This is a fun thread to read, thanks for putting together OP.
I don't only play rpgs - but I MOSTLY, and have always mostly, played rpgs. I prefer JRPGs, although I played lots of PC games (e.g., Warcraft and Starcraft) around the same time I was really getting into JRPGs via Final Fantasy. Mostly, I like being taken on a well paced, well plotted, character-driven journey without many modern trappings. Battle system/gameplay elements are important too (I'm not too in to visual novels), but they always take a back seat to story, for me, and work best when they directly support/integrate with the story (as opposed to existing in some weird parallel track requiring suspension of narrative rules).
That said, my top rpg, and top game, for 20+ years running, is
Final Fantasy 6. Wasn't the first FF I played (I played 1 and 4 at friends' houses, and played FF Adventure and Legend (I know, Mana/Saga, but still) on GB. Certainly not the first game, or first rpg, I enjoyed. But it was the watershed moment for my gaming habit. Never had I been so sucked into the narrative of a game (and really, never since). Each of these little sprites existed in continuity with a big, bold, coherent world, with a home town, a backstory, friends, rivals, loves, HISTORY. And they followed believably from those back stories through the twists and turns and upheavals of 6's plot, each charting a believable and engaging arc through to the bittersweet end. Their personality was expertly sketched through economical writing and the way the battle system front-loaded character style (focused on unique special skills much more than gear). From the very beginning, defending Terra in the mines, I was hooked. I played the game on rental from Blockbuster, and had it for 48 hours. I put in about 36. I couldn't find my way off the floating continent (power leveled everyone while looking). I bought an FF3 cart, borrowed a friend's SNES, and proceeded to put hundreds of hours into the game, mostly late at night, on an old CRT, after my parents had gone to sleep.
While the characters and their journey hooked me, the aesthetics and music also played a huge part in my love of this game. Each design choice, and every tune opened even more depth to the characterization and world. I can think of no other game that has done so much to fully flesh out characters with so little.
I love the game just as much today as when I first played it, and still regularly dip back in. Would it be my top rpg if I hadn't played it when I was younger? Not sure. But as someone who spent most of his childhood reading escapist fiction (a LOT -- I wasn't allowed game systems), this was the game that opened up the possibility of a more directly involved type of escapist fiction, and it did it through bold, inspired aesthetic and narrative choices that still resonate over twenty years later.
My choice of
Suikoden 3 for underrated was an easy one. This has long been one of my very favorite rpgs, edging Suikoden 5 for my favorite in the series. It's not reviled like 4, but many place it far behind 2 and 5, as a bit of an odd
duck. But for me -- and I love 2 and 5, 3 is the high point of the series, and the best rpg on PS2. True, the battle system took some getting used to, but once it clicked, I loved pairing up characters and sending them careening around the field, considering positioning and defense as well as attack. I particularly love the skill system -- few things more satisfying then super leveling the parry, dodge, or critical skills and watching the sparks fly. But it's the characters and world that drew me in most. So colorful, but almost never totally over-drawn. Chris is my favorite, but I could go on for pages about all the other characters too. They created characters rooted in believable diverse cultures, then set them on path to bump into each other as part of a broadly believable political brouhaha. The game maybe pales a tiny bit once everyone comes together, but not much. The music and art are still top notch too, I think, and the game has my favorite side quests/activities. And I simply love Thomas' chapters, and the way the base building was handled. Such a welcome pace changer in between the more traditional adventure chapters. Just writing this I want to go play again! I think Suikoden 3 has just as much heart and subtlety of character as 5, and is just as fun to look at and play as 2. Hugely underrated rpg in a storied series.
