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What are your Top 10 RPGs?

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  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    Kwramm wrote: »
    Actually getting out of college seriously cut down my time available for gaming.

    However there's also been a shift in RPGs. While old school RPGs are primarily turn based, newer ones are mostly action oriented / real time. Just compare Mass Effect or the Witcher 2 with e.g Shadowrun Returns or Grimrock. Both are RPGs, both very different when it comes to mechanics.
    That was kinda my point, I was just being hyperbolic. Most of us are old, theres less time to play. Plus for me at least the old games have a special place in my heart just because the concepts were all new at the time.

    I wasn't criticizing anyones choices, when I said it was "kinda sad" I mainly meant that it would be nice to see some more recent games getting some recognition (aside from Skyrim), I mostly read these threads to get ideas on games to play only to find it's the same stuff I've been reading about since I was 18.

    Anyway regarding turn based RPGs, in 2014 I managed to get through Bravely Default, Shadowrun Returns, Fire Emblem Awakening, and this weekend I burned through LISA... I still have Child of Light, Banner Saga, and Shadowrun: Dragonfall to play. All turn based.

    For sure, the days of turn based RPGs as flagship franchises on primary consoles are basically over. Only Final Fantasy really survived and it's not turn based any more. But on PC and DS/3DS they're still around and doing pretty well if I may say so.
    For fans of RPGs in the style of Black Isle games, Troika etc it was absolutely horrible period.
    Fair enough, guess we can only hope Tides of Numenera lives up to the hype.
  • valuemeal
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    valuemeal polycounter lvl 6
    Odow wrote: »
    Have you try XY or OmegaRuby alpha sapphire ?

    Because Diamond/plat/perl/white/black were meh, I didn't even play Black and white. but the XY and ORAS are really amazing ! they had so much stuff, XY made a lot of people start playing pokemon again after many years.

    No, I haven't. I just checked out the designs and they were pretty cool.
    I really stopped avidly playing during the GBA/PS2/GC/XBOX era, so I missed R/S/E because I knew I was going to be disappointed; after a few years I played D/P/PL
    but I didn't compare to any of the other titles on DS. To me the series just seems to be a set up for disappointment, and honestly the fans are making it better than it actually is.

    There is a serious problem when the head-cannon is better than the actual story.

    However I might play through it for old times sake.
    Kwramm wrote: »
    Actually getting out of college seriously cut down my time available for gaming.
    Correctamundo, while even in college there was no time to play games, a fellow had to draw 24/7.
  • Laughing_Bun
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    Laughing_Bun polycounter lvl 17
    1. FF7
    2. Morrowind- The newer games are "better" but Morrowind was absolutely engrossing in a way i'm not sure I understand.
    3. Dark Souls
    4. Fallout 3
    5. Star Wars KOTR

    Kind of a boring list so, Idk even know if this game counts but:
    6.MYSTICAL NINJA STARRING GOEMON, Game is weird as hell and kind of a mess But I loved it as a kid.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
  • AtticusMars
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    AtticusMars greentooth
    Yeah, I gotta get my hands on LISA
    Fair warning, game might look like EarthBound but it has an M rating. It's cute, hilarious, interesting, but also painful, disturbing, and depressing.

    That said, great game imo. Also A+ soundtrack.
  • Nox
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    Nox polycounter lvl 5
    Just compare Mass Effect or the Witcher 2 with e.g Shadowrun Returns or Grimrock. Both are RPGs, both very different when it comes to mechanics.
    Because Mass Effect and Shadowrun Returns are not RPG.

    Nowdays everyone thinks that adding leveling is enough to turn any game into RPG >_<
    Except for Xenogears. I seriously do not see the reasoning for Xenogears not being #1 on every list. But like I said, I'm biased, so is everyone.
    Not everyone is fond of playing chibi 2d sprites and mecha.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    Nox wrote: »
    Because Mass Effect and Shadowrun Returns are not RPG.

    care to elaborate?
    You can play a role both in a qualitative way - i.e. how you shape the story and the personality of your character by making ethical and moral decisions. And in a quantitative way - i.e. stats and numbers, which define your character, go up and down as you play.

