Favourite RPG

I'm clearly the biggest RPG nutter on the forum.

My RPG top ten:

Your number 3 is overrated trash.

Right, I used a list of JRPG's which has that at the top of the tree than other games sort of in the genre going to other branches, much like I was thinking with Kingdom Hearts (didn't make my list).

The games I had on my 30 odd game list I narrowed down was only games I'd finished and got down to 10, I've used the one game per series rule (well a slight cheat), these 10 games aren't in order just what I think are the 10 best "JRPG's".


Three games that I've not beaten but could get the nod Persona 4 Golden which I've played for 40hrs and watched both animes that I do know all the story, Skies of Arcadia this might a shock for some of you but this Dreamcast classic which I own on both DC & Cube I've never actually played that much of it but what I have I've really liked, then lastly Octopath Traveler which so far seems excellent and might be my fav Switch game.

Good list - figured Persona 5 would turn up! I'm not sure about Fire Emblem as that's more of a strategy RPG in my book, but I'm not splitting hairs over genre definitions here.

As for Pokémon, I honestly don't think I could include the first two generations in a list as from a gameplay perspective they've been outclassed from Generation III onwards.

I tend to bounce off of JRPGs before I finish them. I did complete Xenoblade Chronicles though. The world, the combat, the exploration and of course the story all kept me gripped, and the game had easy fast travel and saving stuff so it never became super frustrating.

I've played a couple of Fire Emblems and enjoyed them, but I see the whole strategy thing as kind of separate.

Then there are Pokemon games. They feel very different to me, like a genre unto themselves. I have played most of them, though.

On Fire Emblem, I wouldn't have thought of it myself but when we've done a vote etc we've used Wikipedia to determine genres. I did the same here and JRPG is the header then underneath is Action, Tactical, Strategy, Dungeon, Turn Based, Real Time and so on

Pokémon is a weird one as really it's the simplest and least deep of what you would call a traditional JRPG but really works in it's favour.

I still don't get the love for Xenoblade especially after playing X & 2, I really do believe it's only regard highly because it's on Nintendo.

mas wrote:

I still don't get the love for Xenoblade especially after playing X & 2, I really do believe it's only regard highly because it's on Nintendo.

That's a bit harsh because if it could get me to play it for 60+ hours then it obviously done something right.

masofdas wrote:

I still don't get the love for Xenoblade especially after playing X & 2, I really do believe it's only regard highly because it's on Nintendo.

This is a bad take, especially if you've not played the original which is a cracking game from what I've played so far.

I did play the original, remember my infamous sandwich thoughts. At the time I thought because it was SD, I had issues with it but I played Last Story fine and since played the two games after it which are in HD which I also found to be just okay.

If people liked it that's great and must of did something right for Jas to play but there is literally hundreds of better games in the genre that I can only truly think it is Crash Bandicoot syndrome.

Crash Bandicoot syndrome?  Mas, this is BotW syndrome.  Huge world, lots of stuff to see and explore, a feeling almost of an ecosystem around you.  I don't know if you ever got past the sandwich, but I reckon if you did you still wouldn't have liked it, because a fair few things that made the game great also turn up in your most-hated game of the current generation.  

masofdas wrote:

...I really do believe it's only regard highly because it's on Nintendo.

Christ.  ANYWAY:

I recently-ish did my top 25 games eve, of which four were JRPGs.  That should be good start!


10. Final Fantasy IV - The sprite version, not the 3DS bastardisation.  My first FF, and still my favourite.  Loved the characters, loved the battles, loved the dungeons.

9. The World Ends With You - Hello Jay!  Possibly the most original battle system I've tried?  The plot was a bit of a mindscrew, but I liked a fair amount of the characters, although I never had quite the mancrush on Sho Minamimoto that Jay did.

8. Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness - Before S&M came along, it was the first full PokéGame to do away with HMs and Gyms.  It went a few better, too: the plot was stronger, there were no wild Pokémon battles, and there was no Elite Four at the end!  Truly ahead of its time, I'll always remember it fondly, even if the battle mechanics have since been left far behind.

7. Undertale - I CRY EVRYTIEM.  Also has excellent music.

6. Pokémon Sun/Moon - The strongest Pokémon games, not just because they feature the Rowlet evolutionary line and got rid of the HMs.  Mostly, though.  (Screw Hau.)

5. Xenoblade Chronicles - Little bit of shuffling here, but this is still an EXCELLENT RPG with a huge world, lots of stuff to see and explore, and a feeling almost of an ecosystem around you.  (Recycled #content is the best #content.)  It's also got a belting battle system and glorious music.  Simply glorious.

4. Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga - Remember back when Mario RPGs had new ideas, funny dialogue, new character designs, new worlds, and shoved you in a creepy-as-all-Hell ice palace where bad jokes go to die?  This might creep further up the list on another day: replaying it on the 3DS reminded me how much I still liked it.

3. Bravely Second - My favourite 'traditional' JRPG.  Good story, good characters, good job system, good random monster frequency adjuster, and generally just... good.

2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - I don't perhaps think of it quite as highly as I did immediately after finishing it, but this is still an EXCELLENT RPG with a huge world, lots of stuff to see and explore, and a feeling almost of an ecosystem around you.  (Doubly recycled #content is the best #content.)  It's also got a belting battle system and glorious music.  Simply glori- THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME!?  DON'T FORGET ME.  YER DUN!

1.5 Muramasa: the Demon Blade - Here as a half point because I don't really think it's a JRPG, but places have described it as a JRPG so...  I'm still not sure I get the story, but it has the best art style and best pure gameplay on this list.  I felt like an actual ninja.

1. Paper Mario and the Thousand-Year Door - Remember back when Mario RPGs had new ideas, funny dialogue, new character designs, new worlds, and shoved you in a creepy-as-all-Hell battling tournament where people got their life force sucked out of them?  I was blown away with the stories Intelligent Systems managed to tell with not only Mario and his world, but with their own characters as well.  That's the main difference between this and Mario 'RPGs' now - that, and it's not afraid to be an RPG.

In consideration:

Your list does give me 2 games to look out for TWEWY and Undertale which are both coming to Switch, the others I've either played or don't like.

Ah, Mas, never change. If you weren't wrong all the time, it just wouldn't be right.

Thanks I guess and Balla might be right he has played it and BotW, all I can tell you my view's from playing other games in the genre.

Good list, Balla! Undertale's a weird one as it's not exactly a JRPG in the conventional sense, but its inspirations being firmly rooted in the Mother series means that it's close enough in my eyes. Splitting hairs over what constitutes a JRPG compared to an RPG sounds deathly dull regardless, so let's leave it there.

I won't take it ranking over TWEWY though.

Here's my list:

The List:

Black & White were a real positive movement for the series, ploughing into the new rather than relying on nostalgia. I liked them a lot.

I have some mixed memories of TWEWY, especially the postgame which wound me up something rotten, and not understanding all of the plot. Maybe if I played it again now I'm older I'd appreciate it more.

I actually really liked the overall villain of Persona 5.  But I feel it only worked because every villain up to that point had had a very personal conflict with the cast (especially the earlier ones), and also because of how the villain was revealed.  God tier twist that was.  Plus it led to some good commentary about the human race, whereas Persona 4's was just another trite diety that doesn't understand humanity spouting faux-philosophical gibberish with the main cast going "EVEN SO!" the entire time.

But anyway, nuff about them.  It's time for God Tier JRPG Connoisseur Athrun888, back again once again, to lay down some godly picks.  So smash that like button and subscribe!  

But seriously here's my top ten.  And no images, because apparently the site decided to fleep up hosting them, any other time I'd probably work out why they're not displaying anything but URL's but I seriously don't have the time right now.  Spent too long typing these up to begin with frankly, should've spent the hour or so packing instead.  

