Support NeoGAF

[explodet]

So with 2004 winding down, what did you think of this year as far as RPGs go?

A handy list, courtesy of Gamespot (so if you don't think one of these is a RPG, don't blame me):

Multiformat
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II (PS2/XBOX)
The Bard's Tale (PS2/XBOX)
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (PS2/XBOX)
Final Fantasy XI & Chains of Promathia (PS2/PC)
Future Tactics: The Uprising (PS2/XBOX/GC)
The Lord of the Rings, The Third Age (PS2/XBOX/GC)
Mega Man X: Command Mission (PS2/GC)
X-Men Legends (PS2/XBOX/GC)

PC
Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion
Beyond Divinity
Blade and Sword
City of Heroes
EverQuest: Gates of Discord
Everquest 2
Horizons: Empire of Istaria
Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle
Sacred
Shadowbane: The Rise of Chaos
Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed
The Saga of Ryzom

PS2
.hack Part 4: Quarantine
Champions of Norrath
Inuyasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask
La Pucelle: Tactics
Phantom Brave
Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
The Nightmare of Druaga

GBA
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Classic NES Series: The Legend of Zelda
Classic NES Series: Zelda II
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
Mega Man Battle Network 4 Blue/Red
Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen
Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon
Shining Soul II
Zoids: Legacy

GC
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
Medabots Infinity
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Tales of Symphonia

Xbox
Fable
Sudeki

And the upcoming titles:

PC
Vampire: Bloodlines
World of Warcraft
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth
Shadowbane: Throne of Oblivion

GBA
Final Fantasy I&II: Dawn of Souls
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

PS2
Growlanser: Generations

Xbox
KOTOR 2

GC
Baten Kaitos


Some notables:
- Everquest 2 and World of Warcraft is released in the same month. Productivity is sure to plummet.
- The release of Champions of Norrath and the whiplash-inducing backlash.
- SRPG gamers got La Pucelle, Phantom Brave, and a Shining Force remake.
- US gamers finally get to see what the big deal is with the Shin Megami Tensei series.
- Three Final Fantasy titles: a MMORPG, an Action RPG spin-off, and a remake of the title that started it all (with another game nobody seems to like tacked on)
- A new Pokemon, which happens to be an old Pokemon.
- Working Designs gets off its ass and releases a title.

All in all, not a bad year.

 

[Jonnyram]

2004 = Dragon Quest VIII

"Nothing else comes close."

 

[olimario]

Paper Mario 2 and Tales of Symphonia were the only fun ones.

 

[Beezy]

2004: GC's best year for RPGs

Four Swords is nowhere to be found. I'm guessing that Zelda games aren't considered RPGs.

 

[fennec fox]

Wow, pretty much nothing sticks out there to me except FFCC and Paper Mario.

 

[explodet]

2004 = Dragon Quest VIII

I can't BELIEVE I left out that point. Been staring at that list too long.

Any other Japanese RPGs (besides Dragon Quest V) worth mentioning?

 

[explodet]

Oh, and when I say "not a bad year", I mean for every genre except single player non-MMO PC RPGs.
As far as I'm concerned, this year was ASS for them.

Four Swords is nowhere to be found. I'm guessing that Zelda games aren't considered RPGs.

Gamespot classifies Four Swords as an Action game, for what it's worth.

 

[Bebpo]

I can't BELIEVE I left out that point. Been staring at that list too long.

Any other Japanese RPGs (besides Dragon Quest V) worth mentioning?

Stelladeus
Suikoden IV
Iris Atleir: Eternal Mana
Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner
Arc the Lad Generations
Magna Carta
Shining Tears
Tales of Rebirth
Wild Arms 1: Alter Code F
Xenosaga ep2
Popolocrois 4

Might be missing something, but that's most of the PS2 rpgs released Jpn-only this year.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Uh, Hello, Vampire: Bloodlines, asshats.

 

[explodet]

Uh, Hello, Vampire: Bloodlines, asshats.

Ah, hell.
I'll get that in there.

That may change my stance regarding PC RPGs this year (although you won't see me change my mind on the rest of the titles)

 

[Greenpanda]

I've spent most of 2004 playing older games, so I've played very few of these. I think the only 2004 RPGs I've played so far have been Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Shin Megami Tensei III. Looking forward to picking up Paper Mario 2 and Nightmare of Druaga eventually, and maybe Phantom Brave sometime.

 

[jiggle]

Shadow Hearts II beats all this year imo. Until Dragon Quest VIII comes out anyway

 

[Scott]

Couple to add:

GBA
Boktai II: Solar Boy Django (Upcoming?)
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (much different from it's console counterparts)

GC
Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II: PLUS
Phantasy Star Online: Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
Pokémon Colosseum

PS2
Drakengard
Front Mission IV
Wild ARMs: Alter Code: F (Upcoming)

And the N-Gage is finally getting some RPGs this year, if you care to include it:

N-Gage
Requiem of Hell
The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey (Upcoming)

 

[jiggle]

A few others from Japan 2004

Zwei!! PS2
Tales of Symphonia PS2
Harvest Moon AWL PS2
Generation of Chaos
Juuni Kuniki
Harvest Moon for Girls GC

 

[Pellham]

What I want to know is why did some SRPGs make Gamespot's list? (like Shining Force)

 

[Jonnyram]

I don't know about mixing US and JP releases. I mean you either play one or the other, not both. And people who play JP RPGs finished stuff like Symphonia, FFCC, Drakengard, SO3, etc etc last year. I mentioned DQ8 from my perspective only, but I'm sure it would cream the rest of the competition no matter which year it's released

 

[explodet]

I don't mind the JPN game list, it gives us a look into what the US is getting in 2005.

