Hooray for me, in 2025 I have played and reviewed not 100, but now 200 RPGs. And now I will rank them on a grand scale. Unlike my other rank posts, what will happen this time, hopefully if I don't break any character limits or upload limits, I will have them all chocked into one entire post. All with blurbs and images so you can see what I think of 200 RPGs that I have played. Some are familiar, some are certainly not familiar, but let's get to it. Note that unlike my other posts on this stuff, I will be making completely new write-ups and even newer placements for some games now that my opinion has changed somewhat!
200. Deep Dungeon 4 (#114)
Bringing up the rear was a very clunky turn-based RPG, one of four Deep Dungeon games which were only on the Super Famicom. While it did offer parties to use which the previous two entries didn't have, Deep Dungeon 3 just felt totally unbeatable after a while. It may have to do with a certain translation I played, but regardless of that and before my stopping point, the game was ultra hard and unfair. Statuses were completely debilitating and I found no enjoyment in this title.
199. Deep Dungeon 4 (#124)
Pretty darn odd that I have two Deep Dungeon titles back to back bringing up the rear, but the developers really sort of dropped the ball in making the newer titles. Or perhaps the translators for the version I picked up did, cause I also could never really finish this one due to a bug. These games did show at least some promise, being like Wizardry or M&M, but we'll see those games beat out these easily.
198. Popful Mail (#103)
To be perfectly honest, I don't have a clue why I would qualify this as an RPG (this is the Sega Genesis game btw). Popful Mail is an action platformer in reality, and there's not too much else to say about it aside from that. Not really THAT bad of a game, the only real role-playing depends on how much you feel like using one of three characters, whether it's the fighter girl, mage boy, or the really cute monster. But it was such an oddity to label it as an RPG in my case.
197. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)
196. Shining Wisdom (#52)
Like Popful Mail I kinda regret considering this as an RPG, even as an action RPG. Golvellius was closer, but Shining Wisdom, oddly my first game in the Shining Franchise and my first Saturn game, wasn't entirely a bad game. Just a weird, clunky game where your speed should matter by buttom mashing and you ONCE AGAIN have very bad sword reach. There's just lots of complexity done that didn't need to be complex.
195. Hydlide (#53)
The simplest action RPG ever, but nowhere near the best when it's so easy to die right out of the beginning and with zero idea of the actions you take mattering. And honestly, I really don't want to say any more that AVGN hasn't already covered in his video.
194. Startropics (#12)
193. The Guardian Legend (#15)
Another game that I idiotically misclassified just like Startropics. Both games have the NES Nintendo Hard to them, this one moreso due to the many rail shooter segments that dot away from the top-down Zelda gameplay. I like this one slightly better cause it's less clunky on controls, and everything before this had the issue of clunky controls for action-oriented RPGs.
192. Deep Dungeon (#112)
Basically, it's a dungeon-crawling solo adventure through one deep dungeon with a super simple set of objectives. How it spawned three more games amazes me. It's got a very low encounter rate as well as a very low hit rate against your enemies, and their hit rate is just as bad. A single battle takes a long time and this is a game that benefits from just speeding it up because of how boring it gets.
191. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)
A little bit of quality of life improvements over its predecessor like the map and all as well as a better encounter rate but it runs into the same problems as the original Deep Dungeon. It's just slightly better, that's all.
190. Ys. (#96)
Looking back at this game makes me want to actually play it more, but then I remember it's just a better version of Hydlide very loosely. Let's at least appreciate the bars though, and the fact that they actually did try with a storyline and better usage of encounters in this action RPG.
189. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)
188. Ys. III (#123)
Again, I really need to start playing more Ys. games, since this was the last one I got to. This is the side-scroller of the franchise, not actually too shabby from my view but it's short and not necessarily as fun overall according to many others.
187. Ys. II (#102)
The direct continuation of Ys. is really just more of the same, and sometimes a little expansion pack is enjoyable. Again, they really did try to put in things for a slightly better storyline, which is why it slightly edges III.
186. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (#131)
I could not really classify this game well, couldn't I? It seemed like it was an RPG, had a shrine on RPGClassics, but it felt more like some sort of soap opera, or rather, four of them, where the characters keep changing roles. What even is Orphen? Clearly it's some anime thing, but between all the cutscenes, the navigation's standard, and the battles are so confusing you could actually just sort of hold and mash buttons to win.
185. Lagoon (#184)
I'm sure Ys. had some SNES/Super Famicom titles, but this right here just feels like a Ys. game. Of course its story tries to save it a little bit, but what ruins it is an exceptionally tiny sword reach and an awkward and clunky jump mechanic. I had to figure out sweet spots before finding magic, which ended up in an awkward experience overall for the whole game.
184. Digimon World 4 (#174)
Every Digimon World did things differently, and the fourth game disappointed. It's an action RPG of the hack-and-slash variety and is basically the primary reason why I'm not fond of hack-and-slash. This game is horrifically unbalanced for single players, which are the majority of classic RPG players. Enemies will swarm and you realize it takes many hits to take down even the most common of foes. Add some friends and it feels slightly better in balance, but your penalties for dying are bigger than they should be.
183. Alundra 2 (#188)
What should have been known as Flint (since that's the character's name and there's zero references to the original Alundra) is a 3D action RPG that has wonky mechanics and annoys you with knockbacks after basically every single hit. And it's got puzzles too, definitely not for players looking for quick action. You would think a game that has talented voice acting in it like Scott Menville and Jennifer Hale would be good, but even they play characters without good roles.
182. Crusader of Centy (#8)
It's around this point where I'm finalizing the more action-oriented adventure games that I mistakenly classified as RPGs to the end, and Crusader of Centy is easily one of the better ones. Sega's A Link to the Past if you will, giving us interesting locales and decent puzzles, using animals instead of tools to get where you need to go. An actually fun game, but not really an RPG in hindsight.
181. Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (#19)
This one's based off of some VERY OBSCURE anime with interesting usages of what is essentially Gundams in a Zelda II backdrop of a battle system. And it's actually an action RPG for that matter, so props. Very decent music, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised if NOBODY knows what this game is all about, cause I didn't understand its story myself.
180. Dragon Quest (#76)
Humble beginnings for a successful franchise. This game knows it, but makes you grind, grind, grind. Equipment is expensive, levels take a while to get to, you're grinding for BOTH in this one. And it takes a long time thanks to all the battles being one-on-one. The payoff's not even too great, since you got the typical story of saving the kingdom's girl and beating an evil dragon lord. Hey, they at least started somewhere.
179. Secret of the Stars (#107)
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Tecmo's SNES RPG seems colorful and somewhat fun, and I guess funny too considering the horrifically bad translation, but you'll soon find out how unfun Secret of the Stars is when you have to babysit not one, but TWO parties. The Kustera group you want to train up for their segments that come super late, but the grind is ridiculous for them and since all the story stuff happens to the Aquatallions, it doesn't make nearly as much sense. Bad decisions overall.
178. Dragon Quest II (#79)
Again, humble beginnings. Dragon Quest II gave us more party members and more monsters to tackle, trying to improve on the shortcomings the original Dragon Quest had to it. Even adding the bonus region of the first game complete with its music to be cute. But it's easily the hardest of Dragon Quest games. Prepare your annoyance levels for when you deal with the Gold Batboons near the end, or your spells not having effect at random times, and so on.
177. Dual Orb II (#86)
I never played the original since it didn't have a translation, but I did play this. Lots of random encounters, discrepancies with damage, discrepancies with spells, a place where you can totally softlock your game easily, having to grind for equipment, yeah, things I don't really like. The storyline is what ultimately saves it to some degree, and it's not AS hard as some of the other ones before it.
176. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (#144)
I'm certainly prepared to go through a lot of the Wizardry franchise soon enough, but we'll start with IV, which was the moment where yes, you can play as the backward Andrew, the villain from the first game, as he tries to get out of hell, basically. But it's at the bottom of the Wizardry franchise due to how it's easily the most tedious of the games.
175. Magic Knight Rayearth (#48)
I will never get over the hilarious fact that I beat this game in only three days, and that was with grinding. Another anime RPG, this one may be a little better known, but it's still completely simplistic and arguably not that difficult if you use the spells correctly. But that's about it.
174. The 7th Saga (#77)
With The 7th Saga, I knew what I would eventually get into, and that it was not gonna be easy. The game encourages grinding, and the radar encounter system is a huge plus for the game's encounters. Quite a few times I just sat there to have encounters come so I can keep myself properly trained against difficult encounters, so my experience wasn't that bad once I started to actually move on. Just be extra careful of having to deal with apprentices who level up with you or so, as well as your partner apprentice.
