Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Forgotten Rpgs

Throughout the history of gaming, there have been many a great rpg. However, relatively few have held their recognition with a very small number remembered as being great (Chrono Trigger, FF6, etc) and instead people gravitate towards series instead of individual games. This list will designate some of the unfortunate forgotten titles, great rpgs both in their day and perhaps in some ways great even to this day. All these titles contained aspects of greatness which deserve some measure of recognition. So, without further ado, I present the forgotten:

Magi-Nation is a black sheep among rpgs because it has two strikes against it: First, handheld titles usually have a harder time getting acceptance due to a general negative perception about the capabilities of handhelds (such graphical quality and available memory; also, it doesn't help that this particular game is on an obsolete handheld that receives no backwards compatibility from the current gen). Second, it was inspired by a little-known franchise with seemingly childish designs. However, Magi-Nation's combat system carries the same innovation of the card game, although not the complexity, even if gameplay is somewhat easy and the story isn't some grand new title. The biggest perk, perhaps, is the incredible amount of general humor added to the game. The majority of items in buildings, etc, have an examine of some sort that include either a pun or a different message such as "It's a desk" to the effect of, "why are you bothering to examine this?" parodying the tendency of rpg fanatics to check under every stone. Of course, for those same fanatics the game includes 3 or 4 alternate endings (one being triggered if the player takes the option to skip a major boss fight >_>) and some occasionally bizarre subquests (including one required to get a single copy of one of the strongest monsters, which looks like a code ripped out of an April Fool's edition of a popular gaming magazine).

The 7th Saga contained features that wouldn't see mainstream adoption for years to come. Most notably is the character selection feature, which lets you pick one of seven adventurers to track down the legendary runes. In other games, that selection would be the end of it but not here. Instead the six characters you didn't choose come back to compete (or partner) with your character. Did I mention that you're choosing between using an an elf, a dwarf, a human, and, oh yeah, an alien, robot, or a demon? >_> Plus, despite being a somewhat traditional rpg in many regards, it offered the ability to avoid random encounters using a mini-map crystal-ball thingy. Very progressive for its time in some ways, not so much in others.

Riviera is a game which bears the misfortune that the very qualities that make it unique have basically doomed it to relative obscurity. In ten years time, there is a very strong chance that it'll never be heard of again unlike a few of the more prominent titles on this list. Not withstanding, Riviera offers a unique experience through its turn-based exploration used to move through dungeons, etc, which is further restricted by use of a point system required facilitate actions like examining something or moving from chamber to chamber. Unfortunately, the combat system and story are nowhere near as innovative but the game offers great visuals and incorporates a slew of other interesting features (which includes variable endings). Any rpg fan truly looking for something a little bit different would do well by trying this one out.

Despite being one of the potentially less deserving titles on this list, Shadowrun is a very different title. For one thing, it has a very gritty sandbox-esque feel in keeping with its pen & paper counterpart. It's an action rpg shot from a 3/4 forced perspective which generally gives games a somewhat cheesy 3d effect but is oddly fitting for this dystopian epic. The story itself is surprisingly good: you play as a guy who wakes up in the morgue after a botched assassination attempt and spend most of the game trying to piece together who shot you, who saved you (and why), and the reason people would want you dead (besides your charming personality). Keeping true to the RPG, Shadowrun features a mix of a magic system and modern technology including the ability to "dive" into cyberspace (required for unlocking doors, etc). One of the more random aspects of gameplay is a word system where you can ask questions only after hearing about something in conversation elsewhere. Although other games have done something similar in the past, their use was nowhere near as extensive or as far-reaching. All in all, Shadowrun is a title well worth checking out at least once.

In the horror game genre, two franchises basically eclipse all others: Silent Hill and the survival horror classic Resident Evil. However, around the same time as the early Resident Evils there was a nice little fringe survival horror/action rpg called Parasite Eve which, instead of dealing with either zombies or seeming LSD trips, had a semi-attractive mutant monster trying to get herself pregnant. Featuring other craziness like random spontaneous combustion, it's surprising that more people didn't really pick up on this title. What really differentiates it from other horror titles is the use of an ATB, an experience-based level system, and the associated battle options menu. This is one game that the Playstation Network is sorely lacking.

Legend of Legaia is a classic rpg fringe title. Featuring the badly dated graphics (the trademark of early playstation games) and somewhat cliche story, it might be difficult not to judge a book by its cover. However, those who ignore it simply for those reasons will miss out a fairly fun somewhat innovative battle system in which you select commands (which are all different sizes) to fit onto a command bar for your "attack" each turn. And despite the story not being anything special, it's still a moderately pleasant one and serves as a decent plausible mechanic for restricting areas of the map.

