Other RPGs?

[PrincessNadia78]

So I'm curious as to what other RPGs y'all enjoy. For me, I spent years trying to find a game I would love as much as I love Chrono Trigger and I've never found one. However, Dragon Quest is about as close as it comes for me, especially 5 and 6 and I also enjoyed Super Mario RPG. What about you guys? (And gals!)

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, my interest in RPG's is vast. I've played lots of them, across many types of RPG's, for many years and counting. I'd end up making a very long post if I go into detail. 

Anyway, I'll admit, neither Chrono game is the top of the top for me. Not that I've ever ranked, since I'm not sure how good judgement I'd give, but they'd still rank high, I bet. In any case, my absolute most favorite RPG series is a Strategy one: Super Robot Wars. Those games are a BLAST. It's unfortunate the series is Japan-only, but my dedication to it is so high it's practically the only time I've resorted to importing games. THankfully, accesibility has been better these past few years, with the lack of region-locks on consoles like the PS3, where even older games in the PSN are fair game too. Even better, now they've started to give them actual English translations. Still only sold in East Asia, but now the last hurdle, the language barrier, is gone too. Hopefully.

Though yeah, I pretty much have a varied taste. I've played and liked series like Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Suikoden, Ys, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Kingdom Hearts, Pokémon, etc.

I certainly like RPG's, heh.

[Mauron]

Super Mario RPG was my first ever RPG, and one of the games that got my hooked on the genre. I've liked the Suikoden series, although I still need to finish Tactics and 5. I've enjoyed the recent Persona games (3, 4, and 5).

I'm currently playing HyperDimension Neptunia: Re;Birth 1, and it's cracking me up. I'll have to play the rest of them.

[Razig]

Chrono Trigger is my all-time favorite game (of any genre) and Chrono Cross is my second-favorite. I don't think anything will ever be able to dethrone them from those spots.

Calling Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen an RPG is a bit of a stretch (it's more of a strategy game with RPG elements), but it's my third-favorite game so I'll make an exception.

Super Mario RPG and Earthbound were both tons of fun. I only wish they had more replay value.

Final Fantasy 6 was pretty good overall, but I think Square attempted too many experiments in one game. Some of them paid off, but some failed hard. It's definitely worth playing, though.

[PrincessNadia78]

I have tried many Final Fantasy games and have been disappointed each time. Maybe I've been trying the wrong ones? If you ask me which ones I've tried though, I couldn't tell you. LOL 

[chrono.source]

Super Mario RPG by far is one of the greats from my childhood; definitely got me hooked on the genre.

It may be very obscure and apparently most haven't heard of it, but Final Fantasy mystic Quest was one of my favourites, with very little replay value unfortunately.

Final Fantasy 7 was too long to want to replay again.... or finish for that matter.

[Lord J Esq]

The Old Ones (aka, Legends!):

Eternally Dueling for First Place:
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI

My First RPG:
The Secret of Mana

Zelda! (Because it's totally an RPG and anyone who says otherwise is a lying liar who lies)
A Link to the Past
Ocarina of Time

The New Ones:

What I always liked best about RPGs is, nowadays, mostly contained in the walking simulator genre. They're like RPGs but with none of the hassles of combat. What I'm getting at is that I know there's an argument that the following games are not RPGs, but up your nose with a rubber hose!

Life Is Strange
The best game made in the past ten years.

Oxenfree
To date the greatest psychological horror game I've played.

Finding Paradise
Not terribly interesting for much of the game, then goes to an INCREDIBLE place; it's part of a series so if you want to do the series maybe don't start with this one.

[Razig]

I can't believe I left Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 off my previous list.


If we're expanding the topic to action RPGs:

I really liked The Legend of Zelda (the original), A Link to the Past, and Link's Awakening. A Link to the Past was probably my favorite of the bunch.

I would probably enjoy The Adventure of Link, despite it being the "weird" one of the bunch (I have a similar fondness for Super Mario Bros. 2), but I've never gotten around to playing it. I really ought to remedy that.

Ocarina of Time was just "okay" to me. I don't understand why it's rated so highly. But my Zelda knowledge ends there, since it's the newest one I've actually played.

Secret of Mana was amazing. I'm eager to play the remake despite the harsh reviews.

Seiken Densetsu 3 had BEAUTIFUL graphics and music, but it sucked HARD. I know the topic is supposed to be "RPGs you enjoyed" but man... Such wasted potential.

Illusion of Gaia and Secret of Evermore were pretty decent.

