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Best/innovative RPG games.

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Rockley Bonner polycounter lvl 12
I say innovative in the header because the best ones I remember where the classic turn based ones but im sure there are other game play styles. I kind of did very little gaming when I was younger, but anyways, Mine are Breath of fire and the early FF series. which are yours?

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  • leilei
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    leilei polycounter lvl 14
    Amulets & Armor

    A bit of an obscure and crappy looking one with limited customization, but dammit, multiplayer LAN cooperative first-person real-time RPGs are rare enough as it is


    Also Final Fantasy V (job system!) and Ultima VII. Biased heavily toward IV and VI though...
  • Shiniku
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    Shiniku polycounter lvl 9
    I don't know if it would be considered an RPG or not, but the game that introduced me to some features commonly found in RPGs (In-depth dialogue choices, character creation, open explorable game world, open-ended story) was Star Flight, moreso the Sega Genesis version than the DOS counterparts though. SO it always holds a place dear to my heart.

    Since then, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind has really set the standard for what RPGs can achieve in terms of atmosphere, deep and varied gameplay, and the sheer depth and freedom allowed to the player in exploring the game world. Honestly nothing has topped it in my opinion, although Skyrim is pretty damn good as well.

    Also, I really loved Demon's Souls and even more Dark Souls. They lack some of what I look for in an RPG, like many interesting and varied characters and a really solid story, they are fun as hell. The satisfaction you feel when you finally succeed in a tough spot is something no other game has matched for me.

    Despite being picky about the games I really love, just about any western RPG can easily hook me. I sunk hundreds of hours into Two Worlds...
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    FF12's battle & exploration happening in the same map combined with the ability to pretty much program your characters with the Gambit system (cool UI with the curved beams too). Playing JRPGs, about 80% of the time I curse when I'm interrupted by a random battle.

    I can't really give much opinion on FF13, I borrowed it from the work library and played a few hours through their one button combat system and returned it :P
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    I thought Tales of Phantasia had a pretty interesting combat system
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I've only liked RPGS with combat, like Phantasy Star Online, Witcher 2, Dark Souls.
  • Zepic
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    Zepic polycounter lvl 11
    I loved these when I was a kid, I'm not sure how they would hold up today...

    Chrono Trigger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_trigger

    Secret of Mana:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_of_mana

    Crystalis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystalis
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    for recentish stuff witcher 1 and 2 and dark souls
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Costume quest. I'd forgotten I bought it a while ago, and past week I gave it a whirl when a friend was over. We were kind of flabbergasted by how cool it was - at least up to how far we got.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Axx56q2zDk"]Costume Quest: Video Review - YouTube[/ame]
  • GrevSev
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    GrevSev polycounter lvl 9
    played these the most and I'm likely to play them far in the future


    Chrono trigger
    Hack 1-4
    Hack GU
    Demon's Soul's
    FF3 & Chrystal Chronicles
    Legacy of Goku
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Turn based is a dying genre. Today every RPG needs "action" and "realtime" or it won't pass the marketing drones unless it happens to be a whatever-"tactics" title. The only really recent old school RPG I know of is Grimrock, unless you also want to include the gazillion rogue likes. But there's nothing else in the style of Eye of the Beholder, Lands of Lore or Ultima VI. Maybe it's better when it comes to JRPGs...
  • biofrost
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    biofrost polycounter lvl 12
    Persona 3 and 4 both mix up the typical JRPG with adding in social links. You have the choice of who you hang out with and get closer to, do tons of after school stuff. Doing this inbetween the dungon crawl sections really breaths some new life into the JRPG, at least for me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ba8LKmqYxA
  • blankslatejoe
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    blankslatejoe polycounter lvl 19
    Ive got to second Morrowind. That was my first TES game...and everything was so alien and open-ended. It was a single-player MMO, really...before the standard MMO style came into being...and the first RPG I played at least with a true sandbox world, silent stat upgrades, first-person options (which were a must cause the 3rd person animations were so goofy), and visual breadcrumbing.

    To see them refine that experience through Oblivion and Skyrim has been awesome.
  • Lord McMutton
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    Lord McMutton polycounter lvl 17
    I thought Eternal Sonata had a nice combination of turn-based and realtime combat:
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxcKjeFVcqk"]Eternal Sonata Gameplay 2 - YouTube[/ame]

    As you attack, you build up something called Echoes, represented by that number that appears in the lower-right corner.

    Your special attacks were powered up depending on the amount you have, and you eventually get the ability to chain special attacks between characters which, when combined with a high number of echoes, ends up absolutely devastating.

