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NeoGAF's Essential RPGs: 2017-2018 edition - Vote open until Oct 13th - Win Free RPGs

Wazzy

Banned
#91

FF V was #166

:(

Ah well. Hurts a little to see V so low too but it's not like I voted for them so I didn't help their placement. Is that the lowest IV has ever been?

DQI has just the hero.

DQII has more characters, predefined.

In DQIII, you create your hero character and then create a cast like in Final Fantasy I but you can create extra characters and move people in and out of your party.

I've only played DQI-III on phones. I was actually excited to get a smart phone, despite finding them dubious, when I realized it would be a convenient way to finally play those games. I think they take cues from both the SNES and GBC remakes but have modern naming conventions for spells and things.
.

This is all good to know. It at least get's me a little excited for II and III since the first three are the only DQ games I haven't finished.
 

kswiston

Member
Imma make it a goal to play the bottom 10 on the full list if it's not all games I've played. Show some love to people's faves that only they advocated for.

There were 130 games that got a single HM and nothing else.

There were another 97 games that got a single regular, highlight, or underrated vote and nothing else.

So about 40% of the total titles voted for appeared on a single list.


Dragon Force was my contribution to that list of little loved games.
 

Thores

Member
Imma make it a goal to play the bottom 10 on the full list if it’s not all games I’ve played. Show some love to people’s faves that only they advocated for.
Actually, on a similar note I know a list I'd love to see at some point: which 30-something games got an Underrated vote and that was their only appearance in the entire thread.
 

FiveSide

Banned
I will say that I hope one day Switch and its descendents have as good (or better) DQ coverage as DS and its.

DQ ports from mobile -> PC like they did with FF would also be nice, but yea Switch would be awesome.

Other than the low-resolution screen on the 3DS (which frankly never bothered me and still doesn't), it's already pretty much the definitive DQ machine though. We in the West have IV-IX on the system, and in Japan they have everything except X. Plus the DS/3DS have all the DQ spinoffs.

Has anybody played any of those spinoffs by the way? Are they even RPGs? I know nothing about them despite really liking the main series.

Underrated Games list

Awesome, I'll probably go through some of this as well.

I don't think any of my HMs likely got just a single vote (from me). They're not obscure enough lol. Maybe if I'd included Crystalis it would've happened.
 

kswiston

Member
Actually, on a similar note I know a list I'd love to see at some point: which 30-something games got an Underrated vote and that was their only appearance in the entire thread.

EDIT: Wait, I read my sheet wrong. Here's the correct list!

Code:
Arc the lad 2
Atelier Escha & Logy
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Bahamut Lagoon
Caves of Qud
Custom Robo Arena
Destiny of an Emperor
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Freedom Force
Marvel Heroes
Metroid Fusion
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
NetHack
Paper Mario Color Splash
Rune Factory: Frontier
SaGa Frontier
Sakura Taisen
Serpent In The Staglands
Shining the Holy Ark
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Space Rangers
Star Ocean
TERA
The Banner Saga 
The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga)
The Secret World
Too Human
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land

Some of these games were great. Others, I can see why they had 1 vote.

Vandal Hearts II is a game that doesn't have the best reputation, but tried to do something different to mixed success. If the AI wasn't so dumb, I think that it could have been a pretty strong game. It was a strategy title where you and your enemy attacked at the same time. You would choose your moves, and the AI would choose it. Then the game would act it out. However, the AI ALWAYS tried to attack your characters' backs. Once you figured that out, you could safely attack their backs every time.
 

MoonFrog

Member
DQ ports from mobile -> PC like they did with FF would also be nice, but yea Switch would be awesome.

Other than the low-resolution screen on the 3DS (which frankly never bothered me and still doesn't), it's already pretty much the definitive DQ machine though. We in the West have IV-IX on the system, and in Japan they have everything except X. Plus the DS/3DS have all the DQ spinoffs.

Has anybody played any of those spinoffs by the way? Are they even RPGs? I know nothing about them despite really liking the main series.
3DS can stream X in Japan :).

I'm not a big spin-off person but I've played Rocket Slime and builders.

Rocket Slime is a game where you create monster teams and participate in mecha duels. You have to defend from boarders, load cannons and what not. There's also an action-y isometric map exploration part to it. It's been a while but it's a lot of fun.

Builders has you go through DQ town scenarios in an action-RPG/building game.

