I've relatively recently discovered WRPGs, but I'm not going to list them. I still don't really know what to think of them, honestly. I've put so many hours into Skyrim, for example, and yet, looking back, I feel empty, as if the game had only taken from me. Whatever it gave (I liked it while I was playing) in return fizzled out the second I tried to grasp its essence.
1) Secret of Mana (+3 points) - The game is so incredibly flawed (an easily exploitable magic system, a world inhabited by lifeless NPCs) and so incredibly beautiful (the most beautiful music to ever grace a video game, every little thing you do is another pearl threaded into the quest line and strings you along for hours on end that feel like seconds) that it has to be on here, there's no stronger bond than the one formed when pity and love combine their powers, -- it's called motherly love! The soundtrack and how it relates to the visuals, gameplay and story of the game makes this the best game I've ever played.
2) Chrono Cross - The game has an incredible sense of melancholy. The world lives, is struck with all the banality and poetry of life. The people you meet don't feel as if their entire existence could be reduced to your, the hero's, accommodation (be it by being helpful or an opponent to test your newfound strength). At least in the beginning, what you do doesn't feel like saving the world, -- you're not really a hero, and you're not recognized as such: you just do your thing, and nobody cares, as long as it doesn't pertain to their world. Others have their own lives to tend to. That's why the world feels alive: there are so many worlds in this game, almost every NPC has their own. Also, the overworld music (Another World) came from the heavens.
3) Final Fantasy V - The story is awful, the characters flat, the music Uematsu's worst endeavor and the world
are little more than a convenient story progression machine (or conveyor belt), and yet, it's my favorite Final Fantasy. The battles (from random encounters to boss battles) are a thrill, the job system allows for infinite replayability (just look at the Fiesta challenge), there's tons of side quests and it, again, works like a beautiful machine: you'll never feel overpowered nor severely underpowered, you're always just a tick away from being tocked or tocking the enemy yourself!
4) Vagrant Story - A convoluted father-and-son story(?) about betraying the betrayer to betray that you're actually betraying yourself(??), a beautiful risk/reward, semi-active and rhythm-based battle system (chaining attacks lowers hit percentage and defenses while increasing the chance of critical hits and HP recovery), meaningful weapon and enemy classes, customizing and forging your own weapons, fantastic boss fight and a challenging difficulty curve make this one of the PlayStation's best games.
5) Dragon Quest IX - It is of course true that all Dragon Quest games are the same. You're fighting the same battles with the same music against the same enemies in basically the same world, a world that is basically in the same kind of peril. That's not what Dragon Quest games are about, though. The little vignettes, the inconspicuous dots that, when connected, show a drawing of the bland overall plot, but for themselves are a whole and beautiful, -- that's what the games are about. I like the vignettes in IX (not V, I can't tell the games apart, naturally) the best, that's why I picked it.
6) Chrono Trigger - The feel-good RPG. I played it years after release, but I come back to it as if it were a memory of my youth I'd like to revisit and felt nostalgic about. Beautiful music, beautiful story, great cast of characters, locations, a happy-go-lucky battle system and probably the best side quests in any RPG of the SNES era. It's about the end of the world, but I've never played another RPG that is so purposefully non-threatening and goes down like hot chocolate. Tip: drink hot chocolate while playing.
7) Final Fantasy VII - This is the Dragon Quest of Final Fantasy games. Yes, the overarching story is dumb if you look at it too closely (just like in Dragon Quest) and
, but every character has his own self-contained little vignette, in his home town, or even several of them, overlapping with those of others. Every town you visit feels electrified with one of your friends' stories and therefore feels meaningful. I also love the Materia system, the side quests, chocobo breeding and the unparalleled quirkiness (bathing with a troupe of mustachioed, brawny men in a bordello in the slums) of it all. Uematsu's best soundtrack, too, in my opinion. It leaves IV's, VIII's and VI's in the dust.
8) Etrian Odyssey - For a relatively new RPG it's pretty old-school in that it expects you to be adaptive. While the main story line is a cake walk, the battles that lurk beneath are incredibly challenging, fun and thrilling. The game simply does so many things right: the story doesn't get in the way, dungeons are explored (you're responsible for mapping it) not merely traveled through, character progression and which classes you take into the dungeon are up to you, great music and overall its battle and dungeon mechanics are superb. Some of the side missions suck, okay, but the bartender is alright.
9) Terranigma - Beating sense into creation has never been this fun. In a way, this game is about the duality of life, in another way it's about securing the development of human settlements until they finally sell burgers and giant birds. You're the stern but loving mother edging the world on towards the achievement of greater goals like the birth of a maniacal scientist. Really, though, this RPG is thematically equipped to best other RPGs at what they all want to achieve: a clear relation between vast changes in the world and your actions.
