I Want to Play All the Best RPGs

Cafe Society
1

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve played various cRPGs. I never got into D&D or the like, though I played several CCGs when I was younger. The first was a Roguelike called Moraff’s Revenge (I didn’t hear of Roguelikes or NetHack until college) that I still find myself playing. (Nearly 20 years after first playing the shareware version, which I believe was capped at 17 dungeon levels, I finally registered that game and am currently able to get to about dungeon level 35 out of 70.) It has no plot and is a nothing but a hack-and-slash dungeon crawl. It was pretty much the same for the sequels, just bigger games. I play NetHack these days as well (though I admit I cheat.)

After that, I pretty much got out of RPGs and into platformers, adventure games, 4X games, and combat flight and space sims. All on the computer, as we didn’t have any consoles. Then 1997 rolled around.

In 1997, I finally got myself a Playstation. I also got Final Fantasy VII (hell, didn’t everybody?) I beat the game (twice!) and that really started me on Japanese console-style RPGs and got me back into RPGs in general. I eventually picked up FFI, FFII, FFIV, FFV, FFVI, FFVIII, and FFX. I also got Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Thousand Arms, and Orphen. I also picked up a Dreamcast (after Sega announced they were getting out of hardware) and got Shenmue. When the GBA launched, I got one of those and got a couple of the different Pokemon games as well.

Most of the RPGs I got at first were all on consoles. I also emulated a few games: Terranigma, Bahamut Lagoon, and Radical Dreamers. It wasn’t until I borrowed my college roommate’s copy of Neverwinter Nights that I got back into playing RPGs on the computer. Since then, I’ve picked up NWN and all its expansions and premium modules (obviously not all the user-generated modules), Oblivion, and Baldur’s Gate II.

However, even though I have all these games, it’d be faster to list the games I’ve actually completed: FFVI, FFVII, Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, NWN and expansions and modules, and Orphen.

Anyway, it’s already obvious that some games stick out as ones I know I should really pick up. The Zelda games, for instance. Baldur’s Gate and the earlier games in the Elder Scrolls series. Maybe the Dragon Quest series. Probably FFIX and FFX-2 (I’m a completist that way.) And there are several older ones, mostly on consoles, that I at least know of, like FF Tactics, the Harvest Moon series, the Lunar series, the Xenogears series, Legend of Dragoon, and I know there’s a slew of older D&D cRPGs out there.

Anyway, I’m looking for suggestions. Any platform, any type (except for MMORPGs.)

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For PC you just have to play Planescape: torment, Baldurs Gate 1/2 and expansions, Fallout 1/2. When people talk about the best RPGs for the PC no list is missing this titles.

3

The Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest series was always fun, along with the Final Fantasies. I loved DW III and IV for the NES, and my brother, an RPG fanatic, loves DQ VIII for the PlayStation 2 (and I assume DQ VII must have been good as well). He has also spoken highly of Earth Bound for the SNES (which went for a lot of money when I recently sold his old copy on eBay), Wild Arms, Xenogears, Xenosaga, and the Breath of Fire series that started on SNES and moved to PS and PS2. His quick review of Xenogears:

“It’s an RPG about giant robots. And killing God. With giant robots.”

4

On the PS1, the original Wild Arms was excellent, although the sequels let it down. Alundra (again the original only) was absolutely excellent if you like puzzle solving games, although the story takes a while to get moving. A rarer one: Star Ocean: The Second Story is difficult to find, but definitely worth a look - I’d say it was probably one of the best RPGs for the PS1 ever released (flexible skill system, multiple endings, very strong story, item creation system and exceedingly hard end boss).

Legend of Legaia, Shadow Madness and Parasite Eve (1 & 2) are reasonable PS1 RPGs, but aren’t as good as the ones mentioned above.

Of course, no PS1 best list is complete without Suikoden 1 and II - get them, play them, love them. 108 characters, long story, strategy elements, lots of free roaming, and politics (and Viktor and Flik).

