Favourite RPG

10. Bravely Default

Love me a job system: it gives me the chance to tinker until everything comes right. BD had the most comprehensive one I've ever experienced. The story was also superb up until the second half of the game

DIGRESSION ALERT: Where have you heard that said before? Oh, yes - by everyone who has completed the game.

and then it became a chore. Having said that, the final battle used a few neat tricks that I liked. Anyway, tenth!

9. Crimson Shroud

I can only recall beemoh and me playing this one; a shame, as it puts a lovely spin on the genre. You are literally playing a tabletop RPG, with narration like a Dungeons & Dragons game, and pieces moving on a board. Extra effects are decided by the rolling of in-game dice, which is a touch I liked. It's also short enough to not outstay its welcome (it's slightly limited) and the ending is dark as wotsit.

8. Final Fantasy IV

IV has a decent storyline and a powerful cast of characters. I peg it as my favourite FF game (spoilers for rest of list!) thanks to the excellent DS version (though I wasn't totally in love with the graphical style - the sweet SNES sprites would have suited me down to the ground). Also, shout out to the DS as the console for RPG's.

7. Inazuma Eleven

See my avatar? That's the hero of the original Inazuma Eleven trilogy, Mark Evans. He's another hero whose only special skills are determination and passion but his game grabbed my heart and has never let go. It also holds the dubious honour of being one of three videogames that have made me cry (during a scene where Mark spoke to a picture of his dead grandad and it reminded me of my Grandad).

6. Dragon Quest V: Hand Of The Heavenly Bride

DQV is one of those games I champion when I can and there are two reasons for that. The first is that it has the most epic storyline of any RPG I've played. The second is the quirky and wonderful monster recruitment mechanic that allows you to accept beaten foes onto your team and train them up alongside your mere humans. My squad has two metal slimes in it - beat that, Pikachu!

5. EarthBound

No other RPG makes you think "OK, there's an ATM at the drug store" and that is not the end of the quirkiness that drips from EarthBound; it's like trying to wring out a flannel in a waterfall. It looks crap and the sound effects are shocking - but the storyline is so effortless and rewarding that you wish there were more. The sequence where Jeff flies the saucer is one of the most touching things I've ever seen in a game.

4. Chrono Trigger

Beautiful and simple, this represents SNES-era Square at the peak of their powers for me (and they were pretty ruddy powerful at the time). A huge, sweeping story that goes to quite a few dark places (and some light ones, too) with perhaps a small cast, but a memorable one. Upon seeing the end of the world by accident, they simply decide to save it as the right thing to do. You've got to respect that.

3. Pokémon Silver

As Drunka rightly points out, each generation added new mechanics into the Pokéfray... but none more so than the second, it seems to me, with its time, gender, breeding and berries, to name a few. I'd enjoyed Red but the Silver-y sequel blew it out of the water (not too much water, either). As was mentioned during the Satoru Iwata Vote thread, it also features the most impressive post-game bonus: the whole of the first game, right there (although my favourite grinding area had been wiped out, dagnabbit).

2. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels Of The Starry Skies

Love me a job system: it gives me the chance to tinker until everything comes right. On top of that, DQIX allows you to make your own team and slam them into the largest RPG I'd played at the time. The storyline might spiral out of control by the end but travelling from town to town and fixing the problems you found there was intoxicating, challenging, emotional and always worthwhile. Also, more puns and jokes than you can shake a +1 stick at (Porth Llaffan, anyone? Djust Desert? Swinedimples, the magical academy? Actually, scrap that last one - it's Christmas cracker worthy).

1. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

I distinctly remember finishing this and thinking "Well, that's going in my top ten games of all time". It has, at #3. Seeing as there are no RPG's above it, well... here we are. The idea of all the battles being in front of a live audience that can grow and shrink depending on how well you're doing is brilliant, as are all of your buddies. Rogueport serves as a slightly dingy mirror to the Mushroom Kingdom that we all know and appreciate, with the same bright and lively characters living shady and unsettling lives (those Piantas... *shudder*). It also features the same kind of 'fix the problem in the new area' gameplay as DQIX, which I've realised I am mighty fond of, up to and including Mario getting a job as a wrestler to recruit a tiny Yoshi whom I imaginatively called 'Yoshi'. I wish I had some way to play TTYD right now.