10.) Dragon Ball Fusions

At a time everyone was going nuts for Xenoverse this game came out for the 3DS under the radar, and it's a shame because it is honestly the most fanservice-y thing Dragon Ball has ever produced.  And it is glorious for it.  A fantastic battle system that combines smashing foes into other foes or out of an arena with chibi renditions of the franchises characters, the combat feels extremely faithful to the actual series thanks to the combat animations that absolutely nail that explosive action the series is known for.  And of course who doesn't like a game whose entire premise is based around what-if fusions of every character from the franchise?  Ever wanted to see what Cell and Frieza would look like if they fused?  Well now you can!

But all of that would be irrelevant if the game didn't have the quality to back its premise up, and it's one of the most fun games I've played in the last few years, a damn fine JRPG, and the perfect love-letter to the franchise in one amazing package.

09.) Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Who said I don't play WRPG's or games heavily inspired by them?  Well let this be a testament that I do sometimes take the plunge.  Published by Capcom this game had everything I craved when I played it.  Gritty art direction that perfectly treaded the line between realistic and depressing (that is to say it found the line where a degree of realism can make something all the more captivating), as well as aspects of video games that the west tends to not focus on with its RPGs.  Amazing action gameplay that was part Devil May Cry and part Shadow of the Colossus with several extremely fun styles, and god tier music.  Oh there was atmospheric stuff too, but when a demonic Hydra or Wyrm decides to engage the player you better get ready for some ripping electric guitar/orchestral mixes!  

08.) The Oath in Felghana

I would be remiss to have a list like this and omit Falcom from it!  This game is Ys perfected.  Simple yet at times brutally challenging action gameplay and some truly godly rock music.  There really isn't much to say about this game beyond that, because while its story is average (in a pleasant way) those two aspects are so fantastic that it's all the game needs to hold its head aloft and claim a spot on this list, and the best bit is anybody with a PC can download it right now.  It can run on a toaster_

07.) Pokemon Platinum

This was, for me, the last Pokemon game to truly nail everything woth nailing.  Back when the series wasn't just about being babies first turn-based RPG.  There was actual challenge in the game, the E4 was arguably the roughest in the franchise (the champion certainly is, boasting a team good enough to take into the competitive arena of the era), and the pacing was perfect.  Some games since have come close, Black and White were fantastic games.  However Platinum holds the crown for me, Nuzlocking the game completely changed how I saw the game and was the most satisfying Pokemon experience I've ever had.  Also Cyrus is a fantastic edgelord of a villain, threatening to genocide the universe before Pokemon thought it was cool to be the default villain goal.  More to the point it worked with him, a genuine sociopath.  

06.) Bravely Default

What's that you say?  Square-Enix has lost the art of making turn-based RPGs that put them on the map?  Well this game has you covered, a return to form and a blast from the SNES past this game is the glory of the old days of the genre with all the refinements you ever wanted in those games.  Random encounters getting annoying?  Turn em off!  Repeating the same actions in random battles over and over again getting boring?  Just hit the repeat button and watch the game promptly repeat the last battle's actions.  The game took out or mitigated all of the truly tedious parts of the genre while also adding in charming characters, a classic story with some good subversions, and some truly challenging bosses that *shock!* require actual strategy to defeat.  

This would be higher on the list if it weren't for its one massive issue in the last third of the game.  Y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.

05.)  Fire Emblem Fates

Anyone who's paid attention to me over the years knew this would be on here somewhere.  The games have issues, oh dear lord do they have issues (some of the most offensively awful storytelling I've seen in anything ever).  But that gameplay...  Oh that glorious gameplay...  It was everything Awakening promised and never delivered.  Birthright with its beginner friendly map design that still held a challenge on higher difficulties.  Conquest with its strategic as hell maps.  Between the two and the Fates engine I haven't had a strategy game that pleased me so much.  

