This should be fun. It's not going to be easy to describe the appeal without delving into spoiler territory. I should not that I place high importance on the artistic side of games. I'll skip over points such as good music and visuals, because they pretty much all perform well in these fields. I've put my picks in the order that I had played them in:
Final Fantasy IX
+ This game embodies the 'fantasy' part within the franchise's name.
+ The world is imaginative, detailed, colourful and just begs to be explored.
+ I still consider it to this date to be the best directed Final Fantasy game.
+ In spite of the fact that the cast was intentionally designed to be a bunch of tropes and archtypes, they still managed to make the roles their own. Vivi especially is my all-time favourite RPG character, in spite of being the poster-child of emo RPG characters.
- The load times can be a little long. I'm not sure if playing these on a different console or through emulation will alleviate it, but I sure hope it will.
- Encounter rate has certain spikes that I didn't really appreciate.
Chrono Trigger
+ One of the best examples out there for a story that lends itself perfectly to a video game. It opened up a lot of ideas, which the game utilised very well.
+ A very cool battle system that keeps you involved and makes you feel like your party members are actually cooperating instead of doing their own thing.
+ Encourages you to play through it multiple times.
- As a pixel artist, I can't help but shake my head sometimes at a couple sloppy assets and mapping decisions. The combination of those made navigating caves and the jungle more difficult than it should have been.
- The load times on the PSX version, the one I played, were a bit of a downer. The anime cutscenes added to this version also didn't really add anything and were kind of a nuisance. Probably best to play one of the other releases.
Final Fantasy VI (My two points)
+ Set the standard I both hold the series and the genre to.
+ Has aged quite well. All the games on this list have to be fair, but I would mainly like to stress it for this particular game. It is the one has the most chance to be remade and has the most to lose.
+ Great, varied cast of characters. This extends from both the protagonists to the antagonists. The game features a lot of optional playable characters as well. Most RPGs I have played feature a bunch of characters I end up neglecting over time, while this game successfully made me utilise everyone at my disposal.
+ This game is not afraid to take some bold turns. The infamous halfway point really drives the helplessness and dispair home which the plot is trying to convey.
+ Of all the games in this list, this game felt the most like an adventure and a journey.
- Like Chrono Trigger, the PSX version had some nasty load times. Probably best to play one of the other releases.
Chrono Cross
+ I know I said I wouldn't bring this up, but Jesus the soundtrack of this game is amazing. The perfect blend of memorable, catchy and atmospheric. Without a doubt my favourite soundtrack of any game.
+ Gigantic playable roster of characters, which promotes multiple playthroughs.
+ Great world with an even better sense of adventure.
- Like most games with a large playable cast, the quality of these characters fluctuates heavily and their ties to the story can be pretty flimsy.
- The plot sort of goes off the deep end when you're nearing the game's conclusion and requires Chrono Trigger to be fully understood. Especially the latter is disappointing because I would have preferred if it could stand on its own.
Valkyrie Profile
+ The entire game just felt like something I had never played before.
+ Fun battle system.
- The timelimit of the game kind of turns me off and prevented me to want to replay it.
- It made me want to mute the game a couple of times because of the voices in battle and cutscenes. While they are far from the most offensive examples in the genre, it is regrettable.
Paper Mario
+ Gone are the artificially inflated numbers of most RPGs. Because of this, you'll be able to play more strategically since you can calculate your attacks and defense in advance.
+ Of all the games in this list, it is the one I have beaten the most amount of times. I guess that says something about how easy it is to revisit.
+ Clever gimmick which opened up a lot of cool new puzzles and ideas. While the sequels take it further and argueably do it better, the original still is held dear to me for doing it first.
+ My favourite interpretation of the Mario world in all of the Mario games.
- Some of the gameplay aspects are done better by Paper Mario 2 or the Mario & Luigi games.
Terranigma
+ Blended mechanics from RPGs and Zelda-style games, the marriage of the two genres that I had been looking for.
+ Tight controls that compliment the action oriented gameplay.
+ Conceptually a very cool idea. Rebooting the world and helping shape history. Seeing the impact of your actions is very satisfying.
+ Deals with some themes that you won't find so easily in other games.
- There are some unfortunate difficulty spikes here and there.
- The magic system is underdeveloped and underutilised.
Mother 3
+ The game is able to juggle whimsy, wonder and seriousness very successfully. While it is the most simplistic looking title in my list, it is still the one that reached me the most. It would be difficult to pin this on a single aspect of the game, when it is all the elements working in symphony. Whether it is the writing, the aesthetics or its sound.
+ A fun battle system that encorporates a combosystem to the beat of the background-music.
+ Of all the games in this list, Mother 3's cast stands out the most. While most games wouldn't dream of making your party consist out of anything other than characters that are cool and/or attractive, this game will let you play as a bunch of kids, a monkey and a limping guy with a moustache.
- The dishearting lack of an official English release. Those that cannot speak Japanese will have to jump through quite a few hoops to get this game in your hands.
Nier
+ This game is quirky as shit. This was probably the most surprising entry on my list when I was narrowing it down. I'm not really exactly sure what made such an impression on me. It simply does a lot of different things and I definitely appreciated it. You never know what the game is doing or where it is going and this will keep you interested to keep going.
+ Has some very fun and interesting characters and makes you care about the things you do.
+ Probably the most surprising of all, this title features some pretty good voice overs and displays some of the more competent writing.
- Again... this game is quirky as shit. It tries a lot and not everything works.
- This game was probably low budget and it kind of shows. It's not the best looking game, tends to be rough around the edges and is no stranger to recycling assets.
- The gratuitous levels of swearing and blood feel a little forced. Not really a big problem, but I wish it had some restraint.
Xenoblade Chronicles
+ I very much appreciated the fact that the combat abilities were not forgotten in the game's cutscenes or story. This usually is a big cause of disconnect, so I was glad to see some consistency on this front.
+ Fun battlesystem that encourages you to play together with your party members, in spite of them not being directly in your control.
+ The game likes to reward you with experience points for just about everything. This positive reenforcement adds to the desire to explore its massive world.
- While the game has a huge amount of quests, it is unfortunate that the game is stingy with quest-information or trackers.
I'm a little surprised to see that no western RPGs ended up making the cut. Some very fine games ended up getting left out, but I suppose that is the nature of such lists.