[General Discussion] Unexpected RPG Positive Experiences

Out of all the RPG's we have ever played since we first got into the genre for the first time has anybody ever came across any rpg's that they had no prior knowledge and when we played it or seen it played for the first time we were so intrigued by it; we had to play it and it ended up being a positive rpg playing experience.

The reason why I ask this is that sometimes we allow ourselves to follow the hype of certain rpgs that sometimes other games can be completely overlooked not even in this day and age but even in terms of older games.

What I would like to ask from the Gamingforce Community is to share some stories of how a little unknown rpg to you, maybe not to the rest of the world, ended up being a positive rpg experience for you.

I personally have two small stories about two rpg's and one of them is actually my favourite rpg of all time.

1.) Xenogears: The only rpg's I have ever played for PS was Final Fantasy VII & Breath Of Fire III at the time. I had no idea that this game had existed, and I actually discovered this game just by going around college residence and I noticed somebody playing this game when he had his door opened. I asked him if I could watch him play the game, and he had no problems with it. I was instantly intrigued within 5 minutes because of the use of mechs as characters in this game. I was a big anime fan and mech anime tended to be my favourite type of anime at the time. I sat in his room watching him play the game for about 4 hours. That is just how much I got into the game and that was just by watching him play it. I really wanted to play the game for myself but it was a fairly rare game at the time; not very many people had it and the people that did have it were very protective about it. It was only after 2 years from seeing him play I managed to get a friend of mine to purchase a factory sealed copy on ebay with the guide for about 150.00 US. Ever since I took the time to play the game in its entirity for myself it has become my favourite rpg of all time.

2.) Thousand Arms: This was another rpg I came across by accident by a friend of mine that had a lot of burnt games, and I was looking to play another rpg at the time. I was just looking through his games, and i seen one called thousand arms and I took a wild stab at it, thinking it was an rpg because I was familiar with with the Wild Arms series. It wasn't a serious rpg by any means but it was definetely one of my favourite fun little RPG's due to whole dating simulation and all the voice acting. I had a lot of fun with this rpg and all the comical moments it had.

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Oh, there's a bunch of these.

Dark Wizard on the Sega CD. - Picked up this gem when I was younger because of the cool looking box art. Turns out it's bloody amazing and would lead to my future purchase of...

Dragon Force. - Looked similar to Dark Wizard, so I grabbed it for my Saturn. One of the best RPGs ever made. If you haven't played this, you're like a man who says he loves wine but has never drank anything red. This game is a delight. It's funny, it's got amazing gameplay, and one of the best experiences ever.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

FInal Fantasy VI - I played Final Fantasy I before but the only reason I got that game was "It was the game Game Genie had the most codes for". I played it, beat it, but didn't understand or appreciate it.

In comes Final Fantasy VI, with awesome music, awesome spells, and awesome storyline and an awesome first boss. The strategy of the first boss, along with the individual personalities of the characters, and the overall story had me HOOKED such that I literally would rent it each weekend and play over and over again (unless I got the same cart) until my parents finaly bought it for me for Christmas. I then proceeded to play a full game, beat it, then learned how HP is not the greatest attribute to improve on in which I started over, and really worked hard on using those Espers to improve my stats. All in toll, I put in hundreds of hours into the game. A wonderful experience.

Wild Arms I - I got this because I couldn't find Beyond the Beyond. Beyond the Beyond had some advertisment in a game magazine I looked at, and given that the number of RPGS for the SNES was drying up, I felt it would be natural to go for the PS1 which was just about to get an influx of RPGS. However, at this time, the number was still very low and so I decided to go ahead and try out Wild Arms.
Despite having no memory card, and then no power later that day to play it, the game rocked. I truly enjoyed it and played it to the end. I'd even try to get those power apples or whatever to improve my stats in hopes to max out all my stats. Good game. Good music. Decent storyline. ALl around fun and a good way to start off my RPGing on the PS1.

Suikoden - This was similar to Wild Arms in that I got it because I wanted to play some RPGS and wanted to give this game a chance. GOod thing Idid. Even though I had no idea of what the game was like other than the review on the back of the case of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it due to it's wonderful soundtrack, and well-develoeped storyline. The fact that there are a few things you can say or do that will change little things in the game is awesome. And trying to get all 108 characters is quite the feat. Oh, and of course, you can port your save to Suikoden 2 where, while it doesn't help you too much, allows you to get a surprise encounter with some characters from the past.


