RPG Ratings

[MasterLemon]

I think a fair few users might need to give their ratings a new coat of paint.

That being said, I might need to put ratings on here soon. Although I haven't played as many RPGs as I would like to claim. My ratings list would look almost as naked as Brit's. The most I could do is cheat add some of the Castlevania; something which I don't feel like doing.

Speaking of ratings, I heard wind about a Non-RPG Ratings thread which existed once upon a time. Part of me wants to try and revive it.

[Sierra]

I update my list when I play a new RPG!

It's just that this doesn't happen much these days.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Fire Emblem Heroes at a high 7/10: It's possible I'm even underselling it? Something about me doesn't want to put a gacha game higher; the gacha model is bad and should feel bad. But damned if they didn't craft a tight, RNG-free version of Fire Emblem that's a lot of fun and shockingly well-balanced, and the game just keeps getting new content and some of the map design is really brilliant. Plot laughable, art great.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia added at a low-mid 7/10. Full FE not quite as good as mobile FE in this case, I think; it has a few too many clunky polish moments (especially stuff related to random encounters) and the map design is definitely a mixed bag. That said Fire Emblem is still great and the game proved very enjoyable for one playthrough at least; we'll see how replays treat it. Plot laughable, art great.


Modifications:

-Suikoden II up to 8/10. I dunno, I just feel this game has aged well. Silent mains are bad, and the female underrepresentation is disappointing as it so often is in 20th century games. But the plot does some legitimately interesting things, Shu and Jowy are A+ characters, the presentation is solid, and the gameplay, while not the focus, definitely rises above the mailed-in norm of the Suikoden. It's good stuff. I still give S5 the slight nod over it but that's close!

-Pokemon X/Y down to 7/10. I'm not feeling any Pokemon at 8 any more I guess. I feel like I may be finally growing out of the series; I have much less desire to replay this than most of my 8's. It's still an excellent Pokemon game of course.

-Tactics Ogre PSP down to 6/10. I was comparing this with Fire Emblem Echoes (they're oddly similar with their mediocre political plots and oversized dungeons and pretty art and high-range archers) and realised the latter kinda makes it look inferior. Class system is botched enough to not really claim that as a positive, and its battles are just so much slower-paced than FE's. I guess its plot is marginally better but not enough for that to be a selling point. Obviously still a good game but more on par with Binding Blade as far as Fire Emblems go.

[Hunter Sopko]

Added Vandal Hearts II at 7/10

[Cmdr_King]

Added The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky The 3rd at 9/10

Raised Radiant Historia (and added tagging for Perfect Chronology) to 10/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

XCOM 2 added at 8/10. XCOM 1 but better. While it retains some of the first game's flaws, the increased map variety and time limits are a major positive change to the game.

Cosmic Star Heroine added at 7/10. Maybe this goes up when I tackle the hardest difficulty. Might be an 8/10 for super-good gameplay if the enemy design improves then, but right now that's what holds it back: lots of great systems but the battle design can't capitalise. The fact that it's still a lot of fun says how good some of those systems are. It's not terrible at other things but gameplay's the only place it stands out.

I Am Setsuna added at 6/10. I have quite a lot of fondness for this game, but it's not as good as the above two. It has good (but not great) writing, and gameplay which is fun if too-easy (did I mention this game is like Chrono Trigger). It reminds me a bit of Shadow Hearts: Covenant, but y'know without the Yuri/Karin/Kato core of greatness. Actually it reminds me in some ways even more of The Last Story, in that both games have plots which feel they're kinda close to being super-amazing, but instead are merely good with loads of missed potential. Ended up with the game side-by-side with TLS; music cast the tiebreaking vote.

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. downgraded slightly to be a lower 6/10. I could see myself replaying TLS or IAS sooner than this game, which is bad since plot games are supposed to be less replayable...

Invisible Inc. added at 5/10. Functional strategy RPG but got repetitive. Ends up comparable to the weakest Fire Emblem-type games (Shadow Dragon and Original Generation 1).

[Grefter]

XCOM 2 added at 8/10. XCOM 1 but better.


WAR OF THE CHOSEN WHEN

[Cmdr_King]

Added Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies at 6/10

e: June 9
Added Disgaea 5 Complete at 6/10

[DjinnAndTonic]

Oh man, I just checked my list and the last time I updated it was 10 years ago in 2008.

Let's look at how much I have changed in 10 years, and how much I am still blinded by Nostalgia!

