RPG Ranks: Up to 170

I am back and doing this again. Mostly cause I have the time to do it, but because I have already played 10 RPGs so therefore I want to go back to this ranking system I did for a post that is almost a year old by now. My gosh. Since summer is in session I do have the free time to play some games, and now with that out of the way I'll use the same ranking system I did for the 160 post.

 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.

170. Deep Dungeon 3 (#114)
169. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)
168. Hydlide: (#53)
167. Deep Dungeon (#112)
166. Startropics (#12)
165. The Guardian Legend (#15)
164. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)
163. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)
162. Shining Wisdom (#52)
161. Popful Mail (#103)
160. Deep Dungeon 4 (#124)
159. Ys. (#96)
158. Secret of the Stars (#107)
157. Dragon Quest (#76)
156. Dual Orb II (#86)
155. Ys. III (#123)
154. Ys II (#102)
153. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (#144)
152. Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (#19)
151. Dragon Quest II (#79)
150. Crusader of Centy (#8)
149. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (#131) 
148. Magic Knight Rayearth (#48)
147. The 7th Saga (#77)
146. Final Fantasy Legend II (#46)
145. Final Fantasy Legend III (#54)
144. Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! (#17)
143. Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (#121)
142. Grandia III (#133)
141. Final Fantasy (#2)
140. Final Fantasy Legend (#43)
139. Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (#143)
138. Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (#142)
137. Lunar: Walking School (#44)
136. Silva Saga (#119)
135. Great Greed (#47)
134. Tenchi Muyo! Game Hen (#93)
133. Phantasy Star II (#16)
132. Silva Saga II (#122)
131. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (#6)
130. Robotrek (#101)
129. Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)
128. Warsong (#56)
127. Final Fantasy II (#135)
126. Dragon Quest IV (#94)
125. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)
124. Shining Force (#106)
123. Shining in the Darkness (#82)
122. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)
121. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)
120. Phantasy Star III (#71)
119. Romancing SaGa (#61)
118. Dragon Quest III (#89)
117. Princess Crown (#126)
116. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (#153)
115. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (#147)
114. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (#154)
113. Breath of Fire (#9)
112. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (#75)
111. Wizardry: Proving Grounds for the Mad Overlord (#141)
110. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (#157)
109. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (#158)
108. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (#159)
107. Phantasy Star (#3)
106. Dragon Quest V (#104)
105. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (#84)
104. Earthbound ZERO (#88)
103. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (#161)

Man, look at all those gridlines. This PC RPG is kind of on the ridiculous side with its tactical battles, and while you can automate it, sometimes that's not recommended. In any case, I think of Realms of Arkania as a tactical version of Might & Magic or Wizardry, and for the most part I am okay with this kind of thing, well, most of the time. Difficulty is quite high and there's a ton of statistics to worry about.

102. Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (#164)

It makes a few improvements, and I especially love the final battle against Arkandor in the screenshot which is quite nicely done for something in a tactical RPG. Other than that, the same as the first game. It certainly still has its difficulty, and events can screw you over at times, but it all remains quite fun. And it's hard to believe that a Doom 2 WAD got me into this game because of the music that was taken from it. Yeah, this is a thing with some of the games I played here.

101. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (#145)
100. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (#165)

Yet another case of me being lazy and putting a sequel game immediately after its predecessor on the ranking. But then again, what can you do if they kept the core mechanics of the sequel the same as the first game? Not a lot, that's what. Still, Chocobo's Dungeon 2 has a better overall feel to it (and better translation) and was a lot more fun. And hey, randomized dungeons can be fun AT TIMES.

99. Jade Cocoon (#58)
98. Koudelka (#163)

This is a good example of a story-driven RPG. The predecessor to the Shadow Hearts franchise definitely has the spooky feel that Resident Evil and Silent Hill fans can appreciate, combined with a turn-based, grid-based RPG style. Problem I have is the gameplay is too damn slow. It takes a while to get to enemies, and then to defeat some bosses it takes awhile. There's a lot of backtracking and man I hated it when I broke some weapons that I wanted to keep. The storyline ultimately saves this from being bad at least, plus the different endings.

97. Vandal Hearts II (#162)

If you're a fan of medieval, war-like storylines, then this is a game for you. Yes, you'll be witnessing politics in the grand scheme of many, many cutscenes, how rulers are trying to usurp one another, how men die valiantly for their country, oh wait, what about the gameplay this one had? Needless to say, the sequel tried something that ended up poorly executed. Great idea, have BOTH an enemy and player character move at the same time. This led to a lot of frustrating moments. And then there's remembering to make the right choices so you get the best ending possible. A lot to take in, and if it wasn't for the storyline this would be a lot lower.

