current - FF (any but X-2), Elder Scrolls III & IV, Zelda(any) 

all time - Ultima(hoping for a revival of this series), King's Quest, Myst

I know I have far outgrown Pokemon, but I personally think it is the best RPG in the world. It is definitely the best selling RPG franchise. It was addictive, fun, challenging, and simple. Two major things you needed to do was become the best of the best, and collect all the Pokemon. That was many years ago. I played Final Fantasy and Super Mario RPG, but every time I played them, I couldn't help but think of Pokemon. Also, I played Pokemon way too much in the past. So much that I don't even like RPGs anymore.

Hmmm. Considering how many RPGs Ive played, I'll try to list my top 3 for every system:

 Nintendo (NES)

#1. Sweet Home. An odd title to be in #1, considering it never made it to american shores. I found a de-jap version of this game awhile ago, and was enthralled by it. I never had the pleasure of finding this game until a year ago. It's a survival horror RPG, if you can imagine it (and made in the 80s too). The plotline was pretty solid. What made this game so awesome? Teamwork. It had some of the best and most complete party system of any RPG in that era and the SNES era. If a teammate died, they died permanantly. No revives. You were forced to split your 5 characters into 2 parties. The neat thing was if you ever got into a battle that was too tough, you could summon your friends into battle by litterally switching parties and racing to your teammates side. Very awesome and innovative for such an old game. 

#2. Dragon Quest 3. My first true foray into RPGs. Although most prefer 4, or 1, 3 was very strong due to the job class system, and the fact you could switch job classes later on (Sage, anyone). The storyline and gameplay was a huge improvement over past titles. The fact that the final boss (after 40hrs) wasn't the real boss, and there was another full world to explore, was just too cool. I never finished this game because of how long it was, however, now and again I revisit the game, just to try. Fantastic game.

#3. Final Fantasy 1. The obvious choice for a NES RPG. FF1 was great. The storyline was pretty strong, and the job class system kind of started what DQ3 finished. Every aspect of the game was incredibly enjoyable, and memorable. I nearly beat the game, although my great NES deleted my saved file, preventing me from finishing the final dungeon (great idea that the final dungeon was so close to the start of the game).

 Genesis Era

#1. Phantasy Star 2. Nihilistic. Violent. Mature. Great. One of the more edgy RPGs made for many years. Whenever I play this game, I am totally amazed the game is nearly 20 years old. The storyline is just perfect. There has not been a single techo-RPG to ever come close (except maybe KOTOR). Every sci-fi FF or any sci-fi game should take notice. The story was so dark and brooding (first big quest is to find a girl, and take her to her father, only to have the father kill her, because he wants her money, then kills himself over it). Gameplay was solid, although grinding got very tiresome. Still. Great.

#2. Shining Force 1/2. The Gensis had alot of innovations on a system that didn't have the luxury of Square, Enix or Namco. SF was fantastic, and a true gem of the SRPG genre. It was a tactical chess game, with a good interwoven plotline, and absolutely huge map areas. I found out about this game recently via ROM and was hooked. I wish I woulda bought this game when it came out oh-so many years ago. Any fan of the SRPG genre needs this game.

#3. Lunar: Silver Star Story (Sega CD). It was like Star Ocean, but with animation. Sega CD was a hokey idea, but Lunar played like a gem. Actual audio, a good plotline, and good VA made this game stick in my memory like white on rice. It was a rather long game, but very fun. A great gem of the pitiful Sega CD era of gaming.

 Super Nintendo

#1. Chrono Trigger. If someone was to read all my top #3 lists and asked what the overall #1 was, its this game, hands down. I've beaten somewhere near 70 RPGs in 15 years, and CT was by far the funnest, most memorable, game changing experience. It had the best storyline ever in gaming history. The day of lavos was insane to watch in full 40mb cart glory. The levels were bright with great art direction. The battle system reminds me of what SE has done with FFXII....All in a game that preceeds it by 11 years. Buy this game, now.

#2. Soul Blazer. HA! Very few people played this Enix gem. Although it was a ARPG, it was oh-so solid, and one of the first ARPGs out there, even before Mana came out. The story was pretty simple - rescue the world from the bad guy. Standard level design, but the way the game intergrated everything in it was fantastic. Real bosses that meant something to defeat, and NPCs that you kinda cared about too. Better than Secret of Evermore (My #3) ? Heck no. But what SoE did, it had to give props to SB for creating.