10/10 - Games with fun addictive gameplay, clever dialogue, interesting characters, and complex or original plots. These games flowed along smoothly without ever losing my interest.
Disgaea (PS2)
Tales of Phantasia (PSX, SNES)
Tales of the Abyss (PS2)
Suikoden III (PS2)
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth (PSP)
Soul Nomad (PS2)
Star Ocean 2 (PSX)
The World Ends With You (DS)

The top of my list is really weird-looking to me. Like, Disgaea, Valkyrie Profile, and Soul Nomad are still big favorites of mine, but no way does Tales of Phantasia or Star Ocean 2 still belong here. Star Ocean 2 might still be my favorite SO game, but that series just hasn't stuck with me in any way. There should be more Fire Emblems and Final Fantasies here if I'm honest. Tales of Vesperia certainly edges out the other Tales games. Suikoden III probably just needs to drop slightly. Same with TWEWY. That description of what I was looking for in 10/10 JRPGs is probably the funniest part.

9/10 - Lacking something in terms of gameplay, dialogue, characters, or plot. Generally good all around, but may have one or two nitpicky flaws.
Shadow Hearts 2 (PS2)
Tales of Symphonia (GC)
Suikoden V (PS2)
Makai Kingdom (PS2)
Final Fantasy 10 (PS2)
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)
Disgaea 2 (PS2)
Phantasy Star IV (Gen)
Suikoden II (PSX)

FFX is probably up with 10/10 games for me now. SH2 and Dis2 as well. The Suikodens and VP2 probably need to drop a level. Symphonia is basically a trash-tier game to me these days. It did not age well compared to the newer installments of its series. Phantasy Star IV and Makai Kingdom can stay.

8/10 - Games with decent scores all around, but with one or two outstanding features to bump up the score. There's some definite personal bias here. I tend to put games that I had a great experience with here, even if the quality of the game seems lower objectively.
Wild Arms 4 (PS2)
Final Fantasy 6 (SNES, PSX)
Grandia 1 (PSX)
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (PSX)
Arc the Lad 2 (PSX)
Grandia II (DC)
La Pucelle Tactics (PS2)
Wild Arms 3 (PS2)
Growlanser 2: The Sense of Justice (PS2)
Skies of Arcadia (Eternal Arcadia) Legends (GC)
Fire Emblem 3: Mystery of the Emblem (SNES)

Man, you can tell I wasn't much for FE 10 years ago. Also, how is FF6 so low on MY list? Weird. Anyway, none of these games holds up to me anymore. All of them drop to 5s, except MAYBE Grandia II is a 7? La Pucelle stays an 8 out of pure nostalgic favoritism. FE3 might actually be like a 3 or 4.

7/10 - These games are worth the time it takes to play them, with some outstanding points to offset their flaws, and generally fun to replay. A lot of these titles have some interesting original ideas or a really great translation.
Final Fantasy 9 (PSX)
Star Ocean 3 Director's Cut (PS2)
Suikoden 1 (PSX)
Shadow Hearts 3 (PS2) *
Lunar Eternal Blue Complete (PSX)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Growlanser 1 (PSX)
Ys 6 Ark of Napishtim (PS2)
Phantasy Star II (GBA)
SaGa Frontier (PSX) *
Jeanne D'Arc (PSP)
Skies of Arcadia (Eternal Arcadia) (DC)
Breath of Fire 4 (PSX)

Why did I rank Skies of Arcadia DC and GCN separately? >.>;; PSII is trash tier. SMRPG is an 8. SaGa Frontier is probably a 9 on nostalgia and creativity if not actual quality. Probably half the rest of the SaGa series belongs here. Along with half the FE series. Everything else that's not BoF4 drops to like... 5. BoF4 can stay.

6/10 - Just above average. Generally good characters or even style points keeps these games ahead of the pack. Some favoritism, especially in terms of battle system (ARPGs!) is prevalent here.
Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)
Legend of Dragoon (PSX)
Growlanser 5: Heritage of War (PS2)
Fire Emblem 9: Path of Radiance (GC)
Xenogears (PSX)
Tales of Legendia (PS2)
Wild Arms: Alter Code F (PS2) *
Star Ocean Blue Sphere (GBC)
Suikoden Tactics (Rhapsodia) (PS2) *
Threads of Fate (Dew Prism) (PSX)
Tales of Eternia (PSX, PSP)
Lufia (Estopolis) 2: Rise of the Sinistrals (SNES)
Shadow Hearts 1 (PS2)
Koudelka (PSX)
Breath of Fire 3 (PSX) *

All 5s or lower except FF7 which is probably more like a 7.

