[quote name='shipwreck']
"The Top 150 Games I Should Play Before I Buy Another Game"
39 Final Fantasy X (PS2)
62 Lunar (PSX)
63 Lunar 2 (PSX)
76 Nights (Saturn)
88 Phantasy Star IV (GEN)
113 Shining Force II (GEN)
145 Xenogears (PSX)
146 Xenosaga (PS2)
147 Xenosaga II (PS2)
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Don't even bother, please, don't even bother looking at the rest of the list. I realize I picked nothing but RPG's except for two games..but please..I know it's more than 5..but please...please...do I need to give reasons? This list is no particular order..
Final Fantasy X: quite simply, it's one of the few games that demanded the purchase of a Playstation 2. More than anything though, it's the first time the Final Fantasy series was ever able to achieve what it wanted to so many years. The gameplay is deeper and more thought out than any other Final Fantasy, the story is absolutely epic, and the presentation is still hard to beat even after somany years. If you enjoy Japanese RPG's as a whole, there's no reason you shouldn't play this gam. Plus, some of the most memorable charactersin Square's history are in this game..
Lunar: I'm lumping them both together, because I can't separate them at all. Perhaps it's strange that I hold the polar opposite of something like Final Fantasy X so high, but this is the RPG pure and uninhibited. Straight forward battling, dungeon crawling, happy inviting characters, set in a limitless magical world, with a simple but very well written story of good and evil. But seriously, in its time this was as good as RPG's got. So many concepts that defined RPG's in this generation show up here for the first time: on screen enemies, long cinematics, voice acting, opening and ending vocal themes, huge gigantic bosses, etc. It's an old one but a good one, and surprisingly, feels less dated than some PSX/PS2 RPG's.
Phantasy Star IV: I don't think there is a 16 bit RPG more epic [Lunar doesn't count because it was on Sega CD and 1 out of every 1000 people got to play it] but I know that back in the day, if you played this first, there was no way you could enjoy FFVI. Beautiful still story sequences done through anime frames, multiple worlds to explore, HUGE dungeons, TOUGH bosses, hundreds of spells and skills, COMBINATION ATTACKS, different vehicles, FPS style fights INSIDE the vehicles, wonderful music, a huge storyline. There's not one thing about this game that was done wrong, the best Phantasy Star.
Shining Force II: there's tons of people on this board begging you to play Disgaea. And I have to say, please, don't. This is the original. This is what defined strategy RPG's. This is what began to change them into more complex games. And for lots of people this is still the bar that today's games are measured up to. There's two ways to play this game, one is to simply enjoy all the great battles [and some of them are quite great, the battle against the Kraken, the battle at the Nazca lines, the battle crossing to Granseal] and focus on the gameplay, but another is to actually enjoy the sweet simplicity of everything else surrounding the game. The music, the art, is some of the best I've seen in an RPG. I still think the battle sequences look good every single time. The story is beyond simple but it has its charms and give it the right chance and you will enjoy it. However, what makes the game shine, is the gameplay. Multiple promotions, hundreds of items weapons, more than a dozen character classes, huge battle maps, well thought out terrain diffeeces and stat modifiers, plus a pretty long game time, make for an incredible game. Please, don't play Disgaea, play this. Disagea is a game that wishes it was this game, added a hundred million stats and pointless characters in a shameless attempt to make up for it, and got recognition only because of how starved America's been for strategy RPG's as a whole.
Xeno[-----]: once again, I'm lumping them all together, only because in my eyes there's no way to play Episode I of Xenosaga or Xenogears without playing the other, I don't see why anyone would put time into one and not the other. As for Episode II, I'm only including it because of the story, episode II is nothing at all compared to Episode I or Xenogears. In fact, play them in this order: Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, then Episode II. On to the games though: the story in the Xeno Saga is in my opinion [and that of many] the most epic, most well written, most thought out story in video gaming, anime, sci fi, fiction in general. I realize the story is not for everyone. I realize some people hate story in games. And I realize some people just don't like anything even remotely anime inspired. There is no reason why you shouldn't PLAY this game. I said it: play. People accuse Xeno series as a whole of lacking gameplay, but I don't know WHY people believe that. Sure, it's not a platforming game, and it's not a 45 hour dungeon crawl, but what game play there is is down right incredible. The stat management and skill trees of episode I, the great mech play and fun on foot battles of Xenogears, the dozens of little secrets and sidequests in both, the huge boss fights, magnified by the story and visual/aural presentation, quite possibly the best game of all time. See, here's the thing, Grandia II, even Grandia III, not so much Grandia I, the gameplay is incredible, but besides wanting to play it more, you have no other reason for wanting to play it: the stories are weak and the characters are dull. However, with the Xeno series, it's both. You want to play the actual game more, but you want the story more, it meshes into this one of a kind experience that I haven't found anywhere else. The cut scenes in Gears and Saga are both long, but they're epic, and grandiose, and meaningful. Saga also has the distinction of being one of the few games with a strong female lead not wearing short short shorts and DDD breasts. Gears is like Eva, Star Wars, and The Bible combined, only better. I can't say enough about these, you owe it to yourself to give them a chance, and I hope that chance turns out to be one of the better gaming experiences you've had
And lastly, just because I don't even feel right putting NiGHTS in the same list as the above, NiGHTS.
THIS
IS
THE
FIRST
GAME
YOU
MUST
PLAY
RIGHT
NOW.
NO EXCUSES, RIGHT NOW, BREAK OUT THE SATURN AND PLAY NIGHTS.
That list, all 150, don't even begin to touch the beauty and wonder that is NiGHTS. Naka's sheer moment of genius has no equal, no succesor, and definitely no superior. i don't even feel right, coherent, trying to put NiGHTS in the same category as any other game.
It's a complete and utter crime that so few people have played this game. It's a travesty that people will remember Tomb Raider and Mario 64 and most people never even heard of NiGHTS.
Why you have this game and never touched it, who knows.
If video games are not art, then NiGHTS must not be a video game.
If video games are art, then NiGHTS must not be art.
Please, for the love of God, play NiGHTS right now.
. I put over 100 hours into that and still have 100 medals to achieve. I finally had to put it aside so I could play other stuff that was piling up.
D
