Castle Paradox

[JSH357]

List a great game (Doesn't have to be your favorite) from as many systems, including PC/whatever, as you like. Also include a reason as to why the game is great. For a bonus, list a game that is absolutely terrible or argue against someone else's choice(s). Do not list the same game that someone else has already listed.

Here are some starters, only two because I want to see other people's views more:

NES
- Final Fantasy 3 : This game shows the most polish of the early RPG setup. Also the origin of many RPG standards, although most people don't know this. (Jump attacks, Summon magic, Interactive Class systems) Also incredibly impressive on an aesthetic standpoint for its time.

SNES
- Fire Emblem 4 : One of the greatest strategy games ever made, and it isn't as obsessively difficult as FE5. Also has a marriage system where you pair up teammates throughout the first half of the game and play as their children in the second. Interesting game all-around.


Some terrible games:

Genesis
- Shining Force : This game is a 100% ripoff of Fire Emblem. (The only difference is that you walk around towns!) I'm not kidding. Everything in this game from the level system to the classes is either identical to something in Fire Emblem or changed to a different picture.

Game Boy Advance
- Sword of Mana : Hey, wow! I can kill the last boss in three hits! It takes even less time than the last boss in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest!

[The Wobbler]

[Shadowiii]

Great:

Final Fantasy 6 (SNES) - Overall, an enjoyable game all around. The spells system is simple yet intuitive. The battles are perfect. The graphics are downright drop dead beautiful. And though many characters are left undeveloped, the story stays interesting until the very end. Oh, and did I mention the music rules your face? Yeah, yeah it does.

The Incredible Machine 2 (PC) - My favorite game from ages 6-13. ONe of the few games where you can make "Cat Pinball", and feed a kid to an alligator. Puzzles were excellently designed, and the puzzle MAKING was what made it fun (I still have a floppy with over TWO HUNDRED puzzles that I designed). Too bad the windows version was rotten.

King's Quest 6 (PC) - Probably the single greatest adventure game ever designed. It is probably the peak of all adventure games (after that, it was down hill, though Kings Quest 7 and Torin's Passage were almost as good as KQ6). Fun, with three different endings and deep mythological roots, it was another fun game I played back in the days of yore.

Tetris (every system ever) - What can I say? I'm hooked on this game. The only version I played that was MORE addicting was Tetris Attack. This is the only game my Mom ever really enjoyed, by the way. Well, besides freecell and bejeweled.

Clock Tower: The First Fear (SNES [JAP]) - The single best horror game I have ever played. Unlike most modern horror games, which rely on lots of blood and gore and violence to scare you, this game played more like the evil bastard child of Myst and King's Quest 6. VERY hard, VERY scary, and VERY suspenceful.

Parasite Eve (PS1) - The second one was rotten, because it was basically Silent Hill/ Resident Evil. The first one was very fun, though. The battle system was ingenious and original...a fresh blend of RPG, action, and survival (though it wouldn've been better if bullets were harder to find). The graphics were decent, and the story itself fun. The only downside was that it wasn't really very scary...more exciting then scary.

Mario RPG (SNES) - Though FF4 introduced me to RPGs (I was like 8 ), MarioRPG made me enjoy them. A whitty, humerous, silly quest that is probably the funniest game I've ever played. It manages to pull off lots of "cute" stuff without disgusting me, and it doesn't fall into many RPG pitholes (ie there is no Moogle character ). The timed hits thing was a great idea as well.

Super Mario Bros (NES) - The first video game I ever played and beat. My friend once beat it almost ten times in a row (then his brother unplugged the nintendo )

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS) - 2d gameplay with a touch of 3d, fantastic music and very fun rpg style gameplay make this game a winner. Plus there is dracula in it. What more can you ask for?

Bad:

The Legend of Dragoon - Actually, the battle system was enjoyable for a while, but the fact that you had to be level insane to win any battles and you got...what's this? No xp? ANd the story is regugitated from the "Generic RPG Plot" book? And the graphics SUCK? Lousy, lousy game.

FFTA - See Surlaw's comment. Sadly, it is INSANELY ADDICTING, so I did manage to spend about 50 hours in it, until after I won I realized there was no redeeming value to what I'd just done. Not only that, the story SUCKED.

Lots more, I'll post them when I can think them up.
_________________
But enough talk, have at you!

[Iblis]

Good:

Earthbound (SNES) -- This wins my "Best RPG of all time" award. I pretty much love everything about this game. I liked the DW-ish battle system with the trippy-color backgrounds. I liked the way you got into battles with the monsters chasing you and stuff. I liked the NPC dialogue. I liked the music, and how there were so many different battle themes. I liked the story, simplistic as it was. Fighting aliens (and pretty much everything else you could think of) was a nice break from fighting evil demons. The atmosphere was really lighthearted and it felt like the game was trying to be fun instead of serious and dark and that crap. I also liked the graphics, to go contrary to most people's opinions. They were simplistic, but they were still well-drawn and they fit the mood well.

