A lot of people grew up with Super Nintendo's, and I think Phantasy Star as a series gets ignored a lot. Sega had some great RPGs on their systems, and this one should not be overlooked. The battles were fun and challenging, with combo attacks like in Chrono Trigger. You can even save macros so you don't have the tedium of just holding 'attack' through every battle. It also makes the pace of the game feel faster and smoother than any of its contemporaries. Got a huge trash mob in a random battle? Just use the Macro that combines Chaz and Rune's magic and you'll clear them out without having to select the spells and techniques from menus.
The story is also more mature than most of the games of its time, using elements like death, religious cults and the nature of humanity. The party travels between different planets in the Algol solar system, facing off against the cosmic horror of the Dark Force, which looks like it was created by H.R. Giger specifically to give kids nightmares. The characters are drawn in a fantastic late 80's / early 90's anime style, and are interesting and diverse. Humans, wizards, androids and a genetically engineered space elf join you on your quest through the game. The story is told using a lot of dynamic comic book style cutscenes, a technique so efffective I wonder why other 16-bit RPGs never used it.
It's also worth mentioning that the game was directed by a woman, Reiko Kodama, who also created and designed much of the game's field graphics. Ms. Kodama was instrumental to the series creation, designing all the characters and worlds of the first Phantasy Star on the Master System. As such this game is a perfect close to the unique mythology she began in the first game.
Ok, I'll level with you all. Final Fantasy 7 is actually my favorite game of all time. I only made Phantasy Star IV my highlight vote in order to give it more visibility, because we all know FF7 is going to be on the list. It introduced a new generation of gamers to JRPGs, and even made them really hot for awhile. More than anything, this is the game that built Squaresoft and made it into the JRPG juggernaut it would be for the next decade following this game.
And really, it deserves it. FF7 is unlike any RPG to come before it. While most RPGs of the time stuck with typical high fantasy tropes, this game pushed the genre to new limits, and is still ahead of its time in many ways. It seems almost too relevant that the game begins with you taking part in eco terrorism to save the planet from a greedy corporation sucking the literal lifeblood from the planet. It also dares us to question whether humanity as a whole is worth saving, or whether or not the planet would be better off without us. The theme of this game is 'life', and it shows. Nowhere else will you find such a range of the human experience in just one game. From prostitution, to homelessness, to mental illness to death and birth... it has everything.
I'd talk more at length about it, but you already know this game. If you haven't played it, do it now.
If FF7 was breaking new ground and pushing the genre to its limits, Lunar was its old fashioned counterpart. There wasn't anything specifically special about its setting, or game systems. It was just a classic fantasy RPG done very, very well. It also was on the forefront console technology at the time, utilizing the CD format to deliver almost a full hour of Production IG animated cutscenes. Most all the in-game cutscenes were fully voiced. And say what you want about Working Design's translation, you have to admit it had charm and personality.
This game is on the list mainly for the reason that it makes me happy. The story is a very simple one about a boy and a girl from a small town, and how they grow to fall in love over the course of their adventure together. The 2D sprites are colorful and charming, and the music is upbeat and full of youthful energy. Over the course of the game, the characters truly grow to feel like family. It may not have the edginess of games like FF7 or Vagrant Story or Xenogeas. But it makes me happy, and I hope you give it a shot.
I have never had a game utterly destroy my heart like this one has. There were some points at which I was so emotionally devastated that I couldn't keep pressing buttons and do what the game was asking me to do. The game literally had me crying in the fetal position, unable to go forward at points. Yoko Taro is a both a sadistic maniac and a twisted genius in the same vein as Evangelion's Hideaki Anno. If any anime fans are reading this and want a spiritual successor to Evangelion, look no further than this game.
The gameplay itself is fast and fluid, but the true star of the show is the game's story. The way it incorporates the game mechanics to tell itself maximizes the emotional impact to the player in a way that's never really been done before in a game. The 'hacking' mechanic is a great example of this. Anytime another AI is trying to hack your android's mine, you shift to a retro style mini-game, complete with chip tune music. On that note, it also helps that this game has probably the most beautiful soundtrack of any game to ever exist. Emi Evans' beautiful vocals feel almost otherwordly, adding to the beautifully sad tone of the game.
As it moves along it feels like there's just gutpunch after gutpunch, until, like the characters you're controlling, you feel as if you just can't take it anymore. This game is an absolute masterpiece in every sense of the word. It belongs on everyone's lists of games to play before you die.
Many compare great RPG stories with movies or TV shows. Suikoden II is one that feels like a truly epic historical novel. Its scope is both huge and small at the same time. It's the story of empires falling, of war and betrayal. But at the same time, it's a story about a group of friends and how that war tears them apart and changes them forever.
The game's three battle systems are a testament to that 'epic, yet intimate' approach. Most battles are of the traditional RPG variety, with a party of 6 facing down a small group of enemies. Yet when the story calls for battles between nations, it shifts to a strategy game where you command armies. And for the truly personal moments in the story, there's a 1 on 1 battle mode where one wrong move can mean instant death.