The big one to consider, which I haven't played, is Monsters, which I think is an anti-Pokemon. It is niche in the west but I usually see praise when it comes up.
 

kswiston

Member
3DS can stream X in Japan :).

I'm not a big spin-off person but I've played Rocket Slime and builders.

Rocket Slime is a game where you create monster teams and participate in mecha duels. You have to defend from boarders, load cannons and what not. There's also an action-y isometric map exploration part to it. It's been a while but it's a lot of fun.

Builders has you go through DQ town scenarios in an action-RPG/building game.

The big one to consider, which I haven't played, is Monsters, which I think is an anti-Pokemon. It is niche in the west but I usually see praise when it comes up.

Joker 2 did absolutely terrible in the west, but I think that it was supposed to be pretty good. It might be the last DQ Monsters game we get for a long while, so that would be something to snag before prices inflate too much.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Thanks for the replies guys! I'll debate whether to go GBC or SNES then... Normally I'd just play on SNES but there's something about that GBC look that I find really charming...

Oh and Builders is the only DQ game I've played significantly and it's beautiful. I really wish the Switch port wasn't so far away... I remember playing a bit of Monster Joker 1 too and it was pretty amusing, but I barely remember so not sure if it was actually good. The TV commercial though.
 

Thores

Member
EDIT: Wait, I read my sheet wrong. Here's the correct list!

Code:
Arc the lad 2
Atelier Escha & Logy
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Bahamut Lagoon
Caves of Qud
Custom Robo Arena
Destiny of an Emperor
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Freedom Force
Marvel Heroes
Metroid Fusion
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
NetHack
Paper Mario Color Splash
Rune Factory: Frontier
SaGa Frontier
Sakura Taisen
Serpent In The Staglands
Shining the Holy Ark
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Space Rangers
Star Ocean
TERA
The Banner Saga 
The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga)
The Secret World
Too Human
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land

Some of these games were great. Others, I can see why they had 1 vote.

Yeah, this is a cool list. It makes me want to check out Custom Robo Arena and Banner Saga. I think it's funny that my Underrated pick of Live A Live would have been on this list if it wasn't for one other guy giving it an Honorable Mention.

I don't trust the person that said Color Splash.
 

MoonFrog

Member
Thanks for the replies guys! I'll debate whether to go GBC or SNES then... Normally I'd just play on SNES but there's something about that GBC look that I find really charming...

Oh and Builders is the only DQ game I've played significantly and it's beautiful. I really wish the Switch port wasn't so far away... I remember playing a bit of Monster Joker 1 too and it was pretty amusing, but I barely remember so not sure if it was actually good. The TV commercial though.
Yeah I just hope DS prices aren't too inflated. Those remakes didn't do well :(.
 
Yeah, this is a cool list. It makes me want to check out Custom Robo Arena and Banner Saga. I think it's funny that my Underrated pick of Live A Live would have been on this list if it wasn't for one other guy giving it an Honorable Mention.

I don't trust the person that said Color Splash.
Custom Robo Arena is tons of fun. It was on my shortlist of about 50 titles before it fell off as I narrowed down.
It has a story that's beat-for-beat a shounen anime and the robot battling and customizing are really fun.
 

gngf123

Member
EDIT: Wait, I read my sheet wrong. Here's the correct list!

Code:
Arc the lad 2
Atelier Escha & Logy
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Bahamut Lagoon
Caves of Qud
Custom Robo Arena
Destiny of an Emperor
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Freedom Force
Marvel Heroes
Metroid Fusion
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
NetHack
Paper Mario Color Splash
Rune Factory: Frontier
SaGa Frontier
Sakura Taisen
Serpent In The Staglands
Shining the Holy Ark
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Space Rangers
Star Ocean
TERA
The Banner Saga 
The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga)
The Secret World
Too Human
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land

Some of these games were great. Others, I can see why they had 1 vote.

Vandal Hearts II is a game that doesn't have the best reputation, but tried to do something different to mixed success. If the AI wasn't so dumb, I think that it could have been a pretty strong game. It was a strategy title where you and your enemy attacked at the same time. You would choose your moves, and the AI would choose it. Then the game would act it out. However, the AI ALWAYS tried to attack your characters' backs. Once you figured that out, you could safely attack their backs every time.

Damn there are some pretty good games on this list, and some I've always wanted to try out.

Serpent in the Staglands I've heard many good things about, and the next game by the same developers (Copper Dreams) looks good. Avadon I've played a bit of and it's fairly good as well. They are both fairly obscure CRPG's though... which is going to hurt them on GAF.

