NETHACK baby! Runs on practically calculators, and hard as a bitch to beat! You will love this game. Just do a search online for it. Best thing? Absolutely free!
Fallout 2. The best game ever made in the history of games.
FF3 on SNES was a great time too though. But nothing compares to Fallout 2
What, nobody ever owned a Sega genesis? Where are the nominations for the Shining Force series? I think Shining Force 2 at least ought to make the top 10.
I still think that FF7 is number one though. Great story from start to finish, excellent game all around.
Whoops, sorry Chocobo… didn’t see you mention SF. You have good taste. ( By the way, a new SF game is on the way for GB advance…)
FF6, baby. Someday, someday, I’m going to learn how to program and do 3D animation and I’m going to remake this game… but with MORE stuff. The Magitech research facility was too small!
I really, really enjoyed Wizardry 8. The interface was superb, the environments were really cool, nice graphics for an RPG, and it naturally had all of the Wizardry depth. The plot was a little lacking, though.
I liked Clouds of Xeen, Darkside of Xeen, and World of Xeen in the Might and Magic series. The first was a stand alone game, as was the second. If you installed BOTH, then you got World, which had some quests that really overlapped well. Think a really big and cool expansion pack. Or maybe an Easter Egg. It was hella neat either way.
Of course, Baldur’s Gate II with the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack made me tear up at the end. Seriously. What an ending for noble Keldorn the Paladin.
Quix
P.S. Console RPGs gobble smeg.
Never had a Genesis. But I have an emulator of it along with Shining Force. However, I’ve barely played it.
Arcanum - this is my favorite. Any of you who loved Fallout or Fallout 2 but haven’t tried Arcanum should rush out and get it, NOW. It’s basically a big open-ended adventure like Fallout 2 but better in almost every way.
Fallout 2 - a true classic that every RPG lover should own. It has almost as much replay value as Arcanum (though not as complex as Arcanum’s it is still very well done) and is superior than Arcanum in ways I can’t quite put my finger on.
Pool of Radiance - this game blew me away when I played the NES version of it. Remarkably open-ended for it’s time, it got a lot done with it’s fairly primitive technology. I would love to play a remake of this, all game mechanics exactly the same but with updated graphics and interface.
Baldur’s Gate 2 - this game provides hours of entertainment. It has about the same mix of exploration, questing, and tactical combat as Pool of Radiance, though the format is completely different (realtime/turn-based hybrid combat insead of strictly turn-based and an overhead view instead of the first-person view of PoR). It has it’s flaws, but it’s still a great game.
Deus Ex - I believe this is far superior to System Shock 2, which felt more like an FPS with role-playing elements tacked on. Deus Ex has more open-ended gameplay (multiple solutions for various problems), dynamic interaction with NPCs, interesting and realistic environments, and a far more logical skill system - in SS2 having a low skill in something makes it impossible for you to attempt certain tasks, which seems terribly illogical sometimes - for instance, the most combat-oriented character you can make is unable to use a shotgun at the beginning of the game. In Deus Ex lacking skill makes tasks more difficult, but usually not impossible - you can use any weapon regardless of your skill, but you will be a lot more effective with it if you put experience points into it. I never finished this game because I kept restarting with different character concepts, and it’s full of great action-movie moments.
Ancient Domains of Mystery - a Rogue-like game with ASCII graphics, not unlike NetHack but far superior in my opinion. You can create a wide variety of characters (200 race/class combinations and that doesn’t even take into effect your star sign), there is an overland map and a basic storyline to tie the various vast dungeons together, and basically is what I would make if I had the programming skill to do it.
My votes:
Fallout and Fallout 2. Both Excellant games. My only grip is that
Fallout 2 limited non-combat options for the player(IE Fallout 1, you can beat the boss in three different ways, 2 of which don’t invovle fighting him. Fallout 2’s boss must be fought, and all you can do is take a few steps to make the fight easier).
(OTOH Fallout tatics was rather bleh. Fun if you like a lot of fighting, but other then that most of the skills were useless and some of the concepts violate fallout 2).
Final Fantasy 7: I love this game. It just feels so Epic. (FF6 is close, but misses out due to the horrible use of the World of Ruin).
