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  • DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

    I had been kicking around this idea for a while I guess this could be something to do as you're decompressing from Christmas and waiting for New Year's to blow over. A lot of sites do this, but I though we could make it our own little occasion.

    What I want everyone to do is to simply list their top five RPGs from the last ten years and give a paragraph explaining each one. Five because if this thread gets enough replies, we'll have enough variety to work with. Five also because you may not have played that many RPGs in the last ten years..

    To keep you on your toes and keep things interesting, I'm going to throw in some conditions. I tried to be as fair about this as possible.

    Conditions:

    - Nominees must be a single player RPG or have a offline single player mode. No online-only games. Look, I know you like FFXI, that's why we're here, I don't think it or WoW really needs a space on the list.

    - Only one entry from a main series, If you're just going to show us you have a hard-on for Final Fantasy, you're not really expanding any horizons. And yes, FFX-2 is main series, not that I think you'll mention it.

    - One spin off from a main series will be permitted, but only one. A spin-off will be defined as something with similar elements to a main series, but a completely different gameplay style, such as the difference between Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (main series) and SMT: Digital Devil Saga (spin-off). If you're just going to list every SMT spin off, again, see the main series condition. We're here to expand palates, not show our hard-ons for a series.

    - RPGs from late 1999 to late 2009 are will be considered, so we can squeeze in 1999's latecomers like FFIX. With respect to that condition, the cut-off for 2009 was Nov. 30th.

    - Remakes. If it got a significant makeover like FFIV for DS or FFT: War of the Lions for PSP, we'll consider that new because elements have changed. But only nominate it if its the new version, don't thrown the PSX version of Tactics on there.

    - Games with canonical story elements like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories or 358/2 Days, even though subtitlted, are considered sequel/prequels to a main series, not spin-offs.

    - Competitive RPGs (Dissidia, Pokemon) will count. So will things like Fallout 3, Deus Ex and Borderlands count, even though they may feel like FPS titles, they have all the RPG trimmings. But by the same token, we all know Modern Warfare 2 is a FPS, all the RPG elements in the world does not change that.

    - Reissues don't count. Don't care if you played it between 1999-2009, if it came out in 1997, its a 1997 game. Example: Chrono Trigger, as awesome as it is on the DS, is still pretty much a reissue with a new dungone and a couple new endings. Nothing radical about that, its still a reissue. Adding new characters, job classes and abilities to Final Fantasy Tactics changes how that game is played.

    And that's it.

    Just make one post with your top five and on New Years Day, I'll compile our top 20. I'd throw it into a poll, but then people that put no effort into the process would be allowed to vote and that's no fun because they're not participating, just voting. For this to work it will need some real participation.

    Make one post, give a paragraph for each of your nominees. Keep discussion out of this thread, but if you want to have a discussion thread, I suppose we'll just start one separately. This is just so its easy to tally up the end result and there's no clutter. If you must revise your pick you have until New Year's Eve to revise.

    Nominees submitted without reasons will be ignored.

    I'll post mine in one separate post here later today. I haven't really thought of mine so much as I thought about the rules for this

  • #2
    Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

    Planescape: Torment
    Without a doubt the best piece of storytelling I have ever encountered in a game. The dialogue options and the script in general were vastly entertaining, compelling and convincing. This was a game that left me eager to hear more of the story each night after I went to bed, and it put a huge dent in my GPA that semester. I can't really say too much about the content because I truly feel it's one of those games that the less you know about going in the better the experience will be. Suffice it to say, when I finished this game I wished I could forget it all and go back to start over without knowing anything so as to fully enjoy the experience again.

