IGN Posts Top 100 RPGs of All Time (This Year!)

Posted on Monday 17th September 2012 at 18:13 by Rangers51

Ah, top x lists. Defined solely to create arguments and page views among a site's readership, because nobody has ever agreed with such a list completely, ever. IGN knows this, as do we all, and right here I'm going to throw them some more page views out of the goodness of my own heart.

Well, not really. I'd have a hard time caring about this, given how generally without merit I find most of these lists, but this one is tailor-made for CoN: three of the games we cover are in the top five, and not one of them is Final Fantasy VII.

Don't worry, Final Fantasy VII is on there! While Square Enix claimed over a quarter of the spots on the overall list, the games we cover came in as follows:

Final Fantasy VI: 1st
Chrono Trigger: 2nd
Final Fantasy IV: 5th
Final Fantasy VII: 11th
Final Fantasy Tactics: 14th
Final Fantasy I: 73rd

The only game of ours that didn't get included was Final Fantasy V.

Enjoy arguing the list here, at least until they release a new list. Have fun - it's miserable to navigate.

Source: IGN

Posted in: RPG News, Gaming Industry News, CoN Site News

Written by	Rangers51
	CoN Webmaster
	Member Since: 1997-07-31
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Comments

Stiltzkin	Comment 1: 2012-09-17 19:13
	Wow... I'm genuinely surprised, and despite my (almost shameless) love for VII, pleased to see that it didn't take the top spot by default! That said, it does seem to be the usual 'one person's personal opinion becomes gospel' approach to these lists. I'm not going to go into too much of a geek rant, but it's disappointing to see Vagrant Story, BoF III and Legend of Dragoon feature so low on the list. How VIII, IX, and Fallout: New Vegas are as low as they are I simply can't fathom (even despite VIII's polarising effect). My only other point which left me rather bemused - despite being given the #1 spot, VI's entry seems to have been hammered out in seconds and is a rather paltry exposition compared to the descriptions given for some of the much lower entries! ...and you're right - it's truly awful to navigate!
Blinge Odonata	Comment 2: 2012-09-18 09:20
	Quote (Stiltzkin @ 17th September 2012 19:13) My only other point which left me rather bemused - despite being given the #1 spot, VI's entry seems to have been hammered out in seconds and is a rather paltry exposition compared to the descriptions given for some of the much lower entries! Yeah, what an anticlimax for somebody who's just read the entire list... that someone being yours truly. HUMPH
BlitzSage	Comment 3: 2012-09-25 01:57
	I like seeing Pokemon Red/Blue, Chrono Trigger and FFVI in the top 5, and I like Fallout 3 and ME1 in the top 10. Not that the lists mean anything, but this one seems to square up pretty well with my opinion. I would've liked to see FFIX at a higher position though.
Tonepoet	Comment 4: 2012-09-30 10:16
	Has anybody else noticed that Disgaea, is billed as "The ultimate turn based strategy R.P.G." that "perfected the genre" despite being ranked #45, 34 ranks lower than Final Fantasy Tactics? Both are great games but I personally feel this sort of internal inconsistency undermines the legitimacy of the list, as it suggests that it hasn't been scrutinized over as much as it should've been... Yeah, 100 games is a lot and an impressive listing given that it's a genre where many people might struggle to name 5 that aren't made from the same publisher off the tops of their heads... However, recognition of the amount of work necessary in making larger lists is generally why people limit themselves to a top 10. :-P
BlitzSage	Comment 5: 2012-09-30 21:49
	Quote (Tonepoet @ 30th September 2012 06:16) Has anybody else noticed that Disgaea, is billed as "The ultimate turn based strategy R.P.G." that "perfected the genre" despite being ranked #45, 34 ranks lower than Final Fantasy Tactics? Both are great games but I personally feel this sort of internal inconsistency undermines the legitimacy of the list, as it suggests that it hasn't been scrutinized over as much as it should've been... Yeah, 100 games is a lot and an impressive listing given that it's a genre where many people might struggle to name 5 that aren't made from the same publisher off the tops of their heads... However, recognition of the amount of work necessary in making larger lists is generally why people limit themselves to a top 10. :-P Well, I occasionally visit a website, unikgamer.com, which I believe I linked on this site when it was just starting out. I don't use the forums or anything, but it's good for just keeping tracks of different lists. what I've noticed there, is that even doing a top 25 is extremely easy to be inconsistent with. I don't find it surprising that a list of that kind has those types of issues. I'm not disagreeing with you, but my feeling about the list is that, in reality, their opinion is no more, no less than anyone else's. It does feel great as a devoted fan of both FFVI and Chrono Trigger to see them get that kind of praise, but I remember when IGN was putting FFVI in the 50's on their lists. And plus, it feels good to have anyone praise FF. Heck that's part of why I like this site. (and yeah, I don't think I've even played 50 games, so I could'nt even do it by default) Just looking at the list, Square is like the Beatles of JRPGs. Almost every album/game is on the best album/game list.
Kame	Comment 6: 2012-10-01 06:11
	As much of a Squeenix fangirl I am, have to say I'm pretty disappointed that a Dragon Quest title didn't make it into the top 10
MogMaster	Comment 7: 2012-10-02 04:48
