Support NeoGAF

[Durante]

The outcome so far, including the weight on JRPGs and the top 5, are very close to what I expected. I doesn't take much to predict that Chrono Trigger and FF6/7 would take top spots, and that console-weighted GAF would place heavy emphasis on the genre that has been broadly available on consoles for a much longer time.

I'm actually most surprised by PS:T being the top WRPG. Entirely a positive surprise of course. And not that surprising maybe since everyone that played it should be voting for it

I think doing the top 20 JRPGs and top 10 WRPGs is better in the name of diversity, even if I normally don't like making the distinction.

 

[TheUglyDrunk]

This thread is going to make me dust of my Planescape discs, it has been a couple of years and I could go for another run through.

 

[EviLore]

Eh well, it's not a total disaster with Torment in the top five.

 

[kswiston]

Another interesting list:

Top 10 Games released before 1995

Final Fantasy VI - 89 votes
Earthbound - 39 votes
Final Fantasy IV - 31 votes
Secret of Mana - 26 votes
Dragon Quest V - 21 votes
Lunar Silver Star Story - 16 votes
Lunar 2 Eternal Blue* - 13 votes
Final Fantasy V - 12 votes
Phantasy Star IV* - 10 votes
Ultima VII - 9 votes

*Before 1995 in Japan.

- Only two wrpgs released before 1995 made the overall Top 100. Besides Ultima 7, the other was Dungeon Master.

 

[Shanoa]

Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Breath of Fire II
Tales of Phantasia
Grandia II
Skies of Arcadia
Super Mario RPG
Secret of Mana
Illusion of Gaia
Star Ocean

 

[Durante]

Top 10 Games released before 1995

In fact, if I had to choose only one game from that time period it would be Ultima VII, at least it's on there. Now where's my Exult again...

 

[peakish]

OK Voting is over, and I have tallied the results. Before I post them, I'd like a little input.

I want to provide summaries for the top 20-25 games picked as the best/most essential in the genre. However, the voting was HEAVILY skewed towards jrpgs. 19 out of the top 25 most picked titles were Jrpgs. Out of the 68 titles that received 10+ votes, only 18 were wrpgs.

Instead of providing summaries for the top 25 overall choices, should I perhaps write summaries for the top 20 jrpgs, and the top 10 (or so) wrpgs?

While you are waiting for the full results, here were the top 5:

Chrono Trigger - 126 votes
Final Fantasy VI - 89 votes
Planescape Torment - 67 votes
Final Fantasy VII - 66 votes
Demon's Souls - 64 votes

Looks quite all right, more people need to play Mask of the Betrayer though, it deserves to be up there with Planescape.

Summaries for top ten of either w or jrpg's sounds more interesting, but I'm biased so...

Strange to not see WoW on a poll result.

 

[selig]

Ugh...

guess we should stop doing GAF-lists :/

 

[cosmicblizzard]

OK Voting is over, and I have tallied the results. Before I post them, I'd like a little input.

I want to provide summaries for the top 20-25 games picked as the best/most essential in the genre. However, the voting was HEAVILY skewed towards jrpgs. 19 out of the top 25 most picked titles were Jrpgs. Out of the 68 titles that received 10+ votes, only 18 were wrpgs.

Instead of providing summaries for the top 25 overall choices, should I perhaps write summaries for the top 20 jrpgs, and the top 10 (or so) wrpgs?

While you are waiting for the full results, here were the top 5:

Chrono Trigger - 126 votes
Final Fantasy VI - 89 votes
Planescape Torment - 67 votes
Final Fantasy VII - 66 votes
Demon's Souls - 64 votes

Pretty good top 5. Still don't see why Planescape is so popular, but hey there must be something about it if it made the list.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Pretty good top 5. Still don't see why Planescape is so popular, but hey there must be something about it if it made the list.

Dude, stop. :lol

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Edit: Nevermind. I don't want to derail a list thread.

 

[Ganondorfo]

If chrono trigger or final fantasy 6 or planescape torment or suikoden 2 or persona 4 or skies of arcadia or xenogears or final fantasy 9 or final fantasy tactics or lufia 2 or baldurs gate 2 or fallout 2 wins the neogaf rpg list. Then GAF has great rpg taste.

 

[Jirotrom]

If chrono trigger or final fantasy 6 or planescape torment or suikoden 2 or persona 4 or skies of arcadia or xenogears or final fantasy 9 or final fantasy tactics or lufia 2 or baldurs gate 2 or fallout 2 wins the neogaf rpg list. Then GAF has great rpg taste.

you forgot dragonquest VIII... and I dont give a fuck what the haters say FFVII

 

[kswiston]

Ok, OP updated with Top 25, as well as very brief summaries for games 1-10. These summaries are taking a long time, even though I am basically mixing and matching wikipedia sentences.

