Anyways, also, keep in mind that I missed out on the SNES almost entirely (thus games like Act Raiser won't be on the list). I also missed out on the PS1 and didn't get a PS2 until 2007. That being said, jumping in.
#10 World of Warcraft - Ah World of Warcraft...my hated foe. In actuality, it does what it does right the best out of most RPG's. I love it's combat set up. I love being ganked and able to smash them all as a Paladin. The things I hate about this game though bring it much further down on the list. You have to play with other people. Unlike similar games, i.e. Diablo or Torchlight, if you don't have a party, you're going to die, A LOT. Good guilds are hard to come by, and I love mine, but getting us all ready to play as a team is such a chore. I don't know about you, but I play games for fun...not to grind endlessly.
#9 Pokemon Yellow - I was eight when Pokemon hit the U.S. shores. I got swept up in the craze that it was, and had to play each and every one of the games. As the craze shifted though, I continued to play the first five games in the series. They're unique for turn based RPG's in that they have a much different party situation. I love the reserve set up of Pokemon, and wish other RPG's could do it as well as it did, but with a larger party...oh wait, there was FFX...yay! Getting off topic though, Yellow was the best one of the five for me because you got all four starting Pokemon just by playing the game. No trades necessary. I wish the other third titles would have continued the set up of following the manga and anime so you could continue to get all the three pokemon without trading, but no such luck.
#8 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - KotOR is just amazing. The plot, to the various gameplay elements, to the characters, to everything. That being said though...something about the battle system has always bothered me. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels slow and blocky, odd for an action RPG. The second one fixes this, but loses a lot of the other good things about it. I hope TOR is just as good as the original though.
#7 Kingdom Hearts - Um...hmph. Kingdom Hearts, a game I developed an interest in the PS2 for. Kingdom Hearts, a game I played with my best friend's brother all night long one time. Kingdom Hearts, the melding of Final Fantasy (a series I love) with Disney (who's films I've been watching since birth). To say I love this game is an understatement, however, it's not without it's flaws. If you read my liscensed games review, you'll notice this and KotOR have switched places...they do that a lot, both being extremely amazing to me.
#6 Mass Effect - Sometimes I wonder what the discussion was like when the came up with this game. "Let's do KotOR 3." "We can't." "Damn...let's make something similar then." "Like what?" "Like Jedi's with guns." "Ok, I'm listening." Seriously though, in a lot of ways, it does feel like the next progression the group could make at that time, adding third person shooter elements to the genre. The additions to their own system were fairly epic as well, finally giving your character a voice being the major one.
#5 Shenmue - "I'm looking for some sailors." No, wrong, bad...no, this game was awesome. Built off of a fighting game's engine, this game took storytelling to another level that was still years ahead of it's time. FMV was everywhere, a dynamic world, a engrossing story. This game was awesome, however, the fact that it took most developers a decade to catch up (BioWare and Squaresoft/SquareEnix being the major exceptions). The arcade greats by Yu Suzuki were a lovely addition as well.
#4 Jade Empire - My favorite work of BioWare's, hands down. I don't know why, I just love it. Inspired by all of Asian culture, this game is the interesting story of how the emperor and his two brothers struggle for power has completely screwed up the entire world, and how you have to fix it since you're in the middle of it all.
#3 Fable - In 2004, my trek into RPG's really began with Fable. I while I say other games were earlier, this was where I started tracking them down as RPG's. I love action adventure games, ala Zelda, and this seemed a natural progression of it. There are some glaring flaws with the game and it's sequel, but I still like it just the same.
#2 Final Fantasy IV - Simply put, this is my favorite story in the entire series. I appreciate the way it's structured around the disgraced Dark Knight Cecil, I love how the characters move in and out of the story. It's just amazing.
#1 Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibre - I love this game. I spent an entire review writing about this game though, and don't have a lot to say besides that you should check out the original. This was my gateway drug into RPG's along with the Zelda series. You can read the review here.
So let me know what you think of the list and your top ten RPG's. All of these are soon to be featured in a My Favorite Games segment, with the next one being the full story of me and Pokemon.
-Sara
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