Over the course of the game, you collect 108 characters, building your castle village and adding to its culture with each new inhabitant. One of them unlocks an entire mini-game of cooking competitions, much like Iron Chef. Others unlock gambling mini-games. Another runs the inn, and still another the bath house. There's also some different branches the story can take, including different endings. The depth in this game makes the player feel they have a degree of choice over what happens, and like there's always a new discovery just around the corner.
Panzer Dragoon Saga is likely the best RPG you've never played. Released during the final years of the Saturn, so few copies were released that the game now goes for nearly 1,000 dollars on Ebay. That's right... 1,000 dollars. I kinda regret selling my copy for 400 back in college now. It was a critical smash hit, with many players preferring its exotic approach over that of the more popular Final Fantasy VII.
At the beginning of the game, you befriend a dragon who will be your companion through rest of the game. The dragon itself can morph into different forms, adding variety to the game's many aerial battles. The enemies themselves are strange and varied, and some of the bosses are both challenging and frightning.
The story takes place in a unique setting inspired by the work of the french artist Mobius. In spite of the Saturn's lack of technical power, the visuals are designed so effectively that you truly feel a part of this strange and beautiful world.
The soundtrack is one of the best in the genre, and it truly must be experienced.
Panzer Dragoon Saga is one of those games that feels like its art. If you've got the disposable income, it's worth landing a copy. It's easily the best RPG on the Saturn, if not the best game overall for the system.
The older you get, the darker the world seems. Sometimes it feels like no matter what you look, empathy is a sorely missed quality. Undertale is a small indie game that does what no other RPG does; it actively teaches the player empathy. The way that the mechanics of roll out this revelation is shocking if you approach the game as you would any other RPG by grinding through battles. Every single action you take effects the people around you in a very real way, until you learn just how horrible the consequences for your actions can be.
Combat is also innovative and fresh. Instead of using only menu based commands, small retro-style mini-games are used to determine the outcome. Some of these are asteroids-esque shooter games, while others feel like platformers. Each enemy is a puzzle unto themselves, where only the right sequence of actions will give you victory.
The true revelations of the story only come to you once you've learned how to overcome your confrontations without taking the lives of your opponents. And the tale that's told from that point on is heart-breaking; taking creative advantage of the game's format to weave a tragedy of loss and hope. This is one of the few rare games that can change who you are forever, and three years later I'm still in owe of how Toby Fox pulled this off
Notorious for its brutal, unforgiving difficulty, Dark Souls took the industry by world when it released seven years ago. Gathering more widespread attention than its predecessor, Demon's Souls, the game was something of a breath of fresh air for a great many gamers who had grown tired of quick time events and easy 'press x to win' mechanics. Its design is masterful in its simplicity, hearkening back to many of the smart minimalist choices made in the days of the NES.
Much like the classic RPGs of the past, you're simply thrown into a world with little explanation of your quest or what it means to the world at large. If you wish to find answers, it's up to you to explore the bleak, yet beautiful world around you and brave its dangers. And what a world it is. You're always just one corner away from discovering some new shortcut, or a weapon... or a horrible demon that can kill you with one swipe of its club.
The gamplay perfectly compliments its narrative, as well. You play as undead, cursed with the eternal life. Each time you die, the darksign curse takes you back to the nearest fire at which you rested. The 'hollows' around you are just as you once where, an undead on an adventure. The only difference between you and them is that all the death drove them to a state of animal like insanity when they chose to give up.
The online matchmaking system is also innovative. Players can choose to enter the worlds of other players, to either aide them on their quest, or to make their lives hell. At times, an invader can even stop your progress for hours. But as with the rest of the game, if you preserve and work hard, you will be rewarded for your persistence. There's absolutely nothing like the euphoric sense of accomplishment you get when you finally manage to fell a demon you've been dying to for days. As with most games on the list, it's a feeling you've just got to experience for yourself.
The thing that sets RPGs apart is the unique experience of stepping into a role and seeing the world through the eyes of its protagonist. Unfortunately for girls like myself, that role is all too often that of a wide-eyed teenage boy, eager to start on an adventure. Games like the Persona series are even more difficult at times to relate to. Much of these types of games focuses on dating, and other social interactions with the world from the perspective of a straight male. Being neither straight nor male, there are many points at which the game simply doesn't allow me to do what I normally would in a given situation. Sometimes I can ignore it and enjoy the story. Other times it's intensely frustrating.
Persona 3 Portable changes all of that. It's both a port and an expansion of the original Persona 3; but with a crucial change. It allows you to pick the gender of the protagonist you play as. Unlike Pokemon, this is not a simple cosmetic change. The way all the characters relate to and talk to you is very different depending on the gender you chose at the outset; as do its dating options. Playing as a girl allows you to pursue one (or more!) of the other boys around you, a feature that's sadly lacking in most games with female protagonists. You can even pursue something with another one of the girls, Aigis, though that path primarily relies on subtext.