Jay's Top 10 RPGs





I really liked this. But it didn't have the same spark as I had when I was playing Persona 4. I imagine if I'd played this first it'd probably swap positions with Persona 4 for me, but I still liked this a lot. Its characters were on a whole better than P4's cast and its plot was surprisingly grim at points. Top stuff.

9 - Fallout New Vegas

When this first came out, I didn't really give it the time it deserved. I'd spent a ridiculous amount of time in Fallout 3 and I was apocalypsed out by the time this rolled around. I revisited it a couple of years back and I can't believe I didn't give this more time back at release. It's a vast improvement over Fallout 3 in terms of story - actual consequences for your choices, a great faction system and some brilliant dialogue (try playing as a low intelligence character... it's amazing) blow FO3's efforts out of the water and puts Fallout 4's dialogue to the shame it deserves. Add in an improved combat system, and you've got one hell of an action RPG.

8 - Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn

I bloody love Fire Emblem. It was a toss-up between this and Awakening, but I decided to go with my first Fire Emblem instead. A huge cast of characters, the different class types (Beast Laguz, Bird Laguz, Humans, Herons... oh god... herons?) and a kick-ass final chapter made me fall in love with the king of strategy RPGs. Sothe is pants though. He's no Ike.

7 - Pokemon Gold/Silver

Pokemon was my gateway into RPGs without any shadow of a doubt, and I'll always remember Gold/Silver as the game of my childhood. I put hundreds of hours into Silver. I'll never forget the thrill of discovering that you could revisit Kanto, nor the awe at battling against Red atop Mt. Silver. Even if the later Pokemen fleshed out the series, Gold/Silver are still my favourites.

6 - Mass Effect 2

I'm Commander Moyles, and this is my favourite Western RPG in the Citadel. This blew the first game out of the water in my opinion - the shooting was vastly improved, the setting moved from the serenity of the Citadel to the gritter underbelly of the galaxy, and that's without even touching upon the incredible suicide mission finale. Top notch space fun.

5 - Persona 4

As mentioned in my P3 blurb, P4 was my first exposure to Persona. I really took to its odd blend of dungeon-crawling and life sim, and I really did enjoy its cast of characters (even if Teddie did grate after a while). I think I prefer its whodunnit plot to P3's grander plot. A top game.

(naoto best girl)

4 - Dark Souls

Dark Souls. What's left to say about this? It's a perfect blend of super-hard but fair combat and intricate world design. It feels like what a 3D Castlevania game should play as, and even it takes a while to grasp its levelling systems, it's so rewarding felling each boss. Thumbs up.




This is a love letter to Mother, and to RPGs. It's basically the perfect game for me. It tears apart the conventions of what it means to be an RPG whilst being genuinely funny and heartwarming. I think what sold me on this was when I killed a boss early-game by accident, I reloaded in order to try and spare the boss. Upon greeting this boss, they commented on the fact I'd killed them before. That's so clever. There's a little file hidden somewhere in the game's code that remembers every action you make. Undertale never forgets, and I won't forget Undertale.

2 - The World Ends With You

If Pokemon was my gateway into RPGs, this was the game that cemented my love of the genre. It's chock-a-block with good ideas - a properly inventive combat system, a unique artstyle and a surprisingly good J-Pop laden soundtrack and a great premise in the Reaper's game. I love its cast of characters, I loved learning its dual-screen battle system, I love its setting and I love its plot. There's a reason why Neku's never left my avatar for seven years.

1 - Mother 3

When I was typing this up, I was listening to Mother 3's OST, and just as I reached this Mother 3's Love Theme began playing. I was instantly struck with a flood of memories from my time with Mother 3. This game made me cry on several occasions. It had me laughing at its inventiveness. It had me utterly bemused at points at how bloody weird it can be. It had me feeling sorry for a monkey. But most importantly, it had me appreciating Shigesato Itoi's genius. This is my favourite RPG and my favourite game of all time. Sure, its battle system isn't as inventive as TWEWY, but it doesn't need to be. It works, and it's backed up by a gorgeously composed OST, a beautifully written and at points tragically upsetting plot and some of the most impressive enemy designs I've seen in a game. I love this game, and I hope it sees the light of day in the West one day so you can love it too.