Another game that deserves some serious praise is Uncharted Waters: New Horizons for the SNES.
One of the first games that I think could be classified as a sandbox titles. You played the captain of a fleet of ships and could complete the game in a variety of ways.
You could succeed as a merchant and diplomat if you so desired, or explore the world and unearth treasures, or be a goddamned pirate like no other. It featured not only a number of mini-games (included card-based sword fighting, ship-to-ship combat, blackjack, etc.) but also had a huge cast of characters, six of whom were playable and had their own definitive personalities and intertwining storylines.
I could only find the cover of the PC Version, but I played the game to death on the SNES.
SNES: Earthbound
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Super Mario RPG
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Seiken Densetsu 3
Terranigma
Lufia 2
Breath of Fire II
Tales of Phantasia
Star Ocean
PSX: Breath of Fire III
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Lunar 1 & 2 (yes, I played the PSX versions)
Star Ocean 2
Arc the Lad 2
N64: Paper Mario
GCN: Paper Mario 2
Tales of Symphonia
I'd comment on PS2, but I have a HUGE backlog there.
It's disappointing, but not really surprising to not see a single mention of KotOR2. The last 1/4 or so of the game was unfinished and the ending did suck, but on a whole, it is a very good game. I'd even call it better than KotOR.
Wow. I was a huge Kotor fan, running through it twice back to back (90 hours) to do both light and dark, and I still wanted more.
KotorII consisted of one boring and arduous playthrough before I deleted it off my harddrive for good. Bad game, bad!
I do understand all of the flaws of KotOR2, and I acknowledge them, but I don't think they detract as much from the game as everyone claims. I know most won't agree that it's better than the first game, but I'll go into more detail about why I think it is because I'm tired and have nothing better to do.
To start, most of the story I found more intriguing. You're not just out to stop some guy with a very large ancient trump card and what you think your goals are, actually aren't. It all falls apart towards the end, I know, but I liked the rest enough to not let that detract from my opinion of the rest of the game.
Then there were the characters. I found them all a lot more interesting and better written than most of KotOR's. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of a lot of David Gaider's work on his characters, but I still think a much better job was done in KotOR2 to make complex, dynamic characters, especially Kreia.
And finally, there was emotional impact. To me, Obsidian did a lot with your PC that can't even speak to illicit genuine emotions. This may just be me using my imagination thing, of course, and that I can get very emotionally involved in my games, but even the conversation about your old lightsaber with Atton made me feel a little sad and morose and my character never made a single sound. The idle tapping on the galaxy map and her perceived distant staring at it were enough to tell me how my character felt, how I felt, as as I'm role-playing this exiled Jedi woman, I am her for the duration of my play time.
That was just the first example that came to mind, and KotOR1 had nothing of the sort. I love both games and I've played through KotOR1 8 times all the way through (all lightside :oops: ), but when I think of KotOR2, there's much more than just a fun game that I remember. I remember an involving emotional game. It has a lot of the strengths and a lot of the weaknesses that Planescape: Torment had, and that alone makes it great in my mind.
But I'm done taking this thread on this tangent. Sorry.
This is why I have to play males, because I can't relate to a female mindset very well, so I can't feel that level of immersion that you are describing. I just think lol boobies. I'm quite shallow like that and go out of my way to avoid it if I want good immersion.
Well, except for undead wow female rogues, they were cool and had an awesome sneak animation. And the boobies were gross so I didn't think about em.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
Game was seriously suffering from a lack of people being able to play it.
But it's easilly one of my top RPG's of any generation, Sega did a remarkable job putting the whole thing together.
Also, Dragon Force... I loved that game! So much fun and so interesting to find all the little details.
And I may be one of the few who liked it, but Dark Wizard on the Sega CD... simply because of the amount of variation you had in terms of things to do and find, it was great!
Lunar 1&2, also excellent as was mentioned. Vay and Popful Mail had their moments as well.