If anyone wants to help revamp the summaries for games 1-10, or help me write summaries for 11-25, PM me the text. I am trying to keep summaries between 100-150 words. Don't write too much more than that or I will trim it. Would rather feature more titles, than long love letters to a handful of games. I am also thinking of adding a couple screenshots to each entry. Help with that would be appreciated as well.

Even if no one helps, I will at least finish summaries for the top 25, plus maybe another 10 or so games I feel deserve mentioning from ranks 26-50 (especially the under-represented wrpgs). When it is finished, I will also post the top 100.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Great top 25. I guess Gaf doesn't hate JRPGs as much as I thought. Glad to see nearly every game I love in the genre on the list. Great that Skies of Arcadia got so much love.

Edit: Also cool that the only WRPG I like is in the top 10.

 

[diztrukted]

Great top 25. I guess Gaf doesn't hate JRPGs as much as I thought. Glad to see nearly every game I love in the genre on the list. Great that Skies of Arcadia got so much love.

skies of arcadia is the sh*t..... seiken densetsu 3 anyone

 

[peakish]

Fallout 3 being on the list with neither the first or second on it makes me terribly sad :/

Still an OK list I suppose.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Nice to see that literally every game in the top 25 was either on my list or a non-listed runner-up.

Needs moar Vagrant Story love though. :/

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

No Mother 3 or Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door in the Top 25 makes me sad. Those are my only major gripes with the game selection (without actually getting into the individual rankings within the Top 25).

 

[cosmicblizzard]

skies of arcadia is the sh*t..... seiken densetsu 3 anyone

Also a great game. I doubt it made too many lists though seeing as it never made it out of Japan and those wanting to play had to rely on a translation patch. I'd love to be proven wrong though (didn't actually look through the lists).

 

[Zeliard]

Holy shit, how did Planescape: Torment get that high?

I am sincerely shocked.

*scrolls down*

Deus Ex at #25, and no System Shock 2, Fallout 1 or Fallout 2 (but yes to Fallout 3). Ah, there's NeoGAF.

 

[Ganondorfo]

Damn squaresoft used to be amazing with this genre, I agree with your top 2. These games are legendary. But bioware is still amazing with this genre.

 

[LethaL ImpuLse]

Surprising to see Demon's Souls in the top five.

 

[Alpha-Bromega]

Even without Fallout or System Shock on the list, I am really glad to see the praise Planescape Torment deserves. I only played about 4 hours of it before my computer went to heaven but those 4 hours were like reading a book that you never want to end but still have this urge to see it to the end.

Chrono Trigger on top? only natural

the one thing that surprised me is that Demon Souls ranked higher than Kotor. must say alot about it

 

[survivor]

Didn't expect Chrono Trigger to be on top or at least I didn't know GAF loved Chrono that much.

That Planescape: Torment pic makes me want to get the game but I still can't find it. I thought gog.com would have it but sadly they don't.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Holy shit, how did Planescape: Torment get that high?

Quality.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I'm disturbed that Nocturne didn't get higher in the list (seriously not top 10?) that said I'm satisfied with the games that made it into the top 25 pick.

EDIT - No Oblivion so I'm happy.

 

[Dark Stalkers]

Can we start bitching now?

 

[Zeliard]

Quality.

Planescape: Torment is my all-time #1 single-player game. GAF is more console-oriented, though, so I'm pleasantly surprised it found its way that high.

 

[kswiston]

Mother 3 was #26, and by far the most popular game never to officially be released overseas.

Vagrant Story was #28

 

[EviLore]

Holy shit, how did Planescape: Torment get that high?

I am sincerely shocked.

*scrolls down*

Deus Ex at #25, and no System Shock 2, Fallout 1 or Fallout 2 (but yes to Fallout 3). Ah, there's NeoGAF.

Well, there's always...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19700914&postcount=161

 

[duckroll]

It's interesting how only 3 out of 10 of my votes were for western RPGs, but yet the only 2 out of all my votes which got into the top 10 are western RPGs!

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Mother 3 was #26, and by far the most popular game never to officially be released overseas.

Vagrant Story was #28

Well that's not bad, I secretly expected VS to be way lower.

 

[Durante]

I'm surprised to see both Mass Effect titles in the top 25 but not Dragon Age. I'm really happy about Valkyria Chronicles placing at 16! And PS:T's rank of course.

