Title: Resetera's Top 100 Essential RPGs - Voting stage running until July 22nd!
Red Text: Dragon Quest Dragon Quest
I'm going to grab my post from last time since it hasn't changed. Happy to see this thread again! Final Fantasy VIII is a high recommendation and favourite from me for many reasons. There's a lot of fantastic traits VIII has that makes it a monster of an RPG. The story follows a 17 year old named Squall Leonhart who was raised in a military school called Balamb Garden. The development of Squall is incredibly interesting as you watch an introverted teenager thrust into situations and grow as a person because of them. Squall's growth is especially noticeable when he meets an upbeat teenager named Rinoa Heartilly whom he takes an interest in. Both have clashing personalities and together both these characters learn from their mistakes and improve throughout the story. The biggest thing about VIII's characters is they have many flaws and feel like real teenagers trying to get through situations that they shouldn't be in. VIII's leads are also contrasted by another small story in the game that follows young adults Laguna, Kiros and Ward who are complete opposites to VIII's young cast. Final Fantasy VIII is an RPG full of lore and content. The game rewards you for exploring and taking time to talk to NPC's with changing dialogue expanding the history behind the games story. The side content is plenty such as Triple Triad, a card game that you can spend hours collecting and modding, hidden boss fights that net you powerful fighting tools, towns that expand on different races within VIII or characters that lived in them and mini games that are silly fun and reward you for completing them. The world is incredibly lively making you feel like you're actually part of a living world. The game blends realism and fantasy in a way that makes it easy to just relax in such a beautiful world. The best aspects from VIII come from it's gorgeous world and character design and of course it's massive and fantastic soundtrack. Each town is memorable with it's own unique structure and mood. The music for each location creates a perfect setting. The game's soundtrack features a variety of different sounds, the gorgeous orchestra and chorus that immediately get's you pumped right from the intro to the relaxing and cozy Balamb Garden theme which then switches to the battle theme Don't Be Afraid making you ready to take what's coming on. There's very little to be dissapointed with when it comes to VIII's vast soundtrack, especially since it was the first Final Fantasy to contain a song with vocals that featured vocalist Faye Wong and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. The character and town designs are European influenced with many choices looking incredibly familiar yet unique in it's own way. Most of VIII's characters wear clothing that is a simple design but still has the fantasy feel and look to it. Each character stands out on their own and can easily be remembered for their design or personality quirks. The Full Motion Video's that use expression and motions to convey the meaning of each scene without words was extremely well done. A lot of VIII's cutscenes felt like short silent films with exciting and emotional moments in each one. There is many iconic moments from these FMV's that will easily be ingrained into players memories such as the Opening fight, The Dance and Ending. Final Fantasy VIII's battle system is quite different from most RPG's due to it's Junction system which links magic to a characters stat when equipped with a particular summon(called Guardian Force in VIII) opening up particular stat increases depending on what magic is placed and where. The system, while easily broken due to Guardian Force abilities and Triple Triad modding, is quite open to player customization and allows for many differenty play styles in VIII keeping it fresh every time. The neat thing about VIII is that the game has an option to avoid Random Encounters, a staple complaint about RPG's, with no punishment if the player decides. The game does however punish players for over levelling by increasing monster levels with Squall. That is also easily avoided if you do not over level Squall. The system does still involve a three party setup with ATB battle but the options available in battle is quite vast. The limit break system is full of fun player interacting specials and the Guardian Forces can be boosted in battle when the ability is purchased. To finish, VIII is an RPG that will not leave you bored. There is plenty to do and lot's of ways to play. There will be music setting the mood wherever you choose to go, dialogue to expand lore, quirky quests that have fun rewards and beautiful locations to explore. This is a must play RPG. A world full of medieval war and politics, what's not to love? The game mixes fantasy and realism perfectly with a deep story about betrayal and corruption. The Job system is full of variety and abilities that will leave you addicted. The soundtrack is another major appeal to an already excellent game and is perfectly suited to each moment leaving you completely engaged to