What's that, there's a third game called Revelati-*dissolves into nothingness*

Seriously though I will not acknowledge that waste of time and money's existence.  And anybody who holds any respect for their brain cells, money, and time, will do the same.

04.) Tales of Xillia

Y'all knew Tales would make my list.  But rather than the obvious picks of Symphonia (which I haven't played) or Abyss (F*** THE WHOLE CAST BESIDES LUKE) it is dark horse PS3 exclusive Xillia.  It was somewhat rushed and it shows with many of the overworld being copy-pasted simplistic designs.  But I absolutely love everything else about the game.  The cast is filled with loveable misfits, the main villain/antagonist avoids many of the pitfalls that the genre's villains usually fall for, the battle system is fun as all heck, and it was one of the last games I played that I truly remember getting slightly emotional over.  Its flaws prevent it going higher, but this is a favourites list and damn this is my favourite Tales screw the haters.  GAIUS FOR PRESIDENT!  

03.) Persona 5

Without a doubt the most stylish JRPG of all time.  Battles are a absolute blast with the most satisfying UI I've ever seen in the genre, the graphics are a treat for the eyes (take that hyper-realism!), the music is just plain sexy, and the story and cast are great (if oddly paced, at times feeling too short and others feeling too bloated).  

02.) Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

This was my introduction to Tri-ACE, a random purchase during a firesale almost ten years ago.  What I picked up was one of the best JRPG's I've ever had the pleasure of playing.  A gritty yet fantastical story and setting with some AMAZING twists (probably less amazing for those who played the original game), a highly unique and innovative battle system that was absolutely brutal yet incredibly satisfying, and some of the best graphics on the PS2.  For most people Final Fantasy is what swept them into the genre, for me this was the game that made me a JRPG fan, and I maintain it's one of the best the genre has to offer.  Its quality makes the fate of Tri-ACE all the more tragic.  

01.) Persona 3

SURPRISE MOTHERBLEEPER ANOTHER PERSONA GAME!  This one has plenty of flaws, and all of them can be summed up in one name: Tartarus.  Everything else though?  Perfection.  Challenging bosses, a cast of diverse engaging people, and a story that rips your heart out and crushes it in front of your own eyes.  Some might wonder why this, the most flawed of the modern Persona games, heads my list.  Simple, the themes of the game and story speak to me far more than 4 and 5.  I'm not a cheerful person, not even close, and the bitter-sweet and melancholy nature of Persona 3 along with its themes (death and everything it represents in our lives) strike a far more personal chord to me than, say, hijinks with the oddballs at school.  Couple that with a cast that is far more realistic (yet still at times comedically goofy) than its other two contempoeries, and, well, you've got my favourite RPG of all time.  

Honourable mentions: Zelda BotW, Persona 4, Pokemon Black/White, Tales of Graces F, Bravely Second, and Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII.

I was close to including Persona 3 on my list for all the reasons you listed, but Tartarus is just too dull for me to include it.

Athrun888 wrote:

10.) Dragon Ball Fusions

At a time everyone was going nuts for Xenoverse this game came out for the 3DS under the radar, and it's a shame because it is honestly the most fanservice-y thing Dragon Ball has ever produced.  And it is glorious for it.  A fantastic battle system that combines smashing foes into other foes or out of an arena with chibi renditions of the franchises characters, the combat feels extremely faithful to the actual series thanks to the combat animations that absolutely nail that explosive action the series is known for.  And of course who doesn't like a game whose entire premise is based around what-if fusions of every character from the franchise?  Ever wanted to see what Cell and Frieza would look like if they fused?  Well now you can!

But all of that would be irrelevant if the game didn't have the quality to back its premise up, and it's one of the most fun games I've played in the last few years, a damn fine JRPG, and the perfect love-letter to the franchise in one amazing package.

