RPGs of the Decade (So Far, 2010 to now)

Macstorm

Since this has been a fun discussion topic in the 2017 awards thread, why not talk more about it here?

What would be on your current shortlist (5-10 games) for RPGs of the Decade so far? From the start of 2010 until now.

OtterFace

Personally, I think Fire Emblem: Awakening, given that it really redeemed a largely inaccessible franchise, perhaps Child of Light and Dust: An Elysian Tale, as well.

Clix

First off, a message from Captain Pedantic! As there was no Year 0 between 1 BC and AD 1, all decades of the Christian Era are actually 1-10, not 0-9. Ergo, this decade is 2011-2020. I made this point last time while a staff member.

Without further to do, here's what my Top 5 thus far are:

1. Tales of Berseria - A strong contender for knocking off Tales of Vesperia from my Top 10 Games list.
2. Fire Emblem Awakening - Second in the series just behind The Blazing Blade (a Top 10er) for me.
3. Radiant Historia - The highest honorable mention that could very well eek into my Top 10.
4. Pokemon Black 2 - One of my favorites in the series, just under Platinum (Top 10er) and tied with SoulSilver.
5. Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy - A huge timesink of fun, if flawed.

Wheels

Breath of the Wild, Monster Hunter 4, Dark Souls, Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest on my short list

Jmustang1968

Mass Effect 2, FE Awakening, Pillars of Eternity, Xcom 2, Divinity OS 2 would all be contenders for me.

If Tactics Ogre: LUCT wasnt a remake, that would be my choice though

Macstorm

Clix wrote: »

First off, a message from Captain Pedantic! As there was no Year 0 between 1 BC and AD 1, all decades of the Christian Era are actually 1-10, not 0-9. Ergo, this decade is 2011-2020. I made this point last time while a staff member

Point noted and again sadly ignored for the sake of timing things a way that's helpful to me.

LordGolbez

I don't even have enough games to fill that list. I know I've played over 10 RPGs from this decade, less sure I've completed that many, and even less sure that there are 10 of them that I would consider worthy of any kind of significant recognition. My shortlist would be Persona 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, and probably Trails of Cold Steel, but I still haven't finished that. I guess Breath of the Wild too. Oh....were the Devil Survivor games from this decade? Those were worthy of some recognition, though they aren't really plausibly contenders for GOTD. Honestly, I've probably played fewer RPGs relative to other types of games this decade than in any previous. I've played a lot of visual novel/adventure type games like Danganronpa, Zero Escape, and Phoenix Wright (of course a lot of those aren't even from this decade anyway, but a good number were). Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn would still rank at the top of the decade for me whether you count non-RPGs or not, but as far as games under those go, I might be more interested in ranking non-RPGs.

Clix wrote: »

First off, a message from Captain Pedantic! As there was no Year 0 between 1 BC and AD 1, all decades of the Christian Era are actually 1-10, not 0-9. Ergo, this decade is 2011-2020. I made this point last time while a staff member.

You know video games didn't exist in the time of Christ, right? It's arbitrary. The decade could go go from 2008-2017 if we want. If anything the best start would be from the year the first video game was released. But then you get into issues like arcade/home console etc. Or maybe since this is for RPGs it would be the first RPG video game released. However, the last one went to 2009, right? So this one ought to pick up at 2010 and not leave that year in limbo.

7thCircle

My top 10 in the order they came to mind:

Persona 5, Breath of the Wild, The Witcher 3 - The three best games I played since 2010.
Final Fantasy XIV - Sunk the most time into it, and it had the most memorable moments of accomplishment.
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - My favorite western tactics game ever.
Fire Emblem: Awakening - Favorite Japanese tactics game since Yggdra Union.
Mass Effect 2 - My favorite BioWare game from this period, and a rare RPG I played twice.
Salt and Sanctuary - Excellent Metroidvania that somehow got a rep as a 2D Souls clone. Seemed widely unappreciated for some reason.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - A throwback to Link to the Past that was probably better than it.
Bastion - I'd need to replay it to see if it's really as outstanding as I remember.

The only game that wasn't a favorite of mine, but I'd consider putting in a GotD list just because it was the favorite of so many others and I can understand why is Xenoblade Chronicles. It's Honorable Mention for me at the moment.

