IGN Top 100 RPGs of All Time (2017版）

Creating a Top 100 RPGs list was quite the challenge, but placing Chrono Trigger at the very top of it was surprisingly easy. Over 20 years after Square's epoch-making epic launched on the SNES, we’re still gobsmacked by its originality and ingenuity. The seamless transition between the world map full of visible, avoidable enemies and combat was a revelation in a time where most RPGs featured jarring random battles, and even today makes monster encounters a joy instead of a chore. The plucky courage and determination of its adolescent heroes (combined with the memorable art style of Akira Toriyama) makes for instantly memorable characters. And its brilliant introduction of time travel as both a storytelling vessel and gameplay mechanic is proof that story and gameplay don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Couple all this with multiple endings and one of the greatest game soundtracks ever made, and it’s easy to see why Chrono Trigger is our top-ranking RPG of all time.

In a medium that sees regular and massive advances in graphics and processing power, the relative low-fi appearance of Baldur’s Gate II might seem insufficient. But it’s a testament to the power of the storytelling and mechanics of Baldur’s Gate that the series still delivers a roleplaying experience that’s as good or better than games released 15 years later. Following on the success of Baldur’s Gate in 1998, BioWare surpassed gamers’ expectations with the sequel. In addition to the robust implementation of the current D&D rules, Baldur’s Gate II included massive environments, thrilling turn-based tactical combat, and enough side quests to fill any fantasy lover’s bookshelf. But the real stars of the game were the characters and the story. From the terrifying and complicated villain to the lovable, and lovably hilarious Minsc, Baldur’s Gate II was a fantasy epic as big and wonderful as the genre could hold. If you haven’t played it, you should. And remember, go for the eyes!

When it initially launched in 2004, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft rapidly became the most popular and beloved MMORPG ever made thanks to its accessibility, exceptionally high degree of polish, and its sheer size and scope. Even if WoW never evolved past this vanilla state, it would still be remembered fondly as an incredible RPG filled with epic dungeons, surprisingly compelling Player vs. Player encounters, satisfying non-combat crafting and social gameplay, and more well-written, hand-crafted quests and adventures than it felt possible for a single RPG to contain. But what elevates World of Warcraft above “Great” and into “Greatest of All-Time” discussions is the care and attention Blizzard has poured into the game in the 13 years since. The game has never stood still. Completely new worlds, revamped old worlds, balanced and well-integrated new classes, risky storytelling, and an almost impossible-to-count volume of quality-of-life improvements have made an already amazing game experience even more amazing, more than a decade later.

During the 1990s, developer Squaresoft was the undisputed king of JRPGs, and Secret of Mana was one of the most dazzling jewels in its crown. Even now we still remember the action RPG fondly: its bright, candy-colored world was a joy to explore, the action-based combat was easy to learn and fun to do, and its inventory ringlets made navigating menus refreshingly simple. Then there was the breathtaking soundtrack, celebrated for its mix of cheerful tunes and haunting melodies. But the most memorable feature was the multiplayer. Secret of Mana would let up to three players participate in combat, so long as they had an extra controller or two lying around and the correct peripheral accessory for the SNES. In short, Secret of Mana was, and still is, a magical RPG.

For all intents and purposes, Vagrant Story should not have been a PlayStation game. The sheer volume of systems interacting with each other and the top notch graphics should have crippled the Sony's little system. But somehow, we got to experience Yasumi Matsuno's dungeon crawling masterpiece mere months before the PS2's US launch. You play as Ashley Riot, a member of the elite "Riskbreaker" unit of the Valendia Knights of Peace. Dropped into a haunted city in the middle of a civil war, you must contend with religious zealots, cult leaders, and all manners of ghosts and monsters as you unravel the mysteries of Leá Monde and uncover the truth behind the murder of a Duke. Heavy stuff for a PSX game, but it's handled masterfully through beautiful art direction and some extremely impressive localization. You can also craft gear, chain abilities in combat, explore a massive dungeon called "The Iron Maiden," target specific body parts on enemies, employ super moves, solve puzzles in 360 degree environments, and take on some of the toughest enemies Square Enix ever created. Vagrant Story is the definition of a cult classic, and is undisputedly worthy of the number nine spot on this list.