Ooh, I have heard really good things about this. I might have to keep an eye out for this on 3DS after your endorsement too.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

Top 8 because that is the number of deserving games (until I remember more).

1. Skies of Arcadia: Legends (GC)
2. The World Ends With You (DS)
3. Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (PSP)
4. Dark Chronicle (PS2)
5. Fallout: New Vegas (PS3)
6. Mount and Blade: Warband (PC)
7. Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS)
8. The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (PS3)

Not counting: Any Zelda, any Monster Hunter, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Mario Tennis GBC

NV and Oblivion are probably not best on PS3, but that's what I played them on. Morrowind would probably be above Oblivion if I had actually played a lot of it.

This is still vaguely accurate, although I can't believe I missed The Last Story from it!

I don't think I can include Fallout 4 as I liked it as a settlement building game, not as an RPG (which it's bad at)

Will have to trim it down to be JRPGs of course

I don't think I ever posted my list, a regular list since I don't think I've even played 10 JRPGs. I'm not going to include Zelda or Dark Souls because I see them more as Action/Adventure games than RPGs. I've left out Tactical games like Fire Emblem as well.

10 (actually number 1): Digimon World
Your Digimon poo, and if they don't poo in a toilet they get some sort of virus and then they start eating poo.

9:Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines: The first ever Source engine game "completed" (though not released until after Half-Life 2). Broken, literally unplayable mess because it was released by a bankrupt publisher months too soon. If you install the fan-made mods, then it's still a janky game but the world is really interesting, based off of the White Wolf, D&D style, board game. It was well-written, with some very memorable characters, as well as the best haunted house I've ever encountered.

8: Tyranny: I know this is going to be excellent. I've made a fair chunk of progress through it and really dig everything, it's just really long and I stopped partway through at some point and don't really feel like picking it up without starting all over again.

7: Fallout: New Vegas: It's good, it's fun, it's silly, and it has style. I think it pips Fallout 3 for me, and I've never given the old fallout games enough of a try to see if they're for me.

6: Undertale: A very clever game, highly replayable and probably the most charming game ever released. Unfortunately I worked in a school when this came out, so I can't really play this game without being reminded of having all its intricacies being explained to me by excited students who were thrilled to have an adult who understood games to talk to about Undertale. [Terraria, and Binding of Isaac were amongst other games I had people talk to me a lot about] I'm sure they told me every little secret by the end of the year, but it was nice being able to experience it vicariously through them, and an easy tool to get certain students working since I'd bribe them with offers of video game chat if they finished their work before the end of the lesson.

5: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: It's just a really good RPG set in the Star Wars universe. It's a bit annoying that, like Mass Effect, you are basically forced to choose between light and dark, but it's still well worth playing. Probably looks very old now but I'd still recommend and I don't understand why it hasn't been remastered - especially its sequel, which has a bunch of mods to restore content that didn't make it to the final game.

4: Dragon Age: Origins: Another clunky game with a very uninspired colour palette. But like KOTOR, it more than makes up for it with a really engaging cast of characters. I think I've completed this game more than any other RPG just because I loved them all so much, and even missed a few characters on the first playthrough. Alistair is quite possibly my favorite companion character of any game, and it's quite unusual for me to root for the -nice-guy-clearly-meant-to-be-a-good-man-and-a-good-mate- types because they're so often bland. Not Alistair though, xxx.  

3:Final Fantasy IX: This is my favorite, and first, Final Fantasy. Nostalgia plays a part in ranking it above the other games on this list. Of all the FF games it's only really 6-10 that I like, with 9 & 10 hands-down way above the others. This one has more engaging characters, an excellent score, and a really nice world to explore. I also got hooked to its numerous mini-games but never was very good at jump-rope. FFIX is perhaps only second to Pokémon in terms of games that captured my imagination, as I was obsessed with the game for several years. I even went back and before I went off to university in a run that had me unlocking virtually all of its content so I could witness everything.