whats unfolding. Some personal favourite tracks would be Under The Stars, The Pervert, Trisection, Battle On The Bridge, Decisive Battle and Run Past Through The Plains if you want to get an idea of how fantastic this soundtrack really is. The game follows a young man named Ramza who is from house Beoulve. What follows is a story of class corruption and clashing of beliefs that force Ramza to make difficult decisions and question his role and morals. He travels with his close friend Delita who was not highborn and is constantly reminded of it by those who were. These two coming from different classes makes for a struggling fight against those with corrupt morals. Tactics is an RPG that you will be invested in for it's incredible story and have a ton of value gameplay wise. Xenogears is a massive game that has so much complexity to it's story and characters. The lead is Fei Wong who starts off in a small peaceful village but when something goes wrong, Fei is soon forced to deal with the consequences of his choices. The game features what they call Gears, giant Mecha's that characters pilot. The battle system features two different types of fighting, one with your characters and one with the characters in their Gears. Each style has it's own combo's and abilities that is unique to each character. The camera can be a little wonky throughout Xenogears but it only can be a bit of trouble when it comes to the platforming sections many of which are simple enough. The music is another top notch RPG soundtrack that will put you right into the games mood. It features two gorgeous vocal tracks sung by Joanne Hogg and composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. The game has a great selection of battle and boss themes and the town themes full of celtic music influence. Pokemon Silver was an incredible game. It took everything great about the previous generation R/B/G/Y and made it so much better. The game is huge with a ton of new pokemon to find and catch. The sprite designs were fantastic and a huge improvement over the previous ones. The story was a great tie into R/B/G.Y with it's option to travel back to Kanto once you completed it's new location, Johto. The game also introduced roaming Pokemon where you could run into these legendary beasts randomly throughout the world thus creating an unexpected aspect to travelling through populated pokemon areas. Silver added many other cool features to the series such as communication with trainers on a cellphone and a Night and Day system that also tied into evolving specific Pokemon. Pokemon music has always been fantastic and this game was no exception. With previous tracks and new combined, Pokemon Silver was always ready to make sure your journey was truly an experience having sounds that perfectly set the tone for the many different type of battles and towns. One of the biggest and most well known RPG's, Final Fantasy VII is an amazing game that was a huge boost for RPG popularity and Final Fantasy as a brand. The game is led by a young man named Cloud Strife who works with a rebel group named Avalanche. The game starts you off with the idea that big companies are ruining the planet and Avalanche is trying to prevent it but soon the game opens up to something far worse than what the cast originally thought, especially when Cloud meets the mysterious Aeris Gainsborough . VII is full of tragedy and dark themes. We lose loved ones, experience identity issues, try to prevent the destruction of the planet and so much more. The gameplay introduced Materia which was a fun system to setting up magic and abilities. The story and cast is one of the best RPG casts out there with plenty of different characters to pick and choose from. While VII is a very dark game, it features quite a lot of quirky moments and humour. The music is quite memorable and while not the greatest Final Fantasy soundtrack it still holds up as a wonderful one. This is one of the must play RPG's. My first Dragon Quest title and what a game to start with. This game had a massive open world that was fully explorable in 3D. The characters were fully voiced and well developed. The mini games were plenty and an easy time consumer that rewarded you with powerful equipment. The Dragon Quest games usually feature pretty straight forward but simple and charming stories so it was pleasant to see both VII and VIII still be completely charming yet have more depth to its characters and plot. There was so much to do in this game that you could spend hours on side content or exploration. This is definitely the DQ title to start with and a fantastic RPG in general. I'm giving this the Underrated rating due to it being absent from many Persona lists. The writing and characters in this are wonderful. This also avoids a lot of the recurring issues that the newer titles have such as weird treatment of female and gay characters, personality types carrying over from game to game and finally the romance system which while fun can also take away from characters to fit the romantic aspect. Even with these issues I still adore the later titles for their stylized appearance and poppy soundtracks but Persona 2 