The best RPG(s) you've ever played and why

[Reives]

Not saying that it's the best, but my personal favourite is 阿猫阿狗 (Translation: Ah-Cat-Ah-Dog..?):

http://www.play911.com/danimg/amag.jpg[/IMG]

Childhood favourite, that is. But it's one of those things that I played when I was a kid that just got stuck on me. :> It's about this kid who can talk to the animals, and participating in the war between the cats and dogs of the town. I know that it sounds childish, and it is, but back then it was so awesome. (Still is, tbh. :p )

 

[Marcus]

Ultima should be known by every *ahem* so called RPG fan.

It is... it's just more popular as Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy.

Yeah, Ultima pretty much inspired Dragon Quest and the original Final Fantasy. Play Ultima 1 and then DQ or FF side by side and you'll see a lot of similarities. Funny thing, more American RPG's were ported to various consoles in Japan than in America. Dungeons and Dragons got several jap only games as did Wizardry and Ultima. Even The Magic Candle got a pretty decent NES port in Japan.

 

[bojox3m]

the best rpg game in console games are done by Square Enix. no doubt xD

 

[Fafnir]

the best rpg game in console games are done by Square Enix. no doubt xD

Xenosaga wasn't made by Squeenix...

 

[Fallofthetyrant]

The most popular rpgs you meant?
Planescape torment was done by Black Isle Studios
and The Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda
What about Y's series from Japan??
Or the Ultima series as well, Wizardry anyone?
*ahem*
They should create a new category of rpg games, the pop-rpg
Square-Enix would definitely fill it up with new titles fast enough.

 

[Anonymous]

Squaresoft made good games.

SquareEnix made Star Ocean 3.

 

[Fallofthetyrant]

yes, good ones, not the best though

 

[Ratty524]

yes, good ones, not the best though

Like most old-time development companies, they definitely lost it over the years.

 

[arcthemonkey]

Like most old-time development companies, they definitely lost it over the years.

And here I am, disagreeing whole-heartedly. To say that the company who made FFXII has lost anything is absurd.

A majority of RPG gamers think that the modern FF games are fantastic, and I for one attribute a large amount of preference for the older games to nostalgia. I still say FFIV is one of the best in the series, but again, I remember it being a whole lot better than it is.

With the exception of Unlimited SaGa, I condsider SE games to be pretty much bank. Hell, I even like Dragon Quest VIII - and I used to HATE the Dragon Quest series.

Look at my list, a majority of my top-10 RPGs are SquareEnix games from all generations. Do they necessarily have to have made my favorite RPG for me to consider them the best RPG developers of all time? Nope. They just have to make more of my favorites than anyone else.

It's been a long time since my favorite game period wasnt' a SquareEnix game, and when it's something else, it's not like that for long.

I, for one, think that if they set out to make a game similar to Oblivion, or good old iso crpgs (Arcanum is my personal favorite) they would produce, if not the best game in the sub-genre, one of the best.

I can state with a perfectly straight face that if SE developed an epic open-ended first person RPG, I believe it would have been better than Oblivion (albeit, exceptionally more Japanese - something I think would have been an improvement as far as character, weapon, and armor design goes.).

And yes, I say that with full knowledge of Dirge of Cerberus being a delightfully average TPS (I think that game got SO CLOSE to being fantastic - so frikkin close).

So yeah, I think SE makes consistantly games that rank squarely in the upper eschelon of RPGs, and I will continue to buy before I try just about everything they release.

 

[itachi-hime]

Personally, I think Dirge Of Cerberus sucked. The only thing that was good about that game was its story. The game play was so monotonous and the controls were so bad it made me really hate it. I do agree that SE would make a great opened ended game but I don't think they would. It's not their style. Oblivion was fun for a little while and then it got boring because there was no plot after you beat the main quest. (I'm just not a fan of open-ended games)

 

[arcthemonkey]

Considering the fact that there's a ton of quest lines with pretty long plots, I think you might have missed something.