The Elder Scrolls games in general, awesome sandbox games.
To the person who said that the PS2 doesn't have memorable RPGs I disagree. I think the difference is just that people have become pickier since the 8 and 16-bit generations. Back in the day if you liked RPGs, you pretty much bought every single one that came out because there just weren't that many to choose from. Nowadays, there is much more to choose from and so people tend to be much more critical on their RPGs.
With that said, these are the PS2 RPGs that I think can stand with the greatest ones of past generations:
Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter - This game doesn't get the praise it deserves because of its name. Many fans of previous BoFs were disappointed that BoF5 was so radically different and people who didn't like previous BoFs most likely dismissed it without really looking at it. BoF5: Dragon Quarter is radically different than just about every other console RPG out there. It's the Vagrant Story of the PS2 but with substantially better gameplay than VS in my opinion (3 characters, better skill system, no frustratingly overcomplex weapon LV-up system). Fantastic music and superb cutscene direction round out that package. It sells for about $8 used at any Gamestop so if you haven't played it, you really have no excuse. (Oh and if anyone tries to argue that Dragon Quarter wasn't BoF5, I say that that's what the original Japanese version was called).
Final Fantasy X and XII - Opinion isn't united on these games like it used to be on the SNES FFs, but like I said earlier, I think that's due to the fact that these days, RPGers have a choice when it comes to games, whereas in the past, if you owned a SNES, Final Fantasy was one of the only quality series available. Personally, I love FFX and am considering picking up the International version sometime for the new grid sphere and did not care for FFXII. However even I can see that FFXII does a lot of interesting things and is an excellent game; it's just not for me.
Dragon Quest VIII - It's RPG gameplay in its purest and most classic form, but combined with some of the best graphics and music that the PS2 has to offer. This game owned my life for a week or two and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - The hardcore RPGers game. It's Pokemon meets post apocalyptic evil with the occult and mythology thrown in. Tons of customization available and insanely difficult on the hardest difficulty level.
Digital Devil Saga 1&2 - Shin Megami Tensei, but a bit more mainstream. Really, everything about this duo of games is either great or excellent. Has quite possibly the best audio of any RPG ever (fantastic music and the best dub job ever).
Suikoden V - The gameplay is a little clunky (mostly due to the load times), but as far as story and characters go, this is solid gold. Possibly the best political intrigue story of any console RPG.
I'd say those are the best of the bunch, but there are plenty of others I could mention that are nearly as good (the two Atelier Iris games, SMT: Devil Summoner, Wild Arms 4, Grandia 3 if you ignore its plot and focus on combat, etc.). Plus I haven't even touched any of the RPG hybrids like Action/RPGs or Tactical/RPGs such as Kingdom Hearts and Disgaea. Seriously, if you don't think that the PS2 has had one of the best RPG lineups ever then I think you're looking at past generations through nostalgia tinged glasses.
I am not sure, they were ok when they came out and really didn't age well. There's little to no strategy actually required in the first one. The second one is "interesting" to say the least. The dual move system is really goofy and I felt like I was exploiting the limited AI instead of any actual tactics.
The Best RPG of "I can't be bothered to read the op and the thread and realise the op wants this to be about console rpgs, or I just want the excuse to say a pc rpg beats any console rpg, in which case Im a twat" is Baldur's Gate 2/Fallout 2.
I didn't play chronicles, X-2 wasn't even a proper rpg in terms of running around finding new things in a world you haven't explored before. It was more like a quick giggle in the old woods. An expansion pack. Same as X in my book.
The caveat is that I have a few assumptions there because I haven't played all of them myself.
i dont understand how an rpg demands you explore a world you haven't explored before. the mechanincs, characters and plot were new.
I am not sure, they were ok when they came out and really didn't age well. There's little to no strategy actually required in the first one. The second one is "interesting" to say the least. The dual move system is really goofy and I felt like I was exploiting the limited AI instead of any actual tactics.