#3. Secret of Evermore. It was a more west-friendly APRG in the vein of SOM. However, the plotline was better constructed, even if the world was smaller and you only had a boy and his dog. The storyline was oh-so retro and cool. Everything SOM did, SoE did better, and the Alchemy system was great to use. As the game progressed, every spell got cooler. I don't think I managed to find all 70+ spells, but they were all great, as they were so balanced (heck, I used Hard Ball till the end of the game).

Honorable mentions: Every other Enix and S-E RPG for the SNES, as well as Breath of Fire. A top 10 would be better for SNES, but I don't have time.

Nintendo 64

#1. Ogre Battle 64. There is no #2 and #3rd place. Although Hybrid Heaven and Quest 64 were indeed RPGs, both were crap, whereas OB64 was magnificent. I was one of the 5 people that probably bought this game, having loved Ogre Battle for SNES, and rented it probably 10 times. Ogre Battle 64 took everything OB for SNES was, and made it better. Alignment meant so much more, and my one and only playthrough netted me the worst ending, and 0 points. Absolutely amazing game. The last boss was SOOOOOO hard. That battle took me atleast 2hrs to complete. Great game, and easily stacked up against everything the PS1 had.

Playstation 1

#1. Final Fantasy Tactics. During the N64/PS1 war, I was on the N side of things. A friend of mine bought FFT for his PS1. This was the soul game (aside from FF7) that made me eventually get a PS1. Job classes! Battle grounds! Summon Spells! Ultimate Dungeon! Was there anything that this game did not do perfect? No. It was a god-send, and easily in my top 3 RPGs of all time and number 3.

#2. Final Fantasy 7. Okay, the obvious game. FF4/6 were fantastic, just like always. However, S-E made the most of the new FMV format that PS1 offered, and did so with a tour-de-force 3disk game loaded with FMVs. It is a classic among classics in the PS1 era. Obviously outdated in graphics, the game was fantastic then and now. The minigame on Condor Mountain was a game in itself. Just great fun from one of the best franchises around.

#3. Vandal Hearts. I am sure that there were many more RPGs on PS1 that deserved #3, but I didn't have the wonderful part of playing them. Konami made a fantastic precursor to FFT in this game. It was uber-violent, and had a good storyline. It was the first RPG for the PS1 I ever played. Good game.

Playstation 2

#1. FFXII. Since FF8, I had lost all hope in the FF series. It went too techno and girly for me. Just 'cuz, I was able to find a PS2 to play this game on, as a renter. Boy, this game made me love Final Fantasy all over again. The battle system was near-flawless, and even better than KOTOR for a hybrid ARPG. The story is great, the gambit system and license board are great. IMO, it combines the best elements of KOTOR, FF6/7 and FFT into one great, long game. The hunts are insane! Never beat it, but would buy it if it ever came out for X360.

#2. Kingdom Hearts 1/2. My girlfriend was the one that kinda got me hooked on this game. Its odd that such a cheezy game would be so fantastic. Obviously the game has no merit in the Disney characters, but SE put forth the best ARPG since SoE for the SNES. The battle system was a mash-fest, but felt fresh through the entier games, the synthsis system was fun, and was just a fantastic game that made me wish I had a PS2.

#3. Dragon Quest 8. Okay, possibly more deserving titles ahead of this game that I didnt play for PS2, I know, but from playing it, it is a very fun game. Some games like FF end up sucking (after 8 and before 12), so DQ didnt change the format. I hadn't really played a DQ since 3, and it was amazing I could pick this game up and recognize every aspect of this game from the start. My girlfriend loves this game, and just completed the dragovian trials recently. Its a fantastic game, and good art direction.

Xbox

#1. KOTOR 1. 2nd best RPG ever made. Xbox had very few RPGs, but the one game it had was fantastic. KOTOR was an ARPG, and although alot of ARPGs made my list, they did so for innovation (out of my 20 most favorite RPGs, maybe 5 are ARPGs). The storyline was great, even for a Star Wars game. I was very skeptical at first since it had to do with SW, but it was an inrecibly solid title, with an alignment system that mattered, and an ending to end all endings of a game. Did it totally trump every other game entirely? No, but KOTOR for as short as it was, was the best 30hrs Ive ever spent on an RPG.