Bahamut Lagoon has interested me ever since I first heard of it while playing Devil Survivor and trying to find other games that mixed JRPG's with SRPG's. I imagine this one is only down the list because it was stuck in Japan. Really need to try that.

Banner Saga is great.
 

Pepboy

Member
Yeah, this is a cool list. It makes me want to check out Custom Robo Arena and Banner Saga. I think it's funny that my Underrated pick of Live A Live would have been on this list if it wasn't for one other guy giving it an Honorable Mention.

I don't trust the person that said Color Splash.

I've also recently learned about Destiny of an Emperor and it seems very interesting. Perhaps the first mass-NPC recruiting game? At least on consoles. Dating back to famicom days, pretty impressive, so I've been meaning to give it a try.

I will say that I hope one day Switch and its descendents have as good (or better) DQ coverage as DS and its.

I also hope that DQ XI helps give DQ a broader audience in the West. Not that everyone will love DQ, but I think it's still a bit underrated.

I'm just so glad a Dragon Quest game made it to the top 50. Hopefully it will convince some to give it a try. I was really worried when I saw DQ 5 on the runner up list.
 

MoonFrog

Member
Are these the once on the main list games?

I gave Binding Blade an honorable mention iirc so wondering if I'm only person who voted for it or not.

It's strange but my favorite GBA Fire Emblems are 6 and 8, not 7.

I like 6 a lot. It's tougher, has some great units (Pink Knights ftw for example), and imo uses that world better than 7.

@Pepboy, yeah I hope it sticks this time. VIII and IX did respectably but unlike Japan where PS2 to DS was common, they sort of built different groups and you didn't see many people going from VIII to IX and the DS remakes. Then X was a Japan only MMO and the franchise disappears over here for a while again.
 

Thores

Member
Are these the once on the main list games?

I gave Binding Blade an honorable mention iirc so wondering if I'm only person who voted for it or not.
These are games that got one Underrated vote and no other votes on the list. It doesn't include single votes that were regular votes or HMs.
 

gngf123

Member
Are these the once on the main list games?

I gave Binding Blade an honorable mention iirc so wondering if I'm only person who voted for it or not.

It's strange but my favorite GBA Fire Emblems are 6 and 8, not 7.

I like 6 a lot. It's tougher, has some great units (Pink Knights ftw for example), and imo uses that world better than 7.

@Pepboy, yeah I hope it sticks this time. VIII and IX did respectably but unlike Japan where PS2 to DS was common, they sort of built different groups and you didn't see many people going from VIII to IX and the DS remakes. Then X was a Japan only MMO and the franchise disappears over here for a while again.

It's the "only time it was mentioned, was also an underrated vote" list.

And just to add my opinion - FE8 has always been my favourite GBA Fire Emblem.
 
Secret World is great, but it's also a MMO where I wish it would have been just a single player game..

If they had made a single player game with the same amount of care they put into world building and quest design, it would have probably been a sleeper hit when it launched.
 
The banners look magnificent Kswiston

Hey kswiston, can you give us some hint about the top 10?

Like how's the Western and Japanese split?

I’m gonna guess for fun. 7:3 in favor of Japanese.

EDIT: Wait, I read my sheet wrong. Here's the correct list!

Code:
Arc the lad 2
Atelier Escha & Logy
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Bahamut Lagoon
Caves of Qud
Custom Robo Arena
Destiny of an Emperor
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Freedom Force
Marvel Heroes
Metroid Fusion
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
NetHack
Paper Mario Color Splash
Rune Factory: Frontier
SaGa Frontier
Sakura Taisen
Serpent In The Staglands
Shining the Holy Ark
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Space Rangers
Star Ocean
TERA
The Banner Saga 
The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga)
The Secret World
Too Human
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land

Some of these games were great. Others, I can see why they had 1 vote.

Vandal Hearts II is a game that doesn't have the best reputation, but tried to do something different to mixed success. If the AI wasn't so dumb, I think that it could have been a pretty strong game. It was a strategy title where you and your enemy attacked at the same time. You would choose your moves, and the AI would choose it. Then the game would act it out. However, the AI ALWAYS tried to attack your characters' backs. Once you figured that out, you could safely attack their backs every time.

Hah I voted for Freedom Force on that list. It’s a great game. One of Levine’s best.
 