Now, maybe I'm crazy, but I never had any problem with the controls in Dirge of Cerberus. None. Never got frustrated with the aiming, never got frustrated with jumping, nothing. I was just fine.

I also never had any trouble with the camera in Kingdom Hearts... hmm...

 

[Marcus]

Does SquareEnix even make games anymore? They usually just employ a random team and publish it under their name. Everyone thinks they made Radiata Stories and Valkyrie Profile when it was Tri-Ace that did it. The Final Fantasy IV remake is even being made by a completely seperate team than the ones that do the console FF games.

Square has gotten so large that they're more publisher than developer. It's kind of like how Capcom dissolved Clover Studio. It's still one team, but they just had different divisions like the guys who made Dead Rising or how Konami has Kojima's team and Sega has Team Sonic.

 

[Fafnir]

Does SquareEnix even make games anymore? They usually just employ a random team and publish it under their name. Everyone thinks they made Radiata Stories and Valkyrie Profile when it was Tri-Ace that did it. The Final Fantasy IV remake is even being made by a completely seperate team than the ones that do the console FF games.

Square even makes NEW games anymore?

Square has gotten so large that they're more publisher than developer. It's kind of like how Capcom dissolved Clover Studio. It's still one team, but they just had different divisions like the guys who made Dead Rising or how Konami has Kojima's team and Sega has Team Sonic.

Except Sonic Team sucks these days. Badly. In fact, using Kojima Productions and Sonic Team in the same sentance can warrant a death sentance if I remember correctly....

 

[Marcus]

Well, Square mainly develops the Final Fantasy titles and everything else is done by another developer. Level 5 made Dragon Quest 8 and Tri-Ace made Radiata, Star Ocean, and Valkyrie Profile. The handheld Final Fantasy games are made by a completely different team than the console ones and I hear they got a brand new team to do the FFIV remake.

Basically, my point is that saying Squenix is going downhill is a bit of overstatement because they're so large that most of their games are made by hundreds of different hands. FF8 and FF9 weren't made by the same guys but it was made under the same name.

 

[Fafnir]

Well, Square mainly develops the Final Fantasy titles and everything else is done by another developer. Level 5 made Dragon Quest 8 and Tri-Ace made Radiata, Star Ocean, and Valkyrie Profile. The handheld Final Fantasy games are made by a completely different team than the console ones and I hear they got a brand new team to do the FFIV remake.

Basically, my point is that saying Squenix is going downhill is a bit of overstatement because they're so large that most of their games are made by hundreds of different hands. FF8 and FF9 weren't made by the same guys but it was made under the same name.

Yeah, because most of the best parts of it left for Mistwalker... I wonder... if Sqeenix were to put out a game under a different publisher, without one of their famous series names on it, would it be considered as great? There's no doubt it would have high production values, but I doubt it would do nearly as well, both critic and sales wise.

 

[greenninja89]

Kingdom hearts 2. It's the best game i've EVER played. EVER.

 

[Grivenger]

Does SquareEnix even make games anymore? They usually just employ a random team and publish it under their name. Everyone thinks they made Radiata Stories and Valkyrie Profile when it was Tri-Ace that did it.

But hasn't Tri-Ace been making games for Enix since a long, long time ago? And from what I know, the DQ series were always created by outside developers, although not level 5 until DQVIII.

The Final Fantasy IV remake is even being made by a completely seperate team than the ones that do the console FF games.

Of course. Square has so many competent teams, why should they re-use the FFXIII's team to make a remake when other team can do it? To delay FFXIII? The team responsible for the FF DS remakes already proved themselves to be more than enough for the job with FFIIIr.

Square has gotten so large that they're more publisher than developer.

Enix is the publisher, not Square. It has nothing to do with Square becoming so large (well, not much anyways), it has to do with Square having merged with a game's publisher.

Yeah, because most of the best parts of it left for Mistwalker...

