games...and more games

Cooolcorey · **Cooolcorey**

There are some guys at my school who play those, but I've never really gotten into them.

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

I can't do muds. I just can't. In the end I end up being immed and get a job like balancing the entire place. That really pisses people off. The owner guy was tired of his mud being all about power leveling so he brought me on board. I promptly turned that place upside down (low level areas become massively hard and the other way around) players hated me. It was funny.

Unfortunatly it just took up too much time. That and I got into a massive argement with the owner guy when I deliberatly deleted his "secret" character.

Kalma · **Kalma**

Was his "secret"character marklard?
_________________
You're An Inu (Dog)!
Loyal and protective. A true friend all the way.
You love having yours ears scratched, and being near your loved ones.

"If you people cared as much for human life as we do, we wouldn't have to kill all of you."

Andromaton · **Andromaton**

How about we get your not so secret character deleted?

JJc14 · **JJc14**

i attempted a "top ten rpgs" list similar to the anime one a few weeks ago, but i could only come up with eight right now and most of my descriptions are ramblings about events concerning the games...

read if you dare...

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Game Name (System(s)) [When First Played/When First Beaten]

1.) Phantasy Star IV (Genesis) [Fall '95/March '96]
The only game in my current 20 years of life to sway my entire outlook on video gaming, Phantasy Star IV is responsible for my current RPG addiction that's stayed with me nearly a decade after playing it first.

I originally heard about Phantasy Star IV via a Prodigy bulletin board and later through the GamePro review and strategy guide. I knew I had to play this game, and finally my local rental place offered it in the fall of '95. I was hooked completely, to the point that the Monday the game was due back, I faked sick for the only time in my life to stay home and play it that day. Soon after I worked as hard as I could to raise the eighty dollars to purchase the game (yes, cartridge RPG's back then had very steep price tags). It was February when I finally succeeded, and I basically shut myself away and played it for three weeks straight until beating it. I've since replayed it entirely two more times, and while I haven't hooked up the Genesis in over four years now, you know I'll be snagging a copy of the PS2 remake when it's released over here.

2.) Final Fantasy VII (PS1/PC) [October '98/March '02]
Now I know those dates seem very strange, and no, that wasn't all one playthrough that took me over three years to accomplish...

Final Fantasy VII was like that scrap of food hanging in front of a starving animal. Since I decided to skip over purchasing a console during the Saturn/Playstation/N64 era, seeing that epic television ad for FF7 slowly tortured me. Everywhere I turned, people were talking about how great of a game this was, and I almost caved and bought the Playstation console just to check it out. Luckily, I heard that a PC port was being released, and I remember clutching the box the day I bought it.

At the time, my computer was a lowly 486, and it basically ran the game in choppy, slow motion, but I didn't care. I put in over fifty hours and got to the end of the second CD when the game froze. I continued to reload and it continued to freeze in the same spot. Annoyed, I moved onto other games, but would end up restarting the game two more times only to get to the same dead end.

It wouldn't be until late 2001 when I found out that a friend of mine had the Playstation version. Since I now had a PS2, I pounced on it, finally ending the saga in early 2002. Even with my incredibly bad luck, I thought it was an excellent game.

3.) Diablo (PC/PS1) [December '97/Spring '98]
While I played my share of "online" games back in the day with Doom, Doom 2, and HoverRace, I never even considered that a multiplayer RPG of any sort existed, not even the action-RPG hybrid Diablo.

It was a kid in my freshman English class that talked about this game, and when I got it for Christmas, I was set. I played the single-player mode for a while, and while I never did completely beat it on my own, the main appeal was the multiplay mode over Battle.net. It was here where up to four people could fight together, and it turned out to be a great place to play with friends. My first character used a lot of that powered-up, user-created crap, but when I learned about it, I abandoned him and decided to only use equipment I found. I was able to maintain an extremely powerful sorcerer, which in turn made me more intimidating than those with "hacked" items, and I truly had a blast, consistently playing until the sequel was released.

While Diablo II successfully expanded upon everything, in my mind it simply cannot beat the original.

4.) Lunar: The Silver Star Story (Sega CD/PS1) [November '02/January '03]
The Lunar series was a name I had heard back when I first bought a Genesis, but never one I expected to play due to its console selection being one way outta my price range at the time.