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Final Fantasy Tactics’s lots of fun, and its plot is deliciously complicated.

Based on my experience, Final Fantasy IX and X-2 both fall short. You never now, though; they might get better after the point at which I stopped playing each of them.

Icewind Dale is another D&D-based game along the lines of Baldur’s Gate. It’s very hack 'n slashy. I haven’t played the sequel yet (even though I bought them both and the expansion for the first game in a bundle), so I can’t say whether it’s any good.

If you want something really hack 'n slashy, check out Diablo, Diablo II, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Dark Alliance II.

Neverwinter Nights 2 is very good; much better than the first NWN in my opinion. It has very high system requirements, even higher than Oblivion, I believe.

I haven’t played the first two Elder Scrolls Game, but Morrowind is very fun and extremely engrossing. You will probably get hundreds, possibly even over a thousand, hours of play out of it. Oblivion is also lots of fun, and is very pretty, but it doesn’t have the staying power of Morrowind. I haven’t played the expansions for Morrowind, but I hear they’re good. Be sure to pick up a version of it bundled with the expansions; you could probably still find it on store shelves.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and KOTOR II are based on the third edition D&D rules (well, Star Wars D20), and can be a good change of pace if you’re burnt out on high fantasy.

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Ultima IV - The Quest of the Avatar is my all-time favorite RPG. It was a groundbreaking RPG when it came out, and it still plays well today.

7

One of the best places for RPG’s is Iraq. According to this site:

Rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers cost 70,000 Dinars, or about $50, and their ammunition cost 50,000 Dinars each, or about $36.

This seems really cheap. When I was in Cambodia, it cost something like $200 to shoot a rocket propelled grenade.

8

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a great computer game, made by many of the same people who made Fallout 1&2. However, it does have its flaws. It is a true role-playing game in that you can make many choices as to how your character acts and accomplishes goals. Some are good, some are evil, some are neutral. If you can find it, it’s worth picking up, but you WILL need to install the official patch and the level 127 patch (the original game only goes to level 50, which isn’t enough).

You really need to finish FFVIII, IMO. The ending scene is fabulous.

I don’t really consider most console or computer RPGs to be true RPGs. But then, I used to play D&D/AD&D with other people in person.

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I’m guessing we’re all on the FBIs monitoring lists for posting here.

Yes, the Zelda games are great, if you pick up a Wii you can play them all either by putting the Gamecube discs in the machine or downloading the games online (except the Gameboy versions, or does the Wii play those too?)

Even if you can pick up an old SNES, N64 on Ebay, you can play them for relatively little, although Zelda is one of the more expensive carts for those systems.

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I prefer the more complete virtual worlds of the Ultima 6 and 7 games (you’d think there would be only two but that covers Ultima 6: The False Prophet, The Savage Empire, Martian Dreams, Ultima 7: The Black Gate with the Forge of Virtue expansion, and Ultima 7: Serpent’s Isle with the Silver Seed expansion). Detailed interactive worlds was something the game industry sacrificed in order to have 3d graphics. Only now are games starting to be able to have the same level of detail and interaction that they possessed in 1989.

But Ultima 4 was a quantum leap beyond anything that had come before it as well. There’s a reason that the Ultima series in general was the one that had nerds obsessing over it for more than a decade. And inspired their vicious rage at Ultima 8 and Ultima 9 so avoid those.

And staying with the older picks I’m rather fond of the tactical battles in the Gold Box AD&D games (in series order: Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades, and Pool of Darkness; Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, and Dark Queen of Krynn; Gateway to the Savage Frontier and Treasures of the Savage Fronties) as well as their spiritual successors in the two Dark Sun games. The real-time interfaces introduced in Baldur’s Gate have never sat well with me.

One more thing I noticed; you’re definitely feeling your age as a gamer when you realize your dislike of the new-fangled method is approaching a decade old.