Quote could be true, I think theres been about 9-10 years since the first came out. It was also the first tactical rpg for the psx and I have a hard on for that genre (FFT being my favorite console RPG to date). It definitely could be true about the aging I just remember playing the first one the whole way through in a marathon session with two other friends since we didnt have a memory card. It was a blast nonetheless, the second one couldve been running off pure nostalgia.
Since there's already Secret of Mana on your list, you might aswell add...
Secret of Evermore (not the greatest jrpg ever, but still very awesome)
Instant Fail.
EDIT:i guess i should expand on that.
alchemy=fail. (unless you have a goddamn players guide on the first run..which, on the snes=fail)
2 player where one is a dog=fail.
goddamnit alchemy.
i fucking reserved this game because of my love for secret of mana and wept for my betrayal.
i would kill that game if i could.
Sul on
Who is the mortal I see every morning with more than a little bit he must be important
Nintendo Friend Code: SW-0689-9921-0006
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SNES/Mega Drive:
Phantasy Star IV
Shining Force
Shining Force 2
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Star Ocean
Chrono Trigger
PS1/Saturn/N64:
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Suikoden
Suikoden 2
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Tales of Eternia
PS2/GC/XB:
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Kingdom Hearts 2
Dragon Quest VIII
Makai Kingdom
My favourite RPG's of all time would be Final Fantasy VII, Phantasy Star IV and Suikoden 2.
Oh and I should mention that I still haven't played all the RPG's I would've liked. I haven't finished Vagrant Story, I haven't found copies of Vandal Hearts 1 and 2, Rogue Galaxy isn't out here yet and I haven't bought Suikoden V yet. A few of those would've probably made the cut.
Only one person here mentioned Warsong for the Genesis, and he never played it.
Am I the only one who knows the incredible awesomeness of this game?
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[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
wrote:
When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
Suikoden V - The gameplay is a little clunky (mostly due to the load times), but as far as story and characters go, this is solid gold. Possibly the best political intrigue story of any console RPG.
Despite your admiral appreciation of FFX, this comment completly obliterates any credibility you had or, indeed, might one day have had.
I would go into why, but then my response would likely be several thousand words long. In short though, the characters are infuriating, the story predictable and the ending ridiculous. There is no political intrigue, just a conventional set of events that take a while to unfold, combined with a couple of plot twists that, J.J. Abrahms style, make no sense. While I managed to complete it, I only did so out of a perverse desire to see how bad the storytelling got.
Needless to say, the 'bad' ending I got caused me to throw my controller across the room.
I have mentioned some characters in the Hate Hate Hate thread. That is all (anymore and I might start having the nightmares again).
Genesis/SNES - Shadowrun or Shining Force or Chrono Trigger
PSX - Final Fantasy Tactics or Megaman Legends or Wild Arms
PS2 - Final Fantasy 12 or Dark Cloud 2 (so biased towards this game)
I'm basically judging these games based on the amount of time and fun I had with each of them. Its hard to choose just one for each generation. Like picking out your favorite finger.
EDIT: oh, pc games (I guess this gets its own category for me)
Suikoden V - The gameplay is a little clunky (mostly due to the load times), but as far as story and characters go, this is solid gold. Possibly the best political intrigue story of any console RPG.
Despite your admiral appreciation of FFX, this comment completly obliterates any credibility you had or, indeed, might one day have had.
Or you know, it could just mean that we have different tastes in games. :roll:
NES:
Final Fantasy
Dragon Warrior III
Dragon Warrior IV
SNES:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
Dragon Quest VI
Bahamut Lagoon
PSX:
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Vagrant Story
Star Ocean 2
Suikoden 1
Suikoden 2
Chrono Cross
Xenogears
PS2:
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Suikoden III
Dragon Quest VIII
Final Fantasy XII
Xenosaga Ep III
There's some more awesome games I'm sure I'm forgetting, but those are all fucking fantastic.
i havent actually played it yet, but i figured Golden Sun would have made a showing by now.