    Baldur's Gate
    The series as a whole was good in that there was a story to be told, coupled with a challenging combat system. It got easier in Baldur's Gate II, but the first few levels of the first game were particularly brutal in a way that made the new adventurer properly afraid for his or her life. The real charm of this series for me was probably it's nearly endless replay value. I've been playing the series on and off for the last decade and there's still plenty of content I haven't even found. No playthrough is ever quite the same, but it's always similar enough that it feels like you're getting to hang out with an old friend. Some of the characters in it are particularly memorable as well. While not every character you encounter is going to have a 3 volume backstory, a lot of them are well fleshed out. Whilst the storyline is dark and serious, the developers still managed to pepper the game with humor along the way, such that the experience as a whole was very endearing. How can you not love Tiax, the mad Gnome hell bent on world domination?

    Magical Starsign
    I'm a little confused to find myself listing this one, but this game was simply too enjoyable to not mention. The combat system was a breath of fresh air after an endless stream of RPGs that use carbon copies of the old FFIV style of battle system. Adding a little interactivity to the combat menus without making it mandatory brightens the experience more than I thought it would. The constant flow of MP was also a really nice touch, as was tying said regeneration to a stat. It added a good curve ball, and I often found myself weighing the trade-off of more mp regen vs better magic power. Being able to switch up your positioning mid battle, and even having certain bosses switch it up for you made for some interesting fights. While the gameplay itself was top notch, the story was rather cutesy on the front. As you get further in though, you start to detect some seriously dark undercurrents. They're extremely subtle but catching them sent me into horrid fits of laughter that they'd stick some of this twisted stuff into a kids game.

    I could probably come up with some more, but that's all that's really jumping out at me now. Many of my favorites don't make the 1999 cutoff. *shrug*
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    • #3
      Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

      Damn it, you just ruled out Xenogears and FFT, and apparently I can't nominate War of the Lions because I haven't played it.

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      • #4
        Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

        /

        For Japanese RPGs, do we use the Japanese release date or the North American release date for the cutoff of November 30th, 1999? That's going to make all the difference with one of my nominations.

        Also, FFIX was released clean in 2000.
        Last edited by Yellow Mage; 12-24-2009, 02:23 PM. Reason: Or you could go by the European release date and effectively give us another year's worth of video games. :P
        Originally posted by Armando
        No one at Square Enix has heard of Occam's Razor.
        Originally posted by Armando
        Nintendo always seems to have a legion of haters at the wings ready to jump in and prop up straw men about hardware and gimmicks and casuals.
        Originally posted by Taskmage
        GOD IS MIFFED AT AMERICA

        REPENT SINNERS OR AT LEAST GIVE A NONCOMMITTAL SHRUG

        GOD IS AMBIVALENT ABOUT FURRIES

        THE END IS COMING ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN GOD GETS AROUND TO IT
        Originally posted by Taskmage
        However much I am actually smart, I got that way by confronting how stupid I am.
        Matthew 16:15

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        • #5
          Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

          Originally posted by Armando View Post
          Damn it, you just ruled out Xenogears and FFT, and apparently I can't nominate War of the Lions because I haven't played it.
          ; ; I kent haz Super Mario RPG.
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          • #6
            Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

            That whole "of the decade" thing.

            If it was going to be "of all time" then I wouldn't have bothered suggesting the idea in the first place. People do that shit all the time. The point here is to kinda toss off those rose-tinted glasses and NOT look at the "good ole days" and look at a specific period.

            @YM We're going by western release dates.

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            • #7
              Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

              Well yes but mine only miss the deadline by 2 years.

              You should've done this 2 years ago BBQ.

              In the meantime I suppose I will have to nominate FFXII despite having only played 15 hours of it.

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              • #8
                Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                Originally posted by Armando View Post
                I will have to nominate FFXII
                Why?
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                • #9
                  Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                  It had a similar feel to FFT in a lot of ways. Both games had plots that dabbled in supernatural forces but were predominantly political in nature. I appreciate that a lot - it doesn't make the plot as cut-and-dry "well we could save the world or we could not" as if the latter were really an option.

