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Best RPG Game?

TattooArtist

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What do you think is the best RPG game? I have to say Zelda of course because of its story line, characters and how mystical it is. I love how its a fantasy and a bit scary at the same time. (Ahem. Aragohma. The giant spider in TP)
 
Depends what you mean by RPG. I dont consider Zelda an RPG series, if I did then nearly every game i've ever played could be considered an RPG.

I'll go with Golden Sun. A proper turn based JRPG. It was the first JRPG i managed to complete all on my own and i have very fond memories of it. And damn was the music awesome.

Honourable shoutouts to Tales of Xillia & Berseria.
 
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Dio

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The Witcher 3

It is not only the best RPG but the best game.

The storytelling, characters atmosphere and world building is fantastic. Even each sidequest is thoughtfully crafted. Also the music is amazing and is probably the best video game soundtrack out there. Plus the DLC is actually worth every penny with one being as big as certain full sized games!

For me it is a 10/10 experience which I have nothing to moan about.
 

mαrkαsscoρ

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well if you're gonna say zelda,then I'm unironically gonna say grand theft auto vice city is my favorite RPG, where you role play as tommy vercetti, metal gear solid 3 is also worth a mention as I'm role playing as naked snake
 

Castle

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Yeah let's tighten up our definition of role-playing game plez :)

I'll second @Deus on Witcher 3
Gonna have to personally vouch for Pillars of Eternity, the modern successor to Baldur's Gate 2

The Dragon Age series has it going on. After a long standing love/hate relationship with the series and preferences that tend to diverge from those of series fans, I've finally settled on Origins being the superior game after playing it on PC. Still, I don't despise DA2 like the fans do. And I outright love Inquisition. Recently, I've finally had the chance to start playing Awakening.

Mass Effect, so long as we only consider the first game. Used to like ME2 a heck of a lot more before Biowaste went and trashed the series on behalf of their masters at EA. You can still argue that ME2 is an rpg by virtue of its CYOA storyline.

Honorable mentions to Deus Ex and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I actually think the old games are garbage. I get how outstanding they would have been in their day but they have not aged well and the interface and controls were barely acceptable even then. The stuff Interplay did with the story and world building was remarkable though. Fallout is one of gaming's greatest original fictions. It really does equal and surpass anything the likes of Tolkien or Asimov or Card or Lucas have ever done. Fallout 4 doesn't count. It's not an rpg and not even a proper Fallout. Good game though.
 
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This is a bad question because there are quite a few categories of RPGs and while one may be the "best" in some regard, there are places it'll obviously fall short when contrasted to a different type of RPG. And then "best" is more of a subjective bias than anything else. It has its flaws but I thoroughly enjoy playing 7th Dragon III, which is a turn-based dungeon-crawler JRPG. It's the third installment in the series, but the past two titles were never localized outside of Japan, but it ties into the plotlines of the past two titles rather well and you know what's going on in those two games' history. The storyline is a little mixed up because it has a time travelling mechanic but I like it and the gameplay and visual effects are good. Unnecessary fanservice but that's pretty much the default for JRPGs, isn't it? Memorable characters and cool customization options and interesting time periods and literally everyone is canonically bisexual for some reason. the ending is total **** tho ... seriously, i could write a better ending and im not that creative
 

Lozjam

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Chrono Trigger hands down.

It is one of the only games that I can say is perfectly paced. It's battle system is completely unique, and the story, characterization, and settings are on cast. The sheer amount of variety that occurs throughout this is insane, plus this game lets you try and beat the final boss at any time. It is completely replayable, and is one of the only RPG's that structures its mechanics around replayability.

There is no grinding in Chrono Trigger, at all. The music is one of the best soundtracks of all time. It has a gripping story that never gets old, and it is just amazing.

A lot of people are choosing Western RPG's which spans hundreds of hours. Which, that is okay I guess. But really, the 20 hour first playthrough of a perfectly, and meticulously crafted JRPG cannot be beaten.


My second pick would probably be Xenoblade Chronicles. It is an RPG that spans hundreds of hours, but I feel like it is the most story focused "open world" game ever created. Plus it has an amazingly fun battle system, and charming endearing characters. I would love to see it get the HD treatment on Switch.
 

Castle

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My second pick would probably be Xenoblade Chronicles.

