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[kswiston]

This list made me cringe pretty hard.
No Legend of Legaia? No Suikoden 1 or 3, no Y's, No Shadow Hearts 1 or 3,No breath of Fire ......you people make me sad to be human.

Not everything can make a top 100. Over 330 games were nominated. Suikoden I and III just missed the cut off. I think most series fans voted for II, leaving I, III, and V with a handful of recommendations each.

Honestly, I don't think Legend of Legaia was all that special. Even if I restricted myself to the PS1, it wouldn't make my personal Top 25. I'm not that surprised it was skipped over.


Ignoring the fact that most of GAF never bothered playing the CRPG classics, I think the biggest surprise for me was Panzer Dragoon Saga missing the top 100. I know that it is expensive to get a hold of, but the first couple of times I ran this list, it was firmly in the top 50.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Xenoblade in the top 5? You done good, GAF.

One complaint: The OP describes Xenoblade as having turn-based combat. This is false.

 

[Durante]

Ignoring the fact that most of GAF never bothered playing the CRPG classics, I think the biggest surprise for me was Panzer Dragoon Saga missing the top 100. I know that it is expensive to get a hold of, but the first couple of times I ran this list, it was firmly in the top 50.

Ignoring CRPGs, I think the fact that Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is at 98 is most shocking to me. I consider it one of the best JRPGs of all time.

 

[Almighty]

This has been a fruitful discussion Almighty. I can definitely see where you're coming from, I guess I'm just more reductive than most people and prefer classification to be as clear cut and self-descriptive as possible.

I enjoyed our conversation as well. It allowed me to further refine my position on what makes a game an RPG.

Not everything can make a top 100. Over 330 games were nominated. Suikoden I and III just missed the cut off. I think most series fans voted for II, leaving I, III, and V with a handful of recommendations each.

Honestly, I don't think Legend of Legaia was all that special. Even if I restricted myself to the PS1, it wouldn't make my personal Top 25. I'm not that surprised it was skipped over.


Ignoring the fact that most of GAF never bothered playing the CRPG classics, I think the biggest surprise for me was Panzer Dragoon Saga missing the top 100. I know that it is expensive to get a hold of, but the first couple of times I ran this list, it was firmly in the top 50.

I do feel bad thinking about how all these great niche or older RPGs are starting to become forgotten. I am hoping that as we move into a digital future it means that the days of old rpgs becoming impossible to find will be behind us. With all these copy right/licensing issues it may never happen, but a man can dream. If this thread wasn't so much work for you I would say "GAF's List of the Greatest RPGs You Never Heard of" might be fun.

Anyway I don't know if I mentioned it before, but you and those that helped you did a great job with the OP. It has put many more RPGs on my radar.

 

[kswiston]

Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Xenoblade in the top 5? You done good, GAF.

One complaint: The OP describes Xenoblade as having turn-based combat. This is false.

That summary was a (great) contribution by another poster. While you can make the argument that a combat system built around attack and skill cooldowns is still turn-based at its core (the ATB system in Final Fantasy is considered to be turn-based for example), I edited the text to make it a little less ambiguous.

Ignoring CRPGs, I think the fact that Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is at 98 is most shocking to me. I consider it one of the best JRPGs of all time.

That game would benefit from a PS2 Classics release on PSN.

 

[Bladenic]

This list made me cringe pretty hard.
No Legend of Legaia? No Suikoden 1 or 3, no Y's, No Shadow Hearts 1 or 3,No breath of Fire ......you people make me sad to be human.

It's Ys by the way. And while the games I've played in the Ys series are great, I don't know that I'd say any of them are essential. Maybe Oath in Felghana.

 

[Dark Schala]

This list made me cringe pretty hard.
No Legend of Legaia? No Suikoden 1 or 3, no Y's, No Shadow Hearts 1 or 3,No breath of Fire ......you people make me sad to be human.

I would've happily voted for all of those games (especially Legaia, GS1 and SH1 or 3) except I didn't want to flood my list with multiple games from the same series. And if you feel so strongly, you should have voted given the amount of multipliers being thrown around that could have made a difference.

Man, I regret not playing Deus Ex with all the discussion in here about it. But I just can't do it without having to take Gravol or something every single time. :/

but have to admit (much to my shame) I never heard of Shin Megami Tensei .

Get into this thread now.

