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The absolute best square enix rpg?

Posted: 17th July 2010 19:37

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Onion Knight
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What do you guys think is the absolute best rpg that square has ever made. You can state just one or divide into categories like:

Favourite action rpg: Seiken Densetsu 3

Favourite turn based rpg: Final Fantasy 4

Favourite fighting game/rpg: Dissidia Final Fantasy

Favourite turn based rpg (non ff): Chrono Trigger


Just to name a few (categories)

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Posted: 17th July 2010 19:48

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Quote (InsaneVisionary @ 17th July 2010 20:37)
Favourite fighting game/rpg: Dissidia Final Fantasy

Have Square made other beat-em-up/RPGs? If so, I'd like to play them if they're good.

My favourite turn-based Square RPG is FFIX, with FFVII and FFVI coming in second and third respectively. There's very little between the three games.
Edit
It should've been FFIX as number one.


Favourite Square action-RPG is Parasite Eve without question.

Non-FF would be Chrono Trigger for me too. What a great game.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 19th July 2010 10:45

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Posted: 17th July 2010 21:11

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I understand both of your picks, and they are definitely games that you can choose and make an argument for them. If you were to call FFIV, FFVII, and FFIX the best of the series, I would agree. CT and Parasite Eve are really great games. But for me, for what RPGs are supposed to be, FFVI is the best example, and Square Enix's best work. Grandiose storyline, interesting and emotional characters despite being 24 pixels tall, and a very well-designed world. I like the other FFs a lot, but I don't personally think that FFVI does a better job at storytelling, but that is just me. I know sweetdude, that you told me you couldn't take the story seriously, and that's kind of understandable. But I think if you let yourself get into it, it can have strong emotional moments.

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Posted: 17th July 2010 23:10

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Quote (sweetdude @ 17th July 2010 14:48)
Quote (InsaneVisionary @ 17th July 2010 20:37)
Favourite fighting game/rpg: Dissidia Final Fantasy

Have Square made other beat-em-up/RPGs? If so, I'd like to play them if they're good.

The Bouncer probably qualifies, but I didn't think it was very good. Tobal No.1 and Tobal No.2 are Square-developed fighting games that both have a cult following. I haven't played either, unfortunately.

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Posted: 18th July 2010 00:16

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I haven't played many non-FF Squeenix games, but I'd definitely say TWEWY has the best gameplay, and FFX has the best plot.

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Posted: 18th July 2010 00:44

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I'm not exactly sure what qualifies as an action RPG, but if Vagrant Story does then I vote Vagrant Story. I've probably beaten that game 5 times. But, then again, there's always Parasite Eve... Nope, I'm gonna have to stick with my guns of Vagrant Story.

I feel like there's other threads on this, but my favorite overall FF game/squenix game/any game is Final Fantasy X.

As for non-FF (but still squenix), I would have to go with one of the Chrono games. I'm not exactly sure which, because I like both of them for different reasons. If really pressed for an answer... I think I'd probably lean towards Chrono Cross, if only because of how much I enjoyed that game's music/presentation/environment.

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Posted: 19th July 2010 08:21

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I didn't know parasite eve was square,either that or i don't remember.

love the game to death.

FF6 ff4 ff9 are musically my favorite and what i consider best.

in gameplaywise ff6 ff5 are probabl y my favorites.

And while i do like FFX,i think that its a little linear for me.

I also think final fantasy legends 1 is a pretty fun game as well.


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Posted: 19th July 2010 10:06

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The Bouncer, Seiken Densetsu 3, and Final Fantasy VII.

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Posted: 19th July 2010 23:24

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Final Fantasy Tactics is easily the best. Honorable mentions to FFVI and Vagrant Story.
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Posted: 20th July 2010 01:09

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Am I the only one here who has played Xenogears? that is for sure the best RPG made by Square, and it proves that linearity is not bas by itself!

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Posted: 20th July 2010 03:43

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Oh I played Xenogears, all right. Enough that sometimes I'll spontaneously burst into tears thinking about the platforming in the Tower of Babel.

As for THE BEST, let's see...I guess I have to go for FFVI, but really from 1994-1998 there wasn't such thing as a bad Squaresoft game. FF Tactics? Vagrant Story? Seiken Densetsu 3? Chrono Cross? Parasite Eve? Super Mario RPG? Pretty much anything that Yasumi Matsuno even breathed in the vicinity of??

