1- Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
2- Kingdom Hearts
3- Kingdom Hearts II
4- Wild Arms XF
5- Wild Arms: Alter Code F
6- Final Fantasy V Advance
7- Breath of Fire IV
8- Final Fantasy IX
9- Pokémon Ruby
10- Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
In no particular order.
LoZ: Majora’s Mask: While the main quest was rather unsatisfying it definitely made up for that with the depth of the NPCs and the masks have been the closest the series has come to littering the landscape with cool (if pointless or unnecessary) items since LttP.
FFIX: Here’s my FF entry for my list. I thought it had a good balance between the series trademarked game-breakers and individualism for the character development. Too bad the game moved at a glacial pace and was almost as much of a railroad as FFX (it didn’t help that the card game sucked either).
DQVIII: One of my favorite games of the decade. If an RPG should want to do an overworld this is how it is done. Large enough to be more than just a railroad track, rewarding enough to actually walk off the beaten path, beautiful enough to just wander aimlessly in, and unique enough to not get lost in. The alchemy pot and the Skill Point systems sealed the deal, and the characterization and the dialog between said characters were equal parts win and own. It also has the distinction of having some of the best VAing I have ever heard in a videogame. I could go on but I’m turning this post into a wall of text.
FE: Blazing Sword (aka Fire Emblem): My first FE. While not the best it is pretty solid and gave me the first challenging RPG (albeit an SRPG) of the decade.
Tales of Symphonia: An interesting game. A bit long in game time (how can anyone play through these games more than once?) but it felt like a solid RPG back when I was having trouble finding one. And while there are others around that time that I could’ve picked up the fact that I didn’t (and still haven’t) is the reason why I’m putting this on my list.
DQV: Not quite as polished as VIII but the story alone more than makes up for it. The monster recruiting works in this game thanks to the character’s limited abilities. It was definitely one of the few JRPGs I’ve enjoyed over the past decade and still go back too time and again.
M&L: Super Star Saga: A simpler game but not to its discredit. It took the best things from Legend of the Seven Stars and added more charm and silly than you could shake a plumber’s helper at.
CV: Aria of Sorrow: Unless OoE was better, this has probably been the best Castlevania game this decade. The soul collecting was an OCD gamer’s wet dream. It also helped that the castle didn’t feel all that cramped compared to the other Metroidvania game.
SRW: Original Generations 2: The first one was good but a bit bland. But this game cemented me as a fan (or at least an attentive spectator) of the Super Robot genre. Now I’m sitting around with perpetual blue balls waiting for news on an OG3.
Shadow of the Colossus: This game is awesome and it was either this, DQIV, Wind Waker, or Suikoden III.
True, but I kinda don’t know what to class it as. Spiritual action platformer?
Ugh god seeing everyone splooging over WoW makes me sick. Did anyone play high end at level 60 and see how both PvP and PvE were slowly but surely ruined over the course of these expansions? Arenas gave PvP a slight boost but in the end are terrible as well. Nothing is ever going to compare to old school world PvP and WSG, MC/BWL/AQ/Naxx. The real Naxx was the single best raid/dungeon of any game of all time ever
I can’t ever remember which games came out when, so I had to do some digging around. I’m also generally a few years behind the curve, so take that into account as well. In random order:
Planescape: Torment: Technically released 20 days before the 2000s, but who cares? Text-heavy, but with interesting dialogue, the rare occasion that the haphazard (A)D&D world and its worst mishmash setting, Planescape, felt like a living place that asked to be explored. Gameplay that rewards different playing styles and doesn’t restrict XP or character advancement to combat and a damn interesting story to boot.
FFX: It was the only FF of this decade that I saw played by a friend and wanted to experience. The graphics served the setting and the story, while not pandering to the player, kept players at it.
ICO: In two words: Concise, atmospheric. It used the old adage “show, don’t tell” to great effect and based the game on a few simple mechanics. Mario-like in its simplicity, a haiku of a game.