Final Fantasy IV - I have not played this game since i beat it on the SNES maybe almost fifteen eyars ago. I got it for the GBA and am finding it to be a wonderful experience to live all over again. When I am on a bus for a thirty minute drive, the time seems to go by like nothing as I level up my characters, go have Cecil become a Paladin, get the Baron's castle, and so forth. The storyline is great, the characters are well-developed and the soundtrack is decent (although a bit weakened on the GBA)

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

Tales of Destiny

When I was browsing for PS games I have no idea how this one title be a part of a would be popular series. But you can guess why. The battle system got me hooked. I was half expecting your typical turn-based rpg but nuuu... with the right button combos, you can pull off awesome endless hits upon the enemy. You might say this can break the system but you have enemies that are either great in numbers or high in defense or their magic keeping at us from pulling off our combos. It was just great execution that I enjoyed. It doesn't feel like a grind when you're enjoying the beat of the battle system from there.

I enjoyed the Tales series after that. Still haven't gotten into Abyss or World or Symphonia yet though.

How ya doing, buddy?

I've mentioned this one before, but: .hack// INFECTION. I haven't played the other ones but I'm sure they're just as good. Maybe better, it's not like this one's perfect or anything, haha.

I never would've thought that this was anything but a really bloody Godawful idea. It's just nuts--a MMORPG that's not online and that's spread out over 4 separate games? Okay so the art is stylish and being offline allows it to have some story, but isn't it just a fancy grind in the end? With nothing to show for it? That's... Silly!

But I played it at a friend and I was somehow impressed with what I saw. I had to get it for myself, and I'm really glad I did. From the voice acting everywhere in the game (which I thought was just amazing!) to the engaging crazy anime-style storyline and great art/style, and even the combat, everything about this game just really spoke to me. I loved the little touches (the smileys! The overly-serious roleplayers! The emails!), I loved the music, and most of all I just grew to love the whole premise of the game.

Really unexpected and really awesome. Definitely one of my all-time favorite RPG games.

I was speaking idiomatically.

For me it would definitely be Might & Magic II. The only RPG I had seen played before was Dragon Warrior I, and I rented a NES when I stayed at my grandparent's one day and borrowed a friend's copy of FF I. Other than that, that was all the RPG exposure I had had at the time.

I wanted to buy a game for my Apple IIgs, and there were very few games to be had as it was a dieing platform (stupid Apple computer!). Well, M&M II was out around that time, and I could have picked that up, or some sort of Dragon Wars game that was also an RPG, and a few others. I picked up M&M II and spent about 600 hours on it over the course of 3 years. Yeah, my funds & also Apple IIgs games were both sparse around that time period. I found it to be just such an excellent game. It had such a fleshed-out setting. I mean, your characters grew old and died if you did not rejuvenate them, and to do so you had to nab a boat ride to a secret resort isle where they would vacation and grow young again. There's too much to mention here, but needless to say this is still one of the most fully realized worlds in all RPG-dom. This series is definitely my favorite RPG series, even above the FF series although I've really enjoyed that series also. So, I would say I rolled the dice and got lucky on that purchase...

I would say another series I got lucky on was Shadow Hearts. I actually bought I and II before I had played either of them. I had heard this game had a cult following of sorts, and the subject matter really intrigued me, so I went ahead and gave the first game a shot. Wow, best storyline I had seen since maybe Planescape or Fallout. I enjoyed the story almost as much as that of FF6 actually.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land --
Jesus. This is one of the best games I've ever played. It's a first-person dungeon crawler for the PS2 and takes place from a first-person perspective. When you get in to battles, it unveils a battle screen with your party members and the enemies.

Vanilla console RPG fighting at first. Got your front and back rows. But as it develops and your party members fight alongside eachother (and after a tutorial on it), you develop tactics. These tactics allow you to do very neat stuff later on as you learn new ones.

The back row can guard some folks on the front row from all attacks, you can do dual attacks, et cetera <3 Real cool because some enemies are fucking IMPOSSIBLE to hit, but the best way to nail them is have someone act as a "dummy" and have an allied action set to guard that guy. Nail the enemy with some undodgeable blows and down they go~

King's Field --
This is an RPG in a sort of way. The whole series has been nifty, but the PS2 installment? Ohhhh. Sooooo good. What was really neat was how the creators hid shit so damn well. You had to look around everywhere to find all the good weapons and armor. It was amazing how some of this shit was stashed ='D

Persona 3 --
This was also a leap of faith. Past persona games were very cool, but I never took a liking to Nocturne, DDS, etc. Very little story, and sometimes just absolutely cruel in difficulty. Persona 3 is definitely one of the best RPGs I've ever played.