Witcher 3 -- in a world with no nostalgia, this might be my highlight game. Maybe. Probably not, but it would be close. No modern game has hit such story and character driven highs for me, and nothing has come close. The combat isn't the best (though fun once you get the rhythm of it), and sometimes the exploration/traversal over-stays its welcome. But the game is extremely well written and acted. Like, I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that, at its heights (e.g., much of Hearts of Stone, Bloody Baron, the early parts of the Northern realm), it's comparable to good literature and theatre. Indeed, it reminds me in many ways of the acerbic humanism of good post-communist Eastern European lit. Geralt, at the heart of the game, is incredibly well drawn -- dry, reserved, cold in some ways, but always, at core, a decent person in an incredibly indecent world/situation/profession. I love the way the game handles his moral compass and gives you lots of choices that bend and slightly alter it, but never break his core characterization. In the end, his arc is really about being a parent, and this was handled with great subtlety and care. Some of the most gratifying parts of the game weren't defending a keep or storming a ship, but rather sitting and quietly talking w/ Ciri as she tried to figure out some tricky stuff.
And it wasn't just the main characters who got top treatment. Many of the side characters are incredibly well and economically drawn. I'll just give a shout out to my favorite lady, Keira Metz. Geralt's interactions with her were the point where, despite initial skepticism over the grim-dark trappings and over-large/over-open Western rpgs, I really fell for the game. In your first meeting with her she's helping villagers with real, basic villager problems. She's doing it first and foremost because she needs a place to hide, and being a local wise woman affords just such a place. But she clearly loves the finer things, and is supremely irritated/disgusted by her loutish supplicants. However, she gives really good advice. Partly, yes, because she's a pragmatist, and a succesful wise woman is better disguise than a poor one. But also, it seems, because despite her snobbery, she can't help but help when the opportunity presents itself. The followup in her hilarious (laugh out loud for me) and clearly ironic witches nature haven just shows that, like Geralt, she has a very healthy sense of skepticism that doesn't stop at her own peccadilloes. There a perfect pair in some ways (maybe too good -- damn you Lambert).
I could go on an on (music, landscapes, etc.). But Witcher 3 is the western RPG par excellence for people who want character-driven story and gameplay to be privileged over absolute player agency and freedom. And that's me.
I place Suikoden 3 as the pillar of the series and PS2 jrpgs. But
Suikoden 5 isn't far behind. The music/art isn't as good. The battle system is more by the numbers. Portions of the game drag (ugh, enough w/ the beavers and boring dungeons!). But this game has bucketfuls of heart, and does a superb job at highlighting the personal and familial cost to power politics. The relationships of the prince w/ his family, friends, and guards, are fantastic, engaging, subtle, and in some ways really beautiful. And the game is ballsy enough to give the story and characters room to breathe and establish these bonds in a believable manner. Sure, that leads to a "slow" start, but if you're in it for the characters and their relationships, it's all gravy.
Georg Prime is probably my favorite Suikoden character (close race w/ Chris), and I love the relationship here between him, the Prince, and Lyon.
Secret of Mana doesn't have what I obviously most prize -- meaningful characters wrapped up in a well paced plot. However, it was my first real action rpg, and the setting, aesthetics, and general fairy tale feel all hit home. Due to the seemless nature of exploration, and the strong sense of place, it was the first game that I felt I could live in via the characters. The story telling in something like FF 6 was miles better, but Mana was sort of like a main-lined fantasy interactive experience. I still enjoy playing the game too, and am looking forward to it on SNES classic. The battle system is janky, but I really like the real-time w/ charge system, gives a nice, relaxed pace to the battles. And the spirit/mana system is perhaps my favorite magic system in any game. Works really well w/ the other two characters, and always super fun to get a new spirit and try out their arsenal. This is just a classic, comfort food game for me, which perhaps explains its rather odd placement next to all these story and character centric games.
I don't have much to say about
Chrono Trigger. I always really really liked it. Super streamlined, polished experience with a fun story and characters and great music. Particularly like Frog. I didn't really dig the ancient or future worlds, which brought it down a bit for me. Also, the plot, for as serious as it gets, doesn't really gel with the characters (why is this random village boy w/ no battle training saving the world w/ his excellent sword skills?). I prefer continuity between gameplay, setting, story, and characters, and this is what brought CT up short for me in comparison to something like FF VI. Still a great experience that holds up though.