    Both, the decisions you take, and the resulting attributes represent the role of your character (e.g. hero, villain, etc) within the game world.

    I think both aspects are pretty well developed in both games, and they have a pretty good story on top of that. So what's not RPG about them?
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    Fair warning, game might look like EarthBound but it has an M rating. It's cute, hilarious, interesting, but also painful, disturbing, and depressing.

    That said, great game imo. Also A+ soundtrack.
    The previews suggest that "broken" might be another adjective you could associate with it.
    Nox wrote: »
    Because Mass Effect and Shadowrun Returns are not RPG.

    Nowdays everyone thinks that adding leveling is enough to turn any game into RPG >_<
    I think you might be getting Shadowrun Returns, which is a decidedly old school turn based RPG, with the awful Shadowrun FPS that was released in the early days of the XBox 360.
  • X-One
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    X-One polycounter lvl 18
    Nox wrote: »
    Because Mass Effect and Shadowrun Returns are not RPG.

    Nowdays everyone thinks that adding leveling is enough to turn any game into RPG >_<


    Not everyone is fond of playing chibi 2d sprites and mecha.

    Both Mass Effect and Shadowrun Returns are both RPGs by just about every definition of RPG I've ever seen. You create a character, you level, you interact with npcs, you make lasting choices. What exactly disqualifies them as RPGs?


    RPG is a very broad-term that could arguably be applied to many FPS games, as you are essentially assuming the role of a character (which by the loosest of definitions is what makes an RPG). I'm not making that argument, I'm just saying it could be made.

    Personally, I love RPGs, of all shapes and sizes. I'm currently playing through Far Cry 4, and while I may not be able to call it an RPG by my own definition, I do absolutely enjoy the RPG elements in there. If they weren't there, I'd be enjoying the game far, far less.

    I couldn't make a top-ten RPG list, as I'd feel like I'd be leaving out too many great games.

    That said,

    Favourite game of all time, nostalgia and rose-tinted glasses included: Chrono Trigger (Made me want to make games)
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    practically every computer/console RPG traces it's roots back to Wizardry and before that, Dungeons & Dragons.
    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMZc1ZkB0Eo[/ame]

    So no silly arguments about what's constitutes an RPG, it's like kids who just got into a genre of music arguing over how small they can slice it.
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    I'm surprised that there isn't any mention of the old 16 bit / 32 bit Sega RPGs on here... Like, Phantasy Star (Ok, I mentioned it, but I started the thread so it doesn't count), Shining Force, Shining in the Darkness, Sword of Vermillion, and Skies of Arcadia... I'm starting to wonder if I'm the only person who played RPGs on the Genesis / Mega Drive. Haha.
    When doing retrospective 'golden age' looks at the 16bit era of RPGs, it usually is ruled by 2 major things... 1: Squaresoft and 2: Baldurs Gate.

    I think the days of classic Turn Based RPGs are behind us now though. Games like Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Mass Effect are proving that people want the narrative experience, the choices and consequences, and exploration of RPGs... What they don't want is the grinding and confined combat systems of yesteryear.
    Me personally, I still love turn based combat and wish we could get more games that were more like the good ol games of the past. Kickstarter has been great so far for promoting the old school. My issue is that they usually do not have the level of polish and professionalism that the AAA games have... Errr, used to have.
    One thing that I've come to realize about myself as a gamer, is that I'm not quite enjoying Open World RPGs as much these days. I just recently finished Dragon Age Inquisition, and by the end of it, I felt exhausted and in need of a more linear focused experience.
  • kneedeepinthedoomed
    Baldur's Gate and Vagrant Story have to be up there somewhere. The Icewind Dales too because they allowed you to create your entire party from scratch, which really lets you "role-play" much more than premade characters would. I did this once and it was one of the best RPG experiences ever, because I invested so much thought into my characters that I ended up really caring for them. Which is weird, I guess. It leaves a lot of room for the imagination, like P&P would.

