I may be braking rules here, but I consider console and handheld RPGs to be different beasts, so I will pick two games.
Consoles: Mass Effect 2
Yes, I was tempted to go with the first Mass Effect or maybe even Fable II, but to me, Mass Effect 2 is the first game in recent memory to actually make me feel like I was (hence playing the role) of the main character. Yes, it's true that the story is nothing special and quite less grand scale than its prequel, but the character interaction, decisions you must make, implementation of save games from the prequel, and amount of dialogue in the game in general leads me to wonder how painstakingly crafted this game was.
Handhelds: Chrono Trigger DS
This is coming from someone who had never played the game before, but there is still something very special to me about Chrono Trigger. What exactly makes this game special is really hard to put my finger on, I guess that it just does everything so well. It's characters are memorable, and all your companions are quite likeable. The story is simple, and that's the way I like it (uh huh, uh huh!). I have an extremely difficult time following JRPG storylines, particularly the ones that don't have some sort of journal within the game keeping me updated, but that's not a problem here. The battle system, for being as old as it is, is one I can actually see being used in games today, and that's really what makes this game so nice for me. I completely missed this game on the SNES, and yet, it doesn't feel like a remake to me at all, and to me, that's probably the best complement you can pay a remake (especially one going on 15 years old).
Note: I am moving on to Dragon Quest soon, so this opinion could change.
themanwithnoname's law: As an America's sales or NPD thread grows longer, the probabilty of the comment "America = World" [sarcasticly] being made approaches 1.
