Yer RPG picks, broken down by console:

PS1: Star Ocean Second Story

PS2: The Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance games

Multiple consoles:

Breath of Fire series, esp. 3 on the PS
Suikoden series, esp 1st on PS

SNES: ACTRAISER, yo.

SNES: Secret of Mana

NES: Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy I/II

SNES: Super Mario RPG, Soul Blazer

PS1: Vagrant Story

N64: Paper Mario

N64: Paper Mario
PS1: FF7
PS2: FFXII
Xbox: Morrowind

NES: FF1
SNES: Chrono Trigger, Terranigma, Illusion of Gaia
PS1: Xenosaga, FF Tactics
PS2: Dragon Quest VIII, Rogue Galaxy, Front Mission 4
GBA: FF Tactics Advance

hahaha, i just noticed the inclusion of ffx-2 and not ffx (i agree fwiw)

I think I have the definitive NES list here; your mileage may vary as to what you consider to be RPGs. I, of course, am right.

Zelda and Zelda II (duh)
Swords and Serpents (well, _I_ liked it)
Wizardry (ditto)
Castlevania II (really need to get this for the wii)
Crystalis (so fondly remembered)
Faxanadu and Astyanax (I get these two confused sometimes; they're both great.)
The Magic of Scheherazade (Obscure and good!)
Willow (terrifically underrated)
Legacy of the Wizard (pain in the ass and convoluted, but I played it obsessively for a month, at least)
River City Ransom (BARF)
The Battle Of Olympus (old favorite, great cover!)
Startropics and Startropics II: Zoda's Revenge (due for a retread)

Also agreeing on FFI + II (canon), Dragon Warrior (free with every subscription to Nintendo Power!) and Ultima (which is likely the hardest game I've ever beaten)
Fuck a Hydlide.

More info here: http://alexandria.rpgclassics.com/system.php?system=NES

OH, I forgot the superawesome SOLSTICE from Rare... gawd, so ahead of its time!

Depending on how open you are to what constitutes an RPG (and I'm pretty open), you'd have to include Guardian Legend. And Blaster Master. And Metal Gear I + II.

I miss junior high sometimes.

GB- Links awakening

Blaster Master/Metal Gear/Zelda doesn't really count. They were more adventure games than anything.

For me, the definition of a role playing game is one that I care deply enough about that I develop a character consciousness; that I make decisions based on the role I'm playing. I don't do that with FPS or SMUPS or most side scrollers or 3D romps, but with turn-based gaming, traditional RPGs, number crunching RTS or adventure games I do. I kept meticulous notebooks for Nobunaga's Ambition detailing the crop cycles... again, junior high.
So, for me Starcraft is a role player, but Mega Man is not; Psychonauts is a role player but not Einhander. It's an oddly personal choice.

wait, what decisions did you make in starcraft?

Where to deploy troops, general strategy, how to utilize troops. The role is general and while I'm aware that's a bit flimsy, it's how I see it.

lol you tried to live like a cerebrate

"what's my motivation?"

I don't think you should take the phrase "role-playing game" too literally. Videogames that get called RPGs have roots in Dungeons & Dragons and similar board games where the phrase made more sense.

Yeah, the modern connotation of RPG is usually with stats n' shit. Zelda II is the closest thing, due to bumping up skills.

Then you have things like action rpgs, which tend to muddy the waters a bit.

N64: Quest 64 (lol just kidding)

Did the N64 even have any rpgs, previous example excepted?

Paper Mario, and a few that didn't make it out of Japan (Super Robot Wars 64, Robot Ponkottsu 64).

NES:

FF I, Dragon Warrior. Ultima was cool, I think I used to rent it and never got very far.

SNES:

FF II (or whatever), fucking Chrono Trigger (I didn't play this until after graduating from college, when I was unemployed for a couple of weeks lol)

Genesis:

Shadowrun, even though I mostly messed around and never played it properly (maybe I should get the SNES version...were they the same?). The D&D rpg was sorta okay, I think my game got wiped out at some point.

PSI:

FFVII
Wild Arms (never finished)

GBA:

The FF reissues, I think that's it.

I don't think I played any RPGs on GC/PS2/Xbox? I played KotOR for a few days, didn't really get into it.

CHRYSTALIS! Played through that game at LEAST 10 times in my life. Very, very satisfying.

GC: Tales of Symphonia

Was it Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger that had multiplayer mode for battles? And what other console RPGs have multiplayer?

Oh oh oh! SWORD OF VERMILION on Genesis! No one ever talks about that game but I loved it.

http://dorando.emuverse.com/images/sword-of-vermilion_03.png
http://www.sega-16.com/Reviews/Genesis/Sword%20of%20Vermilion/Watling_8.gif

Crystalis! I forgot about that one, that was pretty awesome!

Oh, I guess the SNES Shadowrun was way different.

Any good ones for the Game Boy (Color)?

