• Domestic

The 26 Best RPGs

• By GamePro Staff
• November 05, 2008 17:09 PM PST
• Print
• Email this!
• Share
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz!
  • FaceBook
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us

#19: Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

There's never been a series more tongue-in-cheek, satirical, and just as downright fun as Disgaea. With its PSP remake, Afternoon of Darkness, the game was loaded with extra content, including wi-fi multiplayer, not to mention a completely new campaign. With an utterly hilarious script, endearing characters and addictive gameplay, Disgaea fired on all cylinders. Players took on the role of the sinister-ish Laharl, Prince of the Netherworld!... or, he was, until he accidentally took a two year nap. In the time it took for Laharl to get his beauty sleep, the order of the Netherworld had changed, his father assassinated, and his throne up for grabs! With your sarcastic yet trusty vassal Etna and an army of explosive Prinnies at Laharl's disposal, his journey to the throne still resonates in the hearts of thousands of gamers to this day.

#18: Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn

In 1998, Bioware set the RPG world ablaze with its AD&D based dungeon romp, Baldur's Gate. For some companies, that would be cause enough to feed their audience a long line of rehashed sequels for decades to come, but not for Bioware. Just two years later, they managed to refine the experience in every possible way with Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. Telling a tale far too expansive to summarize or spoil here, BG 2 sees you and your fellow heroes from the first title waylaid, sacked and imprisoned for the purpose of a mad mage's torturous experiments - and that's just where the game begins. Bioware's trademark real time turn based combat, later made famous in Knights of the Old Republic and the more FPS-centric Mass Effect, finds its roots here in the BG series, as you can let your party members carry on as their AI defines or tap the space bar to pause the action and issue more specific orders. All in all, Baldur's Gate 2 is a must have title in every serious PC RPG player's collection.

#17: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

The fourth game in Bethesda's action-laden RPG series, with its gorgeous environments, addicting sidequests, and open-ended gameplay, is the RPG to make non-RPG fans believers. Ask anyone who's experienced the game for themselves and they'll agree that not only is Oblivion a milestone in the role-playing game genre, it's also one of the easiest games to get completely immersed in. Even two years after its initial release, the game is still a feast for the eyes and is proof that game companies need to make more first-person RPG games.

#16: Pokemon Diamond and Pearl

The original Pokemon titles, Red and Blue (or Green, if you lived in Japan), launched an international phenomenon that the gaming world never saw coming. With Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the fever was hitting Pokemon Trainers everywhere like a tidal wave. A refined battle system, wireless challenges via the Nintendo WiFi network, and 493 species of Pokemon to catch made this game the ultimate DS title for any RPG fan to have. Pokemon D/P alone quickly became the best selling games of last year, going on to sell 15 million copies worldwide. If you're going to catch 'em all, start with the best Pokemon game yet (or pick up the upcoming Pokemon Platinum later this year).

#15: Suikoden III

While Suikoden was indeed stellar during the 32-bit era, we're going to ultimately give the duke to the first PS2-era Suikoden title. The first two were definite charmers with great sprite-based graphics, but Suikoden III's superb storytelling pushes it over the top. Viewing the game's events through the eyes of three major characters and then picking one of them as the game's ultimate hero not only does wonder for the narriative, it also shoots the replay value through the roof. Thankfully you've still got your pick of dozens of playable characters amongst your 108 recruits. Equal parts Rashomon and Pokemon, Suikoden III is an amazing, unique, and extremely accessible RPG.

#14: Super Mario RPG

Super Mario RPG started out like any other Mario game: Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool once again, Mario gives chase, and a giant talking sword shatters the heavens and takes over Bowser's castle, sending you on a quest to restore order to the land... Wait, what? Yep, right from the first hour, a simple mission for Mario turned into a quest to save the entire world outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. Of course, Shigeru Miyamoto's influence pushed Mario's first RPG into various awards and many top selling lists, making Super Mario RPG the last must have Mario game for the Super Nintendo. Wii owners are in luck, since the hotly demanded game is available on the Virtual Console, and the original boxed SNES cartridge can run you a good $100-$300 on eBay.

• Previous Page Prev
• Next Page Next
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

• Print
• Email this!
• Share
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz!
  • FaceBook
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us