Games: Top 5 current-gen RPG's

**Cataferal** · August 6th, 2005, 01:55 AM

What are yours? Be sure to write a quick reason why too, so we all know how it got on your list.

Second question: what RPG's, for any console, are you most looking forward to? There are certainly a few to choose from, with new installments to just about every major series in the making or due for release. Include a comment for these as well; why are they worthy of your attention?

**phaq** · August 6th, 2005, 02:20 AM

i reiterate my statement from the smellycat topic

that said...

knight of the old republic - you could make your character however you wanted, decide the style of his ultimate weapon, and even some of the party members were optional. you also got to do something no japanese developed rpg has ever done, kinda surprisingly, and explore being evil.

knights of the old republic 2 - similar to the first game but now your alignment could affect the alignment of your party members.

morrowind - the only thing you can't choose is the alignment of your character, and you have prettymuch no effect on the story whatsoever. otherwise it'd be perfect, but as is, is pretty good.

suikoden 3 - possibly 4, but i aint played it. 3 was a little disapointing forcing you to use pre-selected partys for 3/5 or more of the game. in fact the series is usually about finding the party you want to use throughought. granted maybe a favorite might come at toward end, but still. otherwise one of the few japanese developed rpg series i can still tolerate.

x-men legends - although if archangel IS one of the unlockables, x-men legends 2 will replace this one, as it is though, it probably will anyway(thus answering question 2). so you picked your favorite mutants, or whoever you could settle for, decided how you wanted to distirbute points to them and kicked a load of miguided human/"evil" mutant/robot ass.

**Hell Knight** · August 6th, 2005, 07:24 AM

If we can add MMO-s as well then my list

World of Warcraft: Especially my favourite. 8 races, tons of classes and professions. If you don't like killing all the time just sit down, make some cloth or go fishing with your friends. I'm really glad I bought it ^_^

Guild Wars: If you like MMO-s, but don't want to pay monthly I suggest to buy GW, real enjoyable gameplay, though not as many options as in WoW. The class combination is an awesome idea. The storyline is quite well, and the characters are well made.

KoTOR2: Because I liked the first one as well, I loved this, finally could be a jedi from the beginning, but got the lightsaber later. It was real enjoyable playing it through about 4 times, but after it I knew every place, so it got boring [img]tongue.gif[/img] But if you like single rpgs try it out

Morrowind: Well, what to say? Maybe the most similar with MMO-s because of the world, npcs, big world, and freedom. It was real enjoyable when I played it, though couldn't play it out cause of the damn map(it don't show anything). If you like long and complicated rpgs give it a try, you won't regret it.

Jade Empire: Don't know if I can call it an rpg, but really love this game on x-box because of the ownage world, good characters, awesome npcs and different styles of the characters. I'm really looking forward for it on pc

**SmellyCat** · August 6th, 2005, 09:56 AM

1. Grandia 2
Do I really need to explain why? [img]wink.gif[/img]
It has the most surprising story for me, and the most emotionally touching.
It also has the best battle system I have seen in an RPG. Never got bored in battle.

2. Final Fantasy X
Nice story. Interesting characters. It really makes your eager to follow the story line and continue playing. And therefore it is good that is very linear. The battles are interesting too. Being turn-based and letting your swap characters makes it strategic too. Still a lot you can do in the end-game.

3. Morrowind.
Huge world. Sometimes you just have to stop when you walk around and look with awe at your surrounding. It's like art. Too bad the island have too many sand storms at too many places.
The story is good too. And your character class has a big impact on how you play the game. Great options to customize your class.

4. Baldur's gate 2.
Become a god [img]smile.gif[/img] It's very cool. AD&D rules so always a huge selections of races, classes, spells, and kick-ass weapons.

5. Guild Wars.
The most important reason is that there is no fee per month!!! It's nice to select my fully developed healer monk and help some n00b teams [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm looking most forward to:
Grandia 3 and Oblivion.

**mrwiseman** · August 6th, 2005, 11:21 AM

Top 5 cRPGs:

1. Xenosaga Episode 1 (PS2): Story, second and last Xeno game, characters, Shion?KOS-MOS, music, voices, graphics.

2. Grandia II (DC): Pretty much like Xenosaga, all is great in Grandia II, from story and characters to the almost overdetailed, colorful towns.

3. Star Ocean III: Till the End of Time (PS2): Story is not that great but still interesting, the game is very fun to play, and graphics and 75% of the music are great.

4. Skies of Arcadia (DC): Originality, atmosphere, music, gameplay. Almost tied with Star Ocean 3.

5. Final Fantasy X (PS2): Last good Final Fantasy. Mostly a clich? RPG with average visuals, but fairly good overall, and with a good "Final Fantasy" feeling honoring its name.

Top *RPGs that are not cRPGs (below the above ones):

1. Morrowind [The Elder Scrolls 3] (PC): Virtual world, massive customization, 200+ hours worth, plays and looks great with my few dozen mods pack.

2. Ragnarok Online (PC): Cute anime-y MMORPG with simple, effective graphics and a nice community.

*RPGs that are out and I'd like to play if I get the chance:
1. Tales of Symphonia (GC), cRPG
2. Jade Empire (XBOX), more of an adventure
3. Suikoden 4 (PS2), cRPG/sRPG
4. Xenosaga Episode 2 [not Xenogears] (PS2), cRPG
5. A bunch of PS2 cRPGs I still have to play

*RPGs I'm most looking forward to:
1. Grandia III (PS2), cRPG
2. Oblivion [The Elder Scrolls 4] (PC), pcRPG

(Notice absence of Xenosaga Episode 3 here.)

