Best RPG ever style contest: Broken up into eras and LISTED.

[Ryogo]

I'll rate what I can here:

SNES Era:

1) Final Fantasy 6 - Rivals 7 for my favourite game in the series. Square had quite the great run back in the SNES days
2) Chrono Trigger - Another awesome game. Such a great story, I loved the characters, yada yada, you've heard it all before, I'm sure.
3) Breath of Fire 1 - This game is love.
4) Final Fantasy 4 - Bah, Everything I'm saying is just going on repeat now XP
5) Super Mario RPG - It being the first RPG I played, it gets extra points there. Even if it was only for 30 minutes at that time. Fun, and simple.
6) Final Fantasy 5 - The job system! Where would FFT be without this?!?!
7) Breath of Fire 2 - A good game, I just couldn't get into as much as the others though. Might have been 'cause I was busy with other games at the time.

PSX Era (1 of 2:

Cannot rate. Only have 6/7 titles I can vote on solidly Go FF7! Its the first RPG I played! (Not counting those 30 minutes of Mario RPG) I loved the materia system, and being able to fully customize everyone's magic abilities.

PS2 Era (1 of 2)

1) Front Mission 4 - I loved the third game, and likewise love the fourth. At the same time I hate it though. Its so much freakin' harder than the third. But its a good thing, I like a challenge. Looking for a good tactics game, this wont disappoint.
2) Xenosaga 1 - I loved this game too. I dunno why, but every character in the game appealed to me, and I found the story quite interesting. Maybe it was just because I'm a huge sci-fi fan and this was the first "futuristic" RPG I played. It was the little things on the side that I liked too, like the card game, and the email system, etc.
3) Kingdom Hearts - A solid game, in my opinion. Sure its got its kid-ish elements, and its made so that younger gamers can play it. Still doesn't stop me from rating it here.
4) Disgaea 2 - Another tactics-style game I like. Not as much as the first though, hence its spot here. Still great, with some awesome characters again.
5) Tales of Symphonia
6) Xenosaga 2 - In my opinion, a lesser game than the first. It's a decent game, dont get me wrong, but god, I was a little disappointed when I played it. The character styles I loved were gone, the battle system was drastically changed, and the bosses in the game drove me insane. Way too big of a difficulty jump from the first. I still haven't been able to get very far into this game. I'm stuck inside MOMO's subconscious still.
7) Radiata Stories - I bought this when it first came out. "Hey! Its Square! I like them!" Its an alright game. The style and colors were quite appealing, and if I recall, some of the characters were freakin' sweet too.  Either way, that's all it had there, but still not that bad of a game. (I think I'm like, one of three people that have played this game on this list?)

[DjinnAndTonic]

SNES Era:
1. Tales of Phantasia - Game feels like the quintessential ARPG, loved it back when it was first fan translated. Still enjoy the story and characters.
2. Final Fantasy 6 - Game feels like the quintessential RPG. Played this so many times. Still love playing it. The story still holds up to modern games, and outshines quite a lot of them.
3. Phantasy Star 4 - Classic JRPG done right. Fun, yet straightforward, battle system. Cliched, but charming, characters. Fantasy/Sci-fi setting caught my attention.
4. Earthbound - Because funny matters.
5. Super Mario RPG - Quite a few laugh-out-loud moments in this game, plus solid timing mechanics battle system.
6. Final Fantasy 4 - Classic, the newer translations save this game, which was otherwise only 'good for its time'. Gets points for being hilariously melodramatic.
7. Chrono Trigger - Polished JRPG. Fun team attack system. Enjoyed the Time Travel story.
8. Breath of Fire 2 - They polished BoF1 until it was fun. Story is lacking, but characters are more enjoyable this time.
9. Lufia 2 - Really enjoyed its unique-for-the-time gameplay mechanics.
10. Final Fantasy 5 - Job system whee! I actually even enjoyed the story here.
11. Ogre Battle - Felt clunky, but I have nothing against it. Did some neat things with the RPG/RTS genre, suffers from age and an 'unfinished' feeling.
12. Breath of Fire 1 - Just... wasn't very fun. Nothing horribly wrong with it, just bland.
13. Shining Force 2 - Another bland game, though not bad.