Xetherion

Member
Yeah, this is a cool list. It makes me want to check out Custom Robo Arena and Banner Saga. I think it's funny that my Underrated pick of Live A Live would have been on this list if it wasn't for one other guy giving it an Honorable Mention.

I don't trust the person that said Color Splash.

I really wanted to put Live A Live on my list somewhere. That game was so far ahead of its time.

SaGa Frontier was my contribution to the single vote list. Other games on there that i would also recommend are Bahamut Lagoon and Metroid Fusion (i wouldn't call Metroid an RPG, but still a great game). Star Ocean is pretty good too IIRC, been a long time since i played it.
 

Melchiah

Member
I had a SNES and N64 but didn't play a single RPG on either. My first RPG was actually on the PS1. It was...Alundra 2. My second was Brave Fencer Musashi though, which I remember much more fondly. Towards the tail end of the 90s I played Pokemon a lot.

Had a Sega Nomad at one point but didn't play any RPGs on there either. Missed out on Phantasy Star and Shining.

My first RPG was on the PS1 as well, namely FFVII. I got it by chance, funnily enough when a friend of mine wanted to trade it for a six-pack of beer. It didn't even have the manual. I never played RPGs on C64 and Amiga, aside from briefly trying Dungeon Master which wasn't really to my taste.

Personally, I've never understood the hate FFVIII gets. It's my favorite in the series, partly because I'm generally more drawn towards scifi-themed RPGs, and I didn't really like the aesthetics in VII and IX. It's also the only entry in the series I've played through twice.
 

kswiston

Member
I mostly took a break from banner duty today. Since I don't want to completely skip a day of updates, I threw up #29-30. xist had a good quote for #29, and some people took the previous FFVIII quote to be a dig at the game, so it seemed like making a featured voter trade was warranted.

I also fixed the error in the Original Sin icons.
 

kswiston

Member
According to thread search, there were two votes for Binding Blade. You, and Firemind, who gave it his Underrated vote.

Ya, I don't know what happened there, but that HM wasn't recorded properly. Binding Blade should not be on the list. 5 points instead of 4 :p

MoonFrog, your DQ4 and Geneology votes definitely registered, so it's not like your ballot was skipped over. It was probably my error as I was combining the HM and Regular vote lists.

Hey kswiston, can you give us some hint about the top 10?

Like how's the Western and Japanese split?


I’m gonna guess for fun. 7:3 in favor of Japanese.

Yup
 

Usobuko

Banned
I mostly took a break from banner duty today. Since I don't want to completely skip a day of updates, I threw up #29-30. xist had a good quote for #29, and some people took the previous FFVIII quote to be a dig at the game, so it seemed like making a featured voter trade was warranted.

I also fixed the error in the Original Sin icons.

Take your time and thanks for all you've done.
 

Eridani

Member
Code:
Arc the lad 2
Atelier Escha & Logy
Avadon: The Black Fortress
Bahamut Lagoon
Caves of Qud
Custom Robo Arena
Destiny of an Emperor
Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade
Freedom Force
Marvel Heroes
Metroid Fusion
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
NetHack
Paper Mario Color Splash
Rune Factory: Frontier
SaGa Frontier
Sakura Taisen
Serpent In The Staglands
Shining the Holy Ark
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter
Space Rangers
Star Ocean
TERA
The Banner Saga 
The Faery Tale Adventure (Amiga)
The Secret World
Too Human
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Vandal Hearts
Vandal Hearts II
Wizardry : Tale of the Forsaken Land

Some of these games were great. Others, I can see why they had 1 vote.

There's some great games here. More people should play Binding Blade. It has a couple of interesting twists on the FE formula, and is just a solid FE game in general. Although I understand that having no official translation obviously hurts its popularity.

Seeing Avadon here is interesting, because it makes me wonder how other Spiderweb games did. I saw Geneforge mentioned in a few lists and I know that I'm the only one who voted for Exile so I wonder how the other games did. Avadon also always seemed like one of the most popular Spiderweb games, so it's interesting to see it only appeared once.

I'd also expect Rune Factory: Frontier to get more votes. I know people really hate the whole runey system, but it's incredibly easy to trivialize it and the game's really good aside from that. I wanted to put it on my list, but couldn't really justify it over Stardew Valley. Maybe other people thought the same.

Seeing Sakura Taisen here made me wonder if Sakura Wars V made the list, but after a quick search it looks like it didn't, which is pretty weird. I thought the game was generally pretty well liked by a lot of people, and it always seemed like an interesting game to me.