A shame I still haven't beaten it Oh FES~

FELIPE NO

Legend of Legaia - I remember browsing around Wal-Mart looking for something new and good to play, and actually it was between this, Valkyrie Profile and Vagrant Story. I don't know what made me pick up Legaia, but I'm glad I did. The combat was totally different, I really liked both the story and the entire cast, save for Gala (cuz he's big and moody, bleh), and played the hell out of it until I beat it. I really wish Sony'd release a proper sequel to Legaia; not the Legaia: Duel Saga was bad (lol j/k it has some pretty serious flaws) but it wasn't a true sequel. No Seru to be found anywhere.

Legend of Dragoon - Another surprise. Picked it up on a whim because I thought "Hey, 'dragoons' sounds cool, maybe it's not bad." The only thing I didn't like, but eventually got over, was the timing system used in battle. Everything else I loved - the transformations, the story, while a little wonky, was still great, and I liked that Dart wasn't a complete sob story.

Lunar: Eternal Blue - Now don't get me wrong, I was not surprised that this game was awesome. I had already played through Silver Star Story, so I was expecting something close to greatness. What surprised was how much more I enjoyed this game over the first. The story, characters, and most notably the Epilogue chapter made me enjoy Eternal Blue so much more than its predecessor.

Wild Arms 1 - 3 - I was browsing through the very limited selection of games at Music for a Song (a music store at the outlet mall near home) when I stumbled across the "#1 PS1 RPG" Wild Arms in the section. So I picked it up, bought it and brought it home. I was really blown away by it, so much so that I've continued to buy every release since then. Wild Arms 2 and 3 were no exceptions either, as I enjoyed them both thoroughly. Wild Arms 4 and 5 have been big disappointments in my eyes though, but I'm actually enjoying Wild Arms XF.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Ditto on Shadow Hearts. I had heard a tiny bit about it but not much beyond "dark themed PS2 RPG" which, while it piques my interests, doesn't guarantee that the game will be any good. As luck had it, though, the game was great.

Also, and I know not everyone considers it an RPG, but I'll say it anyway: System Shock 2. I was riding high on the rush I got from Half-Life having finally had a PC that could do 3D graphics well and was looking for another game. Saw Shock2 for $20 at a Best Buy, looked at the screenshots, thought "What the hell, why not?" and bought it. I wasn't expecting to like it more than HL. I LOVED it, 1000x as much as HL. I was also not expecting to be scared shitless the way I was, but...yep, that too.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Earthbound - I knew nothing about this game but the giant box and clay artwork made me curious. Going on a leap of faith *in Nintendo* and ignoring the doubts of my mother and sister, I picked it up. Needless to say, there was no way to know that I'd like the game as much as I did, and I liked it a lot. So unique, so comedic, so good in all the ways that make an RPG memorable. This is a top five all time favorite and it probably always will be. This game stinks...but it friggin rules as well.

Star Ocean the Second Story - I knew nothing about this one either but the screenshots on the backside of the case looked pretty cool. In an RPG era dominated by Square, I took a chance on this unassuming title. Quite unexpectedly, the wealth of gameplay in the game was considerable and the combat system was unlike anything I had experienced before. And so this game became an all time favorite while also contributing to the realization in my mind that Square games were not the end all and be all of RPGs.

There are other 'overlooked/hidden gem' games that impressed me, but many of them I checked out later on with the knowledge that a few seasoned RPGers found them enjoyable. Dragonview is one of those games, for example. Fun game that is totally different from it's predacessor (Drakkhen).

Originally Posted by Gechmir

King's Field --
This is an RPG in a sort of way. The whole series has been nifty, but the PS2 installment? Ohhhh. Sooooo good. What was really neat was how the creators hid shit so damn well. You had to look around everywhere to find all the good weapons and armor. It was amazing how some of this shit was stashed ='D

Hey, I found the PS2 game interesting as well (and the hidden stuff + sense of desolation gives the game a Metroid-esque quality, which suits me just fine), but I got stuck on something that maybe you can help me with... How do you swim? It sounds silly, but I could never figure out how (even when I searched online), and with no way of progressing further into the game, I had to drop it a year or so ago. I'm pretty sure that there's no other path available to me and so I imagine that I have to find a way past that water room in the sewers/catacombs. Yet I sink to the bottom everytime (even when I unequip all my stuff), run out of air, and am forced to run back up the steps and out of the water.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Legend of Legaia. Reviews didn't look like much, then I got to play it in the store. I'm not sure if I could make it through it nowadays, but it turned out to be a fabulous time waster. Props for being as difficult as it was...I made it through a number of battles by the skin of my teeth. Think this game had a lot of heart, even if it didn't stand out even then.