5/10 - These games are average. On average, most games that get published have -something- good about them. These games are still great games in their own right, they just don't stand out as much. Most importantly, they're inoffensive and don't make many mistakes.
Tales of Rebirth (PS2)
Earthbound (SNES)
Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Final Fantasy Tactics (PSX)
Fire Emblem 7 Blazing Sword (GBA)
Ys 2 (NES)
Ys Eternal (PC) (yeah... it's 1&2, but it's still not better than 2)
Ar Tonelico (PS2) *
Alundra (PSX)
Star Ocean 1 (SNES)
Phantom Brave (PS2)
Tales of Destiny (PSX)
Final Fantasy 5 (PSX)
Kingdom Hearts 1 (PS2)
Xenosaga 1 (PS2)
Shining Tears (PS2)
Growlanser 3: The Duel Darkness (PS2)
Final Fantasy 3 Remake (DS)
Tales of Destiny 2j (PS2)
Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age (GBA)
Golden Sun: The Broken Seal (GBA)
Suikoden IV (PS2)

LOL, look at this spite ranking. I don't know what my problem with Chrono Trigger was, but it's clearly a 10/10 game to me now. XS1 in 5? Lol. Shining Tears?! WTF BabbyDjinn?
EB, FFT, and FE7 are more like 9s to me these days. XG still holds decent nostalgia factor I guess? Probably a 7 or 8. Most of the rest of this tier is like... a 4 or lower.

4/10 - Just below average. Nothing too offensive, but nothing really stands out. Style points help a lot of these games out.
Shining Force 1 remake (GBA) *
Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen (SNES)
Yggdra Union (GBA) *
Final Fantasy 8 (PSX)
Legend of Legaia (PSX)
Rogue Galaxy (PS2)
Final Fantasy 12 (PS2)
Wild Arms 1 (PSX)
Radiata Stories (PS2)
Riviera (GBA)
Brave Fencer Musashi (PSX)
Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2) *
Ys 1 (NES)
Illusion fo Gaia (SNES)
Final Fantasy 10-2 (PS2)
Fire Emblem 8 (GBA) *
Fire Emblem 6 Sword of Seals (GBA) *
Fire Emblem 1 Dark Dragon & Sword of Light (NES)

Hmm... most of these are probably fine as-is. FF10-2 might be a 5. Yggdra Union and Riviera are probably more like 6s to me now for their weirdness. FE8 has shot up to 7/8 range due to my newfound love of all things FE. (Though FE6 is probably only a 5, and FE1 can lol its way down to the 2/3 border.)

3/10 - These games feel like they could have been better. They missed something vital in terms of fun factor. Not worth replaying, and probably a bit of a chore to play the first time through. Still, there was something rewarding here.
Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2) *
Lufia (Estopolis) 1: The Fortress of Doom (SNES)
Final Fantasy 1 (and remakes)
Atelier: Iris- Eternal Mana 2 (PS2) *
Phantasy Star 1 (GBA)
Grandia III (PS2)
Chrono Cross (PSX)
Okage (PS2)
Final Fantasy 2 (PSX)
Atelier: Iris- Eternal Mana (PS2) *
Breath of Fire 2 (GBA) *
Thousand Arms (PSX)

BoF2 is more like a 4/5. The rest of these are fine.

2/10 - Playable. Tedious, but if you're in the mood for -exactly- the kind of experience these games offer, you could enjoy it.
Dark Cloud 2 (PS2)
Xenosaga 2 (PS2) *
Xenosaga 3 (PS2) *(both of these subject to change soon as I haven't gotten very far)
Pokemon R/B/G/Y (GB)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles 1 (GC)
Arc the Lad 4 (PS2)
Breath of Fire 1 (GBA) *
Breath of Fire 5 (PS2) *
Eternal Sonata (360)

Similarly, BoF1 is probably a 4/5. Pokemon isn't this bad, I don't know if that's nostalgia talking or if the pokemon challenge run community made me appreciate it more? XS2/3 are very likely 1s just based on how much anti-nostalgia I have for them.

1/10 - These games need a lot of work to complete. Nearly unplayable. Only fans of the series tend to like these. Style points keep these games out of the zero category.
Wild Arms 2 (PSX) *
Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories (GBA)
Sailor Moon: Another Story (SNES)
Lunar Legend (GBA)
Legend of Heroes 3 White Witch (PSP) *
Phantasy Star 3 (GBA) *
Arc the Lad 1 (PSX)
Shining Force Neo (PS2) *
Dragon Warrior 3 *
Rhapsody (PSX)

WA2 isn't this bad, I just can't get into it due to the horrible localization. Rhapsody would be a 5 on charm alone and the remake makes it kinda fun. KH and DQ still aren't really my thing and can rot here with the rest of the trash.