 

[Head of Vengarl]

GAF, just what the fuck is wrong with you. Especially the underlined ones.
At least you had the common sense to put Final Fantasy XII on 12th place, and over FFX.
And really great OP,kswiston, excellent work.

Seiken Densetsu III has not aged well, IMO. I tried playing it like 3 times in the last few years and I never made it past the 10 hour mark.

 

[R_thanatos]

GAF, just what the fuck is wrong with you. Especially the underlined ones.
At least you had the common sense to put Final Fantasy XII on 12th place, and over FFX.
And really great OP,kswiston, excellent work.

i honnestly think those games are at their respective places.

Wild arms 3 is a great game but is flawed
Kingdom hearts 2 fall appart after 2 hours.
Resonance of fate has a very high entry bar thanks to his battle system.
But dragon quest 8 should have been higher..

 

[kayos90]

I really wish Resonance was higher up. It's an overlooked game by many people from what I've seen and not many people give credit to the lore and narrative of the game. Truly one of the genre's best.

 

[SoccerGoaliePro]

Honestly, I don't think Legend of Legaia was all that special. Even if I restricted myself to the PS1, it wouldn't make my personal Top 25. I'm not that surprised it was skipped over.


.

I disagree. Legend of Legaia is still in my top 3 rpgs of all time. Everything about it was superb and above most other rpgs. From the gameplay,to the story, to the characters to the bosses. and the varied world which had so much side stuff to do. If there ever was one truly underrated and under appreciated game in all of gaming ,Legend of Legaia takes the cake easily.

 

[Karsticles]

I laugh when people insult GAF's taste and then commend FFXII being up there. Awful, awful game.

As was already said, both FFVIII and FFIX depend on you exploiting some of the game's skills and equipment system to beat those end game bosses at level 1, and take more planning and gameplay than just beating the boss at the usual level. A fresh level 1 party with no late game skills/magic/etc would get wiped quick, even if you have mastered the battle system.

Sure, but my point is that you aren't building levels of stats; those aren't making a difference.

As for your list of games, I don't really know why FFX or WoW were selected as border examples.

I wanted a few "clearly an RPG" examples.

As for some of the other ones, I think it comes back to what Aeana said. All rpgs have pen and paper roots. Modern games draw inspiration from other genres, but those PnP tenets should be present for a game to qualify as an RPG. Progression in Zelda is based on skill and acquiring key items. Same as Metroid. Character statistics don't really play a huge role. Same sort of thing is true about games like Ratchet and Clank, even though you can choose to upgrade your weapons to better effect.

EDIT: Also, before I forget, thanks to everyone who has left positive comments regarding the OP. I'm glad that it was appreciated.

Stat progression...so Dark Souls is an RPG, but Monster Hunter is not? Very strange to me. To me, both games have character progression, but Monster Hunter has a very gear-centric character progression (killer bigger stuff, get better gear, repeat), while Dark Souls has a very character-centric progression (kill stuff, level up, increase stats, repeat). Dark Souls has gear progression as well, but bear with a sort of thought experiment where we have two games: one where you progress via gear only, and one where you progress via stats and leveling up only. Would one of these really be an RPG, and the other not? The games are otherwise identical in all ways.

Also, I really do appreciate this thread. GAF has made me aware of a lot of RPGs I never heard of. I grew up as a Final Fantasy kid, only playing the big name stuff. These threads expose me to a lot of things I missed out on when I was younger, and my RPG experiences are better for it.

I disagree. Legend of Legaia is still in my top 3 rpgs of all time. Everything about it was superb and above most other rpgs. From the gameplay,to the story, to the characters to the bosses. and the varied world which had so much side stuff to do. If there ever was one truly underrated and under appreciated game in all of gaming ,Legend of Legaia takes the cake easily.

Post a video of gameplay that might convince someone like me that it's worthy of being in the top 10, if you would. I say this out of curiosity.

 

[SoccerGoaliePro]

Post a video of gameplay that might convince someone like me that it's worthy of being in the top 10, if you would. I say this out of curiosity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCMQdym7gYA

I would recommend going into the game without knowing much, especially any of the move sets cause its an awesome feeling when you learn a new move on your own. If you really wanna know, the game play is a mix of Xenogears and Pokemon plus more.Yes you heard me right. You can capture enemies you encounter (even bosses) .I also love how the the game isn't easy at all. You actually need to plan out what you do instead of just levelling up until you're strong enough, that wont work in this game.

