RPG Ranks: 150-141

Originally, this was a full-on ranking of each of the 100 games I played, but each time I finish 10 RPGs, I'll go ahead and update the whole thing. Also to make this feel more like a countdown I'll upload the top ones on the page first, then ending on the last, to make it feel more like a countdown. But without further ado, time to rank all of the 150 games I played. Check my list on my TTT profile for my actual grades on these games. Also the # numbers correspond to which number it was reviewed.

150. Deep Dungeon 3 (#114)

I never thought I'd find an RPG worse than Golvellius, but Deep Dungeon 3 proved me wrong. You get your character and companions of different classes, get supplies as usual, deal with first-person perspective dungeons and Dragon Quest turn-based combat. Except when I played this game I had not an iota of fun. Especially once you reach those particular enemies that either evade every attack or don't get damaged all that much, even with the best possible stuff at the time. Just how? My theory was the English translation of this was a flat out mod, which somehow failed in balancing the game or gave it a new bug.

149. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)

The Master System really only had one decent RPG in Phantasy Star, which you can argue had aged poorly. But it also had this, and god, this was an awful Zelda clone. The more I look at some of the RPGs I played, the more I questioned whether or not some games should be considered RPGs, and Golvellius not only ranks among them, but is the worst I've ever played. Movement is eschewed, enemies go through attacks, and while the game tries to do unique things with the dungeons, they are either annoying or boring and just not fun at all. Not to mention respawning enemies. I never like those.

148. Hydlide (#53)

Remember when I defined this as an Action RPG? It is, but it's the bare bones of one. And it doesn't have any of the traits that make it fun. You run into enemies to damage them, and they damage you the same way. It's way too simplistic, and you die easily. But if you can prevail, level up your stats good, you can beat this game within a day. There's barely a story, or anything outstanding. It's amazing there was a series to this game after all.

147. Deep Dungeon (#112)

That screenshot shows the premise of this mini-series of RPGs that started on the Famicom Disk System. It's all done in first-person perspective, one-on-one combat, and it can be boring or frustrating, but almost never fun. You'll often miss attacks, and be in a loop for much of this game to the point where you just wonder if you are capable of even doing anything. This is compounded by all sorts of fake-outs and other crazy things that are aimed to kill.

146. Startropics (#12)

The reason this is low is because I decided not to really consider this as an RPG in hindsight. Sure you see what I see though, a health bar, different items, and the like. But this is definitely an action-adventure game moreso than an action RPG. It's even got lives. It's basically like a top-down Castlevania, and speaking of that's a series that didn't really go the action RPG route until much later. I didn't like this game all that much, with timed jumps and enemies that could easily kill. It's an interesting cult classic at the least.

145: The Guardian Legend (#15)

Again, this one exists at the bottom because it is entirely different from the RPG mantra that I am used to. While both this and 108 are better than the worst action RPGs I played, they don't really offer much in terms of anything I want in RPGs, level ups, compelling stories (well Startropics actually had a compelling story), they were just different than the RPGs I reviewed. This was quite a fun game at least, combining top-down Zelda action with rail-shooter sections. Not really much of an RPG though.

144. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)

Only one Deep Dungeon game could be worthwhile to play, and that's the second one. It's harder in a sense, especially due to the first-person perspective making things more immersive and all, but it has plenty of holdovers from the previous game that were done much better. Still though, encounters could get either really nasty or are complete cinches, but regardless these deep dungeon walls will be difficult to penetrate.

143. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)

Well, it TRIED to be unique in some way. The game that started the obscure Silva Saga series started out with a game that combined insane fetch questing with a battle system reminiscent of Hydlide and Ys. but without much of the fun. Add to that excruciating dungeons, many of which need to be backtracked due to all the fetch questing, and enemy encounter frequency at an all-time high, and you've got a real grinder of a game. Leveling up here is practically meaningless since you gain levels like crazy.

142. Shining Wisdom (#52)

My first envoy into the Sega Saturn so far has been with Shining Wisdom, a game I honestly shouldn't have really bothered with for the same reasons as above. It tries to be action RPG, but is pretty much a poor man's Ocarina of Time where you find your health pickups, fight enemies that reappear upon just moving a few feet away, and incredibly wonky mechanics for beating enemies, with a lame sword mechanic as well as other items that also damage you if you use them on enemies. The plot also is cliche and easy to get lost with at times. How did this end up being my first Shining game I played?

141. Popful Mail (#103)

Popful Mail shouldn't belong here. In fact, the only reason I considered it an action RPG in the first place was the ability to switch characters on the fly. There's no leveling mechanic and just a few moments where you can buy items. Also I played an untranslated SNES version and beat it within a single day. It's somewhat fun, moreso than some games ahead of it, but it's less RPG and more Metroidvania.

Continued in the next post.