96. Wild ARMs (#22)
95. Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (#109)
94. SaGa Frontier 2 (#132)

93. Dragon Quest VI (#116)
92. Sailor Moon: Another Story (#37)

91. Star Ocean (#67)
90. Final Fantasy III (#55)

89. Tales of Eternia (#136)

88. Xenogears (#30)

87. Odin Sphere (#34)

86. Spectrobes (#152)

85. Illusion of Gaia (#51)

84. Langrisser II (#73)

83. The Legend of Dragoon (#60)

82. Final Fantasy IV (#4)

81. Kartia: The Word of Fate (#63)

80. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (#139)

79. Final Fantasy V (#65)

78. Romancing SaGa 3 (#83)

77. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (#140)

76. Mystic Ark (#137)

75. Dragon Quest VII (#127)

74. Wild ARMs 2 (#24)

73. Vandal Hearts (#160)

72. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (#156)

71. Dragon Quest VIII (#138)

70. Thousand Arms (#69) 

69. La Pucelle: Tactics (#117)
68. Threads of Fate (#1)

67. Tales of Destiny (#39)
66. Suikoden IV (#66)
65. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (#29)
64. Sword of Mana (#14)
63. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (#62)
62. Legend of Legaia (#80)
61. Lufia: The Legend Returns (#36)
60. Star Ocean: The Second Story (#98)

59. Secret of Evermore (#10)
58. Secret of Mana (#110)
57. Seiken Densetsu 3 (#120)
56. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (#148)
55. Soul Blazer (#42)

54. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (#7)
53. Tales of Phantasia (#18)
52. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (#26)
51. Breath of Fire III (#13)

50. Brave Fencer Musashi (#59)
49. Breath of Fire IV (#28)

48. Paper Mario (#64)

47. Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (#74)

46. Suikoden Tactics (#81)

45. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (#31)

44. Romancing SaGa 2 (#78)

43. Suikoden III (#38)

42. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#128)

41. Suikoden V (#108)

40. Grandia (#32)

39. Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice (#57)

38. SaGa Frontier (#97)

37. Might and Magic IX: The Writ of Fate (#169)

Snazzier graphics did not necessarily make this entry in the M&M series the best. Well, gameplay is like the other three before it in the series (which I'll explain later, they come after this one!), so that means that I like the free-moving real-time battles that they offer. But I don't like how the plot was like "Hey, fight this warlord guy because destiny says so. Oh wait! It turns out you both were tricked by what is essentially Loki! Hahaha!" Sometimes a plot can break an RPG on me. Shame too, it was somehow quite good until the plot twist.

36. Wizardry 8 (#149)

35. Pokemon Yellow (#151)

34. Pokemon Red/Blue (#150)

33. Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer (#168)

Another thing that can ruin things for the Might & Magic series in my opinion, the strange continuity. In other words, to get all the full backstories, you need to play the Heroes of Might and Magic spinoff series to understand a few more things. M&M8 isn't too bad though, the same mechanics as the previous two games exist here, and they try to make things improvable as much as possible. Dragon recruits! Elemental gateways! Crazy crystals! It's all here and is fun.

32. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (#166)

By the time M&M6 rolled around we saw them do what they did with Wizardry 8, and arguably better. Still got tons of character customization to boot, but the developers knew they needed to make their series a bit more appealing than the last few games which were difficult in many ways. M&M6 is a direct sequel to the fifth game, and at this point the continuity kind of snarls in between the HOM&M series which again I need to play, but the advancements in gameplay are what make this a good game in the series.

31. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (#167)

I'm gonna argue and say this is the best of the M&M core games though, and it's mostly because its plot was the most interesting (the gameplay here is more or less the same as M&M6). A major character returns from the previous game, there's a fun scavenger hunt, and your party actually becomes rulers of your own castle. Granted, with the rule of a castle you have the politics that go with it, the results being having to ally with a light or dark side, or worrying about invasion, these things happen around the midpoint which I think is perfect for such decisions in-game.

30. Crystalis (#5)

29. Final Fantasy VIII (#85)

28. Final Fantasy IX (#115)

27. Earthbound (#99)

26. Skies of Arcadia (#90)

25. Treasure of the Rudras (#87)

24. Phantasy Star IV (#92)

23. Chrono Cross (#40)

22. Final Fantasy VII (#50)

21. Terranigma (#68)

20. Grandia II (#41)

19. Makai Kingdom (#170)

I've said enough about how Makai Kingdom essentially combines Disgaea and Phantom Brave, and if you can foreshadow, you'll realize those games are ahead of this one. Maybe I should've played Makai Kingdom before them and it would be much higher, but the magic is lost cause I played those first. Regardless, a fun tactical RPG with LOADS of customization will earn you really high points. And you get to utilize facilities and mechs too. Lots of overlord magic to be had.

18. Final Fantasy X (#155)

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, yet again. 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.