Top 100 RPGs of All Time

First of all, since we're delving deep into the genre, let's add some context. What is an RPG?

RPG stands for Role-Playing Game and essentially it's a game where you take on the role of a character. Ideally, as D&D taught us, you are the character. With a dramatic background, personality, flaws, and strengths, your character breathes, thinks, and talks as you do, or as you wish you did if you were an Elf Ranger born in Wildwood Forest raised by fairies, unicorns, and a green dragon mommy. Since everything was done in pen and paper, it was practical to let imagination fly high.

When the genre ported to consoles, the literary creative freedom has been shackled by the technology. No matter how many choices and consequences a game gave you, eventually you will explore them all. Fast-forwarding RPG history, the genre became even more popular. In most games, you take the role of a character. No more character creation, your freedom is limited to how you want to kick your opponents' asses, but not how the story will unfold. Just sit back and enjoy their journey.

And other games, like Action or FPS, started to put RPG elements as features. Suddenly your weapons started to have levels and you were able to choose skills that help you survive after a headshot or attack enemies without getting tired.

After all, what categorizes an RPG? For me, three elements: Narrative - RPGs have a great focus on narrative. They have a story and a world that evolves as you play. In some, your decisions shape this world and your relationships. It's crucial that You spot an evolution throughout the game, be it from your character, the supporting characters, or the world, but it has to flow and progress as if you were playing a novel. Exploration - sidequests, searching for items, facing different monsters, an RPG should not be bound to stages or too linear. You should be able to enter a house of strangers and steal their underwear and a potion or die ten times to a secret dungeon that is harder than the last boss. Those are elements of a great RPG and show that exploration can bring amazing rewards or dangerous encounters, but in the end, it's up to you to discover. Mechanics - character building and combat. Not all RPGs allow you to build a character, but many allow customization in the evolution of attributes and skills. Combat should give you different options of approach, such as attacking, using magic or items. Non-RPG games don't. They specify how you should proceed in the stages and if you don't follow the rule, you won't advance. But, even though some games don't have all these elements, I still believe they are great RPG games. While some may seem like they have, but don't and shouldn't be categorized as an RPG game (looking at you, Zelda).

Without further ado, where's the list? This is a personal list, the position doesn't necessarily mean a game is better than the other and I haven't played every RPG there is in the world - yet.

Persona 2 repeats the features of the first game, college students who invoke entities from their alter ego battling other entities, such as… Adolf Hitler. The game has two episodes, Innocent Sin & Eternal Punishment. The episodes have the same plot told in different ways - as an answer to each other. While the first focuses on the student Tatsuya Suou, the second has the reporter Maya Amano as its protagonist.

The highlight of the game is the "Rumor" feature, which also unfolds the story. When someone spreads a rumor, it becomes true. It's how the main antagonists were born and everything bad that happens. You can also use the rumor system to benefit yourself by creating new item stores or learning new skills.

At the time of its release and thanks to the power of creating incredible graphics, former SquareSoft created a horror RPG that caused nightmares in many players. Parasite Eve tells the story of Aya Brea, a young police officer who discovered truths about her past after an incident in a theater in New York.

Aya discovers she is the only one who can get near Eve, a human mitochondrion who takes over an opera singer, Melissa, and begins to cause havoc and destruction in New York just by approaching. Aya, being the only one immune, goes on a quest to stop Eve and to learn more about her past.

Vandal Hearts II is a tactical RPG. Vandal Hearts II events occur in the country of Natra and followJoshua's story from childhood to adulthood, focusing on his progress through the civil war that ravages his native country. The early stages of the game present the hero and his childhood companions and act as a prologue to future events in the hero's adult life.

One of the key features in the game is the new Dual-Turn System, stated as being an Active Time Battle system for tactical RPGs. The dual-turn system allows both the player and the computer to move one unit on the battle simultaneously. You can fool the enemy by assuming they will attack your character in the back and positioning yourself behind them or if you're mistaken, use your mighty weapon to hit a big nothing.

Rhapsody: Musical Adventure is an RPG with great musical content. (What? You already knew?), whether in sound, gameplay, and especially in the plot. You control Cornet, an orphan who uses a kind of trumpet that gives life to puppets and puppets, which she can then control. The story revolves around Cornet saving her prince charming, which, in itself, already shows certain creativity in escaping from the cliche in 1998 of "hero saving princess and/or the world".

Despite the appeal to a certain extent childish, Rhapsody shines very brightly in combat. Completely tactical, with a limited movement grid and everything else that a tactical RPG has to show. You move, attack and cast bizarre spells through Cornet's trumpet. Her party companions are dolls and animals that she recruits during the adventure.

Robotrek is another one of the underdog RPGs of Super Nintendo, which came with a very different proposal. The player could create his robots and use them in battle, without the direct participation of the protagonist in them. The protagonist is the son of Dr. Akihabara, an incredible scientist who created an android to act as your late mother and is always refusing to work for the evil corporation HAckers.

One day, the corporation stops asking and starts kidnapping and you, as a good son, go on a journey to save your father and stumbles, unintentionally, in a plot that involves saving time and space with your homemade robots.

Lufia II - Rise of the Sinistrals, despite the name is a "prequel" of the first game. It follows the story of the ancestor of the protagonist of the first game and explains the origin of the war between humans and the group of gods called The Sinistrals.

The story revolves around the hero Maxim, a swordsman from the city of Elcid who was born destined to destroy the Sinistrals, having a natural ability in battles. Throughout his journey, he meets other warriors who are also able to face the Sinistrals and share this goal in common with him.

The combat is turn-based and has basic actions like attacking, casting magic, and items. But you can recruit some monster and feed them, turning them into powerful allies controlled by the AI who always uses the wrong command at the right time - for the enemy.

With scenery and concepts that incorporate Nordic mythology, the game has 2D graphics very well designed, colorful and expressive. It takes place in the fictitious continent of Erion, divided into several nations spread throughout the country.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is a 2D action RPG in horizontal side-scrolling divided by several chapters that transport the player to a new location at each one. Being a typical electronic RPG genre, the player controls five characters for six different scenarios. What they all have in common is the use of a weapon called Psypher, created from Netherworld crystals. This weapon allows them to absorb Phozons, the energy released by vanquished enemies, so they can improve their skills or go up in level.

Paper Mario, is an RPG full of elements already known from Mario's universe, and with a unique look that made it different from other games. The appearance was based on paper cutouts both in its characters with 2D sprites and in its world. The game easily draws attention with its infantilized look, but rich in charm and details. The plot is… oh well, Bowser attacks princess Peach castle and kidnaps her. We live for the journey, right?

The game's combat has a similar turn-based style to Super Mario RPG. If you press a correspondent button at the right time, you can deal extra damage to the enemy or reduce their damage.

Anyone else prefers Digimon over Pokemon?

Digimon World is an RPG game with an incredible system where you take care, train, and feed your Digimon. It's the highlight of the game because it makes you build affection with the little monster for having to deal with the primary needs of the creature, which are hunger, toilet necessities, discipline, and happiness.

You enter the Digital World and have the mission to save it. In your journey, you meet, save and rescue other Digimons who help rebuild the Village of Beginnings with new facilities. In combat, you give orders to your Digimon who can or not obey it. You make your partner stronger by training in the village's natural gym and they can evolve based on their highest attributes. Or if you let them shit a lot in the open air.

Arc the Lad is a tactical RPG that brings famously known features of other tactical games. You battle in a grid-like field, attacking, casting spells or abilities, and using items. Each party member has a specialty and you don't need to choose your party because everyone joins the fray.

The story centers on a sacred torch called Flame Cion. Legends say that if this torch is extinguished, demons will rise upon the earth. You play as Arc, who reaches the Flame Cion in time to see it being extinguished and a demon appears. Arc tries to light the Flame but is killed in the process by the demon. Moments later, he is resurrected and receives the Guardian Power so he can fulfill his destiny and save the world from darkness.

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Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is a game from a franchise full of Ateliers. In this version, you follow the adventures of the alchemists of Regallzine's world and their journey in search of the fantastic "City in the Sky". The Atelier series takes place in a mystical world, where magic is manifested through the Great Mana Spirits and the alchemists can use the essence of the Mana Spirits, conjuring magic and creating special artifacts.