There is even a resort area like in ff7 where you can play arcade games, gamble, go disco dancing etc etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oz2CvcwREU



Music is amazing too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm6VUAsJDRo

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Legaia was a fun game but it wouldn't even make my top twenty, even if it was specifically JRPGs.

 

[VitalNerve]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCMQdym7gYA

I would recommend going into the game without knowing much, especially any of the move sets cause its an awesome feeling when you learn a new move on your own. If you really wanna know, the game play is a mix of Xenosaga and Pokemon plus more.Yes you heard me right. You can capture enemies you encounter (even bosses) .I also love how the the game isn't easy at all. You actually need to plan out what you do instead of just levelling up until you're strong enough, that wont work in this game.

There is even a resort area like in ff7 where you can play arcade games, gamble, go disco dancing etc etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oz2CvcwREU



Music is amazing too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm6VUAsJDRo

youtube videos makes anything look fun, it has tricked me many times. Not that I am demeaning the game in anyway.

 

[Necrovex]

I have it all ready to go on Dolphin, I just don't know if I'm ready to dump 100 hours into one game. Honestly that alone would probably take up my whole semester!

I do have some screenshots though, game can look decent on Dolphin. 4xSSAA, downsampled from 2560x1440, 16xAF

Spoiler

Ignore that bridge texture in the foreground

One day, I'll actually find a way to overclock or optimize the speed for Dolphin. Xenoblade's speed always crash on me. Even though I have a quad-core I7, it's about to hit three years old when I got it (and it came out in '09).

 

[Almighty]

Sure, but my point is that you aren't building levels of stats; those aren't making a difference.

It is an interesting example you gave for FFIX. I would say that that player more or less broke the game if you will. He found an exploit. I doubt the developers intended someone to figure out a way to be able to beat the game at level 1. The other question is in the comments they talk about how the player is lucky.(which he or she admits) So I am wondering just how lucky was the player in that video? Was that the 1 in 100 where the players party wasn't slaughtered?

I ask because I don't think that someone exploiting the game in unintended and from the sounds of it a time consuming ways and being lucky is enough to unRPG FFIX.

Stat progression...so Dark Souls is an RPG, but Monster Hunter is not? Very strange to me. To me, both games have character progression, but Monster Hunter has a very gear-centric character progression (killer bigger stuff, get better gear, repeat), while Dark Souls has a very character-centric progression (kill stuff, level up, increase stats, repeat). Dark Souls has gear progression as well, but bear with a sort of thought experiment where we have two games: one where you progress via gear only, and one where you progress via stats and leveling up only. Would one of these really be an RPG, and the other not? The games are otherwise identical in all ways.

Well I haven't played either of those game, but based on your description both of them I would consider RPGs. How your stats progress or what really has the stats do not matter. On character or on items, whether you assign your characters stats, you just level them, or you just buy equipment for them I also don't think matters. What matter is what played the bigger role in your victory the stats or you?

I know previously we said if you took a skilled player, a party/character from the start of the game, and put him at the end of the game could he win. Maybe that was the wrong way to go about it.

Maybe a better way to go about it is if we took a high level character with the best gear and best stats you could get without cheating could you give that character to a random video gamer who hasn't played the game(maybe go a little further and say who isn't familiar with the genre as well) and still have them dominate say the middle portion of a game? Maybe that works better.

As I think it would take the vague player skills out of it. Instead we would have someone that has no idea of what tactics to use so isn't using any kind of advance strategy. So if they could then it would more or less be the stats that are carrying them. If the couldn't then it shows that the stats are not the primary factor.

 

[cartman414]

Dang! Forgot to vote. Was away from here for a bit.

Sorry guys. Suikoden II, Tactics Ogre and Valkyrie Profile would have been a bit higher with my input.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

The question of wether or not its an RPG is: "Is the RPG the steak or the sizzle?"

That's probably the only one I've never heard of on the list... googling it and it looks like your typical eastern european medieval RPG, definitely not my thing.

Man, Star Ocean 2 at 98, Phantasy Star 1 at 103 and 2 at 118...

I think I might try to play every game on this list but the Star Wars games

WINGED. HUSSARS.

<3 Chrono Trigger on first place.
I can definitely agree with the top 10 but have to admit (much to my shame) I never heard of Shin Megami Tensei and another thing: Gafers make the most amazing looking OPs.

Let's work on cleansing ourselves of that shame!

