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So my woman is heading for a week this Sunday on a business trip in London.

I'll get to live on my own for a week and will have the house to myself...... AWWWW YEAAAH




Gonna break out some RPGs and have some fun my 55 inch screen and order food in every day. I might even take a few days off.

So before I put on my list.... what are your favorite RPGs of all time?

Wizardry. But that's nostalgia.

Probably Daggerfall or Oblivion.

In order:
Ogre Battle
FF VI
FF Tactics
Ogre Battle 64
Chrono Trigger
FF IV
Suikoden
FF I

... everything else.

In no particular order:
Planescape: Torment
Final Fantasy IV
Secret of Mana
X-Men Legends 1 & 2
Titan Quest

That's a beautiful handful of cartridges Jay.

My list:
---------
Lunar: Eternal Blue
Lunar: The Silver Star
Suikoden III
Suikoden V
Suikoden II
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy IV
Chrono Trigger
Xenogears
Shining Force II

That's a condensed list, in order.

Final Fantasy IV (#1, hands down, for me)
Final Fantasy VI
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Mana
Mass Effect 2

Keep them coming folks, I'll compile some stuff and we'll take the discussion on a whole different level.

Fallout 1 and 2
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Planescape Torment
Star Control 2? (Sort of an RPG, more of a 4X game I guess, also a shooter and an adventure)
Final Fantasy 3 (6)
Morrowind
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

You know, it's funny with FF VI. Don't get me wrong because I flipping love it (see my list above), but I do have my issues with it.

For one, all the special moves that the game teaches you early on (Gau's animal mimicry, Sabin's moves, etc) are pretty much left aside in favour of magic by the second half of the game. The spells were, of course, much more powerful, so it was always a matter of training everyone on everything. You compare that with my #1 fave game, FF IV. Each of the characters' abilities were used right to the very end.

Two, I've always felt that, after Kefka destroys the world, the pace of the story grinds to a halt. Before, it was "Go here, then here, then here, then here" as you world trotted and the story never stopped. But then, after the world ends, the game becomes "collect all your crew, grind, beat Kefka". I felt FF VII kinda did this, too, after Meteor was summoned.

Again, don't me wrong because I love the game. It's probably got the largest, most ecclecic AND interesting cast of most video games.

I fold. Your hand is too good, Jay.

My Earthbound cartridge started crapping out on me after a while. I was lucky to beat the game before it refused to save anymore.

I don't know what to say with this topic, because a lot of my feelings are probably colored by nostalgia or referring to a story I love in a game system I merely tolerated. For example, as much as the story of Xenogears enthralled me, I would never play it again because it's just too much work. But here are some I love, as I recall:

Final Fantasy Tactics
Parasite Eve
Chrono Trigger
Radiant Historia

I have a hard time considering anything but JRPGs in this category--I love Fallout 3 and Dragon Age, but I have a hard time thinking of them as RPGs because they're so different than what I played as a kid.

Oh, two I forgot:

-Parasite Eve
-Actraiser (would...that count? I think it should. )

Earthbound will probably go down as my most beloved RPG of all time. I don't think it's the best one I've ever played, but it was my first and had a profound effect on me. If I had to play only one classic RPG for the rest of my life, it'd be Earthbound.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who loved Final Fantasy 8.

As it should be.

Everyone has already listed everything I wanted to say (and you already have super mario rpg lotss), so I'll just add the one missing: The World Ends With You.

It's a DS game, so you probably won't be able to play it, but damn if I didn't enjoy the hell out of it.

Oh, and anything from Bioware.

bhamv3 said:

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who loved Final Fantasy 8.

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I did. At least until the nonsensical time travel crap started coming up. I enjoyed the early parts of it.

Draw system was, in a single word, thefuckingworst.

Dragon Pass.

Frankie Williamson said:

Draw system was, in a single word, thefuckingworst.

