King’s Bounty: Armored Princess (and the rest), Heroes of Might and Magic V, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Titan Quest.
I was too young to play D2 so TQ was my introduction to ARPG’s, and I probably feel the same way about it that most people do about D2.
I would recommend anyone who likes ARPG’s to try the King’s Bounty series. Yes, it is a turn based strategy, but it incorporates RPG elements as well as satisfying combat, “big numbers,” killing hordes of monsters, and impactful items that can offer a lot of variety. But it’s more challenging. At the end of the day I get the same amount of dopamine from it as I do from a game like Last Epoch.
Honorable mention is Dungeon Siege 2. It’s got to be the most underrated ARPG ever made.
DS2 was great. I wish it was more open-world like DS1 was, but it was definitely the more polished game. DS1 had a lot of bugs and issues still, while DS2 was pretty solid from day 1. I thought DS2 was the first ARPG to introduce boss encounters with interesting mechanics. DS3 was such a huge letdown.
Hard to say for certain, but i think my most pleasant experience came from the .hack/imoq series. One of the few games i loved so much that i have a full sealed collection.
Story was a bit cringey and plot hole filled, but combat was interesting, gearing felt rewarding, tons of optional side content, and the music was god tier imo.
Edit: although to contextualize this, one of its main competitors for best imo was legend of dragoon, which even i admit is a bug ridden clone of final fantasy. So my taste may not track with most people
There’s a spiritual successor to that series called Scarlet Nexus. If you haven’t had time to check that out yet, you might enjoy it. It’s not set in the same kind of setting or totally open world / free roaming like those games were, but it’s got a very similar party / combat system that is kind of interesting.
You’re not crazy - I loved Legend of Dragoon. I think a lot of people did. That is one of the most demanded remakes / continuations that I’m sure Sony gets asked to do constantly. These days, I wouldn’t trust or want them to do it though, unfortunately.
Final Fantasy 3 (I don’t remember what number it was in Japan).
very close is Breath of Fire 3.
I loved Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid.
No games have really given me as much enjoyment since then. I have put a lot of hours into aRPG’s but it’s more about the creativity than the raw fun. I enjoy complex character creation/planning and spend more time in GrimTools and PoB than i do the games themselves.
I bought them all on Steam. I played through FF2 and a couple of the ones that were new to me. FF2 had such an effect on me as a child that I name all of my protagonists Cecil. I haven’t had time to play the ones that were released later, but I still purchased them.
Considering every game with regard to the time when I played it first, I pick Secret of Mana.
In the mid-nineties, I was hooked from the first notes of the intro music. It had a three-player-coop. Perfect for family game nights or playing with visiting friends. While I played many great games over the years, I don’t think I felt as much genuine joy with any other game.
Other outstanding games: Diablo, Jagged Alliance 2, Diablo 2, Civilization 1-4. The common theme is that I played all those games with friends in the same room. Maybe it’s not about the games, but the friends we made along the way
Wow, to find a fellow Lufia 2 soul here, never would’ve thought that. I’d really wish the game came to switch online. I advertise this game to all my friends since years to play, but none of them did so far.
Nier: Automata’d be mine. Game was excessively well made, imo. I loved a lot of the philosophy behind the game’s narrative. Even if it was a hack and slash, it had wonderfully engaging gameplay and it’s boss fights were both very challenging and very fun, even if it frustrated me at times.
Edit: I should mention also it’s soundtrack and how incredible it was. There isn’t a word for “This sound goes with this image,” but if there were, that would describe most of the game.
After Nier, you could throw any of the Souls games names at me, I’d tell you it was a favorite of mine.
The only game that made me cry when a character died (though my GF was also in Russia for best part of a year at the time so that might have affected things a bit).