Planescape: Torment is my all-time #1 single-player game.

internethighfive.jpg

 

[Fugu]

As someone who is primarily a PC gamer, it actually hurts my eyes to look at this list.

I would argue that there aren't more than five (Even five is a stretch) essential RPGs. To classify a 60+ hour adventure as "essential" is both unrealistic and narrow considering how wide the scope of RPG is. For example, it's valid to categorize WoW as "essential" because it provides arguably the highest quality modern MMO experience you can get, regardless of whether or not WoW is a "good" RPG.

Having said that, this is my top five.

5. Pokemon R/B/Y
4. Diablo
3. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
2. Baldur's Gate 2
1. Diablo 2

 

[Zeliard]

Well, there's always...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=19700914&postcount=161

I like the way you roll. Fantastic list.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Mother 3 was #26, and by far the most popular game never to officially be released overseas.

Vagrant Story was #28

I really need to force myself to play Mother 3. I see nothing but praise everywhere.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

Was hoping BG2 ended up in the top 3. Defining western RPG imo.

 

[Ben Sones]

An essential RPG list that doesn't include a single Ultima game is essentially broken, IMHO.

 

[kswiston]

OP has been updated with screenshots/artwork of the top 10. Working on summaries for #11+ now. Will post #26-50 afterwards. More to come.

Top 5 strategy rpgs:

Final Fantasy Tactics - 53 votes
Valkyria Chronicles - 38 votes
Disgaea - 20 votes
Shining Force 3 - 7 votes
Shining Force 2 - 6 votes

Not the most popular category I guess.

An essential RPG list that doesn't include a single Ultima game is essentially broken, IMHO.

The Ultima games could really benefit from a digital release on a site like GOG.com. I would imagine that a lot of GAFfers either forgot about the games, or are too young to have been gamers when they were actually current. Other classic games like Might and Magic IV/V didn't even get a single vote.

 

[chaostrophy]

Overall not a bad list, it's just surprising to see FFXII so low, given that it's relatively new and part of a massively popular series. Not the kind of game that usually gets so underrated.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Overall not a bad list, it's just surprising to see FFXII so low, given that it's relatively new and part of a massively popular series. Not the kind of game that usually gets so underrated.

It also has one of the most split fanbases in the series. The haters may not be as vocal as the fans here but they definitely exist. I'd say it's about even on Gaf.

 

[kai3345]

any list that doesn't include (insert shitty, old as fuck, and/or obscure RPG here) in the top 5 is invalid

 

[TheJollyCorner]

FFVIII


if you've ever gotten away from the Mountain Dew bottle and fallen in love.

 

[Shig]

Did I miss a post where Action RPGs were retroactively disqualified? I simply can't believe a poll that allowed for Zelda games doesn't have Zelda games littering the top results.

 

[Scythesurge]

Good list, well done GAF.

 

[cosmicblizzard]

Did I miss a post where Action RPGs were retroactively disqualified? I simply can't believe a poll that allowed for Zelda games doesn't have Zelda games littering the top results.

I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable posting Zelda games in an essential RPG list. I know some consider the genre to cover those games, but I and many others don't. This has been discussed to death and I'm pretty sure the consensus is that Zelda is an action adventure series.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Top 5 strategy rpgs:

Final Fantasy Tactics - 53 votes
Valkyria Chronicles - 38 votes
Disgaea - 20 votes
Shining Force 3 - 7 votes
Shining Force 2 - 6 votes

Not the most popular category I guess.

Matsunoooooo! *fist pump*

I'm surprised SRPGs got that many votes at all.

The ARPG section will maybe be more lively.

 

[Ceebs]

An essential RPG list that doesn't include a single Ultima game is essentially broken, IMHO.

Tell me about it. Granted there are enough great ones to spread votes out a bit.

 

[Lafiel]

OK Voting is over, and I have tallied the results. Before I post them, I'd like a little input.

I want to provide summaries for the top 20-25 games picked as the best/most essential in the genre. However, the voting was HEAVILY skewed towards jrpgs. 19 out of the top 25 most picked titles were Jrpgs. Out of the 68 titles that received 10+ votes, only 18 were wrpgs.

Instead of providing summaries for the top 25 overall choices, should I perhaps write summaries for the top 20 jrpgs, and the top 10 (or so) wrpgs?

While you are waiting for the full results, here were the top 5:

Chrono Trigger - 126 votes
Final Fantasy VI - 89 votes
Planescape Torment - 67 votes
Final Fantasy VII - 66 votes
Demon's Souls - 64 votes

Wow, i almost voted for FFVII instead of DQ5. Glad i didn't. Because planescape torment is 1 vote ahead.