Final Fantasy 7 -- also don't have much to say about this game. I was hyped sky high for it after my love affair w/ 6, and devoured every bit of media ahead of release (even convinced my parents to finally bite the bullet on internet largely so I could read about the game). In most ways, the game delivered. Good, deep characters, engaging, coherent world, epic journey, fantastic score. It didn't rise to the heights that 6 did for me in part because it was so messy and inconsistent in tone. Some of 7's real highs come from daring experiments w/ plot, character, and tone, but it doesn't always pay off. Also, the gritty realism didn't really resonate for me, well realized as it often was. In the end, I just don't think 7 does as much with its characters (except, probably, for Cloud) as 6 did, despite the enhanced cinematics. Still a fantastic ride and one of my favorite rpgs, just not the very top of the heap.
In a year when I thought it would be Persona 5, and much as I'm enjoying Ys VIII,
Nier Automata will probably be my game of the year. I loved the original Nier (story just grounded enough and just weird enough to work, lots of heart), and this one had a story just as engaging and heart-felt and thought provoking, with super slick action gameplay as well. Nier is a philosophical journey, and the story never really deviates from the core themes that Taro wanted to explore. Identity, connection, memory, the meaning of life, the game explores all of these thoroughly and cleverly through the robot/android prisms. Some of Taro's tragicomic robots have 10 times the character of much more developed and realistic characters in big budget beloved modern games. Went in expecting to love the game, and found it topped even my expectations.
Ni No Kuni gets a lot of hate and conditional love. I'd like to give it some unconditional love. True, the battle system could have used more work. But the aesthetics and heartfelt journey carried me through this game never really minding the battling (I just rolled w/ Puss the whole way). One of my favorite exploration games of the last few generations, highlighting the value of a world with a lot less total content, but with a lot more bespoke character and charm. Roaming NNK's overworld, on foot, boat, or dragon was endlessly delightful, in part because one felt one COULD master/explore the whole thing. Probably best overworld theme of all time too, though Terra's theme gives a run for the money.
Persona 4 may be a flash in the pan for me w/ the SMT series. I really really like Persona 4, but don't really like any of the other games in the series all that much. I played it through in a feverish weak after liking (but not loving) 3, and found myself very attached to the characters, and enamored of the world and mystery. I know lots of folks found Naoto too intrusive, and felt that she essentially robbed player agency in the mystery, I but found she functioned like all the best narrative detectives -- heroes of information that yield up the right insight at the right time so you can keep up with the complexity at play, not pretend through shallow narrative tricks to actually be able to solve it on your own. Naoto and Kanji are probably two of my favorite jrpg characters, and the home life element of P4 was an excellent counterweight to the dark stuff in the story. 3 and 5 fall way short of 4 for me, and it's all due to how well drawn the characters are, how believably situated they are in the world, and how they grow and change together.
Less to say about honorable mentions.
Suikoden 2 is an absolute classic. Beautiful game, super fun to play, lots of good character and interaction in a believable world. It's a little paint by numbers in some ways 3 and 5 aren't (some of the arc of the later game w/ the big dungeons, the relatively generic characterization of the core characters, as nice as their interactions are), but it still delivers big time.
SD3 - I prefer SoM quite a bit, but SD3 has a more beautiful world, more engaging battle system, and I really really dig the class evolution system. Maybe my favorite class system in any game. Would play a localized version in a heartbeat.
Ancient Domains of Mystery is a departure from the rest of the list. A classic ASCII rogue game, spread across a big overworld w/ multiple dungeons. I've returned to this game throughout my life, but only finally beat it a few years ago thanks to major save scumming (and even that was a huge lift). The flexibility of class and character is huge, and the level of interaction w/ the world is pretty staggering.