By the time we've returned to Commander Shepard in this sequel, we have an idea of the threats and mysteries looming over the Milky Way. Mass Effect 2 gives us the chance to get to know them on a personal level with revamped combat that greatly improves upon its predecessor. Mass Effect 2's creative take on RPG systems are more welcoming with its blend of third-person shooter mechanics, and its variety and focus on the new squad members make for a memorable (and sometimes heartbreaking) campaign.

Part murder mystery, part supernatural dungeon crawler, Persona 4 Golden is all JRPG goodness. Its quaint Japanese setting is in stark contrast to the dark secrets its characters harbor, and that's what makes P4G so great. By the end of its 70-ish hour campaign, you geniunely care about this quirky cast of misfits, so much so that you'll meticulously curate your schedule to ensure that you have the time to spend with each of your in-game pals equally. Persona 4 Golden on Vita takes the foundation built by the PlayStation 2 classic and adds new social links, new personas, and of course, the ability to play this amazing adventure anywhere you want, making it the definitive edition of a seminal RPG.

Coming just a year after the groundbreaking original Fallout, 1998’s Fallout 2 somehow found the time to improve on it in nearly every way. Building on the “go where you want, kill who you want” freedom of the open-world exploration and turn-based tactical combat foundation, Fallout 2 tells many small stories, each with their own important-feeling resolutions inside its larger plot, making it flexible enough to allow you to make the wasteland your own. The setting is diverse and dense, thanks to an even-larger slice of the post-apocalyptic West Coast inhabited by everything from primitive tribespeople battling giant insects to the Brotherhood of Steel standing against terrors brought by the power-armored Enclave and brutish supermutants. Throughout it all, there’s an injection of pop-culture humor that keeps the dark mood from becoming oppressive, so no matter which direction you set out in you never know if you’ll find something terrible or sad or funny.

Suikoden II is a special RPG for so, so many reasons. It perfectly balances intimate character drama and friendship with end-of-the-world heroics. Luca Blight is an especially twisted and evil villain in a genre filled with great villains. And of course it’s incredibly rewarding and addictive to solve minigames and puzzles to recruit all 108 hidden characters. A shockingly high number of them can be taken into battle with you, and all of them enrich your castle with interesting dialogue and improvements. Suikoden II’s warm soundtrack and art, snappy combat, and Game of Thrones-esque political storyline are all fantastic, but it’s this castle building minigame-to-end-all-minigames that truly sets the game apart. Your castle is your home, and filling it with artists, shopkeepers, alliance leaders, and so many more friends and comrades results in an incredibly satisfying mixture of gameplay, story, and friendship.

EarthBound is a weird, wonderful game about four kids who save the world. Early proof that not all RPGs need fantasy settings, EarthBound is one of the best turn-based RPGs of the 16-bit era and takes place in a town that feels like it could be anywhere in middle America. That modern setting mixed with bizarre, offbeat humor makes it a unique experience and has helped it maintain its cult status as something special and very different from its contemporaries. EarthBound has a great turn-based battle system and weird enemies that fully embrace the game’s eccentric sense of humor, plus unique twists on the RPG formula like homesickness as a status ailment and calling your dad to save your game. Most of all, EarthBound has a tremendous amount of heart. Underneath its goofy jokes and pop culture references is a genuinely great, sweet story about a group of kids who are risking a lot to make the world a better place, and the final battle is an extremely clever, moving way to incorporate the people our heroes meet along their journey. EarthBound is a truly special, exceptionally funny game that stands out even among Super Nintendo’s gigantic library of other great RPGs.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind wasn’t just the first truly modern game in the long-running series, but the one that laid the foundation for all the ones to follow. A smart, action-dependent approach to leveling lets players build out their character naturally, rather than adjusting numbers in a stat menu. An abundance of quests and the freedom to carve out your own path in its world is almost overwhelming. Its visuals were technically impressive for the time and imaginatively stylish enough to hold up even today, making the island of Vvardenfell one of the most memorable settings in the series. But the wonder of Morrowind isn’t a mere technical one. The huge scope and scale of Bethesda’s vision, its overwhelming sense of awe and mystery, and the freedom found therein make it still worth a visit today.

