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IGN's Top 100 RPGs of All Time

aravuus

Member
Why would a shitty Let's Play dissuade people? Spoony is awful.

I assume they meant it as a sort of a reminder that "hey, remember that you'll probably be doing this (drawing) for hours during early game." And I would be doing it for hours during the early game. Drawing is boring as all hell, but I can't not do it. Wish there was a cheat to always draw max amount of the spell or something lol, would speed things up a bit.

Either way, Prey started glitching out on me for some reason and I felt like playing a PS1 JRPG, so I booted up Vagrant Story, since I've never played it much and it's pretty high on the list there.

I'm so goddamn lost, story AND gameplay wise lmao.
 

Hylian7

Member
Persona 4G at this point is pretty much the FFVII of SMT games, I don't think a lot of people will ever be able to accept anything else from Atlus coming close

Sadly you're correct, not only that but in the fact that many people think Persona IS SMT.

I like the Persona games, but prefer SMT. I really wish the people of the mindset of "Only the Persona games are good, the rest of the games under the Megaten hat are trash" would give SMT games a try. :(
 

kromeo

Member
I assume they meant it as a sort of a reminder that "hey, remember that you'll probably be doing this (drawing) for hours during early game." And I would be doing it for hours during the early game. Drawing is boring as all hell, but I can't not do it. Wish there was a cheat to always draw max amount of the spell or something lol, would speed things up a bit.

Either way, Prey started glitching out on me for some reason and I felt like playing a PS1 JRPG, so I booted up Vagrant Story, since I've never played it much and it's pretty high on the list there.

I'm so goddamn lost, story AND gameplay wise lmao.

I started and dropped Vagrant Story a few times because the story feels all over the place at the start, well worth sticking with though
 
Well that's actually a stellar top 20

-but-

I must be the only person born in the 90s who doesn't think that Final Fantasy 6 belongs so damn high all the time

Shit almost feels like gaming's longest-running meme. I love the game but jeez
 
40 Final Fantasy IX
39 Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
38 Fallout
37 Fire Emblem
36 Neverwinter Nights
35 Baldur's Gate
34 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
33 Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
32 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
31 Final Fantasy XII
30 Pokémon Sun and Moon
29 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
28 Fallout: New Vegas
27 Bloodborne
26 Mass Effect
25 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
24 Ultima VII: The Black Gate
23 System Shock 2
22 Final Fantasy IV
21 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
20 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
19 EarthBound
18 Final Fantasy Tactics
17 Suikoden II
16 Deus Ex
15 Fallout 2
14 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
13 Persona 4 Golden
12 Dark Souls
11 Mass Effect 2
10 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
09 Vagrant Story
08 Diablo II
07 Secret of Mana
06 Planescape: Torment
05 World of Warcraft
04 Pokémon Yellow
03 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
02 Final Fantasy VI
01 Chrono Trigger
 

kswiston

Member
Well that's actually a stellar top 20

-but-

I must be the only person born in the 90s who doesn't think that Final Fantasy 6 belongs so damn high all the time

Shit almost feels like gaming's longest-running meme. I love the game but jeez

If you were born in the 90s, you were probably playing FFVI well after the fact. I'm not sure how FFVI comes off if you were used to stuff in the late 90s/early 00s already.

I was 12 when FF6 came out. There are a a handful of sprite-based RPGs in the 16 and 32 bit generations that I prefer over FF6. Chrono Trigger is only one of them.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Monster Hunter on an RPG list, help.
Yeah, this is my biggest issue. I know the definition of RPG is stretched and ill-defined nowadays, but that's just a few steps too far to classify the MH games as RPGs.

Also, not surprised, but still a little bummed that the Etrian Odyssey series didn't even get on the list at all.

Oh, and for my inflamatory yet accurate bit...
Pokemon GSC's absence is the correct call. I'll give it that the whole "post game"
stuff was a genius way to distract people from its issues, but those games are really flawed in some critical ways. (IE look at crap like level and pokemon distribution, and just general usability of the Pokemon they introduced, even just for in-game story mode purposes).
 