And though I was never a huge Enix fan, I'm not forgetting them either... Ogre Battle, Illusion of Gaia, hey man, sometimes I even feel like popping Robotrek into my SNES. The 90s was a great time to be a fan of video games...

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Posted: 20th July 2010 04:12

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im gonna go with dragon quest viii. its the only rpg of theirs i consistently play to this day.

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Posted: 20th July 2010 22:02

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FFI, FFT, and FFX get my votes. FFX wasn't very popular with most CON'ers back in the day, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few above posts mention it favorably. I guess it just aged well.

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Posted: 20th July 2010 23:11

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I suppose I should answer.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu III, Super Mario RPG, and Dragon Quest V. Those are the ones I keep going back to, and are probably my top five Square, Enix, or Square-Enix games.

Also of note: Dragon Quest IX is rapidly climbing up my list of all-time favorite games. Give me some time and it would be on a list like this.

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Posted: 23rd July 2010 01:04

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Above all FF9 for me personally.
Also to name a few others SMRPG, FFT, and Vagrant Story.
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Posted: 23rd July 2010 02:01

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Quote (Kane @ 19th July 2010 19:24)
Final Fantasy Tactics is easily the best. Honorable mentions to FFVI and Vagrant Story.

I wouldn't say that any game is easily the best here. Since everybody seems to have different answers, I can tell that Square has made some tremendous games.While I still say that FFVI is better at storytelling than any of these games, I would place games like FFVII and FFIX up there as well. I enjoy Tactics quite a bit as well.

Quote (laszlow)
Dragon Quest IX is rapidly climbing up my list of all-time favorite games. Give me some time and it would be on a list like this.


It would definitely seem as such. It's not often that a game gets a 40/40 from Famitsu. I've always preferred FF RPGs for their storytelling and design, that game may be the one that starts me into DQ.

Quote (Hamedo)
FFX wasn't very popular with most CON'ers back in the day, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a few above posts mention it favorably. I guess it just aged well.


There was a time when I didn't really like it, but that has slightly changed. I still consider it a 2nd-tier FF, but it's definitely one of the better ones.

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Posted: 23rd July 2010 19:07

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Quote (Kirchewasser @ 20th July 2010 02:09)
Am I the only one here who has played Xenogears? that is for sure the best RPG made by Square, and it proves that linearity is not bas by itself!

I've played it. Good fun but not something I would put as a favourite. I find FFIX to be a better example of successful absolute linearity.

I forgot to mention before, FFXII is also one of my top Square RPGs. I have fond memories of fighting beautifully modelled monsters with innovative little setups for my characters.

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Posted: 23rd July 2010 19:16

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Quote (sweetdude @ 23rd July 2010 15:07)
I forgot to mention before, FFXII is also one of my top Square RPGs. I have fond memories of fighting beautifully modelled monsters with innovative little setups for my characters.

I have to say I agree with you. I really enjoyed it as well. I think it's definitely one of the better FFs in my opinion. I think it's right along FFX for me; it's not in my top three FFs, but it is one of the better ones.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 02:26

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Quote
I didn't know parasite eve was square,either that or i don't remember.

It was.

Quote
Oh I played Xenogears, all right. Enough that sometimes I'll spontaneously burst into tears thinking about the platforming in the Tower of Babel.

Oh God lol, I feel for you. There was a nasty boss that took me forever to beat too for some reason, though I eventually was able to do it. I had a thread about it here for a while.

Quote
I forgot to mention before, FFXII is also one of my top Square RPGs. I have fond memories of fighting beautifully modelled monsters with innovative little setups for my characters.

See, I enjoyed FFXII's gameplay and everything, but I'll never be able to really appreciate the game because its story was trashy. IMO, of course.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 03:54

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Quote (Death Penalty @ 24th July 2010 03:26)
See, I enjoyed FFXII's gameplay and everything, but I'll never be able to really appreciate the game because its story was trashy. IMO, of course.

I thought the story was alright. Just different enough to be enjoyable. Three of the main characters were good, especially Ashe and her story, and the other three were dead weight that spoiled it. Character design was pretty stupid too, in stark contrast to the monsters. I have to say though that game featured the best skipping of any FF. Everything story-related can be skipped which means it's easy to play through again purely for the gameplay. I've done this twice now. There's so much to do. Your complaint is valid IMO but to be fair to the game it does allow you to cut out the bad parts of the game and get on with the good bits, namely kitting out characters and fighting strange and wonderful monsters.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 05:02

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Quote (sweetdude @ 24th July 2010 03:54)
Quote (Death Penalty @ 24th July 2010 03:26)
See, I enjoyed FFXII's gameplay and everything, but I'll never be able to really appreciate the game because its story was trashy. IMO, of course.