173. Final Fantasy Legend II (#46)
172. Final Fantasy Legend III (#54)
When I originally wrote the write-up for this game I mentioned that it was the least SaGa of the original SaGa trilogy. I do maintain that stance, cause instead of random stat increases or so, the game has a traditional level-up mechanic and very traditional turn-based gameplay. It is a fun game in a way with guest star party members, but it didn't leave a good taste in my mouth at the end of it all.
171. Final Fantasy Legend (#43)
I might as well include all Final Fantasy Legends right now. If you want to know how SaGa started, look at this title, then figure out how characters don't actually level up, but get stat bonuses at random at times. A fully customizable party is a huge plus for this game, so it edges out its two successors.
170. Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! (#17)
And now let's combine the top-down navigation with a random encounter rate and a Zelda 1 battle system, with Ys. health bars and Castlevania item bars. What could go wrong? Faria's not actually that bad, but it could be dozens of times better than what it is. There's also the dungeon designs which are quite awful.
169. Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (#121)
168. Revelations: The Demon Slayer (#197)
Another very simple turn-based RPG, starting off the Last Bible series and well there's not too much to go off of. Reminds me a ton of Dragon Quest II, but you can recruit monsters if you do four yes/no questions correctly. The recruitment of monsters stems from the parent franchise of Megami Tensei, and the game is a bit confusing plotwise due to the usage of familiar names from other games in that franchise.
167. Last Bible II (#198)
Thankfully with Last Bible II, a distant sequel, it is a case of more of the same but with improvements to what I wanted to see. A better plot and better usage of monster companions as necessary. Also should mention that Last Bible as a franchise is easier to tangle with than the rest of the Megami Tensei franchise.
166. Grandia III (#133)
You can take me in well with the decent battle system from the previous Grandia games, that stays well along with how to deal with combat and a magic growing system worthwhile enough. But you won't get me as excited when I find out the combat spikes in difficulty once you get to the Excise enemies and the new world. Jesus, the enemies get several turns before I do! It made the experience a whole lot harder to enjoy. Not to mention the storyline just feels like rehashing of the other two games before it, even though the games are all in different universes.
165. Final Fantasy (#2)
What would have been a curtain call wound up being a continuing classic. Final Fantasy is another case of humble beginnings, though a lot friendlier than Dragon Quest since the developers understood the importance of customization enough to create your party at the beginning. It does have the shortcomings of some very difficult encounters and maze-like dungeons still.
164. Lunar: Walking School (#44)
It takes a long while to get the action going in this Game Gear title, and when it occurs, it's totally standard. Top-down navigation, having to solve a number of puzzles, but gameplay never really hit a stride. If it wasn't for the cutesy story this game would have nothing to it.
163. Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (#143)
It took me a long while to even find a worthwhile port to play Wizardry III with, and that wasn't fun to me. It's more fun than IV, but when you think about it, it's not really that different from either II or I in gameplay. Customizable elements, but Final Fantasy games after 1 do them better and with more vibrant colors.
162. Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (#142)
Continuing what I'm saying earlier, sure, Final Fantasy games aren't about that first-person immersion in dungeon-crawling, but the experiences with Wizardry, especially early Wizardry, can leave a lot more to be desired. I do like the concept behind II enough that it beats III at least, but this game can easily be forgotten in time.
161. Silva Saga (#119)
GameFAQs lists Silva Saga as one of the easiest RPGs on the NES, and surprisingly that's quite accurate. For a turn-based RPG too! But I have very little to actually say about it, the plot doesn't matter too much to most players, and the only truly interesting thing is that you do have party members who leave but swap stats with new ones who join. It's quite nice that newer members inherit those skills.
160. Great Greed (#47)
Arguably one of the weirdest entries here. Great Greed has typical RPG elements, but gives us a battle system like an insta-action fighting arcade game, and it's quite interesting. Until the encounter rate pisses you off enough times. Also why must everything have a theme of food? Makes it quite awkward. One of those "play it once and maybe not again" type of games for sure.
159. Tenchi Muyo! Game Hen (#93)
Okay, so we do get a tactical RPG of sorts, with some traditional things like HP bars, stat numbers, and MP diamonds and levels that go up to...8? The gameplay is quite slow for a tactical RPG, and there's not even status ailments to consider at all. It at least does something quite original for the source material though, and the sprites are wonderfully made for the SNES.
158. Phantasy Star II (#16)
Still an unpopular opinion of mine, but I just don't like Phantasy Star II. The excellent graphics and the worldbuilding from the previous game be damned, I just hate how random battles aren't really in your favor at all. You can miss, your opponents can't, and it's all RNG. They also can surprise you but you can't? And half of this game's four boss battles being hopeless (technically the first can still be won though) doesn't bode well. And there's the dungeons especially on Dezoris too. Again, frustration superseded fun for me here.
157. Silva Saga II (#122)
It's Silva Saga but for the SNES. A bit of a sequel, actually trying to preserve the landscapes from the NES title, but is still a turn-based RPG with a simple plot and switching of all non-main character characters. The game's actual claim to fame is how overpowering the petrification spell is when you use it, since most enemies aren't immune and it's a win button against random encounters since your mage is always so fast.
156. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (#6)
Another simplistic yet colorful RPG for the SNES, and that's more or less to it. The game has a huge world with lots of interactions around, and this game can get credit for making the other games a whole lot better. But you do have some shortcomings here that are not great, like random targetting of groups, the Final Fantasy I targeting issue, and some very annoying enemies. Excellent music that is still memorable for me though, plus everyone enjoys the badass beginning of the game.
155. Robotrek (#101)
Everything up to this point has been largely fantasy so far, so here we have Robotrek which offers us the chance to use and customize robots to fight other robots, that is when you're not doing other things. I tried my best to look past the clunkiness of the game's combat, but I didn't really find anything apart from the novelty of using exclusively robots appealing.
154. Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)
We'll be seeing this game's remake in a moment since oddly enough I played that first. But this started the Mana franchise despite having Final Fantasy in the title, and somehow manages to be an alright action RPG for the Game Boy all things considered. But considering its primitiveness, the dungeons are more annoying and your partners don't have proper AI, plus you can get lost quickly.
153. Warsong (#56)
A game that I picked up, was annoyed at how it played, then picked it back up again cause I didn't want to leave it unturned and needed to understand things more. This tactical RPG gives you commanders with soldier units and you want to keep them close, as well as allow your characters enough to gain levels as they chip away at a 10-bar of health (depending on soldiers or so). Also it has permadeath. That sure is fun.
152. Final Fantasy II (#135)
Like with Warsong, I picked it up, was annoyed with its battle system being more complex than it looked, then ditched it for a long while. I then decided to play a remake of it on the PS1 and with some research, managed to get through it. FF2 gives us guest star party members, our first Cid, and a unique battle system that can actually be exploited quite well if you know what you're doing, but without that kind of knowledge this is an excruciating game to play and shows why early FF games aren't as popular.
151. Dragon Quest IV (#94)
Some of the RPGs I am quite fond of are those that shift the focus from one character to the next. DQ4 does this multiple times before getting to your green-haired hero, and while it's nice and all, DQ4 is an early example of things, so it's not entirely amazing. You can certainly do a lot in this title though, and the gameplay is better than 2's by a lot. It's still however a difficult NES title to play with.
150. Shining in the Darkness (#82)
Looking through these as I make these write-ups, I realize that some first-person dungeon crawlers aren't as much of my style as other top-down games or so. Shining in the Darkness is arguably one of the more fun ones with a jolly soundtrack, decent prices and battle system, and at least trying to give some personality to party members. But again, you're gonna need that map to get through this game.
149. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)
It's Shining Force, but for the Game Gear, with a modified story. I really have nothing else to actually say about this.
148. Shining Force: (#106)
Shining Force gives us a nice top-down perspective and interesting battle scenes one-on-one as you see here. There's also loads of characters, which actually is somewhat of a detriment in hindsight since you want to determine who to keep for your party and who to train up. Class changes are complicated, misses are annoying, but above all else my complaint has to be how your mages and possibly even your healers can outlevel and outmatch all your main fighters, aside from your main hero who you must have that is.
147. Shining Force II (#186)
Here's a case of "more of the same but slightly better". It helps to play the original to get used to it, but even then you'll be Egressing a lot to grind the team which halts your progress until you get who you want up to the challenge. Also Peter is both overpowered and in the story way too much, the better RPGs later on have generally better character interaction. I did have my fun in spades though.
146. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)
Back to Wizardry and I'll say that this title might be the most forgettable, yet had managed to be better in terms of gameplay just enough so that I enjoyed it more despite the saminess of it all.
145. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)
One core mechanic change to how a franchise goes can go a long, long way. For Wild ARMs 4, I guess the story is alright, though unfortunately the other games did stories way better. But that hex battle system is surely something, not to the benefit of everything. The Wild ARMs games intend for players to use lots of interesting strategies to get through things, and then you just sort of steamroll the game once you have Raquel with you since she can do everything anyways.
144. Phantasy Star III (#71)
This is such an ugly game, I lament the fact that I have to rate it higher than 2. Regardless of this, the best thing here is how the generations systems works. I actually played through all possibilities in the hopes that the marginal ending differences mean some things, and I guess they did, in a way. Also this game is so detached from the others in the series it's so weird and all.
143. Romancing SaGa (#61)
This was when the SaGa series got really into the groove, quite ironic it meant having to return to the style in the SNES instead of the Game Boy to do so. Anyways, enjoy the non-random encounters, picking out party members, as well as who to start with. The big deal I would say is be careful not to grind too much, cause enemies scale with your stats.
142. Princess Crown (#126)
Alright, a side-scrolling RPG of sorts so it should at least try to be somewhat interesting, though that meant having to figure out a translation for this slightly obscure Saturn game. It's a mostly solo adventure with some stoppage in the enemies you face, and tries to do a good job storyline wise, to the point where the endgame has you seeing the other characters in their storylines. This game of course inspired another one further down.
141. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (#153)
Looking back on Might and Magic as a franchise, I would have ranked this worse than some of the Wizardry games if I had played it earlier. They are almost identical when you compare their early games, grid-based dungeon-crawling, six party members, very menu-driven. You can tell with the primitiveness of this one particularly.
140. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (#147)
I actually didn't play the version in this screenshot, this is the Super Famicom one but I played a DOS version which honestly looked very ugly. It was playable, but Wizardry VI started off a new saga in terms of Wizardry that pulls in the next two games. Still super hard though, probably harder than the others so far.
139. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (#154)
Yeah you might as well prepare to skip ahead, there's gonna be more talking about Wizardry and Might and Magic coming up. The second game is once again a slight improvement over the preceding game but still requires grinding and a lot of knowledge that would fit right in. Though M&M does try to twist things technologically soon enough.
138. Wizardry: Proving Grounds for the Mad Overlord (#141)
Which came first? Final Fantasy or Wizardry with fully customizable parties? Eh, who cares? The more customizable a game is, the more I might just enjoy it, though oddly enough I think I enjoyed the first Wizardry a whole lot more than the next ones in line or the early M&M titles. There's something about that nostalgic feel of the first Wizardry that hit a stride, despite its deceptive difficulty.
137. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (#157)
By the time I got to M&M3 I was flabbergasted with the presentation. It wasn't just all fantasy, it was all sorts of fantasy, and a little of everything else up to and including the technology part. But this all pays a good homage for what is to come. Love the multiple races and the customizable party, but of course we don't get much in character interaction sometimes.
136. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (#158)
I'm gonna talk about this one with the next one below.
135. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (#159)
Two games for the price of one M&M title! It truly interests me how direct of a sequel V is to IV so much I had to talk about both together (but still classify them as separate games). Again, we got the mugshots, which are better than in III, the colorful backgrounds and enemies just waiting to come to you to wreak havoc on your party, but you grind well enough and can get through things this two-for-the-price-of-one ordeal ended up being at least an interesting experience.
134. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (#75)
Two party members max, Zelda-tools for navigation, no random encounters (but the enemies just idiotically sit there waiting for you to battle them), and some actually fun music. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in a nutshell. It's supposedly fairly easygoing, your hero shrugs his shoulders as he wanders the land and teams up with others, and you can defeat the final boss with a basic Cure spell. I still don't get it.
133. Phantasy Star (#3)
The Master System's best game, bar none. It's combining the top-down perspective for regular navigation with dungeon-crawling for, well, dungeons. Enemies are always in single sets but with good strategy the game's not as nasty as it seems. Sure you need to grind cause equipment is still expensive, but you can definitely find enjoyment in this female-fronted blast from the past.
132. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (#84)
This game is a ball of cuteness, a really silly ball of cuteness. One of Nippon Ichi's earlier titles, they had no grasp of difficulty and accidentally made this game super easy. It's got a tactical RPG grid but the strategy is non-existent since enemies are weak. Also it's an inversion of the traditional RPG thing since you're the girl saving the guy. Rhapsody would actually not be out of place if it were a Disney product for that matter.
131. Dragon Quest V (#104)
If I were to pick the best Dragon Quest game in terms of storyline, this would be it. You journey with your powerful father, but he dies, and the jerky prince of another land ends up with you slaving away for years when you become an adult, then you marry a girl, she has kids, but you both go missing until your kids find you and you defeat the end-all-be-all of evil. This is much more an atypical story than a typical one. But for Dragon Quest gameplay-standards, it remains turn-based with some fun and frustration sprinkled throughout.
130. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (#161)
A PC tactical RPG with a TON of gridlines and another customizable party. This one is kind of a sleeper franchise that I decided to check out once, and the combat does take a long time, but the enemies prove interesting as they are not always "fight to the death" types of enemies, they'll flee if they must! And you can also get attacked when sleeping and camping too.
129. Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (#164)
More of the same, though with a weird addition of automated computer combat. I would refrain from using that personally. Either way, I had an enjoyable time in the same vein as the previous Realms of Arkania title, but moreso since I imported my characters! It's not really New Game +, but it's a better experience any way.
128. Digimon World (#171)
Part pet simulator, part action RPG. Your character does nothing but shout commands and feed and train and let your Digimon poop in bathrooms. And you got a complex day/night system as well as love and discipline to go by. So much that it distracts you from the plot all the time. I would absolutely love it, but only if I would keep my Digimon around instead of having it fade away at a worst possible time.
127. Jade Cocoon (#58)
A very slow beginning, and tank controls. A bit of a Pokemon idea here with very strange cocooning of creatures here, but you also get the ability to fight as your character. Plus fusing of your collections like Megami Tensei titles. Somewhat complex, but you can get by with the basics, and the game is short enough.
126. Dragon Quest III (#89)
I kind of underrate this game a little too much. It's the most solid entry for early Dragon Quest titles thanks to diligent customization, a world map that looks like our real world, and the class system. There's so much to do with it and honestly you do want to try the Game Boy Color version since it is the more fun one.
125. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (#145)
Haven't really checked out a lot of games that have Mystery Dungeon to their name, but I don't think it's a bad thing to get into. The Chocobo games throw in Final Fantasy elements and have you playing as the Chocobo through random dungeons. It can get somewhat long and daunting, but whatever, it's fine if I find it fine.
124. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (#165)
Having an additional partner in the Mystery Dungeon series and more interesting things lying around random dungeons can also make more of a difference as long as you get to where you need to go. This actually was far more enjoyable than the first, both with a better translation already in place as well as some of the cutest FMVs accompanying the game. Exhausting sometimes, but fun many other times.
123. Koudelka (#163)
Do you want a really slow-paced RPG? Look no further than the Shadow Hearts predecessor. You got the puzzle-solving, hints to the mansion, and then these eldritch horror abominations jumping out at you. Okay, those aren't scary, what is is how you have to scrounge for tools and weapons and that they can break easily. I would rather just use up MP in Koudelka.
122. Tales of Destiny 2 (#176)
121. Vandal Hearts II (#162)
Konami went fully gritty with this one and its politics, but it's a shame you don't get to have your own characters experience the political intrigue that kills off many characters that seem like big bads. But what Vandal Hearts II does, well, a lot of things, let's start by showing the childhood friendship and how that can influence the ending. Then let's see the incredibly dubious decision to have both an ally and an enemy move on the exact same turn. Yeah, if you can't tell, that thing there might be the reason someone doesn't like this game as opposed to better tactical RPGs.
120. Earthbound ZERO (#88)
Or Earthbound Beginnings, however you want to spin it. No fantasy, no crazy hi-tech, it's all modern. But it's basically Dragon Quest in modern-day, with the simple random encounters and such. It's made a little better with more options for characters, and the iconic critical hits, it's certainly worth trying at least once, but it will never hold a candle to the other titles in its short franchise.
119. Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (#183)
The RPG where instead of going around killing monsters, you are spreading love as a side character. Lots of outside-the-box thinking went into the making of this game, starting out with a boy PLAYING a game and then getting sucked into it as an invisible creature who gets to see things when the game basically plays itself. Yet you're timed on what you can do and can die easily if you forget what you're doing.
118. Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (#109)
The actual direct sequel to a popular Playstation RPG ended up being a somewhat unique Game Boy Color title. I really wanted to like it, but I think I got the wrong translation with everything jumbled awfully. Putting that aside I at least tried to play through it, finding the game's combat interesting, the dungeons and such interesting, and the ability to play through with ALL known Star Ocean 2 characters with better abilities something.
