I know not everyone like RPG games but there is a large following for them. I found that instead of book in the past it was the next closest thing I had to reading a fantasy or adventure was living through it with the graphics or lack of graphics that made the games and stories so great. This on one of my true loves of gaming because of this. I want to feel I am living the games story and they make it so easy now compared to back in the 80s. I know since I have not had D&D group for many years to sit and play table top games this was a great replacement so here is my thoughts about some of the great games that have inspired my imagination for the past 30 or so years.
Here goes with some of the greatest RPG games we still play or want to again!
Final Fantasy XV (or any in the series):
Ok so Final Fantasy XV is the most recent in the series and from the looks of it most played game in the series as of recent times. It took away from the original turn based and timed turn to action adventure game more recently. Final Fantasy XV became a beautiful world or in this case land with a complete gaming makeover. The DLC that was incorporated into this gave it some other great aspects removing itself from just the action RGP style to FPS. The however keep updating the game giving it more and more great options keeping you playing.
Now the original 9 games minus 7 & 8 stayed closer to RPG games than any other. They stayed with the 8 bit stylings very well using the 16 & 32 bit processor options. These were the greatest stories you could keep for the game style. With 7 & 8 there was the beginning of super graphic and animated stories to make you say WOW! When you completed a story objective. These seemed to also introduce more in-depth options of gameplay and story pieces. This gave you more reason to keep playing or saving before the end and playing to level up and find new items hidden throughout the game.
Next was Final fantasy X/X-2 this was the first mini-series that split a game over 2 games and actually released with more options for gameplay. This again was a graphics masterpiece with a story that only made sense for half of what the game was. First was it was a sports game similar to soccer in a huge water sphere. Ok great and you are like islanders but then the main story about ghosts and corruption of the world like any other game kept you playing. I have seen people that have put in the max timer amount of time and then some to complete blitz ball games because it was something that kept you playing further as you could. The story wasn’t too bad and didn’t have the emotional connection you hoped would have happened like in final fantasy 7. You had hope for it but the twist in the end led to Final Fantasy X-2 continuing the story later.
Next you have Final fantasy XI the first MMO game and it was fun for some and not for others. Who really wanted to play a game that didn’t feel the same but had the multiplayer option you wished would have come in the series as it grew. No one but hardcore MMO players and die-hard fans kept to it because be real we really don’t want to play to play a game. We can basically say the same with final fantasy XIV and the expansions they have released. It’s not a bad game for what it is but again MMO and pay to play. This one did have a bigger following than the last.
Final fantasy XII complete game changer again. This was made so that it could be simplified and basically auto play if setup properly where all you really were doing was exploring maps and letting the game play itself. That was the only real downfall of the game. The best part was it made all the past graphics look like garbage when you watched the cut scenes. It was beyond anything you could have imagined for the games. It was almost like the beginning of bringing life into gaming. The story was fair and had many great things happen. This was really the first casual Final fantasy game because of these features.
Next was the second series releases in the Final fantasy world. Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2 the next great graphics marvel. It used systems from previous games and created another new system that had you interacting in the turn base system. The story was like they were trying to end the series of games or maybe open up a new system. I found this to be a good game but very hard to continue playing very long during a sit-down but it also led you to have to play sometimes hours between saves or to complete a single fight in the game. It was definitely a mix review game no matter how you looked at it.
So yes we all love the Final Fantasy series in some way. Either for the originals or the greats or the MMO or the new. It’s always got something for an RPG lover to want to play over and over. I know I left out some other games in the series like the legends and tactics games for the portable system but even those had qualities we all wanted to play them for. Not that they were great or bad games they just didn’t seem to be part of the main games. They had advantages that yes even I tend to break them out and play them for a while just to remember the way they played.
Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest:
This was another series that was round as long as Final fantasy but big difference was it never aimed to be a graphics masterpiece. This game series was always about a story in a similar world with similar problems. The series followed the same humor and almost cartoonish graphics throughout. The first 6 games although same were also different. Always basing off the ERDRICK story if you followed them as Dragon Warrior games.
These first 6 games were standard turn based battle RPG games feeling like 8 bit RPG cartoons. That was cool. Nice in depth story’s but a lot of time to level up and complete bigger fights. The first 3 were more on same grounds of the series for the story base and the next 3 were new stories of other universe but the same. They were also the beginning of the changing stories.
Ok so Dragon Quest VII and VIII were on direction of becoming 3D games they still kept the feel and like any game had to advance and make more to keep us playing. These had more humor that was obvious as we played them along with a great story that made us want to know how and why it was happening. It still didn’t bring us off track from RPG turn based systems at least not far.
Jumping to Dragon Quest IX this was great because it had updates that would bring in new quests and items to be completed by checking in. This expanded the pay and make the adventure almost infinite. It did distract though from finishing the main story quite a bit. I did not mind that though until I forgot about the game and had to go back and start over or from where I left off.
