Best. RPG. Ever.

[Aussie2B]

I haven't played many RPGs, as I shy away from the Square Enix games, because I find their gameplay very boring and tedious, and the plots ridiculous and terrible.

You know, Square Enix is just a publisher. They've released games created by dozens of developers with vastly different approaches to gameplay and storytelling. And even if you hated all of the games from all of those companies, you wouldn't be safe avoiding Square Enix since Square Enix isn't always their publisher. Just for example, the upcoming tri-Ace game Resonance of Fate is being published by Sega, but usually their games are published by Square Enix. You'd be better served determining which particular developers you dislike and avoiding them rather than a publisher as a whole.

[Fuyukaze]

Best RPG ever? That one's easy and I'm surprised no one's said it.
It's what ever I'm currently playing. Atleast, that's the best one to me. I figure if a game's good enough to keep me playing, it's gotta be better then what ever I stoped playing.

[Arkhan]

Best RPG ever? That one's easy and I'm surprised no one's said it.
It's what ever I'm currently playing. Atleast, that's the best one to me. I figure if a game's good enough to keep me playing, it's gotta be better then what ever I stoped playing.

unless that game is FF12. :-D

I only kept playing it for the sake of finishing it since I couldn't return it to the store. lol

[KingYoshi]

unless that game is FF12. :-D

I only kept playing it for the sake of finishing it since I couldn't return it to the store. lol

Final Fantasy XII is one of my favorite RPGs of all time. Loved the crazy amount of side quests (Marked Hunts especially) and the difficulty for some of the hidden bosses/enemies. Plus, it had a pretty difficult 100% completion which is always good. I've always been a 100% completion guy when it comes to RPGs. The mass amount of content packed into FFXII made it one of my all-time favorites. The main story wasn't bad either, a bit political, but good enough. Never understood why so many people complain about it. If you don't like the gambit system...don't use it. Don't like the Quickenings...don't use them. As for no random battles, random battles have always been my least favorite staple in (most)RPGs.

Anyway...best RPG of all time is, of course, FFVII. I would also suggest the Suikoden series, the Persona series, Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger. Along with the rest of the FF series, of course.

[Arkhan]

My big gripes about FF12 are the liscense grid which was poorly thought out to be honest. It irritated me.

Also, Vaan is a pansy. Hes just a giant whiney wimp. I wish the game revolved around Fran and Balthier instead. Vaan was the biggest reason I couldn't take the game for long sittings.

the quickening/gambits/general battle system, story, art style, and everything were great though!

even if it did feel like I was playing FFXI without the freedoms involved with an MMO. :-D

I hope FF13 recycles some of 12 and brings back more badassed main characters. Tidus McWhiner looks like a hardened green beret compared to Vaan! >_<

[Natty Bumppo]

For me it has to be Dark Wizard for the sega cd. The game has an amazing replay value and tons of secrets to discover. The only real drawback is an AI that is generally dumber than a box of rocks - but that is a problem that most console AI strategy games fall prey to - some may camoflage it by hook or crook - but they still suffer from it.

Vandal Hearts II (for the PS) would have supplanted Dark Wizard for me - it had a lot of interesting ideas it implemented - but that sucky battle system doomed it to being a game that coulda/shoulda been great rather than just pretty good.

[carlcarlson]

My big gripes about FF12 are the liscense grid which was poorly thought out to be honest. It irritated me.

Also, Vaan is a pansy. Hes just a giant whiney wimp. I wish the game revolved around Fran and Balthier instead. Vaan was the biggest reason I couldn't take the game for long sittings.

the quickening/gambits/general battle system, story, art style, and everything were great though!

even if it did feel like I was playing FFXI without the freedoms involved with an MMO. :-D

I hope FF13 recycles some of 12 and brings back more badassed main characters. Tidus McWhiner looks like a hardened green beret compared to Vaan! >_<

I loved ff12 but I actually agree with all this. Vaan bugged me quite a bit, but the grid system was my biggest gripe as it didn't seem well thought out at all. About 1/2 through the game I was pretty much done unlocking the things I needed and was just filling out the rest for the sake of filling it out. It really killed some of the excitement of gaining a new level.

[Arkhan]

the license grid made no sense to me to be honest. You need to unlock the ability to wear armor?

http://media.photobucket.com/image/vgcats%20ff12%20license/kobh/vgcats-FFXIIlol.jpg

This pretty much sums it up.