11

I’d definitely add a vote for Might & Magic VI and VII. The second is not quite as good as the first but its character development system is better. Both are good and have a skill system that seems to have been aped quite heavily for D&D 3rd Edition. It’s amusing to play a game in which low-level characters seem to be of comparable power to low-level D&Ders, but in which by the end they’re tossing around 100+ points of damage per attack… and the monsters are giving as good as they get.

I missed VIII altogether. I played IX and found it buggier than a hobo’s crotch, although it did introduce a new twist to the character development system (everyone started out as a generic “Might-based” or “Magic-based” character and became more specialized as they went on); so on reputation for one, and out of personal experience for the other, I’d only recommend them if you feel you really have to.

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Reactions seem to be mixed on FFIX–some people like it, some don’t. Wait, that’s every FF game except maybe X-2 (which seems to be pretty universally disliked in my experience–I’d had enough after about an hour). IX is one of my favorites of the series, and the only one I’ve ever actually finished.

For GBA I’d suggest looking into the two Golden Sun games and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The latter is better for pure entertainment–it’s not particularly hard, and the storyline is quite amusing (if you’ve played other Mario RPGs, the battle system is about the same). Golden Sun, by contrast, has harder puzzles and quite a bit of side stuff that’s easy to skip if you’re just going through the story.

13

My favorite Japanese RPG of all time is a little-known title called Skies of Arcadia. It was originally released for the Dreamcast, then rereleased on the Gamecube a few years later with some minor changes.

Technologically it’s a bit dated, and the gameplay is pretty standard (although well-done). But the characters and the plot are excellent. I’ve actually played through the whole game twice – the second time just for the story.

14

I’m gonna nominate Kingdom Hearts. I’m playing it now, and it’s a blast.

15

Good suggestions so far. Another empire among PC RPGs is the Wizardry family.

I haven’t played them all, but Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant was pretty good.

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I’ll nominate Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar: Eternal Blue. Decidedly old-school (they were originally for the Sega CD back in the early 90s) but what makes them fun is that the translators had a blast with the game text. Though the story is mostly serious, some of the dialogue will have you chuckling (if you’re anything like me)–it’s riddled with subtle jokes, pop culture references, and other little gems (such as the fact that Ghaleon, one of the game’s major characters, is a closet ABBA fan). If you like old-style Japanese RPGs with dialog that won’t put you to sleep or make you cringe, check these out.

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Ditto for Kingdom Hearts. That game rocked my face off and I never expected it to, being Disney-themed and all.

I also have to give a shout out to Final Fantasy XII, which is an amazing game. I’m 80 hours in and still loving it. The new battle system is wicked cool.

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Planescape: Torment and Fallout are must-haves, especially since you have already played Baldur’s Gate.

RR

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It also has dozens of (seems like triple digits) slow NPC cut-scenes which bog down game-play immensely. Sadly you have to put up with them if you are going to do any of the character side-quests. I’ve never played a game so slow since the original Baldurs Gate, when you had to swap CDs every time you changed map areas. (but at least that taught me to juggle) Slow? I can pour a pane of glass into my coffee-cup faster.

On-line play is a total mess, too, as if you try to join a game and that person accesses the internet through a router (like most people), the program is too stupid to connect to it. (Funny, NWN-1 never had That problem… :dubious: )

If you Do manage to get onto/into one of the few servers that Aren’t through a router, the game-play specifically notes that it is not designed for multi-party play. That and you better shop quick before somebody activates a … you guessed it… A Cut Scene… :mad:

Much better than the first NWN? :smack:

Honestly, its a toss-up between “NWN-2” and “Star-Trek Legacy” as to who should win “The Most Rushed Into Production Before Its Ready Because Some Pointy-Haired Nimrod Wants His X-mas 2006 Bonus Award”.

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You can’t talk Ultima without mentioning the Ultima Underworld games. UU was the first true 3-D, first-person perspective computer game, and one of the finest dungeon crawls I’ve ever played. UU2 was good as well, but not quite as engrossing as the original.