 

[djtiesto]

Heh, I have a friend from college who majored in Polish history (went to school in a heavily Polish-American area), will have to let him know about that game.

 

[Karsticles]

Thanks for those videos, SoccerGoaliePro.

It is an interesting example you gave for FFIX. I would say that that player more or less broke the game if you will. He found an exploit. I doubt the developers intended someone to figure out a way to be able to beat the game at level 1. The other question is in the comments they talk about how the player is lucky.(which he or she admits) So I am wondering just how lucky was the player in that video? Was that the 1 in 100 where the players party wasn't slaughtered?

Maybe it was, but here's another example:
You can beat Chrono Trigger at level 1. The DS version lets you play the game without gaining XP via a new, pre-game item called The Wallet. So it seems as though our #1 RPG can also be completed while ignoring the stats and character level altogether (it's hard as hell, though). Since SE added this item in this manner, it's clearly meant for a level 1 challenge.

Well I haven't played either of those game, but based on your description both of them I would consider RPGs. How your stats progress or what really has the stats do not matter. On character or on items, whether you assign your characters stats, you just level them, or you just buy equipment for them I also don't think matters. What matter is what played the bigger role in your victory the stats or you?

Well, if it's just items making you more powerful, then why not include Metroid, Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, etc. as RPGs?

Maybe a better way to go about it is if we took a high level character with the best gear and best stats you could get without cheating could you give that character to a random video gamer who hasn't played the game(maybe go a little further and say who isn't familiar with the genre as well) and still have them dominate say the middle portion of a game? Maybe that works better.

Demon's Souls would definitely fail that test, haha. Even in the endgame early stuff can beat the crap out of you. This seems more like a test of "how much does the game's difficulty scale as you progress" than anything else. Valkyria Chronicles is definitely an RPG, yet if you take someone who doesn't understand the game and stick them in the middle of it they'll probably get thrashed.

 

[Almighty]

Maybe it was, but here's another example:
You can beat Chrono Trigger at level 1. The DS version lets you play the game without gaining XP via a new, pre-game item called The Wallet. So it seems as though our #1 RPG can also be completed while ignoring the stats and character level altogether (it's hard as hell, though). Since SE added this item in this manner, it's clearly meant for a level 1 challenge.

Well I imagine getting better weapons/armor/accessories that raise your stats must help close that gap. Right? If so well it still is enough to keep that game an RPG and an interesting way to raise the difficulty, if not well that would be enough to unRPG Chrono Trigger for me. I am probably more zealous then most in this regard though. So yeah I imagine most won't agree with me.

Well, if it's just items making you more powerful, then why not include Metroid, Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry, etc. as RPGs?

Well it's not just items making you more powerful, but the focus being on the stats of the items being the important factor. I can't speak for Metroid(as I never played them), but in Devil May Cry stats are not the deciding factor. At least the first one as that is the only one I put any time into. That game clearly put the focus on trying to chain together a lot of combos and other stuff that falls easily under player reflexes.

As for Monster Hunter well I have no idea. As I have said I have never played it, but based on the videos I watched(I believe they were all from Monster Hunter Tri) I have no clue how anyone would argue that that game isn't an RPG. The videos seem to show that stats play a pretty big role and Wikipedia says its an Action RPG so yeah someone who has actually played it might have to answer.

Demon's Souls would definitely fail that test, haha. Even in the endgame early stuff can beat the crap out of you. This seems more like a test of "how much does the game's difficulty scale as you progress" than anything else. Valkyria Chronicles is definitely an RPG, yet if you take someone who doesn't understand the game and stick them in the middle of it they'll probably get thrashed.

I should really get around to playing Demon's Souls/Dark Souls one of these days. Anyway as for Valkyria Chronicles well yeah your have a point. Though while its a SRPG I really think that game leans much closer to the strategy side then the RPG side of the spectrum. It does have stats and all that, but puts the focus heavily on the player using the right tactics(in its case positioning is the key) to decide the out come. Take the tanks in that game for example it is possible for the weaker units to take out those tanks by hitting the radiator. Hell by the toward the end of the game I was able to take out tanks using Shock troopers that weren't designed for it. On paper I probably shouldn't of been able to do it, but positioning my units in just the right spot overcomes that disadvantage.

I am starting to think those who said that trying to find one universal rule that people can agree on was a fools errand might be right. You have to take each game on a case by case basis. Which means there will always be arguments on if X is an RPG or not. I guess that is the price we pay for it being such a diverse genre.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Panzer Dragoon Saga is criminally low on this list. It's sad that so few voters have played it.

