Huh, I must've missed this. Thanks a lot, full-time work. Actually this may also be because I have had tons of work I have been doing with regards to a whole lot of other things, such as ROM hacks and platformers, and now lately I have been rummaging through a "multiple games in one" style NES game just to see what games they have and all. But damn, I have more or less neglected my RPG ranks. So much that I have not actually done a review since Vandal Hearts, my 160th review. And platformers have even eclipsed my RPGs, though that's entirely because they take much less time to go through than RPGs.
In any case, I'll be doing this much more differently. If you want to see some blurbs for all of them, start from here. I think in the event I reach 200, I will return to this formula once again, but this will include all the RPGs I played in list format, along with blurbs and images for all the new ones. So here it goes.
160. Deep Dungeon 3 (#114)
159. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)
158. Hydlide: (#53)
157. Deep Dungeon (#112)
156. Startropics (#12)
155. The Guardian Legend (#15)
154. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)
153. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)
152. Shining Wisdom (#52)
151. Popful Mail (#103)
150. Deep Dungeon 4 (#124)
149. Ys. (#96)
148. Secret of the Stars (#107)
147. Dragon Quest (#76)
146. Dual Orb II (#86)
145. Ys. III (#123)
144. Ys II (#102)
143. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (#144)
142. Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (#19)
141. Dragon Quest II (#79)
140. Crusader of Centy (#8)
139. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (#131)
138. Magic Knight Rayearth (#48)
137. The 7th Saga (#77)
136. Final Fantasy Legend II (#46)
135. Final Fantasy Legend III (#54)
134. Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! (#17)
133. Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (#121)
132. Grandia III (#133)
131. Final Fantasy (#2)
130. Final Fantasy Legend (#43)
129. Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (#143)
128. Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (#142)
127. Lunar: Walking School (#44)
126. Silva Saga (#119)
125. Great Greed (#47)
124. Tenchi Muyo! Game Hen (#93)
123. Phantasy Star II (#16)
122. Silva Saga II (#122)
121. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (#6)
120. Robotrek (#101)
119. Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)
118. Warsong (#56)
117. Final Fantasy II (#135)
116. Dragon Quest IV (#94)
115. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)
114. Shining Force (#106)
113. Shining in the Darkness (#82)
112. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)
111. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)
110. Phantasy Star III (#71)
109. Romancing SaGa (#61)
108. Dragon Quest III (#89)
107. Princess Crown (#126)
106. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (#153)
First new entry here and it's Might & Magic's first game. Like the Wizardry series in a ton of ways, and I decided that this first entry gets last place in its franchise because obviously, the sequels end up being way better. Still, you got the customization aspects in place which are great, and the gameplay imposes challenge. I just wish I played this on a better port. The DOS music didn't have music!
105. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (#147)
104. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (#154)
Here we are at the second entry of Might and Magic and it...didn't add too many new things. But did you need more new things at the moment? Perhaps it's all well and good, the gameplay still remains challenging and the customization is still the strong point. Sheltem will remain a thorn in the side of the heroes, and the plot going for some technological stuff certainly is confusing. Oh well, importing hirelings is one other interesting aspect.
103. Breath of Fire (#9)
102. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (#75)
101. Wizardry: Proving Grounds for the Mad Overlord (#141)
100. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (#157)
This was a game I came back to after my hiatus and conviction to a full-time job. The most shameful part was that I had to restart a playthrough of it. But hey, what's this, character class screenshots! More improvements! But keeping the same gameplay as before, something I had to get accustomed to once again. If it weren't for those interesting character shots, the actual game may have been worse than the previous ones, as this one was MUCH harder. The stories of Corak and Sheltem keep unraveling, and the characters from Terra that you use somehow have to give chase to these two.
99. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (#158)
I am indeed lumping all of these Might and Magic games together. But only because they all seem to be the same sort of brew. The pictures here and the gameplay is pretty much taken into the sequel game, and in the case of IV and V, they can be played on one CD together. This game really doesn't do too much new besides that.
98. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (#159)
Though I certainly shall say, making two Might and Magic games back to back certainly was interesting. You kill Xeen in the first one, and the aftermath follows soonafter on the same disc. I think a few Wizardry versions had this idea too. And in this case, my goodness, they throw Corak and Sheltem, what they truly are, dealing with a wedding at the very end, and somehow just ending this strangely odd trifecta of Might and Magic games. Until the next time, of course, man these CRPGs have the strangest series.
97. Phantasy Star (#3)
96. Dragon Quest V (#104)
95. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (#84)
94. Earthbound ZERO (#88)
93. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (#145)
92. Jade Cocoon (#58)
91. Wild ARMs (#22)
90. Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (#109)
89. SaGa Frontier 2 (#132)
88. Dragon Quest VI (#116)
87. Sailor Moon: Another Story (#37)
86. Star Ocean (#67)
85. Final Fantasy III (#55)
84. Tales of Eternia (#136)
83. Xenogears (#30)
82. Odin Sphere (#34)
81. Spectrobes (#152)
People barely if ever talk about the original Spectrobes. It's always Origins or Beyond the Portals and I think that might be attributed to, maybe the lackluster plot? But this Pokemon clone has a number of things that helped it, the interesting incubation system, the action-RPG-style combat, including your main character into battle is interesting even though he'll always be weaker than his Spectrobes, tons of excavation processes. I somehow ended up with a collector's edition which even included card inputting, which certainly was strange. Spectrobes certainly went a for a lot.