117. Digimon World 3 (#173)
Now we're talking. You actually get a party of Digimon to go in this isometric viewpoint, have one-on-one battles with other Digimon and masters, it feels like a Pokemon game but for the Playstation. And sometimes that's all you want to ask for. Okay, there's also a trading card game of sorts, which I guess is cool too even though I didn't really care much for that. And people are turning into pigs and there's also a death laser or something. A whole lot of yikes.
116. Digimon World 2 (#172)
Had it not been for the fact that I played this extensively during an extended summer break Digimon World 2 would undoubtedly be the one game that took me the absolute longest out of all of them. No really, my time was 99:99 when I was all done. The game requires a lot of micromanaging, train up your Digimon in these battles, but then you have to digivolve them at some point cause they stop gaining levels. And then keep your tank alive since you deal with traps in randomized dungeons very often. All these preparations, and then you get tournaments to battle in and a whole lot of other things to deal with.
115. Breath of Fire (#9)
I have a very soft spot for this game. This was the first I attempted an emulation of, and it was the GBA version. But when someone wants to try out an old school Japanese-made RPG, I will point them straight to this. It's a great work for beginners, the story is linear, there is some intrigue in its early parts, you have animal party members, but more importantly, it doesn't pull off anything that's truly unfair in terms of mechanics. Sure, the bosses get second winds, but this is a minor thing and you can strategize easily no matter how you play.
114. Wild ARMs (#22)
The original Wild ARMs had some super weird 3D models for its battle system, plus some odd sound effects that are out of place when you hit stuff. And then the 2D sprites are just for the navigation. But it's an enjoyable classic RPG adventure with the usage of tools for puzzle-solving being important, alongside the game's giving of good roles for all party members. Keep your bullets for your shooter, keep the mage doing mage things, and the swordsman's got sword stuff under his belt.
113. SaGa Frontier 2 (#132)
Honestly I just LOVE THE ART STYLE they portray for this SaGa Frontier title, even though the game is quite a difficult one, it has such a great art style. I tried to go through as best as I could, going through generations of the Wil Knights saga and looking at Gustave's saga well too, it went by quickly. The duels are very dangerous but help in getting better skills, while the war battle system honestly sucks in this one. They should have taken cues from Suikoden!
112. Dragon Quest VI (#116)
The DS version of Dragon Quest 6 gives us quite an expansive world and things to do, even when you timey-wimey things around. It's a very interesting example of a Dragon Quest game, in that you don't customize the actual characters, but can give them classes, taking in some things from DQ3 and refining them for the new crop. It's certainly appreciative as the series keeps growing a beard.
111. Sailor Moon: Another Story (#37)
Here we have an anime RPG which keeps lots of source material alive but differs in adaptation and provides better explanation through its usage of newer villains. Formation system is nice, as are group attacks, and I can actually take in the difficulty spike, but the Sailor Moon RPG's biggest strength may actually just be its Chrono Trigger-like graphics instead.
110. Shin Megami Tensei If... (#196)
What if the Shin Megami Tensei franchise decided on, well, what if? What happens is that this stuff basically further inspired things like Digital Devil Saga and Persona and by god it will be a while before I get to any of that. Oh yeah, and we get the Japanese high school things here. A bit of appreciation I can take, but since dying doesn't set you back sometimes, SMTIf falls in comparison to the other SNES SMT titles.
109. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (#191)
I actually do not regret starting the Megami Tensei franchise from the ground up at all. Even if it means dealing with the toughest of Megami Tensei games. They do dungeon-crawling better than Wizardry, give us the ability to negotiate with and fuse demons, and make us fight for our lives. Yes, it's annoying to deal with the fact that your main huamn characters need to stay alive at all times. Yes, the dungeon-crawling as immersive as it is can be difficult, yes the moon phases alter things around, but I know this franchise got better as I progress.
108. Xenogears (#30)
Xenogears should be played at least once, just so that you know what's going on here. We got a lot of psychology being thrown around, the mechs are super badass, but require tons of maintenance, but the game sure goes on a long time, to the point where the devs ended up making Disc 2 mostly cutscenes. You get some amazing music thankfully, but the game will leave you drained and yes, the first time, you won't have any idea what the heck some hyphenated words even mean.
107. Tales of Eternia (#136)
To this day I honestly don't even know what Tales of Eternia's biggest shortcoming truly is. Is it the naming of it to Tales of Destiny 2 even though that other game exists? Is it the crummy voice acting? I kinda just went through this game just fine, understanding a new combo system for its battles and using the magic system accordingly just as well. It's a lukewarm game, probably the most forgotten Tales title.
106. Final Fantasy III (#55)
Unlike other games I have nostalgia for having touched them prior to reviewing them, my nostalgia for FF3 was from an awful DS remake that was way tougher than it's original Famicom incarnation. So make of that what you will. Anyways, FF3 on the Famicom is very innovative for a turn-based RPG, moreso than 2, and still has difficult battles and checkpoint starvation to make some people hurl. But it's worth playing through, even at least once.
105. Star Ocean (#67)
This game stretched the HELL out of the SNES and manages a very cool battle system in that format. That and multiple moments of mutually-exclusive party members and a number of other cool things like private actions added make it a unique experience to try and replay. There's way too much to sink in, to the point where I've had the game crash on me multiple times.
104. Odin Sphere (#34)
Princess Crown ultimately influenced Odin Sphere, and as 2D as it is, it's one of the tougher action RPGs out there, tons of enemies to swarm on one character, and having to remember to pick up spoils as you go along the way is important. The game's got quite a lot of freedom of movement, set to five different storylines. Jumps around a lot, but the game does culminate at the end.
103. Illusion of Gaia (#51)
Of the three games in the Soul Blazer trilogy I rank Illusion of Gaia the lowest because it is the least action RPG-like. It feels more like a traditional Zelda game with transformations in it, and arguably this is fine and the game plays perfectly fine, plus the world travelling is another huge plus. It's just that as far as action RPGs go, the series had better games in its predecessor and successor on the mechanics.
102. Brain Lord (#189)
They don't call this one Brain Lord for nothing, this game throws puzzle after puzzle and is more puzzle-oriented than combat-oriented. But aside from that, it is an action RPG, one with at least decent sword reach and some interesting enemies and bosses, but nothing too shabby. But you'd best prepare for those pesky puzzles.
101. Langrisser II (#73)
Rounding out the bottom 100 for my experiences in RPGs is Langrisser II, which is different than Der Langrisser since I played this Mega Drive version instead. The same principles of Warsong do apply and the battle system needs to get used to, but thankfully there's no permadeath, you get bonuses for all characters at the end of each war scenario, and there's even better character interaction. I can take all of these!
100. Pokemon Yellow (#151)
99. Pokemon Red/Blue (#150)
98. Spectrobes (#152)
A lot of the "collect monster" type of games you'll notice end up being fairly nice on the standards of it all and that's just fine and dandy to most. Spectrobes focuses on finding fossils for the new critters, minerals for their stat growth in incubation, and you can use some to battle alongside your (unfortunately weak) main character to go along a spacious journey. It's certainly a load of fun no matter the occasion.
97. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (#195)
Very unique characters dot this first in a Crystal Chronicles adventure. It's Final Fantasy elements also clash with hack-and-slash action RPG mechanics that are significantly more fun with multiple players, but thankfully things are balanced for single player enough. It's an odd game for sure, you go through the motions of being a caravan holder, finding myrrh to help heal from the toxins in this game, journeying through dangerous miasma and so forth. Easy to forget there's a plot!
96. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (#139)
The first Lufia ended up being a black sheep in its franchise due to the circumstances of later games just being better. The Ruins of Lore is ever-so-slightly better than the first game but is still a black sheep thanks in part to it just not living up to the other more legendary games in the series. It's actually not too difficult overall, you can once again use monsters if you wish, but the main human characters work out just fine. The Ancient Cave mechanic isn't that great since you have to go solo though.
95. The Legend of Dragoon (#60)
Four discs worth of interesting RPG gameplay utilizing an action command to make basic attacks feel a whole lot better. The timing for both regular attacks and countering counterattacks will require lots of practice and even then you can still mess up. Button-mashing for effectiveness of attack items also can be useful, as are the iconic dragoon transformations. A game that some find decent, but has questionable mechanics to it.
94. Romancing SaGa 3 (#83)
93. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (#140)
If I had played this game a whole lot earlier, I would find it miles more enjoyable. But when you're a seasoned RPG player, this is just a very simple RPG but with Mario elements to it. You can argue those Mario elements like the action command's usefulness make this a lot better than many other RPGs though, so it's definitely got that going for it. And it wasn't really a bad game, it's just that there are far more fun ones.