Who? Sakaguchi? He hasn't been seriously involved in the FF series since FFV. In fact, he had absolutely no role in FFVIII and FFX, whose teams are now developing FFXIII.
Minaba? A good artist, I loved his town designs for FFIX and FFXII, but Square has many excellent artists, and has been hiring more. Naora still works there, Kamikokuryu (whatever it is spelled) was a newbie during FFX, succeded Minaba as the art director for FFXII and was hired again as art director for FFXIII. Another newbie (I believe) is the art director of FFX-2, which went then to work for FFXII:RW, and the dressphere designer of FFX-2 again, which was now hired for the weapon's design for FFXIII. And there are several others as well. So there's no tragedy in Minaba leaving neither.
Nobuo Uematsu? He is a freelancer, so SE can hire him to do another FF soundtrack if they want. If Sakimoto (another freelancer) had done FFXII's OST, and Hamauzu is responsible for FFXIII's, it definitely is not because Uematsu had left (in fact, he was still working for SE when FFXII was in production), but because the producters behind each game prefered other composers.
Finally, Matsuno? (although he had not joined Mistwalker) The only real loss for SE recently, really, but it should not affect the main FF series much because his only contribute to them was FFT and (half of) FFXII.

 

[arcthemonkey]

Oh, and don't forget that Blue Dragon kinda sucks.

Now, Marcus, I think you've missed something in your, albeit true, comment on who actually makes Square Enix games.

Tri-Ace is owned by by Square Enix, so when Tri-Ace makes a game, Square Enix made it. So, no, it's not made by the "Final Fantasy" team, which has been meaningless for a long, long time - just about every Final Fantasy game has had dramatically different staffs, with Sakaguchi, Uematsu, Amano, and Nomura being really the only truly common, meaningful threads - and Nomura is relatively new to front-line character design, FFVII being his first in that role, the man has been doing Final Fantasy monster designs since like 1990. However, Nomura is still squarely in his seat, and seeing as how he represents what the majority percieves as the visual style of Final Fantasy (just because you disagree, you are not the majority) and Amano still comes around, and Uematsu is certainly not gone forever, and Sakaguchi hasn't written a Final Fantasy in like 20 years, Final Fantasy lives on, and while it changes as it always has, and is really made by completely different people, it's still Final Fantasy, and it's still Square-Enix.

Square-Enix still makes games, is the point. They made Kingdom Hearts. They made Drakengard (the reason I mention Drakengard is becuase SE didn't publish it! Ubisoft did!). Tri-Ace is, for all intents and purposes, synonimous with Square-Enix. Dragon Quest VIII was still written and designed by the same guy who did EVERY OTHER ONE, and the characters were designed by the same guy, and the music was done by the same guy. The only thing that changed between Dragon Quest 7 and Dragon Quest 8 is that Level 5 did the programming and graphics.

The reason I mention Level-5 here is to point out that Square-Enix = the studios it owns, and I can only think of two games in recent years to have been produced by an independant developer - Dragon Quest 8 and Final Fantasy III. Feel free to correct me if there are more, but I think they are well enough in the minority that they matter little (I don't count cell-phone games).

If the studio is owned by Square-Enix, I consider the game to have been developed internally. They could gives developer group names to Nomura's Final Fantasy vs XIII team, and another name to his Kingdom Hearts crew, and yet another name to every group of people who made any game, but that fact is that yes, Square-Enix is a bit amorphic, but the point is that it's always been that way.

They just need to acquire Monolith Soft (Takahashi) is one of the old Squaresoft greats) and get Mitsuda back and I think Square-Enix will, if anything, far exceed Squaresoft from back in the day.

I just wish they would release games a bit more often, like they used to...

 

[4StarGeneral]

I'm probably the only person here who likes this game, but my favorite would be StarOcean:TTEOT. Took like 100+ hours, just to beat it, nevermind unlock everything. Also had a very intriguing storyline and all that junk, nevermin the enless array of monsters and bosses.

 

[itachi-hime]

I think I already said it here but I loved star ocean tteot! that game was very interesting. Great plot, took a long time to beat, fun extra stuff, great battle system, it was really good.