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As a huge fan of RPGs, I regularly ask myself (and I'm regularly asked
by readers) what my favorite RPG of all time is. I can never think of a
single answer; I always name several games instead. While I might not be
able to pick one game off the top of my head and say that it's my favorite
RPG overall, I can certainly break it down on a category-by-category basis.
In this feature, I will rank several awesome RPGs in order from best to
worst in a wide variety of categories (14, to be exact). I realize that
there are plenty of other great RPGs out there that aren't included in this
feature, namely Final Fantasy 6, Wild Arms, Xenogears, Star Ocean: The
Second Story (just kidding), Grandia, and Suikoden 2. However, I couldn't
possibly include all of those games in this feature or it would be way too
long. So I've limited it down to Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, Lunar,
and Final Fantasy 8. At the end of this feature, I'll add up all the
rankings in order to give each game a final point total.
Character Individuality In Combat
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Lunar
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Final Fantasy 7
Each of Chrono Trigger's characters is completely different than all the
other characters in combat. Certain characters are better with certain
kinds of magic, certain characters are stronger or weaker with physical
attacks, and so on.
Lunar's character individuality in combat isn't quite at the same level
as Chrono Trigger's, but it's still much better than FF7 or FF8. Alex and
Kyle are great for raw power on offense, Jessica is a great healer, and Mia
is decent at both attacking and healing.
Final Fantasy 7 and 8 have pretty much no character individuality in
combat whatsoever. Any character can be made any way you want them to be
simply by transferring Materia or junctions as you please. The only
distinguishing characteristics are the limit breaks. I ranked FF8 ahead of
FF7 because you can use your limit breaks at any time in FF8 if you have
low health or the Aura spell, whereas FF7 only lets you do limit breaks
when your limit meter is full.
Boss Battle Difficulty
1. Lunar
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Final Fantasy 7
Lunar's bosses can be really hard, especially towards the end of the
game. You can never put your brain into the proverbial cruise control
position, because one screw-up could lead to your death. You have to stay
on your toes at all times and use radically different strategies in each
turn, depending on the situation.
Chrono Trigger's bosses can also be really challenging, but not quite as
challenging as Lunar's. I remember feeling like I was in control during
most of the boss battles in Chrono Trigger, but still feeling like I could
lose control at any time if I slipped up.
Final Fantasy 8's bosses aren't very challenging for most of the game,
and when they are challenging it's not that rewarding when you finally beat
them. All you have to do is draw powerful spells repeatedly until you have
enough (or go to draw points repeatedly until you have enough), and then
use the powerful spells repeatedly on the hard bosses. FF8's boss battles
are way too focused on repetition.
Most of FF7's boss battles are way too easy. Sure, the two big weapons
are insanely tough, but the Ultimate Weapon is a joke, and even Sephiroth
is easy to beat if you move quickly and don't dilly-daddle around waiting
for him to kill you.
Ease Of Getting Through Standard Battles
1. Final Fantasy 8
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 7
4. Lunar
This is one area where FF8 wins hands-down. The ability to cast limit
breaks at any time if you have low health or the Aura spell virtually
eliminates time spent mindlessly hacking away in standard, tedious battles.
Chrono Trigger is also good in this area. It seems that you're never
too far away from a place where you can restore your Magic Points (or
you've got plenty of Ethers anyway). As a result, you can usually use your
more powerful spells against standard enemies without worrying about having
nothing left for the bosses.
Final Fantasy 7 is neither particularly good nor particularly bad in
this area. Lunar isn't anywhere near as bad as some other RPGs in this
area, but it still takes too long to get through standard battles towards
the middle and end of the game. There's no quick and easy way out like
there is in FF8. You can't use your powerful spells against standard
enemies very often because MP-restoring items are much rarer in Lunar than
they are in FF7 or especially Chrono Trigger.
Graphics
1. Final Fantasy 8
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Lunar
4. Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger and Lunar are both old-school RPGs with old-school
graphics, but Lunar is much prettier thanks to its anime cut scenes and its
nice facial portraits of characters during dialogue. FF7 revolutionized
RPG graphics forever, but FF8 took them to the next level by making the
characters seem more like real people and less like video game characters.