I know so many people just couldn't get into it because of the insanely excessive dialogue, but I just love it so much. (I even eventually got used to the 10-minute cutscenes.) The battle system is awesome. You can "equip" as many elemental djinn to your characters as possible, making them your choice of several very powerful classes. Or, you can put all of your djinn on standby, which will downgrade your characters to their puny default classes, leaving them very vulnerable, but it's the only way you can summon the most badass creatures of elemental chaos your GBA has ever seen, which will do INSANE damage to bosses. Of course, you can also go anywhere between the two extremes. What's great is Camelot really kicked up the complexity in the second game by allowing you to summon djinn of different elements simultaneously, on top of giving you more djinn for more powerful summons and letting you switch out party members.
I also enjoyed being able to use psynergy (magic spells) outside of battle, to solve puzzles and work around obstacles. For example, you can cast "Frost" on a puddle and turn it into a pillar of ice, creating a stepping stone to get across a gap.
Is the original Phantasy Star for the Master System worth playing?
It was very good at the time. Graphics were fucking fantastic for the 8-bit era. And the first person combat was cool. Not to mention mixing guns and swords before other RPG's were doing it.
Edit: Also, there needs to be much more Shadow Hearts in this thread. Added to cool combat element (Judgment ring) and played out in a setting you rarely see...especially in a JRPG.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate: This game was huge. Even if you stuck to just the main story there was weeks of play time. Its one of the very few games were I really lost track of time. You know you've played to long when the light coming through the window is the rising sun instead of car headlights.
Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar: This is the game that really got me interested in games.
The Bard's Tale (Original)
Fallout
Fallout 2
Wasteland
World Of Warcraft
Guild Wars
Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords: I'll grant the it needed some more time to cook but I think people's expectations were to high. Despite its condition on release it is still a very good game.
Neverwinter Nights/Neverwinter Nights 2: The only truely endless single player RPG.
Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn: A pair of epic AD&D RPG's.
Planescape: Torment: One of the best PC RPG's ever.
Suikoden V - The gameplay is a little clunky (mostly due to the load times), but as far as story and characters go, this is solid gold. Possibly the best political intrigue story of any console RPG.
Despite your admiral appreciation of FFX, this comment completly obliterates any credibility you had or, indeed, might one day have had.
Or you know, it could just mean that we have different tastes in games. :roll:
No u.
(Seriously, that game infuriated me beyond belief. I will never, ever get over what it did to me.
Why is that an instant fail? The game was good, the only problem with it is that we never got a Secret of Mana II because of it.
This rumor has to stop. Secret of Evermore was not a replacement for Seiken Densetsu 3. SD3 was never being brought over to begin with.
Also, kudos to whomever suggested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It's like Vagrant Story except done right, and is orders of several magnitudes better than the previous BoF games.
Also, kudos to whomever suggested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It's like Vagrant Story except done right, and is orders of several magnitudes better than the previous BoF games.
Why is that an instant fail? The game was good, the only problem with it is that we never got a Secret of Mana II because of it.
This rumor has to stop. Secret of Evermore was not a replacement for Seiken Densetsu 3. SD3 was never being brought over to begin with.
Also, kudos to whomever suggested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It's like Vagrant Story except done right, and is orders of several magnitudes better than the previous BoF games.
It's nothing like Vagrant Story, except for the blatant and shitty ripoff of some of VS's style in the later areas, and similar music (same composer).
Also, it's a shitty game, and comparing it to VS is borderline insanity.
Also, kudos to whomever suggested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It's like Vagrant Story except done right, and is orders of several magnitudes better than the previous BoF games.
Posts
One of the first games that I think could be classified as a sandbox titles. You played the captain of a fleet of ships and could complete the game in a variety of ways.
You could succeed as a merchant and diplomat if you so desired, or explore the world and unearth treasures, or be a goddamned pirate like no other. It featured not only a number of mini-games (included card-based sword fighting, ship-to-ship combat, blackjack, etc.) but also had a huge cast of characters, six of whom were playable and had their own definitive personalities and intertwining storylines.