The classic style of turn-based battles stands tall in the series, but the random encounters with monsters can be a bit annoying at times. The great differential of the game is the "Synthesize" ability, which allows alchemists to create new items and weapons, thus gaining additional powers and skills.

The story of Disgaea 1 is full of satires and humorous dialogues, with cynical characters of at least doubtful character. Everything starts with Prince Laharl coming out of a coffin, Etna, one of the castle's vassals explains that he's been asleep for two years and that his father, King Krichevskoy died. While sleeping, demons were fighting for supremacy in the Netherworld. With the help of Etna and some unlikely allies, Laharl will have to make his way to the throne fighting.

If you have never played any Disgaea series game before, imagine a tactical game and then multiply numbers by 9999. As far as exaggeration is concerned, everything in Disgaea is over the top. The combat system is by turns and the max level is 9999, which makes all battle numbers exceed expectations. Recruit and train a multitude of different members, each with their class.

The beloved yellow bird-mount of Final Fantasy is the protagonist of this spinoff. The story starts when Mog takes Chocobo to a dungeon for some treasure hunting. Suddenly, they are separated and Chocobot meets Shiroma, a white mage, who helps them reunite. They find Mog, but after some events including Mog's greed and villages being destroyed, Shiroma is kidnapped and it's up to our dear Chocobo to rescue her.

In these dungeons, the game turns into a turn-based experience. If Chocobo moves one step, enemies can also move one step. Every step you take makes you closer to victory or defeat because a misclick step can result in a well-hit enemy attack. Chocobo can equip various saddles that function like armor, and strap-on claws for weapons. The birdie can also cast magic spells.

Type-0 took a while to land in occidental's hands and only when it earned the high-res treatment did it finally arrive. Although the game keeps classic features of the Final Fantasy series - crystals as important elements, flying ships, spells, and protagonists that seem to spend considerable time fixing their hair -, Type-0 HD brought a different approach to the series.

You control 14 students from an elite group of a military academy named Class 0 and should complete missions that include protecting innocents, helping to take back territories conquered by enemies, and preventing the advance of opposing forces. During the events, you get to know more about the characters and the reason why the world lives in conflict.

The battle is in the third person, the player controls the leader of a group of three characters who have at their disposal three skills and the ability to evade and you can change between the other two at any moment.

Lunar is a traditional jRPG game with 2D sprites characters, turn-based battles with a movement mechanic, world map travel, and party members each with their strength.

You play Alex, a boy who dreams of becoming a great hero just like his idol, Dragonmaster Dyne. In one adventure you enter a Dragon Cave alongside your partner in crime Ramus, your pet Nail, and Luna, your crush. There, you find Quark, an old dragon who says that your destiny is to become the next Dragonmaster. When a majestic dragon says your destiny is to fulfill your childhood dream, you just obey. And so you start a journey to become the next great hero of the world.

The story of the game is about a god who gifted humans with beings called Serus, creatures that gave men abilities like flying, super strength and things like you see in Marvel's heroes. The world lived in a period of peace and tranquility until the arrival of a mist which everyone called... Mist, that spread chaos and hatred throughout the world, besides transforming the Serus into evil creatures. After having his village affected by the Mist, the protagonist Vahn goes on a journey to discover a way to eradicate this evil.

Aided by Ra-Serus, guardians that help your characters, you fight enemies in turn-based combat that brought a new spin to the genre. Through the directional arrows, you had to try the most varied combinations to execute certain blows and if you get it right, you unleash powerful Art moves. I confess I had to look at a walkthrough to unlock all moves because the game's opponents can be nasty sometimes.

If you like games where you can transform into giant knights and smack your squash your enemies with a silver broadsword, this game is for you. The game plot is straightforward. You play Leonard, a boy who lives in a kingdom where there is a princess, who is kidnapped. While delivering wine, Leonard stumbles upon a mysterious power that allows him to transform into a White Knight, so now it's time to ride your sturdy stallion and rescue the princess.

The battle is pretty similar to Final Fantasy XII. There's no transition when you find enemies. You choose a command and it readies actively until you smack someone. At launch, there was an incredible online system where you built your village and did quests with other players. Unfortunately, today you can only enjoy the single-player experience.

When a warrior, where does their soul depart? According to Norse mythology, they are recruited by Valkyries and become Einherjar to protect Valhalla during Ragnarok, the apocalypse where gods battle against each other because they are Vikings.

You play as Lenneth, one of Odin's Valkyries who has the mission to recruit fallen warriors to aid the Allfather and you do so visiting cities, watching events unfold and your soon-to-be party member dying. To gain some levels, traverse through caverns, forests, and other dungeons while fighting in turns and unleashing powerful Einherjar powers.

Front Mission 3 is a tactical RPG that happens in the future, in the year 2112. So if you're from 2113 and it's reading this, the game happens in the past. You play Kazuki Takemura, a Wanzer test pilot. Wanzers are giant robots that you ride in battle. You are caught in the middle of a national conspiracy that involves a major explosion that occurs during your visit to a military base. From this point on, the story is divided into two scenarios that depend on a choice made at the beginning of the game.

Battles occur on grid-like maps like most tactical games. You control Wanzers which can be personalized with four major components: body, legs, and two arms. In each arm, you can equip weapons. The body provides defense and the leg, mobility. You can also add backpacks for additional support. In battle, you can destroy or have the parts destroyed, turning them into junk. If the body is destroyed, the character also is.

Final Fantasy Explorers has a gameplay similar to Monster Hunter but explores the potential of the job system famous in the series. You can play as White Mage, Thief, Warrior, and so on while you embark on explorations to complete various quests.

In itself, the story ends being very bland. There is a war between humans and monsters and to win it we have to restore the power of Grand Crystal, so our main mission will be to travel around the world to pick up small pieces of crystal and beat the Eidolons, also known as Summons, Eikons or Guardian Forces.

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For today's standards, the game may be way too simple. The plot is black and white, you play as the Four Warriors of Light and have the mission to save princess Cornelia from Garland while turning four crystals into their respective elements. The characters have no personality and the battle is the same since the first twenty minutes of playing. But the game deserves to be on the list for the legacy it created.

Final Fantasy came as a final breath for SquareSoft, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Betting on a game with D&D elements, Square created the combat system inspired by American football where both combatants face each other on a field. Although it doesn't have many iconic elements of the series, the game was so successful that it ended up being the kickoff for Squaresoft to rebuild and continue expanding the universe of a game that even today wins the hearts of players and raises expectations of RPGs.

In Child of Light, you follow the story of Aurora, a little princess who sees her family collapse after the death of the Queen of Lemuria, her mother. Aurora crosses a mirror and reaches another world where she finds a firefly called Igniculus and from there the game turns into a journey amid incredible and very well-planned scenarios, in search of a star, the sun, and the moon, stolen by the Black Queen.

The artwork of the game is dazzling, looks like a watercolor painting in motion. The highlight of the game stands with the voice-acting and sounds. There's not much chatter, but when there is, all text is rhymed. The combat is turn-based and you should aim for opponents' weaknesses to trump them. As you level up, you unlock new skills for your characters.

The game made magic in the Game Boy Advance engine. The advanced graphics and animations looked like they would make the portable console combust, but fortunately, everything worked to deliver us one of the best GBA RPGs.

An organized group of Adepts, people with an aptitude for Psynergy manipulation - magic -, has the objective of releasing a destructive power known as Alchemy. Once a catalyst for the development of civilizations, the uncontrolled use bore conflicts between nations, which lead to its sealing. To this end, four keys were created and kept at Mt. Aleph, where the protagonists reside: Isaac, Garet, Jenna, and Kraden.

Of course, the protagonists fail in the defense and the enemies liberate Alchemy. Isaac and Garet parts on a journey with the intent to rescue their friends and recover the power.

In the game, you are in the shoes of Luke fon Fabre, a spoiled and petty character that everyone loves to hate. During his sword session training, the castle you're in is invaded and you're taken from there by a girl named Tear. In your journey, you meet other characters, all with great motivations and personal reasons to be there, not just because they were scripted. Even antagonists have reasons that make us apprehensive to put a sword in their faces because it's only a matter of point of view and not good or bad. As the plot unfolds, it becomes more complex and the separate pieces fit together.