2: Pokémon Silver: I'll happily concede other games in the series surpass it mechanically, but I don't care I still rate this the highest. Nostalgia again plays a part in that but I think this one mixed a sense of discovery with some cracking innovations like the day/night cycle, Dark and Steel types, and a mobile phone. You laugh, but the phone helped keep trainers you met on the road seem somewhat living since they'd level up their team over time.

1: Witcher III: Wild Hunt: Satisfying combat, gorgeous graphics, a huge yet meaningful open-world, some incredible quests and hands down the best character writing in any video-game. The Witcher 3 is the definitive modern-classic and quite possible the best game of all-time.

Nice mix but do find strange that Fire Emblem is left out seeing it is a Tactical-RPG when your list has JRPG's and Western RPG's in it.

I just view tactics games as a separate genre, JRPGs and Western RPGs are still first and foremost RPGs, or at least, like the Witcher, heavily emphasize the RPG elements. Also I think the RPG aspects of Fire Emblem are it's weakest area. It's overall narrative is fine, but I could do without the increasingly weird dating-sim stuff.

I play a lot of tactics games: Darkest Dungeon, Ogre Battle 64, Battle Brothers, Banner Saga, Fire Emblem, and there are more that I'd still like to get in the future like Battletech, and some that I own but haven't really played yet like Shadowrun/Shadowrun Returns. So that's another reason why I'd more clearly segregate tactical-RPG from regular RPG more than most.

Makes sense and if you play a lot of one genre I can certainly see the separation, why I've got no Western RPG's and just JRPG's as I could easily do a top 10 of them and why I couldn't do one for Tactical-RPG as I've basically only played Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics (which wasn't on my list as I had a mainline and a spin-off).

Not sure if I could with Action-RPG's part from Zelda as I've not clicked with the likes of Dark Souls or Monster Hunter.

Definitely get Dragon Ball Fusions at some point Jay, it's a treat of a game. One bit of advice though: try not to overlevel, which is very easy to do because of how much side-content the game throws at you (gotta catch 'em all Dragon Ball edition! It is so easy to spend a few hours recruiting everything you can and then find yourself ten levels over the area's designed cap). You'll thank me when the boss fights start upping the ante because boss fights are tons of fun!

On Fire Emblem, I'd say it's got enough RPG DNA in it to qualify (especially with the 3DS games which can be treated as much as an RPG as the player wants). Heck Valentia skewed things slightly more to the JRPG side of things and ended up feeling more proper RPG than strategy game because of it. If action games can be counted then I'd say Fire Emblem can.

Athrun888 wrote:

Definitely get Dragon Ball Fusions at some point Jay, it's a treat of a game.  One bit of advice though: try not to overlevel, which is very easy to do because of how much side-content the game throws at you (gotta catch 'em all Dragon Ball edition!  It is so easy to spend a few hours recruiting everything you can and then find yourself ten levels over the area's designed cap).  You'll thank me when the boss fights start upping the ante because boss fights are tons of fun!  

On Fire Emblem, I'd say it's got enough RPG DNA in it to qualify (especially with the 3DS games which can be treated as much as an RPG as the player wants).  Heck Valentia skewed things slightly more to the JRPG side of things and ended up feeling more proper RPG than strategy game because of it.  If action games can be counted then I'd say Fire Emblem can.  

I'll keep an eye out for it at a decent price, for sure.

You make a good point about SoV - I think that's probably why it's my favourite Fire Emblem since the Tellius games. The simplicity of the strategic elements along with the heightened focus on levelling and equipment made it click with me more than the other 3DS Fire Emblem games.

The 'phone in Silver was a pain in the backside. There's a reason why Joey and his Rattata calls became a meme.

Everyone's allowed to define RPGs how they want. For me Fire Emblem makes it and Zelda doesn't, but OoT showed up in the N64 Magazine FuSoYa segment a couple of times, and who am I to argue with Kosmikat?