                  I considered the gameplay to be pretty solid too. It had pretty neat character building, even if it doesn't make sense that I can't put in X and Y hats 'til I've bought a license for them. If I wanted someone to use a pole he could use a pole. The combat was more interesting than the snoozefest I consider ATB to be. I also greatly appreciated actually seeing monsters in the field with various aggro mechanisms, and occasionally friendly NPCs too. It made the dungeon crawling/overworld parts of the game a bit more interesting and enjoyable than the typical random battle-based game.

                  You're also never wanting for side quests to do if you're into that kind of thing. There was so much to do I'd almost label it a con at the same time that it is a pro, since those with a completionist obsessive compulsive disorder will easily spend hours on doing everything but actually progressing the plot.

                  Overall the game really pulled you into its world. It's just too bad that I haven't finished it.

                  Thaaat, and I've yet to play a lot of gems like the Persona series, Valkyrie Profile series, Star Ocean series, etc. I'm not gonna nominate Chrono Cross on account of not having yet played far enough to see how the story ties into CT, and because the game has you flying blind with the Elements system. It wasn't a bad battle system but they tell the player so little that he's always guessing.

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                  • #10
                    Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                    I had a long winded response for each game but my browser screwed up and I don't feel like retyping (firefox won't stop crashing on me lately WTF)


                    Valkyria Chronicles, Legend of the Dragoon, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, Xenosaga (gears is a year too late for your qualifications and you won't allow CoP) and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (1999 release just barely makes it in )
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                    • #11
                      Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                      Ah, may as well post these here and now. I nominate (in no particular order):

                      Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: Generally, you just can not go wrong with a Tactics game, and FFTA is no exception. It lacks not in content, as the game has 300+ missions total to keep you occupied, not to mention it is actually worthwhile to take the time to fight other clans on regular encounters on the world map, if only for the Mythril weapons that you could get from them. And believe me, you will sink a lot of time in to each and every battle, which is both a plus and a minus showing how . . . well, for lack of a more descriptive word, addictive, the game can be. FFTA also brings forth a job system that invokes upon the Final Fantasy name, as well as introducing the five races of Ivalice in a plot that, similar to the first Final Fantasy game, asks thought-provoking questions about the conditions of reality and fantasy. To this day, it is still hotly debated whether the protagonist, Marche, was, for lack of better terms, the good guy or the bad guy. I personally could have given my highest recommendation to fans of role-playing games with a Game Boy Advance. Oh, and one more thing - on retrospect, it is rather fun looking up methods with which to break the game in two and then actually executing them (well, it gets fun once you finally get to start exploiting it, at least). Steal: Ability.

                      Dragon Age: Origins: Okay, say what you will about EA intentionally releasing an incomplete game. Personally, though, I got this and the DLC together as a birthday present, so with the issue of money-robbing companies out of the way, I must say that there is nothing left to complain about in this game. Upon play, you really get all you can ask for from this game: a darker fantasy story that twists upon the typical tropes of an RPG tale, and blood. Buckets, upon buckets, of blood. To say that this is not a game for the hemophobic would be an understatement. There's even a specialization that runs on the dang stuff (though, why you have to use the blood still in the bodies of you or your party members as opposed to all the blood your party's clothes are soaked with is beyond me)! I have not quite finished this game yet for one reason: fear. Last time I played this game, I played it for about a week straight, so I've been afraid of picking it up again for simply falling back in to that addiction again. But quite a bit of thought has definitely been put in to Ferelden, and its inhabitants are not exactly lacking in personality, either (particularly Morrigan, though she annoys me so much for being such an absurdly useful character that tends to hate just about every "good" action that I would be inclined to do). A newcomer, but even when stacked with some of the best of the decade, this game can definitely hold its own, in spite of financially-based criticism.