The battle follows the same pattern as the previous games, a mostly sidescroller fight, but you can walk three-dimensionally across the field. Fields of Fonons is a nice addition to the combat. If you use an arte above a ring of an element, the arte may be altered to correspond to the FOF element.

The third installment of Final Fantasy XIII and part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis, Lightning Returns takes place 500 years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII-2 and XIII. The world is ending and you have only thirteen days to save it. You play as Lightning, who was chosen by the god Bhunivelze to save humanity, including former friends and allies who have developed enormous emotional burdens. She ends up discovering during her travels the truth about the fate of the world and Bhunivelze's true goals.

In the battle, you fight solo and with the power of the Schemas, an interesting variation of the paradigm shift. You also acquire garbs, which is like the job system and grants you new attacks, skills, and magic. The new combat system is named Style-Change Active Time Battle (SATB).

My expectations were high because Final Fantasy Tactics has a special place in my warm heart and while it didn't meet them, it was a great game. The game introduction is quite different. You start your journey as Marche, a boy who lives in our contemporary world, and even tell us that Final Fantasy is one of his favorite games. Everything changes when he finds a tome and is teleported to a fantasy world where the adventure begins. Helped by Montblanc, a Mog, you enter the Clan Nutsy and can complete several missions while you try to return to your world. As if I would return to my world.

The game has the same dynamics as Final Fantasy Tactics, tactical battles on a grid map. Characters have jobs and each job has its skills. The game introduces an annoying system of Judges that prevents some actions from being performed in battle and if you disobey them, you are punished.

Tactics Ogre's story is based on real events from Eastern Europe. It's filled with bitter situations, where many characters die, betrayals happen, torture, suffering, and even inhuman acts. All this within a political plot of war, where heroes try to end a conflict and unite a nation to strengthen it against attacks from other nations. Besides, the game allows the player to make decisions for the main character, which will affect the direction of the story and lead it to different endings.

The gameplay is like all aforementioned, strategy combat on a grid-based map. The skill system is based on points acquired in combat, and the player has to evolve the character not only by level but also by experience in combat. Some skills also require their use to improve, such as proficiencies with specific weapons.

Leveraging on the success of its predecessor, Final Fantasy II released the year after, focusing more on the plot and introducing elements that would live till today, such as Chocobos and characters named Cid. All characters are named and have personality. You take the role of Firion alongside Maria, Guy, and Leon, youngsters who saw their parents slain by the Palamecia army. Just before sharing the same fate as your parents, you are rescued by the rebels and taken to Altair where you become a crucial part of the rebellion by executing missions and pestering Palamecia.

Levels were dropped, replaced by a system in which each weapon and magic has its level, which progress according to use. Your stats also raise according to use. If you are a fistfighter, you increase strength easily. If you are a black magic user, watch as your intelligence grows and you nail the SAT.

The game raised the bar high since in their trailers they showed turn-based combat, with double and triple techs and an epic artwork, that aroused interest in anyone who likes Chrono Trigger. And let's face it, that's a lot of people.

The story begins with Endir, a masked mercenary from an unknown village being hired for an execution job by an 18-year-old girl. The girl's name is Setsuna, which implies She is Setsuna and not I. The girl is about to start a journey to go to Last Lands, where she will be sacrificed for world peace and you decide to postpone your execution. You accompany Setsuna to the Last Lands, meeting some good fellas along the way and ultimately reaching your destination.

Even though the plot doesn't exactly mind-blow you as Chrono Trigger did, the combat met expectations. Learning new duo or trio techniques motivates you to constantly change your party and test new strategies as you walk the snowy fields of the world.

Xenosaga keeps the same strong appeal in storytelling, with references in philosophy, psychology, and Christianity. It is not a direct sequence of Xenogears, but you find several references of it during the game. The plot begins when an artifact is excavated in the desert and it begins to attract creatures from another dimension called Gnosis. To face this threat, the protagonist Shion creates an anti-gnosis weapon called KOS-MOS, a powerful android. The plot is too complex to be summarized here or even in a single game, it only concludes in the third, but if you don't care about huge cutscenes and walls of texts, delight yourself because you're in for a ride.

The battle of the game is in turns and each attack uses Action Points, with the remaining points at the end of each round being able to be used in the next. You can also use Ether attacks, powerful attacks, and supporting actions that use your Ether points. To complete, the party has access to mechas called A.G.W.S., which can be equipped by giving up a turn.

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The first game of an amazing series about an evil goddess who likes to fight and lose to dragons. You play Ryu, which means dragon in Japanese. You are a member of the Light Dragon Clan, people who repent their destructive ways of the past. The game starts when Dark Dragons attack Dragnier, your hometown, in search of the Goddess Keys to release Myria (or Tyr), to have their wishes granted. Your sister, Sara, protects your hometown but is kidnapped.

Ryu sets out on a journey to save his sister and face the Dark Dragons while doing good deeds wherever he goes. Among its party members, you find Nina, a winged girl and recurring member of the series. The combat is turn-based and straightforward. You attack, cast magic, use items, and level up to learn new spells. Ryu has the power to shapeshift into powerful dragons as you find dragon shrines in the world.

Shadow Hearts is set in the early 20th century in a fictional version of our world. During a train trip, a sinister man with demonic powers attacks to kidnap a girl who ends up being rescued by the protagonist, Yuri, who also seems to have powers. From then on, the two leave on a journey to escape the various forces that wish to get their hands on Alice as they discover secrets linked to her past.

The main particularity of the game is the "Judgement Ring", a system widely used in gameplay exploration and combat. When it's used, a circle appears on the screen and a line runs clockwise, like the pointer of a clock. If you press a button when the line passes through the colored regions of the circle, you obtain different effects. In combat, you can increase the damage of an attack or the area of effect of magic.

Humans abused the power of Mana, who keeps the world in balance. This made the gods angry and resulted in a violent fight that shook the world, and thus, Mana disappeared. Although civilization was destroyed, the world was at peace again. But time flows like a river, and history repeats itself, with you in the spotlight.

You start the game as Randi, a boy who by accident finds a sword in a stone. Accused by your village of bringing disgrace by removing the sword, you are exiled and have no other choice than to journey the world and discover what the hell is that sword. The gameplay is an action-style RPG with different weapons, two party members, and a lot of magical spirits.

After a troubled development, Final Fantasy XIV is released. He carried dreams, desires, and longings of many gamers who loved the franchise and had felt orphans because of the online aspect of Final Fantasy XIV. With incredibly realistic graphics and a crystal-focused storyline, the formula seemed right.

You play as Noctis and his boy band. After an attack on your kingdom, you run away and embark on a journey to reclaim your rightful throne and destroy darkness with the power of light from your lineage. Although the game was a sales hit, it frustrated some nostalgic - like me - who felt an uncomfortable shock in the new gameplay style, the fast-paced action RPG where you control only Noctis. The plot has its blooming drama, impressive acting, and out of the world graphics, but in my humble opinion, it is one of the weakest in the most recent series.

You are Justin, son of an adventurer father and a pirate mother. You dream of becoming an adventurer and going out exploring the world to know more about an ancient civilization that was related to an artifact your late father brought from one of his travels: the Spirit Stone. As with most old-school jRPGs, you stumble upon antagonists who also share your goals and bollocks start happening everywhere you go.

The combat gameplay is somewhat different. It's turn-based but also distance-based. If you can't reach the opponent on the battlefield or by some reason your attack at the wrong range, you will miss. You earn levels both with character and weapon proficiency, which unlocks new skills. Magic elements can be combined to create new and more powerful elements.

A jRPG with strong western influences, such as the soundtrack, guns, and more guns. You start the game by choosing one of the three characters and must complete their prologue until they unite and bond to save the world, Filgaia. Rudy is a boy who was born with the ability to control some very old firearms, the Ancient Relic Machines, or simply, ARMs. Jack a treasure hunter who longs for vengeance and Cecilia is a princess that starts to question royalty and goes on a journey as a dream chaser.

It's a classical turn-based RPG with generic commands. But one great characteristic of the game is the exploration. Each character has a different set of tools that amplify and unlocks new forms of explorations, such as bombs, radar, and ropes. Think Zelda.

