Last two games left. 

#3

-32 years after the Great War the destroyers from the first game, the Shivans, return

-The game's final mission sees the destruction of an entire star system when the Shivans cause the Capella star to go supernova

-The story of this space-combat sim is one of its main highlights, but unfortunately it ends on a cliffhanger that will likely never be resolved

-The second, and last, game in the series developed by Volition, who are now better known for the Saints Row-series

#2

-Every 108 years the soul of the god of destruction possesses a child in an attempt to return to its body

-And every 108 years for the last 10,000 years a winged black monster has appeared to kill the child to prevent the resurrection of the god of destruction

-Both the current Child of Light and the black monster that keeps killing them turn out to be members of your party, the child having survived because the monster mistook her twin sister for Child of Light when they were still babies

-A JRPG on the PS1 developed by Sony that has garnered a cult following in the years since

#3: That must be one of the space fighting sims, that isn't Star Wars. But which one? Let's say Elite II.

And because we need more great Atlus-RPGs, here is another one: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. This game was announced pretty early in this big Nintendo Direct, with which they wanted to save the WiiU. But it was at that point very early in development, and it took ages until it released. The general idea was a crossover between Shin Megami Tensei (if you didn't noticed: Tokyo Mirage Sessions is reverting the shortcut SMT) and Fire Emblem. The result is an awesome RPG.

Basically you are this Tokyo highschooler, who is starting his career as an idol. You meet with other idols and learn about singing and dancing for fans. But this all is a facade: all these idols are fighting evil mirages, that suck the creative energy called Performa out of people. These mirages come from another world. But you also find otherworldly help. Chrom, Tiki and other Fire Emblem characters are joining your team and helping you out. With their help you explore dungeon set up by evil mirages on Tokyo landmarks and fight mighty foes.

The fighting system is one of the most interesting systems I ever saw in an RPG. Presentation wise it is set up as a show for otherworldly ghosts, you fight for their entertainment in an arena. You can attack in many ways, but if you hit elemental weaknesses of your enemies, a connected character can follow up and this way chaining attacks into a session.This adds a layer of tactics into the game.

The areas in which you find battles are these strange labyrinths, set up by the mirages. They are built with elements from present day japanese culture. These are mazes with puzzles, shortcuts and other stuff. Just like you expect from Atlus level design.

Between these labyrinths you wander through contemporary Japan while progressing with the story. This involves a lot of everyday stuff, including the usage of the WiiU gamepad as smartphone with a messenger which show messages from other characters in the game.

You also bond with Fire Emblem characters, who are lending their powers to you and enabling you to fight the mirages. As you strengthen your bond, your powers and abilities grow.

This game got a port to the Switch, so more people can enjoy this grreat RPG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6K1EMAEQog

My TOP 3 is still unguessed, so another try:

#3
Yes, We were naughty. Completely naughty.
So many there used to be, almost a nuisance.
Pee-wee Prince.

#2
Your character always carries a big book on his or her back, opening it in key moments to read and write in.
High-five your companion on successes.

#1
This third installment of a spin-off series features the Grail for the first time.
War in Erathia.

Not quite. The game in question is more story-focused and scripted than Elite II. It also came out around 6 years later than Elite II.

Reading your hint again I see that it excludes Elite actually, as 2 wasn't the last. So, six years later is probably the second wave of spacesims. I never really played any space shooter sim (except NetWars, which was free with Novell DOS). So I can only give a shot in the dark. Freespace perhaps? The second one based on your hint, so Freespace 2.

That's the one. 

Ha! (-:

Even though I didn't play them, I was a gamer back then, and these space games were pretty popular, so I heard of them.

For me it was too confusing to find my way in open space. So instead I have Descent on my list, which is not in open space but in asteroid mine shafts.

Yeah, Freespace started as kind of a spin-off of Descent, but I've only ever played one of the Descent games very briefly.

Kinda surprised this one hasn't been guessed yet. It's usually on the first few hints that somebody figures it out.

#2

-Every 108 years the soul of the god of destruction possesses a child in an attempt to return to its body

-And every 108 years for the last 10,000 years a winged black monster has appeared to kill the child to prevent the resurrection of the god of destruction

-Both the current Child of Light and the black monster that keeps killing them turn out to be members of your party, the child having survived because the monster mistook her twin sister for Child of Light when they were still babies

-A JRPG on the PS1 developed by Sony that has garnered a cult following in the years since

-My avatar picture