RPG Ranks: 110-101

Continued from the previous post.

110. Robotrek (#101)

Not a lot of RPGs employ robots very well, and this is one of them. Robotrek definitely allows you to build combat robots to use in combat, too bad the system is a poor man's Pokemon that is clunky and often requires the bot to recharge all the time. It is active-time, making things more frantic, and a timer is an added challenge to getting bonus experience. The plot is all over the place here.

109: Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)

This is a classic action RPG entirely. Zelda-like navigation but with HP, MP, gold, different weapons and magic spells, bosses and enemies that require proper strategy. Don't mean to be biased, but Sword of Mana beats it every which way, expanding heavily on things and making way for more playable characters. Not really something that should be passed up though.

108. Warsong (#56)

I have fond memories of quitting Warsong because I could not understand any of the mechanics and the first battle in the game was hopeless. You shouldn't ever start your game off like that, folks. Having to select the types of soldiers you need for battle is nice, but the mercy of the RNG is the one thing I never could understand when it comes to the Langrisser series battles. Not to mention these games take time and this was the only game in the series with permadeath rules.

107. Final Fantasy II (#135)

Yeah, I finally got around to replaying this, even though it was on a remake in my case. But seriously, the way battles went confused the heck out of me the first time and I found myself at a roadblock with it. This battle system basically predated the SaGa games, but those were just easier to figure out for me. That being said the second Final Fantasy game has rather solid story of good vs. evil and the plot twists in between, so it fares better than you'd think.

106. Dragon Quest IV (#94)

At this rate, you can pretty much guess that I am going through all the barebones RPGs right now. Dragon Quest IV is the first game in the series which actually made an effort with the storyline, giving off multiple character stories that converge. Remarkable! It's a bit too long for my taste, though. But hey, in case you're wondering, I'm hitting the RPGs that are actually average. The rest of this page will be filled with them in fact.

105. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)

I'm almost tempted to not talk about this game as much as Shining Force, which immediately follows it on this ranking. But if you must know, this game's mechanics are basically the exact same as Shining Force's, hardline tactical RPG combat, an attempt at a compelling story, and the "brother syndrome" as I like to call it. Sadly that's about it, and you won't find anything truly different apart from plot. 

104. Shining Force (#106)

I see the potential, dammit. I see it so damn well. Shining Force proves to be a basic, yet nostalgic strategy RPG game. The story isn't too compelling and neither are the characters, which are problems. Furthermore, this is a game that suffers horrendously from bad XP growth and an odd promotion system, forcing many retries to get anyone up to proper levels. Mages shine here.

103. Shining in the Darkness (#82)

Phantasy Star predates the Shining series first outing with its 3D dungeons, but in Shining in the Darkness, the immersion of playing through a 3d dungeon is pretty innovative. It's the only one of course. Premise is still simple, but it gets its brownie points. Too bad the backtracking ruins the vibes, and the plot is cliche enough already.

102. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)

An interesting game to rank. After the experiment of playing the bad guy in IV they went back to their roots, and this is surprisingly a good thing despite not a whole lot of new things really being offered to the table. I mean, I did miss customizing my party and all though, so that's certainly something I really wanted to do, even if that usually takes up time.

101. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)

So, we have the worst Wild ARMs game here. Hex battle system is interesting, but a poorly-executed concept, and I'm guessing the fifth game remedied it better. It at least keeps several holdover mechanics from the previous games, but doesn't excel in making them any better. But the real drawback is this game's storyline and it's rather awfully inept main character. The game's plot is strange and Media Vision certainly made it a very political game for all the wrong reasons.

Continued in the next post.