Kitsune
09-03-2005, 04:52 PM
Everyonce in a while, a list your favorite of (type) thread is fun, especially if you don't take the lazy way out and actually comment on your choices. So please join me, pick a few categories (they needn't be mine, obviously) and put into this thread all your love for the best gaming genre on Earth!
Best Graphics (2D): Seiken Densetsu 3. There are games that are more technically accomplished, but I think this action RPG still has the best spritework and most accomplished design I've ever seen in 2D.
Best Graphics (3D): Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. From the stark vision of the character and monster design, to the careful limiting of color, to the beautiful geometric designs, Nocturne benefits from one of the most meticulous aesthetic imaginings out there.
Best Soundtrack: Chrono Cross, gorgeous instrumentation and beautiful ambience. Not many soundtracks aim just for creating beautiful sound these days, but this one did.
Best Growth System: General Skill Allocation. The one that's used in so many RPGs where you somehow raise points in things like swordfighting, mountaineering, lockpicking, writing, conversation, and so on and so forth. I always find these fascinating to tinker with and they always seem to make me consider my choices the most. (Note: I'm talking about battle skills or affinities, which I'd consider separate systems.)
Best Additional System: Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon's series costume changes. It is so incredibly cool and deep. Not only can you alter the states of each costume, but it can change your abilities and affinities on top of a general class system, which makes it probably the most flexible ability system I've ever seen. A runner-up would probably be Dark Chronicle's Invention System.
Best Base Mechanic: (by which I mean a basic component of the game, like Pokemon's monster capturing) MegaTen's monster conversations and negotiation, easily.
Best Battle System: Grandia's IP gauge system just takes the cake. It allows for so much on a basic level and is so simple to understand, its kind of a shame it hasn't yet become a genre standard.
Best Sidekick Character: Han-pan, from Wild Arms. Still memorable after all these years.
Best Main Character: Valkyrie Lenneth, from Valkyrie Profile. A very unique design, an excellent protagonist, powerful, fun to play around, fabulous story aound her, and a very cool role to play as.
Best Supporting Character: Judas, from Tales of Destiny II. The Tales of Destiny games are known for their braindead protagonists whom everyone teases, Judas is probably the best straight-faced badass with cruel comments I've ever seen in the genre, plus his character makes him look like some sort of deadly hawk and he's one of the most versatile characters, strength and potential avenue wise out there.
Most Memorable Dungeon: The last dungeon in Dragon Quest III is the most treacherous, memorable, RPG hardcore overload I think I've ever played.
Best Bonus Dungeon: There's lots of unique dungeons out there, but I have to tie it between Lufia's classic Ancient Cave dungeons and the After-Ending bonus dungeon in Star Ocean III that is so monumentally huge (what it has 200 floors?)
Nastiest Challenge: The entirety of Dungeon Master, I can think of harder games, I can think of games with even more deadly gameplay conceits, but I can't think of one whole gauntlet connected together like the riddles, traps, curses, dangers, monsters and constant surprises that met you on every floor of Dungeon Master.
Best Mini Game: Chocobo Hot & Cold from FFIX, easily. I consider it half of what I like the game so much. I think paid more attention to it than anything else in the entire game.
Best Monster Design: The Dragon Quest series as a whole, if I had to pick one game, it would probably be VI or VIII, but the series shares so many common monsters, it seems a shame not to include them all, since just every single monster since the beginning has been pure gold. They have more unique behaviors and strategies to them, as well as, downright odd design than any other RPG series I've played.
Most Unconventional: Giftpia, for sure. There aren't too many RPGs where the point of the game is to save money to prove you're a man and not many games would think to implement role-playing along those lines.
Best Writing (Japanese): Black/Matrix. A game about inverted morality and warped sense of morals, this is one tightly written game. No line of dialogue seems out of place and its all performed (weirdly enough) as if it were a stage play. It works very well and there are tons of memorable lines and extremely careful use of language.
Best Writing (English): Planescape: Torment. On this forum, I don't really think I need to say anymore. :P
Best Ending: Dragon Quest VI. If you've never played the game I won't spoil it for you, just incase a remake makes its way over there one day. One word: totally, utterly brilliant.
Funniest RPG: A tie between Tomato Adventure and Tales of Destiny II. The former is the game Alpha Dream made before Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and I consider even funnier than that game, the latter, sure has classic Tales Bad Storytelling, but the dialogue is so shit-your-pants hilarious (and there's SO MUCH OF IT) its almost hard to keep your hand on the controller at times.
Then the random awards:
The "Okay, we REALLY don't need anymore stats!" award: Tales of Destiny II, I think there are almost 50 different stats to remember in this game and about 30 of them aren't listed in the menu status screen. Yeah, that's overdoing it.
The "Why do they do that?" award: Why is it everyone always justs stands and watches when the villain is doing something heinous right in front of them? This question is no more aggravating then it is in Wild Arms 2.
The "Best Non-RPG spin-off taken from an RPG series" award: Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest, a Zelda-like action adventure game that is so original, quirky and downright awesome it really deserves a wider audience.
Best Plot Twist in an RPG: Chrono Cross, its really, really quite special if you've played Chrono Trigger, but there are several really good ones here.