Now the series did change over time. The last 3 releases were not so much RPG games as action or Minecraft ports. Let’s look at the Builders game first. This was a new style of game that had a main story that was more action game set in blocky world to mimic and building gathering game. It had a few worlds to explore and an open world to create. It wasn’t bad but definitely wasn’t great. It was as long or as short as you made it depending on what you did and what you built.
Next was the Heroes series. This was an\ strictly action game that had fair story but more time was played just killing like any of the ninja/samurai fighting games in the past. Button masher at its best with the Dragon Quest name and characters to keep fans playing. The first one was addictive and got right to the point. About half way through you had to go back and redo maps to gather items. This became a fight to farm game for a long time. It still had all the aspects of the series that had built up until now. It took a while to complete the game and was well worth it. Next was the second in that series. It was more in depth on the story and the worlds or areas you fought in. It was like the first game with different characters to play as. They added new fighting styles and kept it feeling like it was a continuation of the same game as a second part. It does loose the feel of being anything related to the RPG games but still has all the beloved monsters we wanted in the game throughout.
Zelda:
Now we expect Zelda to be brought into this because it’s one of the oldest long running ACTION RPG (AARPG or ARPG) games we played. Still we seemed to love the mazes and continued adventures of Link and saving Princess Zelda. It also covered all the options from top view maze running to 2d side scrolling to evolve to 3D adventure games. I found it hard to put this series in here in detail because I found it to just be more fantasy than ARPG but it fit the profile in some ways. I will keep this one short because it doesn’t have compete RPG feel to it.
With the exception of the second game Link to the past half of the series was top view and the other half 3rd person view. The RPG portion was finding the better swords and items to advance further. The only game that seems to have a real RPG aspect was HYRULE Warriors. This was the only game that had multiple options for being a leveling and growing throughout but was mostly hack and slash gaming.
Fun fact of this series was that it was not played by the release order but each part was a different timeline of the world of Hyrule as Link has his story told throughout the history of the peace and dark caused by Gannon or Gannondorf. I found it interesting and think you should look it up or follow the attached link
https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Zelda_Timeline
Phantasy Star:
Here is another game that had so much potential. It started off great for the first 3 games then there was the 4th game so hard to find nearly no one played it and then the Online games that were short lived. It could have gone so far with this series being a great RPG with both Fantasy and science fiction mixed together.
Let’s start with the first game. Many people tried it not many finished it. It was a great beginning to the series for what was available at that time and trying to make the same gameplay different for the payer compared to final fantasy or dragon warrior being the competition for the time on the consoles. The fantasy style using future gadgets made it the advanced version of the future of final Fantasy games. The combat was slow and the sound was annoying but it was still fun to play even if you had to play for a very long time per sitting or even leave the game running between save abilities.
The second game expanded between multiple locations more and felt like they fixed some of the downfalls of the first game. The 3rd game was the masterpiece of the series. It was even better gameplay and the story was further to the science fiction than it was with the fantasy. It had some difficulties like remembering what skill was heal because was names different but you eventually got used to it.
Now the off games of the series was the Fantasy Star Online games. These broke away looking at the same aspect but more of the FPS that the times were turning to when the games were released. This wasn’t a bad game but wasn’t the same games we expected. At the time being able to play online was rare option so another failure for its release. Sadly I don’t know a lot about these games because the sources I had them on didn’t have the ability to play online so it was quickly restricted.
--Break away from the series games for a moment---
We played these games as a main series and even sub series to the games. They were great and have evolved from the origins to what they have become now. We either love them or hate them but we played them and enjoyed what we could from them. It didn’t matter if it was one or 2 of the games or the entire series they were still 2 of the greatest series of games that have been long lived on consoles. I know any great RPG has a series to them weather it’s a small trilogy or 2 part game or even these long running series of games.
--Back to the games--
Sword of Vermilion:
Let’s go back again to old games. This one was a great ARPG for its time and the map mazes were not completely impossible. It was a difficult game but lots of fun. Being an early Sega release on the Genesis before it was included on the retro Sega classic game release. It ported over well and was still worth the few days playing it from start to finish. The fantasy aspect and brief story to be paid attention to made it a run through that had to be done twice. The 8 bit era and 16 bit era made this a game changer for many upcoming games.
Diablo:
Here is a never forgotten game in itself. ARPG at its best. Run the dungeons till you can get to and kill Diablo. The first game being a slow play through doing a floor or 2 at a time to gain level and find gold to buy better equipment. This had so much enjoyable gameplay. When it was over we wanted to play it again it was that fun.
Here comes Diablo 2. The next game to the story and it had more story until it became an ARPG that basically was the beginning of END GAME PLAYABILITY. This was awesome because you could finish the game and play again and it’s not the same every time.
Diablo 3 and its expansions were the next gen of what Diablo 2 started. It became a beloved game to me. First to complete the main story then they added the expansion that gave another act to play then after a lot of waiting the added the adventure modes. The system in play made the game a challenge and being able to play with others made the surpassing of diablo 1. This game was addictive as it gets and they continue to add more features in the season’s modes. This had us all loving the gameplay. The other option was that it became boring and people quit after completing the story modes.