The emotion that can be seen in the characters' faces during some of the
cut scenes in FF8 is a big accomplishment.
Music
Good music is an important thing for any RPG to have, but I can't rank
the games' soundtracks as easily as I can rank them in other categories.
Lunar's music definitely has the widest range (masterfully going from happy
to sad and vice-versa), but the other three games also have great music in
their own unique ways. I really can't rank these games in order from best
to worst in this category.
Deeper Underlying Theme
1. Lunar
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 7
4. Final Fantasy 8
Lunar definitely takes the cake in this category, with its main enemy
doing everything he does because he believes that people can't live on
their own without a higher power intervening. For much of the game, "The
Goddess Althena" is used as if they're saying "God." When the Goddess
disappears from the everyday lives of the people in the game world, the
main enemy believes that chaos will ensue if he doesn't step up and rule
the world. I also like how rather than just mindlessly killing the
supposedly evil Vile Tribe, you interact with them in their homeland and
find that they're being victimized just as much as you are.
None of the other games covered in this feature come close to Lunar in
this category. The character of Marle in Chrono Trigger sends the message
that you've got to be yourself no matter what, but FF7 and FF8 don't have
any major deeper underlying themes that I picked up on, except for maybe
"don't clone stuff" in the case of FF7.
Length
1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Final Fantasy 8
3. Lunar
4. Chrono Trigger
I realize that it takes different people different amounts of time to
beat different RPGs. All I can do is tell you how long it took me to beat
each of these games. I played through each of them mostly the same way,
talking to townspeople at almost every opportunity and doing every side
quest within reason.
FF7 wins this category easily, with about 62 hours of gameplay. Final
Fantasy 8 and Lunar both took about 50 hours for me to finish. I ranked
FF8 higher than Lunar because I still haven't done several hours' worth of
side quests in FF8, whereas I've done pretty much all there is to do in
Lunar. As great as it is, Chrono Trigger is very short, with only about 25
hours of gameplay in my case.
Ending
1. Lunar
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 7
4. Final Fantasy 8
Sorry if I'm speaking in tongues in this explanation, but I don't want
to give anything away about any of these games' endings. Chrono Trigger
has plenty of great endings, but I still think Lunar's is the best.
Everything really comes together at the end of Lunar. It's also really
nice that you can walk around town in an epilogue of sorts and talk to
everyone one last time before you finally stop playing the game.
FF7 and FF8 have endings that are graphically amazing, but creatively
not-so-amazing. An RPG ending should ever make you ask yourself, "What the
hell happened?" It should always make it very clear what happens. It
would be one thing if Square were going to make a true sequel to any of
their Final Fantasy games with the same characters in a new game, but
that's not the case. The endings of FF7 and FF8 are more than likely the
last you're ever going to see of those characters. I didn't play FF7 and
FF8 for a combined 115+ hours just to be left wondering what the heck
happened at the end. I also don't want to make an assumption about what
happened just so I feel like I know, even though I'll never really be sure.
Talking To Townspeople
1. Lunar
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Final Fantasy 8
Talking to townspeople in RPGs is a matter of two things: Quantity (how
many there are to talk to) and quality (whether there's actually some
substance to what they're saying or whether it's just filler). In both
quantity and quality, Lunar blows everything else out of the water. It's
really that good. There are always tons of townspeople to talk to, they
always have something interesting to say, you really get a feel for the
individual personalities of the townspeople, and your characters actually
talk back rather than just standing there (as is the case with Chrono
Trigger).
The other three games are decent, but unspectacular in this area. Final
Fantasy 7 has a decent amount of both quantity and quality, Chrono Trigger
has good quality but poor quantity, and Final Fantasy 8 isn't particularly
good in either area. There are times when you get a feel for the
personalities of individual townspeople in FF8, but it doesn't happen very
often. More often, the townspeople in FF8 are just reflections of what
life is like in their town, with no unique personalities of their own.