The story of the game is told years before the events of the first Valkyrie Profile and is starred by Alicia who holds the spirit of one of the three Valkyries: Silmeria. You embark on a journey to stop your father, who wants to use an artifact that could cause a clash between gods and humans and that would be bad for you, who is a human.

You still recruit Einherjars, though not as dramatically as the first game, and explore dungeons in side-scroll adventures. The battle had some changes, but it's still turn-based and button triggered. When entering combat, you must reach the enemy with your field of vision to attack them and be careful not to enter theirs and be attacked indiscriminately.

Not my first MMORPG, but the one that defined massive. World of Warcraft brought the Warcraft series to a whole other level. All the lore, characters, and fantasy of the first RTS games came together to create a huge universe where two factions eternally fight, Alliance and Horde.

With several races and classes to choose from, you'll venture into the world of Azeroth, completing quests, facing dangerous instances and iconic bosses while proceeding with the game's story. There's nothing like mining some copper or picking up some herbs to create weapons and potions. Even though it's an online game, the lore is canonical and evolves with the expansions.

The third game of the series shone a new light on the job system introduced in the first game. Introducing more than twenty jobs, each with their skillset, equipment, and appearance. You start the game as Luneth, a boy who finds a crystal that tells him that his destiny is to find other Warriors of Light and restore the light of the world. As we trust in sentient crystals, we obey and set out on a journey.

As foreseen by the crystal, you find the other three members and start earning more jobs by finding other crystals to strengthen up and carry the weight of the world on your young shoulders.

Again we assume the role of collegial. The protagonist, a transferred student, comes across a strange phenomenon called Dark Hour, which makes everyone who doesn't have a certain potential sleep in coffins at exactly midnight. What potential? Glad you asked. The potential to summon Personas. Luckily, you and your friends have this potential and then decide to explore the dungeon in the Dark Hour and finish it once and for all.

The gameplay follows the same turn-based pattern. The protagonist is the only one who can invoke multiple Personas, buffs and debuffs can turn the tables, you can unleash a devastating attack when all enemies are down and there's also the presence of the navigator.

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Accessing a tempting invitation to test a new social network with virtual reality, the protagonist is trapped between both real and digital worlds and finds themselves entrusted with the mission of discovering why people who have accessed the digital world cannot leave it while trying to recover their body.

With the help of Digimon, you complete several missions in simple turn-based gameplay. The main attraction is the great variety of evolutions the little monsters have. There is nothing better than to see a little dinosaur turn into an automatic refrigerator with guided missiles.

Like FFT Advance, you play as Luso, a boy who lives in a contemporary world. He goes to the library, reads a book, and is transported to Ivalice. With the help of Cid, the leader of a clan, he promises to help you find a way to return home. The plot doesn't evolve much from that, betting on sidequests as the main attraction for those who long for a good story.

The combat is the same grid-stale tactical as others and brings back the system of Laws that give rules for each combat. (WHY, OH WHY). There are new races and jobs to mistreat your enemies in more creative ways.

At the beginning of the game, you can choose to play as Claude or Rena. During a quest, Claude is transported to Expel where he meets Rena, who confuses him as the Hero of Light because of his sword of light, a common weapon in Claude's world. Believing that he is the hero, they go on a mission to analyze a meteorite that they believe is responsible for the exaggerated appearance of monsters and natural disasters.

Star Ocean 2 brought more depth into battle, even in the dimensional sense. In other words, the character can turn around the enemy in a 3D fighting environment. That said, the battle system is a show apart, extremely fluid and full of possibilities.

Not in my wildest dreams, I would dare to imagine a crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney would happen. Thankfully, it did. Kingdom Hearts presents itself as a game intended for a young audience, given its animated design, the interaction between the protagonist, Donald, and Goofy, and well, Disney. And in the first moment, it is. But as the plot unfolds, you realize that it is complex even for an older audience.

Being an RPG action, you control only Sora and mix attack with defense, evasion, and magic to bring victory while your allies spend all their items and use healing magic at the wrong time. The fun is to put in your party the respective hero of each Disney world as Tarzan or Aladdin.

Jude Mathis is a young apprentice of medicine and our protagonist. He lives in the city of Fenmont, where the night is eternal and people use magic to heal illnesses, to enlighten the city, and for many other things. He crosses paths with Milla Maxwell, the incarnation of the Spirit Master, who decided to adopt a human form to keep peace in the world of men. Milla senses the arrival of a threat and after meeting Jude both leave on a journey to save the world.

The Tales of Xillia combat system is one of the best made in the series. Being an evolution of the most recent franchise titles, the Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System puts us in 4 main characters combats against a variable number of opponents.

FFXIII-2 takes place three years after the previous one and you assume the role of Serah, Lightning's sister. Oddly enough, no one besides her remembers her sister. This drives Serah to make some investigations and eventually she ends up meeting Noel, your brother-in-arms throughout the game.

Final Fantasy XIII was highly criticized for its linearity, so to avoid a more intense rage, XIII-2 changed the progression of the story. There are paradoxes around the world and different timelines, so Serah and Noel start to travel to the past and future to fix the paradoxes. That's where most of the freedom in progression comes from. The combat is the same with the use of paradigms, but the third member of the party is one of the monsters we can capture.

The Dragon Quest franchise was one of the main competitors of the Final Fantasy series before the two developers merged. For that, it had to have a quality at least equal to its competitor and it did. Dragon Quest III (I'll talk about the remake), greatly improved the quality of the series, presenting new elements such as choice of members with different classes, personalities that change which attributes rise with the level, animation of monster attacks in battle among others.

The story begins when Ortega, your father, sets out on a journey to defeat Baramos but fails. After some time, when you are of age, you go on that same journey. The guild helps you, offering members to accompany you on your adventure.

Eternal Sonata begins by telling the story of Frederic Chopin, in the game a boy who is on his deathbed. In real life, Chopin was a great musician, known as the piano poet, and died in 1810. The plot of Eternal Sonata is about exactly the dream Chopin had before he died, and tells how the character finds a beautiful and sweet girl named Polka, who just like him can use magic, and has a disease that will cause her death soon because of this power.

In addition to the clear musical references, the game features a fun battle system. A mix between turn-based and action-ish. Each character has five seconds to act. You must move, approach an opponent and you can hit it as many times as you want within that time and finish with a skill, which changes its effect if you are standing in light or darkness.

SaGa Frontier does not follow jRPG standards with linear stories. At the beginning of the game, you choose between 7 characters, each one with his motivation, mission, and outcome. Some have a storyline with clear goals and destinations, others, not so much. You can play as a superhero who wants to end a mafia or a monster who wants to save his homeland.

During the gameplay, you can find some of these characters and add them to your party to help you. The battle system is per turn, but the progression is different. You don't go level up, but increase attributes at the end of a fight. To learn new skills there is a feature known as lightbulb. Randomly, your character can learn a new skill while attacking, notable by the lightbulb that appears above your head and the desperate face of your enemy taking a suplex where he mistook it for a jab.

This game is a direct sequel to the first Shadow Hearts and you assume the role of Yuri again after some sobbing ending. Keeping the theme of portraying the real world mixed with fiction, a demon is interacting with events of the First World War and this demon is an old acquaintance of Yuri, who soon finds himself involved in conspiracies with the Russian royal family, a Japanese minister, and a mystical force.

The game as a whole is an upgraded version from Shadow Hearts, including the graphics, cutscenes, voices, the way Judgment Ring works, and the cast of characters. The battle is amazing as ever and correctly hitting the ring rewards you with benefits and powers as if you had joined a pact with a demon.

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Final Fantasy V had to keep the torch lit in the series after FFIV, which introduced a deeper plot, characters with personality, and the very famous ATB system, where each character acts when its bar is filled. In the game, crystals are being destroyed. Each one represents a major element and when destroyed, nature begins to suffer the respective consequences.

You play as Bartz, who finds near a meteorite two members of your party. After some pep talk, you decide to help them protect the crystals and you soon encounter the fourth member. The game adopts the system of Jobs similar to Final Fantasy III. With each contact with a crystal, you learn new Jobs. You can change them freely at any moment and after each battle victory, you earn both EXP and BPA, which allows you to learn new Job skills.

