DiV's top 20 RPGs of the decade nominations

[cidbahamut]

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

I'd add Dragon Age to my list, but I can't be bothered writing up a review and I haven't finished it.
So yeah, we need more entries for this thing.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

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

yeah, it can't really go anywhere til people put shit up. You guys are now eight days behind

Well, so am I. I just assumed no one cared.

[Yellow Mage]

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

I just assumed no one cared.

You had no idea why I bumped this thread, then?

[Coinspinner]

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

I still can't decide on a fifth pick.

[Lmnop]

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

I'll give you some picks. I bolded what I feel to be the bottom line for the tl;dr.

Chrono Cross: Because unlike Armando, I have beat it. Despite the many things I would change about the game, it's very solid. I like the (more central) characters, the music is damn good, I love the plot, and most importantly: I dig the gameplay. The battle system has many aspects: the build up and usage of elements, the field effect, the stamina as a turn mechanic, and the tiered attack levels. All of these aspects mesh well with each other. Without one, the rest are much less interesting or don't work at all. The story is fantastic and more importantly, it's so barely a sequel to Chrono Trigger that if you still hate the game BECAUSE IT'S NOT CT2, get over yourself and enjoy the game as a stand-alone.

Shadow Hearts: Just because I feel like it. I'm no expert on this game, but I think I know it well enough to be qualified (I went through about 3 summers in a row of watching my siblings play RPGs every day). The "judgement ring" system may not be for everyone, but it's definitely not mainstream. In fact, the whole point of this suggestion is the number of things Final Fantasy would likely never implement. Every character gains power through experience and levels, obviously, but in general, new abilities are gained by undertaking sidequests, finding items, completing minigames, etc. The fascinating thing about the Shadow Hearts series is that every character has their own unique way of gaining their abilities. It's not like "do the so-and-so to get Vincent's ultimate limit break" sort of thing. it's more like "do a new so-and-so challenge every time you want a new Vincent ability". Though they, of course, do a good job of keeping most of it not-grueling. Also great music.

Of course, Vagrant Story: Vagrant Story has some real downs, it's for certain. You have to spend a lot of time with the game (technically, grinding, though the timing practice is very helpful) to really get good. The game is trying because sometimes we don't want to dedicate all of our brain power to the same game. But if you let yourself absorb into it and learn its ins and outs, you'll find retardedly high hours of enjoyment. This is why I say "technically" grinding: you develop a sort of sick fascination where even while you're doing monotonous weapon crafting and beating on the correct affinity of bad guy, you can't think of a single thing you'd rather be doing. Oh, also very key: Vagrant Story may be the highest quality tale I've ever seen. I think I might load up my file and play through the game today.

Humorously, these are the only 3 games I have soundtracks to on my computer (oh, and I guess I now have FF7 and 8 but who cares about that shit?)

[Mhurron]

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

I'll give you some picks. I bolded what I feel to be the bottom line for the tl;dr.

Chrono Cross: Because unlike Armando, I have beat it. Despite the many things I would change about the game, it's very solid. I like the (more central) characters, the music is damn good, I love the plot, and most importantly: I dig the gameplay. The battle system has many aspects: the build up and usage of elements, the field effect, the stamina as a turn mechanic, and the tiered attack levels. All of these aspects mesh well with each other. Without one, the rest are much less interesting or don't work at all. The story is fantastic and more importantly, it's so barely a sequel to Chrono Trigger that if you still hate the game BECAUSE IT'S NOT CT2, get over yourself and enjoy the game as a stand-alone.

It's also better then Chrono Trigger.

[Malacite]

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

the music is damn good,

You sir, need to have your head examined. And no, I didn't play through the game but I DID get the OST. Some of it was OK, the opening theme is epic, but God help you if you actually enjoy the battle/boss music...

[Armando]

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

Boss music is nice. Trivial encounter theme is meh.

One song alone does not undo an entire soundtrack.

[Firewind]

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

Final Fantasy X

I usually have an aversion to extremely linear RPGs. Usually my first reaction when confronted with one is "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh okay I think I'll spend £45 on something I can play more than once". There's nothing wrong with linear RPGs as long as the story is solid, the characters are likable and gameplay-wise the game doesn't feel like the same thing over and over when you play it again.

FFX is one of my exceptions because of the above. The storyline starts out slow but it is one of the most solid and engaging stories in the entire series. The characters are great and each one is fleshed out with a very interesting backstory (except Lulu who just seemed to be there but she's awesome anyway).