Genuinely suprised at Vagrant Story. Wasn't exactly to everyone's taste but I loved it and I'm glad to see it rated so highly. That's actually a really solid top 10
 
If you were born in the 90s, you were probably playing FFVI well after the fact. I'm not sure how FFVI comes off if you were used to stuff in the late 90s/early 00s already.

I was 12 when FF6 came out. There are a a handful of sprite-based RPGs in the 16 and 32 bit generations that I prefer over FF6. Chrono Trigger is only one of them.

I was 12 when I first played FF6! and I've beaten the game twice, once on SNES, once when it was re-released on GBA (it held up)

but it's worth noting that I didn't play a whole lot of modern video games until my teens. Until at least halfway through last decade, gaming to me was

NES, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Mario 64, and Super Smash Bros. Melee

and so FFVI being from that era did nothing to detract from my experience, in fact it being an awesome 2d sprite based game probably helped me to enjoy it more tbh.
 

Yoda

Member
I'd put pokemon red/green instead of the yellow, but otherwise I'm shocked the top 10 isn't filled with big-budget open-world games... Well done IGN?
 

Vistrix

Member
Decent top 20.

I just have a problem with Star Ocean: The Second Story at 79. Deserves to be so much higher in my opinion.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
Chrono Trigger above Final FantasyVI?

Good

That's one of those things I don't really have a strong opinion about. Like, I prefer CT to FF6, but if they are ranked the other way around that's fine too.
 

PSFan

Member
Well, the best FF of all, FFX is missing for some reason. As I'm sure you must agree, the entire list is invalid until this error is fixed.

Sorry, FF VI is best of all. IMO, FF IX was the only good FF on Playstation. VII is not bad either, it's just highly overrated. I didn't like X that much, because there wasn't really an overworld, just "hallways" to run through. The main villain in X was kinda dumb too.
 

GDJustin

stuck my tongue deep inside Atlus' cookies
Oh yeah you're the one who couldn't understand how people liked VIII yet placed LoD on the list lolllllllll

I've never played Legend of Dragoon - these lists are always a group effort and it had other supporters. As a group we do our best to synthesize a lot of dissenting opinions into a single cohesive list, and it isn't easy. It's hard to know how high to place a game when only ONE person in the room has played it, but insists it's one of the best-ever, for example.

Everyone likes to complain about the ordering, but you guys covered most of the classics somewhere in the top 100. I am happy to see Tactics Ogre, Suikoden 2, Vagrant Story, and Fallout 2 in the top 20, along with the usual list toppers.

Kudos for not sticking a bunch of recent/popular open world adventure games with some light RPG features in there. This list is actually better than most for recency bias.

Thanks!
 
40 Final Fantasy IX
39 Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
38 Fallout
37 Fire Emblem
36 Neverwinter Nights
35 Baldur's Gate
34 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
33 Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
32 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
31 Final Fantasy XII
30 Pokémon Sun and Moon
29 Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
28 Fallout: New Vegas
27 Bloodborne
26 Mass Effect
25 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
24 Ultima VII: The Black Gate
23 System Shock 2
22 Final Fantasy IV
21 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
20 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
19 EarthBound
18 Final Fantasy Tactics
17 Suikoden II
16 Deus Ex
15 Fallout 2
14 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
13 Persona 4 Golden
12 Dark Souls
11 Mass Effect 2
10 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
09 Vagrant Story
08 Diablo II
07 Secret of Mana
06 Planescape: Torment
05 World of Warcraft
04 Pokémon Yellow
03 Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
02 Final Fantasy VI
01 Chrono Trigger

Well they ended on a good note.

Should be FFVII at #1 and BG2 and #2 though.

FFX being left off is a fucking crime. And I'm sorry but Vagrant Story wasn't THAT great. Sure as hell not over KOTOR.
 

Deku Tree

Member
The fact that they even put Jade Empire on the list indicates that IGN currently has a bunch of huge old Bioware fans. I mean Jade Empire is one of my favorite RPGs that nobody played (it bombed sales wise IIRC). But its definitely not one of the top 100 RPGS, not even close.