I knew I forgot to mention something! :)

Yeah I usually don't think in terms of JRPG. But XenoC and Chrono Trigger are leagues above their jrpg contemporaries.
 

Cfrock

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Like Satan said (forgive me, Jesus), there are different categories of RPGs, and I don't think I'm well-versed enough to go beyond WesternRPGs and JRPGs (even then I may be off with what I lump into those categories).

As far as JRPGs go, I have very few under my belt. Very few. As a genre, they don't appeal to me, largely because they (seem to) revolve around established characters with defined motives, and the role-play element mainly consists of character builds and customisation (which, to me, makes them no different to most other third-person action games and not exactly RPGs, but I won't argue the point).

To that effect, my pick for best JRPG would be the only one I've ever played and liked: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.

Simply put, it charmed the crap the out of me and came along at pretty much the exact right time for me to enjoy it. I had a lot of fun with the style aspect of the combat, the music was great, and it had many memorable chapters. On reflection, the game has a lot of problems, but don't they all?

I could never get into the original Paper Mario, though. I'm not sure why. Every time I try it, I get to the desert and then lose all interest.

As far as WesternRPGs go I'm a lot more experienced (but still not as much as I'd like to be — I'm currently playing through a pile of isometric RPGs and having a great time with them). I desperately want to gush about Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines because it's a cracked diamond and an absolute testament to how writing, atmosphere, and world-building can save a game.

But I can't say anything other than Morrowind. Anything else would be a lie.

The essence of an RPG, for me, is choice. The character is mine, one I have created, one whose story I will write. Start with a world, flesh it out, give it history, give it culture, give it rules. Then, give me a character editor and an introduction that allows me to determine my background. Then plonk me in that world and kindly eff-off. Choice and the ability to write my own story. That is an RPG to me, and nothing I have ever played has held true to that quite like Morrowind does.

It's flawed, I'll never shy away from that, but the absolute freedom to do and be whatever I want, to define what experience I have on my own terms, trumps all of the issues for me. I have spent more time in Morrowind than any other game ever. It's not even a close contest. Second place would be thousands of hours behind. I've lived more lives in Morrowind than I can recall, I've been everything from a raging barbarian to an apolitical scholar, a travelling merchant to Walter White (a friend and I decided to find the recipe for skooma — which, it turns out, is impossible to make without cheats — and started as wimpy alchemist nerds and eventually ended up as Dons of a very lucrative drug trade across Vvardenfell).

This game defined what an RPG is to me and it will always be dear to my heart, no matter how hard Todd Howard tries to make me hate the franchise.
 

DekuNut

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I've admittedly finished very few RPGs. I've picked up quite a few (Final Fantasy 2, Fire Emblem 7, Chrono Trigger), but only a couple have I played to a point where I could rate it.
I'll definitley call out Pokemon: Fire Red Version. Best game in the series imo (haven't played Generation 7), and it's also one of the most replayable games I've ever come across.
DragonFable was another fun one I played as a kid. I don't know how well it holds up, but in my mind it was pretty damn great.
 
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Going to assume by "RPG" we mean the more traditional definition, instead of the more action/adventure hybrid some people use the term with today. I have to admit though, my personal tastes are pretty skewed in favor of what I personally enjoy instead of what I think is objectively the best of the genre.

Final Fantasy X is my favorite game of all time, and the pinnacle of the traditional JRPG in my mind. Excellent story with very real characters despite the medium being almost brand new to voice acting, fully realized and immersive world filled with history and lore, and excellent turn-based battle system that's the best in the series, and near limitless customization options when it comes to character setup and battle strategy made me fall in love with the game well over a decade ago.

Persona 5 may eventually beat it for me though if I can ever get over FFX nostalgia. FFX is my favorite traditional JRPG, but Persona 5 is a masterpiece of a modernized iteration. It's turn-based as well, but the combat is structured in such a way that every battle and encounter is far more engaging than just pressing the attack button over and over. The sim portions of the game are great too, giving me some awesome characters that I didn't mind spending well over 80 hours with. It's my number two of all time behind FFX.

Others in the thread have already mentioned some of the great WRPGs out there. Elder Scrolls has been fantastic for years now, if you have a Switch and somehow never played Skyrim, I'd be all over that.
 

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