Diablo III follows the story of his predecessor. After you finally defeat evil, an annoying comet falls to Earth exactly in the place where Diablo was confined and your vacation is canceled because you need to defend humanity against the new enemy. And of course, save Deckard Cain again.

The gameplay sticks to what it does best. Isometric view in a 3D scenario but now you can destroy some of it. The loot system remains the same, surprising us with each gameplay, and despite some name changes, we've got only one new class. Customization, however, has gotten a little less flexible. It isn't possible to choose attributes to increase at each level and they removed the skill tree. Each character learns a skill pre-established by level and also unlocks runes that change skills' effects.

I play a lot and for a long time. When I first got my hands on Demon's Souls and got squashed like a fly in a buffet, I asked myself: was it a waste of time all my gaming journey?

FromSoftware has developed a game that is not meant for the faint of heart or casuals. You create an adventurer in Boletaria, a demon-infested kingdom surrounded by fog. Your mission is to travel through five regions killing demons and doing your best not to die hundreds of times.

The game is an action-RPG that acquired notoriety due to its difficulty. It doesn't teach you beyond the basic commands and doesn't hold your hand. You can choose which attributes to increase and use different weapons and spells to keep killing demons while you are murdered. And remember, try not to die too much, because if you do, the game gets more difficult with each death. Strangely sadistic, if you ask me.

If you miss classic jRPGs with a character design and artistic 3D world, you should try Battle Chasers - which wasn't developed by a Japanese company but has its soul. The plot is typical of this kind of fantastic narrative. A group of heroes chasing after a powerful magical being who can put the whole world at risk. There are some interactions between the characters and cutscenes, but most of the story is told in a visual novel format.

The combat is turn-based and each character has their strengths. One of the highpoints of the game is the randomly-generated dungeons. As the game requires a bit of grind to proceed, randomly-generated dungeons loaded with traps, puzzles, secrets, and loot ensure we won't get bored anytime soon.

The sequel of Final Fantasy X happens 2 years after its completion. Yuna and Rikku become Sphere Hunters after finding a sphere with a very familiar character. Together with a third member, Paine, they wander through the world of Spira, revisiting old acquaintances and completing missions in exchange for more spheres to find out more about the one-that-should-not-be-named to protect you from spoilers.

The combat changes from Conditional Turn-Based Battle to the notorious Active Time Battle and the Powerpuff Girls use the power of dresspheres, that's a different name for Jobs, to use new spells, skills, and attacks. You can also capture monsters to aid you in battle, but you can't choose their commands.

Nioh was developed by the same team that did Ninja Gaiden and although the difficulty is high, its gameplay style is similar to the Souls series. Despite the comparison, Nioh can support itself on his two overwhelming eastern youkais legs. The fast-paced rhythm, characteristic of Ninja Gaiden, brings another rhythm to the game, one which requires more reaction than just holding the defense button (unless you play with a spear and do a build tank, like me. Demon's Souls obvious traumas).

Nioh has a great focus on narrative. The game takes place in Japan, you are a gaijin - a foreigner - who plunges straight into a civil war between two powerful clans. Also, demons inhabit the eastern lands and it's your duty as a samurai aided by guardian spirits, to eliminate them.

Old but gold, one of the best aRPG of the PS1 era. In the game, you play as Musashi, reincarnated as the ancient warrior who has freed the kingdom of Allucaneet from a terrible monster, and now was summoned to destroy the evil Thirstquencher Empire. The character was vaguely inspired by the legendary Miyamoto Musashi, one of the most dangerous men with a sword in his hand who had ever set foot on Earth and always fought at midday with his back to the sun. Something about the clarity messing with his opponent's sight.

With your two swords, Fusion and Lumina, you fight enemies in action-based combat. One of the game's strongest features was that you could steal abilities from the enemies, thus becoming stronger, faster, or simply having the requirements to progress the main story.

Breath of Fire is one of my favorite franchises, if not THE favorite. I confess I was a bit shocked when Dragon Quarter was released with major changes to the series. But looking past them, we encounter a charming and daring game.

You play as Ryu, who lives in Shelter, an industrial-housing complex that extends for 1 km underground, the last site and the new world of a civilization that destroyed the surface in a terrible war. There are social castes and you are part of the lowest, doing dangerous services. In one of these services, you meet a girl, Nina, and at the same time, the voice of a dead dragon echoes in your mind and fills you with power and a purpose to reach for the sky.

The game presents turn-based combat, but with several strategic elements, such as using traps before combat to start it with advantage. At a certain moment, a counter appears in the interface and it increases as you play. With each dragon transformation, it increases exponentially and if it reaches 100%, it's Game Over. However, the game "encourages" the game over, since it provides the New Game+ feature with each defeat and you can restart the game with your previous power. Restarting the game also unlocks new scenes to the main story, enriching the plot.

At first, the game seems quite crude and technically flawed, but if you give it a chance, you will see that it has deepness and a distressing story that makes you want to help the characters at all costs, even after several Game Over.

Legend of Mana is part of the Mana series and the game again centers on the Mana Tree. But the similarities stop there. Both the gameplay and the story progression are different. You choose a male or female protagonist and progress through the game performing quests, 67 in all. The plot emphasizes secondary characters more than yourself. The world map is different. You win artifacts that you can deploy on quadrants to create new villages and dungeons. When you visit them, you can unlock quests that give you more artifacts and then, more locations and quests.

The battle remains similar to the Secret of Mana, but you only control one character who can change weapons and evolve them within the game. You can choose, whenever you want, two skills for your character. Depending on their combination, your character can learn new skills while gaining experience.

Following the success of the first game comes Grandia II, who puts you in the skin of Ryudo, a mercenary. The story begins thousands of years after a battle between Granas, the god of light, and Valmar, the god of darkness, that almost destroyed the planet until Valmar was torn to pieces and spread throughout the earth. In one of Ryudo's assignments, he discovers that the word of Granas that the church spreads is not so factual with the true historical events and, with one classic jRPG twist, his epic begins.

Combat gameplay works the same way as the first game. Turn-based combat, but your characters need to move in battle to attack and can be stopped while they do so. You learn new spells by equipping Mana eggs, skills by reading books and you can evolve both with special coins.

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Last Hope is a prequel of the series, which makes it the first chapter of the Star Ocean universe. The story follows Edge's journey as a captain of a ship in search of a solution to several mysteries about an accident that led to the separation of his expedition group in several different ships. From planet to planet, you recruit one here and there until you form your pirate crew and go after One Piece.

The game found a great intersection between action and strategy in combat mechanics. You fight with a party of four and can freely switch between the characters anytime you want, as well as pause the combat to cast magic. If you prefer, you can put your allies in automatic mode while you wreak destruction on your side relentlessly.

Pokémon

Gold/Silver was considered by many the crown jewel of the series. It not only added 100 new monsters and 2 new types, Dark and Steel, but features of day and night that change the type and what Pokémon spawns in the area, gender to the little monsters (which allowed crossing between them), and last but not least, a new area, Johto.

Your goal is the same: to be the very best by earning 8 gym badges and defeating the Elite 4 while messing with your tiresome rival. But to the surprise of the fans, after defeating the Elite 4, you can explore Kanto, the region of the previous game. You can fight against all the old gyms and in the end, face yourself, the protagonist from the last game; Red. PLOT TWIST.

After many prayers and requests from fans, Square Enix decided to relaunch Final Fantasy VII in an updated version for today's technology. The result was a mixture of nostalgia with dazzle and a bit of confusion as some delicate elements of the plot underwent changes that, I eagerly hope, were for the best.

Once again you play as the mercenary Cloud, aiding AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group who wants to destroy Shinra Electric Power Company, claiming that they are sucking the planet's life force for their financial benefit. Throughout the game, Cloud meets iconic characters while facing visions from his past.

The combat gameplay was completely revamped. The old ATB turn-based combat from the golden ages lost the battle to today's frantic action rhythm. But while it fell into oblivion, a glimpse of light, (a.k.a players comments on the first combat trailer released), managed to keep some of the past lit and ATB returned. Not as we remember, but it's there. You use it to cast magic, abilities, or use items. Not very practical, since you need to take a great risk at low HP to hit enemies to accumulate ATB so you can cure yourself. But it works fine.

