Now that Blogathon is over, it's time to continue this before the list that resides in my mind slowly fades away.
So yes, let's continue from the Playstation RPG I've completed, it's quite a huge list considering how many years I had it:
15) Lunar Silver Star Complete
Completed: 1999
This is an absolutely lovely game. Originally, this game was the sole reason why I wanted a Sega Saturn when I saw my cousin playing it. But thankfully, it came out for Sony Playstation. With some of the best voice-acting I've ever heard (I was still traumatized by the crap voice-acting in Xenogears), and a very likable cast of characters, this game, despite its length (I think it was only around 15-20 hours long) remain one of the best Playstation RPGs I've ever played.
16) Final Fantasy 8
completed: 1999
Arguably the most well-known Final Fantasy game of them all thanks to the fact that Faye Wong was asked to do the ending theme 'Eyes On Me', and also the attractiveness of the main charcters. This game wasn't as bad as most have said, but like one of those Hollywood blockbusters, you may enjoy it a lot when you first played through it, but once you think of it again, you realize that it's rather bad and illogical. Besides, Rinoa, despite her good looks, is quite possibly the dumbest heroine ever in a FF game, and Squall's sudden turn from ice-cold loner to mushy whiner ("If the world turns against you, Rinoa, I will be by your side as your knight" "Oh, I want to hear your voice again, Rinoa!")
17) Suikoden 2
completed: 1999
If you manage to get the perfect ending for Suikoden 1, and download the data in Suikoden 2, you'll get, in your hands, one of the finest RPGs ever. This game has everything that's good in Suikoden 1, but hundred times better. If you have a Playstation, and you think of yourself as a RPG fan, and you've never played Sui 1 and 2 before, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
I love this game. Too bad the hero's dorky. But once you've downloaded data of Sui 1 into this game, you'll be able to use the hero from the previous game, McDohl, who is definitely more kickass than Sui 2's hero. (come on, I'll take the Soul Eater anytime than to stick with some lame rune called Bright Shield where your greatest powers are to heal people)
18) Grandia
Completed: 1999
Another game so fine that it defies description. It's flawless, it's beautiful, it gripped me just like Lunar did. Some scenes remained with me forever. And unlike Final Fantasy 8, which marketed itself as a love story, the romance in Grandia is so much more subtle and natural than the one in FF8. Unfortunately, it has a pretty bad sequel, Grandia 2, which my little sister managed to complete without using a walkthrough. I sat through most of the game watching my sister play, and shook my head in disgust, seeing how a fine RPG series would be destroyed like this.
19) Vandal Hearts 2
Completed: 1999
Sequel of Vandal Hearts 2. Remember what I said about Vandal Hearts 1 about having really bad character portraits? Well, this is even worse. The hero and his band of companions are the ugliest characters I've ever seen in a RPG. Overall, this is a good game, not as good as Final Fantasy Tactics (but then, what is?), but has a good epic storyline that has escaped my mind now.
I was hit by the relatively downbeat ending (where the hero's girlfriend died, and one of his best buddies turned evil and died as well), then realized that this is a game with multiple endings where everyone can stay alive and live happily ever after. Well... I never bothered.
20) Final Fantasy 9
Completed: 2000
To me, this is the most underrated Final Fantasy game ever. Most casual gamers were turned off by this game due to the fact that the characters are more cartoonish than its predecessor, the supermodel-ish FF8 characters. Well, they have no idea what they're missing.
The world of Final Fantasy 9 is absolutely stunning, it simply blows FF8's world away. Unfortunately, I seriously have no idea what the game developers were doing when they were planning the last boss for this game. Why, er, why was I fighting some world-destroying being whom I've never heard of throughout the entire game? He just popped out all of a sudden, said scary stuff, and voila, I had to fight him. It's surreal.
Really great ending though.
21) Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
Completed: 2001
Sequel of the much-loved Lunar. This game is a fantastic game in its own right, however, my main problem with it is the fact that it is a DIRECT SEQUEL where I had to deal with the trauma of watching one of the main characters in Lunar 1 becoming AN OLD WOMAN. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! In many ways, it tried to expand from Lunar 1, becoming a much longer and more epic game, but somehow, it lacked the warmth I felt with the first game. Don't get me wrong, I love this game too, just not as much as Lunar 1.