 

[GermanOfficer]

I had the most fun with ToS and I' still hyped for Baten Kaitos.

Next year might be better because of FFXII and Suikoden IV.

 

[ferricide]

a nice eclectic year for RPGs; something for everyone. i've covered this topic enough already to leave off here. =)

 

[SolidSnakex]

SMT: Nocturne. For most of this gen RPG's haven't been able to hold my attention. This one had my attention from start to finish. And the battle system..MMM..That's the standard i'll hold all turn based RPG's to now. Ultra fast an very strategic.

 

[AniHawk]

Fire Emblem VIII was released in Japan this year, since we're counting SRPGs.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I really, really liked Shadow Hearts II. It was just fun and given the time period and bizarre story...even compelling at times. It had some wackiness that made me laugh out loud occasionally which I find unusual because I don't find most game humor that appealing. Some of it was culture clash bizarre, but it was charming. Maybe it was a tad too rote in it's mechanics and style, but I still think it was the best RPG I played this year.

Tales of Symphonia...It makes a great first impression. And there are a lot of little things I love about it. It had good combat too, but it really started to drag in the latter half of the game. It suffers from the same fate as a lot of Cube games...in trying to provide content for most people, it serves up a sort of sappy middle ground narratively. Some great parts, but not close to being fun all the way through.

SMT: Nocturne...I'm not done with this game, but I hope to get back to it. I was excited to play it because I've heard a lot about the series and the serious/dark tone sounded very appealing. It really delivers. There's a barren, dark feeling to the game that is unlike any RPG I've played. The play mechanics are incredibly deep and for me, challenging. It also features some of the best art design of any game this year. I don't have final thoughts about it but I'm glad the series finally came over.

KOTOR II is coming. For some reason I'm nervous about it living up to the first game which I thought was amazing.

I guess I think it was a great year for RPGs, since it's not close to being my favorite genre and I've played so much of them.

EDIT: I forgot to mention FABLE. Which sums up my whole problem with FABLE. I thought it was a lot of fun as I was playing it. It did a lot of small things differently, but those small things ultimately didn't add up to a memorable enough whole. I'm glad I went through the game, it was enjoyable, it didn't come close to being the "best RPG ever" or whatever nonsense was being said about it.

 

[akascream]

We talking JPGs, RPGs or any old PG?

 

[Fatghost]

Right now, I'd say Shin Megami Tensei.

But Dragon Warrior 8 and KoTOR II are likely to beat it.

 

[explodet]

*ker-bump*

I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more KOTOR2 hype.

And I promise, I'm going to get a copy of SMT:N as soon as I get the time to play it.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

Pretty piss poor year for RPGs up until this month for me. I'll be playing World of Warcraft and Bloodlines a lot. Next month is KoTOR II. Fable was good. But from January through September I didn't buy one RPG. Paper Mario was ok, but I got bored with it late. X-Men Legends looks ok, but I'll wait for the $20 price tag.

 

[Mejilan]

Frightening how many of those I own, though I'd consider only a handful to be traditional RPGs, of course. The year got much better for RPGs towards the end of summer, imho, and better since then.

 

[0wn3d]

The Pokemon remakes were fairly well done, and brought back some great memories of playing the original game. (Also the only RPG I really played this year).

 

[RevenantKioku]

SMT is utterly kicking my ass.
I'm really not enjoying this fight against

Spoiler

the first thread sister

as the stupid instant kills REALLY suck if they hit your main character. But I don't want to keep the one magatama on because...well I don't know why, haha. I just beat that boss, so if I

Spoiler

die on one of the next two bitches

I guess I'll have to try it with a different magatama.
I'm really enjoying it. But then again, I dunno, the whole your main character is a demon thing just, just doesn't have that same feeling as being that (relatively) weak human with his friends summoning demons to aid in battle.

 

[cvxfreak]

The Pokemon remakes were fairly well done, and brought back some great memories of playing the original game. (Also the only RPG I really played this year).

IAWTP

 

[way more]

Whats the word with Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel? That title somehow slipped under my nose for 3 months and I get the feeling I should just leave well enough alone.

 

[Mejilan]

Inferior in every possible way to the BGDA and Fallout games. It leans more towards hack n slash action and away from hack n slash rpg. It's a decent dungeon crawl, but nothing new and nothing special.

 

[NotMSRP]

Sadly, I have yet to play most of the RPGs listed above. Only RPG I have seriously played this year so far is SMT and SMT @#$^%$@% rocks!!!