Side Quests/Non-Linearity
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Lunar
There are absolutely tons of things to do in Chrono Trigger that you
don't have to do, and there are lots of things in the game that can be done
out of "proper order." Not only are there lots of side quests to do, but
most of them are very interesting and well worth the time and effort it
takes to complete them. This can either be because you get a cool item or
something like that, or just because they're so damn fun.
There are also plenty of side quests in FF7. I had a lot of fun
catching, breeding, and racing chocobos. It's also nice that it actually
serves a purpose in the main game since having good chocobos lets you go to
new places and get items that you wouldn't otherwise be able to get. There
are also a lot of other optional things to do in FF7. None of them are
enthralling on the level of Chrono Trigger's side quests, but none of them
are really boring or pointless, either.
Final Fantasy 8's side quests are fairly disappointing. Most of them
revolve around either getting a new Guardian Force or a new card, neither
of which are interesting to me. There's not much point in going on a long
and difficult side quest just to get a single Guardian Force. It's very
possible to beat the game without ever summoning a GF in combat. Also,
playing the card game in FF8 seems to disrupt the pace of the game whenever
I try it. It's like, "We have to go save the world now before it's too
late... but first, let's stop off in Timber and play a game of cards!"
Lunar also comes up short in this area. As great as Lunar is, there's
no denying that it's a very linear game from start to finish. The only
optional thing there is to do is collect all the bromides, and even that is
limited since most of them can only be collected during certain parts of
the game.
Emotion
1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Lunar
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Final Fantasy 8
I don't think I can say anything about the emotion in FF7 that hasn't
already been said before. The whole scene with Aeris and the events after
that are the most emotional in any RPG. Lunar also has a couple of really
emotional scenes towards the end of the game that are almost on par with
FF7.
Chrono Trigger doesn't come close to FF7 or Lunar in this category, but
you've got to be dead to not feel at least a little bit of emotion when all
the robots start beating the crap out of Robo. There's also some emotional
stuff in there about Frog and Sir Cyrus, plus Lucca's past.
Final Fantasy 8 never gets too emotional. When it is a little emotional,
it's never because of the plot or dialogue, it's because you can see the
emotion in the characters' faces during some of the cut scenes. I get the
feeling that Square intended for the space scene to be emotional, but I
don't think it is.
Establishing Personalities Of Main Enemies
1. Lunar
2. Final Fantasy 7
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Chrono Trigger
I don't think any of these games come anywhere near Wild Arms, which is
the best game I've ever played in this category. Lunar never really delves
into the personalities of Xenobia or Royce, but Ghaleon and Phacia are
explored in-depth. Not only do you get to know Ghaleon and Phacia, but you
understand the motivations behind everything they're doing. They're not
just mindless, stereotypical enemies saying, "I'm going to destroy the
world!"
Square did a great job with Sephiroth in FF7. As much as I hate him for
what he did to Aeris, I still can't help but feel sorry for him in a way.
He learned something about himself that he couldn't handle, and he just
went crazy.
I said above that Lunar's enemies aren't just mindless, stereotypical
enemies saying, "I'm going to destroy the world!" Well, the main enemies
in FF8 and Chrono Trigger are (Chrono Trigger's Lavos to a greater extent
than FF8's main enemy). They're still imposing enemies, they just don't
have a lot of personality.
Lovable Characters That Are Never In Your Party
1. Lunar
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Final Fantasy 7
It's very important to establish the personalities of people that aren't
in your party in addition to the people that are in your party. Lunar has
more lovable NPCs (non-player characters) than every other RPG I've ever
played combined. There's Mel, Mia's mother, Laike, Myght, Tempest, the
training instructor who's always saying something like "Get up, maggot,"
the horny old man in Nanza, all the women who come on to Alex throughout
the game, the guy with the hilariously broken English in Nanza... the list
goes on and on.
Most of Square's games are pretty unspectacular in this area, at least
when they're compared to Lunar. Chrono Trigger has some likable NPCs in
the castle, FF8 has Zone and that other guy who help you on the train near
the beginning of the game, and FF7 doesn't have anyone that really stands
out in my mind.