Crono Trigger(Haven’t played the sequel): One of the best time travel games made so far, IMHO.
Enjoyed FF4 and FF5 as well.
I thought I’d drop back in and I have to say I’m surprised how few people listed Tales of Phantasia .
If you liked Final Fantasy VI, you will love Tales of Phantasia. I’m telling you people, this game is unbelievable. I have played Final Fantasy 1-9 and this is better than any of them.
It was made by Namco right at the end of the SNES. It features amazing music, voice acting(the only SNES game with it), and a song with actual singing as well!
It has great gameplay, the best plot I’ve ever seen(your jaw will drop to the floor), and wonderful charachters.
The SNES was an amazing system for RPG’s and this is the best one on it.
It was never released in the U.S. for the SNES and they released a changed version for the PSX.
BUT WAIT!!! You can download the SNES rom and get a translation for it from www.dejap.com.
It is fully translated and done so wonderfuly.
Believe me, I never plug games but I am this one! Check it out!
For me, the three best CRPG’s have been:
Ultima IV Yeah, I know, a lot of people didn’t like it, but it was the first game that had more than just ‘solve the puzzle/kill the monsters.’ Your actions had consiquences.
Wizardry I The original first person game. Still love it.
Baldurs Gate Just plain fun.
The best RPG games ever were both for the NES. Of course I’m talking about Deja Vu and Uninvited. I’d be surprised if ANY of you remember these games (I was very young when they were released), but I used to take great pleasure in renting both of them and spending the whole weekend with them. Deja Vu was about a guy who wakes up with total amnesia, and has to put his life back together. Yes, it was a mystery RPG. Uninvited was a supernatural RPG in which the main character tries to find his wife in a haunted house. I’m describing them terribly because it’s been over ten years since i played them, but god what fun. If anyone knows whether or not these games can still be found, please let me know. Nostalgia has taken hold.
In addition to everything everybody else mentioned, I’d also like to throw in Front Mission 3 for more mech-based goodness. It’s not the longest game, maybe 80 hours total, after playing through both story lines. But the combat system is great and it has great graphics (for a PSX game). Oh, the storylines are pretty good too. 
HP Ellison: I remember Deja Vu and Uninvited. I also remember Shadowgate and Deja Vu II, both by the same company and using the same engine. I wouldn’t call any of them role playing games, since there was no character building or (except for the Deja Vu games) character interaction, just a string of puzzles, most of them (especially Uninvited) brutally difficult and randomly fatal. Not terribly good games, really, but I spent hours on them when I was a young’un. Found them on some abandonware sites recently, enjoyed playing them for a day or so for the nostalgia, but excepting the two Deja Vu titles, they were not very good games. I won’t post the address of the site I got them off of, as the mods frown on that sort of thing, but I’ll drop you an e-mail.
Let’s not forget about Progress Quest. It’s strangely – hypnotic.
what, did no one play the phantasy star series? c’mon, phantasy star 4 was the best RPG of it’s day!
What? No one’s mentioned Dink Smallwood? Truly a classic game and its free!
Actually, I was half-tempted to bring up Phantasy Star Online which had me addicted to playing for quite some time… and I mean addicted. I’ve never gotten so absobed in playing a game before. Rather mindless play that was sorta light on story (rather it was totally non-linear), though some of the online missions were pretty intense.
But I don’t even touch it anymore. Actually, though, I am looking forward to the “new” one on the GameCube, but it depends on how they get the online play worked out. I already pay for an internet connection, I’d hate to pay to play that game.
Anyway, my vote remains with FFTactics. I don’t know how anyone could beat that… there is absolutely nothing I would change about that game. I am still finding things in there!
Well, top that. No problem beating it.
My vote would go to…uh…Secret of Mana Series…I think that’s what it’s called…at least that’s what it was called in the Japanese version…I love that game!!
Also, I realized that the majority of you like the Final Fantasy series…but for some reason, I like ** Dragon Quest** like waaaaay more…I dunno…something about that game…I just love it…sure graphics wise, FF is like the best…but still, the simplicity and the playfulness of DQ gets my nod.
Reoch