    Attacks can be blocked, but only if they aren't coming from the back, so there's some strategic value in flanking.
  • Fragged
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    Fragged polycounter lvl 9
    I always liked Dark Cloud 2 from Level5 (or Dark Chronicle as it was named in Europe). This game has alot of fighting, collecting, inventing and exploring.

    The gameplay involves alot of exploration and combat, although exploring some of the maps can become repetitive (most of them have a similar layout but have a different scenery). The visual style is very nice and colorful and reminds you instantly of Japanese animation.
    You also had to photograph objects of interest in the towns and use these pictures to invent new items, weapons, armor and other stuff.
    To make progress in the story you had to rebuild villages and important places using these inventions, and get the villagers back into town.
    All in all, this game is great fun to play if you can still find it.
    Never finished it completely because my version of the game had a game-breaking bug near the ending :(

    There's alot of older RPG's which are great, especially on the PS2.
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    Parasite Eve
    Parasite Eve II
    Final Fantasy VIII (the story is a little bit :poly142:)
    Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
    Rogue Galaxy
    Dragon Quest VIII

    And all the pre PS2 era SQUARE RPGs :D
  • hell-dew
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    hell-dew polycounter lvl 4
    Something ive been playing Recently Ys, Ys is a PC ARPG and honestly Ys origin on Steam is easily one of my top 10 ever played games on PC. think zelda with more focus on the gameplay. it can be a tad wordy which i dont mind but teh actual gameplay is tight and a great mix of Action and platforming that works insanely well. the music is fantastic boss fights are crazy well designed , graphically it looks pretty nice articastically once its in motion running at a full 60FPS + (its really light to run). History wise it predates even final fantasy as well.
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 19
  • Mstankow
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    Mstankow polycounter lvl 11
    Earthbound is being rereleased on the Virtual Console. Still probably one of my favorite RPGs of all time.

    Though the sequel, Mother 3, stands at the top as my favorite RPG.
  • valuemeal
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    valuemeal polycounter lvl 6
    Perhaps that Arc the Lad collection, it had an interesting battle system that combined turn based grid combat with timed action commands, it's a shame no one played it though.

    Also the Paper Mario series is rather innovative, with each new title it seems as though the paper aspect of the series gets tinkered with.
  • Mithdia
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    Mithdia polycounter lvl 8
    Shiniku wrote: »
    - Also, I really loved Demon's Souls and even more Dark Souls. They lack some of what I look for in an RPG, like many interesting and varied characters and a really solid story, -

    Maan.. I find this wrong on so many levels because Dark Souls does have a good solid story even though it's not spoon fed to you like most RPGs do with their story... Check up EpicNameBro on youtube he has done 10+ thirty minute videos on Dark Souls lore..
  • Shiniku
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    Shiniku polycounter lvl 9
    Mithdia wrote: »
    Maan.. I find this wrong on so many levels because Dark Souls does have a good solid story even though it's not spoon fed to you like most RPGs do with their story... Check up EpicNameBro on youtube he has done 10+ thirty minute videos on Dark Souls lore..
    I know the game has some deep and interesting lore. I like that. I'm just saying that the story and storytelling is not rich and engaging like what you see in a lot of other RPGs. Most of it is disjointed and confusing unless you're paying very close attention.

    It's not a game someone would play solely for the story, or continue playing because they're so engaged in the story. This is a big contrast to other RPGs (like those developed by BioWare) where the main focus is on storytelling and character interaction.

    I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all. But I can't really say it has a solid story when most people I know who have played it (even through to the end) had no idea what was going on most of the time.
  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    shotgun wrote: »
    World of Xeen

    xeen.jpg

    Might_and_Magic_4_Clouds_of_Xeen_Official_Trailer_(1992,_New_World_Computing)

    World%20Of%20Xeen_6.png

    Hell yes.

    Combining two separate games into one? More of that, please.
  • Anchang-Style
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    Anchang-Style polycounter lvl 7
    I don't know iam perfectly fine with Round Based fighting for JRPGs and it is the least of the problems of that Genre (that i deeply love).
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    hey, Earthbound is coming out on the Nintendo E-Shop
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 19
    I just noticed... "old school new rules"
    http://might-and-magic.ubi.com/mightandmagicx-legacy/en-GB/home/index.aspx

    Looks like a different take at the franchise than the last one
    The art-style actually reminds me of the earlier games, which I loved
    Hopefully this is gonna be a rocker
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 19
    There's a cheap cam vid from last month's convention, this is really like the old games

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4IxhUtZlgY"]Might & Magic X Legacy: Abgefilmete Gameplay-Szenen von der PAX East 2013 - YouTube[/ame]
  • Hazardous
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    Hazardous polycounter lvl 12
    Oh god man, my list of unmissible rpgs' in no particular order of awesomeness:

    Dark Cloud
    Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle)
    Rogue Galaxy
    Vagrant Story
    Legend of the Dragoon
    Elder Scrolls 3
    Final Fantasy VII + Crisis Core to get the full story.
    Final Fantasy VIII
    Final Fantasy XII
    Breath of Fire 3
    Tales of Symphonia
    Baiten Kaitos
    Baldurs Gate II
    Diablo II
    Ultima 8
    Eye of the Beholder 2
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King
    Dragon Quest IX
    Disgaea
    Grandia & Grandia II
    Kingdom Hearts
    Shadow Hearts
    Jeanne D'arc
    Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together
    Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
    Resonance of Fate
    Star Ocean III
    Valkyria Chronicles
    Phantasy Star I & II
    Lost Odyssey
    Shining Force II
    Xenoblade Chronicles
    Chrono Trigger
    The Last Story

    Off the top of my head anyway......
  • leilei
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    leilei polycounter lvl 14
    The game I mentioned earlier went freeware just recently incase anyone wanted to check it out.
  • Bek
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    Bek interpolator
    Planescape: Torment
    Deus Ex
  • artstream
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    artstream polycounter lvl 11
    Hazardous wrote: »
    Oh god man, my list of unmissible rpgs' in no particular order of awesomeness:

    Dark Cloud
    Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle)
    Rogue Galaxy
    Vagrant Story
    Legend of the Dragoon
    Elder Scrolls 3
    Final Fantasy VII + Crisis Core to get the full story.
    Final Fantasy VIII
    Final Fantasy XII
    Breath of Fire 3
    Tales of Symphonia
    Baiten Kaitos
    Baldurs Gate II
    Diablo II
    Ultima 8
    Eye of the Beholder 2
    Vampire: The Masquerade
    Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King
    Dragon Quest IX
    Disgaea
    Grandia & Grandia II
    Kingdom Hearts
    Shadow Hearts
    Jeanne D'arc
    Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together
    Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
    Resonance of Fate
    Star Ocean III
    Valkyria Chronicles
    Phantasy Star I & II
    Lost Odyssey
    Shining Force II
    Xenoblade Chronicles
    Chrono Trigger
    The Last Story

    Off the top of my head anyway......

    Man, you just quoted my RPG childhood/life.

    Adding a few,
    Breath of Fire IV
    The Last Remnant (for PC, the 360 version was super laggy and gimped)
  • xvampire
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    xvampire polycounter lvl 14
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f4eGQ9MIWM"]Genso Suikoden II - Opening Movie - YouTube[/ame]

    suikoden 2
    i was blown away by the depth of this game, the story, multiple endings, you own a castle that gets bigger everytime you recruit new members ( up to 108 unique characters !).
  • BucketOfNuggets
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    BucketOfNuggets polycounter lvl 6
    How has no one said Arcanum.

    It was the first game I played where it felt like you could go anywhere at any time. Loved the story and the unique setting with so many spells and conigs you could play around with.
  • Isaiah Sherman
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    Isaiah Sherman polycounter lvl 14
    Secret of Mana 1 & 2
    Super Mario RPG
    Chrono Trigger
    Paper Mario
    Pokemon
    The Elder Scrolls
    Dark Souls
    Final Fantasy X
    Kingdom Hearts

    I don't care for random battles, which is why the list lacks a lot of that.
  • binopittan
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    pokemon of course!! you think 108 unique char in suikoden 2 is plenty? try 649 pokemons! XD

    Suikoden 2 have the best villain evarr though, Mr.Luca Blight, only rivaled by Kevka.

    My best probably FF6. Most innovative prob Disgaea, if that counts as RPG. It have most wicked char dev system. level your char up to lvl 9999.
  • teaandcigarettes
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    teaandcigarettes polycounter lvl 12
    shotgun wrote: »
    There's a cheap cam vid from last month's convention, this is really like the old games

    Might & Magic X Legacy: Abgefilmete Gameplay-Szenen von der PAX East 2013 - YouTube

    I'm really surprised that it's more similar to MM3-5 than MM6-8. On one hand, I'm a bit disappointed, because I've been a huge fan of MM6, on the other World Of Xeen was great too.
  • shotgun
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    shotgun polycounter lvl 19
    Yea, I liked its art-direction and overall feel (strange POV scale) more than the latter, "3d" games. Felt those were somewhat lost in mishmashing 2d & 3d. The new one certainly seems closer to the originals, esp. in terms of gameplay. Those cheap arrows r so oldschool!
  • LRoy
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    LRoy polycounter lvl 10
    Parasite Eve was a great game.

    This thread makes me want to go back and play everything.
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