    And the original The Dark Eye: Drakensang is up there too, on my personal list anyways. It didn't get good ratings, but I think that is largely due to cultural differences. I really love the game. (Note, I'm talking about the single player RPG, not the bought-out offshoot Drakensang Online.) The guys who made the original game deserve some huge respect IMO because as German games go, this is quite a lonely achievement. The soundtrack is stellar too.

    Drakensang_-_The_Dark_Eye_Coverart.png

    I really like "The Dark Eye" ruleset a lot.
    Drakensang: The Dark Eye received an average of 75% on Metacritic averaged from reviews with user reviews giving it 9.1 out of 10.
    *cough*
  • ErichWK
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    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    Speaking of RPGs, Persona Q is fucking great.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    shinobix wrote: »
    I think the days of classic Turn Based RPGs are behind us now though. Games like Skyrim, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Mass Effect are proving that people want the narrative experience, the choices and consequences, and exploration of RPGs... What they don't want is the grinding and confined combat systems of yesteryear.

    I don't think so. While turn based will possibly never become main stream again, games like Grimrock and Shadowrun Returns have shown that there is a market which appreciates such games as long as they have good production values.
    There is also a revivial of turn based games which're not really RPGs by the truest sense, but which use RPG elements: Hearthstone, The Witcher Adventure Game, Banner Saga, and all the titles with "Tactics" in their name. (personally I consider some of them quite dull, but whatever floats your boat I guess...)
    Personally I think it's a quite good development which shows that turn based mechanics aren't dead, and that they are still worthwhile to consider when designing a game.

    Although if you're in for the big cash, you still may want to use realtime action based gameplay instead, like e.g. mass effect does. It's just more mass market compatible, and I'm not meaning that this has to be something bad.

    p.s. turn based doesn't equate confined though - Ultima 6 had an open world, like Skyrim and it was turn based. If your game offers confined levels or spaces is a design decision rather than a convention you need to follow. Technical limitations may apply though - it's definitely easier to implement a confied "battle map".
  • NegevPro
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    ErichWK wrote: »
    Speaking of RPGs, Persona Q is fucking great.
    Be sure to grab the free DLC Personas from the store! Although keep in mind, they are pretty OP. Lunar Blessing is way too useful.

    My top 10 would probably be:

    1.) Shin Megami Tensei series (it's hard to pick which game is the best, so I'll just say the best titles in my opinion are Persona 3:FES and Nocturne. Almost every SMT game is easily an A+ quality experience though, if you like JRPGs at all you should check them out.)

    2.) Disgaea

    3.) Fire Emblem series

    4.) Dark Souls

    5.) The Guided Fate Paradox

    6.) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

    7.) Star Ocean series

    8.) Paper Mario series

    9.) Alundra 2

    10.) Resonance of Fate, this game has some of the best art direction out of any recent JRPG in my opinion. Although it can be laughably ridiculous sometimes.

    It's hard to properly rank the RPGs I've played since there are so many great titles that have already been made (and named in the thread) but 2015 is looking to be the best year for JRPGs in a while, at least in my opinion.

    Persona 5, Disgaea 5, Bloodborne, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum, Codename:Steam, Tales of Zestiria, two Etrian Odyssey titles, and a bunch of announcements for future titles like FF XV, SMT x FE, etc.