I like all of the FF games in varying degrees. While 6 and 7 are my favorites, 4, 10 (then probably 9 and Tactics and 12 and 5) come next. I won't go in detail on each of these. 4 was the first game I played that really grabbed me (albeit not as strongly as 6 -- the pacing and feel of the intro falls off pretty hard before too many hours pass). 10 was the game I returned to gaming with as an adult after a few year's hiatus, and, though Tidus bothered me to no end, the world, score, and bittersweet journey still worked for me on a number of levels.
Tales of the Abyss was my first Tales game, and is still the only one I've really gotten absorbed by. Luke annoys many, understandably. However, I found his spoiled, solipsistic, shallow approach to life completely believable for a teen in his situation, and amusingly parallel to the attitude and character of many real life teens I know (some of whom complained about him as a character -- it can hurt to look in the mirror!). The story drags at times, and the characters can be annoyingly preachy in the back half. But Luke's journey still worked for me, and I was rooting for him to the end. And I love the score in this game for some reason(where most Tales games' scores leave me totally cold). Also the battle system was a nice middle ground between over-complicated and too simple. Just right for me.
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits is a forgotten PS2 game that never got much attention in the first place. Despite a lot of love for the original AtL games on PS1, this one never seemed to catch on. Maybe the budget was too low, or there wasn't enough marketing, but it's one of my favorite PS2 rpgs, easily. The characters are broadly drawn but consistent and fun (Bebedora!). The two teams on a collision course nature of the narrative is simple but works really well. The tactical turn based but still snappy combat is excellent, probably my favorite "tactics" battle system. Sure, the music and visuals and animation weren't top notch, but the game had everything else going for it, and it makes me sorry the series died soon after.
Original
Nier was an awesome experience. I always found Drakengard TOO dark to really get into. And while Nier was dark, it had a redemptive heart that came through in the characters and interaction of Nier, Kaine, and Emil in particular. The weird gameplay diversions and fantastic score also worked great. I remember coming back w/ Papa Nier after the time skip, geared up and ready to kick shadow butt, then the game's first real twist dawned on me and I was the one who got kicked (in the gut). I took the self sacrificing road in the end, even though I couldn't play the DLC, and never regretted it. Such a weird but cool experience, and gave us the even better Automata.
Deus Ex Human Revolution had a lot of strikes against it for me. I'm not crazy about Cyber Punk, I find first person claustrophobic, and I'm not generally crazy about modern WRPGs. However, I gave the game a chance and got really into it. The tone is so consistent, the exploration and combat so cleverly arranged and apportioned out, and the story straightforward enough that it ended up one of my favorite PS3/360 rpg experiences.
Okami - I put this in honorable mentions not because it's not one of my favorite games (it's top 5 easily), but because I suspect many wouldn't consider it a true RPG. Certainly, if Zelda is, than Okami is, but I know that's an ongoing debate as well. I tentatively include it because: A. it has consistent and gated character progression, B. It has an engaging, character-driven story, and C. you travel across a big over-world listening to banging tunes. Beautiful game for sure, the brush mechanic is awesome, but it was the heartfelt story (hugely helped by the excellent character animations) that really made this special for me.
Whew, I feel like I probably forgot something. If I remember, I'll come back and amend. Tons of other games I've really enjoyed, but none I can think of with so few reservations as these.
EDIT: just remembered Dragon's Dogma and Bravely Default, both of which I'd like to include, but not sure where. Hmmmm...
--VOTE INFO START
<FULL POINT GAMES 2 points>
{HIGHLIGHT 3 points} Final Fantasy 6
{UNDERRATED 4 points} Suikoden 3
The Witcher 3
Suikoden 5
Secret of Mana
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy 7
Nier Automata
Ni No Kuni
Persona 4
<HONORABLE MENTIONS 1 point>
Suikoden 2
Seiken Densetsu 3
Ancient Domains of Mystery
Final Fantasy 4
Final Fantasy 10
Tales of the Abyss
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Nier
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Okami
--VOTE INFO END--