22) Wild Arms 2
Completed: 2001
I loved Wild Arms 1, so I had rather high expectations for this. Unfortunately, this game is a letdown. It's just a generic, unmemorable RPG with its share of dungeons and puzzles. Oh, and a very cliched storyline. (when hero is overwhelmed by the demon that resides within him, what to do? Simple, let the power of love and friendship save him... this rubbish is repeated by Grandia 2)
However, in this game, I started developing a special skill that became valuable to me today. I manage to play through dungeons while half-asleep. I would press the action button repeatedly as I wander through mazes, and wiping out all enemies in random encounters, which beef up my characters verily.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
So yes, let's continue from the Playstation RPG I've completed, it's quite a huge list considering how many years I had it:
15) Lunar Silver Star Complete
Completed: 1999
This is an absolutely lovely game. Originally, this game was the sole reason why I wanted a Sega Saturn when I saw my cousin playing it. But thankfully, it came out for Sony Playstation. With some of the best voice-acting I've ever heard (I was still traumatized by the crap voice-acting in Xenogears), and a very likable cast of characters, this game, despite its length (I think it was only around 15-20 hours long) remain one of the best Playstation RPGs I've ever played.
16) Final Fantasy 8
completed: 1999
Arguably the most well-known Final Fantasy game of them all thanks to the fact that Faye Wong was asked to do the ending theme 'Eyes On Me', and also the attractiveness of the main charcters. This game wasn't as bad as most have said, but like one of those Hollywood blockbusters, you may enjoy it a lot when you first played through it, but once you think of it again, you realize that it's rather bad and illogical. Besides, Rinoa, despite her good looks, is quite possibly the dumbest heroine ever in a FF game, and Squall's sudden turn from ice-cold loner to mushy whiner ("If the world turns against you, Rinoa, I will be by your side as your knight" "Oh, I want to hear your voice again, Rinoa!")
17) Suikoden 2
completed: 1999
If you manage to get the perfect ending for Suikoden 1, and download the data in Suikoden 2, you'll get, in your hands, one of the finest RPGs ever. This game has everything that's good in Suikoden 1, but hundred times better. If you have a Playstation, and you think of yourself as a RPG fan, and you've never played Sui 1 and 2 before, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
I love this game. Too bad the hero's dorky. But once you've downloaded data of Sui 1 into this game, you'll be able to use the hero from the previous game, McDohl, who is definitely more kickass than Sui 2's hero. (come on, I'll take the Soul Eater anytime than to stick with some lame rune called Bright Shield where your greatest powers are to heal people)
18) Grandia
Completed: 1999
Another game so fine that it defies description. It's flawless, it's beautiful, it gripped me just like Lunar did. Some scenes remained with me forever. And unlike Final Fantasy 8, which marketed itself as a love story, the romance in Grandia is so much more subtle and natural than the one in FF8. Unfortunately, it has a pretty bad sequel, Grandia 2, which my little sister managed to complete without using a walkthrough. I sat through most of the game watching my sister play, and shook my head in disgust, seeing how a fine RPG series would be destroyed like this.
19) Vandal Hearts 2
Completed: 1999
Sequel of Vandal Hearts 2. Remember what I said about Vandal Hearts 1 about having really bad character portraits? Well, this is even worse. The hero and his band of companions are the ugliest characters I've ever seen in a RPG. Overall, this is a good game, not as good as Final Fantasy Tactics (but then, what is?), but has a good epic storyline that has escaped my mind now.
I was hit by the relatively downbeat ending (where the hero's girlfriend died, and one of his best buddies turned evil and died as well), then realized that this is a game with multiple endings where everyone can stay alive and live happily ever after. Well... I never bothered.
20) Final Fantasy 9
Completed: 2000
To me, this is the most underrated Final Fantasy game ever. Most casual gamers were turned off by this game due to the fact that the characters are more cartoonish than its predecessor, the supermodel-ish FF8 characters. Well, they have no idea what they're missing.
The world of Final Fantasy 9 is absolutely stunning, it simply blows FF8's world away. Unfortunately, I seriously have no idea what the game developers were doing when they were planning the last boss for this game. Why, er, why was I fighting some world-destroying being whom I've never heard of throughout the entire game? He just popped out all of a sudden, said scary stuff, and voila, I had to fight him. It's surreal.
Really great ending though.
21) Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete
Completed: 2001
Sequel of the much-loved Lunar. This game is a fantastic game in its own right, however, my main problem with it is the fact that it is a DIRECT SEQUEL where I had to deal with the trauma of watching one of the main characters in Lunar 1 becoming AN OLD WOMAN. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! In many ways, it tried to expand from Lunar 1, becoming a much longer and more epic game, but somehow, it lacked the warmth I felt with the first game. Don't get me wrong, I love this game too, just not as much as Lunar 1.
22) Wild Arms 2
Completed: 2001
I loved Wild Arms 1, so I had rather high expectations for this. Unfortunately, this game is a letdown. It's just a generic, unmemorable RPG with its share of dungeons and puzzles. Oh, and a very cliched storyline. (when hero is overwhelmed by the demon that resides within him, what to do? Simple, let the power of love and friendship save him... this rubbish is repeated by Grandia 2)
However, in this game, I started developing a special skill that became valuable to me today. I manage to play through dungeons while half-asleep. I would press the action button repeatedly as I wander through mazes, and wiping out all enemies in random encounters, which beef up my characters verily.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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