Game Debate to the Death: What are your favorite RPGs?

Last time we spent all week focusing on just the Final Fantasy series, and it was quite a lot to focus on. If you thought that was daunting though, just wait!

Final Fantasy debates are usually a touchy subject, but while the results may be upsetting to some, I have to say that everything went better than I expected from start to finish. The focus stayed on your opinions — or on other opinions you agreed with — instead of the typical disagreements we see so often with this series. And the insight! Wow, the insight was great, and it was a pleasure to read all the walls of text that so many of you felt so strongly about. Job well done! Here are the results:

• Final Fantasy VI (42 votes) — Winner!!!
• Final Fantasy VII (26 votes) — Silver Medal!!
• Final Fantasy IX (15 votes) — Bronze Medal!
• Final Fantasy Tactics (13 votes)
• Final Fantasy VIII — (9 votes)
• Final Fantasy X — (7 votes)
• Final Fantasy IV — (5 votes)
• Final Fantasy X-2 — (4 votes)
• Final Fantasy V — (3 votes)
• Final Fantasy XII — (2 votes)
• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII — (2 votes)
• The Final Fantasy Legend — (2 votes)

I had expected FFVI to grab the top with FFVII hot on its Chocobo heels, but FFVI really shined. What surprised me is that FFT didn’t sneak into the third place spot, although FFIX definitely has a lot of love. I also thought FFX would rise above FFVIII, but the Dtoid Army has spoken!

Now that we’ve gotten the Final Fantasy series out of the way, it’s time to crack your knuckles and get down to business. If you thought we’d conquer the topic of “Best RPG EVAR?!” in a single weak week, then you’re sadly mistaken. Remember that insanely large multiple month Street Fighter character debate tournament we did last year that tons of you loved, while some patiently waited for it to pass onto other topics? Well I’m diving into another huge tournament, and it’s up to you to decide the size, as well as the winner.

Even though the amount of top tier RPG games would make it easy to do so, I don’t plan on making it excessively long. All you need to do this week is list all of the non-Final Fantasy game RPGs that you truly love. Not the okay or good ones. The great ones. The only rule: it cannot be an online RPG. It can be multiplayer, but not an MMO or any other online variant of the RPG genre. Basically, console or handheld only, unless you spot any exceptions.

I’ll take all the suggestions into consideration, make some brackets that seem fair including the most loved Final Fantasy games, as well as the new suggestions, and try to make it not unreasonably long. This tournament is entirely in your hands. Take this week off as a chance to do some serious thinking on what you would choose as your absolute favorite RPG if forced to make that decision. Because that’ll be soon!