Throughout the years there have been titles that just keep on keeping on. Games like the Call of Duty franchise and Street Fighter . But even in the RPG genre there are franchises that just refuse to say die. They continually reinvent themselves–for better or worse–and continue to release successive titles on every platform out there. Whether you believe this is a good thing or a bad thing, these titles keep on coming.
Xenosaga
Even though this series never made it off of the PlayStation 2, it was one of the most epic, science fiction RPG franchises to grace the console gaming world. A huge and intricately detailed story of the convergence of characters lent itself to countless hours of gameplay. In terms of replay value, if you are the type that has to find every little thing, these games would keep you busy for an eternity looking for objects, upgrades and loot. The combat scheme got progressively better as did the graphics of each successive title. All in all, we believe this deserves a place among the epic RPG franchises of console gaming.
Front Mission
What gamer doesn’t fantasize about blasting his way through a combat-torn landscape in a giant walking tank? Mech games have long been the stuff of gaming legend, though few have stood the test of time. One such title series is Front Mission from Square Enix. Originally released on the Super Nintendo, Front Mission has become a long-running entry into the pantheon of mech-based RPG games. Also, this franchise has crossed into nearly every genre of gaming known to man. It has covered everything from real-time strategy to third-person shooter and even reached into the online MMO arena. Though never as successful in the mainstream as other titles, Front Mission continues to be a franchise of epic proportions.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
There were only two titles released under the KOTOR banner, but two titles was all it took to become quite possibly the best Star Wars games ever released. And not only the best Star Wars titles ever, but some of the best action-RPG titles to ever grace a gaming console. Bioware created a template for other games to come that they would employ and hone in other franchises as well, but KOTOR set the standard for a totally new kind of RPG that gamers would be clamoring for in the future. Though limited by the original Xbox’s processing power, KOTOR was one of the best looking games of the day no matter what the genre. It delivered a new and immersive style of gaming that lives on to this day in series’ like Mass Effect and Dragon Age .
Diablo
I have honestly never seen a more rabid group of fans as I did when I worked the midnight release of Diablo III , and believe me that’s saying something, considering the size of the town where I worked at the time. Fans seemed to crawl out of the woodwork as news of the release of Diablo III spread. It thickened even more when it was announced that it would be coming to consoles as well. Gamers that I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined being RPG fans at all continued to stun me with their devotion to this franchise. The fact that fans waited a decade for the return of their beloved game and still showed up in droves for its release is an absolute testament to the games level of awesomeness. This franchise definitely deserves its spot on this list.
Kingdom Hearts
Apart from Diablo and Pokémon , I don’t think I have ever seen a more devoted group of fans than that of Kingdom Hearts . Gamers of all ages, races, sizes and shapes would ask me time and again if there was ever going to be another Kingdom Hearts come out on consoles. I remember gamer after gamer buying hand held gaming systems just to be able to play more Kingdom Hearts . I remember the sadness at the weak reveal at E3 in 2012 that there would in fact be a Kingdom Hearts 3 , but that Square wanted to finish a whole bunch of other stuff before it would be a reality. I remember hearing their discussions about favorite character combinations and battles. The hushed way that the fans spoke of this franchise solidifies its place on this list.
Dragon Quest
Having made its way across platforms from the Famicom and NES to the Wii U lends an air of epicity to a game franchise that a lot of gamers may have never heard of. Though it made a few appearances on the PS1 and PS2, the Dragon Quest series was a predominantly Nintendo-based franchise. This may or may not have been a good thing. While Nintendo fans continued to enjoy its goodness, gamers from other lanes of play like the Xbox and PS3 would never even know of its existence were it not for reviews in gaming magazines and on websites like this one. These are truly story-driven gems in the RPG gaming crown, so if you are a Nintendo gamer and you haven’t played any of these yet, you should. If the rest of you are too busy hating on Nintendo because the port of Call of Duty sucked on the Wii, you should probably take another look at what you are missing.
World of Warcraft
For anyone who has ever heard of the MMO, inevitably the game of WoW is spoken of with the most frequency. Now, WoW is by no means the first MMO on the market, but Blizzard knew it had a good thing and they knew how to keep gamers coming back for expansion after expansion. Even when the whole world thought they had gone crazy with the whole panda thing, they knew that once gamers saw what they had in store, they would buy Mists of Pandaria …and they would play it. They were right, but the truth of it is that WoW was the first game to nail the MMORPG model and exploit it to the fullest extent possible with current technology. That alone secures their place in the pantheon of awesome RPGs, but the fact that eleventy-billion people are still playing it after all these years is why it is on this list.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
Whether gamers of this franchise are aware or not, they are actually getting a pretty vivid and intense psychology lesson with every successive game they play. The Persona series is based on the concepts of psychoanalysis set forth by Swiss Psychologist Carl Jung. These demon summoners and persona summoners play out the various archetypes that Dr. Jung talked about in his studies of the human mind. But all that aside, imagine stepping into the mind of someone who is a little left of center or even just downright crazy. Well, that’s basically what you get to do in the Persona series. Not only are the stories multi-faceted and detailed, they are just plain messed up. So if you are into crazy and deranged stories, then the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona franchise is for you.
Pokémon
You know I asked a kid one time who was coming in to buy the newest Pokémon game what his favorite RPG series was. His answer astounded me. It was Final Fantasy , but not a week prior I had heard him telling some of his friends that Pokémon was his favorite game ever made. He played the card games as well as the handheld titles and had even bought older systems to be able to play older games on them as well. So you can see how I was baffled by his answer when his favorite game ever is in fact an RPG. Did he not know that? Or was it that to him Pokémon was in its own league. Whatever the case, Pokémon has been a powerhouse franchise since hitting the shelves in 1996. Apart from the Mario games, no other franchise had grossed as much in sales as Pokémon .
Final Fantasy
Much like World of Warcraft , if you ask the average gamer to name a console RPG title, more often than not they will spout off a Final Fantasy title. There’s a good reason for this. The name of Final Fantasy has all but become synonymous with the genre of role playing console games. Since it’s release to the NES and Famicom it has dominated the console RPG gaming world. There have been few other RPGs that have garnered the following worldwide of the Final Fantasy franchise. Also, there haven’t been many other titles of any genre that have had as many spin-off titles as this one has. There have been so many different versions and styles of this franchise that they have left little ground unexplored. Some would argue that this is the reason for the steady decline in interest worldwide in this franchise, but honestly, we can’t imagine a world without Final Fantasy .