EP is special for it's place of being just before the huge changes that have become most known in the series. The music is great, as most Persona games are and the game features an adult cast which is not common in later games. The story, which is a sequel to the game Innocent Sin( I heavily recommend playing it before EP IF you want to understand some motives and characters) follows a female writer named Maya who begins following rumours that lead her into a chase to find someone. The gameplay has a negotiation system that we saw return in Persona 5 in which you can convince monsters to give you Tarot cards or Items. It's a straightforward system outside of the negotiation system with regular attacks and spells that you can combo together depending on the order and spells used. This is a game I heavily recommend people play, especially if you're a fan of the series but want something with a mature cast and focused character development. Suikoden II is actually incredibly fresh for me since I've just completed it recently. The story and characters are probably one of the most well written in gaming with heart wrenching moments that will make you care for these characters and what happens to them. The soundtrack is enjoyable and fit's the game quite well. The one downside to Suikoden II is that it's a bit of a mess in terms of the localization department and has a few slow downs from certain spells in battle. There's also some glitches that can affect items or characters. Suikoden II's strength is absolutely it's story and the way it is presented along with the character design which is fantastic and one of my favorites considering the game has over a 110+ characters with portraits. If story, characters and art design are important in an RPG to you then you will not be disappointed. The games battle system is simple enough and still quite fun though it doesn't add anything to the genre but that is more than alright for a game with such great writing. The funny thing about Chrono Trigger is that it's not in my top 10 favourite games and barely breaks top 20 for me. So why do I have it in my top 10 essentials? Well it's because I DO think it's an essential RPG and here is why. The game is probably the most well packaged RPG out there. It doesn't do anything better than many other RPG's on individual categories but as a whole it's the most well rounded and one of the easiest to get into as a first. The artstyle is colorful, the cast is charming, the story is interesting and the gameplay is extremely fun. The soundtrack is another great aspect with incredibly memorable themes many of which are character themes. I may not place this game as high as other people do but I do think it's one of the most well made RPG's and absolutely deserves a high spot in this ranking. It's very difficult to find a game that manages to do every part of game well. My first Fire Emblem and by far the most challenging one I have played. The game can be incredibly punishing when you lose units in battle but it makes the fights tense and more strategic. The story is my favorite for the series with it being led by Ike, a young man part of a Mercenary group commanded by his father, Greil. An encounter with a mysterious women set's off events that lead to a harsh journey that will change Ike's life forever. The art style is another fantastic part to this game that is full of variety. Different heights, styles, ages and races can be encountered and recruited. If you love a challenging game with a fantastic story and cast then this game is for you. 11. Final Fantasy X - Final Fantasy X is an amazingly colourful game with an emotional journey following a summoners pilgrimage and her guardians perspective of it 12. Valkyrie Chronicles - Tactical gameplay that is fun and challenging with a great cast 13. Chrono Cross - Amazing soundtrack and world design. A lot of characters to recruit and use 14. Persona 5 - An incredibly stylish and fun game about fighting against society's normalization of many different types of abuse from people in positions of power, particularly adults towards teenagers. 15. Tactics Ogre - Much like Final Fantasy Tactics this has a mature story and fun job system. 16. Kingdom Hearts - This series is greatest for it's battle system and soundtrack 17. Parasite Eve - Incredible horror story with a wonderful soundtrack and fantastic female lead 18. Ys VII - The three party system was a great addition to a wonderful action RPG series and plenty of party styles to choose from 19. Final Fantasy VI - Beautiful soundtrack and an interesting cast and story 20. Paper Mario I also have to give mentions to Vagrant Story for it's challenging battle system, Suikoden for it's story and cast, Front Mission 3 for it's tactical gameplay and mecha customization and Persona 3 and 4 for their additions to the persona series that has become well known. Oh I forgot to add Mario RPG. Really surprised how much I loved this game. Not enough to crack my rankings but it's worth mentioning. Edit: I guess we aren't doing underrated this time. I'll have to switch around my ranking. Me though.
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