    The real issue quickly becomes finding the time for any of this!
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    NeGevPro: I'm currently playing through Ni No Kuni... Man, such a wonderful game! The visuals, the characters, the writing... Everything just oozes with charm. Loving it!!
  • NegevPro
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    NegevPro polycounter lvl 4
    Nintendo just released footage of a new Fire Emblem game for the 3DS and Xenoblade Chronicles X on the WiiU.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2LJ-4DDWU[/ame]

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpNXhzscjQ[/ame]
  • PrimePriest
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    PrimePriest polycounter lvl 3
    In no particular order

    1. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
    2. Final Fantasy VIII (hated by many, but I loved this one)
    3. Final Fantasy VII
    4. Star Wars KOTOR
    5. TES: Oblivion
    6. TES: Skyrim (vanilla game was IMHO worse than Oblivion...but those mods man)
    7. Valkyrie Profile
    8. Vampires The Masquerade Bloodlines
    9. Dark Souls
    10. Final Fantasy IV I guess? Or Fallout series was pretty cool too.
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    PrimePriest: I loved FFVIII! The junction system was awesome, and the game had the most addictive mini game in any FF game... Triple Triad!!!!!
  • ErichWK
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    ErichWK polycounter lvl 12
    NegevPro wrote: »
    Be sure to grab the free DLC Personas from the store! Although keep in mind, they are pretty OP. Lunar Blessing is way too useful.

    My top 10 would probably be:

    1.) Shin Megami Tensei series (it's hard to pick which game is the best, so I'll just say the best titles in my opinion are Persona 3:FES and Nocturne. Almost every SMT game is easily an A+ quality experience though, if you like JRPGs at all you should check them out.)

    2.) Disgaea

    3.) Fire Emblem series

    4.) Dark Souls

    5.) The Guided Fate Paradox

    6.) Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

    7.) Star Ocean series

    8.) Paper Mario series

    9.) Alundra 2

    10.) Resonance of Fate, this game has some of the best art direction out of any recent JRPG in my opinion. Although it can be laughably ridiculous sometimes.

    It's hard to properly rank the RPGs I've played since there are so many great titles that have already been made (and named in the thread) but 2015 is looking to be the best year for JRPGs in a while, at least in my opinion.

    Persona 5, Disgaea 5, Bloodborne, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum, Codename:Steam, Tales of Zestiria, two Etrian Odyssey titles, and a bunch of announcements for future titles like FF XV, SMT x FE, etc.

    The real issue quickly becomes finding the time for any of this!


    THERE ARE FREE PERSONAS AT THE STORE?! WHAT?!
  • NegevPro
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    NegevPro polycounter lvl 4
    ErichWK wrote: »
    THERE ARE FREE PERSONAS AT THE STORE?! WHAT?!
    The only free Personas are Orpheus Telos and Kaguya, they're both amazing though. With Orpheus Telos you can use the Skill Card Extraction trick to get a huge attack power boost early game (Stick Orpheus Telos into the Compendium when he's at a low level so he is cheap to re-summon, then sacrifice him to extract the Forked Spear skill card, then re-summon from the Compendium and repeat until everybody in your party has Forked Spear.)

    It's an expensive trick so I just extracted a card for the main attackers in my front line since I leave my back line for spellcasters and healing. As for Kaguya, I would say the person with the highest critical rate should have that Persona simply because you can easily abuse the effectiveness of Lunar Blessing to keep your party shielded from any damage when you fight FOEs.
  • Indik
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    Indik polycounter lvl 9
    I`ve played most of RPGs from 1997 to 2012 and the best is surely
    1. Planescape Torment <- This is amazing. I`ve missed it at release and only played first time in 2009, and it was magical. I usually replay it once in a year or two :)

    2. Baldur`s Gate 2
    3. Fallout 1&2
    4. Arcanum
    5. Witcher 1&2
    6. Vampire Bloodlines.
    7. Dragon Age 1
    aRPGs
    8. Deus Ex
    9.Gothic 1&2
    10. Dark Souls 1&2

    Worst RPG I`ve ever played is Mass Effect.
  • Shiniku
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    Shiniku polycounter lvl 9
    5. TES: Oblivion
    6. TES: Skyrim (vanilla game was IMHO worse than Oblivion...but those mods man)
    Interesting opinion! Myself and most people I know have feelings quite contrary to this. Was Oblivion the first TES game you played?