LoZ:Wind Waker: The animation makes exploring a joy, you can sail around all you want and the story parts are well presented. The plethora of places to explore hearkens back to the original Zelda spirit while it kept MM’s idea of people living their lives. (Hon. mention: I almost chose Twilight Princess on strength of its dungeons alone, but it abandoned some of its good intentions sometime around the middle.)
The Way: An RPGMaker game in 6 parts that creates strong characters with their own personalities and agendas and lets them interact in the game’s world. The city that serves as the stage for part 4 is vibrant and plausible and the last episodes are frantic. A DIY effort that puts established studios to shame in the character department. Available to d/l as an exe.
Aria Of Sorrow: The Castlevania of the decade (Dawn Of Sorrow hasn’t convinced me yet, though a great game in its own right). The castle is huge, exploration pays, the soul system is interesting and there are extra modes if you’re itching for more. (Tangentially: One of the two best Metroidvanias, together with Metroid Fusion).
Morrowind: The huge world available to explore and the customisation options manage to make up and then some for some kinda bland characters. Easily better than Oblivion and FO3 imo.
The World Ends With You: I started playing prejudiced against the setting, the characters and the style, got hooked and quit only after I had finished every single sidequest. Squeenix wasn’t afraid to support its vision, battling was fun and the result was addictive.
Arcanum:Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura: The game’s combat was slow. S-l-o-w. But the strengths of the Fallout legacy carried through to a game where chargen and interaction choices impacted the game, you could play a gun-toting wizard and the Victorian Fantasy setting hit plenty of right notes before steampunk hit it big time.
Mario and Luigi Partners in Time: One can’t call it innovative. It doesn’t have much replay value. But it’s fun, fun, fun and doesn’t sag for a single moment. Humorous to boot and with boss battles that feel as a welcome climax and favor attention over grinding.
If you want to follow up to my thoughts on your comments in that thread, I would love to continue the discussion. (If I’m thinking of the thread you’re talking about.)
I thought that Zero Mission was the better of the two GBA Metroids due to its less ridged exploration and precise controls.
And Samus’ armor that made you indestructible compared to Fusion :mwahaha:. I didn’t say ZM as it’s a remake, though strictly personally I also have the hots for Fusion.
So ZM’s armor was indestructible. Its a small price to pay for an actual Ice Beam and Super Missiles that didn’t suck.:smug: Plus, I thought that Fusion’s Screw Attack animation looked really lame.
Besides we’ve got people naming off titles that are remakes of older titles like DQV, FFV, Tales of Destiny DC, and The Secret of Monkey Island. What’s one more to the fire?
The Wave Beam was good though. It was a tangent anyway, as I wouldn’t consider Metroid an rpg.
(If remakes were in, the absence of Chrono Trigger is interesting.)
I like bioware games a little bit
- … apparently I need to play more RPGs
- WoW
- Dragon Age
- KOTOR
- Mass Effect
- Diablo 2
- Baldur’s Gate 2
That being said - any PC RPGs you could recommend?
Our Top 10s.
Xenosaga I, II and III – featuring my favorite ensemble of baddies.
Persona 3 and 4
Dragon Quest VIII
FF XII
FFX
I was thinking which Tales game I liked the most, and yeah, Abyss goes on my list.
Ok, one more to go
I am jumping on WOW bandwagon here, even though I might be slightly under qualified (time-wise) in judging its merits.
Fable 2. I’ve only played one RPG in the 0’s.
Didn’t Vagrant Story come out in 2000? That would make it eligible for inclusion, though it’s still part of the PSX era. Anyway, I didn’t play that many RPGs from this decade, but ICO and The World Ends With You were great, although I listen to the soundtrack of TWEWY far more often than I play the actual game, these days.
oh
I didn’t play any RPGs this decade. I don’t know what I’m still doing on these forums.
Enjoying the witty dialog? 