Are RPG's getting worse every 5 years? (List your top 10 RPG's ever to help!)

1. Shadow Hearts II
2. Shadow Hearts
3. Xenogears
4. Suikoden V
5. Suikoden II
6. Final Fantasy Tactics
7. Valkyrie Profile
8. Grandia
9. Breath of Fire III
10. Mario RPG


It's funny, ask me of this a few years ago and my list would have been dominated by SNES era titles. But lately my tastes have changed and I think my focus has been on characters in RPGs more than anything else. My top 10 list seems to reflect this now as it is pretty much ranked as I would rank the cast.

Just to note, I've been playing RPGs for a while as well. Ultima around when I was 5 (1985) and Dragon Warrior (1989) were my first RPGs and I've played nearly every console and quite a few PC RPGs released since those two. Personally I don't believe the quality of RPGs is declining, rather I think the expectations people place on RPGs is ever increasing. I go back and play a lot of those good SNES RPGs and find myself realizing that they really don't have much to offer over current RPGs other than the fact that they introduced the common cliche rather than follow them. I used to feel different, thinking the SNES era was the golden age, but I've since released that I play RPGs simply for the entertainment factor, not to find my next level of enlightenment or something.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by GoldfishX

All signs in this post point to you needing a hearty dose of Suikoden V medicine.

And Shadow Hearts I/II for his bad-ass character desire.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tortalius

personally I think we all love RPGs from whatever period our first few were from. I love teh Super Mario RPG era because that was my first RPG.

I tend to agree. And new RPGs also have to compete with a time when the entire genre was new and exciting. It's simply impossible to recapture the experience of playing your first few good RPGs.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.