70. Breath of Fire
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.
69. Shadow Hearts
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.
68. Secret of Mana
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.
67. Final Fantasy XV
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.
66. Grandia
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.
65. Wild Arms
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.
64. Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria
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.
63. World of Warcraft
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.
62. Final Fantasy III
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.
61. Persona 3
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.