#2. Morrowind. Okay. Its #2, but out of every RPG I've played, this game easily is the one I played the most (#4 overall). The game is just........Monumental. I have racked up atleast 500hrs on it between my brother and myself. How'd it do that? Choices. The choices of how to go about in this game are staggering. You can just replay and replay the first 20hrs and never get bored. The storyline sucked (which reduced it from an easy #2 to a great #4), but outside of this, it was flawless for an RPG. THE WATER!!!!!!!!!! Best graphical moment of RPG history for me. Getting out of the boat and seeing Sedya Neen for the first time was fantastic. I just looked at the water for what seemed like an hour.

#3. Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes. Odd title for #3, but it combined a few great genres. It was a pure strategy/tactical game, mixed with an RTS, with solid RPG elements, cloacked in a hack-n-slash game with a true top-10 storyline for a game. It was all about the heart in battle, and told the same story in so many fantastic ways. The final battles against the Encablossa were great. If you never played KUF on Xbox, get it! Definately worth the time. Each playthrough was only about 15hrs per each of the 5 characters, but was done so well.

PC

#1. Betrayl At Krondor. I bought Betrayl in Antara in 1996, only to find the mack-daddy of all RPGs. Its #5 in my all-time list. The game's battles used an isometric screen with pixel/rendered characters modeled after real people. The battles, magics, and story were great. This game was FAR FAR FAR ahead of it's time. 3d traveling, rather long, pretty good animations and video selections. Very difficult game to beat too.

#2. Betrayl in Antara. The spiritual succuessor to BAK. I really havent got to play a ton of CRPGs. Fallout would be here, or #1 if I had of played it, but I haven't. BAA was great, just like BAK, but lacked the originality to be #1. However, despite this, the game was fantastic. Good storyline, rather humorous at times and a long game. Very fun to play. Maybe at the bottom of my top 20, but good nontheless.

#3. Septerra Core. I waited around 4 years for this game once it was announced. I ended up finally obtaining it in around 2002. By this time, the game was severely dated. However, it was a fun RPG. It kind of went against the grain of every other RPG at the timke (1998) and was still pixel based. The graphics were pretty good for the pixelation though. It had a good storyline to it, and was pretty fun.

So, my top 20:

#1. Chrono Trigger (SNES)

#2. Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)

#3. Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)

#4. Morrowind (Xbox)

#5. Betrayl In Krondor (PC)

#6. Phantasy Star 2 (Gen) 

#7. Soul Blazer (SNES)

#8. Secret of Evermore (SNES)

#9. Final Fantasy 6 (SNES)

#10. Super Mario RPG (SNES)

#11. Final Fantasy 7 (PS1)

#12. Star Ocean (SNES)

#13. Breath of Fire (SNES)

#14. Shining Force (Gen)

#15. Sweet Home (NES)

#16. Secret of Mana (SNES)

#17. Lufia And the Fortress of Doom (SNES)

#18. Kingdom Hearts 1/2 (PS2)

#19. FFXII (PS2)

#20. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)

Obviously a flawed list, but my list nontheless :)

mrstickball, did you ever try any gamecube/dreamcast rpg's? Like Grandia II, Skies of Arcadia, Tales of Symphonia, or Baten Kaitos/Origins?

Unfortunately, no. I got out of gaming after the demise of the N64, until around 2003. I was never able to really get ahold of a DC or GC. Baten Kaitos was a game I really wanted to try, but never got the chance. Same for Skies of Arcadia.

mrstickball we seem to have the same taste in RPG's

 Secret of Evermore UNDERRATED

Lufia And the Fortress of Doom UNDERRATED

 I totally forgot to mention Phantasy star 2..man that game was great. great memories watching my older bro play that.

 never tried Sweet Home..but since we seem to like the same RPG's gotta try it out!

 man all these oldies brings back great memories..ahh the good ol days gaming with my 2 brothers..too bad we all grown up...but hey, thats life huh?

btw, Grandia II, all i can say is you really arent missing out on anything

I used to play a lot of RPG's in the old days. Some of my favourites are: - The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall (I also liked Morrowind very much, but was a bit disappointed by Oblivion) - Ultima Underworld - Lands of Lore - Das Schwarze Auge (Excellent German AD&D Style RPG) - Eye of the Beholder 1 & 2 Theyre all PC, they're all old, so you'll notice that except for Morrowind i haven't been playing RPG's for a long time. I'm also playing Runescape by the way, which is my dosage of MMORPG (I'd be doomed if i started playing a more advanced MMORPG)

Kotor... just... kotor