    For me, Morrowind is my favorite partly because my nostalgia lets me forgive it's faults, but I also genuinely think it did some things quite a bit better. Oblivion was a step up in a lot of ways, especially combat, but let me down in other areas. When Skyrim came along it took the features Oblivion excelled at and improved them, and then fixed some of it's biggest problems (boring dungeons, indistinct races, too much leveled loot and enemies).

    So to me Oblivion ended up falling into a weird in-between zone where it doesn't really stand out or excel in anything, which has completely killed replayability for me. I still go back and play Daggerfall and Morrowind but it's painful for me to go back to Oblivion. Some of the questlines were nice though.

    Sorry I love geeking out about these games, just curious why you think Oblivion was better than Skyrim.
    Indik wrote: »
    Worst RPG I`ve ever played is Mass Effect.
    C'mon now. Either you've only ever played 11 RPGs or you're being a bit hyperbolic. Mass Effect wasn't really to my tastes either but I can think of probably hundreds of terrible, poorly executed RPGs that would beat it out for the 'worst RPG ever' award.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    Note that he said "worst RPG I've ever played", not "worst RPG ever." Obviously he just has good enough taste to avoid RPG Maker RPG #1169.
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    Indik, why do you think Mass Effect is the worst RPG you've ever played? Is it because its not turn based?
    I'm curious to know.
  • JedTheKrampus
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    JedTheKrampus polycounter lvl 8
    The cover system is less robust than it could have been, waiting for guns to cool down is not really very interesting, the elevator "loading screens" take too long and are pointless, and don't go any faster even if you're on a PC that can load the levels quite quickly, the final boss fight felt puerile, the dialogue wheel is a silly concession to console gamers and often what the dialogue wheel says and what Shepard says are too different, the planet exploration with copy-pasted buildings felt boring after the second go-around, all the guns of each class were just the same gun with different numbers, there are a few problems with the PC port's stability still (notably if you have an AMD CPU post-Phenom, you will get CTDs quite often on some areas in Noveria) and it had loads of problems on launch, the texture resolution is low in some places that it shouldn't be, something's off about the faces, and I'm sure there's some other problem I'm forgetting here but I'm not sure what it is. I think all the Mass Effect games could have stood to be a little shorter, too.

    That said, I love Mass Effect. The world-building is top-notch and, while the writing can be campy at times and is about as good as your typical science-fiction B-movie, the writers do know how to get you attached to the characters. Mass Effect is definitely RPG #11 for me.
  • Indik
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    Indik polycounter lvl 9
    Mass Effect is full of bioware gameplay and design cliches, clearly seen by anyone who played Newerwinter Nights -> Star Wars KOTOR -> Jade Empire. I agree the world is good, but the writing and characters are boring for an "expirienced bioware gamer".
    For a new player it should be great, though.
  • thomasp
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    thomasp hero character
    shinobix wrote: »
    I'm surprised that there isn't any mention of the old 16 bit / 32 bit Sega RPGs on here...

    well you might have preferred those games in the past but would you play them today over a more recent (good) title? awkward interfaces, interaction and structure and a focus on grinding the same limited content compared to what we have now just obliterates them for me.
    and that's just the gameplay side of things. :)
  • killnpc
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    killnpc polycounter
    i can't list 10 of anything. maybe.

    rpgs?

    dungeons and dragons. but video games?...

    can't say diablo. is diablo even really a rpg? ... it was an action something. dota 2. that's really the only game i've ever felt like i was roleplaying. just cuz the audio was so gud. speaking of good audio! tool song! almost deleted that. probably should. seems pretentious... too rambly now.