Rogue Galaxy was released at the end of the PS2 generation, but that didn't halt its success. You play as Jaster, a boy who dreams of going into space and changing the universe. One day, his enslaved city is attacked and he saves everyone, being mistaken for a legendary treasure hunter. With all the heat on him, he gets his chance to go to space and his intergalactic journey commences.

The game is an action RPG, but you have to pause to use abilities or command your party. You evolve your characters in a system called Revelation Flow, very similar to FFX's Sphere Grid and FFXII's License Board. Your weapons also gain levels and when they reach the maximum level they can be combined with others at maximum to create more powerful weapons.

Another game from the SO U Like to Suffer series. Bloodborne takes place entirely in one night, The Hunt and coincidentally you play as the Hunter, a creatable character with predefined status. You wake up in Yharnam, a city poisoned by a blood plague. It will be up to you to reveal the secrets of the Paleblood, to hunt infected monster beasts, and unveil the secrets of the mysterious plague to finally escape this night of nightmares and return to the real world, the Waking World.

Although the gameplay is similar, it differs in some aspects, especially the pacing. All fights are faster, more dynamic, and aggressive since you can't defend and you get healed if you attack as soon as you get damaged. Every weapon has two stances that change its attack and you have guns that can give you a nasty counter-attack if you parry the enemy attack at the right time.

If you like the Final Fantasy and Pokémon series, this game is a must-have. You play with the twins Lann and Reynn who mysteriously receive the mission to explore worlds known as Grymoire while capturing creatures known as Mirages and preventing the advance of the Bahamutian Army.

In your adventures, you cross paths with familiar figures from the entire Final Fantasy series, like most of the protagonists who aid you in your quest. The battle system is the great differential. You capture Mirages and take them into battle in a totem system. Depending on the size of the Mirage, you can stack at a max of two to each brother and their status are combined. The Mirages strengthen themselves in a system similar to the Sphere Grid and can even evolve into stronger, bulkier, and fearsome forms.

During the adventure, the player controls only the protagonist Ashley Riot, wrapped up in dark catacombs or abandoned temples while massacring every kind of evil being imaginable and trying to capture Sidney Losstarot, who kidnapped the son of a powerful duke. Meanwhile, you try to understand what is happening to you and the cursed city of Leá Monde.

The plot is very political and somewhat confusing, which encourages replaying the game. The battle system was, in its time, totally innovative. You can move Ashley during the battle, but by pressing command, a circle appears around, the range varying according to the weapon equipped, and you could choose which bit of the monster to hit, similar to what Fallout 4 does. With skills, if you press the right command, you could unleash combos.

Bloodstained was a success on Kickstarter. When I found out it was the spiritual successor of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, I almost donated my car. Fortunately, I didn't. I needed it to work.

You play as the orphan Miriam who was marked by alchemists with a curse that slowly crystallizes her skin. Your mission is to face a castle infested with demons and raised from hell by Gebel, your friend whose body was almost completely taken by crystals, which contributed to corrupt his mind.

The game follows the Metroidvania style, sidescroller gameplay. Miriam has several types of weapons, like swords, boots, and even firearms. Her magical powers come through shards, which you find exploring the castle or killing demons. There is a bit of grind because each shard increases the level of magic, so it is necessary to kill the same demon several times.

SquareSoft (now Square Enix) and Nintendo made one state-of-the-art RPG for the Super Nintendo. The game astonished me because of the graphics, the entertaining gameplay, and the innovations in the lore of the Mario universe. Besides the princess not being kidnapped by Bowser, they both unite to help you in your quest. The story focuses on Mario and his group fighting against the main antagonist, Smithy, who stole the seven stars/pieces of Star Road, a place where all the inhabitants' wishes become Wish Stars. Mario must return the pieces so that those wishes can be fulfilled again.

The turn-based battle is dynamic due to the mechanics of pressing buttons at the right timing. If you press at the exact moment of both attack and defense, you increase the damage done or decrease the damage received.

Final Fantasy VIII was launched with the urge to make the same or more success as its predecessor. The game kept the mixture of fantasy and technology that started in FFVI. You play with Squall, a student who performs missions for his military school. After passing an elite test, you embark on a bodyguard mission, but end up getting involved in the task of protecting the world alongside your cast of students.

The mechanics of combat changed. You equip Guardian Forces, which allows you to allocate spells in certain attributes to increase their values. The system of acquiring magic is a bit boring but necessary. To level up, the amount of exp is always the same, 1000, but enemies scale with your level. Last but not least, the ATB turn-based remains the same.

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Ruby and Sapphire were the Generation III of the series. Although the plot is pretty identical to the previous, defeating gyms, beating the Elite 4 and the champion while disrupting the plans of an evil organization, the game implemented some big changes to the gameplay. Introduction of Skills, attributes that add advantages to the battle, among other things. Nature, that affects how statistics develop at level up and Double Battles, two Pokémon at once to double gloat at victory.

The game introduced 135 new Pokémon in the new region of Hoenn and you can capture 202 in total. You can only acquire Pokémon from Generation I by trading.

The game is a prequel to Final Fantasy VII and tells the story of Zack Fair, a Shinra SOLDIER Class-A, in the Wutai vs Midgar war, until everything spirals into a messy turn of events. Cloud flashbacks in FFVII are portrayed in rich detail in the game, which expands the plot and the motivations of all the characters involved, including a gray long-haired hero with a sword the size of the Red Sea. The story of Crisis Core ends where that of FFVII begins.

Combat mechanics is a turn-based RPG disguised as an action game. We must choose the command to be performed, attack, magic, abilities, or items and it will be released. The combat has a slot feature called DMW (Digital Mind Wave). Each one rotates numbers from 1 to 7, with its portrait. When the three 7s line-ups, Zack gains a level and when the portraits are identical, the drawn character performs a special attack.

Ni no Kuni, which means the second country in Japanese, tells the story of Oliver, a young boy with a pure heart who, according to an ancient prophecy, is destined to save a universe parallel to his reality, a second universe, the Ni no Kuni. To aid him in his quest, you have the companionship of Drippy, a fairy that's in no way like Tinkerbell and the Wizard's Companion, that has all the details of the world, familiars, and spells.

In battle, you act in turn-based combat while moving around. You can control Oliver or one of three familiars, that you can change at any moment during the battle, or your party members and their familiars. When not controlling one of them, AI takes over. All the usuals command available, such as attacks, spells, and defense.

The fourth game of the series gives us the role of Cecil Harvey, a dark knight, and captain of Baron's Red Wing. After stealing the Water Crystal, Cecil and his knights question their morals and the king's orders and for that, he is punished for disloyalty. Sent on a mission to the village of Mist to regain the king's trust, he ends up getting involved in a life-changing adventure that will define the destiny of the world.

It was the first time the battle system used Active-Time Battle mechanics. The battle accepts up to five members, each with their skills and fighting styles. You no longer need to buy spells or techniques because you learn new ones when you level up.

The game has a futuristic scenario. Kislev and Aveh are two potentials that have been fighting in a war for so long that no one remembers why. They use Gears, giant combat robots, as tools of war. You play Fei Wong, an 18-year-old who was sheltered by a remote village after being found mysteriously. One day, Gears attack the village, disturbing its peace and setting Fei on his adventure.

And believe me, the adventure is incredible, addressing elements as complex as his spiritual successor, Xenosaga. The battle system is by turn and uses a mechanics of combos that consume points similar to Chrono Cross. Depending on the order of combos, you unleash skills. You can also control Gears in giant robot battles and recycle your enemies.

Divinity: Original Sin is one of those games that are a love letter for D&D. It was also Kickstarter's success in his time. You create and control two characters, Source Hunters, which aims to end any threat linked to The Source, a power that once beneficial, had been corrupted. Your first mission is a simple investigation that unfolds in quests, mysteries, and bigger bosses.

Inspired strongly by Baldur's Gate, the battle system has an isometric vision and is by turn. You control up to four members and although some enter your party with pre-defined skills, you have the freedom to customize each level. The battle is strategic, you can use elements from the terrain and change the "weather" to help you in battle. But be careful, everything that affects enemies can also affect your allies.

Back with my favorite franchise, now with the second release! Breath of Fire II uses the same formula and mechanics as the first game, but with incredible improvements, both graphically and gameplay-lly. You know the drill, Ryu, a blue-haired boy, is our protagonist and he has dragon powers.