0/10 - These games just aren't fun. At all. They aren't very popular, and there's a reason for that. It surprises me how many of these I've finished.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced (GBA)
Legend of Heroes 4 Tear of Vermillion (PSP) *
Ys III
Dark Cloud (PS2)
Granstream Saga (PSX)
Lunar 3 (DS) *
Unlimited Saga (PS2) *
Arc the Lad 5 (PS2) *
Final Fantasy 3j (NES)
Alundra 2 (PSX)
Grandia Extreme (PS2)
Beyond the Beyond (PSX) *
Arc the Lad 3 (PSX)

FF3 is actually a lot more fun to me now than 10 years ago, and is definitely more of a 5. The rest of these are garbage fire games.

It's interesting how much the upper tiers changed whereas the trash tiers were largely unchanged. It's easy to ruin a good experience but hard to fix a bad one. (Though not impossible! BoF, FE, and the earlier FFs certainly improved as I grew to like some of their ideas.) I have a lot less spite now. I don't know what my problem with CT was? Maybe it was just Akira Toriyama's art and my extreme intolerance of it back in the day?

[Dhyerwolf]

Been over 2.5 years since an update
Added
Bravely Default- 8 (Riding high on the battle system and enemy cast)
Bravely Default 2- 8 (Worse characters/plot, but much better battle system. Still my favorite of the 2 BDs)
Child of Light- 8 (Loved the ambience/graphics, solid battle system. Got an 8 with me not even playing the portable version)
FF4:tay- 5 (Advantages: Portable, nostalgia remix, the fun of PC Golbez)
LoH: TitS- 5- (I liked a bit of the battle system balance, but clunky)
LoH: TitS 2- 5 (Same above, see above)
LoH: CS- 7 (Could drop this down to a 6. Early game is 9 area, Ch 3 was a 10, afterwards drops around to 5 and then improves right at the end)
LoH: CS 2- 7 (Same score of CS makes sense. Playing on a harder mode helped)
Cosmic Star Heroine- 8 (Liked that it cut through the bs, great battle system. 8 might be pushing it a little, but I felt the concept worked really well and using minimalism that effectively is worth something)
Phantom Brave- 3 (Points off for the stupid of the final fights, which I never beat!)
FE 13- 6 (Decent enough)

Changed
ATL 2- 5 (+1; Greatly improved by playing on Vita, but still has a bit too much filler for a higher score...although given enough time, I might change my mind)
Suikoden 2- 8 (+1; Vita improvement+I liked the in game battle balance on replay)

[Cmdr_King]

Added Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions at 7/10

e: October 13
Added Bravely Second: End Layer at 7/10
e: 10/14
Added Bastion at 7/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Three games added, all at 8/10:
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Tales of Berseria
Octopath Traveler

Rabbids could very well be a 9; in fact, my initial kneejerk was to put it there, but I figure I'll want to replay it before I'm sure, so let's be conservative. Octopath is incomplete so its rating is quite tentative. It wants to be a faster game than it is but it's still solid at everything. Tales I've spilled a lot of ink on already. I have a LOT of good will for the game despite not liking its gameplay much.

Downgrades:
Mega Man X Command Mission to 7/10. It's good, but I don't really have a strong desire to play it again, and I kinda feel like I should for a game which is at 8/10 entirely due to gameplay.
Bravely Second to 7/10. The more I reflect on its writing the more it doesn't sit well with me. The gameplay is certainly good but didn't make as much impact as I'd like. This is a bigger fall than the above; it was higher and is now lower.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia to 6/10. This was pretty obvious. Oof, that story. Oof, that misogyny. Still has that stellar FE gameplay, though nowhere near the best version of it.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I realized I forgot some updates I'd intended for last time, so sure here are more just a week later:


Tales of Berseria - adjusted to a high 8/10. On reflection it's the best of the "writing above all else" games I've played (which is to say, it's better than Xenogears).
I may have Suikoden V underrated a bit too, but ugh its load times and lack of encounter control make it notably more painful to play. It'll stay there for now, but we'll see what this rewatch does for it.
Breath of Fire 3 - up to 6/10. The gameplay is better than I remembered.
Fire Emblem 12 - down to 5/10. Plot is too stupid, gameplay is okay but still weak by the series' standards; it's not much better than Shadow Dragon.
Lunar SSSC - up to 5/10. Also holds up a bit better than I expected, despite Laike and the villains being terrible.
Xenoblade - lowered slightly, still at 3/10

[Cmdr_King]

Lowered Kingdom Hearts to 9/10

Added Kingdom Hearts III at 10/10

Added I Am Setsuna at 7/10

Added Pokemon Let's Go Eevee at 7/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Added Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door at 7/10. The best overall Mario RPG, it has the original PM's solid gameplay combined with actually decent writing.