ChickenGod

Seeing as how we are roughly 8 years in, I'll use that number as my contenders. Game of the Decade has an interesting connotation to it, at least in my mind, because of the game's impact during a 10 year span along side being your most favorite of the bunch. It also kinda makes you want to cherry pick games from each individual year. But wow would it be disingenuous not to have multiple entries from 2017 to show the year's dominance during the decade. Here's what I feel, in no particular order:

1. Persona 5 - (2017) This one's pretty clear as seen from the GOTY topic. It also showed that a turn based epic JRPG can still be a big deal when more devs are shying away from this style.
2. Tales of Berseria - (2017) I agree with Clix that this is one of the strongest in the series. Theres some powerful emotional storytelling in here mixed with an amazing battle system.
3. Trails in the Sky SC - (2015) This is the one game everyone goes to point out not to lose hope in bringing something over to the west. The first two Trails games helped open the doors for Falcom in the US and also helped establish XSEED as one of the most trusted folks in the business right now, IMO.
4. Trails of Cold Steel 1+2 - (2016) See Trails SC for details.
5. Final Fantasy 14 - (2013) Its one of the most important games for me personally, given the amount of wonderful people I met and how much of my life it consumed. Its also one of the most successful MMOs which helps its renown a bit.
6. Final Fantasy 13 - (2010) I know this is an odd pick that would never make it, but again its one of the most important games for me as the time I played it was one of the happiest times in my life. I understand that its disliked heavily by others, but it still remains one of my favorite RPGs to this day.
7. Zelda: Breath of the Wild - (2017) A revitalizing title in the Zelda universe, this is a major step forward for both Nintendo and the Switch as being a serious platform for stellar must have titles again.
8. Dark Souls - (2011) My personal favorite in the series, and helped launched this style of game into being a financial success. Though I still have yet to play DS3 and Bloodbourne, so that could change.

For the sake of covering every year and/or not having multiple same series on there, I'd probably include Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate (2015), Tears to Tiara 2 (2014), and Xenoblade Chronicles (2012) as honorable mentions with Mass Effect 2 (2010) as the WRPG highlight.

Budai

1. Witcher 3
2. Dark souls
3. Monster hunter 4
4. Xenoblade
5. New Vegas

Wheels

Jmustang1968 wrote: »

Mass Effect 2, FE Awakening, Pillars of Eternity, Xcom 2, Divinity OS 2 would all be contenders for me.

If Tactics Ogre: LUCT wasnt a remake, that would be my choice though

I forgot that was this decade, who cares if it is a remake I'd still put that into consideration.

LordGolbez

Well, if remakes count, then Persona 4 Golden would be in the running for me.

Macstorm

In the actual voting remakes most likely won't be allowed, but here go wild.

LordGolbez

Any likely RPGOTD prospects that we know of coming out in the next couple years? Major releases I can think of are Dragon Quest XI, Kingdom Hearts III, SMT V, Trails of Cold Steel III (assuming it gets an English release) and IV. I don't really see any of those being RPGOTD, but I probably shouldn't underestimate the significant following Trails of Cold Steel has gotten here. Of course there's always a possibility of a Dark Horse coming along anyway. I basically hadn't even heard of Horizon Zero Dawn before this year. At most I might have seen some minor promotion in 2016 and definitely didn't have an inkling it would actually be good until the reviews started coming out.

Macstorm

Yeah, hard to say what else could hit in the next few years. Cyberpunk 2077 is one that I know lots of folks are dying to play.

Shaymin

My personal top 5 is some combination of Pokemon Black/White, Fire Emblem Awakening, Xenoblade Chronicles X (I suspect I'm alone here), Persona 5 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I'll say this for the Wii U: they had a pretty good retail RPG batting average.

Joshua Carpenter

This is so tough to narrow down, but my early unranked contenders:
- XCOM Enemy Unknown/Within
- Fire Emblem Awakening
- Mass Effect 2
- Yakuza 0
- Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC
- Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
- NieR: Automata

Also a shout out to Gravity Rush, which doesn't qualify, but it easily one of my favorites.

Other games I need to play to judge:
Witcher 3
Divinity: Original Sin II
Xenoblade 2
Tales of Berseria

Wheels

Shaymin wrote: »

Xenoblade Chronicles X (I suspect I'm alone here)

Nope, only reason it didn't yet make my list is I still haven't finished and want to wait until then for final judgement.

smacd

deleted.

Evilor

Still going to wait until Kingdom Hearts 3, Ni No Kuni 2, and FF7 Remake releases, but my current list would be-

1. FFXV
2. Xenoblade Chronicles
3. Bravely Default
4. Witcher 3
5. The Last Story

Indie RPGs:
1. Undertale
2. Cosmic Star Heroine
3. Darkest Dungeon
4. LISA
5. Hylics

Bonus: Mega Man Sprite Game