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Ain't arguing, which is one of the many reasons it's not a game I'll probably never return to play.

bhamv3 said:

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world who loved Final Fantasy 8.

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I enjoyed it. FFX was my favourite of the newer Final Fantasys.

Gusto said:

I enjoyed it. FFX was my favourite of the newer Final Fantasys.

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Same here.

Though to be honest, most of the FFs don't have too great of gameplay in my eyes. The battles were really just in the way to me for nearly every entry except Tactics.

1. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
2. Fallout New Vegas
3. Neverwinter Nights 2
4. Deus Ex

First off, my list. I no particular order:
Shadow Hearts series (Koudelka, Shadow Hearts 1-2 are all one continuous story. From the New World wasn't all that good)
The World Ends With You (Great soundtrack, uplifting message that isn't corny)
Arcanum (Lots of depth... when it decides to work)
Final Fantasy 12 (Love the story in this)
Vagrant Story (Love the story in this even more than 12)
Final Fantasy Tactics (Once again, great story. All of the Ivalice Alliance titles do)
Wild Arms 3 (Awesome soundtrack)
Persona 4 (Less depressing than 3, with more control of your allies)
Pokemon series (Surprising amount of depth, considering the hardware and graphic limitations)

Ok, now to some comments.

ThatNickGuy said:

For one, all the special moves that the game teaches you early on (Gau's animal mimicry, Sabin's moves, etc) are pretty much left aside in favour of magic by the second half of the game. The spells were, of course, much more powerful, so it was always a matter of training everyone on everything. You compare that with my #1 fave game, FF IV. Each of the characters' abilities were used right to the very end.

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Gau's actually more powerful without magic than he is with it., thanks to some game breaking combos he can do. For instance, his Stray Cat lure has an attack that does 8x his normal attack damage to one target, making him absurdly powerful. Combine this with a Merit Award (Gau can now use any weapon or armor), a Tempest (Sword for Cyan that does Wind Damage and occasionally hits all enemies for wind damage), and maybe a Genji Glove/Offering + another Tempest... what you get is someone who can hit enemies very hard, very often with an element few resist and who can hit ALL OF THEM for the same amount of damage fairly often. For free. Plus you can put a Snow Muffler on him thanks to the Merit Award, giving him great defenses.

Sabin still sucks later on though.

Two, I've always felt that, after Kefka destroys the world, the pace of the story grinds to a halt. Before, it was "Go here, then here, then here, then here" as you world trotted and the story never stopped. But then, after the world ends, the game becomes "collect all your crew, grind, beat Kefka". I felt FF VII kinda did this, too, after Meteor was summoned.

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I think that was intentional in FF6. Kefka had already won... he controlled the world and had put terror into the hearts of even some of your own companions. At that point, what else can you do? You just look for your friends, ask them what they want to do, and the make sure your powerful enough to succeed. It makes sense, even if it's sort of depressing.

As for FF7... once Meteor shows up, the cast know there really isn't too much they can do to stop it. At that point, it's about resolving personal storylines (Barret, Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, Cait Sith, and Cid). Once they've done all of that, it finally dawns on them that maybe Aerith knew what she was doing after all. I'll admit that it's slow, but that stuff was necessary for plot reasons.

A well built Gau was the strongest character in the game. My personal favorite though was Celes.

Getting Gau the mini-meteor spell pretty much allowed him to decimate all random encounters. So he made a GREAT xp farming character. His boss damage left a bit to be desired vs alot of other characters, but I really did love wiping out groups of high yield xp npcs with him.

Really, only Sabin and Cyan lose their effectiveness in the World of Ruin. Everyone else has at least one good thing going for them.