Smartly combining themes of action, role playing, survival horror, and first-person shooters, System Shock 2 expertly defies simply being a great RPG, showing how innovative mechanics that play off each other can make a game more than the sum of its parts. It also pioneered several methods of storytelling through gameplay that we take for granted — like finding doomed audio logs or reliving echoes of the past that urge you to piece together the larger puzzle of what's really going on. The unsettling and moody atmosphere of the derelict starship go hand in hand with bioengineered horrors that roam free to create the perfect horror environment, and leave you feeling terrified no matter which of the many skills you choose to give your character. There's always multiple ways to solve a problem, letting you get truly creative in ways that never feel out of place with the character you've built.

There's so much to love about Bethesda's 2011 open-world masterpiece The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes it so special. Could it be its breathtaking world full of snowcapped mountains and shady woodlands? The thrill of battling fire-breathing dragons so you can suck out their souls and use their power? Could it be the endless exploration available on its titanic map? Perhaps it's the thousands of Skyrim mods that allow players to do everything from improve textures to change a dragon into a flying Macho Man Randy Savage (oooooh, yeah!). Or maybe it comes down to the game's impressive malleability: you can craft any type of hero you want, go where you want, do what you want, and do it when you want. Yes, there are myriad reasons to love one of the best-selling video game of all time, but one thing is for sure: you really don't play Skyrim. You live it.

To the untrained eye, Bloodborne may seem like Dark Souls in different clothes. But oh, what clothes they are. Bloodborne's gothic, vaguely Lovecraftian setting of Yharnam is just as sad as it is unsettling, and the haunting violins of the score rub that sadness ever deeper into your soul. But it also plays well, opting for a far more aggressive style than what you get in director Hidetaka Miyazaki's other creations, forcing players to take increasingly larger risks for the sweet, sweet rewards. There are minimal options for long-ranged and magic and the only shield you do find is little more than a sick joke — all you have to stay alive is the intensity of a blade against the hostile Victorian darkness.

There's little subtlety in the Monster Hunter universe — you largely end up doing exactly what the title says. But Monster Hunter 4 ensured all that monster hunting was monstrously fun. Verticality stole the show here, with players being able to scramble up walls or vault up surfaces and then leap down to briefly ride the monsters themselves. More impressively, it managed to accomplish these advanced feats while emerging as the most approachable game in the series. These elements alone were enough to make it good, but an extended variety of weapon and a satisfying local and online multiplayer mode push it to greatness.

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is the video game as morality play. For perhaps the first time in computer RPG history, here was a game that wasn't about defeating a bad guy or unshackling the world from the yoke of evil, but rather about learning to embody eight virtues that made you a better person and thus an inspiration to the surrounding world. Kindheartedness, not battle prowess, is the true star here. This was revolutionary stuff at the time, and over three decades later, it remains so. Alas, it's a little rough to get into these days owing to its complexity and sluggish gameplay, but it remains a profound counterpoint to arguments that RPGs corrupt rather than correct.

Mario might not sound so tough in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door when you consider that he's literally a piece of paper jaunting around the screen, but that turns out to have some advantages. He can slip in through cracks by slipping through them sideways, roll himself up, or should the need arise, fly off into the blue yonder as a paper airline. It's the kind of design that complements the whimsical and novel-like plot, which still features poor Princess Peach getting kidnapped, but also a few fun rarities, like a scholarly goomba companion. It's also fun in action, particularly in the twitchy battle system that requires good timing or by hearing cheers or jeers from the audiences that watch Mario in battle.

