I've been rpging all weekend
LIST
Secret of Mana: First rpg-like game that I bought. I played it to death and it pretty much turned me towards the RPG side.
Final Fantasy 6: Better characters than most of the modern FF games, beautiful sprite backdrops, great soundtrack and I actually really liked the World of Ruin.
Skies of Arcadia Legends: or SoA, Legends is just fine tuned a bit. Still the best 3d era jrpg. Yet again, good likeable characters triumphs over whiney emoboy shit.
FF9: I merely like this game, not love it. I'd love it if the random battle encounters were lesseened greatly. Really annoying, but outside of that I liked the game a lot. It's weird to thinkt hat Square messed with so many aspects of the game during this period, but never fixed the most glaring problem. They made characters generic in 7 by allowing them to have the same skills, they screwed up the magic system and game balance in 8, and changed the whole theme and world, they made it fully 3d in 10 but still RANDOM BATTLES!
Fallout 1&2: Two of my favorite pc RPGs though I never beat either. It's just a cool setting and wacky stuff happens.
Diablo2: online uber gauntlet
Guild Wars series: Put so many hours into this game. My standard for what future online rpgs should have. Best combat in the genre, best pacing(outside of factions), an actual story, best pvp, tons of strategy, no grind, pick up and play while still having lots of depth, best graphics, best server system and quick fixes.
I've been playing Nightfall all weekend and its so much better than Factions. They screwed up the pacing of Factions and the classes weren't that great. I've been playing Dervish and it's great fun, and the leveling/pacing is back on track. The Hero system and improved AI is a great boost to the game, and loot is more useful with the insignia system and the fact you have Heros to stick good weapons on. The thing that's been lost a lot is actual cooperative online play. Everybody is just soloing with their Heros setup like how they want them and I've only done two missions with an actual group. I have two monk Heros, which I set up one Heal and one Prot, both with lots of condition removal. I have an axe Warrior with Eviscerate and Watch Yourself, an Ele I set up as earth warder and aoe, a Dervish which I haven't done much with and I just picked up a Necro Hero that I turned into a Minion master and wow, he rocks.
The missions have been interesting as well. I had one mini mission where I assaulted a group of bandits, killed them and took their clothes, then posed as them to spy on a secret meeting. The last big mission I was in was an all out assault on an enemy base, which was intense and heavy. You have to secure points and disable catapaults. The last one I had, I actually cleared a cave out of giant insects and turned it into a secret base of operations.