Is Wargroove an RPG to me? I dunno. Will think about it.

[Cmdr_King]

Realized I hadn't rated Octopath Traveler, added it at 9/10.

[Cmdr_King]

Added Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 9/10

e: 11/24
Added Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland at 7/10

e: 1/10
Added Pokemon Sword at 7/10

e: 1/16
Added Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night at 7/10

e: 1/28
Added Paper Mario at 7/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses added at 10/10. It's an all-timer. Fire Emblem has always delivered outstanding gameplay and this game is in the conversation for second best in the series at it, but it's also got some of the best, most thought-provoking writing the genre has to offer, which is definitely a first for the series. I've spent dozens upon dozens of hours discussing and analyzing its plot, characters, and themes, to say nothing of all the joy just playing the game has brought. Simply outstanding.

Wargroove added at high 5/10. It's a borderliner. Really wish this game had engaged me more since I kinda like some of its ideas, but nope, you need better battle design if you want to be a pure gameplay game.

Vandal Hearts 2 added at 7/10. Fun gameplay, writing which does some interesting things though certainly isn't perfect. Overall compares favourably to the likes of Tactics Ogre, though.

Also minor downgrades of Legend of Mana (5 to 4), Cthulhu Saves the World (7 to 6). While massively breaking down FE3H I finally decided I like Conquest slightly more than Radiant Dawn, the gameplay is just peerless and RD's better-but-not-good-enough-to-carry-a-game writing can't close that gap for me. Both sit solidly at 10 though.

Suikoden 3 down to 9/10. It will forever be a very important game for me, but 10/10? Probably not by my standards today, if I'm being honest. The gameplay has neat ideas but also a bunch of flaws and the writing is good but not top tier.

[Luther Lansfeld]

I Am Setsuna at 5/10
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War at 4/10
Final Fantasy XV* at 2/10
Fire Emblem: Three Houses at 10/10

[Cmdr_King]

Ah heck, why not, new post.

Added Secret of Mana at 5/10
Added Shining Force II at 6/10
Added Cosmic Star Heroine at 7/10
Added Super Robot Wars T at 9/10
Added Trials of Mana at 6/10
Added Final Fantasy Adventure at 5/10
Added Tales of Berseria at 9/10

[superaielman]

Octopath at 6/10

Dragon Quest 11 at 7/10

[Dark Holy Elf]

Indivisible added at 6/10. It's remarkably comparable to Endless Frontier, both interesting but imperfect spins on Valkyrie Profile, with Individible's writing having better highs but a weaker baseline.

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark added at 9/10. FFT with weaker writing is still a damn good game, as it turns out.

Trials of Mana added at 8/10. Not as good as Fell Seal, of course, but definitely a game that does almost everything that isn't writing well: some of the best ARPG gameplay, fast-paced, joyful, colourful, great music.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Redoing my whole Ratings list. It now houses about 300 games...
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=42.msg6784#msg6784

Some fun new trends:

Most of my higher-ranked games tend to be more story-focused than 'gameplay games'.
Highest-ranked ARPG: Tales of Berseria
Highest-ranked SRPG: Soul Nomad
Highest-ranked 'standard JRPG': Final Fantasy 10
Highest-ranked non-RPG: NieR Gestalt

None of the franchises that appear on my 10/10 list have an entry that ranked lower than 4/10 besides Fire Emblem 1 (3/10).

My highest-ranked Dragon Quest game ranked the same as my lowest-ranked Disgaea game (7/10).

Contrarian Djinn:
My highest-ranked game that nobody likes: Rondo of Swords (NDS) 9/10
My lowest-ranked game that people actually like: Grandia 3 (PS2) 3/10

New games are good games:
I hadn't added new entries to my 10/10 list in a loooong while, but Nier Automata, Tales of Berseria, Fire Emblem Three Houses, and FF7 Remake all broke into it and are from the past 3 years.

Average Game Score: 5.71

[Luther Lansfeld]

Did a bunch of updating for the last what 10 months?

Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark at 9/10
SaGa: Scarlet Grace Ambitions* at 4/10
Tales of Vesperia at 6/10
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk at 7/10
Trials of Mana at 8/10
Cosmic Star Heroine at 7/10
Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 at 3/10
Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia at 8/10

[superaielman]

New Brig 10/10, Persona 4 down to 9/10