                      Disgaea: Hour of Darkness: Yes, the original Hour of Darkness for the PS2. I has played that (though I lost it when I lost the PS2 on my forced move to Florida ). A sleeper classic that would (eventually) launch its own trilogy as well as spin-off series. After being barely fazed by an awakening of epic proportions from his vassal Etna, Prince Laharl, rightful heir to the throne of the Netherworld (or as rightful as that throne could possibly be, anyway), learns that his cat nap ended up lasting 2 years, in which time his father, the King of the Netherworld, has died, and the entire realm was thrown in to Pandemonium (er . . . twice over?) over which demon was strong enough to rule the Netherworld. As Laharl goes to set things straight in his own way, hilarity ensues. Repeatedly. And even though the story is now out of the way, to even *begin* to describe the depth of Disgaea's battle system would be a herculean task that took more than a mere paragraph. I'll just say that this is a tactics game for the ages, and at this point you could only ever hope to pick up either of the remakes to even get a glimpse of the glory that was the original game. (In particular, the sound quality on the DS remake sucks hard; I haven't personally played the PSP remake, though.)

                      Pokémon: Gold Version (Silver Version): I actually played the Gold Version, though if it went by my choice I would've had the Silver one instead. Meh, not that big a deal ultimately, I suppose. Really, there's no denying that this was an awesome game: 251 Pokémon (and still the best ones yet, in my opinion), between two regions. The second generation of Pokémon introduced the Dark and Steel types and held items, as you made your way through colorful Jhoto 3 years after the first generation of Pokémon games. Similar to the first games, you set off to catch a lot of Pokémon, collect your eight gym badges, maybe thwart a Team Rocket plan or two, smacking around your jerk of a rival a bit, and eventually conquering the Elite Four + current reigning Pokémon Champion. However, one aspect sets this set of games apart from any other set released yet: two regions. After beating the Elite Four, you are treated to a trip around Kanto, 3 years after the first set of Pokémon games, and are basically given one massive nostalgia trip, defeating the leaders of the first eight gyms, and eventually challenging Pokémon Master Red himself. I mean, really, is it any wonder that the HeartGold and SoulSilver versions are so hotly anticipated? Easily the best games of the Pokémon series I've completed thus far, but that could be partially because I am a lazy bastaru and haven't even finished anything from the third generation onward yet.

                      Tales of Symphonia: If you bothered getting a Gamecube, this game is quite plainly a must-have. One of the most, if not the most ingenious battle system that I have ever seen in an RPG, an intricate plot that is apparently par for the series (as well as comic relief when appropriate) . . . and apparently right when Namco started getting their act together to pretend that they actually care about us ugly Americans. Really, that's three marks of quality right there. This game is just about everything that you could ask of an RPG. Even my brother, who is not the biggest RPG person in the world, would occasionally drag me just to play the game with him, and I actually ended up finishing it on his save file XD . An easy top pick for RPG of the decade; heck, even easily one of the better ones of all time.
                      Last edited by Yellow Mage; 12-25-2009, 08:33 PM.
                      Originally posted by Armando
                      No one at Square Enix has heard of Occam's Razor.
                      Originally posted by Armando
                      Nintendo always seems to have a legion of haters at the wings ready to jump in and prop up straw men about hardware and gimmicks and casuals.
                      Originally posted by Taskmage
                      GOD IS MIFFED AT AMERICA

                      REPENT SINNERS OR AT LEAST GIVE A NONCOMMITTAL SHRUG

                      GOD IS AMBIVALENT ABOUT FURRIES

                      THE END IS COMING ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN GOD GETS AROUND TO IT
                      Originally posted by Taskmage
                      However much I am actually smart, I got that way by confronting how stupid I am.
                      Matthew 16:15

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                        I can only nominate Crisis Core, FFT:WotW, and Demon's Souls, and Borderlands. All the other RPGs I've played I didn't find very enjoyable.

                        And, might I add: wow. I can't believe it's been nearly ten years since I graduated middle school.

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                        • #13
                          Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                          Disgaea: hour of darkness is the only game (other then XI) that I've played 150+ hours on. So it's going to have to be the best.

                          FFX in second at 80 hours.
                          I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are.

                          HTTP Error 418 - I'm A Teapot - The resulting entity body MAY be short and stout.