The story takes place hundreds of years after the original game. Ryu lives with his father and little sister in a village in the shadow of a mountain on which a dragon fell asleep years before. One afternoon, Ryu goes out in search of his sister and finds her sleeping next to the dragon. She explains to him that when she does that, she can dream about her mother and advises Ryu to do the same. The boy does it and when he wakes up, his family is gone and nobody in the village remembers him. Fast forwarding, Ryu is all grown up and working as a bounty hunter, and his true adventure starts.

The battle is turn-based and simple. Attack to kill spells to destroy or heal and dragon transformation to obliterate. Each character has their strengths and learns new moves leveling up.

This game is set in the dark fantasy in the world of Midgard, in which the Union and the Empire are at war. The player controls Caim, a knight whose sister is elected to an important religious position and should be treated as a goddess. Attacked by the Empire and on the verge of death, Caim forms a pact with a female dragon to gain strength to save his sister - losing his voice in the process. The game addresses delicate topics and explores themes that other games would not dare. Also, it's the spiritual predecessor of the Nier's series.

The game has two types of gameplay. Terrestrial, where you face hordes of enemies on an enormous battlefield with 60+ weapons while completing objectives. The other is aerial, flying with your dragon in a free movement gameplay style, shooting fireballs, leveling up, and being badass.

The plot takes place around 16 years after the last story (Suikoden II) and brings us, three heroes, that is, we can see the story from 3 points of view, (Hugo, Chris, and Geddoe), allowing events to be seen from various sides. We then have three factions fighting in Suikoden III, each with its divisions and politics. Hugo, of the 'Karaya' clan, is a Grasslander, Chris Lightfellow is a knight of the trading nation of Zexen, and Geddoe, a member of the Harmony defense force. The game also has a big political context in the plot and the possibility to recruit up to 108 characters.

The battle, although by turn, has a unique system. You use up to six members in three pairs of two. You give order to the front member while the back member attacks alone. This encourages you to make different combinations of pairs and find out which character is best in each position.

The plot centers on Vaan, an orphan who dreams of becoming a sky pirate. He lives in the Rabanastre, capital of Dalmasca, a small kingdom that's attached to the Empire of Archadia. Through small and naive adventures, the boy ends up getting involved with a rebel group that wants to rescue Dalmasca's sovereignty. While Vaan is constantly remembered as the least relevant protagonist of the franchise, his companions help to create an interesting dynamic.

The battle system is the first one that shows the enemies on the field and removes random encounters. When you approach, you can decide which command to use and a bar fills up until their execution, like ATB. You can give manual commands or create Gambits, a kind of artificial intelligence for your party. Besides EXP, you get LP to unlock licenses that allow you to use new equipment and magic.

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The Earth was suddenly invaded by beings from another planet and mechanical life forms with devastating power were used as weapons of war, which forced the human race to flee to the Moon. To take Earth back, a force of resistance formed by android warriors was created by humanity to fight the invaders. You control one of these androids, 2B.

The game is a very frenetic RPG action. 2B has two slots of weapon, fast or strong that changes the variations of attacks depending on the weapon equipped. A drone helps you in battle using various firearms. In some phases, you control a ship in a style of bullet hell game.

The world suffers from a great collapse with the excessive use of mana, which is the source of energy in the world. You play as Lloyd, a resident of Iselia. Collete Brunel, a resident of the village and your friend, is chosen to save the world from destruction. You are selected as one of her guardians to embark on "The Journey of World Regeneration" so the world can finally be saved.

As in previous games of the Tales of series, Tales of Symphonia uses a new version of the Linear Motion Battle System that almost every game in the series uses. Your movements are limited to 2D and you can change characters during battle. By pausing the game you can use spells from other members. There is also a new feature called Unison Attack, if characters use certain skills at the same time, they will combine into a more powerful version.

Kingdom Hearts II is one of those sequences that I have described several times here. It followed the same formula as its predecessor but improved it. The first was like eating ice cream. The second added chocolate sauce. The story continues from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which caused some discontent in players who could not play the game because it was on another console.

You start the game with Roxas, which has recurring memories of Sora's life. At one point, some enemies appear in the town, known as Nobody. With his newly acquired power, the Keyblade, Roxas faces them while trying to understand his dreams and who he is. The mashup between Final Fantasy and Disney is also there, with new worlds to explore. The gameplay is the same, with the addition of reaction commands, powerful attacks that vary according to the enemy you fight.

The favorite of many fans, Final Fantasy VI is a masterpiece of its era. With the magic long forgotten, the Gestahl Empire started to use Espers (you may know them as summons) to relive this ancient power. Terra, an innate magic user, is being mind-controlled by the empire and is sent on a mission that ends up going wrong. Luckily, she is saved by Locke, a member of the resistance that frees her from mental control. From this point on, the girl is placed during events that would end up making her the only hope of the rebel group.

Kefka, the villain, is the first to have several layers and not simply be a megalomaniac who is driven by world destruction. Even if eventually he becomes one. The battle system brings back the ATB and its innovation is in the team members, fourteen in total, each with their skills. It's the first time you could change your party.

The plot follows the Hero, who you may name whatever you like, whose mission is to end the curse that plagues a king and his daughter: he was turned into a troll and the princess into a mare. For this, the protagonist needs to destroy the one who put the curse, a mysterious court jester named Dhoulmagus, although he eventually finds out that there are more forces behind the event. Other characters have the same motivation to kick Dhoulmagus's magical ass, so they join your party.

It's the first game of the series fully made in 3D and the combat has incredible animations that show, finally, your character attacking. The combat is turn-based and the progression is somewhat customizable. You level up and allocate points to the mastery of a weapon of your liking or one specific attribute, like Courage for the Hero. After a specific number's been allocated, they learn new skills with that weapon.

To this day, people ask for a remake or a remaster of this legendary game. You play in the shoes of Dart, a warrior that returns to his village of Seles after training and discovers it was attacked by soldiers and that his childhood friend, Shana, was kidnapped. He then goes on a mission to rescue her, without knowing that this is only the beginning of a journey that will change not only his life but the world he lives in.

The combat gameplay is turn-based and dynamic due to the Addition mechanics, a combo system. With each attack, a square appears on the screen and if timed correctly, you keep attacking until the combo is complete. You will now because the character will say the skill name out loud like an anime character. The more you get it right, the more points Addition earns until it levels up and increases its status.

Feels a bit weird to write about the original after the remake! The biggest difference from the remake is that the original is a whole game. It was our first contact with Cloud and the AVALANCHE crew, as well as some of the most famous characters of the series. I can't say for sure why it was such a success at the time. Maybe the transition to 3D, or the cinematics, or the epic soundtrack, or the timing where Playstation 1 was on a roll, but it was a huge success and worthy of it.

It kept the ATB from the previous games of the series and added materia, condensed mako that allows characters to use magics, skills, or amp their status. The game is filled with side quests and secrets. There were even two optional party members - which I consider a rascality since Vincent is one of the best characters of the franchise. No matter the reason and even though there is a remake totally in HD with gorgeous characters and voice-acting, the original game still deserves our love.

Hold your stones, no throwing, please! I know that if I put this one first, most of you would accept it. But in 13? Not even in the Top 10? Remember, you've read 86, don't give up on me now.

Chrono Trigger is the state-of-the-art JRPG game of the SNES. Set up with a dream team, he was born in a golden cradle and was planned to become the legend he is today. You play with Crono, a silent protagonist who by circumstances of life and his heroism finds himself entangled between different times while trying to save the world from a parasitic alien.

Fluid gameplay, awesome characters, remarkable soundtrack, and engaging combat, the game has it all. BUT, it's not perfect. Mechanically, and to its time, it is. But I feel most characters lack the motivation to throw themselves into the fray and they don't have development outside their era or even interaction between them. To summarize, the reason it's in this position is that I believe there are 12 RPGs better than it for whatever reason.

The ninth game of the series has returned to its fantastic and epic origins. The game puts us in control of Zidane Tribal, a flamboyant and womanizer boy who is part of a traveling troupe that wants to kidnap Princess Garnet. While trying to do so, you will be thrown into an adventure to...? If you said "save the world of Gaia", you were right. You can also intertwine between side quests in the nostalgic world map.