I could only find the cover of the PC Version, but I played the game to death on the SNES.
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Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Super Mario RPG
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Seiken Densetsu 3
Terranigma
Lufia 2
Breath of Fire II
Tales of Phantasia
Star Ocean
PSX: Breath of Fire III
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Lunar 1 & 2 (yes, I played the PSX versions)
Star Ocean 2
Arc the Lad 2
N64: Paper Mario
GCN: Paper Mario 2
Tales of Symphonia
I'd comment on PS2, but I have a HUGE backlog there.
Steam: pazython
This is why I have to play males, because I can't relate to a female mindset very well, so I can't feel that level of immersion that you are describing. I just think lol boobies. I'm quite shallow like that and go out of my way to avoid it if I want good immersion.
Well, except for undead wow female rogues, they were cool and had an awesome sneak animation. And the boobies were gross so I didn't think about em.
Game was seriously suffering from a lack of people being able to play it.
But it's easilly one of my top RPG's of any generation, Sega did a remarkable job putting the whole thing together.
Also, Dragon Force... I loved that game! So much fun and so interesting to find all the little details.
And I may be one of the few who liked it, but Dark Wizard on the Sega CD... simply because of the amount of variation you had in terms of things to do and find, it was great!
Lunar 1&2, also excellent as was mentioned. Vay and Popful Mail had their moments as well.
The Elder Scrolls games in general, awesome sandbox games.
With that said, these are the PS2 RPGs that I think can stand with the greatest ones of past generations:
Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter - This game doesn't get the praise it deserves because of its name. Many fans of previous BoFs were disappointed that BoF5 was so radically different and people who didn't like previous BoFs most likely dismissed it without really looking at it. BoF5: Dragon Quarter is radically different than just about every other console RPG out there. It's the Vagrant Story of the PS2 but with substantially better gameplay than VS in my opinion (3 characters, better skill system, no frustratingly overcomplex weapon LV-up system). Fantastic music and superb cutscene direction round out that package. It sells for about $8 used at any Gamestop so if you haven't played it, you really have no excuse. (Oh and if anyone tries to argue that Dragon Quarter wasn't BoF5, I say that that's what the original Japanese version was called).
Final Fantasy X and XII - Opinion isn't united on these games like it used to be on the SNES FFs, but like I said earlier, I think that's due to the fact that these days, RPGers have a choice when it comes to games, whereas in the past, if you owned a SNES, Final Fantasy was one of the only quality series available. Personally, I love FFX and am considering picking up the International version sometime for the new grid sphere and did not care for FFXII. However even I can see that FFXII does a lot of interesting things and is an excellent game; it's just not for me.
Dragon Quest VIII - It's RPG gameplay in its purest and most classic form, but combined with some of the best graphics and music that the PS2 has to offer. This game owned my life for a week or two and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - The hardcore RPGers game. It's Pokemon meets post apocalyptic evil with the occult and mythology thrown in. Tons of customization available and insanely difficult on the hardest difficulty level.
Digital Devil Saga 1&2 - Shin Megami Tensei, but a bit more mainstream. Really, everything about this duo of games is either great or excellent. Has quite possibly the best audio of any RPG ever (fantastic music and the best dub job ever).
Suikoden V - The gameplay is a little clunky (mostly due to the load times), but as far as story and characters go, this is solid gold. Possibly the best political intrigue story of any console RPG.
I'd say those are the best of the bunch, but there are plenty of others I could mention that are nearly as good (the two Atelier Iris games, SMT: Devil Summoner, Wild Arms 4, Grandia 3 if you ignore its plot and focus on combat, etc.). Plus I haven't even touched any of the RPG hybrids like Action/RPGs or Tactical/RPGs such as Kingdom Hearts and Disgaea. Seriously, if you don't think that the PS2 has had one of the best RPG lineups ever then I think you're looking at past generations through nostalgia tinged glasses.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
PSX:
Vandal Hearts 1 & 2
Really underrated, probably due to rarity.