Neverwinter Nights spins a good Dungeons & Dragons yarn about a deadly plague and a nefarious cult, and it features one of composer Jeremy Soule's most memorable soundtracks prior to his famed work with Morrowind and Skyrim. But it's the dungeon tools for level creation that make Neverwinter Nights so influential and memorable, as they almost flawlessly allowed players to create their own dungeons and campaigns according to the pen-and-paper rules of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. That was impressive in itself, but the inclusion of an excellent multiplayer system helped make Neverwinter Nights a smash hit.

Post-apocalyptic imagery is somewhat in vogue these days, and thus it's hard to imagine how startlingly original Fallout seemed back during its initial release. This was the age of high-fantasy RPGs that stayed close to Dungeons & Dragons rulesets, but drawing from the earlier RPG Wasteland, Fallout shook up that tendency with fears about radiation, ghoulish societies, and a landscape dotted with the rusty husks of 1950s-style cars and structures. It's serious stuff, in a way, but the whole adventure thrives on a sense of humor and pop-culture references that grant it an uncommon vitality even today.

The Final Fantasy series had gradually started to look less and less like actual knights-and-dragons fantasy in the years leading up to the turn of the century, but Final Fantasy IX returned the series to its roots. The world — at least in spirit if not in pixels — unfolded with much the same art style that had graced the NES in 1997 while still managing to feel fresh. Intentionally more cartoony than predecessors, it's an endearingly optimistic game that nevertheless handles weighty themes such as guilt and identity with surprising dexterity.

You have to dig under a pile of glitches and bugs in an unpatched version of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, but if you persist, you'd quickly find one of the most rewarding RPGs ever made. Set in White Wolf's vampire universe and more specifically in Los Angeles, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines isn't only about sucking blood wherever you can safely find it, but also about shaping your tale according to your actions, beliefs, and your choices. Few RPGs do this better. It's especially successful because few works in any media have ever captured a vampiric setting so well, and Bloodlines uses every drop of this atmosphere to add meaning to everything from fascinating rivalries between vampire clans to hungry hunts for rats in dirty alleys.

You'll have to read a lot in Xenogears, but it's worth it. Throughout its many hours, the plot weaves through religious references and philosophical ideas by the likes of Friedrich Nietzsche, all while also prompting deep thoughts about the relationship between humankind and machines. Naturally, it also lets you stomp around in a giant, spiky mech. It's an ambitious package of near constant wonder, crafted with stellar graphics for the period and complemented with a memorable soundtrack.

Grandia II was one of the Sega Dreamcast's standout RPGs, delivering fantastic graphics for the system and the time and a good, twisty tale about a world still suffering from the effects of a battle between two gods from thousands of years ago. The battle system was the chief standout, though, as it took the familiar JRPG turn-based formula and rejuvenated it by allowing characters to run behind their opponents or fall back after attacking them. And the rockin' battle anthem with its screaming electric guitars playing over this? That was the grandest part.

BioWare first made its name with fantasy RPGs, and Dragon Age: Origins marked a generally triumphant update to its tradition of pause-based combat mechanics and party micromanagement. But its chief strength was its grim setting in a dark fantasy world that married the high fantasy of The Lord of the Rings with the low fantasy of A Song of Ice and Fire, where elves are treated like trash and magic brought with it terrible prices. It's also a character-driven game in true BioWare fashion, with the standout performance coming from Claudia Black as the role of the witch Morrigan.

At heart, Persona 5 is a game about shaking off the chains of contemporary society. Oh, sure, it's got some exciting turn-based combat, too, but nothing else about it leaves a mark on your soul quite like its leaps from hobnobbing around a Tokyo high school to venturing inside the dungeons of wayward adults and physically battling their personal demons. There's so much here, whether it's dungeons with hidden rooms or branching paths, or weighty modern themes centering on suicide and drug use. Its intimate explorations of multiple characters also make it an intensely personal story, and one that shouldn't be missed.