I didn't like the first two Final Fantasy Legend games, and never played the third. Pokemon Red/Blue was too simple and boring for me.

what are the best RPGs for the DS?

ie, of the non-tactical variety

Can't believe I didn't namecheck Crusader of Centy (aka Soleil) on here. Head and shoulders the best Zelda-like on the MegaDrive/Genesis. I think I like it more than Link to the Past, in fact.

cannot believe someone made a live action Sword of Vermilion video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dXQ7pfPk9I

Parasite Eve the original for psx, that was real cool. The sequel was utter crap of course

czn- not sure if DS specific is what you're looking for , but the Golden Sun GBA games were excellent zelda/FF hybrids.

I think I'm the only person here who will rep for Mystara on the Saturn, mostly because I think I'm the only person here who played it.

argh I meant MystarIa

you may well be the only person to now admit that they owned one. i had a friend that owned one, and his dog died the day after he bought it. FACT.

SNES: Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, FF6, Secret of Evermore

lol HI DERE I played Mysteria I also liked the Shining Force dungeon-crawler for the Saturn that being the only other RPG I can remember playing on that console. Also there was/maybe is a Shining Force game for the DS but I haven't played it.

czn: the best RPGs for the DS are probably either startegy games are reformats of old SNES games. Top three non-reissue, non-strategy games are probably The World Ends With You, Contact and... maybe one of the Lunar games, I can't really think of another.

THE SHINING FORCE FOR THE SATURN WAS SO SO SO AWESOME

I loved Dragon Force but never played any of the Lunar games because Albert Odyssey SUCKED so hard, plus the online interactions I had with the WD CEO convinced me he was a giant cock who didn't deserve my money.

i liked how Dragon Warrior II showed your whole party on the overworld screen, so that you led around a little conga line of dudes (or maybe Millipede is a better image).

Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time was pretty good. I like the GBA one a little more, but the DS one was still solid. If you liked Paper Mario/SMRPG it's a no-brainer.

Hardcore old school fans seem to love Etrian Oddysey, and Shiren the Wanderer (though that's a SNES port) and Izuna seem to be received okay, if you like roguelikes.

I wouldn't recommend Contact unless you are an Earthbound style-fetishist or a fan of Grasshopper, which I am - it's only an experience worth doing if you don't care that the gameplay isn't that good but everything else is kind of interesting.

Doesn't seem like there's a ton of love for most of the Square-Enix games, like FF 12: Revenant Wings, Children of Mana, Crystal Chronicles, etc. But FF IV comes out this week, there's that odd Bioware Sonic RPG coming out later, DQ IX probably next year.

Secret of Evermore

thanks yes, just remembered super wonderboy iv. i'll check out some of the others.

lol just watching angry nintendo nerds review of Castlevania 2

yeah, the dragon's trap wonder boy game is pretty dope too.

any deece iphone options?

for 2D or generally?

the final fantasy remakes were really fun but the best ive played are dragon bane and across age

Cave Story is a slightly RPG-ish 2d platformer which my friend who loves JRPGs enthuses about and I haven't really been able to get into

(to Ste's question, no idea about iphones)

xpost I think the go-to iPhone RPGs are Chaos Rings, Ash (pretty new), Zenonia, and Wesnoth (more of a SRPG but w/e); Final Fantasy Tactics is also supposed to be coming to iOS soon. of course I'd rather play yet more 9 Innings than any of them (except for Wesnoth).

also I wouldn't call Cave Story a RPG any more than I would call the DS Castlevanias RPGs. great great great great GREAT game, though (also should be coming out for DSiWare soon).

WESNOTH FOR IPHONE?!?!

AND IPAD (which would be my recommendation since the interface requires a fair bit of screen space). also you can play multiplayer with the desktop version from the iOS version.

Snes: Secret of Evermore! Final fantasies, too many
Mega Drive: Can't really remember many, shadowrun was good. There was an actiony rpg that was quite good, story of thor was it?
PS1: Suikoden, FF7+tactics, Azure Dreams,
Saturn: Dragon Force (not really rpg but still), Shining the holy ark, Shining Force 3, Dark Saviour. Never got round to playing panzer dragoon saga but apparently there's working saturn emulators now so hopefully will soon.
PS2: Dragon Quest 8, Shadow Hearts series, Persona 3+4
Xbox360: Eternal Sonata i guess?
PC: Planescape: Torment, baldurs gates, neverwinter nights, Dragon Age. Too many

I sold FF7 and FFT to a guy on Craigslist for $45 yesterday. For not wanting to put up with ebay, seemed like an okay deal.

bought FFVII & FFVIII for £3 sold for £40 #cozstersmillions

Just bought FFIX for PS3/PSP and am already aggrieved by the awkward colloquial US English crowbarred into it.

PSX: FFVII (obv)
PS2: FFX
Xbox: Morrowind x 2348792387429387429
GBA: Golden Sun
360: Oblivion (default position; I got ~1/2hr into this before stopping)

psshhh who cares, ffix is awesome

lol you tried to live like a cerebrate

― El Tomboto, Monday, December 24, 2007 5:53 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"what's my motivation?"

― El Tomboto, Monday, December 24, 2007 5:53 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark

lol

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N)

AND IPAD (which would be my recommendation since the interface requires a fair bit of screen space). also you can play multiplayer with the desktop version from the iOS version.