                          loose

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                          • #14
                            Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                            Dragon Quest VIII:
                            DQ8 has many charming qualities, but the biggest reason I love it is its world map. It came at the right time. Years before, Square’s Secret of Mana had attempted to utilize both a world map and contiguous environments in the same game. Though you could manually control the Flammie and soar over the world, touching down would place you in the given region’s designated landing area every time. It amounted to pointing to a location on a map, or selecting from a list. At the start of the generation, FFX had discarded the world map for a world of mostly contiguous areas and a camera that always faced towards your final destination, as if to emphasize the finality and one-way nature of its quest. Your airship was like Flammie, but yet another step removed from the airships of old – you couldn’t fly it, you selected destinations from a list. It was smart way of trimming down for a franchise that had become known for its bloat and sluggishness over the last generation, but it was also the loss of several things I had greatly enjoyed about past RPGs.

                            In DQ8 you explore on foot in a world built to the hero’s scale. There are treasures and special named monsters scattered across a landscape that can be beautiful and whose horizon always tempts with some curious landmark. When you enter a vehicle you transition to a scaled down version of the same world. Should you attempt to land between three trees spied from the air, you will touch down between those three trees or possibly just beside them. If an island in the middle of a stream is inaccessible on foot, return with your ship and sail upstream to reach it. DQ8 successfully married the best aspects of both world maps and contiguous environments. For me, that made it if the first evolution of the genre since Chrono Trigger that I really liked. With that and more, Dragon Quest VIII got me to play RPGs again, after about 4 years of apathy to the genre. (And I only bought it for the FFXII demo, after getting burned on DW7!)

                            Etrian Odyssey
                            The feeling of ownership is strong in this game. You name your guild, you select it’s members and you assign their skills. You are managing an adventuring company. You must remember to purchase supplies as you consume them, lest you overstuff your inventory or find yourself trapped with no escape. You must carefully map out the labyrinth as you advance, lest you mistake an obvious turn for an impassable wall. It all feels very personal, like this guild is your baby, amplified by the fact that you are literally cradling the game in your hands as you play. A baby that totally just kicked a bunch of wood elf ass.

                            Mother III
                            I never liked EarthBound. Somehow I do like this game. I can’t even really pin down what I like about it. The gameplay is basic Dragon Quest, albeit superbly balanced. It’s beautiful and has a great soundtrack, sure. That’s not enough to make this list though. It’s just really captivating. Like EO, this game benefits a lot from being portable. This game likes to break the fourth wall and address or involve the player, and holding the game in your hands (machine, media, program, everything) makes it just that much more intimate.

                            Fable 2
                            Forget anything Peter Molyneux has ever said. This was easy for me since I’d never paid him any attention to begin with. Fable 2 is an action RPG that never loses sight of the fact that it’s supposed to be fun. I am freaking terrible at action games. I managed this one because it stays simple and even rewards me for sucking by making healing items give experience points.

                            The last spot is tricky. In truth, it should belong to Dragon Quest V or III. The rules prevent this however. I would like to mention Nocturne or Minstrel Song, but I didn’t manage to complete either. This leaves me with candidates still more distant, Breath of Fire IV or FFXII, or games which you could say simply have RPG elements, like Majora’s Mask. I will decide later.

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                            • #15
                              Re: DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

                              So . . .

                              <.<
                              Originally posted by Armando
                              No one at Square Enix has heard of Occam's Razor.
                              Originally posted by Armando
                              Nintendo always seems to have a legion of haters at the wings ready to jump in and prop up straw men about hardware and gimmicks and casuals.
                              Originally posted by Taskmage
                              GOD IS MIFFED AT AMERICA

                              REPENT SINNERS OR AT LEAST GIVE A NONCOMMITTAL SHRUG

                              GOD IS AMBIVALENT ABOUT FURRIES

                              THE END IS COMING ONE OF THESE DAYS WHEN GOD GETS AROUND TO IT
                              Originally posted by Taskmage
                              However much I am actually smart, I got that way by confronting how stupid I am.
                              Matthew 16:15

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