Yes. Oh hell yes. The hours of my life spent tracking down those 108 stars...
Also, Chrono Cross.
I am not sure, they were ok when they came out and really didn't age well. There's little to no strategy actually required in the first one. The second one is "interesting" to say the least. The dual move system is really goofy and I felt like I was exploiting the limited AI instead of any actual tactics.
i dont understand how an rpg demands you explore a world you haven't explored before. the mechanincs, characters and plot were new.
Quote could be true, I think theres been about 9-10 years since the first came out. It was also the first tactical rpg for the psx and I have a hard on for that genre (FFT being my favorite console RPG to date). It definitely could be true about the aging I just remember playing the first one the whole way through in a marathon session with two other friends since we didnt have a memory card. It was a blast nonetheless, the second one couldve been running off pure nostalgia.
Instant Fail.
EDIT:i guess i should expand on that.
alchemy=fail. (unless you have a goddamn players guide on the first run..which, on the snes=fail)
2 player where one is a dog=fail.
goddamnit alchemy.
i fucking reserved this game because of my love for secret of mana and wept for my betrayal.
i would kill that game if i could.
Nintendo Friend Code: SW-0689-9921-0006
Why is that an instant fail? The game was good, the only problem with it is that we never got a Secret of Mana II because of it.
Twitter: Cokomon | dA: Cokomon | Tumblr: Cokomon-art | XBL / NNID / Steam: Cokomon
SNES/Mega Drive:
Phantasy Star IV
Shining Force
Shining Force 2
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Star Ocean
Chrono Trigger
PS1/Saturn/N64:
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Suikoden
Suikoden 2
Star Ocean: The Second Story
Tales of Eternia
PS2/GC/XB:
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
Kingdom Hearts 2
Dragon Quest VIII
Makai Kingdom
My favourite RPG's of all time would be Final Fantasy VII, Phantasy Star IV and Suikoden 2.
Oh and I should mention that I still haven't played all the RPG's I would've liked. I haven't finished Vagrant Story, I haven't found copies of Vandal Hearts 1 and 2, Rogue Galaxy isn't out here yet and I haven't bought Suikoden V yet. A few of those would've probably made the cut.
Bleh. It has too many flaws to make it one of the best games.
Hey, Hey, what about 7th Saga? On the NES? I think that's what it was called. Man, that game was crazy awesome.
Am I the only one who knows the incredible awesomeness of this game?
Seriously - I just threw FO2 on my machine and am enjoying it all over again...
"What the fuck are you lookin' at Tribal?"
*aimed shot to the groin*
Despite your admiral appreciation of FFX, this comment completly obliterates any credibility you had or, indeed, might one day have had.
I would go into why, but then my response would likely be several thousand words long. In short though, the characters are infuriating, the story predictable and the ending ridiculous. There is no political intrigue, just a conventional set of events that take a while to unfold, combined with a couple of plot twists that, J.J. Abrahms style, make no sense. While I managed to complete it, I only did so out of a perverse desire to see how bad the storytelling got.
Needless to say, the 'bad' ending I got caused me to throw my controller across the room.
I have mentioned some characters in the Hate Hate Hate thread. That is all (anymore and I might start having the nightmares again).
Genesis/SNES - Shadowrun or Shining Force or Chrono Trigger
PSX - Final Fantasy Tactics or Megaman Legends or Wild Arms
PS2 - Final Fantasy 12 or Dark Cloud 2 (so biased towards this game)
I'm basically judging these games based on the amount of time and fun I had with each of them. Its hard to choose just one for each generation. Like picking out your favorite finger.
