Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Square-Enix Games You've Never Played (..but should.)

A few weeks ago, there was a Top 10 list that somewhere along the lines of "Top 10 square games that don't start with Final and end with Fantasy." It wasn't a terrible list, but it was pretty much everything on Playstation, and then the obligatory Chrono Trigger at the 1 spot. When I read this list, I became upset (about as upset as one can be about a Top 10 list at www.gamefaqs.com) at the lack of great, semi-obscure games that were left out. Therefore, here's my list. I even included Enix for good measure!

"Tactics" games fans, look here. Before Final Fantasy Tactics, there was this. One of the few Tactics games for the Super Famicom. Quite a fun game. You can have a certain number of leader characters, whose sprites are seen on the battle map. The leader can have three other members on a team, and when you meet up with an enemy sprite, you enter a turn based battle which lasts briefly until it is your next turn. Each character also has one computer controlled dragon which can attack the enemy as well. Although this dragon aspect might make the game a little... ok, really easy, it's still an interesting aspect of the game. You have to feed your dragon and take care of it, and the things you feed it effect what kind of element it is. The story is pretty mediocre, I'll admit, but it's still a really entertaining game.

If you weren't a fan of SaGa Frontier, you're probably not going to like this. The graphics are great, the battle system is turn based, but it still has characters learning skills somewhat-randomly. The cool thing is that once one person learns a skill, every character in their party knows it as well. The story is very lacking, and it's almost a game of complete sidequests, but overall it's a fun game with unique characters.

Another tactics game on the Super Nintendo. You may have played Front Mission 4 for PS2, or the awful Front Missino 3 for PSOne. This game is much better. The interesting thing about this series is that you're in giant machines instead of your normal tactics game, where it's human vs. human. When fighting, each part of the robot has a different life bar, such as arms and legs and body. If you deplete the HP of one ARM, whatever weapon was on that side cannot be used until you repair it after battle. Major drawback is that (for the most part)you can't choose what part to hit. This is what pretty much ruined FM3 for me, but it seems like in this game, you'll generally hit something you want to hit, say if the body has few HP lift, you'll most likely hit the body and kill your foe. Anyway, it's still a game that should be played, especially if you happen to like either FM that made it across shores.

A massive SNES RPG! Voice acting, creative battle system, great story... the complete works. One of your characters can turn into a were wolf!! It doesn't get any better than that, really. Some of the best graphics seen on the super nintendo, I wish this made it over here in SNES' hayday.

Good god does this game get hated on. I don't care though. It came out around the time when Square were getting very sexually excited about RPGs, so EVERYTHING they made started coming out in th US. People bought SaGa expecting FF7, and when it wasn't it, they left. Although I was SaGa would've been completely finished (the game we have is incomplete), I still think it's a very, very fun game. The storylines are a tad bit lacking, but they still have their cool moments. I mean, what's cooler than being a super hero? I really think this game got compared to too many other RPGs, and it really should be taken for what it is, and not be compared to any other by the books RPG. The main focus of the game is the battles and learning techniques, and I absolutely love giving my character a sword and fighting enemies, trying to learn sword skills during battle and gaining not levels, but stats after battle depending on how you use your characters in that battle. Sadly, I don't think the game will ever get the chance that it deserved.

If you liked Secret of Mana, there's no reason not to play this. You get to choose three characters in the beginning - your leader, and two comrades. You get all three of their storylines, but the leader's story is the one that is most prominent. Each character also has different jobs to choose from, and this puts them on a certain "path." Like.. only a Knight can be a Paladin, etc. This effects their stats in different ways. Is it better than Secret of Mana? Very debatable, but it's definitely a tad more serious.. less goofy at times. It's still just as fun, and much better than the crud that is "Legend of Mana."

This game has many different characters from different periods of time (Prehistoric, Future, Cowboy era, etc.) that you can choose. The characters' stories are pretty short, and they all come together at the end of the game. Some stories are kind of goofy, but others are very exceptional, such as the Future and Medieval era. The battle system is fun, and the turn the game takes after the last quest really needs to be seen. One of the last games Square made that had "charm."

One of the greatest, deepest console role playing games ever created. The only drawback for this game is maybe it IS too much, maybe too overwhelming at times. The game really doesn't slack though, every character is finely tuned and developed, and the in-battle gameplay is very fun and can switch from either person vs. person or robot (gear) vs. robot (gear). The music is awesome, the graphics are fitting.. playing the game from start to finish is an experience like no other. Very time consuming, but worth every minute.

DQ6 builds more on what 5 had, and offers some new things. 6 includes jobs, better and more detailed graphics, and once again an intense, creative story. The game begins in a Chrono Cross-esque way, at an attack of a castle, but you end up being turned into stone. You then wake up in your house, realized it was a bad dream. This game really needs to be remade pronto.

The game of games. The story is so... wow. You go from being a kid to an adult, traveling in time when you're an adult to the town when you're a kid.. this game is just ridiculous. You get married and have kids, who can fight on your side. You can "catch" monsters that help you in battle.. this game has it all. The only minor drawback is that the character is a mute, which is a shame, but hey, we've all played Chrono Trigger and loved it, haven't we? Give this amazing game a chance.

In a world where people STILL think Final Fantasy 7 is the greatest RPG ever, lists like these are necessary. I wish people could appreciate characters like Citan from Xenogears, Hassan from Dragon Quest 6 and Orsted from Live A Live, but I'm living in a dream world. If you've played Final Fantasy 3-6, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, etc. and you're looking for more great stuff along those lines and not overdone charmless meaningless games like Final Fantasy 7, then please take a gander at my list and start looking for these games. Translations are available on the internet if you look hard enough.

List by Aguro (01/12/2006)