92. Alundra (#187)
Once again, I ask, is it really an RPG, or do I pull my own leg when I play this Link to the Past clone on the Playstation. You still play only one role, with many tools at your disposal and secrets to find. That's a good gist of it all as you divide and conquer the monkeys and their evil god. But at home, you then have to deal with village deaths too, and the game punches your gut multiple times. Not to mention the puzzles.
91. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (#156)
I'm not gonna lie, this is one of the few games I often forget exists. But I'll say it was a fun and ideal way to spice up Wizardry despite being a distant spinoff. All of the good stuff happens in one town, you can get new characters and things, and then go to the one dungeon to spelunk to the best of your ability. The alignment of your character plays an enormous role in who you get of course, and sometimes it's that complexity that makes me remember I long for simpler titles.
90. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II (#192)
Digital Devil Story 1 was an interesting experience, but DDS2 grows the beard fully and shows us what we are more inclined to see for the SMT franchise. More enemies to battle, more fusions of demons to find, an amalagmation of mythologies as you explore the ruins of a nuked Tokyo and its adjacent underworld. Plenty to take in until you make your decision for the end.
89. Shin Megami Tensei (#193)
And yet the original Shin Megami Tensei also nukes Tokyo. Go figure. The aesthetic is a lot more pleasing in this game than in DDS2, and you have better usage of party members and negotiating with demons, so overall it's a much cooler experience. For fully getting through it, I opted for the neutral path which ended up with a whole lot of important characters dead. But it gave a nice story anyways.
88. Shin Megami Tensei II (#194)
And speaking of nice stories, I enjoyed SMT2's a whole lot more. Yes, hardships are dealt with, both in-game and in-story, but with the combat system given some small QoL and other things to amplify the original experience, I found things to be more fun. Once again, opting for a neutral path was great, and I was guided well with the excellent music, even during the really long and drawn-out battles.
87. Kartia: The Word of Fate (#63)
Now we have a tactical RPG that I actually enjoy, well, apart from the mixing of the cards in order to truly break things down. Okay, so your phantom forces are unique and can be quite useful, but so is your usage of Kartia for spells and such. It's also got two unique storylines, both of which are certifiably worth playing. Definitely a sleeper hit.
86. Final Fantasy IV (#4)
There is a TON of nostalgia for this one, and it owes to a fantastic build of storyline. It kind of suffers from being the least customizable of the FF titles though, you do get multiple characters with multiple roles, and the bosses all require some differing strategies. And who could forget the Active-Time Battle System which originated here. Definitely makes for a fun experience, but as one might expect, others would do it better.
85. Final Fantasy V (#65)
Case in point, this one brings back FF3's fun job system and offers buttloads in terms of abilities. This is of course offset by difficulty as the game is not gonna pull punches and make things easy at all. There are timed dungeons, bosses with no cheap strategies for winning, and hard random encounters. Remember that they didn't make FF games easy yet, they just put old stuff together and facelifted their franchise.
84. Mystic Ark (#137)
And say hello to another wonderful sleeper hit of an SNES RPG. With mysterious circumstances surrounding this game, Mystic Ark, has you world-hopping to multiple locations, using figurines of party members as summons for additional help against the eldritch enemies that reside within. This is one of the early examples of having very unique worlds in an early game that really holds up, and it's a shame that it's just sandwiched with 7th Saga and Brain Lord in a mini-franchise that never took off.
83. Last Bible III (#199)
Isn't it strange how the best game in the mini-franchise of Last Bible had to go back to the SNES to do it? Yeah, it's weird to me. But with additional QoL to help with the recruitment of monsters, plus an actually interesting story that even has your character die, meet your parents in the afterlife, get OUT of the dead area, and to defeat the final evil, all of this makes for stuff that is super unique. Somehow, I think this storyline even beats other iconic ones like FF4's!
82. Thousand Arms (#69)
With a unique main character who's a blacksmith and a unique set of women to take to dates and all, you have one of the more unique RPGs. Oh, and it's a weird stretch on the Active-Time battle system which I'm sure can be confusing. Kind of hard to get the hang of, and switching out a character makes them not gain the experience they would have. Between all of this, you have a mostly light-hearted storyline though.
81. Vandal Hearts (#160)
The original Vandal Hearts is more standard than its sequel in terms of tactical RPGs, and that's a great thing. No needless complications, you can get the hang of the system fairly quickly, and the overall experience is edgy, grimy, and gritty. Political intrigue takes place in cutscenes, you don't get to deal with that of course but you get the chance to use plenty of characters for battle in ways, upgrading them, and dealing with the blood that gushes out from defeating a unit. Yes, this got an M rating for that.
80. Dragon Quest VII (#127)
DQ7 should be the absolute best of its franchise. It's just that it takes a long while to get going, and a long while to get through the entire thing. This game is known for its length, taking in the vocation system from DQ6 and upgrading it ever-so-slightly. No, what you want to focus on is that fact that it's "Fragments of the Forgotten Past", and how your small island isn't supposed to be the only landmass out there. Hoo boy, you journey through the past, solve the riddles in each locale, and they show up in the main world. You basically build the whole world as you go along. Admirable, but exhausting all the same.
79. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (#148)
Another case of a lucky 7 title, for Wizardry VII you got quite the interface to go with, a fully customizable party, and a nice continuation of the Dark Savant trilogy that culminates in a later title (foreshadowing). Of course, I cannot express how difficult this game gets.
78. Might and Magic IX: The Writ of Fate (#169)
I swear the ninth installment of the M&M franchise makes me think of Elder Scrolls, and heh, I will probably be getting to that at some point in time. But at least by this point Might and Magic hits a stride with how its combat is already action-oriented and enjoyable. It's just that by looking at these character portraits they are far more grittier, and I prefer things that are more vibrant in color.
77. Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer (#168)
75. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (#167)
Well, I might as well cover these three M&M titles all at once. I gave them a TON of credit back then, both for being direct sequels to one another and for also spicing up combat. The party sizes are reduced, but with it are the inclusion of more real-time combat (you can opt for traditional turn-based though), free-range movement, skills and masters, they have done a wonderful job and even tied these games all together. Now if only I had started on the Heroes of Might and Magic spinoff series, *hint hint*.
74. Wizardry 8 (#149)
Wizardry 8 felt like a true curtain call for Wizardry as a whole. And honestly just looking at how modernized the series has become, it's a shame that it took until the eighth overall installment in order to make things the most user-friendly, in gameplay, in customization, and in difficulty. There's a whole lot of intrigue, you get to deal with the races and the Dark Savant once again, and while I did give this one a high ranking before, I must admit, the CRPGs end up being not as memorable as the JRPGs in general. But if I had to choose from CRPGs, Wizardry 8 tops my list now.
73. Wild ARMs 2 (#24)
Going back to the JRPGs with Wild ARMs 2, a game that had me truly start to analyze this genre for what it held. The battles are wonderfully strategic, they spiced up an encounter system for a Playstation 1 game, and for a battle system the models are still ugly but the usage of a force gauge (also present in the first game) is something to look through and deal with. Lots of side stuff too.
72. Dragon Quest VIII (#138)
Dragon Quest goes 3D for this installment on the PS2. It's less vocational than the last game, but you can still learn your abilities and make yourself more useful in customization still. Like DQ7 it's got a lot of narrative to it, wondering about the evil that is killing these sages, and finding it, and with Akira Toriyama's signature art style for characters, it is a long, but worthwhile adventure.
71. La Pucelle: Tactics (#117)
Another one of Nippon Ichi's early titles, but for the PS2, La Pucelle does start off extremely silly but you do see it hitting its stride a little later on. Using those terrain tiles may end up working to your advantage here, but the tactical RPG combat becomes an AI-driven combat system for each individual battle. Sometimes its best to revisit locations to grind too.
70. Threads of Fate (#1)
Ah yes, the first RPG I reviewed, one of the much more fun action RPGs complete with two differing stories, one serious, one silly as all get up. And the characters are all lovely in between it all. Mileage easily varies but this sleeper hit is a wonderful pick up.
69. Tales of Destiny (#39)
This game has me conflicted. At one point I think it grew the beard for the Tales series, and at another, it just feels like Phantasia but with a better control scheme, being on the Playstation first. Don't get me wrong, I love the ideas behind it, magical swords to use, the linear motion battle system being decent enough, and the cutesy sprites, and just how the game is overall. But then you look at later games like this one's direct sequel which further grew the franchise up and wonder if this wound up as forgotten as Eternia. I don't forget it, since I actually enjoyed it more.
