on ebay for around $9.99, I just found a few copies on there.

[Zilong]

1. Xenogears: What can I say, I was a sucker for giant robot then, I still am now, though I must say playing it while I was like 13 wasn't such a great idea, it's not until my replays years later that gave me deeper understanding on just how deep the story was. It's by far my favorite RPG, and it just pisses me off to no end that Xenosaga ended up the abomination that it was (granted I didn't bother after the first one, but maybe I should really pick up second and 3rd game since I've heard great things about them)

2. Final Fantasy Tactics: Best Final Fantasy on PSX IMO. Intricate plotline, huge customization, and pretty challenging battles. What's not to love?

3. Star Ocean 2: Love the battle system, love the characters, love their interactions on private action, and the whole skill system was pretty nice too. I just wished that they'd opt for a more in depth conclusive ending for the characters rather than just making 80something short endings.

4. Chrono Trigger: Amazing game, it's kinda sad how a 2D sprite silent protagonist can be a more memorable hero than what they have on RPG these days. Awesome cast of character, great storyline, amazing combat system. My only dissapointment was that it had to be followed by Chrono Cross.

5. Makai Senki Disgaea: Ever reach level 9999? Me neither, but it's great that I had the option though! The customization on this game kept me playing for 100+ hours before I got bored from storing away about 50kish transmigrated levels and realized that mostly everything can be accomplished by throwing more level 9999 surts at them. That aside though, the storyline was hillarious with tons of memorable character.

Honorable Mention:
Dark Cloud II: Leap and bound better than the original dark cloud, which I never played since it looks like shit and probably plays like one too, but god damn I love DCII. Weapon customization, Mech building, item creation, awesome minigames, I fucking love this game.

[Vinen]

1. Valkyrie Profile (PS1/PSP)
2. Persona 3 (PS2)
3. Suikoden 2 (PS1/PSP)
4. Tales of Destiny 2 (PS2/PSP)
5. Namco X Capcom (PS2)

//Will Edit and Add more information later. These five finally just popped into my head.

[Charismatic]

Too bad I don't understand the moonrunes at all... I wanted to check out Namco X Capcom.

[Zilong]

Isn't Namco x Capcom basically an SRT clone?

[Kaylia]

It's by far my favorite RPG, and it just pisses me off to no end that Xenosaga ended up the abomination that it was (granted I didn't bother after the first one

Your loss. you're missing out on a story arguably better than Xenogears. Gameplay, I can understand.

[Royal]

1. WHY IS DIABLO 2 NOT ON ANY OF YOUR PEOPLES LISTS?! YOU ALL SICKEN ME!

2. Legend of the Dragoon. First RPG I ever played.

3. FFXI. Most time I've ever spent on an online game next to D2.

[Charismatic]

It's by far my favorite RPG, and it just pisses me off to no end that Xenosaga ended up the abomination that it was (granted I didn't bother after the first one

Your loss. you're missing out on a story arguably better than Xenogears. Gameplay, I can understand.

Unless Episode 3 is 20 fucking times better than Episodes 1 & 2 combined I just can't agree with you.

I played both, and due to the fact that I bought and disliked both of them (compared to Xenogears anyway, they were decent games alone but not as good as gears) made me not want to give them any more of my money.

In fact, I want my money back from Ep. 2.

If I couple play Ep. 3 for free, you bet your ass I would, but if I have to pay for it, fuck no.

[Vinen]

Isn't Namco x Capcom basically an SRT clone?

Kinda I guess... but it's more the complete randomness of the game. A bunch of Robots fits together nicely... but, you end up with just hilarious shit in Namco X Capcom. It's just funny to watch Kos-mos fight alongside Ken Masters and the main charater of Dig Dug.

[Kaylia]

It's by far my favorite RPG, and it just pisses me off to no end that Xenosaga ended up the abomination that it was (granted I didn't bother after the first one

Your loss. you're missing out on a story arguably better than Xenogears. Gameplay, I can understand.

Unless Episode 3 is 20 fucking times better than Episodes 1 & 2 combined I just can't agree with you.

What can I say to convince someone who doesn't want to like a game? Ton of people never gave the game a chance because it was not Xenogears. They wanted a remake, but once they realized it wasn't identical, they simply started crying for what it's not and gave up. If you tell me gameplay was a turn off, I won't argue with you because I understand perfectly. Xenogears was a beautiful game for its time, and gameplay was innovative for a rpg. Xenosaga I/II gameplay was nothing great.

What I noticed is that most players who dropped the series early never understood the story. Completing episode 3 generally fix that, and show you how complex the plot is if you didn't realized it by then. Every scenes, every events were important in the big picture, just like it was in Xenogears. Solaris, Soylent system, anima and omni gears, omega...all those thing a back to some extent under another name. Tell me, what made Xenogears' story so "much better"? Every elements and themes can be found in Xenosaga, and some usually go a lot deeper than they did 10 years ago. The script is [translated?] better, scenes are well animated beautifully and story telling is well done in overall. A less likeable cast of character explain it in some case, but until you get their whole backstory, I don't find it fair to judge them.

Is episode III "20 times better"? Probably not, but only an handful of people didnt like it. Most people who completed it place it right under or above Xenogears in their favorite games list, because that's where it should be. I personally loved the series for the same reason I loved Xenogears: deep story, ton of symbolism and hidden reference everywhere, complex universe with of ton of sidestory that can be found outside the main game, and more importantly, it fill a huge gap in Xeno multiverse (the one pre eldridge crash).

[Zilong]

I think we've had this discussion before, I'll eventually pick it up...sometime in the future when I'm ready to reconcile with the fact that it will never be what I expected or wanted it to be...either that or when I get my PS2 fixed/buy a PS3, whichever comes first.

You're right, I can't let go the fact that it was not Xenogears, but for what it's worth, Episode I pissed me off THAT much.

I'd probably be more lenient in my judgment if it didn't tag the word "Xeno" on it, unfortunately I'm just a childish fanboy acting on my personal vendetta as far as Xenosaga series is concerned.