RPG Ranks: Up to 180

Time to do one of these again, which means I am just inserting in the ones that I recently played into a master list and writing blurbs. You know the drill, this is my personal ranking of each RPG I played, with 180 being the least favorite and 1 being the most favorite. Let's see how the new games ranked too. Read the very first RPG Ranks post to see blurbs for all of the blurbs, I guess.

180. Deep Dungeon 3 (#114)
179. Golvellius: Valley of Doom (#21)
178. Hydlide: (#53)
177. Deep Dungeon (#112)
176. Startropics (#12)
175. The Guardian Legend (#15)
174. Deep Dungeon 2 (#113)
173. Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu (#118)
172. Shining Wisdom (#52)
171. Popful Mail (#103)
170. Deep Dungeon 4 (#124)
169. Ys. (#96)
168. Secret of the Stars (#107)
167. Dragon Quest (#76)
166. Dual Orb II (#86)
165. Ys. III (#123)
164. Ys II (#102)
163. Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (#144)
162. Majin Eiyuuden Wataru Gaiden (#19)
161. Dragon Quest II (#79)
160. Crusader of Centy (#8)
159. Orphen: Scion of Sorcery (#131) 
158. Magic Knight Rayearth (#48)
157. Digimon World 4 (#174)

It's really hard for me to rank most Digimon titles mostly because there is just so many mechanics. Yet ironically, the game that I found the simplest also is my least favorite of the bunch. Imagine if you will, the Lord of the Rings game on the Gamecube, as well as the hack and slash gameplay which I'm personally not a fan of, and you have this game. Unfortunately, it's definitely not balanced for single-player gameplay without tedious grinding, so it's certainly gonna be a low one.

156. The 7th Saga (#77)
155. Final Fantasy Legend II (#46)
154. Final Fantasy Legend III (#54)
153. Faria: A World of Mystery and Danger! (#17)
152. Ranma 1/2: Treasure of the Red Cat Gang (#121)
151. Grandia III (#133)
150. Final Fantasy (#2)
149. Final Fantasy Legend (#43)
148. Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (#143)
147. Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (#142)
146. Lunar: Walking School (#44)
145. Silva Saga (#119)
144. Great Greed (#47)
143. Tenchi Muyo! Game Hen (#93)
142. Phantasy Star II (#16)
141. Silva Saga II (#122)
140. Lufia & The Fortress of Doom (#6)
139. Robotrek (#101)
138. Final Fantasy Adventure (#105)
137. Warsong (#56)
136. Final Fantasy II (#135)
135. Dragon Quest IV (#94)
134. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya (#129)
133. Shining Force (#106)
132. Shining in the Darkness (#82)
131. Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom: (#146)
130. Wild ARMs 4 (#136)
129. Phantasy Star III (#71)
128. Romancing SaGa (#61)
127. Dragon Quest III (#89)
126. Princess Crown (#126)
125. Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (#153)
124. Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (#147)
123. Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World (#154)
122. Breath of Fire (#9)
121. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (#75)
120. Wizardry: Proving Grounds for the Mad Overlord (#141)
119. Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra (#157)
118. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen (#158)
117. Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen (#159)
116. Phantasy Star (#3)
115. Dragon Quest V (#104)
114. Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (#84)
113. Earthbound ZERO (#88)
112. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (#161)
111. Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (#164)
110. Digimon World (#171)

Hours of gameplay went into this one, I assure. Also am not the biggest fan of a fully-AI-controlled battle system, but there's a ton of immersion in that you can use one Digimon, train it in many, many ways, and care for it. It's arguably the best game on premise, but not in gameplay or even storyline. Plus, the annoyance of having your Digimon fade and become anew, especially at crucial points, can actually be quite the dealbreaker.

109. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon (#145)
108. Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (#165)
107. Jade Cocoon (#58)
106. Koudelka (#163)
105. Vandal Hearts II (#162)
104. Digimon World 3 (#173)

The most alright game in the Digimon World saga for me. It felt like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game without the mystery dungeon stuff, and well I haven't even touched that series yet. Arguably they did a great job with the plot here, even if it gets a bit silly sometimes. Probably the best overall battle system, one-on-one, a fun evolution mechanic, and I guess if you're into card games you might like this too? I'm not the biggest fan of that one but I can see others liking it.

103. Tales of Destiny 2 (#176)

Where oh where is my English localization? This is a game I desperately wanted to play, and much to my chagrin I had to play it untranslated, thank goodness someone was able to provide a text FAQ on it, because it would very difficult otherwise. In either case, this is a Tales game, which is generally quite fun and is only down here because it didn't get translated, and while being graded on how well you do in battles is a gripe I have, this one pulls many familiar elements of the first Tales of Destiny and makes a worthy-enough sequel. Complete with a memorable villain even for a Japan-only title.