What needs to be said about Final Fantasy VII? The game singlehandedly pushed RPGs to greater popularity in the western world than they’d ever experienced, thanks to its gritty tone, incredible graphics, revolutionary CG cutscenes, unimaginably huge world, and insane story. Practically every one of its characters has become an iconic hero or villain, and its legacy is immeasurable. Whether you think it’s the greatest game of all time or the most overrated, its influence and its innovations simply can’t be denied.

The World Ends With You featured a really cool story about combatants thrust into a mysterious Hunger Games-like competition in an alternate dimension of Tokyo’s famous Shibuya district, requiring multiple playthroughs to unlock all its secret narrative twists. But if you remember the original Nintendo DS version for one thing, it’s probably the game’s insane battle system, which required controlling two characters simultaneously on the system’s top and bottom screens. It’s a demanding but totally unique system that, combined with an inimitable style, made The World Ends With You a classic.

Super Mario RPG launched multiple future spin-off series for the famous plumber, including the Mario & Luigi and Paper Mario games. But the original will always be remembered for its impressive (at the time!) graphics, unique cast (Bowser joining Mario’s side was novel at the time), and surprisingly engrossing story. Fan petitions to include Geno, one of the game’s many original characters, in Super Smash Bros. persist to this day.

In an era of Super Nintendo games replete with some of the most celebrated RPGs of all time, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals managed to stand tall. A large part of that was its lack of random battles in dungeons, a huge advancement that made Lufia II way ahead of its time. It even had a randomly generated dungeon, the 99-floor Ancient Cave, another feature of modern games that had yet to reach prominence at that time. Those elements combined with devious puzzles and an engrossing plot, earn Lufia II a spot on the list.

Shining Force II wasn’t directly connected to its predecessor, but it was praised at the time for its considerable length and the freedom it afforded players. A relatively complex class system and extensive backgrounds for each character helped make the game distinct, while its grid-based combat system made Shining Force II ahead of its time.

Breath of Fire and Breath of Fire II were classics in their own right, but Breath of Fire III goes down in history as the one that brought the series into 3D. It also featured voice acting for the first time in the series, not to mention being remembered for its jazzy soundtrack by composers Yoshino Aoki and Akari Kaida. A memorable story involving Ryu, the last survivor of a race of people who can transform into dragons, didn’t hurt, and combined all these elements ensured Breath of Fire III’s place in history.

As the sequel to Lunar: The Silver Star, Lunar: Eternal Blue improved on its predecessor in almost every way, with better graphics and more of the series’ signature animated custscenes. In an era when many of the most popular games, including all the best Super Nintendo games, were still telling their entire stories through text boxes, Lunar: Eternal Blue was ahead of its time with not just all those cutscenes but over an hour of voiced dialogue, all thanks to the Sega CD format.

An “official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons computer product,” Pool of Radiance cast you as a band of heroes battling monsters and other enemies in and around the town of Phlan. It was the first adaptation of Advanced D&D, helping set the precedent for western RPGs for the last three decades, from Baldur’s Gate to The Witcher 3. It even let players export their characters into later games in the series, another precursor of things to come.

It’s amazing what one person can accomplish, and Undertale is proof. Toby Fox wrote and designed, developed, composed the music for, and released Undertale solo, his only help from additional artists. And it took the gaming world by storm, largely thanks to its deceptively simple story and combat systems, which worked together to conceal great narrative depth. Undertale turns nearly every RPG trope in existence on its head, while simultaneously feeling good as an RPG — a truly incredible feat.

Gamers in the Western world had no idea what we were missing out on all the years Nintendo hadn’t started releasing Fire Emblem games here yet. The 3DS’s Fire Emblem Awakening is a great example. It built on everything fans love about the series, from its strategic turn-based battles to its focus on story and characters. It also included the ability to disable the series’ signature “permadeath” mechanic, providing more options for a wider variety of players to appreciate Fire Emblem’s genius.