*RPGs that I'd like made:
1. Xenogears Episodes 1B (after Xenosaga Episode 1), 6, 2, 4, 3
2. A 3D Wonderboy game (platform/cRPG)
3. Shounen anime-inspired cRPGs
4. More god slaying, religion bashing cRPGs

[ August 06, 2005 08:35 AM: Message edited by: -Wiseman- ]

**Hell Knight** · August 6th, 2005, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by Smelly Cat:

4. Baldur's gate 2.
Become a god [img]smile.gif[/img] It's very cool. AD&D rules so always a huge selections of races, classes, spells, and kick-ass weapons.

Totally agree with you, but I guess everyone knows I'm a big bg2 fan, so didn't mention it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

**Cataferal** · August 6th, 2005, 05:27 PM

1. Final Fantasy X (PS2) - A well structured plot, written by the now retired Kazushige Nojima, and supported by outstanding music and FMV-heavy visuals made this the most engrossing game on the PS2. The characters were all very unique, avoiding a lot of potential cliches, and the story, while not quite as epic as the previous titles in the series, still paced itself well enough to make me feel attached to the world of Spira and emotional towards the climax. The CTB based gameplay was slow, but i still found it addictive thanks to the level of strategy involved, and the originality of the Sphere Grid system.. The music was also beautiful, this being the last of the series blessed prominently by Uematsu's compositions.

2. Kingdom Hearts (PS2) - Once you get past the controls and camera (both of which suffer from the standard flaws of a platformer), this becomes every bit as euphoric as the experience FFX provided. The adventure doesnt last as long as it should have, giving around 50 hours to beat the game at best, along with all sidequests. Regardless, i still found myself genuinely surprised with how much time and effort went into the graphics and the story, with what could have easily been a quick disney cash in. This was the last RPG Squaresoft ever made, and definitely ranks among their greatest.

3. Skies of Arcadia (DC/GCN) My favourite Dreamcast RPG, although i have yet to really play through the Legends remake for GCN. This game featured a sometimes cheesy, but altogether lovable story about sky-pirates and adventure, giving you the flexibility and freedom to discover various parts of the world of Arcadia, as well as reqruit your own team of pirates. The battle system was slightly generic, but still managed to excite with the atmospheric boss battles, and the music and graphics were stellar for their time, even rivaling the presentation standards of Final Fantasy. One of the best Sega games ever made, ranking alongside their many other Dreamcast classics such as Sonic Adventure and Shen Mue II.

4. Grandia II (DC) - The best battle system i have ever had the pleasure to use, with a perfect combination of pace and strategy. The music was also brilliant, although the graphics werent quite as impressive as that of Skies of Arcadia's, and lacked a consistant style. The story was original, but while the voice-acting was of high caliber, the translated script proved to be too corny to take seriously at times, taking away the dramatic impact of key scenes. Regardless, this sets a high standard for the sequel.

5. Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2) - A rare, underhyped sRPG title which many now claim to be the successor to the much-respected classic Final Fantasy Tactics. I dont believe this is true, as it bases itself around power-leveling as opposed to a focus on strategy in battles, but i still consider this to be a close second. There are so many ways to pave your own way in this game, with the option to create your own characters, demon legions, and access a wealth of sidequests and randomly generated maps. Consider this the Guilty Gear of sRPG's, in taking a well-known existing gaming formula, and then ruthlessly revolutionising it where-ever possible, resulting in the creation of an extreme and addictively absurd balance that gamers will still remember come the next generation of consoles.

As for games im looking forward to:

1. Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
- Been waiting for it for ages.
- From the director of FFT and Vagrant Story.
- The first traditional Final Fantasy from Square Enix.

2. Lost Odyssey
- A compellingly melancholic premise about a man who cant die, spanning an epic 1000 years.
- Developed by the original Final Fantasy trio (Amano, Uematsu and Sakaguchi), under the budget of Microsoft.
-Intensely beautiful graphics and music, as shown by trailers so far.

3. Grandia III
- Legacy of the battle system.
- Graphical idealogy, with a focus on nature.
- Its rare to see Game Arts titles on the shelves.

4. Kingdom Hearts 2
- Direct sequel to a Squaresoft classic.
- Voice-cast will be provided by Disney.
- Features Jack Sparrow, the coolest character Disney have ever created.

5. Phantasy Star Universe
- Online play.
- An offline 40 hour cRPG.
- Outstanding graphics, with music by Saori Kobayashi.

6. Blue Dragon
- From the team behind Chrono Trigger and the original Final Fantasy games.
- Akira Toriyama's designs.
- Budget funded by Microsoft.

Oh, and the 6 Tales games Namco have announced (Eternia online, Abyss, Destiny II, Melfes, Legendia, Rebirth). We need more low-budget old-skool RPG's like these.

[ August 06, 2005 03:27 PM: Message edited by: Cataferal ]

**Hell Knight** · August 6th, 2005, 05:50 PM

Looking forward(on pc, cause I don't have consol)

1: dragon age(own made world, graphic, lotsa npcs, d&d 3.5)

2: Jade empire(for the known reasons)

3: Fable(tried out on x-box, love it + pc version will be 33% longer ^_^)

4: Oblivion(not as boring as Morrowind became after lot of hour playing)

5: Baldur's Gate 3(yea, you heard it right Smelly, 3 [img]smile.gif[/img] Bioware is making it, but dunno when will it come out or any details, but looking forward to it [img]biggrin.gif[/img] )