At least the sphere grid which I wasn't a fan of at the time, allowed for customizing and at least made SENSE

[Nate Nanjo]

I've tried to play FFXII 3 or 4 times, but died out quickly for me. Usually in the Mountain area each time.

Anyways, my personal favorite RPG is Persona 2, both Eternal Punishment and Innocent Sin. Suikoden II, Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics are quite high for me also.

[Jehusephat]

Good time to mention the fact that I've been grooving pretty well lately on Shining Force CD. Surprisingly good plot so far, although I'm just finishing Book 1.

SFCD doesn't get much mention but I find it's holding up quite well.

I was going to list this one as my favorite. There are better RPG/Strategy games out there, but for some reason whenever I find myself playing an RPG (especially a tactics-style game) that suddenly becomes so complicated or tedious that I feel like I need a walkthrough, I say "why can't they make games like Shining Force CD anymore?" I loved SFCD because it was easy to play, you knew when you were winning or losing (there wasn't a gray area where you were -technically- winning but missing all of the secrets that would somehow make the game much more rewarding or enjoyable), and the music was fantastic. There was a good amount of character diversity, and the story was fun, if not totally predictable. The only game I've ever played that has come close to giving me the same kind of lighthearted strategy experience is Jeanne d'Arc for the PSP, and I played that game to death, too.

Shining Force CD wins the award for being the best RPG/strategy game you can enjoy in its entirety without a walkthrough, in my opinion. It's my favorite Shining Force game, too.

I had a lot of fun playing Skies of Arcadia on my Dreamcast, also. It isn't the best RPG, but it's one of the most memorable.

Nethack is the best RPG, though. I haven't played it in years because... I have an addiction to it. That, and when I spend days playing it, only to die for some stupid reason, I tend to become very depressed and withdrawn. I tend to play simpler, shorter roguelikes these days, because the pain of losing is lessened.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I can't pick just one be here are some of my favs

Dragon Warrior 1, 7
Dragon Quest 8
Beyond The Beyond
Breath Of Fire 3, 4
Wild Arms
Grandia
Lunar 1, 2
Suikoden 1, 2
Final Fantasy 9
I'm currently playing Dragon Quest 4 on the DS and loving it.

[Ricochet]

Nethack is the best RPG, though. I haven't played it in years because... I have an addiction to it.

Hi Jehusephat. It looks like you've made your first big step (admitting you have a problem). We know how tough that is, but we want you to know that with regular group therapy and faith in jesus christ, it's possible you may someday live semi-normally again. How's that sound?

[pocketgamer]

I can't pick just one be here are some of my favs

Dragon Warrior 1, 7
Dragon Quest 8
Beyond The Beyond
Breath Of Fire 3, 4
Wild Arms
Grandia
Lunar 1, 2
Suikoden 1, 2
Final Fantasy 9
I'm currently playing Dragon Quest 4 on the DS and loving it.

I'm going with you, the first one I remember playing was Breath of Fire II for the snes I was mesmorized by the animation and intrigued by the story of courage. After this game I moved onto Lufia II, Breath of Fire 3 just when I thought it couldn't get any better it did. then Wild Arms, Final Fantasy VII I currently own all the Final Fantasys. I have to say the Greatest Rpg maker definitely goes to square enix.

Not to mention the best tactical Rpg if you can even call it that tactics ogre the psx version, just love the branching paths along with the different alignments be it chaos or neutral and the customization of different characters is nothing short of amazing, there is literally hundreds of classes to choose from.

[Pk116]

The best RPG ever to me is Final Fantasy VI. The story and characters are so amazing!


The runner-ups are Final Fantasy IV, Suikoden and Suikoden II.

Honorable mentions go to Suikoden III, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall and Shining Force II.

P.S. I also have to agree that Everquest is the best MMORPG.

[Arkhan]

P.S. I also have to agree that Everquest is the best MMORPG.


Awww.. But Ultima Online tied in parts of the old games, and set the stage for everything MMO!

plus, its got gargoyles now!

:)

[kupomogli]

P.S. I also have to agree that Everquest is the best MMORPG.

I've played Imagine SMT, FF11, World of Warcraft, and Ragnarok Online. RO was my first and still favorite MMO, the only one I really liked.