The gameplay is the major reason the game is here the Sphere Grid allows some of the best customisation of the party characters in the series and it is one of the main reasosn why I class FFX is "non-linear". The expert Sphere gird ensures that no two games are quite the same when you play through it. It also gives you a huge choice in how each character is built. If you wanted to go as all Samurai or all Black Mages you could. The game had a genuine endgame too which made it a lot of fun when you unlocked the airship. Dark Aeons, blitzball, the Monster Arena, ultimate weapons etc will keep you occupied for hours.

Tie all of this in with one hell of a soundtrack and you get a clear contender for "RPG of the decade"

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

It's hard to say what is not wrong with this game. Everything from the gameplay and the story, the characters and soundtrack and the epic voice acting (for the English version anyway). As Yellow Mage stated earlier, the shere enormity of the game and sheer depth of the game's mechanics would take hours to sum up and it would be hard to do it justice with a quick summary.

Basically you are Laharl, the son of the Overlord of a plane of Hell (known as Netherworlds in Disgaea Lord) and you wake up after sleeping for two years only to find that your Father is dead, the kingdom is in chaos and your castle is near deserted save for a few loyal (as loyal as demons can be anyway) retainers. Helping you are Etna (whose name you could probably change to "Mary Sue" as of Disgaea 2), Laharl's best vassal and a ditzy trainee Angel named Flonne.

About half of the game involved Laharl trying to get his title back until there is a major and very interesting plot twist that changes the course and tone (for about 5 seconds) of the game.

Pokemon Crystal

Quite possibally the best RPG released for the Game Boy. It follows on from Red/Blue/Yellow by about 5 or so years storyline-wise but really the story is rarely a huge factor in mons games. The sqeual did so much for the series. First it added the concepts of pokemon breeding and baby pokemon. It also ended the dominence of Psychic type by adding the Dark and Steel types as well as adding actual Ghost type attacks to it. The Special stat was also split into Special Attack and Special Defence which made it so psychic pokemon could actually be killed with special attacks.

The trainer rematch system also debuted in this game as well as the Battle Tower which was continuously expanded on in later games. Swarming, pokemon happiness, different evolution methods, the concept of IVs and Shines, daytime and night time events. I cant remember everything but so many things were added that this game is considered the best in the series and while Platinum is a far better game due to online multiplayer this game did set the standard for later titles in the series.

Persona 4

Okay another linear RPG but being a Mons game you aren't really playing the exact same game every time you replay it.

I can't really be bothered to type up a plot summary because I'm going to be here all day. The game is basically two genres in one, during the day you are in a sort of dating sim esque game but after school when you explore the TV world it turns into a dungeon crawler. The story is great and the gameplay is extremely well done and has a number of tweaks that sets it apart from Persona 3 such as fast travel via the Square button and the ability to control party members.

It also has quite possibally the funniest Twilight joke out there

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

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

According to the Atlus staffers that localized the game, that bit with the book about a high school girl and vampires was coincidental, but I have a hard time believing them.

Well, I may as well get my list over with...

Phantasy Star Online

For all its ups and downs, PSO was my first online RPG experience, though more in the Diabolo sense than an MMORPG sense. The story was never anything to write home about, but the game, its atomosphere and music were a pleasure to behold and its world worth experiecing, both online and off. In many ways, it was also Dreamcast's swan song, the last game many people stuck around for until the servers were finally down.

Installments since then have had stronger single player elements and slightly improved story, though only so much on the latter. Phantasy Star Zero recaptures the magic of the Dreamcast iteration and I'm glad to have it around.

Dragon Quest VIII

I always wondered why the hell I finished Dragon Quest back on the NES. It was not only my first RPG, but the first game I got grounded over period upon further reflection on the matter. Its was the first RPG I played and it had me obsessed. I actually would scan every little block on the map to find a herb or key.

Dragon Quest VIII filled out the rest of the details for me and threw in some nice visual upgrades. Now the world had a real sense of scale and a robust item creation system that tied into everything else fans had come to love about the series. And this time, there was a really charming cast to go with it and a nice story. SE didn't have to give us voice over or music played by a live orchestra, but these were bonuses given the western version that helped add to its appeal.

And its tried and true gameplay remains proof that you don't have to always reinvent the wheel to make a good RPG, I'm very much looking forward the release of DQIX now.

Final Fantasy XII

I found FFXIi to be one of the most refreshing installments of the series. It stepped away from traditional combat to instead give more of a real time feel to the action taking place, it gave us a massive world to explore and it was full of diversions along the way. It also gave us a story quite unlike those of the other installments, a story with a serious dose of maturity to it. So much that it went over the heads of many people expecting "deep, emotional storytelling" or "dark" characters.