I thought the story was alright. Just different enough to be enjoyable. Three of the main characters were good, especially Ashe and her story, and the other three were dead weight that spoiled it. Character design was pretty stupid too, in stark contrast to the monsters. I have to say though that game featured the best skipping of any FF. Everything story-related can be skipped which means it's easy to play through again purely for the gameplay. I've done this twice now. There's so much to do. Your complaint is valid IMO but to be fair to the game it does allow you to cut out the bad parts of the game and get on with the good bits, namely kitting out characters and fighting strange and wonderful monsters.

Oh I completely agree about being able to skip stuff, which is just nice in general. I remember having to sit through 10 minute scenes for the third time in other RPGs because I hadn't been able to beat the boss battle following them.

It's just that I look first for a good story in an RPG, and unfortunately I never felt much attraction to FFXII's.

But I definitely agree that the gameplay was quite good, and all the monster hunts you could do were also fun.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 07:36
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Of course it'd be FFVI...if SquareEnix existed back then. When did they merge?

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Posted: 24th July 2010 07:45

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Quote (Narratorway @ 24th July 2010 03:36)
Of course it'd be FFVI...if SquareEnix existed back then. When did they merge?

2003. I didn't think of that. But I guess they meant any Square or Enix RPG created.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 19:53

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Quote (Narratorway @ 24th July 2010 05:36)
Of course it'd be FFVI...if SquareEnix existed back then. When did they merge?

What I meant was

Square
Enix
or Square Enix

When they merged is irrelevant to the topic. Hope that clears things up smile.gif

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Posted: 24th July 2010 20:16

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Quote (BlitzSage @ 22nd July 2010 21:01)
Quote (laszlow)
Dragon Quest IX is rapidly climbing up my list of all-time favorite games. Give me some time and it would be on a list like this.


It would definitely seem as such. It's not often that a game gets a 40/40 from Famitsu. I've always preferred FF RPGs for their storytelling and design, that game may be the one that starts me into DQ.

Putting the 40/40 aside, this is not the game for you if strong storytelling is a major part of your standards. DQ IX's storytelling is weak. The quests are, at best, too disjointed and not given adequate background. DQ IX does, however, deliver more post-game action than any other Dragon Quest in history and has extremely entertaining single-player and multiplayer free online content. The battle system is still extremely oldschool and borderline archaic, but it's also the most refined that Dragon Quest has to offer. The class and customization system(s) are excellent - the best in the series.

If you really want to try and get into the series, I'd recommend playing VIII or V. They're my two favorite games in the series, and they're also out in English on recent systems. If you play one of those and decide you really like Dragon Quest, then that is the time to try DQ IX.

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Posted: 24th July 2010 22:39

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Quote (laszlow @ 24th July 2010 16:16)
Quote (BlitzSage @ 22nd July 2010 21:01)
Quote (laszlow)
Dragon Quest IX is rapidly climbing up my list of all-time favorite games. Give me some time and it would be on a list like this.


It would definitely seem as such. It's not often that a game gets a 40/40 from Famitsu. I've always preferred FF RPGs for their storytelling and design, that game may be the one that starts me into DQ.

Putting the 40/40 aside, this is not the game for you if strong storytelling is a major part of your standards. DQ IX's storytelling is weak. The quests are, at best, too disjointed and not given adequate background. DQ IX does, however, deliver more post-game action than any other Dragon Quest in history and has extremely entertaining single-player and multiplayer free online content. The battle system is still extremely oldschool and borderline archaic, but it's also the most refined that Dragon Quest has to offer. The class and customization system(s) are excellent - the best in the series.

If you really want to try and get into the series, I'd recommend playing VIII or V. They're my two favorite games in the series, and they're also out in English on recent systems. If you play one of those and decide you really like Dragon Quest, then that is the time to try DQ IX.

Well, I love Final Fantasy's storytelling, but my favorite RPG series is probably Pokemon, which doesn't have a strong narrative. But then again, Pokemon is really immersive and imaginative, which kind of means it does have good storytelling. So if DQIX is like that then I'll enjoy it.

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Posted: 26th July 2010 19:43

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Iwoul have to say that ff4 was one of the best hands down but then again if it wasnt for parasite eve 1n 2 i never would have even tried the almighty ff series.

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