10) Front Mission 3 - You're trapped in the machinations of equally corrupt and ruthless political forces and have a blast surfing the web and reading e-mails, whenever you're not busy upgrading your mech or engaging in redundant jabbering. I love all tactical turn-based RPGs and this is my favorite of the genre (beating FF:T); mechs, -- that is all. The main character's motivations make little sense but are of vast consequences. Whether you accompany your friend on a walk, basically, on a whim, decides on which side of the war you're fighting. Front Mission 3 in a nutshell.
1) Secret of Mana (+3 points) - The game is so incredibly flawed (an easily exploitable magic system, a world inhabited by lifeless NPCs) and so incredibly beautiful (the most beautiful music to ever grace a video game, every little thing you do is another pearl threaded into the quest line and strings you along for hours on end that feel like seconds) that it has to be on here, there's no stronger bond than the one formed when pity and love combine their powers, -- it's called motherly love! The soundtrack and how it relates to the visuals, gameplay and story of the game makes this the best game I've ever played.
2) Chrono Cross - The game has an incredible sense of melancholy. The world lives, is struck with all the banality and poetry of life. The people you meet don't feel as if their entire existence could be reduced to your, the hero's, accommodation (be it by being helpful or an opponent to test your newfound strength). At least in the beginning, what you do doesn't feel like saving the world, -- you're not really a hero, and you're not recognized as such: you just do your thing, and nobody cares, as long as it doesn't pertain to their world. Others have their own lives to tend to. That's why the world feels alive: there are so many worlds in this game, almost every NPC has their own. Also, the overworld music (Another World) came from the heavens.
3) Final Fantasy V - The story is awful, the characters flat, the music Uematsu's worst endeavor and the world
s
(I'm sorry...)
4) Vagrant Story - A convoluted father-and-son story(?) about betraying the betrayer to betray that you're actually betraying yourself(??), a beautiful risk/reward, semi-active and rhythm-based battle system (chaining attacks lowers hit percentage and defenses while increasing the chance of critical hits and HP recovery), meaningful weapon and enemy classes, customizing and forging your own weapons, fantastic boss fight and a challenging difficulty curve make this one of the PlayStation's best games.
5) Dragon Quest IX - It is of course true that all Dragon Quest games are the same. You're fighting the same battles with the same music against the same enemies in basically the same world, a world that is basically in the same kind of peril. That's not what Dragon Quest games are about, though. The little vignettes, the inconspicuous dots that, when connected, show a drawing of the bland overall plot, but for themselves are a whole and beautiful, -- that's what the games are about. I like the vignettes in IX (not V, I can't tell the games apart, naturally) the best, that's why I picked it.
6) Chrono Trigger - The feel-good RPG. I played it years after release, but I come back to it as if it were a memory of my youth I'd like to revisit and felt nostalgic about. Beautiful music, beautiful story, great cast of characters, locations, a happy-go-lucky battle system and probably the best side quests in any RPG of the SNES era. It's about the end of the world, but I've never played another RPG that is so purposefully non-threatening and goes down like hot chocolate. Tip: drink hot chocolate while playing.
7) Final Fantasy VII - This is the Dragon Quest of Final Fantasy games. Yes, the overarching story is dumb if you look at it too closely (just like in Dragon Quest) and
the typical McGuffin-hunt (spoiler!)
8) Etrian Odyssey - For a relatively new RPG it's pretty old-school in that it expects you to be adaptive. While the main story line is a cake walk, the battles that lurk beneath are incredibly challenging, fun and thrilling. The game simply does so many things right: the story doesn't get in the way, dungeons are explored (you're responsible for mapping it) not merely traveled through, character progression and which classes you take into the dungeon are up to you, great music and overall its battle and dungeon mechanics are superb. Some of the side missions suck, okay, but the bartender is alright.
9) Terranigma - Beating sense into creation has never been this fun. In a way, this game is about the duality of life, in another way it's about securing the development of human settlements until they finally sell burgers and giant birds. You're the stern but loving mother edging the world on towards the achievement of greater goals like the birth of a maniacal scientist. Really, though, this RPG is thematically equipped to best other RPGs at what they all want to achieve: a clear relation between vast changes in the world and your actions.
10) Front Mission 3 - You're trapped in the machinations of equally corrupt and ruthless political forces and have a blast surfing the web and reading e-mails, whenever you're not busy upgrading your mech or engaging in redundant jabbering. I love all tactical turn-based RPGs and this is my favorite of the genre (beating FF:T); mechs, -- that is all. The main character's motivations make little sense but are of vast consequences. Whether you accompany your friend on a walk, basically, on a whim, decides on which side of the war you're fighting. Front Mission 3 in a nutshell.