Valkyrie Profile came out during a time when I was stockpiling RPG's and I put it off for awhile. The first couple hours kind of dragged and I stopped in the midst of the first dungeon for awhile, but once that sucker hit...

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

Lost Odyssey definitely surprised me after reading the reviews. The general gist that I got from them was "Meh, the characters are nice, and the gameplay isn't broken, but the load times are HORRIBLE and that RUINS THE GAME." Once I picked up the game, I was stunned at how much better the game was than that. The Skill Link system is a great setup that makes sure you use all of your party members, the story, while a bit cliche on the narrative side, is amazingly well-told and well-written, and the "Dreams" are some of the best writing I've read in a long time, inside a video game or out.

While I can see the reasoning behind the "meh" reception (Namely, this is the first time I've seen a JRPG with this amount of technical issues), I don't understand why the story didn't skyrocket to the top of "Reasons to buy" lists. The loading times aren't THAT bad, they're not the 40-second atrocities I read about.

I'm overall very impressed with Lost Odyssey, and it's proven to me that Mistwalker can become a force to be reckoned with. I like Blue Dragon, but Lost Odyssey puts a glaring spotlight on what they did wrong in BD.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Ar Tonelico

These days I buy a lot of games that I don't know anything about, so I quite often get a surpringly good experiences, but the most recent one would definitely be Ar Tonelico.

It's a game I bought on the last minute after hearing some people talk about it. At first I figured it would pretty much the same as the Atelier Iris games, since it has the same graphics and music composers, but I was pleasantly surprised alright. It was nothing at all like the Atelier games. The story, the characters (<3 Misha), and especially the whole "date sim" that comes with it. It's much more then I expected, and really enjoyed it till the very end.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Megavolt

Hey, I found the PS2 game interesting as well (and the hidden stuff + sense of desolation gives the game a Metroid-esque quality, which suits me just fine), but I got stuck on something that maybe you can help me with... How do you swim? It sounds silly, but I could never figure out how (even when I searched online), and with no way of progressing further into the game, I had to drop it a year or so ago. I'm pretty sure that there's no other path available to me and so I imagine that I have to find a way past that water room in the sewers/catacombs. Yet I sink to the bottom everytime (even when I unequip all my stuff), run out of air, and am forced to run back up the steps and out of the water.

Heh. I haven't played it in a couple years, and my memory blows =( Well there are potions for underwater breathing, I believe. You just haul ass -- there isn't a way to swim. You plunge in, run, look for a ramp =O Doesn't happen too often in the game, if I recall right.

How ya doing, buddy?

Again, I vote for Shadow Hearts 2/3. The judgement ring made the random battles oh-so worthwhile. Also, Mario & Luigi SuperStar Saga - I wasn't a big fan of Mario's console RPGs, but this GBA title reeks of awesomeness. Phantasy Star IV deserves high praise, too.

And while I'm here, Xenogears... excellent storytelling, but I really didn't like the battle system. Same goes for the Mother games which I think are a load of crock (Mother 3 withstanding). I must be the only one who thinks this way...

And Chrono Trigger... good, maybe even great, but highly overrated. Seiken Densetsu only excelled in multiplayer. Star Ocean, too overwrought. Lunar... wtf?!

Played a bit of KotOR. Not bad. I suppose I'd enjoy Mass Effect (but the dialogue and epicness sounds bloody daunting). I prefer J-RPGs, though (yes, I'm biased).