I can't for the life of me figure out exactly WHY Diablo and Diablo 2 were so much fun, but they were.


Expanding the topic even further, my favorite tabletop RPG is D&D 3.5e.

[chrono.source]

Ok agreed that if we are throwing in Action/Adventure RPGs then most definitely Zelda LTTP and OoT are dominant and right at the top. Majora's mask up on the list, but not the top.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Seiken Densetsu 3 had BEAUTIFUL graphics and music, but it sucked HARD. I know the topic is supposed to be "RPGs you enjoyed" but man... Such wasted potential.

I really enjoyed it. I think it got a lot of things right -- in fact, my biggest gripe was the fact that you had to choose only three of the six characters. I hate games that locks me out of portions of the game content in favor of replayability; if you don't have different motivators, it isn't worth it. Those motivators, for example, being New Game +, or different gameplay for each character, or wholly new storyline elements, etc.

I'm curious what irked you so much about the game.

I will say, though, that it is not the glorious glory that is Secret of Mana.

[Razig]

I really enjoyed it. I think it got a lot of things right -- in fact, my biggest gripe was the fact that you had to choose only three of the six characters. I hate games that locks me out of portions of the game content in favor of replayability; if you don't have different motivators, it isn't worth it. Those motivators, for example, being New Game +, or different gameplay for each character, or wholly new storyline elements, etc.

I'm curious what irked you so much about the game.

I will say, though, that it is not the glorious glory that is Secret of Mana.

The level curve. Unlike Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger where you're always the right level for the area you're in (provided you don't run from too many fights), you're ALWAYS underleveled when going into a new area in this game. You're constantly fighting uphill, but not in a fun "I've gotta step my game up!" kind of way. The monsters aren't dangerous at all (with a few exceptions—I seem to recall a ninja with an auto-kill ability), they just have WAY too many hit points compared to your damage output. It ends up feeling more like chopping lumber than battling monsters. So by the time I had finally ground my way up to the level of an area, I was much too sick of it to stay there and continue fighting the same old crap, so I would move on to the next area... And be underleveled again. It was beyond tedious. The only games I can think of that were "grindier" than this one were Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire 2.

That was the main thing, but I also found the story to be incoherent. That may have been due to the characters I chose (the knight, the witch, and the little cleric girl) intersecting poorly, but it didn't feel like anything I was doing was a part of something greater. It felt like three individuals who just happened to be traveling together, rather than a tight-knit party. Eventually everybody finished their unrelated personal quests, then the story abruptly switched gears to the Mana Land stuff. (And then the final boss required about an extra 20 levels of grinding. Ugh.) In all honesty it's probably better than I remember, but I just stopped caring about a third of the way through, so I most likely missed a lot of the finer details. Due to the unreasonable amounts of grinding required, I can't ever see myself playing through it again to see the other characters' stories.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

@Razig

That's a fair assessment. I've played through it twice, once when the English translation patch was first released (1999? 2000?), although I never got to the end. I played again about eight years ago and beat it all the way through. I say all that to say that my own memory of it could contribute to forgetting the leveling and HP-sponge aspects you mentioned.

I definitely agree on the story front -- the story felt sort of disconjointed and never completely pulled me in.

What I did love about it, though, was how progressive it was. SNES-era game with a true day-night cycle (with altering enemies for various time of days), a legitimate class-change system, another great Mana soundtrack, and stellar graphics all stood out to me as positives.

Regardless, all of that goodwill can be quickly undone with poor gameplay. I, too, hate level grinding. I have so little time for games these days that grinding eats away at my engagement of the story and my desire to wrap things up so I can move on to the next one.

[Razig]

I don't mind grinding as long as it's strictly optional. For example, in a new playthrough of Chrono Trigger, the first thing I do upon reaching the End of Time is to take Marle to the Hunting Range in 65,000,000 BC and fight Nu until she learns Haste (the fact that the party picks up a dozen levels or so is just a bonus). Then when I get Ayla I'll do the same thing until she learns Charm.

If this were required for actual progression, it would drive me insane and Chrono Trigger very likely wouldn't be my favorite game of all time. But since I'm doing it by choice I find it much more agreeable.

[PrincessNadia78]

My favorite place to grind is on the side quest for Robo at the factory. I have played that chute more times than I care to admit!!

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, can't say "mandatory" grinding has ever bothered me much. Or even grinding in general. While sometimes I do want to move along with a game, I don't find the act of grinding itself too bothersome.

Either way, I do appreciate games where enemy strength scales to your own, avoiding the need to grind that much.