It had all those things, it just didn't wear its heart on its sleeve like so many games in the series do. But its all there, tucked away in the dialog and other facets of the game and its beastiary.

I loved that it was so easy to just get lost in this version of Invalice, though. It was easy to get distracted and do something atypical to most Japanese RPGs - go off the beaten path the story is shoehorning you down. And the hunts would just open up the world even more.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne

A lot of people talk about games being "dark." Most of those people haven't played this game. They think "dark" is doing antisocial things or having serious psychological issues to deal with. Its a bit more than that - its also making the wrong things sound right and good things sound oppressive. Its watching the people resorting to their most basic instinct - to survive - and how far they'll compromise themselves to achieve it.

SMT: Nocturne takes place in a world that has died and is in the process of being reborn. You are a student that watches the world turn in on itself and Tokyo becomes hell on earth. Only a handful of humans have survived. Three factions form and want to shape the course of the future.

One seeks a world of order and tranquility - and they'll kill anyone that gets in their way to achieve it.
One seeks a world of independence, where everyone is a god and no one interferes with the others's desires.
And one wants a word where only the strong survive and the weak perish.

And they all want you, the destined Demi-Fiend - a human turned demon - to turn things in their favor.

And that's before God and the Devil have even made their sales pitch.

Along the way you will gain dominion over many demons, contracting them as your allies. You'll be able to deeply customize your character and the abilities of your demons as well through fusion, but don't let that make you think you'll master the game with ease. You will be made to learn the system or be met with frequent death - the game gives just as much as it takes. You will never be able to beat a boss just by outlevelling them, Nocturne doesn't excuse that.

It has the right mix of challenge and freedom, but also pushes you to be efficient. To shape the future, you must master your skills.

Oh, and Dante for Devil May Cry makes a guest appearance. Turns out since you're now a demon, you just made the Son of Sparda's shit list. Good luck getting him to see things your way.

And all this before I even got to the music, do yourself a favor and check out Shoji Meguro's work on YouTube. He's seriously one of the most talented composers in the industry. The guy just has such a great range. In Nocturne, he favors straight-up rock, there's a bit of techno here and there and there's also the little organ work in there here and there.

Here's some of my favorite selections:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQhgTN7bNH8"]YouTube- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Music- Normal Battle[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJHq543WxxU"]YouTube- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Music- Apocalypse[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx5DAp86pqE"]YouTube- "World Map -Last Area-" - Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZTNjzXCtII"]YouTube- "Dante Battle" - Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne[/ame]

Persona 4

If SMT: Nocturne was the darkest RPG I've played, Persona 4 is probably the sunniest little murder mystery you'll ever experience. Though I must say much like FFXII, there's a serious dose of maturity going on here. Here you have kids dealing with things teenagers might actually really be dealing with. Obligations, sexuality, the possessive friend, gender identity - the sort of things people let simmer beneath the surface of their day to day lives and aren't obvious to the outside world.

You take on the role of a high school student. Your parents have business in America for the next year, so you've been sent out into the sticks of Japan - Inaba. No more big city life, but your uncle was nice enough to offer you a place to stay there, so you start your life as the new guy at the local high school.

Mysterious murders are taking place, a serial killer is suspected. Other strangeness in the town is linked to an urban legend that your soulmate can be seen on the other side of the television late at night when its raining and the TV is turned off. Outlandish as it sounds, you discover a portal to another world inside the TV and you begin to suspect it has a link to the murders in the town...

You will acquire the power of "Persona" and be able to summon other facets of your personality to protect you in the form of Greek, Roman and various mythological beings and fictitious characters. As you progress the story, you will be given options to pursue jobs, friendships and relationships that will power up the various kinds of Personas you have access to. This allows from one playthrough to differ from the next as there are many many people to encounter, each with their own stories. Friendship, love and all that happens.

You'll scour the craziest looking dungeons, formed by the latest captive's innermost thoughts. There are no random encounters, though combat is turnbased. If you can knock all enemies down, you're allowed to issue a full-on beat down of the downed enemies, so it pays to learn their weaknesses.

And unlike its predecessors in the series, learning a new ability isn't so much of a crapshoot, simply highlight the skill and you'll know what it does. Something they could have added a long time ago, but certainly makes it accessible to newcomers.