Phantasy Star Online isn't an MMO, but if you guys stick that in there, then it blows even Ragnarok Online out of the water.

[vrikkgwj]

Planescape: Torment.

Anyone that has played it can agree. I don't really need to explain it.

[Zoltor]

I've played Imagine SMT, FF11, World of Warcraft, and Ragnarok Online. RO was my first and still favorite MMO, the only one I really liked.

Phantasy Star Online isn't an MMO, but if you guys stick that in there, then it blows even Ragnarok Online out of the water.

Yea, RO is easily the best MMO ever made, and still going strong. However you may want to try Atlantica online, It's actually pretty dam good, and I would say that, that is easily the 2nd best MMO ever made.

PS. I can't wait until the 3-1, and 3-2 jobs come out in RO.

I also pre-ordered the upcoming RO DS game that is coming out in Feb.

[Jisho23]

Props have already been given to it (I think) but Panzer Dragoon Saga ranks as one of my favorites. Given I've played so many of these dang rpgs, true originality is such a rare commodity that when you see it its hard not to take notice. Its just that this is a hard game to hold over people's heads (for obvious reasons, namely price-tag).

On the western side of things, DEFINITELY Planescape Torment and Fallout. Very different games, and great for very different reasons.

On the Japanese side of things (aside from obligatory games) I really adore SMTN: Nocturne. Dark Cloud 2 is a personal favorite (if only because it deserves to be recognized as a better action RPG than Kingdom Hearts), Soul Blazer simply rocks, and Phantasy Star II (is it obligatory? Not sure...).

On the oldschool side of things, Wizardry IV is (really hard and) hysterically funny. Certainly not the best in the series, but definitely the most unconventional.

[NerdXCrewWill]

For me it has to be Dark Wizard for the sega cd. The game has an amazing replay value and tons of secrets to discover. The only real drawback is an AI that is generally dumber than a box of rocks - but that is a problem that most console AI strategy games fall prey to - some may camoflage it by hook or crook - but they still suffer from it.

Vandal Hearts II (for the PS) would have supplanted Dark Wizard for me - it had a lot of interesting ideas it implemented - but that sucky battle system doomed it to being a game that coulda/shoulda been great rather than just pretty good.

I love this game! The one thing that bugs me about it is that it's way too easy. This is bareable in RPGs with lots of quick random encounters, but here it gets kinda rough. You have to have 30 minute battles that are no fun because they are completely one-sided. I found the solution is to handicap yourself and limit your troop count drastically.

The best RPG of all time is Final Fantasy IV. It often gets overlooked because of its simplistic gameplay and characters. Yeah, sure, the battle system is simple and easy, but not horribly so. The difficulty problem is avoided by staying at a low level, which also makes the final boss very fun. The game makes up for any lacking in the battles by presenting an amazing fantasy world with a massively epic scope. Critics always blast the game for having simplistic characters, but the story is still great in the same way as a mythological epic.

[The 1 2 P]

Whether you're one of them or not, what would you say is the BEST RPG you've ever played, and why? What makes an RPG a classic for you, is it storyline? Depth? Number of characters? Convince me that your favorite IS the best!

That would have to be Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 2 on Xbox. I haven't played many rpg's but this one is the pennacle for me. I played and enjoyed the first KOTOR as well, but KOTOR 2 had me much more emotionally invested in my characters.

The music was awe inspiring(I sometimes put the disc in just to listen to it), the controls managable(for an rpg), the action consistent(there was no long 10-20 hour wait to get to your lightsaber and force powers like the first game) and the story an excellent continuation of the first game. It is for all these reasons that I have been patiently waiting 5 years for an announcement of KOTOR 3. Sadly, that day may never come:(

[vivaeljason]

That would have to be Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic 2 on Xbox. I haven't played many rpg's but this one is the pennacle for me. I played and enjoyed the first KOTOR as well, but KOTOR 2 had me much more emotionally invested in my characters.

The music was awe inspiring(I sometimes put the disc in just to listen to it), the controls managable(for an rpg), the action consistent(there was no long 10-20 hour wait to get to your lightsaber and force powers like the first game) and the story an excellent continuation of the first game. It is for all these reasons that I have been patiently waiting 5 years for an announcement of KOTOR 3. Sadly, that day may never come:(

I'd love to say that I enjoyed KOTOR 2, but my copy was glitched to holy hell.

