Top 3 RPG's

I'll keep them short and sweet:

Final Fantasy VI: If Secret of Mana drew me in, then this game sealed the deal. Great music, cast, story, you name it. It has a linear first half and non-linear second half which allow it to provide the best of worlds. It's still the standard by which I judge all other RPGs.

Chrono Trigger: Probably the most polished RPG ever made. Time travel is great fun and this game never seems to drag. The whole end of time setup gives the game a feeling of being linear and non-linear at the same time, which is very cool. It's just top class.

Earthbound: It's quirky, it's original, and it leaves one heck of a lasting impression. The humor is great, the gameplay is tried and true with some nice improvements like visible enemies and the rolling HP counter, and the modern-styled world really feels alive.

Honorable mentions:

Super Mario RPG, Deus Ex, Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean 2, Legend of Mana, Grandia, Vagrant Story, Ogre Battle V/VI/VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Breath of Fire V, Fallout, System Shock 2, Shining the Holy Ark

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

What is up with all these people who only started on FF VII? Is it an age thing? I'm 23, and I cut my teeth on FF I. I've been all about RPGs since the beginning. Why the late start for everyone?

I'm also 23, and although I didn't start with VII, I was a bit late to the party. I didn't have a real awareness of RPGs during my NES days. Willow was the first RPG I played, but I didn't know that it was part of a distinct genre of games. I think I discovered RPGs by accident when I rented Final Fantasy VI one day. I didn't know what I was doing, but I was intrigued by how my little character (I remember it was Cyan) was walking atop the World of Ruin. After that I believe Secret of Mana was the first RPG I bought with all the intention. There are a bunch of RPGs that I rented and played through, such as Final Fantasy IV, Breath of Fire, Ogre Battle and maybe a few others, though I can't recall the order. Eventually I did buy Final Fantasy VI when I recognized it on a store shelf (I remember it cost 80 bucks), and I've been a fan of the genre ever since.

Although I think the initial interest in FFVII for many non-RPG folks did have something to do with the graphics (they blew me away too), once people actually played it, I think most of them came to love it for other reasons, and I'm sure most went back to play those RPGs they had previously dismissed. I like FFVII a lot, and though I don't place it among the best of the best for a few reasons, it comes fairly close. I'll admit however that it rubs me the wrong way sometimes how people give it more credit than it merits. As revolutionary as it might've been in terms of impact and presentation, there was very little in it that FFVI and Chrono Trigger hadn't already introduced and executed well. FFVII just took those ideas into the realm of 3D. So I believe that while FFVII was more revolutionary, FFVI was more evolutionary. FFVII owes a lot to those latter generation SNES RPGs.

There's nowhere I can't reach.