When most people think "Secret" and "SNES" the first thing that comes to mind is the infinitely more popular Secret of Mana. However, this touching story of a time-traveling boy and his loyal dog has long held a soft-spot in my heart. Similar to SoM in the sense that it's an action RPG with a NPC companion that automatically fights enemies, it's a damned good game. The most fun aspect, of course, is watching the dog transform to reflect the time period (going from a prehistoric wolf to a robot!). The weapon/armor upgrade system is also fun, especially in the Roman world where it involves elaborate trades in order to get the newest items.

When Legend of the Dragoon was first released, it was often called a bad FFVII clone. Although there are a number of 1:1 comparisons that can be drawn between certain parts of the two games, LoD remains a game uniquely its own (well, as unique as a jrpg can be, at any rate). The primary aspect of the game is a little bit of fan service where you can obtain dragon gems which allow characters to use a kick-ass dragoon form, strictly more powerful than their usual form, complete with wings and everything in battle. One of the elements that gave it an edge over other rpgs of the time is the intensely skill-driven combo attack system which required precise coordinated button presses to progress through a combo (which I believe had to be memorized, but I haven't played it in forever). By executing a combo a certain number of times, you could then unlock the next combo in the chain which usually offered a few more button hits. Other than that, the combat system had its flaws (particularly in dealing with character speeds) but the overall game was top-notch and is rightly compared to FFVII at least in terms of quality. Hopefully, like FFVII, it'll eventually see a PSN release although I believe anybody who's ever owned a ps1 probably has a copy of this game buried and forgotten in their collection.

EVO is an incredible action rpg/platformer. The fact that it's so widely forgotten is an incredible tragedy. Like the name implies, evolution is the key to the game. Gameplay largely consists of killing various animals (and eating them) to gain exp to acquire different forms. Each animal has different stats and abilities, some of which are necessarily just to progress through the story (such as moving from the sea to the land) with the final possible evolution being man (once again demonstrating human mastery over all creation >_>). In terms of action rpgs, this one often gets overlooked in favor of the somewhat more popular Soul Blazer "sequels" Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma partially because EVO's platformer elements are just so much more prominent than the rpg elements (despite the obvious presence of what serves as an experience/level system and the blatant HP at the top of the screen).

Lufia 2 is the very definition of an epicly forgotten rpg. Not only was the story and character quality directly comparable to the Final Fantasy titles of the time, but it contained plenty of innovations and a plethora of fun puzzles. Although technically a "prequel" to Lufia, the game was so drastically improved that if not for the titles and plot points you'd never think them related. One of the bigger things that Lufia 2 did at the time was change the entire random battle system; although there was a separate battle screen and a turn-based fight during these encounters, you'd instead see the monsters also walking about on the field and could avoid them if you wanted. However, depending on what direction you ran into them, either your team or theirs could get a free round of attacks. Between that and and the fact you could see at least some of the monsters you would be fighting (should you choose to battle), "random" encounters became decidedly less random. However, the most epic trademark of Lufia 2 (and the series) is the massive Ancient Cave sidequest. Before entering, you'd have to surrender all of your weapons/armor/items (except for special items found in the cave itself) and your teams' levels would all reset to 1. You would then take your team through 98 floors of increasingly stronger monsters, leveling up and collecting items along the way (including coveted blue chest items which could be taken in and out of this dungeon), until you reach the 99th at which point you'd have to finish a fight against a boss monster with massive HP in 3-4 turns. Not hard enough for you? Well, to top all of that off, the floor plan is different every time you go in there and the only way to really be in shape to fight later monsters is to kill every single earlier monster making it a very, very long side-quest. Oh, and did I mention it had to be completed in a single sitting since there's no save function in the cave? When played properly, which is to say actually playing it on the SNES without a weak gamer's lame-ass saved states, it presents a rather grueling challenge rarely seen in RPGs and possibly even just by itself making it worthy of topping this list.

Many rpgs have unfortunately fallen by the wayside and I regret that not all can be listed in a top10 list. Some very notable titles had to be excluded by the aforementioned nature of the list, such as the Soul Blazer trilogy, the ZoE series, and perhaps even the somewhat less obscure Golden Sun series----all very worthy titles in their own right but not necessarily worth highlighting in this particular list. If you're wondering about titles like SMRPG, the Earthbound/Mother series, Suikoden, and, to some extent, the Megaman Legends "trilogy" etc, etc, all of those are still far more well-remembered and known than most of the titles listed above. Sadly, I believe even Quest64 gets more top10 mentions than Secret of Evermore and Legaia so this is a great (rare) opportunity to give a shout-out to some badly overlooked games.

List by Aaantlion (07/24/2009)