Seeing Space Rangers here is great, and I'm glad someone voted for it. I never liked it much, but it's such a unique and interesting idea that it definitely deserves to be mentioned.

The Banner Saga only getting one vote is a bit weird. It's a great game and I figured at least a couple of people would mention it. I guess people just don't like voting for newer games as essential RPGs unless they are really good.

Valkyria Chronicles 3 is also oddly low. I guess I just overestimate the amount of people who play fan translations, because I'd figure every VC fan would be all over this game.

Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land makes me wonder how other Wizardry games did. A lot of people consider 8 to be one of the best CRPGs ever made, and 6/7 are classics, but probably too old school to make it very high.
 

Aters

Member
Seeing Sakura Taisen here made me wonder if Sakura Wars V made the list, but after a quick search it looks like it didn't, which is pretty weird. I thought the game was generally pretty well liked by a lot of people, and it always seemed like an interesting game to me.

Is it the one with the new cast? I thought it's generally hated.
 

Eridani

Member
Is it the one with the new cast? I thought it's generally hated.

It is? That's news to me, but I'm not the biggest Sakura Taisen fan, so maybe they hated it. I know it got great reviews from mainstream sites, and as far as I know it's the only Sakura Taisen game available officially in English so I figured it would have at least some fans.
 

FiveSide

Banned
3DS can stream X in Japan :).

I'm not a big spin-off person but I've played Rocket Slime and builders.

Rocket Slime is a game where you create monster teams and participate in mecha duels. You have to defend from boarders, load cannons and what not. There's also an action-y isometric map exploration part to it. It's been a while but it's a lot of fun.

Builders has you go through DQ town scenarios in an action-RPG/building game.

The big one to consider, which I haven't played, is Monsters, which I think is an anti-Pokemon. It is niche in the west but I usually see praise when it comes up.

I'll probably try Monsters. Will look up some gameplay footage and check prices, maybe I'll swing by GameStop tomorrow if they have a used one. They seem to be slightly behind the curve w/r/t DS game price inflation, some good deals can be had assuming they have the game in stock.

I'm gonna guess for fun. 7:3 in favor of Japanese.

Pretty much a shoe-in what the 3 WRPGs are as well.

7:3 is not a bad ratio if you ask me. There's clearly a console and JRPG slant, but it's still a workable balance.

Compare this to, say, the RPGCodex list, which is a great list in its own right, but other than Dark Souls is skewed completely towards C/WRPGs. The ratio might be something like 49:1.

I really wanted to put Live A Live on my list somewhere. That game was so far ahead of its time.

Live A Live is really something else. I'm not a fan of the way the game actually plays most of the time, but conceptually it's still pretty unique. I wouldn't begrudge someone saying it was the best JRPG on the SNES, it's hard to even compare it to its peers because it's so different. Feels more like a modern experimental indie game than a Squaresoft production.

Underrail only got one mention in this thread as well, which surprises me a little.

A CRPG set in a post-apocalyptic environment is unavoidably going to compete with the classic Fallout games. I feel like the only way something like Underrail would get a lot of support, is if there was a cutoff that somehow excluded classic Fallout.

I haven't played Underrail yet though. But I did pick it up on GOG a while back.

It's my favorite in the series, partly because I'm generally more drawn towards scifi-themed RPGs, and I didn't really like the aesthetics in VII and IX.

The setting is definitely one of VIII's strengths. I really enjoyed how the sci-fi and fantasy elements (occasionally, very bizarre fantasy elements) were grounded in a realistic-looking aesthetic. The game's world feels so foreign, and yet believable, like a realistic society built on unfamiliar principles.

Squall's gunblade is basically a meme at this point, but it's also an interesting microcosm of the game's setting as a whole. Two completely separate things mashed together into an initially puzzling whole, that ultimately becomes believable when given context.

The setting has always been one of FF's strengths though, as a series. I also like the post-apocalyptic-lite tropical/exotic setting of FFX. XIII even had a good setting, though it was poorly conveyed.
 

Surfside

Banned
Underrail only got one mention in this thread as well, which surprises me a little.

It's a very niche game i would say. I enjoyed it a lot. For its atmosphere and mechanics, its skill system which is very similar to Fallouts S.T.A.R.S system. Many recommend it as the true Fallout 3. I wouldn't go that far,
because the freedom it provides is not as great as in those games. But it has the same post-apocalytic atmosphere going. Its story is not very prominent and serves more as a backround.
But it is a great game and if you want to experience some really hard, turn based fights, here you will get them. They also added a map recently, which i personally found unnecessary, but it will help those who don't want to feel lost in its underground tunnels.
 