EDIT: oh, pc games (I guess this gets its own category for me)
PC - Dark Sun -> Fallout -> Arcanum
Nintendo Friend Code: SW-0689-9921-0006
Ultaim VII
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II(US)
Shadowrun
Chrono Trigger
Diablo
Fallout (1 + 2)
Suikoden II
NWN
KOTOR
Morrowind
Oblivion
Or you know, it could just mean that we have different tastes in games. :roll:
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Earthbound
Chrono Trigger
Super Mario RPG
FF VI
PS1:
Suikoden 1+2 (2 was far better though)
Xenogears
FF VII+IX
Star Ocean 2
FFT
PS2/GCN:
Shadow Hearts 1+2
FF X+XII
Dragon Quest VIII
Suikoden V
Disgaea
Fire Emblem: PoR
Final Fantasy
Dragon Warrior III
Dragon Warrior IV
SNES:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VI
Dragon Quest VI
Bahamut Lagoon
PSX:
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy Tactics
Vagrant Story
Star Ocean 2
Suikoden 1
Suikoden 2
Chrono Cross
Xenogears
PS2:
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Suikoden III
Dragon Quest VIII
Final Fantasy XII
Xenosaga Ep III
There's some more awesome games I'm sure I'm forgetting, but those are all fucking fantastic.
I know so many people just couldn't get into it because of the insanely excessive dialogue, but I just love it so much. (I even eventually got used to the 10-minute cutscenes.) The battle system is awesome. You can "equip" as many elemental djinn to your characters as possible, making them your choice of several very powerful classes. Or, you can put all of your djinn on standby, which will downgrade your characters to their puny default classes, leaving them very vulnerable, but it's the only way you can summon the most badass creatures of elemental chaos your GBA has ever seen, which will do INSANE damage to bosses. Of course, you can also go anywhere between the two extremes. What's great is Camelot really kicked up the complexity in the second game by allowing you to summon djinn of different elements simultaneously, on top of giving you more djinn for more powerful summons and letting you switch out party members.
I also enjoyed being able to use psynergy (magic spells) outside of battle, to solve puzzles and work around obstacles. For example, you can cast "Frost" on a puddle and turn it into a pillar of ice, creating a stepping stone to get across a gap.
Golden Sun just deserves more love.
edit: I have yet to play FFXII
It was very good at the time. Graphics were fucking fantastic for the 8-bit era. And the first person combat was cool. Not to mention mixing guns and swords before other RPG's were doing it.
Edit: Also, there needs to be much more Shadow Hearts in this thread. Added to cool combat element (Judgment ring) and played out in a setting you rarely see...especially in a JRPG.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate: This game was huge. Even if you stuck to just the main story there was weeks of play time. Its one of the very few games were I really lost track of time. You know you've played to long when the light coming through the window is the rising sun instead of car headlights.
Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar: This is the game that really got me interested in games.
The Bard's Tale (Original)
Fallout
Fallout 2
Wasteland
World Of Warcraft
Guild Wars
Knights of the Old Republic
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords: I'll grant the it needed some more time to cook but I think people's expectations were to high. Despite its condition on release it is still a very good game.
Neverwinter Nights/Neverwinter Nights 2: The only truely endless single player RPG.
Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn: A pair of epic AD&D RPG's.
Planescape: Torment: One of the best PC RPG's ever.
Icewind Dale/Icewind Dale II: Action RPG's AD&D style.
No u.
(Seriously, that game infuriated me beyond belief. I will never, ever get over what it did to me.
You've made my list.)
This rumor has to stop. Secret of Evermore was not a replacement for Seiken Densetsu 3. SD3 was never being brought over to begin with.
Also, kudos to whomever suggested Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. It's like Vagrant Story except done right, and is orders of several magnitudes better than the previous BoF games.
Several orders of magnitude
It's nothing like Vagrant Story, except for the blatant and shitty ripoff of some of VS's style in the later areas, and similar music (same composer).
Also, it's a shitty game, and comparing it to VS is borderline insanity.
T-Nation blog
Agreed on all accounts.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Most true.