10 Best RPGs Ever

by Angelo Dargenio
Alright, before we go on to this list of the 10 Best RPGs Ever, we need to lay s
ome ground rules. #1: no MMOs. It s hard to judge MMO RPGs against single-player R
PGs when their quality is so dependent on their community. #2: only one game per
franchise. Otherwise you would see a whole bunch of Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and
Dragon Quest titles cluttering up this list. #3: no tactical RPGs. While Shinin
g Force and Fire Emblem are amazing games, it simply makes the playing field too
wide to judge. #4: no shooter/RPG hybrids. Once again, Deus Ex and BioShock are
phenomenal games but they make the playing field far too big. And #5: no import
s! Terranigma and Seiken Densetsu 3 were phenomenal games but unless it came out
in America it doesn t do us much good to tell you how awesome it is.
For this list, we are only considering the classic Japanese RPG and American RPG
games that defined the formula as we know it today, and even then there are mor
e than enough good RPGs out there to make your head spin. That being said, these
are the 10 Best RPGs Ever.
10
Dragon Quest 8
The US missed the huge hype surrounding games like Dragon Quest III, but it s indi
sputable that Dragon Quest is one of the most influential RPGs in existence. Hec
k, they don t release on weekdays because Square-Enix is too afraid that kids and
businessmen alike will play hooky just to get a copy of the latest DQ game! Sinc
e we have to obey our own rules, DQ8 gets this slot, as it s one of the most well
known Dragon Quest games in America, and the first to actually have its title sc
heme changed back to the true Japanese title from Dragon Warrior.
dq8
9
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario RPG was ahead of its time. It had so many awesome innovations on the
stale RPG genre. It introduced the casual RPG style of timed battles, but still h
ad real stats, equipment and HP. It introduced the incredible innovation of havi
ng a party share its MP. It integrated Mario conventions like hidden blocks (che
sts) and the invincibility star into an RPG setting, and boy, was grinding a bla
st with a Star Man. It also had a profoundly dark plot for a Mario game that sti
ll managed to stick in a lighthearted joke or two. It was easily the best Mario
RPG ever made and one of the best RPGs of all time. Now put Geno in Super Smash
Bros., Nintendo!
Super Mario RPG
8
Skyrim
A lot of 10 Best RPG lists put games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Fallout 3
on their countdown, and while these games are good, they are also very new. We
call this the shiny. It s the tendency that we have to mistake things that are new f
or things that are amazing just because we played them recently. Skyrim, however
, doesn t suffer from the shiny. It s just that damn good. It s impossible to have a l
ist like this without an Elder Scrolls RPG on it, and Skyrim is easily the best.

Skyrim
7
Baldur s Gate II
Baldur s Gate II may have been the crowning achievement of top down isometric RPGs
. Not only was the Dungeons & Dragons-based gameplay incredibly deep and customi
zable, but the story was second to none. It took place in one of the most vibran
t and living worlds we had seen, in an age where the best voice actor you could
afford was Steve the intern. It also had one of the best villains of RPG history
. The Baldur s Gate II experience holds up today, and is worth a replay now and th
en just to remember how good top down RPGs were.
Baldur's Gate 2
6
Earthbound
Earthbound challenged the RPG conventions we knew and
onger knights and brave warriors, but simple kids who
Instead of fighting gorgons and skeletons, we fought
murderous carnival tents. Earthbound was as charming
nd it made us all cry, and pray, and break the fourth

love. Our heroes were no l

grew up in peaceful towns.
gigantic piles of puke and
as it was rule breaking, a
wall in enjoyment.

earthbound
5
Final Fantasy VI
Now remember, we said that we would only insert one game per franchise, otherwis
e this list might end up being, The 10 Best Final Fantasy Games and Also Chrono T
rigger. So we had to choose the best that the Final Fantasy series had to offer,
and in our opinion, that s Final Fantasy VI. It introduced huge swappable parties
made up of an interesting ensemble cast of characters. It was the first to make
magic something equippable rather than learnable. It gave every character their
own special attacks which were useful throughout the entire game. Finally, it ha
d one of the best villains of all time in Kefka, a clown that destroyed the worl
d, just for the LOLs! Move over Sephiroth, Kefka has you beat.
Final Fantasy VI
4
Planescape: Torment
Planescape: Torment was one of the most critically under-appreciated gems of its
time. Once again, we have a Dungeons & Dragons-based game, but the character wr
iting was dark, detailed, and absolutely brilliant. Also, it was one of the few
early generation RPGs that made your choices actually mean something. Your actio
ns were yours alone, and you had to deal with the consequences.
Planescape Torment
3
Pokemon Red/Blue

For some reason, Pokemon is omitted from a lot of Best RPG lists. Why? It s easily
one of the best selling RPGs of all time. It's a huge franchise with a phenomen
al history. Players spend hours of their lives trying to get Pokemon with perfec
t IVs and EVs and other combinations of letters with V. Heck, it might actually b
e one of the most complex RPGs out there, considering its about training magical
pets to fight against each other. It s also one of the only RPGs in the world wit
h a huge competitive scene. Of course, if we are going to include a Pokemon game
, we can only choose one in the franchise, and so we chose the one that started
it all, Pokemon Red and Blue.
Pokemon Red and Blue
2
Diablo II
Now we are getting to the real classics. If we had to choose one game to be the
best American RPG of all time, Diablo II would be it, hands down. Though not an
MMO itself, Diablo II created or refined most of the conventions we see in MMOs
to this day. It was also one of the first really popular multiplayer RPGs, with
a much more massive following than any Tales game of today. Then there was PvP,
crafting an alchemy, and a story that wasn t great, but was phenomenal for multipl
e players to go through. Heck, it could even be said that the rarity system of l
oot dropping was popularized by Diablo II. This game is full of firsts (or reall
y seconds, considering Diablo I did a lot of what Diablo II did but wasn t as popu
lar).
Diablo II
1
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger doesn t just make a good argument for being one of the best RPGs of
all time; it makes an argument for being one of the best games of all time. Fir
st of all, Chrono Trigger was highly customizable. The inventory system was set
up in such a way that you were completely able to support yourself with items an
d items alone, so you could actually have parties without a healer in it. Second
ly, Chrono Trigger separated abilities (TP) with leveling (XP). So grinding wasn t
linear, it was tailored to what sort of advancement you wanted your characters
to push forward in. Third, Chrono Trigger had an amazing story that most of us r
emember to this day in spite of the protagonist being silent. Then again, even th
ough Chrono was silent, we knew what his personality was like, so he may have be
en the best silent protagonist ever!
Throw in some amazing artwork from Akira Toriyama, a time travel story that actu
ally made sense, a huge world map, memorable anti-heroes, dual techs, and a horr
ifying glimpse into the future of ahem, 1999, and it is undeniable that Chrono Tr
igger deserves to be #1 on our list of the 10 Best RPGs Ever.

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