- Quest for Glory, this shit is old school. It came on 3 1/2 floppies. But it was a lot of fun
- Diablo II: LoD
- Any Baldur’s Gate
- FF6, FF7, FF8 and FFX. FFX-2 is probably the worst RPG Ive played in my life.
- Seiken Densetsu III
- Elder Scrolls III and IV
- Mass Effect
- Fallout 3
- Fable II (it was ok, not too great)
Lunar I & II are excellent in just about every version (PS if you want old school, Sega CD if you want really old school) - both translations that far exceeded any other console effort at the time, along with some jokes about Skittles and Bill Clinton. The stories are pretty cut-and-dry, but the presentation is pretty good and have a bunch of hand-drawn FMVs instead of early 3D Lego people.
With that said, stay far, far, away from Lunar Dragon Song on DS. Nothing like the first two games, has a Babelfish translation by Ubisoft, no story connections, brain-dead battle system, and is pretty much the worst RPG ever.
I don’t believe you’ve played any Shining or Phantasy Star games in the past 10 years…
I got to give the nod to Mother 3. With full translation patch available too.
final fantasy iv-vii
final fantasy tactics
wild arms
breath of fire iii
super mario rpg
zelda ocarina of time
legend of mana
monkey island
dragon quest viii
secret of evermore
Was it for the same reason I did?
(Namely, being forced to level grind with a sorely underpowered Mars to proceed.)
Ive played lots and well its hard to choose if I had to say one, especially since it matters on the person.
My favourite ones in no order:
Deus ex1 (mainly a shooter but ehm… its an rpg aswell :D),fallout series, neverwinter nights series, baldurs gate series, final fantasy (mainly 7),fallout3,oblivion, fable1 (tell me not, but for some reason I really liked the 1st one),mass effect,planescape torment, first pokemon on gameboy xD, gothic series, diablo1 and 2 - I really LOVE these,dungeon siege1,zelda dont remember the name but the first one on gameboy, theres many more but I cant remember them at the moment.
One game that really stands out for me, and I find it to be the best game ever made, is morrowind. Ive never played a game with better atmosphere. The music is incredible, and the design is just great. When you get into it after a few hours of playing, it just feels really… unique… Its kinda of beatiful, like it was art and not just a game. Its the kind of game where doing the quests is like a the cherry at the top of the cake… Again the music and the design, it just has this beauty in it…No stupid fairy tale woods, and grassy roads, no stupid people greeting you happily everywhere. It just feels unique, and feels like your exploring a world of beautiful art the whole time your playing it.
I think that you have to be a bit of a geeky person though and be able to get immersed by this game. Lots of players are not able to do this, and are better of playing more action/story/thinking games. But if you are like this… believe me… I have some friends like this… weve all played probably like thousands of hours of this game.
It might seem like its a waste, same as mmo games, which Ive played aswell (guildwars and WoW), but to me its more than just a game, its like a level above other games or better said - completely different than most other games, it feels like its art, or something I cant describe.
Or maybe I just like it this much lol, and eventhough you might think that, I think its not true (that I just like it this much).
Lost Odyssey
Tales Of Vesperia
Lunar The Silver Star Story Complete.
My favorite rpgs.
Now, with the Breath of Fire series, you always play as Ryu right? Do they all follow the same story or can I pick up BOFIII and not need to play 1 or 2?
Though BoF 1-3 are set in the same world, the Ryu in each game is a different character. To answer you question, you don’t have to play the games in any certain order. So go ahead and get BoF3 already. 
How about an RPG that won’t consume at least 5 years of our life? 
Thanks mang.
Fixed. 
The Big Crunch theory states that the entire universe will eventually implode, and that afterwards, a new Big Bang may occur creating a new universe. If that happens, your existence cannot be guaranteed. Unless your name is Dr. B, or, as known in the Newniverse, Dr. Balactus.
just wanted to say that the ps versions of those games are far inferior to the originals.
chrono trigger
jade cocoon
legend of legaia
dragon quest 3 and 4 for ds
star ocean 2
lunar for psx
legend of dragoon
ogre battle and ogre battle 64
vandel hearts
parasite eve 1
threads of fate
terranigma for snes
mario rpg
dragon quest 8
ff5
quest of yipe 1,2, and 3 for pc or mac
mantra, mac only best zelda clone ever and its free.
skies of arcadia
the world ends with you, ds
edit. i know about rpgs then anyone on srk, im not lying
Wow I dont really understand what everyone loves about the japanese rpg games so much. Besides chrono trigger and finalfantasy7 I dont really like them that much.
They actually have stories that you want to care about. Characters that you WANT to care about, and long awesome quests. Turn based combat adds a lot of strategy (In most cases)
I don’t know anything about the Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission dresspheres. I really want to play it, though.
Have you tried Vanguard yet? It’s basically a World of Warcraft paladin. Vanguard + Electronics bonus talent = you will never die.
there is more detailed storytelling and character development while most western rpg’s tend to be more independent and hands off and let the development come from the player.
still though, mass effect has some of the best storytelling i’ve seen in just about any RPG i’ve played
A lot of nintendo rpgs are fun to play
Earthbound series
Mario RPG for Snes
Mario and Luigi for GBA/DS
Paper mario.