[grolt]

I have a fairly SEGA-centric realm of experience at this point with RPGs, but from what I've played thus far, these are favorites in order of appreciation:

Dark Savior (Saturn)
-Totally loveable, unique, simple and at the same time grand in scope. It has everything. The idea of having six different parallel stories that would develop depending on what you did at the start of the game made for some awesome replay value. I can't say I've ever played any other RPG six times through...hell, I can't even claim half that! Landstalker was a decent predecessor, but this one took everything good about that game and expanded it into something truly epic. I don't know why more people don't talk about this game!

Final Fantasy VII (PSX)
-Yeah, a shallow fanboy pick, but I really think the sloppy kitchen sink story just encapsulated everything that's interesting with Japanese pop art. The story has lingered with me so much with all those dark industrialization Metropolis-style conjectures melded with cute, crazy and sometimes just downright bizarre Anime character stylings. It's truly one of thsoe wild games that can never be emulated. The mini-games and side quests are great, and it's one of the few games where just getting lost in the world is as rewarding as advancing the story. It was the first FF game I ever played, and despite claims by others that it's populist crap compared to the others, I still haven't played a better FF after mining a good half of the FF catalog by this point. Sometimes there is reason to the most obvious pick.

Ys: The Vanished Omens (Master System)
-Initially the "run into shit" battle system seemed kind of limiting, but once you play it a bit the technique behind it is a lot deeper than your usual action-RPG. The music is beautiful and the sheer depth of the story really sets it apart from all other 8-bit RPGs. The writing is so good, too, from all the wordy NPCs to those fine books you find along the way.

Shining the Holy Ark (Saturn)
-This is probably the only dungeon crawler I have played where I haven't totally lost interest after the 1000th or so battle. The game always keeps the action fresh, and the menu/battle/inventory system is so quick and intuitive it really feels like a breeze to play. We're not talking pallet or texture swap dungeons here, either - each one is meticulously crafted with some pretty crazy obstacles that actually test the mind (rather than your character level). The music rules, the visuals are beautiful and the open city ending just caps this masterpiece off in fine form. Again, like Dark Savior, the game takes a good 16-bit game (in this case Shining in the Darkness) and improves upon it in every way.

Shenmue (Dreamcast)
-I don't know if this can really count, since it is so much more than just a traditional RPG, but what the hell. What I liked most about the game was that when it finally ended, I didn't feel as if I had completed a quest, but instead that I had just lived a portion of someone's life. Playing through it once is just touching the surface in this sort of life sim. You know a game is great when you actually look forward to going to work in the game. I loved piling boxes! The attention to detail was phenomenal.

[Natty Bumppo]

I love this game! The one thing that bugs me about it is that it's way too easy. This is bareable in RPGs with lots of quick random encounters, but here it gets kinda rough. You have to have 30 minute battles that are no fun because they are completely one-sided. I found the solution is to handicap yourself and limit your troop count drastically.

I once played it with an all hobbit army (using just enough non-hobbits to fulfill all the special quests/characters) - and I used Amon who has IMHO the weakest summoned creatures.

The beauty in the game is how much flexibility you are allowed in composing your army - and how large it is for one of this type of game. (And I love hex grid map games - especially when they also incorporate zones of control like Dark Wizard does.)

[PresidentLeever]

Console: FF7
PC: Fallout 2

:king:

[Hari Seldon]

Planescape: Torment.

Anyone that has played it can agree. I don't really need to explain it.

This.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

Fallout 3.

Maybe Diablo 2 as a runner up.

[Smashed Brother]

And Valkyrie Profile I believe is a better argument for games being art than even the usual mentions like, say, Ico and Okami. Thoroughly beautiful in storytelling, music, portraits, even the innovative combo-driven battle system is like performing a graceful dance. tri-Ace struck a moment of magic with Valkyrie Profile, which I don't think they'll ever quite replicate.

For me, Valkyrie Profile was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience (that I played many times over). One simply cannot say enough good things about this game; those of you who don't know will just have to grab a copy and play it yourself. Yes, this is the best RPG ever, not to mention one of the best games ever made; and yes, it is worth every single over-inflated penny that you will pay for it.