Valkyrie Profile (PS1) -- This was a really interesting game. First, I must commend the fact that it has many voices that I really liked (Lenneth Valkyrie especially), and the voices usually said cool stuff, unlike such games as LUNAR 2. Lenneth also looked freaking awesome, her image (voice and lines and appearance) was just perfect. And I liked all the Norse myth stuff. The battle system was a little weird, but I think it worked well enough. This probably should've been a more non-linear kind of game about the war in Asgard but I still really liked the story they had.

Bad:

The Legend of Dragoon (PS1) -- And this wins my "Worst RPG of all time" award. Seriously, this has the worst battle system I had ever seen. Additions could have been a good idea, but they COMPLETELY fucked it up. What kind of fucktard thought up a system where you only had ONE attack and then items, unless you turned into a dragoon (which wasn't much better, if at all). This could have worked if you had like some huge amount of attack items that did really cool stuff. But no, you had a few attack items that mostly did ugly and boring attacks. Additions could have worked if you selected which one you wanted from a menu in-battle, or if you used button-combos kind of like in Xenogears. But instead they were total crap. Also the voice acting made me want to die.

FF10 (PS2) -- I hate this game cause it could've been cool and instead it was total crap. The battle system was kind of interesting, but ultimately I just didn't enjoy it much. I did like being able to get all the characters in there, kinda like with the wagon in DW4. The sphere system eventually killed all character variation except for with Yuna cause summons made her all-powerful. Blitzball was damn annoying. The voice acting was actually okay except that I didn't want to hear the characters talk and didn't care about the story. he story had an interesting enough premise but after a few minutes I realized I hated Tidus and wanted him to die. Also their pathetic attempt to enhance the gameplay by using big numbers for stuff. But really, it doesn't matter if you're doing 99,999 damage when the enemy's max HP is like so freaking high. Actually, the sad thing is that this is something I hear people complimenting FF10 on. I think it's cause 9,999 has been the standard limit for so long that people get a perverse joy from constantly breaking it, even with characters like Yuna and Lulu.

Might add some more later, possibly some non-RPGs.

[lethal255]

Great:

Golden Sun(GBA):
In my opinion, Golden Sun triumphs over just about anygame every made. Useing a unique class system, a huge collection of magic and abilties, the best graphics the gba can offer and one of the best stories of all time, It impresses me time and time again.

Final Fantasy VII(PS/PC)
Probabally the greatest game ever made, FFVII brings plenty new ideas to the table. It's probably the first futuristic RPG ever. It's one of the few games thats capible of getting your aldrenilen pumping. And it connects you with your charectors. This is a game that will stand the test of time.

Tetris (any system)
Adicive and fun, the beuty of this game is its simplisity.

Bad

Final Fantasy X(PS2/PC)
This as to be one of the worst RPG's ever! Although the mechanics and graphics we're great, the story was bland and the charectors we're dumb. The sphere grid just slowed a linear chaector progression and it was to focused on Tidus and Yuna. I have no idea how it got a sequal.
_________________
"what everyone went around calling you white stormy?"

"you mean, there's...a ...black stormy?"

"No"

[JSH357]

Two disagreements

[Machu]

I'm going to listen to JSH and not repeat what others have said. I'll try to think up some non-RPGs (now that I think about it, RPGs aren't my favorite genre). I'll also think up some games that aren't obvious to everyone.

NES:
Crystal Mines: The games I tend to play the most on my NES emulator are the puzzle games, and this one suprised me. It starts out a bit more action oriented, but eventually you'll have to get really creative with solutions. It gets really tough later, and I imagine that I'd get really pissed if I weren't using an emulator. My major complaint is that there's no indication of where the exit will appear, so after getting enough gems, the exit might have been buried under indestructible rock or be hidden under an obstacle that you don't have enough explosives to clear. Aw well, you weren't asking for my favorites, just a good game, and this is definately one of them.

Genesis:
Gunstar Heroes: This sidescrolling shooter is Contra-like, but there's quite a lot of effort put into this. Besides guns, you can fight suprisingly effective with things like sliding, diving, and throwing enemies. Speaking of guns, there are 4, but you can hold 2 at once, and best yet, you can combine the 2 you hold to make a completely different weapon! For example, Fire stands for short-range power, and Lightning stands for a constant effect. Combined, they make a beam sword! The game has lots of cool parts, but suffers from making some of them too long. I can think of some parts that would be perfect for 2-3 minutes, but end up getting stretched through most of the stage. This game doesn't really have a story, but the stages have cool themes. The last stage uses an awesome "2nd-person perspective" and I also like the reoccuring villains.