The music here is again done by Shoji Meguro and much of what's here is much more J-pop in the social segments of the game, which feels appropriate since you're dealing with high school kids, I suppose, the music in the dungeons has a great range. Somewhat in line with Persona 4's sunny attitude, the battle theme almost feels like you should have some cheerleaders in the back ground.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRwFapCq3vY"]YouTube- Persona 4 - Reach out to the Truth (Battle Theme)[/ame]

So yeah, Meguro does have a range in his compositions.

And that brings me to another point. I like how talkative the characters are in battle, supporting each other, encouraging each other. It really adds to the games

And that's my list. me sleepy now.

[Malacite]

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

One song alone does not undo an entire soundtrack.

No, I suppose you're right. But that track scarred my ears pretty badly X.x

---------- Post added at 11:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 PM ----------

Oh, and Dante for Devil May Cry makes a guest appearancet. Turns out since you're now a demon, you just made the Son of Sparda's shit list. Good luck getting him to see things your way.

IIRC he's actually shown on the box art. I thought he was unlockable as a party member though?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

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

Unlockable if you meet the conditions and know a thing or two about Dante. He can't be used in Fusion, though, so his skills can't be shared.

In the most recent version, they replaced him with Raidou Kuzunoha from the Devil Summoner games and you have to meet similar conditions. They kept Dante's Theme for his appearance, which is weird because you think they'd use some battle music from Devil Summoner instead.

[Lmnop]

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

Some of it was OK

True statement.

the opening theme is epic

Also true.

but God help you if you actually enjoy the battle/boss music...

Boss music in CC varies. Some of it was fucking amazing (hey, Armando, who was the final boss fight against in Dead Sea?), some of it was meh, bla bla bla. I find this true of many RPGs.

The normal encounter music? I actually played the game with my remote handy. Every time I got into an encounter, I'd mute the game.

I've never played a video game where I liked all of the music (Shadow Hearts comes closest).

[Firewind]

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

Final Fantasy XII

I found FFXIi to be one of the most refreshing installments of the series. It stepped away from traditional combat to instead give more of a real time feel to the action taking place, it gave us a massive world to explore and it was full of diversions along the way. It also gave us a story quite unlike those of the other installments, a story with a serious dose of maturity to it. So much that it went over the heads of many people expecting "deep, emotional storytelling" or "dark" characters.

It had all those things, it just didn't wear its heart on its sleeve like so many games in the series do. But its all there, tucked away in the dialog and other facets of the game and its beastiary.

I loved that it was so easy to just get lost in this version of Invalice, though. It was easy to get distracted and do something atypical to most Japanese RPGs - go off the beaten path the story is shoehorning you down. And the hunts would just open up the world even more.

This pretty much sums up why I like that game a lot better than I could.

Most people didn't like the story because it's heavy on the politics and light on the emo moping around because someone told you you're a clone really.

[fairyoracle75]

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

Ok I'll bite though I haven't been able to get any of the newer systems for the last 3 years I'll comment on some remakes r an older one and one I think meets the criteria.

Star Ocean- Second Departure
A remake of the second, and I think the best of the series, this game has a sweeping story with some surprising twists and turns, amazing music, and the ability to decide the ending of every character in the game. Unlike some other games where you get to make decisons that affect the main characters only in this one you affect the ending for every single one you recruit. The unique way you do this is not only by what you do in battle but the private actions you choose, little mini scenes where you expand on the characters in towns, and by the main character's treatment of them in those situations. Not only this but if you allowed the computer to control a character and you made them mad in a private action they might not help you.


Plus this game had the single most delightfully quirky character, Ashton Anchors a barrel obsessed sword for hire possessed by a 2 headed Dragon that likes shopping and astrology. I can only find the PS2 version in the video demonstrating the barrel obsession but it had me hunting for him in in every town to see what amzing find he had made in the annals of barrel history:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CbZ6z4HDeg"]YouTube- Ashton's Barrel Obsession[/ame]

This remake included some nice anime style cutscenes which were fun to watch and a new theme song:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWI2LSP6Du4&feature=video_response"]YouTube- PSP スターオーシャン2 セカンドエボリューション (STAR OCEAN Second Evolution)[/ame]

Star Wars- Knights of the Old Republic
What I think made this game so amazing was how you determined your characters path, light or darkside, and the story developed based on those choices as you went down that path which allowed you to tinker around in the Star Wars Universe. Because you made the choices of how the character developed it made it that much more engaging. I wasn't as simple as many games based on the property where you are either Sith or Jedi from the begining.