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The RPGs That Made Us: Jerry Williams

Posted by Jerry Williams on April 25, 2025

1. Shining Force II I visited my friend’s house and Shining Force II was blaring through the CRT TV speakers with its exquisite battle music as my compadre walked up to orcs and gargoyles in top-down strategic glory. Until then, I had only played traditional RPGs, so this blew my elementary school m… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Rob White

Posted by Rob White on April 25, 2025

1. Final Fantasy VIII Final Fantasy VIII was my first Final Fantasy game and just happens to be the one that most accurately reflects my tastes in many aspects — the world, story, and gameplay. Due to my age when I played it, you could even say this game helped form my taste in RPGs and fantasy fict… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Sam-James Gordon

Posted by Sam-James Gordon on April 25, 2025

1. Final Fantasy X-2 To some readers this may be a controversial choice, but I proudly stand by it. Apart from the fact we haven’t had a mainline entry with both classic ATB and job systems since, Final Fantasy X-2 ties together multiple interests from my formative teenage years. As a blossoming fan… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Sean Cabot

Posted by Sean Cabot on April 25, 2025

1. Tales of Vesperia The Tales series has never had the production value of some Square Enix titles, but what they lack in spectacle, they make up for with some of the best casts in the genre. The famous skit feature ensures that you remember every party member and their relationships with each othe… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Stephanie Sybydlo

Posted by Stephanie Sybydlo on April 25, 2025

1. Star Ocean: The Second Story It was summer 2001, my two BFFs went on vacation with their families, and I was left at home with a small TV in my room to watch DVDs and play videogames. A little isolated, but entertained, I devoted myself to the first major RPG I’d play (nay, CONQUER) multiple time… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Tim Rattray

Posted by Tim Rattray on April 25, 2025

1. Chrono Trigger Chrono Trigger earns instant inclusion on my list as it’s my favorite game, but more importantly, it’s the game that made gaming my hobby and cemented my enduring love for JRPGs. I was entranced when my step-cousin showed me Chrono Trigger on an emulator in the mid-2000s. My unders… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Tom Cox

Posted by Tom Cox on April 25, 2025

1. Pokémon Pokémon has been a defining factor in my life. It got me into anime, it got me into RPGs, it introduced me to new people and, most importantly, it got me through one of the hardest points of my life. Being the video game franchise that means the most to me, I can’t choose just one game fr… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Wes Iliff

Posted by Wes Iliff on April 25, 2025

1. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen Dragon Quest as a series is what drove me to RPGs in the heady days before school, before even knowing to read. The original Dragon Warrior release on NES drove me to learn to read. And it was my continued history with the series that caused me to branch ou… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Ben Love

Posted by Ben Love on April 25, 2025

1. Fire Emblem If I owe my love of RPGs (and video games in general) to a single game, it’s Fire Emblem. The combination of fantasy setting and in-depth tactical gameplay was unlike anything I had ever seen before, and I fell in love with the robust cast of characters and well-developed setting of E… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Des Miller

Posted by Des Miller on April 25, 2025

1. Valkyrie Profile When I discovered RPGs as a child, I experienced simplistic and slow-paced battles with teenage boy protagonists rescuing damsels in distress. I wanted something different and exciting, dark and mature, and wholly unique. Valkyrie Profile granted this in spades and shattered my e… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Abraham Kobylanski

Posted by Abraham Kobylanski on April 25, 2025

1. Final Fantasy VI There was a time when Final Fantasy VI was on the shortlist of the greatest games ever, so how could this one from my formative years not influence my tastes? Several of the 14 party members have more development and personality than most solo protagonists. In a way, I feel like… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Aleks Franiczek

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on April 25, 2025

1. Final Fantasy VI Final Fantasy VI came out the year I was born, so suffice to say I didn’t play it on release. I did, however, grow up in a house with two older brothers where the game was heavily in rotation. Before they even trusted me to handle their precious games and pick up the controller m… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Jimmy Turner