I wish Sega hadn't lost the source code so they could re-release it. :/

 

[kswiston]

Panzer Dragoon Saga is criminally low on this list. It's sad that so few voters have played it.

I wish Sega hadn't lost the source code so they could re-release it. :/

Sega seems to be ignoring the fact that they created the Panzer Dragoon series altogether. Even if we don't get PDS, I would love to see Zwei re-released on PSN/XBLA/eShop/PC.

 

[Xtincthed]

i only just discovered this list.. and.. WOW.. just, wow!
what an amazing piece of work! I'm gonna read this from a to z when i have the time
but i allready saw my nr 1 is the nr 1 here

 

[stuminus3]

Results are pretty much in line with what I would have expected but can I just say, the updated OP is absolutely amazing. Well done.

 

[coopolon]

I have to admit I am starting to wonder how much nostalgia is playing a role for a lot of the titles on this list.

I've not played a lot of JRPGs and after seeing so many on the list I'd figured I'd try a few that I already own. So right now I am trying Final Fantasy X after seeing it place so highly. I'm emulating it so the game actually looks quite nice in hd widescreen, but the voice acting and translation is sooooo bad. It seriously sounds like a middle school drama club project. And there is a LOT of dialogue. I'm sure it's a lot better in the original Japanese and the story sounds interesting so far, but my god, how is this game so well regarded when you spend so much of it wanting t skip all the cutscenes.

 

[Derrick01]

I have to admit I a starting to wonder how much nostalgia is playing a role for a lot of the titles on this list.

As am I. Although I guess technically it's not nostalgia since it was re-released last year, but I am NOT impressed with Persona 4 about 5 hours in. I know that's still really early but the social/sim stuff I've done so far, the best part of the game I was led to believe, is probably the worst part so far.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I think Persona 4, even if played on the PS 2 isn't so old to be clouded by nostalgia. I'd guess that you just have a differing opinion than those who listed it, not that they've been fooled by their own memory.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Are we really talking nostalgia for 4 years ago? If anything, it would be infatuation with new folks getting The Golden recently.

 

[decoyplatypus]

As am I. Although I guess technically it's not nostalgia since it was re-released last year, but I am NOT impressed with Persona 4 about 5 hours in. I know that's still really early but the social/sim stuff I've done so far, the best part of the game I was led to believe, is probably the worst part so far.

The first four or five hours are Persona 4's worst. There's an awful lot of set-up before the game lets you get in the rhythm of developing S-links, looking for the next dungeon, and finally exploring the month's dungeon (which may involve multiple trips). Keep with it. I don't know that you'll end up liking the game, but it is certainly a much better game at the 20-hour mark than it is at 5 hours. I mean, at 5 hours you've barely started fusing, and half the fun of the SMT games is carefully assembling the right traits to pass on to a demon that will perfectly fit your party's needs for a particular dungeon or boss.

 

[kswiston]

As am I. Although I guess technically it's not nostalgia since it was re-released last year, but I am NOT impressed with Persona 4 about 5 hours in. I know that's still really early but the social/sim stuff I've done so far, the best part of the game I was led to believe, is probably the worst part so far.

Have you liked any game you have played in the past two years though? Maybe Persona 4 is not for you, but I haven't seen much that is

If you are not really a person who cares about characters and character building in your jrpgs, then P4 might be a bad fit. At least half of your time will be spend doing the sim stuff which largely has you learning the backstories and motivations of the game's cast (while improving your ability to create new personas). To be truthful, the sim stuff does start to wear thin in the second half. Less so in P4 than P3, but both games could have been made 10-15 hours shorter.

EDIT: I agree with decoyplatypus that the best part of the game is assembling the perfect team on Personas via monster fusion.


Final Fantasy XII was the only Final Fantasy with decent voice acting. JRPGs in general seem to have sketchy voice acting. Every once in awhile I come across a game that is well done, but most of the time, I wish I could turn off the voices. I know a lot of people prefer the original VA work, but I'm not really a fan of that either.


For Final Fantasy X, I liked the character customization given to you by the sphere grid. Early one, characters sort of have their individual roles, but later you can really mix things up by switching each character to the sphere grid path of another. Like adding restorative skills to Tidus' buffing capabilities. I also thought that the game did a pretty good job at world building. Lots of interesting locales to explore, and the various towns feel different from eachother. I liked most of the characters, but I agree that a lot of the dialogue/plot is pretty cheesy.