I loved ME and ME2 and SW KotoR and other Bioware games and they certainly deserve to be rated high...

but Jade Empire is just another a cookie cutter similar Bioware RPG with no novel elements, and it has a dumb uninteresting story and it has a very mediocre combat system. Sure it was fun if you wanted another old Bioware style RPG back on your original Xbox. But it was nothing special. It was not a top 100 RPG IMHO.
 
I assume they meant it as a sort of a reminder that "hey, remember that you'll probably be doing this (drawing) for hours during early game." And I would be doing it for hours during the early game. Drawing is boring as all hell, but I can't not do it. Wish there was a cheat to always draw max amount of the spell or something lol, would speed things up a bit.

I dunno why people seem to look for the most unfun ways to play that game, which has a very flexible/intuitive progression system that actually limits the time you spend on menus. Focus on the Spirit stat first and you'll always draw 9. Refine items instead of spending your whole time drawing(you don't even need 99 in everything for every character, especially early game). Game has scaling? That doesn't mean you should go for a level 1 run ffs, plus certain bosses have set levels. You can refine cards? Why go out of your way to break the game by refining your rare character card early game for broken items when you can just hold on to it, that limits the time you would grind on triple triad/change rules etc to get more cards.


All in all it's a very fun rpg with great pacing and a steady amount of interesting side quests available throughout the length of the game. Sadly some fans overdramatize the game's differences so people can have trouble seeing it as a regular RPG when game isn't really that different from say, VII or IX
 
Horizon is considered a RPG?

It was on GameInformer's list.

IMO it definitely is. You have dialogue options, branching narratives, leveling up, skill trees, gear and craftable items, etc...

If it isn't, then Diablo sure as hell isn't. And Zelda isn't remotely close.
 

Dark_castle

Junior Member
There's a lot I disagree with, but I must point out FFIV is nowhere near where it landed at 20+, are you kidding me. And the superior FFV not even in top 100? Burn this list.
 
It was on GameInformer's list.

IMO it definitely is. You have dialogue options, branching narratives, leveling up, skill trees, gear and craftable items, etc...

If it isn't, then Diablo sure as hell isn't. And Zelda isn't remotely close.

A lot of games on this list shouldn't be on an RPG list, I mean would you really classify Eve Online as an RPG? Because I sure as hell wouldn't. RPG is just a characteristic of certain games, it's not an actual genre anymore.
 

aravuus

Member
I dunno why people seem to look for the most unfun ways to play that game, which has a very flexible/intuitive progression system that actually limits the time you spend on menus. Focus on the Spirit stat first and you'll always draw 9. Refine items instead of spending your whole time drawing(you don't even need 99 in everything for every character, especially early game). Game has scaling? That doesn't mean you should go for a level 1 run ffs, plus certain bosses have set levels. You can refine cards? Why go out of your way to break the game by refining your rare character card early game for broken items when you can just hold on to it, that limits the time you would grind on triple triad/change rules etc to get more cards.


All in all it's a very fun rpg with great pacing and a steady amount of interesting side quests available throughout the length of the game. Sadly some fans overdramatize the game's differences so people can have trouble seeing it as a regular RPG when game isn't really that different from say, VII or IX

I know I don't have to, it's just how I tend to play, I guess. I tend to rely on grinding easily, and when there's a way to get a 100 of some spell for "free" (other than the time wasted), it's something I find hard to ignore.

That said, it's not like I find the game less enjoyable because of that. And as luck would have it, I just now actually found the cheat code I mentioned, so since I can't make head or tails of Vagrant Story, I suppose I'll dive in to FF VIII. Maybe I'll try a bit more traditional approach and not spend hours grinding cards to refine to spells that destroy all challenge for the first 20 hours and just kind of... Play the game lol.
 
Chrono Trigger being #1 is mostly all that matters to me!

I was extremely surprised and satisfied to see Vagrant Story at #9. I think the game's brilliance is still largely unknown to most gamers. It makes my short list, too.
 
Baldur's Gate 2 (the true #1) coming in at #3 is about as high as one could reasonably expect it, so we'll take it.

Phantasy Star 2 got jobbed but that's no surprise, really.
 

barybll

Banned
Chrono trigger gotta be a
"oh shit we gotta name the best rpg ever"
"lol dude just pick the usual choice"
"oh yeah thanks my man"
Pick by this point
 
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