Establishing The Personalities Of Characters In Your Party
1. Lunar
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Final Fantasy 8
4. Final Fantasy 7
I spent far more time thinking about the rankings for this category than
I did with all other categories. This is probably the single most
important category, so I'm going to double its point values when I add up
all the rankings. I'm also writing a lot more about this category than I
did for any other category. Ironically, the rankings for this category and
the previous category are the same, which should tell you something about
the character development skills of each of the game's development teams.
I ultimately chose Lunar as #1 because every character in your party is
excellent except for maybe Nash (and even Nash is still likable at the end
because of his love for Mia). Even though Alex is the main character and
you're in control of him for the entire game, he manages to establish a
strong personality of his own without making you feel separated from the
game. Jessica and Kyle are probably my favorite RPG couple of all time.
I think I enjoyed the developing relationship between Jessica and Kyle even
more than the game's main relationship of Alex and Luna, and that's saying
quite a lot.
Chrono Trigger comes in second place with its diverse cast of characters.
Robo establishes a human-like personality even though he's a robot. Also,
I really like the pride and strength of Frog, and that's saying something
because he's a freakin' frog. I also like how Marle always tries to be
herself instead of being concerned with living up to her royal heritage.
The only bad thing I have to say about Chrono Trigger's characters is that
Crono doesn't speak anywhere near as much as he should, especially when
compared to Alex, Squall, and Cloud. It's hard to establish your
personality if you never say anything.
Both FF7 and FF8 pale in comparison to Lunar and Chrono Trigger in this
category. The only really strong characters in FF8 are Squall and Rinoa.
Squall is afraid to open up to anybody or have feelings for anybody because
he's afraid of losing someone he loves. I like how Rinoa doesn't let this
stop her, and how she "goes after her man." Their love for each other is
one of the things that makes FF8 such a great game, but at the same time,
it doesn't stack up to Lunar's Jessica & Kyle, Alex & Luna, and possibly
even Nash & Mia.
Quistis could have been a great character if Square devoted some time to
how she sacrifices herself and her feelings for Squall so that Squall and
Rinoa can be happy together, but they never did. Zell is just like Barret,
only with no depth (he's still likable; just not a very deep character).
Nothing is ever really established about Selphie's personality other than
the fact that she's got a good heart and a bad temper. Nothing is ever
established about Irvine's personality other than that he's a lady's man and
he can't handle the pressure of being a sniper.
FF7 has even more characters than FF8 whose personalities are never
explored as much as they should be. I really like Barret since he's so
outwardly tough and macho, but he still cares about his home life and his
daughter more than anything. I also like how Cid is so hilariously hostile
on the outside, but such a caring person on the inside.
Everything goes downhill from there in FF7. Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa are
all very good characters, but you never really get to know them quite as
much as you get to know them as much as Alex, Frog, Luna, Robo, Jessica,
Marle, Kyle, Lucca, Mia, Squall, etc. Too much time is spent in FF7
recovering from the last crisis and building up towards the next climactic
event instead of focusing on good old fashioned character development.
Vincent seems to be a really cool character, and it's a really a shame that
his personality isn't explored more. Nothing is really established about
Red XIII's motivations other than that he wants to live up to his ancestors'
legacy. Yuffie would be a lot more likable if she weren't always stealing
stuff from you.
And now, the final point totals. Each first place finish earned a game
four points, second place earned it three points, and so on.
1. Lunar with 44 points
2. Chrono Trigger with 36 points
3. Final Fantasy 7 with 31 points
4. Final Fantasy 8 with 29 points
So there you have it. Going into this feature, I had a feeling that FF8
might come in last place, but I had no idea how things would end up between
Lunar, Chrono Trigger, and FF7. Never before have I been able to rank
those three games in order from best to worst, and the only reason I'm able
to do it now is because I broke it down on a category-by-category basis.
Those of you out there who have never played Lunar probably think I'm
crazy right now. Believe me, once you've played Lunar for 50 hours like I
have, you won't think I'm crazy anymore.
Send your thoughts on this feature to ivan@mastergamer.com
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