SNES:
Flashback: This game also suprised me when I first played it. It has FX-chip movie sequences (that suffer slowdown, so I hope your emulator fast-fowards), and the in-game graphics animate smoothly. The gameplay is pretty much Prince of Persia with a Sci-Fi theme, though it tends to rely more on gunfighting than puzzle solving (gotta love that roll). The controls take some getting used to, and I was even stuck at one point because I didn't know a certain feature (jumping diagonally up by letting go of foward while running). The story is hokey, but game is fun enough that I'm going to try it again soon on a higher difficulty.

GBA:
Advance Wars:
This is my favorite pure-strategy game. When I say pure strategy, I mean it's completely turn based and hardly randomized. All of the units have their own role, and diversity pays off. You'll definately need to use your head in all situations, and consider some (but not too many) factors that'll effect your plans. A few complaints: When one side clearly has the lead, it's hard to get back, and though they are clearly marked, some COs are clearly better in every way, which is fine for missions and war rooms with challenging opponents, but should have been disabled for player's use in war room. Notice how I haven't really made a distinction between either game; the sequel doesn't have much more features, but tends to have much better implementation, so I reccomend it.

Arcade games:
Neo-Geo:
Metal Slug (the whole series): What did you think I was going to say? Okay, where to start... for one thing, this has the absolute best 2D graphics I've ever seen. The animation is completely smooth and original; these guys are spriting geniuses! Several side animations give the characters personality, and there's a good variety of enemies and situations, even amongst normal troops. The gameplay is a great balance of skill, with a few attacks at your disposal and hardly any reoccuring situations, so button-mashing will get you stomped. This is my absolute favorite "skill-based game", and I (braging removed for space). They game has great pacing (unlike Gunstar Heroes), and this game is a great example of how sequels should work (though Playmore doesn't seem to be trying as hard). It's style and gameplay is consistant enough that if a new person saw you playing a game, he wouldn't know which one you were playing without seeing the title or you telling him. Each sequel gets by with only a few new features but many more stages and situations. This series is a perfect example of games with simple premise but great implementation.

Light-gun:
Time Crisis 3: Great, modern graphics, new implementations, and a few new features make this cool enough to pay it's higher price if you're familiar with Time Crisis 2. Unlike games such as House of the Dead, where you're being testing of how many bullets you can unleash before the enemies reach you, this game is about quick reactions. Like the prequels, you dodge attacks and reload by letting go of a foot peddle, so theoritically this game is possible to beat without gobs of continues. A new feature to this version is switching to a Shotgun, Machinegun, and Rocket Launcher while under cover. You are limited on ammo with these, but it gives you a bit more strategy. This is my favorite Light-gun game because of it's emphasis of skill, and the stages are rather creative too.

Gah, I need a break.
_________________

[The Wobbler]

[lethal255]

Comes backs

[RedMaverickZero]

Alright, for little games I have played due to not having any systems, I have some opinons.

Good
(PS2) Kingdom Hearts
I know lots of people hate it. But I found it to be fun and addicting. The game had a colorful atmospehere and just the whole thing was fun. The storyline, although it did become bland at times was a lil to be desired. But after it got rolling it kinda sucked me into it. And there were a lot of minigames and it was an inspiration to my game making skills.

(PS1) MegaMan X4
I haven't played X7 yet, but so far X4 is my favorite one. It is the first MegaMan game to have a fairly decent story, at least the sidescroller ones anyways. Also, it leaked a lot about Zero's past, which is always cool to see. Too bad none of the next few games built on that.

(GBA) Metroid Zero Mission
I love Metroid games. And the remake was so cool. Seeing some crummy world remade into something that amazing was breathtaking. It was kinda short, but I suppose a lot of Metroid games are meant to be played fast. It also a cool sequence where Samus got her suit, or a lil about it.

Bad

(PS1) Final Fantasy 8
I greatly dispised the fact that the entire game was based off of GFs. Something that took so long to animate. And on top of all that, your physical attacks were as good as nothing in that game. It was the worst Final Fantasy game I ever played. Although the story wasn't half bad.

Well, those are the games that come closest to mind at the moment.
_________________
---------------Projects----
Mr.Triangle's Maze: 70%
Takoyaki Surprise: 70%

[Shadowiii]

[The Wobbler]

[JSH357]

Yes, but Earthbound ALSO has Mr. T in it, so FFVII is still worthless.

I agree about Advance Wars (2, at least) but I find it to border on "too hard without a FAQ" sometimes. I like strategy games that aren't impossible to beat if you haven't mastered the game. (Mostly because I don't have time to master every game I play)

[lethal255]

[JSH357]

lethal255:

Lots of games have classes with completely different abilities.
Play these games to be proven wrong about that statement:

Final Fantasy 3, 5, and Tactics(not advance)
Fire Emblem (Any of them)
Tactics Ogre (any)
Evo: Search for Eden (Platformer with 'classes')
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Different suits change gameplay mechanics)
A Boy and his Blob (Similar concept)

There's probably more, but I don't feel like thinking of any more. Most RPGs don't use class systems.