80. Illusion of Gaia (#51)
79. Langrisser II (#73)
78. The Legend of Dragoon (#60)
77. Final Fantasy IV (#4)
76. Kartia: The Word of Fate (#63)
75. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (#139)
74. Final Fantasy V (#65)
73. Romancing SaGa 3 (#83)
72. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (#140)
71. Mystic Ark (#137)
70. Dragon Quest VII (#127)
69. Wild ARMs 2 (#24)
68. Vandal Hearts (#160)
As a huge fan of the "war is hell" plotline, this one was quite appealing. Though with isometric grid and traditional tactical RPG styles, I gotta be honest, it's just never going to be like Final Fantasy Tactics. But there's substantial development of most characters, interesting moments where you can control certain other teams, the proper representation of which class trumps which ones, and the glorious blood showers that occur when you kill enemies. Plus no permadeath. This was a load of fun.
67. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (#156)
One dungeon, one town, an endless winter, and tons of flashbacks. It's even more interesting as it's a Wizardry entry done by Atlus for a console instead of a computer. This is the Wizardry game with the best atmosphere, and the combat isn't nearly as tough as you might think. Alignment and proper customization however can ensure things go the way you want, but things can certainly be going horribly wrong. And it does manage to keep many Wizardry hallmarks all the same.
66. Dragon Quest VIII (#138)
65. Thousand Arms (#69)
64. La Pucelle: Tactics (#117)
63. Threads of Fate (#1)
62. Tales of Destiny (#39)
61. Suikoden IV (#66)
60. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (#29)
59. Sword of Mana (#14)
58. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (#62)
57. Legend of Legaia (#80)
56. Lufia: The Legend Returns (#36)
55. Star Ocean: The Second Story (#98)
54. Secret of Evermore (#10)
53. Secret of Mana (#110)
52. Seiken Densetsu 3 (#120)
51. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (#148)
50. Soul Blazer (#42)
49. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (#7)
48. Tales of Phantasia (#18)
47. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (#26)
46. Breath of Fire III (#13)
45. Brave Fencer Musashi (#59)
44. Breath of Fire IV (#28)
43. Paper Mario (#64)
42. Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (#74)
41. Suikoden Tactics (#81)
40. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (#31)
39. Romancing SaGa 2 (#78)
38. Suikoden III (#38)
37. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#128)
36. Suikoden V (#108)
35. Grandia (#32)
34. Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice (#57)
33. SaGa Frontier (#97)
32. Wizardry 8 (#149)
31. Pokemon Yellow (#151)
It's Red/Blue, but harder! That's all there is to it. A starter that cannot evolve and a bigger level curve. Plus some of the stuff that makes it feel like the anime was interesting enough. The strangest thing about this I would say is that some concepts, like the following Pikachu, weren't redone by Game Freak until much later, and it's kinda off and on which makes the whole thing more confusing. The only other issue is that this is really more of the same thing as Red/Blue, which I'm sure some people who criticized the series have picked up on.
30. Pokemon Red/Blue (#150)
29. Crystalis (#5)
28. Final Fantasy VIII (#85)
27. Final Fantasy IX (#115)
26. Earthbound (#99)
25. Skies of Arcadia (#90)
24. Treasure of the Rudras (#87)
23. Phantasy Star IV (#92)
22. Chrono Cross (#40)
21. Final Fantasy VII (#50)
20. Terranigma (#68)
19. Grandia II (#41)
18. Final Fantasy X (#155)
Square honestly outdid themselves here. While some criticisms could be made about the battle system being a little easier than Active Time, plus the main character criticisms and the laugh scene, you cannot deny just how much Final Fantasy X has. A plot that really is intriguing, the idea to break a certain cycle and to screw with destiny so that the past doesn't happen again, and plenty, and I mean PLENTY of ways to go about that, plus all the sidequests for weapons and such. The complicated leveling system can still be tweaked. There's just a ton going on with Final Fantasy X and in the two or so months of playing it I really did not feel disgusted at all. It was truly enjoyable.
17. Vagrant Story (#70)
16. Final Fantasy Tactics (#95)
15. Suikoden (#27)
14. Suikoden II (#33)
13. Breath of Fire II (#11)
12. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (#130)
11. Bahamut Lagoon (#125)
10. MOTHER 3 (#111)
9. Live-A-Live (#49)
8. Wild ARMs 3 (#35)
7. Final Fantasy VI (#45)
6. Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals (#23)
5. Phantom Brave (#91)
4. The World Ends With You (#100)
3. Chrono Trigger (#20)
2. Valkyrie Profile (#25)
1. Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (#72)
And with that, I have officially ranked all of my RPGs accordingly, again. Even though it is in a smaller list I had to do so because I was so busy before and never had the time to really do much else since then. I will continue to play more as time goes on, the new ones will probably not show up on this list anytime soon until I hit a target number. Regardless, peace out as I continue my gaming escapades.
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