When I learned that a Playstation remake had been released, I combed the pages of eBay for a good year and a half before finding what I wanted: an unopened copy of the complete box that Working Designs released for Lunar 1. I bid 120 bucks on it, but lost in the last seconds of the auction. The buyer re-listed it, and I made the same bid, but this time there were no other bidders, so I ended up paying only $65 after shipping. Last winter I settled down and took in a stellar story with some of the most realistic characters I'd ever seen.

Lunar 1 was truly an experience, and while I usually give a two-year space before considering a game on my "top" list, I knew before this game was over that it'd make my top five.

5.) The Legend Of Zelda (NES) [Winter '89/Summer '91] [tie]
Ah yes, you'd think it'd all start here, but Zelda was the only game in my 20+ NES collection that could be classified as an RPG. Since the folks were so adamantly against my wanting to buy a Genesis, I was "stuck" with the NES through the early '90s. Everyone else I knew had either moved onto another console or gave up gaming entirely, and this entitled me to a lot of "hand-me-down" games that I would've otherwise never played.

The Legend Of Zelda was different from the games I was used to in that it had a save system and it wasn't possible to beat in one sitting. Therefore, I originally shied away, playing it in small increments over 1990 and not really getting far, but come that winter, I was over a cousin's house and he was having trouble with the last dungeon of the first "quest" mode. We stayed up most of that night and figured out how to beat the game, marking what we thought was a proud moment in our lives at the time. When I got back home, I popped in the game and never looked back.

Oddly enough, I never did completely beat the second "quest", where everything gets rearranged after beating the game the first time through, but miraculously my console battery is still alive, so the opportunity remains.

5.) Grandia (Saturn/PS1) [June '01/August '01] [tie]
The question was not "if" but "when" once the Playstation 2 came to the U.S. I thought it best to wait until graduation in 2001, since my grades were kinda iffy and my first new console since the Genesis in '94 would likely be distracting. When my last month of high school hit in April '01, I had the console, now I just needed the game.

I bought Grandia due to my friend's praises of Grandia 2, which he owned on the Dreamcast. After giving up on Alundra 2, which was annoying me to no end, I thought it best to give this game a spin in late June. The combat was fun and arranged in a way I'd never seen before, and just about every small innovation felt natural. The story had me hooked in a way that only a select few games could accomplish, and Justin's emotions really came through well. The promise of 80 hours of gameplay came up about half an hour short, but I'm not complaining.

I honestly thought that after completing this game, I'd never find another like it, and while I've played a lot of good games since, only one or two have really matched this level.

7.) Final Fantasy II/IV (SNES/PS1) [(II) Spring '00/Summer '00 | (IV) July '03/July '03]
How does a game originally played by mistake make the top list? When the character development and story go leagues beyond the graphic and sound technology available at the time...

The finding of an emulator brought about the opening of the many SNES RPG's I missed out on due to being a Sega fanboy in the early/mid '90s. A friend of mine was big on RPG's from this era, so when I asked him about good games on the console, he brought up the Final Fantasies. I liked what I played of VII, so I thought it best to try an older one, and when I asked him which was better, he said "ffii". He soon signed off, and I started playing the epic, finding out a week later that he actually made a typo, as he wanted me to play Final Fantasy III.

FFII/FFIV did a great job of developing its main character, Cecil, along with the Active Time Battle system which I've always liked. While the SNES version was the "Easy" mode of the original, with the release of Final Fantasy Chronicles for the PS1, I got to bask in the 'true' game.

8.) Castle Of The Winds (I & II) (PC) [December '94/January '96]
A shareware game making the list? Maybe I was just desperate back then...

Anyone weaned on console gaming from the sixteen-bit era onward would probably die laughing at this game. Graphics were really advanced, as the hero and all enemies were merely .bmp pictures that moved in the four basic directions, and "animation" was limited to flipping the pictures to reflect what direction they last moved. Spells were hurled at enemies in a slideshow-like fashion, and the story wasn't much more than taking down an ultimate evil that took out your family. But no matter how much I bash it now, the shareware version (titled "Castle of the Winds") had me hooked, and when I got to the end, I continued leveling up my character for the next half-year or so.

My friend tracked down the second half (titled "Castle of the Winds II"), and I bought it for a whopping $2.50. Since I was able to import my pumped-up guy from the shareware, I easily flew through the rest of the game, and while the story may have been minimal, I really enjoyed the combat system, and I can't help but credit this game as being my stepping stone to embracing the genre in the years to come.