- Terra has Morph, which fucks up bosses.
- Locke gets some really good equipment that lets him keep doing great physical damage.
- Edgar's tools are still effective, plus he gets some good Dragoon action going on later.
- Celes will hardly ever use Runic anymore (maybe against boss of the Mage Tower) but she still has great magic attack.
- Gau officially becomes a gamebreaker thanks to the Colosseum.
- Setzer gets some very powerful weapons in the Fixed Dice and Dice. Gil toss is useful sometimes.
- Mog's dances are still very powerful, he gets the best armor in the game, and he can do Dragoon stuff too.
- Strago's Lores still allow him some powerful effects. Grand Train works almost as well as Ultima.
- Relm's sketch is still useless, but she has the highest magic atack in the game, making her a great black mage.
- Shadow's throw lets him do some nice attacks with Imp Halberds and Tack Stars. Interceptor still rocks.

Sabin's Blitz lags behind because it's time consuming, prone to failure, and doesn't do anyhing you can't do better with Magic. Cyan's Sword Arts just take way too long for something that can be done better with a relic.

I never had a problem with Sabin's blitz. It doesn't take too long and by the time you get far in the game repetition has made his blitz techniques almost a sure thing. It is certainly true that magic outpaces his blitzes though.

my favorite RPG of all times.... WARSONG! (for sega) it is turn base, army tactic base RPG.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsong

I am sad that the others never made it to the U.S.

I think the only blitz I couldn't do with certainty was the 3/4 circle one, the air slash or blade or whatever it was called. I'd think I had it down and do it like 4-5 times in a row, then boom, back to being completely unable to pull it off.

- Knights of the Old Republic
- Mass Effect 1 & 2
- Fallout 3

Ravenpoe said:

Everyone has already listed everything I wanted to say (and you already have super mario rpg lotss), so I'll just add the one missing: The World Ends With You.

It's a DS game, so you probably won't be able to play it, but damn if I didn't enjoy the hell out of it.

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FANTASTIC game with a steep learning curve...cliff, really. (Do people ever get used to that control scheme?)

I'm a total sucker for the Dragon Quest games since I first played three on the Game Boy Color. Played the hell out of Sentinels of the Starry Skies recently - that one game justifies the DS's entire existence. Love the FFs, too. And I'll be one of the few to admit it - Pokemon.

Zappit said:

FANTASTIC game with a steep learning curve...cliff, really. (Do people ever get used to that control scheme?)

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I actually got pretty good at it. Beat the new game plus on hardest. You have to get a feel for the flow, and pass the puck as fast as you can.

Also, have you seen the pokemon threads on this forum? You're not one of the "few"

Ravenpoe said:

I actually got pretty good at it. Beat the new game plus on hardest. You have to get a feel for the flow, and pass the puck as fast as you can.

Also, have you seen the pokemon threads on this forum? You're not one of the "few"

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The puck isn't even that important unless your in a boss battle. Besides, it's easy as hell to break the game by just buying lots of food and abusing the DS internal clock to eat more food, thus raising your stats. Then you just buy whatever clothing you want.

Frankie Williamson said:

Draw system was, in a single word, thefuckingworst.

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Definitely. And I for one never really felt like the characters were getting all that much more effective as time and levels increased.

In FF6(III) I never had a problem with Cyan losing effectiveness. The Genji Glove does wonders for him, especially combined with The Offering.

Null said:

Definitely. And I for one never really felt like the characters were getting all that much more effective as time and levels increased.

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Really? I kind of abused the Junction system to make my characters into unstoppable killing machines.

Reading all this talk about FF6 strategy makes me realize I was a really stupid little kid. I couldn't figure out how to take advantage of Gau's rages (I even had trouble learning the ones I knew I liked when replaying the game). I stayed away from using magic (because I didn't want to run out of MP for healing!). I loved Sabin's Blitz moves, especially Bum Rush. I thought I was a genius for discovering that fire shields paired with Merton healed your characters while killing the enemy.

Null said:

In FF6(III) I never had a problem with Cyan losing effectiveness. The Genji Glove does wonders for him, especially combined with The Offering.

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So what your actually saying is that to make Cyan effective, you had to give him two of the best relics in the game? Just so he can do something he was supposed to be able to do without them?