	I found it to be a fairly accurate list, given what it's scope of "best" seemed to be. A lot of it wasn't necessarily the execution of any given component/mechanic of the genre, so much as they weighted the credit for a game based on how it introduced, or made a component/mechanic popular, in the RPG genre. Of course, there was some fan-service here, and at least some bias is suspect. I myself, despite loving FFVI, have to wonder at it being number 1 on the list. Even though I, too, once upon a time should have put FFVI at the top of the list, I feel like I've since become a much bigger fan of IV, for a lot of reasons. I found it interesting that the Fallout series jumped around on the list, with New Vegas placing 89 or something, and Fallout 3 placing 10th, and all the others jumbled a bit inbetween. The Elder Scrolls, naturally (and a bit to my chagrin,) went from Morrowind at the lowest, to Skyrim placing highest. Mass Effect placed with 1 at the highest. Demon/Dark Souls placed with Demon in the 80's and Dark at 18. FF, of course, was strewn about the list, as you can see from Rangers post. Diablo placed with III at the lowest, DI in the middle somewhere, and DII in the top ten. These are just arbitrary statistics I made note of. It seemed, to me, the most fruitful way of pinpointing the criterion for "best" in the poll. I will say, it has occurred to me, that FFVII, despite being cock-of-the-Square-Enix-walk all these years, being placed at #11 on the list, may perhaps indicate a couple things. 1) People are starting to be dazzled less by graphics, the limits of what's graphically achievable now being reached. Because of this, we've stopped looking at what is more realistic, and what was done best at the time, given the equipment available. Also, not even what was necessarily the most realistic available graphics, but which ones worked best with the game that was being made. 2) FFVII, no longer having even remotely good graphics by today's standards, is just grouped into the same category of "bad graphic old video game" as FFVI. In other words, everything old is the same age. In truth, it's probably some mixture of these two.
BlitzSage	Comment 8: 2012-10-02 20:49
	I think that FFIV deserves a high spot on the list. It was a pioneer for JRPGs and for storytelling in games. I think it still holds up as a great game, but it lacks the polish of some of FFVI and Chrono Trigger. I would strongly defend CT and FFVI as the top two positions. Outside of the series, I would also defend one of the Pokemon games, either Red/Blue or Gold/Silver as the top two or three. FFVII: I think that it's suffering from being part of the PSX gen. Comparatively, those graphics don't seem to age as well as SNES graphics. But I think that a lot of it is unwarranted. I don't disagree with 11. I think that that is right.
berryfunny	Comment 9: 2012-10-05 23:14
	I'm so happy that Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI rated highly, as well as Final Fantasy IV. Though it's tragic that Final Fantasy IX was low and Final Fantasy V didn't get a mention. I can understand why Final Fantasy VIII was quite low as not many people enjoy it, which is understandable. Though Final Fantasy V should of least been in the top 30 at least. The GBA version, not the terrible PlayStation translation. Uugh ! Final Fantasy VII I may get flamed for saying this was a little too high. While it is a good game it's not that great, maybe 13- 20 th spot but not close to the top 10. But I guess that I'm the odd one out here. Also happy that Final Fantasy XIII didn't get included that game is awful. Maybe Square will read this and get some hints.
Kirchewasser	Comment 10: 2012-10-08 02:03
	Well, lists of this kind are biased and etc, but i'm happy that ME3 or FFXIII were not in the top 10 (these days, you never know). And FFVI being the n1 sure is a great "good taste on games" indicator.
BlitzSage	Comment 11: 2012-10-09 00:55
	Quote (Kirchewasser @ 7th October 2012 22:03) Well, lists of this kind are biased and etc, but i'm happy that ME3 or FFXIII were not in the top 10 (these days, you never know). And FFVI being the n1 sure is a great "good taste on games" indicator. For ME3, idk, in a couple years a high ranking may be justified. That game was near perfect IMO. If I were to do a list like that, I would have the games included be at least five years old. That way we can at least partially see how a game can maintain popularity after a length of time.
Kame	Comment 12: 2012-10-09 07:35
	Thanks Josh for posting about this! This topic got me thinking so much I actually made a talkshow entry for RadioPSI about this! Kame's show on IGN's Top 100 RPGs
BlitzSage	Comment 13: 2012-10-10 00:05
	Quote (Kame @ 9th October 2012 03:35) Thanks Josh for posting about this! This topic got me thinking so much I actually made a talkshow entry for RadioPSI about this! Kame's show on IGN's Top 100 RPGs Can you repost that in another format? I don't know how to play oggs. Thanks.
Kame	Comment 14: 2012-10-10 06:03
	Quote (BlitzSage @ 9th October 2012 16:05) Quote (Kame @ 9th October 2012 03:35) Thanks Josh for posting about this! This topic got me thinking so much I actually made a talkshow entry for RadioPSI about this! Kame's show on IGN's Top 100 RPGs Can you repost that in another format? I don't know how to play oggs. Thanks. Sorry, that's how the archives are stored. Winamp or VLC can play it.
BlitzSage	Comment 15: 2012-10-10 22:05
	Quote (Kame @ 10th October 2012 02:03) Quote (BlitzSage @ 9th October 2012 16:05) Quote (Kame @ 9th October 2012 03:35) Thanks Josh for posting about this! This topic got me thinking so much I actually made a talkshow entry for RadioPSI about this! Kame's show on IGN's Top 100 RPGs Can you repost that in another format? I don't know how to play oggs. Thanks. Sorry, that's how the archives are stored. Winamp or VLC can play it. Okay, thanks. I'll try and listen to it soon. Edit: Okay, after listening to the first part of your podcast, I was reminded that my soapbox was gathering dust so I thought I'd bring it back out. The worst pet peeve I have about these lists is the lack of an age limit. They create a list that is supposed to span "all time" (which implies that these games have withstood the test of time). Then, they put a game that is less than a year old in the top ten (Skyrim at #7). Now, how can a game stand the test of time when it has not even been out a year, and have a four place lead over FFVII: the game that popularized the genre? It's absurd. If I made a list like that, I would either exclude current generation games or I would not allow games released less than five years after the year of the list's release (so, if the list were posted in 2012, only games released up to December 31, 2007 would be elligible).
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