Development on the Neverwinter Nights series passed from BioWare to Obsidian for the full-fledged sequel in 2006, but the game didn’t exactly suffer for it. Following an orphaned adventurer investigating relics called Silver Shards, NW2 improved on the first game in marked ways, especially in its narrative. More importantly, it featured online co-op and a development toolset with which players could create their own scenarios for the game, both of which helped ensure Neverwinter Nights 2 would have an avid following to this day.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness kicked off the popular strategy game series, setting up the franchise’s signature humor and systems with the arrogant Laharl’s quest to reclaim the demon throne and become Overlord of the Netherworld. Hour of Darkness featured several unique systems, like the ability to capture enemies and turn them into allies, though at the risk of killing some of your own units, and a complex “geo panel” system that let skilled players set up gratifying chain reactions during battle. Most of all, it's the game’s irreverant humor that gives it staying power and has earned it a cult following.

Compared to other games in its genealogy — like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment — Icewind Dale II is much more focused on action. So while it mostly ditches side quests and puzzles that were common in its predecessors, it zeroes in on deep character creation tools and tons of combat variety. You start out by creating a party of up to six adventurers, selecting their class, gender, and race. Once that’s done, you begin your adventure, customizing your team with an array of weapons, abilities, and spells along the way. Combat mechanics are only useful when you have something to fight, so it’s good Icewind Dale II doesn’t skimp in the enemy department. It presents you with mummies, skeletons, bugbears, orcs, goblins, giants, and a whole mess of other fantasy beasts to slay. In 2002, Icewind Dale II was the perfect chaser to its sprawling, meditative predecessors. It even holds up today.

When the spirit of the earth asks you to do something, you do it. That’s what kicks off this action RPG about a boy on a quest to collect Mystic Statues and bring them to the Tower of Babel to save the world from ultimate destruction. But it’s not just the story that makes Illusion of Gaia one of the best in its genre. It’s the Earth-like setting that features locations both real and mythical. It’s the combat, which starts out simple and becomes much more complex as you learn surprising new abilities. And then there’s the soundtrack, which sticks in your head long after you’ve reached the tower, saved the world, and tried to figure out the ambiguous ending.

Mario was no stranger to RPGs, but Superstar Saga brought Luigi into the fold and kicked off a now-classic series of handheld RPGs. Superstar Saga finds the plumber brothers teaming up with Bowser to get Princess Peach’s voice back from the villainous Cackletta. To do so, they engage in some of the most enjoyable action RPG-ing you’ll find in any game, handheld or otherwise. The story is shot through with humor that plays out in the script, but also in the many expressive character animations packed into the game. Even many of the attacks are clever, like when Mario uses a fireball to set Luigi’s rear end on fire, sending him charging into enemies.

If you thought Bioshock was the first game set in a failed utopia below water level, you’d be wrong. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss has it beat by over 20 years. In this pioneering first-person RPG, you explore a sprawling dungeon using free movement rather than the grid-based system that was common at the time. You can gather useful items, pick your responses during conversations, and power up your character in a staggering number of ways. As you explore the ruins, the music shifts on the fly to match whatever tone your adventuring takes on. If you’re looking for a game that was way ahead of its time, you’ve found it.

Some people like short games: get in, have fun, and move on. Dragon Warrior VII is not for those people. This endlessly charming RPG is so packed with quests and breezy conversations that you can play it for well over 100 hours without ever running out of things to do. You don’t even unlock the class system for your party until around 20 hours in. And while the PlayStation version is a great game worthy of this list, the 3DS remake has some added bonuses, including a new translation, visible enemies instead of random encounters, and even more content — as if 100 hours wasn’t enough.

Jonathon Dornbush: Kingdom Hearts 2 considerably ups the combat possibilities of its predecessor, introducing new forms — and snazzy new suits — for Sora to wear. The addition of the Reaction Command in combat also spices battles up, making for a combat experience made even more varied by the addition of the new Nobodies enemies. By streamlining some of the first Kingdom Heart's systems, including magic and the awful Gummi Ship levels — not to mention deepening the lore to stranger, more engaging depths — the first numbered sequel in the 15 year old franchise is still one of its strongest and one of the most fun to play.