Best Rare Item: Leaves of the World Tree in Dragon Quest, or Metal Babble Shields in the same.
-Kitsune
Best Graphics (2D): Seiken Densetsu 3. There are games that are more technically accomplished, but I think this action RPG still has the best spritework and most accomplished design I've ever seen in 2D.
Best Graphics (3D): Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. From the stark vision of the character and monster design, to the careful limiting of color, to the beautiful geometric designs, Nocturne benefits from one of the most meticulous aesthetic imaginings out there.
Best Soundtrack: Chrono Cross, gorgeous instrumentation and beautiful ambience. Not many soundtracks aim just for creating beautiful sound these days, but this one did.
Best Growth System: General Skill Allocation. The one that's used in so many RPGs where you somehow raise points in things like swordfighting, mountaineering, lockpicking, writing, conversation, and so on and so forth. I always find these fascinating to tinker with and they always seem to make me consider my choices the most. (Note: I'm talking about battle skills or affinities, which I'd consider separate systems.)
Best Additional System: Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon's series costume changes. It is so incredibly cool and deep. Not only can you alter the states of each costume, but it can change your abilities and affinities on top of a general class system, which makes it probably the most flexible ability system I've ever seen. A runner-up would probably be Dark Chronicle's Invention System.
Best Base Mechanic: (by which I mean a basic component of the game, like Pokemon's monster capturing) MegaTen's monster conversations and negotiation, easily.
Best Battle System: Grandia's IP gauge system just takes the cake. It allows for so much on a basic level and is so simple to understand, its kind of a shame it hasn't yet become a genre standard.
Best Sidekick Character: Han-pan, from Wild Arms. Still memorable after all these years.
Best Main Character: Valkyrie Lenneth, from Valkyrie Profile. A very unique design, an excellent protagonist, powerful, fun to play around, fabulous story aound her, and a very cool role to play as.
Best Supporting Character: Judas, from Tales of Destiny II. The Tales of Destiny games are known for their braindead protagonists whom everyone teases, Judas is probably the best straight-faced badass with cruel comments I've ever seen in the genre, plus his character makes him look like some sort of deadly hawk and he's one of the most versatile characters, strength and potential avenue wise out there.
Most Memorable Dungeon: The last dungeon in Dragon Quest III is the most treacherous, memorable, RPG hardcore overload I think I've ever played.
Best Bonus Dungeon: There's lots of unique dungeons out there, but I have to tie it between Lufia's classic Ancient Cave dungeons and the After-Ending bonus dungeon in Star Ocean III that is so monumentally huge (what it has 200 floors?)
Nastiest Challenge: The entirety of Dungeon Master, I can think of harder games, I can think of games with even more deadly gameplay conceits, but I can't think of one whole gauntlet connected together like the riddles, traps, curses, dangers, monsters and constant surprises that met you on every floor of Dungeon Master.
Best Mini Game: Chocobo Hot & Cold from FFIX, easily. I consider it half of what I like the game so much. I think paid more attention to it than anything else in the entire game.
Best Monster Design: The Dragon Quest series as a whole, if I had to pick one game, it would probably be VI or VIII, but the series shares so many common monsters, it seems a shame not to include them all, since just every single monster since the beginning has been pure gold. They have more unique behaviors and strategies to them, as well as, downright odd design than any other RPG series I've played.
Most Unconventional: Giftpia, for sure. There aren't too many RPGs where the point of the game is to save money to prove you're a man and not many games would think to implement role-playing along those lines.
Best Writing (Japanese): Black/Matrix. A game about inverted morality and warped sense of morals, this is one tightly written game. No line of dialogue seems out of place and its all performed (weirdly enough) as if it were a stage play. It works very well and there are tons of memorable lines and extremely careful use of language.
Best Writing (English): Planescape: Torment. On this forum, I don't really think I need to say anymore. :P
Best Ending: Dragon Quest VI. If you've never played the game I won't spoil it for you, just incase a remake makes its way over there one day. One word: totally, utterly brilliant.
Funniest RPG: A tie between Tomato Adventure and Tales of Destiny II. The former is the game Alpha Dream made before Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and I consider even funnier than that game, the latter, sure has classic Tales Bad Storytelling, but the dialogue is so shit-your-pants hilarious (and there's SO MUCH OF IT) its almost hard to keep your hand on the controller at times.
Then the random awards:
The "Okay, we REALLY don't need anymore stats!" award: Tales of Destiny II, I think there are almost 50 different stats to remember in this game and about 30 of them aren't listed in the menu status screen. Yeah, that's overdoing it.
The "Why do they do that?" award: Why is it everyone always justs stands and watches when the villain is doing something heinous right in front of them? This question is no more aggravating then it is in Wild Arms 2.
The "Best Non-RPG spin-off taken from an RPG series" award: Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest, a Zelda-like action adventure game that is so original, quirky and downright awesome it really deserves a wider audience.
Best Plot Twist in an RPG: Chrono Cross, its really, really quite special if you've played Chrono Trigger, but there are several really good ones here.
Best Rare Item: Leaves of the World Tree in Dragon Quest, or Metal Babble Shields in the same.
-Kitsune