What one RPG would you award 100% to?

[Mickeymac92]

I actually hate ATB because it doesn't go as fast as I can get get through the menu and press a button (except for FF4 where the highest speed brings it up to almost instant). The lag time annoys me greatly when I'm grinding.

Anyways, there is no RPG I'd give a 100% to. I think the closest for me is Kingdom Hearts, but the Atlantica stage alone docks the game more than 5 points. Chrono Trigger would also be really close, but it's too easy and I felt there were some points it could've expanded on.

The only perfect game in my mind is Tetris.

[Dincrest]

Since I already gave a serious answer:
http://www.rpgfan.com/boards/index.php?topic=10884.msg241282#msg241282

Now, I will give a stupid answer.  100% to this gem from a few years ago: http://www.rpgfan.com/boards/index.php?topic=8002.0 (Well, maybe not since it's unfinished and we kinda got burnt out.)

[Raze]

 ATB is bad, but not really bad enough to hurt the games, except maybe 9. Almost everyone turns it on wait so spellcasting isn't a liability so there's little point of it in the first place. And then it gets exploited, you could cast a long animation spell to fill your teams gauge if needed or if your team was ready go into a menu to 'pause' the enemies gauge during animations.

FFX stopped that and felt like it cut the middle man. Whether yours or a enemies it's always someones turn. It skipped the part where everyone is sitting there waiting.

[Hidoshi]

Earthbound
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VI
Phantasy Star IV
Shining Force III
Persona 4

There are reasons.

[Humbert Humbert]

I don't think any RPG really deserves 100%, but Chrono Cross comes immoderately close to perfection for me.

[Hathen]

Earthbound

I don't think I can name another RPG where I find it fun to actually go around talking to town NPCs.

Chrono Cross had a similar thing going for it, though it wasn't so much fun as it was a bunch of NPCs giving a bunch of pseudo-philosophical lectures and whatnot. It certainly made it interesting, at least.

[Gen Eric Gui]

Should graphics count when giving a score, it seems not if Crono trigger gets 95%

Uh, one of the best parts of Chrono Trigger is its visually stunning graphics.  There are high-budget PS3 games I've played that look less visually appealing then that game.

That said, graphics should only count as far as their timelessness.  FF7's graphics are definitely a mark against it in this day and age; whereas most sprite-based games from that same era still look fine today, like Breath of Fire 3.  This is one reason why NES and SNES games are still highly playable, but it takes a strong will to stomach an early PS1 game.


Anyways, my decsion is split between Earthbound, Suikoden 2, and SMT Nocturne.  Hands down those are the best RPG's I've ever had the pleasure of playing.  The gap between them and anything else isn't even close in my mind.

[Maxximum]

Should graphics count when giving a score, it seems not if Crono trigger gets 95%

Wait, what?
For its time, Chrono Cross had some of the best graphics on the system. Heck, even today they aren't bad to look at. Unlike some other games from the PSO generation, which look like complete ass.

[Aeolus]

That said, graphics should only count as far as their timelessness.  FF7's graphics are definitely a mark against it in this day and age; whereas most sprite-based games from that same era still look fine today, like Breath of Fire 3.  This is one reason why NES and SNES games are still highly playable, but it takes a strong will to stomach an early PS1 game.

Well that and the fact that 3D game design was still a relatively new and unexplored frontier of game design where some developers acclimated to the environment better than others.

[PotRoast]

That said, graphics should only count as far as their timelessness.  FF7's graphics are definitely a mark against it in this day and age; whereas most sprite-based games from that same era still look fine today, like Breath of Fire 3.

Anyways, my decsion is split between Earthbound, Suikoden 2, and SMT Nocturne.  Hands down those are the best RPG's I've ever had the pleasure of playing.  The gap between them and anything else isn't even close in my mind.

I think it is interesting you consider FF7's graphics a mark against it, but still include Earthbound in contention for near 100%. Earthbound was considered an incredibly ugly game at the time of its release, and it is still as ugly as ever even today.

[Dincrest]

I give this parody a 100%.

http://www.whatdoesgodneedwithastarship.com/

[Eusis]

I think it is interesting you consider FF7's graphics a mark against it, but still include Earthbound in contention for near 100%. Earthbound was considered an incredibly ugly game at the time of its release, and it is still as ugly as ever even today.

It's similar to the Wind Waker situation, somewhat. At the time relative to other games it looks "bad", you hold Earthbound up to the likes of Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, or Donkey Kong Country and it looks simple and plain. But it's a deliberate STYLE and it's aged a lot better than at least Donkey Kong Country. Those other two and a lot of other games from then still look good though, unlike many of Wind Waker's contemporaries likely do, and Wind Waker wasn't a technical slouch by any means.

[Hidoshi]

A truly classic game is more than the sum of its parts. The gestalt experience is, at least in my line of thinking, the means by which to arrive at such a conclusion.

[Gen Eric Gui]

That said, graphics should only count as far as their timelessness.  FF7's graphics are definitely a mark against it in this day and age; whereas most sprite-based games from that same era still look fine today, like Breath of Fire 3.

Anyways, my decsion is split between Earthbound, Suikoden 2, and SMT Nocturne.  Hands down those are the best RPG's I've ever had the pleasure of playing.  The gap between them and anything else isn't even close in my mind.

I think it is interesting you consider FF7's graphics a mark against it, but still include Earthbound in contention for near 100%. Earthbound was considered an incredibly ugly game at the time of its release, and it is still as ugly as ever even today.

Earthbound's graphics are, as Eusis points out, a result of style choice and not sloppiness or inexperience.  FF7 was a graphical marvel in it's time, but at the same point it was one of the first forays into 3D graphics for a videogame.  The game is rife with problems that stem mostly from a lack of experience with the technology and software, and it all comes together into a hideous mess.

For a similar situation, compare SNES-era games to Atari 2600 games, or Colecovision.  Many of those games are all but unplayable to most modern gamers, and I'm NOT talking about how most of them are coddled with regenerating health and auto-saves.  Even as early as the NES, most game developers had figured out how to make truly remarkable graphics that stand the test of time.  It takes a lot of hatred towards the game industry to hate Super Mario Brothers' graphics, for example, and I personally still like FF1's graphical style to this day.

Earthbound's graphics may LOOK like they are bad, but they really aren't when taken in context with the rest of the game.  I actually don't think I would have enjoyed Earthbound as much if it weren't for the quaint NES-style graphics.  And to a further point, they can hardly be said to make the game unplayable, like many early PS1 games are.

[Hidoshi]

I've never understood why people thought Earthbound had "bad" graphics. Even as a kid playing the game, I knew it was an artistic decision to have something so clean looking. Not a thing bad about it. It's purposeful, which is more than I can say for a lot of "technically" beautiful games.