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Rank the best RPGs
racketboy - Jun 26, 2003

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  racketboy Jun 26, 2003
Here's a preliminary list before I post the poll.

Please speak quickly if I am missing any important ones:

Phantasy Star

Phantasy Star II

Phantasy Star III

Phantasy Star IV

Phantasy Star Online

Shining Force

Shining Force II

Shining in the Darkness

Shining Force III

Shining the Holy Ark

Shining Wisdom

Shining Force CD

Grandia

Grandia 2

Skies of Arcadia

Panzer Dragoon Saga

Crusader of Centy

Landstalker

Lunar: The Silver Star

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue

Snatcher

Popful Mail

Beyond Oasis

Legend of Oasis

Dragon Force

Albert Odyssey

Shenmue

Shenmue II

 Jaded God Jun 26, 2003
Well if PSO is going to be considered an RPG.. then you should add Shenmue I and II!!! :cheers

 Resident_Lurker Jun 26, 2003
Albert Odyssey maybe?

 Nadius Jun 26, 2003
Dragon Force should be there, I know some people who love that game.

 racketboy Jun 26, 2003
k -- that should take care of the main ones -- poll is up!

 Kidderz Jun 26, 2003
Fuck me, is there enough RPGs?! Didnt know ther was THAT many!

 crystalmethod Jun 26, 2003
If PSO is up Shenmue should be up? Wheres the logic in that...Shenmue is much more of a 3D adventure game than traditional RPG like all the rest on the list are...I don't think its fair that its placed on this list as it'll do much better when compared with other genre's....although I must admit, it is a tricky one to classify.

 racketboy Jun 26, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by KiDdErZ@Jun 26, 2003 @ 06:18 PM



 Fuck me, is there enough RPGs?! Didnt know ther was THAT many!


those are just the ones that are at least pretty good

theres lots of other ok to subpar RPGs too

 Myname Jun 26, 2003
Then again, if Shenmue isn't an RPG then Snatcher most definately isn't. It's not like you level-up or fight battles in either of them.

 Caelestis Jun 26, 2003
You can't honestly ask me to decide between all of my Shining Force babies...


  racketboy Jul 8, 2003
only 16 votes?

 CrazyGoon Jul 8, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			although I must admit, it is a tricky one to classify.


Here's where I come to help . I present to you "The Golden Rule of RPG's": An RPG must have turn-based fighting!

RPG's are not, I repeat 'Not' decided upon characters that can level up (although all RPG's incorperate this element).

Examples:

Shenmue is a 3D Adventure game (although I believe it has some RPG elements in it - turned based fighting scenes, and leveling up fighting skills... don't quote me on this, I haven't yet explored the vast world of Shenmue)

Snatcher is not an RPG - It doesn't have turn-based fighting. Snatcher is a Digital Comic (Yes, this is a genre, believe it or not. The same way that FMV is a genre.)

Popful Mail (although you can level up) is not an RPG - It doesn't have turn-based fighting.

Now, Shining Force has turn-based fighting and also has characters that can level up. Is it an RPG? NO! :devil Going by "The Golden Rule of (non-real-time) Strategy games": A (non-real-time) Strategy game must have units that move according to squares on the map. Shining Force, is indeed, a Strategy game. Same goes for Dark Wizard (Sega CD).

And finally, Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) is not an RPG, despite what it was dubbed back in the day. Please understand that.

Out of the rest of the RPG's listed, the only ones I have played are the Lunar series, so my judgement of the best RPG's will be 100% biased. Though I will say, from all RPG's I have played across all systems (about 4 including the Lunar series), I have to say Lunar my definition of perfect RPG (great story, music, gameplay) (Wow, I haven't played many RPG's , never owned any back in the day... don't even recall seeing them. Did anyone from OZ ever buy brand new an RPG for 16-bit systems and below?)

 mtxblau Jul 8, 2003
The very term 'RPG' is fairly nebulous - in almost any game you play some kind of role.

Just as devil's advocate, would the Golden Rule encompass chess or checkers?

And finally, how could Shining Force not be winning?

