80. Final Fantasy I
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.
79. Child of Light
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.
78. Golden Sun
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.
77. Tales of the Abyss
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.
76. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
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).
75. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
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.
74. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
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.
73. Final Fantasy II
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.
72. I Am Setsuna
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.
71. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
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.