FELIPE NO

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Yes, the game is girly, it's very easy, the dungeon designs are lame and the battle system stinks something fierce...oh wait we're meant to be focusing on the positives, aren't we? Well, the game has that whole "theatrical musical" thing going for it, which adds a great touch. The graphics are pleasing, too, and the story is so lighthearted. That's the beauty of it, really; it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's aesthetic and humble, and I love it for that. (Compared to my initial thoughts of "girl's game lol puppet", that's quite a change)

Bomberman Tournament is another one. It's a game no one's heard of, so already it scores points for not being overrated. I thought when I first pugged it into my GBA that it would be awful. Bomberman in an RPG? >_> But it was actually really fun. Not immensely challenging, nor did the gameplay vary that much. But it was a lot of fun, incorporating a Pokemon-type quest alongside the oft-monotonous dungeon-crawler. It wasn't stellar, but it was enjoyable, much to my surprise.

Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue: I didn't have much hope for this game. I'd never seen the Hamtaro anime, nor had I played the other couple Hamtaro video games. But damn was I pleasantly satisfied. A bubbly journey with the Ham-Hams takes you from locales such as Elementary Schools to Parks, completing little mini-games and exploring for numerous rainbow pieces. Are your teeth yellow yet?

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales was pretty awesome. The card game was addictive, and the graphics were smooth. The Paper Mario art style was a high-point for me, and the minigames were alright. Wasn't expecting to like this one bit 'cause lol Square-Enix chocobo spin-off.

There are so many more now that I think of it. I might make another post later~

Edit: Whoa everyone in this thread has posted stuff like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Interesting...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Megavolt

There are other 'overlooked/hidden gem' games that impressed me, but many of them I checked out later on with the knowledge that a few seasoned RPGers found them enjoyable. Dragonview is one of those games, for example. Fun game that is totally different from it's predacessor (Drakkhen).

Drakkhen had a sequel!? I thought I was the only person in America that knew about that game!

Star Ocean: The Second Story

Yet another vote for this one. After the whole FF7 craze started to die down, I had asked a buddy of mine if he had any good RPGs I could borrow. He pulls this out of nowhere. I was skeptical, but I gave it a shot. Boy am I glad I did. Everything about this game just hit me the right way. The battle system (I was unfortunate enough to have missed out on Tales of Destiny back then), the music, the majority of the cast (<3 Ashton), etc... Oddly enough, the thing I used to rave about the most (other then the battle system) was the voiced over trash talking that went on at the beginning/during the fights. Back then, I guess I didn't care as much about good voice acting.

Valkyrie Profile

Total random/blind purchase. Something just told me to buy it and I did. I take it home, pop it in the PS.... and proceed to have the longest gaming session in my life to date. I beat it the following day. It was all the awesomeness of Star Ocean 2, but with a side serving of godly. I don't really know what else I could say...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Muzza

Edit: Whoa everyone in this thread has posted stuff like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Interesting...

I remember a friend of mine grabbed me in the hallway and was telling me about CT. Said it was just like FFVI, except you can beat it in 10 minutes. Turns out he played a rented copy with a pimped out party and went straight to Lavos. I don't think he realized he missed the majority of the game. But that did slightly sully my expectations, which were then surpassed beyond belief when I played it properly.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

One of the more recent RPGs that caught me off guard for how much I liked it was Etrian Odyssey. When I picked it up, it was more of an impulse buy because I saw it on the shelf at a Gamestop and was interested in the art style that was depicted on the cover. I bought it then, played it a bit, got a bit in, then put in on hiatus when I got Phoenix Wright afterwards. I recently went back to it and realized how good of a game it really is. People may disagree with me, but I found the customization of your characters to be the game's strongest point. You can create whatever party you want and take them to the challenge in the labyrinth. The art style still captivates me as much as it did when I first bought it. This was certainly unexpected to be an RPG that I heavily enjoyed.

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

Originally Posted by Gechmir

Heh. I haven't played it in a couple years, and my memory blows =( Well there are potions for underwater breathing, I believe. You just haul ass -- there isn't a way to swim. You plunge in, run, look for a ramp =O Doesn't happen too often in the game, if I recall right.

I'll just have to fire it up and search around again, I guess. I didn't know there were potions for underwater breathing, so maybe that'll help. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Manny Biggz

Drakkhen had a sequel!? I thought I was the only person in America that knew about that game!

I'll never forget how I learned about it because the guy who said it was good also maintained that Chrono Trigger was the second worst RPG of all time out of the one hundred plus RPGs he claimed to have played. I thought his opinion on Chrono Trigger was silly but I did take note of his opinion on Dragonview and proceeded to pick it up when I had the chance. That chance came at a Gamecrazy when I found it in a pile of SNES games they had there. Strangely enough, he was right about the game. It's very different from Drakkhen (which may help or hurt depending on your opinion of the original) but it's an enjoyable sidescrolling action RPG that went under the radar.