 

[Derrick01]

Are we really talking nostalgia for 4 years ago? If anything, it would be infatuation with new folks getting The Golden recently.

4 years is plenty of time to think a game is better than it was. But yes it's likely because of the Vita version.

 

[Kurtofan]

5 hours in P4 is literally the very beginning, I think it's unfair to judge the game on that, it's a great game.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

I have to admit I am starting to wonder how much nostalgia is playing a role for a lot of the titles on this list.

I've not played a lot of JRPGs and after seeing so many on the list I'd figured I'd try a few that I already own. So right now I am trying Final Fantasy X after seeing it place so highly. I'm emulating it so the game actually looks quite nice in hd widescreen, but the voice acting and translation is sooooo bad. It seriously sounds like a middle school drama club project. And there is a LOT of dialogue. I'm sure it's a lot better in the original Japanese and the story sounds interesting so far, but my god, how is this game so well regarded when you spend so much of it wanting t skip all the cutscenes.

Well, keep in mind that Final Fantasy X was one of the first RPG to feature such extensive voice acting. I think the voice acting itself was actually pretty good but due to technical restrictions they had to do a lot of weird timing with it so you get stuff like Yuna pausing at really awkward moments.

Final Fantasy X is generally well regarded because of its unique story & setting and fun gameplay (with the sphere grid & constantly changing characters in and out of the active battle party).

 

[Derrick01]

5 hours in P4 is literally the very beginning, I think it's unfair to judge the game on that, it's a great game.

Well as I was just told in the Vita thread, the social/sim stuff doesn't ever become interactive so I think I've seen all I care about seeing at this point. I'll keep playing since I put way too much money into it but I'm not sure if my opinion will change. I'm not into jrpg battles and writing/voice acting, I just thought the "real life" stuff would be fun and more involved than it is.

 

[Hero]

Mass Effect 1 is ridiculously high on this list.

 

[decoyplatypus]

Well as I was just told in the Vita thread, the social/sim stuff doesn't ever become interactive so I think I've seen all I care about seeing at this point. I'll keep playing since I put way too much money into it but I'm not sure if my opinion will change. I'm not into jrpg battles and writing/voice acting, I just thought the "real life" stuff would be fun and more involved than it is.

What do you mean by "interactive?" In the first couple of hours you have barely any choice over where to go and whom to engage in dialogue. That changes. The social aspects will be interactive in the sense that you get to decide which character you want to hang out with on Thursday afternoon, and you will have dialogue options (though not necessarily the extensive dialogue trees you'd expect from a wRPG), sometimes determined by skill checks, that influence how much your S-link improves. The thing that makes S-links more game-like is that in order to maximize them (valuable for the dungeon-crawling portion of the game), you have to consider the characters' conflicting schedules and make choices about which relationships (and therefore bonuses) to prioritize.

 

[crazy monkey]

xenoblade :3

 

[Almighty]

Well seems other Persona 4 players beat me to it. Anyway Derrick I say play til about the 20 hour mark if the game hasn't clicked for you then it never will.

I've not played a lot of JRPGs and after seeing so many on the list I'd figured I'd try a few that I already own. So right now I am trying Final Fantasy X after seeing it place so highly. I'm emulating it so the game actually looks quite nice in hd widescreen, but the voice acting and translation is sooooo bad. It seriously sounds like a middle school drama club project. And there is a LOT of dialogue. I'm sure it's a lot better in the original Japanese and the story sounds interesting so far, but my god, how is this game so well regarded when you spend so much of it wanting t skip all the cutscenes.

I agree with all this. FFX is the worst of the mainline single player Final Fantasies that I have played, well FFXIII has now beat it so second worse. The battle system(might be the best in the series) and character system were interesting, but the rest of that game was just bad. So very bad. Nothing else clicked for me. Unlike FFVIII a recent play though of FFX has not change my opinion at all.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

Regarding the discussion about what constitutes an RPG, I will paraphrase a post I made in another thread:

I think the term RPG is easy to define. An RPG is a game where the effectiveness, primarily with regards to combat but sometimes also with regards to other in-game actions, of the characters is determined by stats that are visible, more or less transparent and manipulable by the player. The manipulation of these stats should be a rather important part of gameplay. Note that changing equipment that would change the effective stats of your characters would count as manipulating your stats as well.