    KIDS RUIN THIS COUNTRY!
  • glottis8
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    glottis8 polycounter lvl 9
    1 Persona 4 Golden
    2 Chrono Trigger
    3 Legend of the Dragoon
    4 FF
    5 Skies of Arcadia
    6 Xenogears
    7 Dragon Quest 8
    9 Vagrant Story
    10 Terranigma

    P4G got me into RPGs when i thought i was over them. Such a fantastic game.
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    thomasp wrote: »
    well you might have preferred those games in the past but would you play them today over a more recent (good) title? awkward interfaces, interaction and structure and a focus on grinding the same limited content compared to what we have now just obliterates them for me.
    and that's just the gameplay side of things. :)

    In fact, yes, I still play them. The most recent Sega JRPGs that I have played through have been Phantasy Star IV (3 months ago), and let me tell you, it has aged very well. The writing is spot on and far better than anything SquareEnix has put out in the last 10 years, believe it or not, and the combat system was so ahead of its time back then it still plays well to this day. Prior to Phantasy Star IV, I played through Phantasy Star II and Shining in the Darkness, these haven't aged as well but are still fun to play. Prior to that it was Shining Force I and II.
    A good game is a good game. Sure the battle mechanics may get a bit dated, and graphically the Genesis can't compete with newer titles obviously. But a good game is a good game.

    I'm currently playing through Ni No Kuni and Xenogears. Flopping back and forth between the two. Gotta say, during the PS3/X360 era... Something happened to JRPGs. They just don't seem to have the same 'character' as they once used to. Case in point, Final Fantasy XIII, XIII-2, XIII-3. But, Xenogears is so so so good. :D
  • Olli.
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    Olli. polycounter lvl 8
    Im not really an expert so i only have 5:

    1. My absolute favorite has got to be the RPG-7. Its reloadable, reliable, durable, and iconic. Its the AK-47 of RPG's.
    2. Up next would probably be the M72 LAW. Its almost as iconic as the RPG-7, but unlike its soviet counterpart, its not reloadable. However its light weight and compact size makes up for this.
    3. Next up would be the RPG-28. Its not iconic, but it is deadly. Its capable of bursting through well over a meter of RHA steel, and even defeating some of the reactive armor systems found on modern tanks.
    4. the RPG-29 is much like the RPG-28, except in that it is reloadable. It can only penetrate around 75cm of RHA, but it does come with the same tandem charge as the RPG-28 which lets it penetrate through ERA systems. Nobody knows where it got its name "The Vampire". There have been no recorded cases of it turning in to a bat.
    5. Last one on this list is the APILAS. Not exactly well known or especially effective, but I have a certain personal bias towards this French made RPG because it is used by the FDF as their main heavy anti armor RPG. The warhead is really quite underwhelming by modern standards, with only 700mm of penetration on RHA steel and no tandem charge. Its also really big, really heavy, and really uncomfortable to carry on long marches. Frankly its a piece of shit and i shouldnt have included it in my top 5.
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    Just remembered Gorky-17. Anyone else played it? I remember loving it and it being really hard back when I was a teenager.
  • shinobix
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    shinobix polycounter lvl 16
    Har Har Hardy Har Har Olli ;)
    RPG-7 is my favorite as well.
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    01. Final Fantasy VIII
    02. Final Fantasy VII
    03. Final Fantasy IX
    04. Gran Turismo
    05. Parasite Eve II
    06. Parasite Eve
    07. Golden Sun
    08. Final Fantasy V
    09. Rogue Galaxy
    10. Koudelka
  • martinszeme
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    martinszeme polycounter lvl 8
    SonicBlue - 04. Gran Turismo? :D
  • SonicBlue
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    SonicBlue polycounter lvl 10
    SonicBlue - 04. Gran Turismo? :D

    Yeah, with your car you "fight" other cars and win money, with that money you buy parts to upgrade your car or you simply buy a better one, to challenge more powerful opponents.

    If you know the tricks it's easy, but at the beginning you have to use strategies like choosing the right moment to go at the boxes or the right set of tyres.

    You have to manage your money especially if you have a low HP car and you don't have enough money to buy a better one, you'll spend more to get few improvements, etc.

    It's an RPG with cars :D
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