Top 5 RPGs of 2006

[LinkOcarinaMan]

Yep, the year is over and it is time to list YOUR top 5 RPGs of the year. Just some rules.

- Obviously the RPG had to have come out between Jan. 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2006

- NO IMPORTS

- NO MMORPGs (they are not real games!!!!)

- US release dates only

Here is my list

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I really don't think anything needs to be said about how great this game is. It continued the perfect evolution of the Zelda franchise, gave us a ton of new items to play around with, and introduced us to Midna, who aside from Link, may be the coolest character in the Zelda franchise.

2. Suikoden V

This is the proper apology from Konami after Suikoden IV. I put well over 100 hours into this masterpiece that returned Suikoden to what it should be. The battle system was back to old style and it was as fun as ever and the cast of characters is arguably the best in the entire series and I just had to use and test all of them (the main reason for the high hours count)

3. Tales of Legendia

I will never understand the hate this game gets as I loved every second of it. The battle system is back to the fast paced 2D style system used in Tales of Eternia and it works just as well as it ever did. The music in this game is also easily the best in the entire Tales series. However, the main standout is the amazing cast of characters which easily rapes the casts of any other Tales game as far as characterization goes. I've never felt so in touch with the characters in the Tales series. A winner in my book.

4. Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny

The original Atelier Iris was my RPG of the year for last year and this one certainly did not dissappoint me. These games are, in my opinion, some of the best looking games of the entire generation. I just can't get over how wonderful the hand drawn sprites look and the artwork is equally amazing. In a lot of ways this is even better than the original, it just didn't get the #1 spot due to the insane competition of this year.

5. Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2

The original Swordcraft Story, which also came out in 2006, was an awesome game. This sequal however, is better in basically every single way. The weapon creation system is great, the characters are great, and it uses a real time battle system that is very similar to the Tales franchise, and that is never a bad thing.

[Akito]

There were a lot of good RPGs this year, but it's sort of hard for me to make an accurate list since I didn't finish very many of them. But oh well, I'll try my best.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

If this even counts as an RPG, then it pretty much wins by default. No argument there.

2. Suikoden V

The key members of this club were all over this game upon release, and for good reason too. Since we've all played it, I don't think I need to post any justification for giving it this honor.

3. Tales of Legendia

I'll admit that I haven't played Tales of the Abyss long enough to decide which of these two games are better. But no matter, there are a lot of RPGs that aren't getting a fair chance on my list. Anyway, Legendia is much better than everyone made it out to be. If anything, I'd say it's pretty much a standard Tales game, and there's nothing wrong with that. And the soundtrack is awesome, which always makes the RPG experience even better.

4. Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation

Speak of soundtracks, it's incredibly awesome for all important characters to have their own theme song, as well as epic battle animations for their various attacks. Fuck you, Link!

5. Contact

It's really easy to point out reasons why this game sucks. It takes a certain kind of perspective to enjoy it. I approached it with pretty much no idea what to expect. All I knew is that it was going to be very different from anything else I've played. Because of that, I can safely say that curiousity is what compelled me to finish it. Though it was pretty short by RPG standards, that didn't bother me since I usually don't have the patients to finish long games anyway.

Then again, maybe the reason I liked this game is because it sort of reminded me of Earthbound (at least in terms of craziness). But whatever the reason is, I enjoyed it.

[Scarface]

I have a tie for 1st place. Sue me

1: Super Robot Taisen Original Generation 1 and 2 - My sleeper pick of '06. I almost didn't buy this game because of mechs, and I used to think that they didn't belong in rpgs. Both games drew me in from start to finish and the cast was superb.

1: Suikoden 5 - Nothing better, and eh...I haven't played Zelda long enough to give it an honest score.

2: Wild ARMs 4 - Now, I thought since 3 was bad that this game wasn't going to catch my interest. Again, I was wrong. I thought that the grid battle system was weird and it wouldn't work, but when I played the game, I was entirely entertained. Great cast, fun battles and nice music.

3: Zelda Twilight Princess - Ok, if I had played this game past the first dungeon I know I would have rated it a lot higher. It's not fair to the other games I have completed to rank it higher then them. So, yeah, this game is friggin amzing.

4: Tales of the Abyss - Again, not finished with this game, but here we go. Guy Cecil is awesome. Almost the entire cast is entertaining. The only thing that I dislike about this game is Luke. Midrift is really gay and he is a complete bitch at the start of the game. Other then that, I can't remember why I stopped playing this game. Good on all regards.

5: Tales of Legendia - Ok, here's the weird thing. The only character I like so far is Senel. I hate pretty much everyone else, although I just got Jay and he seems to belittle people. That IS cool. The music, the music, I will agree with Link on, is the best I have heard in the series. Again, I am still playing this game, but right now I rate it slightly lower then Abyss. Senel is also the first Tales main to be a hand to hand specialist. It's nice to see a little diversity from time to time.

~

kind of a weak rpg year for me actually. I didn't get to play the new Ffs, VP3, XS3, SH3, and many other games of '06.