Posted by Jimmy Turner on April 25, 2025

1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic When I met my future wife in 2005, the only RPGs I had played up to that point were JRPGs. Furthermore, she did not even know what the term RPG meant (at the time). Both these things changed when we discovered Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Being th… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Audra Bowling

Posted by Audra Bowling on April 25, 2025

1. Suikoden II If FFVII holds a special place in my heart as my first ever RPG, Suikoden II holds one for being the first I bought with my own money. My sister and I pooled our saved allowance to buy it solely based on its gorgeous cover art and premise. We weren’t disappointed, immediately sucked i… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Mark Roddison

Posted by Mark Roddison on April 25, 2025

1. Final Fantasy VII Purchasing a copy of this landmark RPG from my local HMV store in 1997 was a shot in the dark for me. I hadn’t been that aware of JRPGs, or much of the broader Japanese entertainment culture, prior to this act. But the cover looked stylish, and the screenshots on the back seemed… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Michael Sollosi

Posted by Michael Sollosi on April 25, 2025

1. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride Dragon Quest games always have simple core mechanics serving as vehicles for tightly-written fantasy stories, given life by the late Akira Toriyama’s vibrant character and monster designs. I love that every Dragon Quest game has combat and menus from the… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Mike Salbato

Posted by Mike Salbato on April 25, 2025

1. Chrono Trigger Even if I didn’t have a love for time travel tales, Chrono Trigger is always on my list. It is, for me, old-school JRPG perfection, with timeless and gorgeous artwork and music, a cast I overwhelmingly love, and one interesting and innovative gameplay idea after another. Battles ta… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Nick Mangiaracina

Posted by Nick Mangiaracina on April 25, 2025

1. EarthBound I don’t think EarthBound was the first RPG I played, but it was definitely one of the first I owned and the first one I remember sinking my teeth into. I saved up a considerable amount of money to buy it and pored over the strategy guide whenever I wasn’t near my SNES. I try not to hol… Read More »

The RPGs That Made Us: Patrick Gann

Posted by Patrick Gann on April 25, 2025

1. NieR Over the course of my life, there have only been a handful of games that caused me to shift my paradigm around what I wanted. The 2010 release of NieR showed me the things I wanted in a game that I didn’t even know I wanted. The series’ tradition of excellence continues, but I’ll never forge… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Music

Posted by Jerry Williams on February 8, 2025

Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Jerry Williams I’ve been to a few Distant Worlds concerts in my time, which is a celebration of the Final Fantasy series’ suite of outstanding compositions and arrangements played by a full orchestra near you. I get decent seats but never felt the n… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Story

Posted by Sean Cabot on February 8, 2025

Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Sean Cabot There are a few JRPGs from the past few years whose handling of prejudice and slavery never sat well with me. Cliche and underdeveloped core themes overshadow any insightful points. Metaphor: ReFantazio touches upon common elements related to these… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Localization

Posted by Tim Rattray on February 8, 2025

Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Tim Rattray This game’s localization aren’t sick. When localization is clearly undercooked, we endlessly mock it (see above). In the original Final Fantasy VII’s case, this occurred because it was handled primarily by one man in a short timeframe. These m… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Action RPG

Posted by Tim Rattray on February 8, 2025

Winner: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Writeup by Tim Rattray I scoffed when Final Fantasy VII Remake was revealed not to be a purely turn-based game, and yet I walked away from playing it thinking it had the greatest action combat of all time. Now, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has put even that to shame. I… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Protagonist

Posted by Des Miller on February 8, 2025

Winner: Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth) Writeup by Des Miller Weird. Awkward. Dorky. None of these are words I’d use to describe Cloud from 1997’s Final Fantasy VII, perhaps due to the original game’s lackluster localization. Yet in Final Fantasy VII Remake and its sequel, Final Fantasy VII… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Best Traditional RPG

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on February 8, 2025

Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio Writeup by Aleks Franiczek With the Shin Megami Tensei games, Atlus continually shows how masterful they are at crafting traditional RPGs. With the Persona spinoffs, they effectively redefined the conventional RPG. What do you get when you combine both these traditions?… Read More »

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