Darkest Dungeon wastes no time plunging players into a mood of doom and gloom. But that’s one of the reasons to love it. You control a party of adventurers who trudge into the depths of a dungeon, taking on enemies in turn-based battles as you go. Randomness plays a large role in the game, so you can never settle into a comfortable rhythm. The class system is nicely varied, making it rewarding to try different party combinations. Each character has a unique set of moves, some of which need to be unlocked and all of which can be upgraded. What moves they can use depend on where they’re positioned in the party line. For a game that might look simple on the outside, these overlapping systems add a great deal of complexity. And with the difficulty level so high, winning always feels rewarding.

At a glance, Divinity: Original Sin looks like an old-fashioned CRPG with a fresh coat of paint. And it is, but Larian Studios has modernized more than just the graphics. For instance, the NPCs often react in realistic ways to your actions, ways other games don’t bother including. Most RPGs let you barge into people’s homes and take their things without a word of complaint. Try that in Divinity: Original Sin, and you’re likely to get yelled at or attacked. Every location is brimming with creative ideas and new things to find, making it a real challenge to stop playing. All of this, and it also manages to be funny throughout. That’s quite an achievement.

Set in the world of the Riftwar novels by Raymond E. Feist, Betrayal at Krondor is a first-person RPG that’s surprisingly open-world for a game of its vintage. You control three adventurers as you make your way through nine chapters of a fantasy story, fighting enemies, picking locks, maintaining degradable gear, and solving riddles to open Moredhel wordlock chests. Combat plays out like a turn-based strategy game, with combatants moving around on a grid to deliver strategic strikes. Make sure you bring your reading glasses, because Krondor is dense with text, which should come as no surprise considering its literary origins.

If you’re in the mood for a strategy RPG about giant mechs, Front Mission 3 has you covered — twice. That’s because there are basically two games on the disc. Your path is determined early on by a seemingly innocuous decision. Help a friend with a delivery, and you’ll go down the “Emma” path. Stay behind, and you’ll see the “Alisa” side of the game. Which path you choose determines which faction you’re fighting for, so choosing the other path on a second play-through means you’ll have to fight against characters you’ve come to know and appreciate. But what really sets Front Mission 3 apart is its mech-building mechanic. Every enemy mech you take down goes into your inventory, and you can swap parts around to create the patchwork mech of your dreams.

When done right, dungeon crawlers create a sense of momentum as you hack through monsters, pick up the loot they drop, equip any high-level gear, and move on to do it again. This is a gameplay loop Torchlight II completely nails. Story and character tend to fall to the wayside here, but you’re too busy wreaking ultra-violence and collecting shiny new things to care. The four character classes are stocked with skills that are satisfying to use, the environments pulse with color, and playing co-op with friends makes it even more of a chaotic joy to play. The craving for loot is real, and Torchlight II delivers it in the best way.

Titan Quest is often shrugged off as just another Diablo clone. And while there’s something to that argument, it also ignores the interesting things Titan Quest adds to the formula to create a wholly enjoyable action RPG. Instead of a well-trodden fantasy setting, Titan Quest looks to myths for inspiration. To that end, it has you travel across China, Egypt, and Greece, slaying beasts likes centaurs and gorgons, while collecting ever more powerful gear. The gameplay is highly customizable, thanks to its deep class and mastering systems, which provide plenty of replay value for anyone looking to try different combat styles. And when you finish the game, you can make your very own campaign, thanks to a robust level editor.

Chris Reed: It wasn’t the first MMO, but EverQuest was the first to bring the genre to widespread popularity and become a household name. Featuring a gorgeous open world, populated with fantasy creatures and real-life players alike, it gave gamers an expansive chunk of real estate to explore for days, months, and years on end. And once you reached the level cap, you could roll a new kind of character with a different play style to tide yourself over until the next expansion arrived. The MMO genre eventually evolved and branched off in many directions, leaving EverQuest feeling rooted in the past. But that doesn’t take away from the memories EverQuest created, or the impact it had on the industry.