Never Winter:
This game was released to bring people over from DDO for the most part for those that were in love with the Wizard Works games that like having a free MMO that felt like RPG/DND crossover. The action options in never winter made us like the gameplay and the options and of course growing game kept us playing further into the game. This was a free MMO on any source but had pay to play options and expansions.
As mentioned it’s got pay to play content but no subscription requirements. The subscription options make it something to help advance as most do almost pay to win but not quite. The options basically gave you more of the currencies you desired to gather that were limited or not available through the normal game. The expansions were more options to have more adventures. This is fine by me because you can play most the games options without purchasing these expansions.
This game can be addictive to play for a fair amount of time. It has its ups and downs and can at times become a chore to keep playing. I found over time I fell away from the game mainly after I capped my levels and was playing the story chapters that required daily play and repeating older quests. Cool part was that the older content for lower levels would adjust you to match the levels. So it’s a play or not game but we still love it after the beginning and till the end after that it’s just a matter of wanting to keep playing afterwards or not.
Path of Exile:
Here we go again with a great ARPG game. This game has a main game that as soon as you think you have completed they release new chapters and content. That part makes it great. You can pay to play or pay to win but still have to play. The currency system in the game is not perfect because it give you a lot to learn. The items and currency make it something that you want to continue to learn through the game but the fun factor is there throughout the game.
Next was the skill path. This was a huge thing in the game. It was way more advanced than any previous game in this style. I think Final Fantasy XII and VIII both had similar but not even as close. This skill tree or aspect portion is so advanced that you have to know what you want to be strong doing and how you will be playing. The second part I that there is the weapons and armor options that you need to match those skills to. This can make building your skill tree to match. Quite worth it to me to play with.
This game is dark but the graphics are awesome in most areas but the maps can be confusing depending on what you are aiming to do. There is some things that are easy and others that are difficult. Try finding a door to a spot that isn’t easily found or highlighted knowing it’s the spot you need to advance a quest to continue without missing something. Sometimes it takes going back and searching multiple times to find that one spot. The other downfall is bag space. You have to purchase more space or you are spending a lot of time jumping from playing to going and selling your stuff every few kills even on same map or floor. This may be the only actually needed purchase in the game.
Overall if you are a fan of ARPG games or Diablo in general this is a great game to move over to and play through either free or spending just a little to make it worth the time. I know I switch between the 2 games more often that I like to admit. It has a great fun factor and the game has competitions that happen regularly that you can win prizes for completing and competing. Both in game and real tangible items.
Phantasy:
An oldie but goodie series on the computer during the DOS and pre DOS era was the Phantasy series. Three games that were block graphics that had an over world and underworld or dungeon aspect. The games let you have the full adventure and RPG style with a nice gaming blend. The game kept you playing from start to finish or until you died and had to start from last save or beginning again. I loved this game with its minimalism and not being a complete text game.
Questron:
Questron was another pre DOS era game that was a block type adventure. There were 2 games to the series and you got the experience of playing the game with similar DND/RPG love. This was one that not many played but those that did enjoyed the game from start to finish.
Ultima:
Ultima was a great series of games that started in the beginning as Pre DOS block adventure with RPG in detail to finish a story about saving Lord Brittan. It continued through the first major change in the fourth game Quest of the avatar. You learned more about the characters in the game and the previously played games. After that the game slowly advanced little by little but never really left the aspect of being a true old school RPG. Eventually you stopped playing because the series seemed to not survive or just hasn’t had a release in a very long time. If you like the old school games play this series from any point. I recommend for the basics start at 4 and play after or around 7 because it was more defined at that point.
Might and Magic:
Here was a 3D style release that slowly advanced and continued then split the series to a tactics style game. I loved the games as they got longer and fuller in the way it was. I liked drawing out the maps and locations and finding the stories was completely awesome.
I know the blocky look like it was a version of doom but RPG game was fun and then it slowly got away from the strict squares and got detailed. It kept the 3D dungeon crawler throughout all the games I played in this series. It was a long series.
It twisted off after a while to the Heroes of Might and magic series which was a turn based Strategy game. These games were fun and worth some play if you ha the time to play through the scenarios. The maps were not all that special but the graphics and chess feel battles were stimulating to adapt to. It was fun but got better as the newer releases came out. The start of being really good was the 3rd game and I think it was the 5th one that had resolved and made it a solid game. I wish that the previous games were re-released using the stylings of the 5th game.
---Summarization of the games---
I know there were a lot of great games I missed. These were the ones I know I have spent a long time playing in my time. I know it will leave a lot of other games I missed to be written about in the future. Some other favorites were Keef the Thief, Wizardry, and so many more old games and some of the other console and portable releases like Class of Heroes, Dragon Age, Skyrim, Fallout and many others.
To this I say Game one and have fun