102. Digimon World 2 (#172)

This one's got the real mystery dungeon vibes of the Digimon World series, and I actually really enjoyed it compared to the first title. And the three-on-three combat system is a load of fun...except that it's incredibly slow-paced, along with the "attack missed" corollary that shows up when it really shouldn't. The combat is very standard turn-based stuff otherwise with hammy voices which are fun. Getting new Digimon is a complex procedure which unfortunately can contribute to excessively-long play times. Good thing I did this during the summer when I had the least amount of work to do!

101. Wild ARMs (#22)
100. Star Ocean: Blue Sphere (#109)
99. SaGa Frontier 2 (#132)
98. Dragon Quest VI (#116)
97. Sailor Moon: Another Story (#37)
96. Star Ocean (#67)
95. Final Fantasy III (#55)
94. Tales of Eternia (#136)
93. Xenogears (#30)
92. Odin Sphere (#34)
91. Spectrobes (#152)
90. Illusion of Gaia (#51)
89. Langrisser II (#73)
88. The Legend of Dragoon (#60)
87. Final Fantasy IV (#4)
86. Kartia: The Word of Fate (#63)
85. Lufia: The Ruins of Lore (#139)
84. Final Fantasy V (#65)
83. Romancing SaGa 3 (#83)
82. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (#140)
81. Mystic Ark (#137)
80. Dragon Quest VII (#127)
79. Wild ARMs 2 (#24)
78. Vandal Hearts (#160)
77. Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land (#156)
76. Dragon Quest VIII (#138)
75. Thousand Arms (#69)
74. La Pucelle: Tactics (#117)
73. Threads of Fate (#1)
72. Tales of Destiny (#39)
71. Suikoden IV (#66)
70. Wild ARMs: Alter Code F (#29)
69. Sword of Mana (#14)
68. Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (#62)
67. Legend of Legaia (#80)
66. Lufia: The Legend Returns (#36)
65. Star Ocean: The Second Story (#98)
64. Secret of Evermore (#10)
63. Secret of Mana (#110)
62. Seiken Densetsu 3 (#120)
61. Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (#148)
60. Soul Blazer (#42)
59. Arc the Lad III (#179)

Time for the Arc the Lad Collection to show up on this countdown, and quite frankly, all of them will be together, as they are all fairly solid entries as Playstation RPGs. The third game is the sleeper hit of the collection overall, the art style is better, there's a number of discrepancies, but makes itself a super interesting sequel game due to it taking place AFTER an apocalypse had occurred. It's almost entirely mission and merit based too.

58. Arc the Lad (#177)

Honestly, my personal favorite of the Arc the Lad Collection. This is because the game can be completed in about a week, which is super impressive for a grid-based tactical RPG. It's so barebones you don't even get equipment or shops, everything is reliant on growing stats and farming items. Its length is the selling point for the eventual sequel which would certainly take a lot longer for an RPG, with very little in sidequests to worry about.

57. Arc the Lad II (#178)

It may be the highest-ranked of the Arc the Lad games, but it's arguably the most exhaustive. You've gotta grind and even when you are finished with one storyline plot point, the enemies in the next segment are already much tougher. And with all these characters (plus recruitable monsters), you're talking several gameplay hours. Not to mention they made the fast-paced combat system much slower compared to its predecessor. Its plot is a HUGE selling point, and bringing back old characters also greatly helped it a lot.

56. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (#7)
55. Tales of Phantasia (#18)
54. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete (#26)
53. Breath of Fire III (#13)
52. Brave Fencer Musashi (#59)
51. Breath of Fire IV (#28)
50. Paper Mario (#64)
49. Growlanser III: The Dual Darkness (#74)
48. Suikoden Tactics (#81)
47. Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (#31)
46. Romancing SaGa 2 (#78)
45. Suikoden III (#38)
44. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#128)
43. Suikoden V (#108)
42. Grandia (#32)
41. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (#175)

A game that LOVES to throw tons of customization is gonna be a Final Fantasy game, natch. This one breaks the fourth wall a ton of times, gives plenty of options to what you can do and where to go, it even goes CYOA as soon as you have a world map! Like Arc the Lad III, this one is heavily mission-based, and is about being as normal as possible, or so it should be. But this game does have the biggest issue of that damn Judge system, which restricts the fun heavily. So it's not the best Final Fantasy Tactics game as a result, just a load of fun when it's fun.

40. Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice (#57)
39. SaGa Frontier (#97)
38. Might and Magic IX: The Writ of Fate (#169)
37. Wizardry 8 (#149)
36. Pokemon Yellow (#151)
35. Pokemon Red/Blue (#150)
34. Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer (#168)
33. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (#166)
32. Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (#167)
31. Crystalis (#5)
30. Final Fantasy VIII (#85)
29. Final Fantasy IX (#115)
28. Tales of Symphonia (#180)

The most colorful and perhaps most accessible Tales game out there due to its fame as a Gamecube title, Tales of Symphonia features so, so much content that you will get lost in it undoubtedly. Fun skits, great shops, good customization of character equipment, titles, EX Skills, cooking, man there's a lot, but it actually doesn't detract from the primary gameplay experience, improving on the previous titles one step at a time. Now if only there wasn't so much racism being thrown by characters.

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)
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