Talk of gender and dating aside, the story is also very interesting. It's much darker in tone than the games that came after it, following the story of a club that kills 'shadows' when the midnight hour strikes. You and your team mates summon your Personas through shooting yourselves in the head with guns called 'Invokers', a design choice that I'm still surprised didn't have suburban moms everywhere clutching their pearls over. As the game progresses and you make your way to the top of the demonic tower Tarturus, the story follows many twists and turns until it meets its tragic end. Don't let the high-school anime trappings fool you; this is not an innocent game by any means. The cast struggles with real world teenage problems, from gang violence to sex and drug addiction.
The game itself is great fun and a huge time vacuum. You can spend hundreds of hours in this game, exploring all of its mini-games and social links. It's one of those games that takes the role-playing aspect very seriously. As a high school student, you've got to study for tests, pick clubs to join, take exams... it can all be pretty overwhelming, but cycle of progressing through your days is intensely addicting. I played this game mostly while going through a pretty bad illness a few years ago, and I could easily get absorbed in the game's passage of time so much that I'd hardly noticed six hours had passed in the real world. If ever you want to escape your own world and immerse yourself in another, this is the game to do that.
Final Fantasy's most successful spin-off to date, Final Fantasy Tactics deserves its status as a classic and then some. Along with its predecessor Tactics Ogre, it effectively popularized a new RPG hybrid genre that would come to be known as SRPGs (strategy RPGs).
Unlike the active time battle system of previous Final Fantasy games, Tactics opts for a slower, more thoughtful approach. Combat takes place on a large 3D map with square grids, enabling the player to hide behind structures to avoid attacks, or else gain the high ground to better take on the opposing army. It's almost perhaps the most perfect use of the classic Final Fantasy job system. Each of your characters can learn any skill in the game, from simple Black Mages and Knights to the more complex and powerful Samurai and Calculators. It also can be tough as nails, requiring you to be on your toes at all times. Well, at least until you get Thundergod Cid in your party, that is.
The story itself is ahead of its time. It's Game of Thrones in the days when most people didn't know what Game of Thrones was. Taking cues from medieval history, Matsuno weaves a compelling tale of political strife, class warfare, religious corruption, and a conspiracy going back centuries. The writing in this game surpasses nearly every role playing game made at the time, or since. It's simply that good. The art style is also unique, lending itself to the feel of the ancient days of knights, dragons and wizards. If you haven't yet played it, now's an excellent time to get sucked in and spend hours customizing your vast armies.
Probably the most 'controversial' addition to my list, but damn it... I can't help it. I love this game! It most certainly has its share of flaws, especially in the story's pacing. But what it gets right, it gets
really right. I'm no newcomer to the Final Fantasy franchise. I've been playing them since VI was known as III over 20 years ago, and this is one of my favorites.
Originally, I was going to give the spot to Kingdom Hearts 2. Then I realized that Final Fantasy XV has everything I like about Kingdom Hearts and more, yet without the baggage of Kingdom Heart's complicated lore. The game's action based battle system is fun and fluid. Combat feels quick and breezy, seamlessly transitioning from exploration. Being able to customize Noctis's weapon load out and switch from character to character makes each experience feel new, and the ability to chain attacks with your comrades adds some interesting strategy to the game. More than anything though, the sheer variety of animations in battle is simply breathtaking.
And the mini-games... oh the mini-games. The pinball game is fun in its own right, but I haven't gotten this sucked into fishing since I played Breath of Fire III. Normally I hate fishing, but this game had me until the wee hours of the morning looking for the monsters of the deep I'd yet to catch.
Yet the heart of the story, and indeed why the game is on this list, is because of its characters. Noctis is truly a one of a kind protagonist, and the writing allows him to experience a wider range of emotions than many of his heroic contemporaries. Seeing the young prince grow from a pampered, somewhat selfish boy into the king he was meant to be is a journey all by itself. And the friends who join him make it all the better. It would almost be better to call them brothers, really, and Noctis's relationship with them is what makes this game something special. Many role playing games play the 'power of friendship' cliche, but this game makes it real. What can I say? Those guys... are the best.
--VOTE INFO START—
<HIGHLIGHT VOTE– 4 points>
Phantasy Star IV
</HIGHLIGHT VOTE– 4 points>
<FULL POINT GAMES – 2 points>
Final Fantasy 7
Lunar: Silver Star Story (Complete)
Persona 3 (Portable)
Suikoden 2
Dark Souls
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Final Fantasy XV
Nier Automata
Final Fantasy Tactics
Undertale
</FULL POINT GAMES – 2 points>
<HONORABLE MENTIONS – 1 point>
Nier
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy VI
Phantasy Star
Pokemon Gold/Silver
Parasite Eve
Kingdom Hearts 2
Xenogears
Chrono Cross
Final Fantasy VIII
</HONORABLE MENTIONS – 1 point>
--VOTE INFO END--
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