68. Suikoden IV (#66)
My actual favorite RPG franchise. It starts off with a title, that, if it weren't already in this franchise, would be ranked way lower. The party size is small, the encounter rate is high, there's a lot of sailing around, the characters had the least amount of depth. If they wanted to make a true Island Nations Federation of interesting and uniquely diverse characters, they could have done a much better job.
67. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (#29)
Quite the complex remake to a beloved Playstation title, I know there are times where a remake is worth playing and this is one of them. It just does a lot to expand on the original, more unique puzzles, more characters to control, more overall STRATEGY, and as complex as it ends up becoming you find some greatness it all of it.
66. Sword of Mana (#14)
For a Game Boy Advance title and remake of FFA, they certainly went out of their way to make it enjoyable. Unique magic system, unique upgrades, the different weapons to use and how they impact magic, the class system that pertains to how you level your main character up, and it is complete with remasters of the original game's soundtrack. There's a ton of sidetracking to get just about everything that I honestly wanted to do it for the full experience.
65. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (#62)
Did you know that the international releases of Partners in Time were harder than the Japanese ones? Yeah, they ended up making the game HARDER here, probably by accident, I don't recall, but I had my fill with this game enough to have beaten it just days after having purchased it so long ago. And I still remember it to this day. This is the most terrifying of the M&L titles, because the alien races actually come for the blood of Toads, take over the entire kingdom in the past, and while it's novel to have the babies and adults work together, you get to see how the series grows in what it offers.
64. Legend of Legaia (#80)
And say hello to yet another RPG which terrifies its players in how eldritch abominations can eat things you know alive, even when they are conscious. The concept of Seru gets horribly used, now they are against humanity. You then have this fighting game-style RPG in Legend of Legaia to battle using both martial arts and your Ra-Seru's magic abilities. Bosses are real tough in this one too.
63. Lufia: The Legend Returns (#36)
Let's see, a Lufia game with lots of places to explore, randomized dungeons brimming with treasure, a somewhat unique battle system where you have NINE party members, and another return of those damnable Sinistrals. Yeah, I actually do like this Game Boy Color title and distant sequel to Lufia 2. Not as good as that game but it did try. The battle system does not seem as good once you really see it, cause only three people in each column can act, while the whole front row must be kept alive or it's game over. Not to forget the expansive Ancient Cave.
62. Star Ocean: The Second Story (#98)
There are so many ways to break Star Ocean 2 it's not funny. It's probably better not to have that luxury to break it before going far into it, but regardless, Star Ocean 2 is quite the game. You get mutually-exclusive party members, private actions that even have more than just bonding of characters, the many treasures and annoying dungeons to sprawl through, and then you end up blowing up one world by accident. Then you have to have the OTHER world you land on be destroyed to restore THAT world. The storyline is honestly a mess, and I don't appreciate how they did ten wise men as enemies, could have been written way better.
61. Secret of Evermore (#10)
The person who composed this game's soundtrack has my eternal gratitude, especially for the second and third worlds in particular. It's a slight deviation from the Mana series, an action RPG involving a boy and his shapeshifting dog. I wasted time figuring out what to do in many places, whether it was experimenting with alchemy or leveling up or even messing with the market, this game has a lot to it that I loved playing around with.
60. Secret of Mana (#110)
But even considering that, Secret of Mana is just better. Instead of two, you have three characters, you can actually switch out who you want, and the game's progression works out quite nicely. It also feels cool to have AI controlling characters in real time as you work with the one you use. And even if you don't want that, this was one of the first RPGs to be a multiplayer game to some degree. Whether or not you want that is up to you.
59. Seiken Densetsu 3 (#120)
Now it is called Trials of Mana, but back then it wasn't really that. Pick one of six characters, then pick who you want as your partners from the other five, and you're with them for the whole ride. The game's got deceptively tough gameplay overall thanks to the differences in the system from the previous Secret of Mana title, some enemies have a final attack after you defeat them and makes this action RPG a lot harder. Yet having friendlies controlled well enough by AI does save it.
58. Soul Blazer (#42)
That being said, if you really want simplistic AND enjoyable, Soul Blazer should be your thing. Decent sword reach, decent ways to level up, rebuilding of things that were once barren, it's all here. And it works out so well that saying more would actually be too much for me, just experience this game and see it yourself.
57. Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (#181)
When people remember the Arc the Lad franchise on GameFAQs, this is oddly the game they talk about the most. It is turn-based AND tactical, but removes the grid-based combat for free-range movement that is still limited, plus has these crystals for magic usages and an okay level-up system. But the amount of times you swap protagonists is what really sells it. You got the fully human side, the more demonic Deimos side, and swap between them multiple times, eventually they come together. It's stuff like this that is most fun.
56. Arc the Lad III (#179)
By this point, Arc, the hero of the first few games, is long gone. And in fact, the world as you know it is totally different. New protagonist Alec really just wants to be hunter, and so he sets out with companions to meet and guild jobs to deal with, and that's basically every single thing you end up doing here. Again, tactical AND turn-based combat, the pacing is not that bad, and you meet familiar characters everywhere along with new faces. It is a fitting conclusion to the Arc the Lad collection.
55. Arc the Lad (#177)
My personal favorite of the Arc the Lad Collection isn't the absolute best, but it is a perfect example of a grab-and-go RPG. It's got the length just right, being only about 11 hours long for the regular game if you don't do the sidequests, and the tactical and turn-based combat system does not take a long time to get the hang of. Arc is a traditional hero, and along with him are characters in decent roles. And we got great music too. A lot of good stuff for a short RPG.
54. Arc the Lad II (#178)
But then you get Arc the Lad II, a perfect example of a sequel, one where you import characters from the previous game and they return just as strong as ever (3 lets you do this too but it's not as pronounced). This game bellows out Elc as a decent lead with a number of missions, and he does what he needs to do, but then puts Arc in place as still being a protagonist intent on finishing what he didn't do last time. The ending is apocalyptic and you gotta admit, for a bad ending you cannot avoid, it works.
53. Paper Mario (#64)
I can definitely say without a doubt if this was one of my first RPGs, I would have found it somewhat challenging, but as I said with Super Mario RPG, the Mario games aren't really as cut out for me as they would end up being. The storyline does end up being quite nice, but the combat is super easy for those who already know their RPG mechanics. At least they try to be interesting by making known enemies into party members.
52. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (#7)
Play the Complete version on the Playstation. It's better than the Sega CD one for sure. FMV sequences allow you to bond more with the characters here, the battle system is decent enough for what it holds, but it's the storyline that is top notch. Alex's dreams of being a dragonmaster do come true, and his other goal of saving Luna is a major point that cannot be left out. And Ghaleon is always a memorable villain.
51. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (#26)
Again, the Complete version is what you want. More of the same but with different characters. Although this is a distant sequel it is still full of love and fun characters that defeat a greater evil, even when it's not Ghaleon doing that. They even went and created a fun playable epilogue that finalizes Hiro's journey, and yes, he's a stronger protagonist than Alex is even though he doesn't have the same kind of goal that Alex has.
50. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (#31)
Starting off the top 50 we have Superstar Saga, a unique experience of using Mario and Luigi together in an RPG that wasn't heard of at the time. And it's got plenty of hallmarks going for it that even as a seasoned player I would find enjoyment in. Having a new world to explore is a big one, but the many interactions the brothers deal with make it the biggest thing. There's always something to truly do.
49. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#128)
A new story for the Paper version of Mario to enjoy is all this game is about. New characters, new locations, but the gameplay does remain largely the same, with many twists. What they did with the first game, they improved on heavily in the second, giving us a better hub, more likeable characters, and plenty of off-brand humor to go with it. Yeah, the battles are all stages for some sick reason, but that just adds to the charm.
48. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (#175)
Guild jobs, different races, the fact that the entire world is based off of what some bullied kid at school wants, you get this game. It's not the Ivalice from the previous FFT, oh no. The game just looks and feels charming, you can recruit new units as they come, battle rival clans, and gain territory. And then you have the increasingly frustrating laws to deal with and those judges! They thankfully gave a post-game quest to confront those bastards.
47. Tales of Phantasia (#18)
Never forget them roots sometimes. Tales of Phantasia is just as platform-numbing as Star Ocean was for the Super Famicom, a lot of things crammed into that tiny little system and they managed an interesting game out of it. Having to deal with the omnicidal maniac and his crazed followers who have killed many, and then time-traveling to the past and the future to ensure his maniac tendencies don't spread, you got it here in spades.
46. Breath of Fire III (#13)
The Playstation Breath of Fire games have tried some things with regards to the combat, like new ways to learn skills with Masters, or by examining targets, and they decide to divide up Ryu's dragon forms very, VERY well in the third installment, with all the dragon genes and such. Thus we actually have a game where the combat can happen as you traverse the areas, the dragon forms being very useful, and the questioning of what is your gods in comparison to who rules you.
