What is your favorite RPG?

[Vehemont]

I know I am probably going to get alot of hell for this but I am going to say Final Fantasy VII. I loved the characters, (Red XIII is my favorite, while Sephiroth is bad ass) the story was great, and the graphics were awesome for thier time. I got this game two years ago at Meijers for just $8. (Can you belive that, I wish I would have bought a couple more and sold them on ebay....I have seen an unopened copy of the greatest hits version sell for $125!)

I also enjoyed Final Fanstasy X, and I like both of the Kingdom Hearts titles for the Playstion 2. I like Kingdom Hearts 1 music and levels better than Kingdom Hearts 2 but the second one has more action and is more fun, so it is a toss up.

I am currently trying to beat Final Fanstasy IV advance (almost at the end; just beat the giant and I am back on the moon) and I am also currently working on Final Fantasy XII.

Ok my question to you guys is what is you favorite role playing game of all time and discuss why you think it is the best!

Good Luck!

[David J.]

Dark Savior, and the Oasis games on the Genesis/Saturn. Those are the only RPG's I can stand. I like sports games, more than I do RPG's.

If I see one cheap, I'll get it for the collection.

[Zebbe]

Phantasy Star IV. I love almost everything about it - the graphics, the music, the battles, the story, the cyber atmosphere, the ending of the tr00 Phantasy Star saga, the lack of 3D... Minor things I don't like about it: the music in Tonoe and the shops, Boris Vallejos horrible box art and the traditionally lousy PAL conversion (which don't affect me, though). It is the best game ever.

[TheGZeus]

Chrono Trigger hands down.
It took me years of trial and error to get 10 of the 11 possible endings.
Got the last one with the internet.

[Drixxel]

Of all-time, eh? Tough call. I'm impulsively inclined at this moment in time to go with...

King's Field: The Ancient City

A game not without its flaws, but the atmosphere is second to none. Extreme immersion and mood, enough to overshadow the somewhat shallow nature of combat and sluggish controls. I find it difficult to communicate entirely why I like this game so much.

Some Distinctive Honourable Mentions:

Diablo
Earthbound
Fallout 2
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy Legend 2
Final Fantasy Tactics
King's Field 2
Monster Rancher 2
Phantasy Star II
SaGa Frontier
Soul Blazer
Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door
Secret of Mana
System Shock 2

[RedComet]

That's a tough one. I'd say my favorite comes down to a tie between Final Fantasy 3 (the Famicom one) and Final Fantasy 5. I absolutely love the job systems in those two games. Fairly customizable, but not so much that you have to break the DnD dice and a calculator to "get it right". Story wise, Final Fantasy 10 is my absolute favorite.

[Dartagnan1083]

oh god, it's a bit hard for me, so I'll list off 5 off the top, along with 5 hopefuls

-Lunar: Eternal Blue (SCD version, not the painfully easy remake)
Great characters, fun and balanced gameplay, non-generic story (for the time at least).


-Chrono Trigger
Great battle system, good story, decent characters (NOT-Goku contributes nothing aside from damage in battles) and multiple endings

-Phantasy Star IV
for the reasons stated by Zebbe

-Suikoden III
I honestly loved this game (while so many whined about the difficulty and the move from 2d). I can't begin to tell you how good the game is when you give it an honest chance.

-Shin Megami Tensei: NOCTURNE
Challenging gameplay, interesting characters (in their motivations, as for the demons; I like the fact that you're essentially recruiting all sorts of characters from mythology and folklore), and a quest that essentially sucked 100 hours out of my life.



Now for hopefuls;

-Koudelka
While the graphics are sub-par these days, and the gameplay initially confusing; This game packs one of the best narratives I've yet witnessed in an RPG. It's also one of the better H.P. Lovecraft inspired games I've played. The enemy isn't some generic super-villain out to control the world for revenge, it's simply something THAT SHOULD NOT BE. A great story, character depth, and atmosphere stack up for a nice package.

-Tales of Symphonia
Despite the generic plot, the gameplay and zany nature of the game kept me going.
It felt nice and fun, and the characters (while irritating at times) never really took away from my enjoyment of the game (unlike some others *COUGH*FFX*COUGH*).
Managed to suck about 75 hours out of my life, which is typically rare these days.

-Chrono Cross
Not quite in the same vein as its predecessor, but deserves praise for JUST the Soundtrack and the art direction.

-Skies of Arcadia
Runner up only because of random battles, a few drawn out dungeons and basic, cliche ridden plot. Otherwise a genuinely fun and fulfilling experience.

-Suikoden V
A nice game, but doesn't quite match up to III. The plot contains one of the better villains in the franchise, and actually seems to indicate Konami [properly] listening to complaints about part IV (and in some way, to III). But it feels drawn out and rather easy. The main character is also VERY unappealing, and is also far blanker than the protagonists from previous games (excepting III, which had active protagonists as opposed to silent ones).
But the game does get extra points for giving you the ability to turn off the voice acting.


you might have noticed that there isn't much room for squaresoft in my list.
That's because they just don't hold that much appeal for me.
I can't get over the way FF games are advertised either, they put all their marketing into the cut-scenes rather than the gameplay (which never really excited me in this franchise as much as in others).
I haven't finished FF-VI yet, but it was by far the most hopeful one I played.
I won't rag on anyone for liking FFVII, but I will still question why. . .especially since my friends that HAVE completed it (my own copy is defective) told me to stay away (since the GOOD characters add up to; an obnoxious prick of a swordsman, an emo-rific undead gunman, a Mr. T ripoff, and a wife beating astronaut).
I hear more bad things from gamers whose taste I respect, with 90% of the good things coming from people that post random fanfics in gaming forums (and don't game that often to begin with).

[GeckoYamori]

I'd say Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge.

[Rodger]

Chrono Trigger. One of my favorite games of all time. I normally don't care for rpgs too much, and these days I don't have much time for them, but I loved this game when it came out, and I even play it from time to time these days. This needs to come to the wii's virtual console, but I hear there are licensing issues.

[Joe Redifer]

Phantasy Star
Phantasy Star IV
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
Shenmue
Shenmue 2
Ys
Ys 2
Ys 4
Ys 6
...maybe more.

[Necrocheese]

There are many as I enjoy rpgs. But if i have to pick one, its Shining Force.

[InternalPrimate]

Lunar 2 Eternal Blue
Final Fantasy VI (III in the US)
Skies Of Arcadia
Phantasy Star IV

[nate]

Skies of Arcadia. A bit too silly, a bit too cliche, and a bit too shallow... but for whatever reason I had an absoute blast with it. Plenty of exploration, the beautiful blue sky, and battleships are cool, but what makes it truely great is intangeble.

My runner ups are Panzer Dragoon Saga and Final Fantasy VIII, but I tend to like almost any RPG.

[wayne919]

hard question but top five def

-Chrono Trigger
-FFVII
-Skies of Arcadia
-Lunar Silver Star Story complete
-Grandia

[Mendicant]

Final Fantasy IV. (Final Fantasy II for the SNES, re-released as Final Fantasy IV on the PS.)