My Top Ten RPGs part 2/2

Okay, so you probably don't want a long introductory paragraph, so here's the last 4 games


4: Paper Mario

This is my favorite of the Mario RPGs. When I was a kid, I bought this for my N64 thinking it was like Yoshi's Story, the only other game that looked like it, a 2D platformer. I was blown away by the humor and the story, which were simply incredible. It's amazing that a character as ho hum as Mario can have his name attached to such a subversive game. This probably should be number ten, but it's my nostalgic favorite, simply because of how I misunderstood it when I bought it.


3: Fire Emblem for Game Boy Advance

I picked this game up after hearing that Marth and Roy were in it, and I wanted to play it since I really liked those characters in Melee. They weren't in it but what I found was one of the most fun games I have ever played. The combat is deep and rewarding, the only blemish being the fact that critical hits can foul up your strategy through no fault of your own. I beat this game close to seven times, and I may go back for another sometime soon. The only thing holding this game back is the fact that, well, the story isn't really all that. It's interesting, but ultimately shallow, very much unlike the combat.


2: Final Fantasy Tactics

I picked this game up off PSN on the recommendation of a friend. The game has an amazing story (overlooking the unfortunate translation) and a great battle system. The story is the real draw here though, with ruminations on class and the political warfare being major highlights. Wow, this one ended up pretty short huh? sorry.




Sorry to interrupt, but I felt I needed to warn you, this one of the very best games ever made, easily my favorite game, and I don't know if I'll be able to stop once I start gushing about it.









1: Mother 3

I went in to this game expecting another pretty much entirely lighthearted adventure as I did with Earthbound. I was not prepared for what this game was going to give me. This game will make you laugh and weep. It has the single greatest end boss of all time, a suprisingly deep rythm combo system, and one of, if not the best story ever comitted to silicon. There is so much I want to talk about that I'm eventaully going to have to write a review of it and a more in depth analysis simply to deal with this game

I have not stopped thinking about this game since I stopped playing it 2 months ago. Not once.

I was going to ramble on, and I did, for more than a couple paragraphs, but that would have made this a review as well, and that is going to have to wait. I'll probably try to get my thoughts on Mother 3 together, probably in a series of posts. Know this though, you are not ready for this game.

My top ten RPGs, 10-5

So, I decided, since I'm not going to do something new on Heavy Rain till probably next week, that I'm gonna do a top ten list for my favorite genre, Role Playing Games.

Note, this list is limited to the games I have played, so if a game is not included, it might not be because I don't like it, but because I haven't played it (for instance, I don't have a 360 so I haven't played Mass Effect 1 or 2)

Okay, here we go

10: Pokemon (3rd generation)

Yes, Pokemon is meant for kids. However, that does not change the fact that it has a ridiculously deep competitive battle mode that has a large community behind it. It's really amazing how tense the head to head battles can get. This is probably the only game on this list that will get here by virtue of multiplayer. The third generation has by far the best battle system, slightly waited towards defense, but not enough to make offense irrelevant.

9: Earthbound

You've probably heard about this. The game isn't really that fun to play, but it redeems itself with a great, funny, and sometimes disturbing story. This is one of two games RPGs where I will stop to talk to incidental NPCs simply because I want to hear what they have to say. Now if only it could come to the virtual console so people don't have to pay $80+ bucks for it.

8: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

It's basically Bioware retelling Star Wars in a somewhat different setting. With all the RPGs that crib off of Star Wars, it's nice to see the lisence finally done justice in RPG form. Great tactical combat, interesting characters, and a nice balance between player choice and telling a good story, KOTOR is a masterpiece (not to say the other games on this list aren't, cause they are.)

7: Chrono Cross

Here's something bound to start controversy: I like Chrono Cross better than Chrono Trigger. The story is better, with tons of characters, most of whom are very interesting, a better combat system, simply amazing graphics (for a PS1 game) and quite possibly the best soundtrack of any game ever. (funny story, the sound on my PSX wouldn't work when I played this, so I only heard the soundtrack on youtube years later. I plan to play this game again with working sound soon.)

6: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 has a pretty bad story and janky character models. Fortunately, everything else is uniformly excellent. Special mention goes towards the level of choice the player has when it comes to what he wants to do. The Wasteland is a reat game world and is really fun to explore, which, with the amount of choice you have, makes this a game you can spend ridiculous amounts of time just exploring.

5: Deus Ex

Deus Ex has one amazing feature that needs to be touched on. In this game, you can clear missions pretty much any way you want. There is a ridiculous amount of choices in this game, and that's really why it's here. The story is cool too, but again, the real draw is the level of choice you have. The reason it's not higher is because the gameplay is solid, not really outstanding

Stayed tuned either tomorrow or Saturday for the next installment