45. Brave Fencer Musashi (#59)
Apart from some truly annoying minigame segments, here's another example of an action RPG done very right. The standard systems are in place, the areas are weirdly food-themed, and the usage of two swords for combat make you a one-man army. They even have day/night mechanics and the need to sleep in here, offering for good immersion overall. The models look extremely silly, so it's hard to find seriousness in the game sometimes.
44. Breath of Fire IV (#28)
While Breath of Fire IV disappointed with its dragon system being far less than the previous game before it, it did offer more for its other characters and its overall narrative building. Better ways to do encounter systems, even on a "choose destination" map, and more fun encounters and bosses with strategy. They even let you play as the main villain to see how he operates, and how his one shred of dignity gets torn away to prevent him from finding the light ever again.
43. Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (#74)
This was a part of Growlanser: Generations, the Working Designs translation of two Growlanser games and arguably the weaker one. These have real-time tactical strategy battles with character bonding depending on circumstances. While it is the weaker of two games it does have interesting usage of exploring dungeons before combat sets in and you can even import characters from the previous game.
42. Suikoden Tactics (#81)
Remember how I said that they didn't do a lot of good development on the Islands in Suikoden IV? Enter Suikoden Tactics, which expanded the before and the after of the Island Nations plus the Kooluk empire, also offering a Tactics approach on things. It makes a surprisingly enjoyable experience overall. Though watch the terrain in this game, it's super important to heal your characters on your terrain and to not be in terrain you're weak to.
41. Romancing SaGa 2 (#78)
A very enjoyable experience with palette-swapped party members throughout the years of an empire that you control the emperor for. Each successive emperor can take a class from one of your recruited classes, and then you get the new ones along with dealing with many things to find on your quest. Including seven corrupted heroes. It took a while to find a decent translation overall but once I got one I was set for this game.
40. Suikoden III (#38)
The longest of the Suikoden titles, at least when you factor in everyone's story and wish to use all three as Flame Champion at least once. By this point the game still has six people in the battle system, but now they are used in pairs. You're thankfully given mini-maps to areas, and a decent world map to pick destinations with. But the swapping of perspectives is what sells it, as the characters are indeed at odds with each other until they finally group together for the harder opponents later on. Those opponents are even playable in a post-game scenario as well.
39. Suikoden V (#108)
Suikoden III modified things slightly for the first Playstation 2 title. Suikoden IV did loads of changes that were not well-received. So it should bear a lot of weight that Suikoden V is a truer return to form. Back to six members, now with new formations to choose and a real-time war battle system (the only truly new changes apart from characters and setting), it may not have won everyone's heart for those who were fans of the original games, but it was enough for many to appreciate a return to form.
38. Grandia (#32)
I love how clunky Grandia is on the original Playstation. A game with this battle system and navigation system honestly seemed too much for the poor system to handle, so the other games on the stronger systems just felt better. But even with that said, Grandia hit a perfect stride with that battle system and even gives interesting special moves AND a complicated, yet easy to understand magic leveling-up system. Combine this with a story that is really a lust for adventure that ends up turning into keep your girl safe and fight the crazy evildoer and you've got a solid game.
37. Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice (#57)
Yeah, I still haven't played the original Growlanser on the Playstation, but thankfully I don't believe I'm missing too much, since every character from that game is on this one, and this is a Playstation 2 game. The other half of Growlanser Generations, following a different protagonist and you also will notice just how many characters you have to manage. That's a lot, but then you also have important decisions to contend to as the game goes along as well which creates a nice plot along with the anime models.
36. SaGa Frontier (#97)
Seven different protagonists each with something unique to offer, and yet you can still intertwine the paths somewhat in places. I find it quite nice to do that just so I can see different characters to play with, and some obviously do better than others. Unfortunately the more memorable characters truly outshine the lesser ones, whether or not it's because of their stories like Riki's or Asellus' being overall better or that they are just so over the top like Red and his Alkaiser form.
35. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (#182)
Now here's a hard game to truly grade. Silmeria is the sequel to Lenneth, the first Valkyrie Profile, and it does keep SOME things around, like using crystals and the 2D navigation, but it's an entirely different game from the first. Silmeria controls the main girl Alicia remotely, and has to get her own Einherjar back. Familiar faces do abound in this game, and you then realize this game is actually a prequel. And it kind of turns and twists enough times that the ending sadly doesn't make sense. Shame, I loved the combat and the upgrades to it, like getting rid of enemy parts and all.
34. Final Fantasy X-2 (#185)
The Gullwings are at service here for this chapter-driven sequel to a true Final Fantasy classic. Familiar places of Spira along with familiar faces are revisited, but the game is entirely short if you factor out all the sidequests. Boy howdy there's a ton to do, and it shows. Between all of those, get an Enc-None and be on your way, cause the random encounters are also all over the place and the game brings back the Active-Time battle system the last game decided to remove. And the game's got tons of fanservice especially with those Dresspheres.
33. The Magic of Scheherazade (#190)
While I did beat this game super fast, I was seriously taken aback by what it contained for an NES title. We don't have Arabic themes often. We see the game's got combat in both action-RPG and turn-based RPG format. We get the usage of recruitable troopers and strange party members who really aren't that interesting in hindsight. But the GAME itself is what's interesting, as it just somehow combines a lot of things together and meshes them well for an NES title.
32. Crystalis (#5)
But I digress. You want a truly enjoyable NES action RPG? Check Crystalis out. It's another game with a great story, the sprites are better, magic is interesting, you can charge your sword up, and although some grinding may be necessary and all you will find the enjoyment worthwhile enough for this game to beat Zelda II at its own thing.
31. Final Fantasy VIII (#85)
Hands down the easiest to break of the Final Fantasies, but man does it have its many complexities. Just play through it normally, then play through after you mess around with the Triple Triad card game. Then try other playstyles using the Junction system. That might have been Square's big mistake, which made the game so much more easier than it should have been. Squall also shows how edgy he is as a protagonist for good measure.
30. Final Fantasy IX (#115)
And that's kind of why IX beats VIII. It returns things to form not too much, but enough to make a four-disc game enjoyable for everyone, keeping Active-Time battling alive along with some fresh, non-human faces. You can then watch as the story brews from the ground up and things become more and more interesting. The cute characters add to this experience.
29. Tales of Symphonia (#180)
The Tales games have evolved considerably from the 2D titles once Symphonia hit the ground running, becoming one of the Gamecube's most cherished titles. There's so much to do and get in this game, regarding some of the weird titles (which do affect stats), the multitude of abilities to learn that are done by certain styles, and of course you can set the AI to work how you see best while controlling one character as you need. Just try to 100% the game, you really cannot.
28. Earthbound (#99)
Everyone knows Earthbound is a classic. Some would undoubtedly put it as a top 10 RPG. It doesn't reach that for me, but it works out what it needs to from the NES title and makes things a lot more fun. No more random encounters, a better working system of battle with rollover damage rolls, colorful locations and psychedelic battlefields, weird NPCs all over the place. And all in the modern setting to boot. Of course it's an enjoyable game to go through.
27. Skies of Arcadia (#90)
26. Treasure of the Rudras (#87)
The more games I go down, the less I actually have to say about some of them. But at least with this one there's multiple things to say. Rudra no Hihou as it's called gives us three different storylines, where the characters in each one are nicely made, but the main characters soon join a fourth against a greater evil. And how would you do that? Why, with a magic system where YOU create the spells! And you can guess that the better you are with your vernacular the better spells you can create, making one heck of an experience.
25. Phantasy Star IV (#92)
It's been a long time since we saw a Phantasy Star game. I'm terribly sorry but this franchise doesn't really do it for me. So it's quite a shocker than the fourth title landed in the top 25. That's cause it does things RIGHT. No annoyances with grinding too much. The storyline is enhanced heavily with lots of cutscenes and panels, the gameplay allows you to unite techs, and your characters are very personified, lending to a great adventure.
24. Chrono Cross (#40)
This game's got too many ridiculous characters that they kind of suck out some of the fun. Read, some of it. We got an interesting battle system with interesting mechanics, kind of like what Xenogears offered, but honestly slightly better. The game is laughed at a lot by those who LOVE Chrono Trigger, but as a game itself it does have enjoyment. The star level system is alright, the usage of the elements remains important in regards to stamina, and the bosses all require important strategies. So yes, you can look past the horribly developed characters on this one for the gameplay.
23. Final Fantasy VII (#50)
The Playstation 1 proved itself well in offering the best of the games on the genre and FFVII, as overrated as many say it is, isn't different. People adore this title for anything, a great battle system, great locations both in and out of the overworld, interesting bosses and villains, the chocobo breeding, excellent character and plot development, these are REASONS why the game is beloved and overrated at the same time.