The combat once again uses the Active Time Battles. Each piece of equipment gives the character a new skill and if you gain enough AP, they can use it without the need for the item. Each character has a "class", however discreet it may be. Vivi as a Black Mage, Zidane as Thief, and Steiner as Knight, for example. To close with a golden key, maestro Nobuo Uematsu is responsible for the soundtrack, dispensing further comments.

One more from the "It's only here because it's my favorite series" list. But joking aside, the game would be here anyway. The main essence of Breath of Fire IV is the duality of the plot. On one side, we have Ryu, a boy with no memory recently found by Nina and Cray who get to know the world with a naive and kind look. On the other, Fou-Lu, a reawakened emperor of the world's largest empire who tries to understand humans as they insist on misrepresenting humanity. It is in this double narrative that we know a little more about the world and the motivation of the characters.

The gameplay is fun. The game allows us to use all the members in combat, three in front and three in the back, and can change at any time. The system of combos is a great addition, which allows magic and skills to intersect and cause more damage.

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Before playing the game, I read the books. And oh boy/girl, was I right. You can play the game as a standalone edition, even though you will miss some references from Witcher 1 and 2, but nothing that will impact your gameplay or the story.

What pleased and mesmerized me the most about Witcher 3 was the depth of the quests, interactions, and decision-making that could change the outcome of the main quest. Moral decisions? You will rarely please everyone and will have to make some choices that will leave you with a bad taste afterward. Your goal is to find your protégé Ciri while bartering for information and gold along the way.

The combat is action with doses of strategic planning. Using the right oil or potion before the fight can guarantee an easy victory. You can customize your Skill Tree build to fit your style.

I think the replayability and loot system trumped many games here. The major highlight, for someone so fixated on jRPGs where most progression systems are linear, was the skills tree. I became addicted to the game and spent a good part of my adolescence in the game, testing different classes and builds. When I felt the game was finally stuck into a grinding - and after getting tired of killing the Mephisto 200x to drop a Ring of Jordan, they launched the Lord of Destruction expansion and I met my new passion: Druid.

The world was also upgraded from the first game, expanding the territory to new environments such as deserts and swamps. To fully understand the lore, you had to talk to NPCs and at the time, I wasn't aware or didn't bother. But visiting Old Tristam and saving Cain is an unforgettable experience for many Diablo I players who love to listen to him.

I may be too old to remember, but I think Pokémon was my very first RPG. I was fascinated at the possibility of exchanging Pokémon with my friends and even more when my friend's Pokémon did not obey me and made me lose the battle. Daycare for life, Machamp.

As I said, it is possibly my first RPG, but for sure my first turn-based RPG. You didn't need to be hitting a button madly. You had to think strategically, think about the strengths and weaknesses of your Pokémon, use items, and even run away because everyone knows that the hero who runs today, lives to become a legend tomorrow. The first time, I picked Charmander as my starter and as you know it was an ordeal fighting the first two gyms. So I restarted the game, picked Bulbasaur, and destroyed the first two gyms like a boss. It was a lesson and a spark for the young RPG gamer in me to emerge.

The Final Fantasy series has a huge weight by itself in the RPG world, but SquareSfot explored uncharted lands, or genres, with Tactics. I'm glad it did because it delivered us a fantastic story about war, betrayal, power, and a mysticism involving the zodiac that made me a bit interested in horoscopes. You play as Ramza Beoulve, a member of the House Beoulve that claims "he had no wish of changing the world for just a select few while others suffer".

The job system, something very familiar in the Final Fantasy series, shines throughout the entire game. With countless jobs to choose and master, as well as unique characters with their abilities, each battle is a new and thrilling experience. Even innocent and beautiful Chocobos can become your nemesis if you are not careful.

At first, I didn't like Castlevania so much with the Belmont family. Whipping and blessing the demons with Richter was cool, but after four stages using the same weapon and sub-weapon, I got bored. When I found a vampire with a velvety voice and demonic powers, but good intentions, I gave it another shot.

You play as Alucard, the son of Dracula. (Have you read his name backward?), who wants to destroy Dracula's castle that reappeared. The gameplay is traditionally 2D sidescroller, but they added levels, different equipment, and weapons - no more whipping - a looting system, and other elements that made this game amazing. And the soundtrack, dammit, it's simply perfect. If you like to kill monsters that don't belong to this world, this is a must-try.

In a world where turn-based RPGs have lost their throne to action RPGs, It appears at the end of a school corridor, a nostalgic light that carries in its core all the hope of old school RPG players. With charismatic characters - even the silent protagonist - interactions and relationships that mean something, a contemporary plot that both entertains and teaches, and of course, a super stylish turn-based combat that makes you groove while invoking the manifestation of your personality.

Persona has it all. Whether you are conspiring against your school teacher in how to lecture him some good manners around students or going to the bathhouse with your friends to enhance your relationship and your charm, you feel involved. You feel that with every decision you make, something can change for the better or worse, but even so, it is your decision and your consequences. This is the essence of a great RPG.

Start the introduction: Tidus, a young athlete, enters the aquaticfield accompanied by heavy metal and shines like the star he is. Suddenly he is caught in mayhem, people running, the city being destroyed, an unknown warrior, and monsters. This raised the bar high that throughout the game it didn't even flinch. Maybe a little on the laughing scene between Tidus and Yuna. The game delivered us fun, romantic, hateful, hopeful, and sad moments. It was the first game I cried like a newborn. I knew that the characters were pixels for my entertainment, but they became part of my story, so you should listen to their story, as Tidus says.

The Sphere Grid feature is awesome and early on gave us some control over character progression. The turn-based combat was just the cherry on the cake for me to consider as one of the best Final Fantasy in existence.

WHAT, ranked higher than Chrono Trigger?

Instead of focusing on time travel, Chrono Cross betted on alternative worlds. The protagonist Serge travels through these worlds while trying to find out why the hell he is dead in an alternative world and all the changes this has caused while hunting the Frozen Flame, an artifact that allows the user to manipulate time and space to win in the lottery. During your journeys, you can meet up to 40 party members, each with their backstory. You also find and antagonize the... antagonist, Linx, that has a motivation of its own that goes beyond that basic instinct of doing evil things.

The battle has also innovated with a system of stamina, combos, and elements. You can be a high risk, high reward player striking hard at every move or play sparingly while building an area of elements and accumulating enormous damage on enemies.

Yes, my favorite Final Fantasy of all time is an MMORPG, and for a pretty simple reason. Apart from having the best plot in an online game, references from the entire franchise gravitate toward its content. What else can a Final Fantasy lover wish for?

First of all, we are talking about the version of A Realm Reborn, which was renewed on top of the late Final Fantasy XIV. Second, Each expansion further expands the universe and the plot, introducing you to new characters, new intrigues, morals, and outcomes.

The gameplay is typical of an MMO, but with Jobs instead of classes and other elements of the franchise. In the last expansion, they added a feature where you can complete dungeons with NPCs, so you can experience the game as a great single-player adventure. And you should, because to this day, the story boasts over 200 hours of content, and most of the time, it will exceed your expectation.

If you noticed, there was a Breath of Fire missing in the list. Not anymore, because it is here to reign over them all.

You start as a young Ryu who is found and adopted in a forest by two thieves. From then on, they start educating him about the world. You notice Ryu's evolution even in battles when initially he attacks with an animation of fear and then becomes firmer, holding the sword like a good gentleman holding an umbrella for his lover. The plot begins to unfold, you meet other characters and get to know more about Ryu and the world's background.

As with all Breath of Fires, Ryu has the power to transform into dragons and this system is the golden egg of the game. Throughout the game, you find Chrysms, which are tombs for dragons. On contact, Ryu acquires the power of the deceased for himself. When transforming, you combine up to three powers to turn into several dragons. Each one with its appearance, power, and temperament. Other elements like the Fairy Village, in which you play SimCity and the fishing minigame are great hobbies to distract while your anxiety makes you avoid an evil goddess planning to destroy the world.

That's it, 100 electronic RPGs that in some way marked my life and told me stories about heroism, adventure, romance, tragedy, betrayal, and overcoming. I hope you identified with some of the games or that I made you feel like trying some. Either way, I had a lot of fun writing. Now excuse me, my video game needs me.