Dayum, people get testy about their FF 6. I never realized.

Gusto said:

Really? I kind of abused the Junction system to make my characters into unstoppable killing machines.

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To be fair, I sort of stopped playing after the Prison bit. I just got bored of it.

My favorite RPGs:

Persona 3 FES - a very quirky game with honestly likable characters for the most part. A bit dark but fun and lots of replay appeal. For the Social Links, get the FAQ by Penguin Knight, you will need it.
Persona 4 - in some ways, better than 3. Has some funny moments that are honestly funny, not video game funny.
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age - yes, it's FFX's game engine in WETA's clothing. Doesn't matter, I like it quite a bit, and has a deeply underused feature of RPGs - that every piece of equipment on your character looks different and visually changes your appearance. That, and Evil Mode, should be present in more RPGs.

I'm currently playing Ar Tonelico 2 and Sakura Taisen V, both of which are really kind of odd but somewhat appealing.

Anyone know much about Rogue Galaxy? Been considering getting that. Other PS2 RPG suggestions are welcome.

Null said:

Anyone know much about Rogue Galaxy? Been considering getting that. Other PS2 RPG suggestions are welcome.

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Rogue Galaxy is Dark Cloud 2, if you got rid of the random dungeons (turning them into normal ones), made the Geo system a mini game for making items (you design a factory to make stuff), and it was set in Space. It's fun, but I honestly never finished it. I lost interest right near the end.

I never played Dark Cloud.

I also liked Star Ocean 2, though I never finished due to accidentally unlocking bonus dungeon, which boosts the final bosses' power ENORMOUSLY.

Star Ocean 2 was fantastic. I enjoyed getting to play Star Ocean the original on my PSP, to see where it got it's "growth" from. Seriously loved the deviantion in how secret characters were obtained in Part 2.

It'd be nice if they remade Star Ocean 2 with some decent voice-acting (most were okay, but some were excrutiating - I'm looking at you, Opera.)

Some that haven't been mentioned much yet:
- Suikoden series (V in particular for me)
- Quest for Glory series (largely adventure, but character stats and advancement between games!)
- Chrono Cross
- Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 (before it got all weird)
- Vagrant Story
- Xenogears
- Xenosaga series (I LOVED this story...gameplay is forgettable but LOVED the story)

Kingdom Hearts got weird in Chain of Memories, which is the second game. Hell, I'd argue it started getting weird the moment the secret ending plays.

Oh hey, the Golden Sun games haven't been mentioned yet. I loved those.

The Witcher 2 is well on it's way to becoming a new favorite. Anyone disappointed by the lackluster as all fuck Dragon Age 2 should hop on board. As long as your PC has the beef for it. Thankfully with new upgrades, mine most certainly has. Kind of disgusting the epic scope and detail CD Projekt Red pulled off with an 8 million dollar budget compared to the 25+ million that Dragon Age 2 cost. It's easily one of the best looking games ever made.

There was a game I loved playing on SNES but I've forgotten its name.

What I remember from it was it had Zelda-like controls, in that battle was all handled in real time. And everyone's souls or something had been captured by demons in various towns. As you fought dungeons and rescued souls, it would bring back more parts of the town. Shop owners who returned would also bring their buildings back with them, etc.

I remember one tough level involving a haunted painting in an art gallery.

Ring any bells for anyone?

ThatNickGuy said:

There was a game I loved playing on SNES but I've forgotten its name.

What I remember from it was it had Zelda-like controls, in that battle was all handled in real time. And everyone's souls or something had been captured by demons in various towns. As you fought dungeons and rescued souls, it would bring back more parts of the town. Shop owners who returned would also bring their buildings back with them, etc.

I remember one tough level involving a haunted painting in an art gallery.

Ring any bells for anyone?

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I believe you are referring to Soul Blazer. I used to have that game too. It was fun!

That's the one! Thanks!