Championship list:
1. Tales of the Abyss - Fun gameplay, nothing quite compares to the chaotic thrill of 70-hit combos that chain in FOF effect skills followed up by a Mystic Arte against an Arena battle in Hard mode. Great character interactions and a plot that actually made me care. Cinematography of this caliber in a cel-shaded game was pretty impressive. Had a few flaws, but the sheer fun factor of the game makes up for it.
2. Suikoden 3 - All the good things about Suikoden packaged in a neat little shell. This game is a fine example of story, fun character growth system, and large-cast recruitment. Trinity Sight system for the win. The full gamut of sidequests being wholly enjoyable also wins it this spot.
3. Wild Arms 4 - Really close with Suikoden 3 and FFX. Intuitive platforming, great HEX system. Main characters are generally enjoyable. Comic book-style Supervillains in a Wild West RPG are a fairly original idea. Overall good voice-acting too, of all things.
4. Final Fantasy X - Perhaps my favorite Final Fantasy? Turn system, sphere grid, character specialization, mid-battle party swap - choose the best feature of the gameplay. Character interaction was good, even if Yuna was bland. If you're smart and play the game without the sub-par English voice-overs, the story and dialog are really moving in a way I wouldn't have expected from an FF game.
5. Shadow Hearts 2 - I'm going to go on the record as saying that I -like- SH2's ending 'twist' and that I find trippy sci-fi story ideas like that to be rather entertaining. Judgment ring is a fun gimmick. Dark, historical setting really works for the game.
6. Suikoden 5 - Memorable cast, best story of the bunch. That counts for something.
7. Final Fantasy Tactics - Not a bad game, but nothing really stands out about it for me. Setting is too familiar to be unique. Characters are archetypal without much meaningful interaction. Story is servicable but predictable. Gameplay saves it for me, probably better than S5 for gameplay in fact, but loses out majorly in terms of character and story.
Super Failure Round:
1. Final Fantasy XII - Somehow the least offensive game here?
2. Final Fantasy X-2 - I'd like to say that for the most part, while FF games aren't my favorite RPGs, they certainly aren't horrible failures (in -general-).
3. Tactics Ogre - Game is pretty bad overall, and I could never play this again now that I've played Brig, which takes its basic concept and just does everything so much better in every possible way.
4. Final Fantasy Tactics: Advanced - Well, HERE'S the exception to the rule. This game is a horrible failure.
5. Xenosaga 3 - Somehow XS3 isn't the lowest on the list today? This make me sad.
6. Dragon Warrior 7 - What's this? DW7 isn't the lowest on the list today either?! *cuts self*
7. Hoshigami - Congratulations, Hoshigami, you've managed to be so offensively horrible that I killed myself. Are you happy now? Are you? Can I rank this lower than a 0-6?
-Djinn