― "Anus Landlord": A little rough, but good. (jamescobo), Tuesday, November 16, 2010 7:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

ya i was gonna say

did anyone every play Y's on the Sega master system?

i remember seeing it in C+vg mags back in the day, and being quite envious of master system owners. Was it actually any good, vaguely remember reviewers going nuts over it.

will try it out on emulator, but just wondered what ilg thought

ive played the ds version which i didnt really love but tbh a lot of the late 80s rpg classix bore the shit out of me. basically the combat was too finnick-y and tedious & there wasnt enough depth to the game to keep me interested.

but i mean i gave up on the o.g. dragon warrior when i tried playing it earlier this year in disgust so

decided to waste a summer afternoon tryna do a top three for every console from 3rd to 6th gen.

NES:

crystalis
dragon warrior iv
final fantasy

SEGA (8-bit)

phantasy star
ultima iv
---

SNES:

chrono trigger
final fantasy vi
secret of mana

GENESIS:

shining force 2
phantasy star iv
shadowrun

SEGA CD/SATURN:

lunar silver star story
shining force iii
dragon force

PSX:
final fantasy tactics
valkyrie profile
xenogears

N64:
ogre battle 64
paper mario
---

DREAMCAST:
grandia 2
skies of arcadia
record of lodoss war

PS2:

persona 3: fes
dragon quest 8
suikoden iii

GC:

fire emblem
tales of symphonia
paper mario 1000 year door

XBOX:

star wars kotr
fable
morrowind (should really be ---)

The Turbografx-CD version of Ys 1&2 is available on Wii VC. It's fun.

the Ys remakes on PSP are great

lol/sigh at folding together sega cd and saturn

SEGA (8-bit)

phantasy star
ultima iv
---

man, that ultima iv conversion was fantastic. i had it as a kid, a parent bought it on sale somewhere and for some reason all the extra materials were in french. this was kind of a problem in terms of working out how all the spells worked and so forth. i never really got past that enough to actually get anywhere in terms of finishing the game: just wandered around finding people and putting stats up until it got to the point where the wandering monsters were too much to survive encounters with. i spent so much time playing it that eventually the contacts on the cart got dirty and random squares of the environments kept being replaced with menacing purple blobs

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n45/jamescostello/ultima4set.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIMT9otk-G0

man i feel like my snes picks would be soooooo challopsy compared to lamp's list

some deserving games that haven't been mentioned in this thread yet

SNES: Dragon Quest V
GCN: Baten Kaitos Origins
DS: Dragon Quest IX

can't believe jordan repped for sword of vermillion upthread! that game was awful

on the other hand i had it on some family chalet holiday with a megadrive and nothing to do, and no other games i hadn't played, and i was sick, flu-ey, headache and wanting to vomit all the time, so i can't think of playing it without thinking of playing it in a semi-trance state (it is a very repetitive game), half-conscious, nauseous

like looking at the screen shots made me feel, briefly, like i wanted to yak

the Ys remakes on PSP are great

yeah, I've been slowly playing through these and they are v. fun. definitely into the stripped-down feel of ys 1. (about 3 towns! just 5 pieces of armor!) basically a perfect diversion for a long plane ride.

first two games def have too much backtracking tho.

my SNES picks: earthbound, final fantasy 6, chrono trigger, lufia 2

talked a bit about lufia 2 in the retro thread. very streamlined mechanics for its time.

lol/sigh at folding together sega cd and saturn

yeah that was a total cheat.

http://dorando.emuverse.com/images/ys-ancient-ys-vanished-omen.jp3.png

i got in trouble with my big brother, because there was a bit at the back of the instruction booklet to 'write down hints and tips you obtained from the townspeople', and i had copied a bunch of random villager dialogue into these pages in terrible six-year-old cursive

ys was great!!

i feel like those last three posts were posted in reverse order

so dragon crystal (the fourth game shown in that youtube upthread (and the first i have not played (i have now watched that clip seven times (oh god)))) turns out to be a master system roguelike, which is making me glad i kept that sms emulator around once i got bored with phantasy star

I wouldn't claim to know much about any other platform but the Genesis/Mega Drive answer is Rings Of Power imo.

PC PC PC PC

Sorry for the trolling, just feeling a bit left out and don't understand why it has to be this way /sadface

Rings of Power gotta be top 3 Megadrive yeah. Wd try to make a case for Crusader of Centy aka Soleil too.

lol repeating myself every couple of years

Sword of Vermillion on the Megadrive was fantastic. Shining In The Darkness, too.

I have Phantasy Star II / III / IV and Shining Force / Shining Force 2 on a Megadrive collection for the Xbox 360. It's sad that i'll never get the chance to play them when i can't find the time to complete Dragon Age.

Hylics series looks fascinating
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yo8I1-kZ6U

Can't recall the last time I saw such a well developed look for a game.

that is nuts. wow.

hylics is cool, didnt know there was a 2 coming but i guess its out today?

yeah man that looks fucking sweet

v. interesting

reminds me of Undertale a little

Dread Delusion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH3M_lCZZWA

that is definitely an aesthetic

looks like a king's field tribute/spiritual successor. wonder if they'll keep the vintage control scheme