MoonFrog

Member
FFVIII is, imo, the beginning of modern Final Fantasy world art direction.

There's continuity between the world art of VI and VII, with the higher steampunk (Midgar, the empire) mixed with medieval/steampunk fusion (Narshe, forget the name, but that own outside of Midgar). VII does lean more into the 20th century "slum" look it also has going and it also represents the world after Shinra took it over rather than during the empire's conquest.

VIII on the other hand reminds me of X, what I've seen of XIII, and XV. Mostly it is the fantastical scenery and shapes that look similar to me, but you do have (different) depictions of modern day coinciding with the fantastical imagery in each case.

Edit: My point is, I think the sort of "high fantasy approach to science fiction imagery" is in contrast to the more grubby look of VI and VII.

And really, you have this sort of stuff in, say, XIV too but without the simultaneous modernity.
 
Happy to see Dragonfall up there. That does make me smile. Damn good game.

Also I just picked up Divinity Original Sin EE as it was on sale on EU PSN, people sure do seem to like it so I hope I do too.
 

Luminaire

Member
On mobile, so quote editing is a nightmare. That’s a good list of the bottom underrated games. I think it’d be fun to tackle a few of them next year, maybe get a few people to do it and have people try some games they’ve never played before that others feel are underrated.
 

Pepboy

Member
I'll probably try Monsters. Will look up some gameplay footage and check prices, maybe I'll swing by GameStop tomorrow if they have a used one. They seem to be slightly behind the curve w/r/t DS game price inflation, some good deals can be had assuming they have the game in stock.



Pretty much a shoe-in what the 3 WRPGs are as well.

7:3 is not a bad ratio if you ask me. There's clearly a console and JRPG slant, but it's still a workable balance.

Compare this to, say, the RPGCodex list, which is a great list in its own right, but other than Dark Souls is skewed completely towards C/WRPGs. The ratio might be something like 49:1.



Live A Live is really something else. I'm not a fan of the way the game actually plays most of the time, but conceptually it's still pretty unique. I wouldn't begrudge someone saying it was the best JRPG on the SNES, it's hard to even compare it to its peers because it's so different. Feels more like a modern experimental indie game than a Squaresoft production.



A CRPG set in a post-apocalyptic environment is unavoidably going to compete with the classic Fallout games. I feel like the only way something like Underrail would get a lot of support, is if there was a cutoff that somehow excluded classic Fallout.

I haven't played Underrail yet though. But I did pick it up on GOG a while back.



The setting is definitely one of VIII's strengths. I really enjoyed how the sci-fi and fantasy elements (occasionally, very bizarre fantasy elements) were grounded in a realistic-looking aesthetic. The game's world feels so foreign, and yet believable, like a realistic society built on unfamiliar principles.

Squall's gunblade is basically a meme at this point, but it's also an interesting microcosm of the game's setting as a whole. Two completely separate things mashed together into an initially puzzling whole, that ultimately becomes believable when given context.

The setting has always been one of FF's strengths though, as a series. I also like the post-apocalyptic-lite tropical/exotic setting of FFX. XIII even had a good setting, though it was poorly conveyed.


Hey hey hey!

Square Enix Online Store has physical copies of Dragon Quest IV, V, Monsters, Builder, and Heroes on deep sale. Worth checking out.
 

kswiston

Member
it is going up as the cards go up in the OP.

If I am going to spend the time making the banners, I want people to at least see them :p


Speaking of, #26-28 are now up. That was supposed to be the part of yesterday's update. Half of the Top 50 is done!

I will either add another 5 banners late tonight, or save whatever I finish and post 10 for tomorrow.
 

Lynx_7

Member
I'm surprised that Nocturne apparently seems to be on track to either hold its previous position or only drop slightly. That's certainly a lot better than I was expecting. Those highlight votes putting in work.

The battle system is ATB, with its own twist:
[...]
It's an amazingly good game. The only downside is that the game is short, and not particularly difficult. And the graphics will be quite dated for today's standards, but I don't really mind that. Oh and the abominable price tag :(

Thanks for the detailed write-up, it sounds very unique and something that might be up my alley. I can handle some early 3D jank if the game is good enough, so I'll check it out when I can. Hopefully before the next vote.
 
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