Edit: if we're going by this Golden Rule, I suppose SF is winning.

 Shitface Jul 8, 2003
Eh... Panzer Dragoon Saga is winning? The game is good and all but far from the best rpg. Highly over rated IMO. If it wasn't so rare or hard to find, then i think it wouldn't be quite as popular amongs the saturn fans.

 googlefest1 Jul 8, 2003
well if you were to define an rpg shouldnt it be what "role playing is"

that YOU are the character and acting something out

if that was the case then no video games would be rpgs (unless they were VR and had more than one player

That aside -- i agree and disagree with the rpg rules -- personaly i like turnbased rpgs and consider "strategy" rpgs -- rpgs also

i think when you add a big story to an adventure game then it can be considered an rpg (like shenmue - and a bunch of the other stuff on ps2) -- but personaly if i was the almighty game clasifier and had the final say- id take most of those kind of games off the rpg list and put hem on adventure game list -- but some (like shenmue would be hard to classify but certainly would have minus points for being in that format

mabey they need a new list "adventure game with big story" --thats a great title

 CrazyGoon Jul 8, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			well if you were to define an rpg shouldnt it be what "role playing is" 



that YOU are the character and acting something out

More like "role-playing" is taking the role of the character/s, though that alone is to broad to be use in order to classify the genre. Apart from some puzzle games, you take the role of a character in every game.


  
	
	

		
		

			That aside -- i agree and disagree with the rpg rules -- personaly i like turnbased rpgs and consider "strategy" rpgs -- rpgs also

Well, one thing is certain - there is no such thing as an RPG with no turn-based fighting. Shining Force can be compared to Nintendo's (non-real-time) Strategy game: Advanced Wars. The gameplay is identical. So I guess you would classify Advanced Wars as an "Strategy RPG" also? When you are playing either Advanced Wars or Shining Force you sometimes think to yourself: "Now, If I go that way, those strong dudes will blow me out of the water - perhaps I'll sneak in through the back." This is using a 'stategy' and is used in all strategy games (both real-time and non-real-time).

Leveling up does not define an RPG - turn-based fighting does.

Turn-based fighting doesn't define a (non-real-time) strategy game - limited unit movement per go does.
  
	
	

		
		

			Just as devil's advocate, would the Golden Rule encompass chess or checkers?

Well, chess/ checkers are strategy games (every movement is important - the wrong movement can cost you the game) so, yes. "The Golden Rule of Strategy games" does work. Or do people think chess/ checkers are puzzle games?

 ratfish Jul 8, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by MTXBlau@Jul 8, 2003 @ 11:33 AM



 The very term 'RPG' is fairly nebulous - in almost any game you play some kind of role. 



Just as devil's advocate, would the Golden Rule encompass chess or checkers? 



And finally, how could Shining Force not be winning? 



Edit: if we're going by this Golden Rule, I suppose SF is winning.


I would have voted for Shining Force if the topic was "Best Strategy RPG on a Sega platform", but I chose Grandia II because it is a true "RPG" RPG. I haven't tried PD Saga yet, so I couldn't say anything about that.

 googlefest1 Jul 9, 2003
isint shining force cd the same as shining force 1 and 2

 stack99 Jul 9, 2003
I would have to say Phantasy star one, because it started things off for sega at a time when stuff like zelda and final fantasy were out sega threw its hat into the RPG/ adventure....or if you want the "Adventure game with a really big story, or the Zoolander school for children who want to read good and stuff, but seriously, Phantasy star came out and was sooo soo nice, graphically, story and everything, it had it all back then, on a great system the SMS... man those were the days, I remember finding ODIN, and stuff like that, the endless dungeons. man those were the good old days. Sorry for the tangent, but my vote is for ps.


  mtxblau Jul 9, 2003

  
	
	

		
		

			Originally posted by googlefest1@Jul 8, 2003 @ 04:26 PM



 isint shining force cd the same as shining force 1 and 2


No, Shining Force CD is SF 1 & 2 of Game Gear fame (two separate games, in fact).

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