22. Terranigma (#68)
The Soul Blazer trilogy culminated in this title not released in the US, but an absolute must-play. Terranigma truly shows it is an action RPG, this time you are a spear-wielder with multiple types of moves and vast worlds to go around to...well actually fix if we're being honest. But never forget you can level up and get where you need to go as needed afterwards, and then some.
21. Grandia II (#41)
Protip, do not play the Playstation 2 version. It is buggy. Otherwise, you get another Grandia game, but one with even BETTER characters who develop well over time, and even though the Grandia formula remains, you can tell they all do what they need to do for each of their respective roles. Props to Ryudo for actually going from being a sick jerk to an actually compassionate guy. His archetype is common among some heroes as opposed to those who start out stupid.
20. Makai Kingdom (#170)
There's another game quite higher on this list that is a whole lot better than this because I ended up playing that one first. But if I hadn't, and I had explored Makai Kingdom beforehand, I would guarantee I would enjoy this one. Plenty of character classes, plenty of weapons to equip, plenty of upgrades, and in your own little world so to speak you can even create buildings and powerful vehicles, now we're talking a whole lot. And all this while your main character is in the shape of a tome.
19. Kingdom Hearts (#200)
If you've ever wanted to play a truly fun experience with Disney characters around, Kingdom Hearts has you covered. Another decent action RPG despite being hack-and-slash, the story is the fine kind of linear and having additional characters in their respective worlds and things different from their original Disney adaptations adds to the overall charm. Standard level-ups apply, and Sora gets really strong, both in game and in character as needed.
18. Vagrant Story (#70)
This is a game that actually punishes you for playing well, but leaves you wanting more of that punishment, because you know you won't be finished until you punish others harder. It's got a whole lot of interesting things for an action RPG, damage to limbs, the differences in the weapons and upgrading them on how you do things, and of course nice abilities to it all. It's a hard experience and yet somehow within all of this I found it less frustrating than I thought.
17. Final Fantasy Tactics (#95)
This rounds out the games that take place in Ivalice, as Vagrant Story also took place there. FFT, the original one, is gonna be a truly long and grueling game that will take quite a while to beat. You'll want to experiment with multiple jobs to get new abilities, revisit locations to level up your characters, and prepare well in advance for some tough battles, such as Dorter Trade City or Riovanes Castle.
16. Final Fantasy X (#155)
I actually got a bit of a head start with FFX at the time I was playing a few other games at the time, because I knew this was gonna be a long and arduous one. Especially when I did the sidequests involving ultimate weapons, effectively doubling the amount of time it took to play this one. Yet you'll see soon enough that this game's quite linear, with the airship showing up for side stuff near the very end, and the journey through multiple settings is enhanced by the power of the Playstation 2's graphics. The scenery is amazing, and the new combat system allows for some more strategy against tough enemies.
15. Breath of Fire II (#11)
Arguably I'm not a fan of BoF2's gameplay. It is still a nice game for those who enjoyed the first one or are beginners to the genre, but aside from that, the game's special skills leave a lot to be desired, as do Ryu's dragon forms. I forgot to mention them for the first game, but they were good then, yet these ones deplete his MP. Not to mention the super high encounter rate and Infinity being as long as it is. I can however excuse this. This game's plot is top-notch, and very melancholy. Bring a lot of tissues for this one.
14. Suikoden (#27)
Now this is a true classic. Suikoden 1 is a game I can't really get enough of, with six party members, plenty more to choose from, choosing your shots for war battles against opponents, and overall it's a lot of fun recruiting new recruits and slowly but surely defeating the opposing army. The storytelling to get to it is great, all over a rune your best friend has, but then having to run with the rebels who become a massive force after it all.
13. Suikoden II (#33)
And this runs right into the next game. Now you can have imported characters, multiple rune slots, a more decent setup for unites, better minigames, and just a more streamlined experience. Arguably I still like the first game more than the second, but I can see why the second is lauded more. It shows you that war is truly hell, especially for the young main characters, them having to be on opposing sides, and the omnicidal maniac that everyone wants dead, man, they managed to make this guy absolutely the worst. That's why they have you using multiple parties to wear him down.
12. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (#130)
Nippon Ichi's most famous title that has spawned sequel after sequel. The combat is somewhat traditional for a tactical RPG, but there's loads and loads of customization, new dungeons, and even having to pass laws in a freakin' court to speak. Prinnies are hilarious, as are some of the characters, and despite the devilish backdrop the game has, you will find it humorous and loads of fun.
11. Bahamut Lagoon (#125)
This is the Final Fantasy title that never was. A tactical RPG predating FFT, we get lots of intriguing characters, including one defecting to your side to love your girlfriend, and the usage of dragons in this game proves interesting in multiple ways since what you feed them changes their form and you can make them so much stronger than they ought to be. Yes, you still have to level most characters up the normal ways.
10. Wild ARMs 3 (#35)
I have not mentioned this yet, but regarding the Wild ARMs series as a whole, it's supposed to represent a lot of Wild West stuff. And it really never became that until the third installment, which is somewhat shameful even if those first two games had some enjoyment in them. But here, your four main characters start off with their own stories, but join together, and all are gunslingers. You meet some villains one too many times, then meet newer, nastier ones, and there's a boatload of puzzles to get yourself lost with. It's a game that you really can't complete without a guide.
9. Live-A-Live (#49)
Once again you have different scenarios for different characters, getting to know a whole slew of characters before they merge together into one new setting. And it's all time period-based too. The game's got a unique battle mechanic very much like tactical RPGs, and everyone plays so differently. The narratives do well individually, but it's in the medieval arc that steals the show. You get to see WHY the hero you play as there ultimately becomes a villain, and how villains like him come to fruition.
8. Final Fantasy VI (#45)
Yes, this one is peak Final Fantasy. The Active-Time battle system done perfectly, the game's characters all having different niches, yet all of them can learn magic effectively by the end of the game thanks to the espers, and the empire and the crazy clown in there ruining everything. You deal with another apocalpyse, survive, and get rid of the man responsible in doing so. There are many tricks to trade for FF6 and that's why it's so damn good.
7. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (#23)
The opening of Lufia 1 makes you want to know more about those powerful characters, and this game despite being a numbered sequel gives you that answer. This game has the best blend of turn-based combat with puzzling dungeons and enemies on the field, enough to make you want to retry it immediately after beating it the first time. An absolute classic.
6. MOTHER 3 (#111)
This game honestly makes me think of how corrupt our society can get, and that's why I rank it so darn high. The mere concept of a currency gets adopted thanks to one of the game's main villains, and he's a jerk to a friendly monkey, and his actions spark the once friendly village to become more distant from what they used to be. All this along with the multiple playable perspectives and you have one powerful piece of storytelling despite all the weirdness, despite Porky being back, and a rhythmic battle system to boot. Gosh I love this one.
5. Phantom Brave (#91)
Imagine you're a little girl with magical abilities to create powerful phantoms to battle worser creatures and imagine you can do this on fields that have strange boundaries and free-range moment. Now imagine having to keep up with the world and actually making things better, for you, for everyone in a certain town, and for a sick girl who can't walk. And also let's not forget your main companion who's exceptionally strong. Big darkness could unfold, but Marona is a perfect character and one of the greatest female protagonists of all time.
4. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (#72)
What used to be my #1 game has been brought down to #4. It is still my favorite Nippon Ichi title, because of how it surprised me in multiple ways. Humorous character interactions, a very harrowing plot dealing with gargantuan world eaters, dealing with ambiguous characters that can betray at a moments notice, and even a Demon path where you truly are the bad guy. The combat system is a bit of a stretch from Disgaea and it still works, as the sides attack in organized ways.
3. The World Ends With You (#100)
It's important to know that if you are going to make a truly top 10 RPG, even a top 3 one, it's got to have things that are going to appeal to everyone. A unique setting, a unique plot, an actually unique battle system that has you looking at two screens often, pins to make you at least have a chance. This game proves its difficulty with just those, and with an enjoyable plot summed up for it. You know, I really am running out of decent words to say, but it deserves to be looked at.
2. Chrono Trigger (#20)
Much like Square's brainchild of FF7, Chrono Trigger is often considered overrated by those who highly prefer other games, but let's face it, again, there are reasons as to why. A better usage of Active-Time battle systems, time travel at it's absolute best, dealing with the overall insanity of each timeline, getting some powerful equipment in sidequests, I could, but honestly, I shouldn't go on. Play it at least once and you'll see why it's so good.
1. Valkyrie Profile (#25)