The game is called Super Drakkhen/Drakkhen 2 in Japan but they changed it to Dragon View in the states for some reason. Maybe they wanted a new start because of Drakkhen's mixed reputation. Instead the name change may have contributed to its obscurity.

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Pretty sure there are. I might be forgetful But I remember one or two scenes where you've gotta fuckin' HURRY. Maybe you just chug healing potions ;O

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Muzza

Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Yes, the game is girly, it's very easy, the dungeon designs are lame and the battle system stinks something fierce...oh wait we're meant to be focusing on the positives, aren't we? Well, the game has that whole "theatrical musical" thing going for it, which adds a great touch. The graphics are pleasing, too, and the story is so lighthearted. That's the beauty of it, really; it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's aesthetic and humble, and I love it for that. (Compared to my initial thoughts of "girl's game lol puppet", that's quite a change)

Agreeing with this! I think most people who hate it are just expecting something different than what the game's trying to be. Which is okay, but the game still excels at what it does, if you ask me.

I've got two more that I don't think have been mentioned yet.

First is the Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation series. I'm not a big fan of giant robots, really, but these games have amazing gameplay and customization, optional challenge, and fun characters. Not to mention the music is good as well. The second Original Generation game is among my favorites, as well as the PS2 remake of both of the GBA Original Generation games. I actually ended up playing OG1 6 times and OG2 5 times (including playthroughs of the remake). They're just that good.

The other is Etrian Odyssey. I was honestly expecting a boring dungeon crawler, but only got the dungeon crawling aspect. The character customization in this game is quite fun, since every class gets a variety of interesting, unique, and helpful skills, rather than "skill that does damage, skill that does more damage, and skill that does EVEN MORE DAMAGE". The dungeon crawling aspect itself was helped by the enemies actually being somewhat threatening, meaning you have to manage your resources wisely, but also not be afraid to burn them in tight spots. Also, the dungeon itself is quite pretty, and the layout of the floors were somewhat interesting (for all that the fourth stratum can GO DIE IN A HOLE).

(Apparently someone mentioned Etrian Odyssey while I was typing this out. Glad someone agrees with me!)

How ya doing, buddy?

I assume we're talking relatively obscure titles here.

Okage: Shadow King/Me and Satan King I didn't even know this was an RPG until I read a review; found a copy in the bargain bin for $3 and loved it. It's got a bright, quirky spirit that isn't a million miles from Earthbound and a definite Nightmare Before Christmas vibe as well. The battle system is a tad weak, but the story and humor makes everything worth it.

Radiata Stories Was totally uninterested in this when it came out; looked like another generic medieval RPG in a crowded field. The Tri-Ace logo led me to pick it up for $8.50 at a flea market of all places, but from the first moment of gameplay I was hooked. The characters are utterly endearing, the story's hilarious (great VO too), and what's not to love about kicking shins and powerwalking in a medieval game? The battle system's a little rusty, and both endings sort of suck, but the ride is worth it.

Lufia 2 It set me back $50 back when used game joints still carried SNES carts, but I was impressed from the get-go. Slick production, great music and graphics, marred only by a sluggish pace and some late-game sameness. Well worth playing, and undeservedly obscure.

Paladin's Quest/Lennus Another used-bin SNES find, this one isn't particularly notable in terms of plot, but it's got some of the most unique visual design in a game to date, and the battle system was both unique (an arrow-key only control scheme? total lack of healing items?) and difficult, and Kohei Tanaka's music was strangely compelling. This even got a sequel, which people have been uneuccessfully trying to translate for years.

FELIPE NO

I ordered The Bard's Tale on the strength of an Amazon recommendation (And because it was very cheap) and it turned out to become one of my all time favourite rpgs. It's a fairly linear action rpg but the story is well written and the characters are very funny. The Bard is a very reluctant hero and a bit of an arse so it's a hugely refreshing change from the endless teenage boys from jrpgs. The monsters you summon add a fair bit of interest to the combat and the fighting itself, while pretty simple is never the less very fun. A great game and worth picking up considering it's generally dirt cheap.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. Everyone told me that it was a bad RPG. They were all wrong. Sure, the graphics were not that sensational back then, but I loved the gameplay and the soundtrack. Actually, I want to play it again sometime, I remember it didn't take too long to finish it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.