Honorable Mentions:

- Fallout (PC) [All of '98/Never beaten]
A highly recommended RPG in one of the first PC Gamer magazines I received, Fallout created an original setting for it's story to unfold, utilizing one of the best character development systems in existence to fully customize your hero. It was a friend of mine that snagged a copy, and I put in about 40 hours or so on his computer with my character. Unfortunately, his computer crashed, taking both his and my saves with it, and I haven't gotten around to playing it since.

I bought the sequel as soon as it came out, and while the story and character system were still there, it was obvious that the game was a rushed project, and I never could fully convince myself to finish it.

If I ever do purchase and play through the first game, I'm pretty sure it'd make my list somewhere.

- Landstalker (Genesis) [Fall '97/Winter '97]
With an odd semi-overhead perspective, Landstalker was perhaps the biggest surprise I've had gaming. You get used to the view very quickly, and the story quickly sucks you in. Played this on the Sega Channel, though if I ever come across a used copy somewhere, I would like to play it again.

- Shadowrun (Genesis) [Fall '97/Spring '98]
A modernized RPG that somehow mixes spellcasting, firearms, hacking, security raids, and multiple classes, Shadowrun is a very open game which allows for a lot of freedom within the story. While the combat was fun, the plot felt very disjointed, as there were multiple instances where I had no clue what to do next. Like Landstalker, I played this on the Sega Channel, so I'd definitely spring for a used copy to check it out again.

- Shining Force II (Genesis) [Fall '97/Spring '98]
My first foray into the more strategic side of the genre, Shining Force II was an interesting change of pace. The prospect of finding characters to join your battles, the use of terrain to aid/hinder during fighting, and the sheer amount of diverse characters available to recruit gave the story an epic feel on a grander scale than other titles. While I couldn't help but cheat my way through the first time, I later went back and beat it legit, which was much more exciting. Yet another Sega Channel game that I don't own...

- Grandia II (Dreamcast/PS2) [January '03/February '03]
Though sharing the same name, there's very little relation between this and the original. Despite the changes, the great battle system remains, and the unique experience system was a lot of fun. The characters were well developed, and Ryudo is still one of my favorite main characters of all time.

- Alundra (PS1) [May '03/June '03]
An incredibly hard game to find, but worth the effort, Alundra is perhaps the best of the action-adventure games not starring Link. From the same guys who made Landstalker, Alundra sports an interesting story, fun combat, and some of the most challenging puzzles I've ever come across.

- Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (Sega CD/PS1) [December '03/January '04]
As I type this, it's been two days since finishing Lunar 2, and just like the first game, I know it's going to make my top list somewhere. Lunar 2 tweaks everything from the first game just right, with an epic story to match. It's very rare that a sequel can even compete with the original, but I can easily see it happening in this case.

Since it's way too fresh in my mind to fairly rank, it remains an honorable mention for the present time.
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and now back to your regularly scheduled conversation...
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"Life's a journey, not a destination..." -Aerosmith ('Amazing')
Current RPG(s): (None)

crinoalvien124 · **crinoalvien124**

....uh what system is fire emblem for? nto speakin the game boy one but the other one thats an only jap game....
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talking to the GM is like praying to a minor diety

John_Bono_Smithy_Satchmo · **John_Bono_Smithy_Satchmo**

FAK, you can cover that question.
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This space left intentionally blank.

Force-Attuned_Krogoth · **Force-Attuned_Krogoth**

Fire Emblem 1, 2, and 3 were for NES.
3, 4, and 5 SNES.
6, 7 GBA.

I like 4 and 5, particularly 4 best.
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Krogoth uses Berserk.
Attacks are enhanced but defense weakens.
"Wait, that's not the cure button ... "

ToonamiL · **ToonamiL**

Counter-Strike on X-Box kicks arse. No questions asked. Questions?

Cooolcorey · **Cooolcorey**

It has Live! support right?

ToonamiL · **ToonamiL**

Yes, next questio...wait, what I'm I sayin?

crinoalvien124 · **crinoalvien124**

fire emblem rom? anywhere? how have you played any of the fire emblems ifthey aint in english?...tears of depression follow...oh and in my stupdity i forgot to include that the legacy of kain series kicks so hard, anyone played them?
_________________
talking to the GM is like praying to a minor diety

dougisfunny · **dougisfunny**

they do have translated roms... or he could have held a japanese kid hostage to translate
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The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?

crinoalvien124 · **crinoalvien124**

uh can i get a link to the rom or somethin?...
_________________
talking to the GM is like praying to a minor diety

Cooolcorey · **Cooolcorey**


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