 

[Derrick01]

What do you mean by "interactive?" In the first couple of hours you have barely any choice over where to go and whom to engage in dialogue. That changes. The social aspects will be interactive in the sense that you get to decide which character you want to hang out with on Thursday afternoon, and you will have dialogue options (though not necessarily the extensive dialogue trees you'd expect from a wRPG), sometimes determined by skill checks, that influence how much your S-link improves. The thing that makes S-links more game-like is that in order to maximize them (valuable for the dungeon-crawling portion of the game), you have to consider the characters' conflicting schedules and make choices about which relationships (and therefore bonuses) to prioritize.

Interactive meaning you actually do something during the events that you choose to do. I didn't explain it here but I did in the Vita thread. What I've done so far is chose to go to the library on the first afternoon that I was able to choose where to go and all that happened was a few lines of text and the event was over. Then I joined the basketball team and nothing happened either.

I'm not expecting NBA 2k11 to happen in this but I'd like to do something during these events. Even if it's just some crappy minigame.

 

[Almighty]

Regarding the discussion about what constitutes an RPG, I will paraphrase a post I made in another thread:

I think the term RPG is easy to define. An RPG is a game where the effectiveness, primarily with regards to combat but sometimes also with regards to other in-game actions, of the characters is determined by stats that are visible, more or less transparent and manipulable by the player. The manipulation of these stats should be a rather important part of gameplay. Note that changing equipment that would change the effective stats of your characters would count as manipulating your stats as well.

I like it and I think I will steal this for any future discussion. I think it works perfectly.

 

[decoyplatypus]

Interactive meaning you actually do something during the events that you choose to do. I didn't explain it here but I did in the Vita thread. What I've done so far is chose to go to the library on the first afternoon that I was able to choose where to go and all that happened was a few lines of text and the event was over. Then I joined the basketball team and nothing happened either.

I'm not expecting NBA 2k11 to happen in this but I'd like to do something during these events. Even if it's just some crappy minigame.

Okay. I'm afraid the S-links are mostly just dialogues where you choose how to develop your relationships with certain characters. It's too bad if someone gave you the impression that they all involved mini-games. I think I remember there being one fishing mini-game, if that helps.

 

[JerkShep]

About Chrono Trigger: is the SNES version still the "definitive" version out there? Looking forward to playing it again

 

[Verendus]

Wow, I must have played a different Xenoblade Chronicles than everyone else. I mean, it's a good game, but have people been starved for JRPGs or something? It really isn't that good.

 

[kswiston]

About Chrono Trigger: is the SNES version still the "definitive" version out there? Looking forward to playing it again

Some people like the extras in the DS version. I think I prefer the original version, but both are perfectly good ways to play the game. As long as you skip the PS1/PSN version you should be fine. No clue how the iOS/Android version plays, but it costs more than the SNES version via Virtual Console.

 

[decoyplatypus]

Wow, I must have played a different Xenoblade Chronicles than everyone else. I mean, it's a good game, but have people been starved for JRPGs or something? It really isn't that good.

I want to be very careful about this both because many of Xenoblade's fans are obviously longtime RPG fans who have in no way been starved for games and because there's no real mystery behind people enjoying some of the game's features, but I do think that platform plays a part in Xenoblade's reputation on GAF. It strikes me that the import impressions (from a group we can assume, on average, plays more RPGs for more platforms) were more subdued than the rapturous response the game got when it finally hit the U.S. Besides which, any time I see someone post that Xenoblade "finally moves the jRPG genre forward," it immediately makes me suspicious that the poster doesn't play that many jRPGs (for the record, I felt the same when people said similar things about FFXII).

 

[Fou-Lu]

Xenoblade moved down one on the list this year... And I remember HUGE praise for the game from importers... not sure where you're getting that it was less praised before US release.

 

[JerkShep]

Some people like the extras in the DS version. I think I prefer the original version, but both are perfectly good ways to play the game. As long as you skip the PS1/PSN version you should be fine. No clue how the iOS/Android version plays, but it costs more than the SNES version via Virtual Console.

Thanks, I'll probably stick with the SNES version then. The DS one seems to be a little too "zoomed out", the sprites of the characters look really small (and I suppose the screen of the console doesn't help). At least this is my impression after watching a couple of videos from youtube, maybe I'm wrong.