PSX Era (1 of 2:

1. Final Fantasy  7 - Overall solid on story, characters, and gameplay, feels deserving of the top spot here.
2. Star Ocean 2 - Really liked the setting, gameplay, PAs, and characters. Double-main characters are still a nice touch, even if Rena's story is nerfed.
3. Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete - Because a good translation matters.
4. Suikoden 1 - Unpolished, but still an auspicious start to a great series.
5. Tales of Eternia - They built a faster ARPG and tried a little harder at the story (though failed in that department). Still fun to play, so it gets high marks.
6. Breath of Fire 4 - A BoF game where I care about the story? High marks!
7. Wild ARMs 2 - Feels unpolished, but overall average.
8. Final Fantasy Tactics - Polished, good characters/story - but absolutely puts me to sleep, inexplicably boring in every way.
9. Final Fantasy 8 - Pretty character designs is about all this has going for it.
10. Vagrant Story - My hatred for this battle system knows no bounds and thusly, it is sub-FF8.
11. Chrono Cross - Played this so many times, yet I still can't bring myself to rank it any higher.
12. Dragon Warrior 7 - Fail? No. Utter Fail.


PS2 Era (1 of 2)

Disgaea 2 - Great on all accounts - well-told story, finely-tuned gameplay, humorous dialogue and gameplay mechanics, likable characters. Not without some flaws, but I'd rank it above everything here.
Suikoden 3 - Another solid game that keeps on giving. Great story, even if it lags at times. Memorable characters and a memorable setting. Still the most polished Suikoden gameplay system.
Wild ARMs 4 - Gameplay! Best use of platforming in an RPG. Hybrid battle system is great, and each character fills their own role in battle. Villain cast is a happy collection of supervillains out of a DC comic book, but with fun anime touches on them. Story moves at a nice pace, and while the twists are predictable, they still play out well and with great excitement!
Odin Sphere - Shakespeare-style soliloquy complete with spotlight is a storytelling device more RPGs should steal. Both hilarious and interesting to see in use. The game feels more like the latest evolution of the side-scroller rather than an RPG, but it does what it does well, and it deserves this spot for its inventiveness. 
Valkyrie Profile 2 - Truth be told, I liked the fanfiction-esque storyline here, and the SRPG/ARPG hybrid battle system was just great icing on the cake. Also, the game has Arngrim, which would merit this spot on its own. Yes, I'm a bit biased on that point.
Shadow Hearts 2 - The highlight of the Shadow Hearts series. I have no complaints about this game, only praise for its good points.
Tales of Symphonia - As an ARPG fan, ToS was a treat - effective multiplayer ARPG battles are always fun for me. Additionally, the cast had good chemistry, and the laundry list of JRPG cliches felt like a love letter to traditional fantasy RPGs and ToP in particular. Also, Zelos!
Wild ARMs 3 - Cast had good chemistry, the story came together nicely. Gameplay was boring and slow, and the puzzles irritated me. Average.
Wild ARMs 5 - Overall average gameplay, average cast, but not quite as good as WA3's cast.
Kingdom Hearts - I love crossovers, but don't like playing this game, so it evens out.
Shadow Hearts 3 - Still a SH game, so it's not bad, but it's just nowhere near as good as SH2.
Xenosaga 1 - The least offensive of the XS series, still haven't finished XS2 or started XS3, though. I didn't hate this game, but it's the lowest on this list.
Radiata Stories - Except for this game, which is not very fun to play at all, and the biggest disappointment from Tri-Ace in my opinion. Ridley and Jack were a good pair of characters at least. I still want to see Jack ranked, despite how little I liked the gameplay of this game.

-Djinn