The 10th Hour 11.20.09: Top Action Role Playing Games

Posted by Adam Larck on 11.20.2009

From Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Diablo II to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Kingdom Hearts, 411's Adam Larck ranks his Top 10 Action RPGs in the latest edition of The 10th Hour! See which games made the list and why by checking out the full article!


Welcome back to another week. Before we get started, I want to do a quick update on Modern Warfare 2.

- I'm torn on the MW2 multiplayer. On one hand, I really like the multiplayer and what they've done with it with the call signs, kill streaks and new weapons. However, I hate what they to the party chat on the 360. Not being able to use party chat in any of the playlists has driven me to only play a few. I don't want to play and have to listen to the kids that shouldn't be playing this game yet, I want to be able to just talk to my friends and that's it. Hopefully, a patch comes out fixing this problem soon.

Other than that, single player is good. I have seen the controversial level and thought it was nicely designed, but didn't see a big deal about it. You can do a lot worse in other games like Grand Theft Auto.

Reader Feedback

Last week I took a stab at listing my favorite turn-based RPGs and got a good amount of responses.

First up, I received an e-mail from Jov Bujaj with his top picks. What did he list as some of his top ones?

"The list you put on was great but I would have made few diffrant chooices.
10. Super Mario RPG
9. Legend of Dragoon
8. Chrono Cross
7. Final Fantasy 6
6. Suikoden 2
5. Final Fantasy 8
4. Final Fantasy 10
3. Chrono Trigger
2. Final Fantasy 12
1. Final Fantasy 7
That would be my top ten rpg's of all time"

Good list Bujaj. I definitely like the ones you have listed.

The other lists this week comes from Arfduh and Ikarimal. I chose these lists in particular because they both touched on a different game that I noticed I had left out.

" No Pokemon...? I think it's an RPG, and the battle system in it is just something that you simply can't forget. It's super-effective! for crying out loud. :o

LoD probably gets no rep due to the fact that it's a huge bucketful of cliché. Alot of times the game consists of the guys walking forward until a new guy appears and one of the charas announces "OMG YOU THE MAN WHO KILLED MY FATHER I KILL U NOW VERY BAD MAN!!". Followed by a ghost ship and whatnot. ><

Well, here's mah top 10...

10. Paper Mario - Fun stuff, the battle system required some form of strategy towards the end, so it wasn't just GRINDGRINDGRIND until you'd one-hit the boss, but instead you were busy planning things ahead on what badges to use. And then go "awfuck" afterwards when you realized that in your grand plan you forgot the ice badge and now can't use any of your jumping attacks on that danged lava piranha. ><
9. FF8 - probably one of the first PS games I bought, but as much fun as it may have been, I didn't like the way the GF and junctioning magic made all your charas almost identical in-battle. By the end of it all, the only difference between Selphie and Zell was the attack animation and their limit breaks.
8. LoD - cliché as the game is, it's good. I recall that the difficulty took a huge leap around halfway of disc 2 when this chick with wings mauled your party by getting tow turns in a row and doing murderous ice-spells. And killed any dragoons in one hit if you used them. :(
7. FF5 - Job system was great, but other than that, the game itself was kinda "meh". Also, the charas suffer of the same thing that troubles me in FF8 - in-battle, there's really no diffence between one of them and the one.
6. FF9 - Eh, I liked it. It was just fun and cute. Although boss fights sucked because they consisted of nothing but Zidane trying to steal their items and failing at it for 20minutes. ><
5. Chrono Trigger - Doesn't go as high in my list, probably due to the fact that I always thought this game is too much of "this boss requires a party of average level ## in order for you to even stand a chance"... Charas have nice variety, and I do like the combos they can put together. And the game had oodles of content!
4. Pokemon! - What's that, Gary? Lvl 52 Alakazam? Go, Kadabra! Awwsnap~!! He's lvl 61?! Awwsnap~!! Alakazam already fainted!
3. FF6 - plenty of variety in charas, alot of abilities and equipment to use to customize your party... And plenties of stuff to do in-game.
2. Mario RPG - Too much fun in one game, alot to do, alot to fight, alot of ways to fight. Dropping Toadstool from your party was the way to increase the difficulty, imo. Her healings were just too hax.
1. Earthbound - A game that I simply must play through again every now and then. Nuff said."

" I agree with some of those, but you did leave one out that baffles me!

my list:

10. Super Mario RPG (agreed..insanely fun)
9. Suikoden
8. FF X
7. FF 3
6. Wild Arms
5. Albert's Odyssey (yeah I said it!)
4. Lunar (classic)
3. FF 7
2. Chrono Trigger
1. Xenogears - this is the one I couldn't believe was left out..such a vast plot, DEEP storyline metaphorical and literal wise..amazing."

First, I did forget about Pokemon. When I was making my list it didn't even cross my mind that the game is actually an RPG. However, it should have easily been on the list. I had a lot of fun with this series and still like to play it from time to time.

As far as Xenogears goes, I did forget this off the list, but it probably would have been lower on the list if it had been on. I did have fun playing the game, but enjoyed a lot of other games on my list more. This just shows that PlayStation had a ton of great RPGs. A list could probably be done over them alone. Maybe in the future. Anyways, on with this week's list!

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The 10th Hour – Top Action Role Playing Games

After turn-based RPGs last week, this week I bring you action RPGs. From Oblivion and Fallout, to Diablo 2 and Kingdom Hearts, I had quite a bit of a selection to choose from. I didn't include MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars in here. Those may come later if I can think of enough. Also, I didn't include Zelda. Some people consider it an action RPG, but it just never has seemed like one for me.

Before I start, I want to add honorable mentions here of Illusion of Gaia and Neverwinter Nights. I had a lot of fun with these games and enjoyed playing them, but just had too many other choices that needed to be on the list. That being said, let's start the list.

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10. Hack Infection - I always thought this game was an interesting spin on the normal action RPG.

You had a MMORPG that was actually single player. You still found players to play with, called them in to help you with quests and many of the other things from an MMO. However, it was always just you. Not even a second player could join in, which was disappointing. The concept was nice and fun for the first game, but just started wearing thin in the sequels.

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9. Deus Ex - This game never did get quite the attention that it deserved.

The numerous skills that you could learn in the game were fun, and the storyline was fairly interesting to boot. I also liked the variety of endings that could be earned, depending on choices made in the game. While the various weapon upgrades and nano-augmentations you could pick up were nice, I really just liked the freedom given to solve things. You could try the stealthy route or just go in guns blazing. It was all up to you.

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8. Sacred 2 - When this game first came out, I had passed over it without a thought. It was after I saw more and more friends get into it that I picked it up.

The quests were simple and repetitive, but I really didn't mind it. I had a lot of fun playing with friends and trying to get the best equipment available at the time. However, the lack of detail options for characters and the same-ish quests for the light and shadow sides were disappointing. Still, hunting for dragons and other rare creatures with a group always brought a good time.

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7. Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance - I never did get a chance to play the sequel, which I heard was better, but I still had a great time with the first game.

While it may have been basic, I have always liked dungeon crawlers like this. Plus, it gave me something to play on the PlayStation 2 at the time. However, probably the thing I liked most was the reward for beating extreme mode. I'm a fan of the Forgotten Realm series of books, and being able to play as Drizzt Do'Urden was great.

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6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - I always liked this game, and this was particularly because of one character.

The ability to be able to choose between light and dark side was fun, along with the good storyline and abilities. However, HK-47 just made this game for me. The assassin droid had a decent attack, but the commentary you could have with him was always entertaining to me. Bioware did not only a good job with this character, but the overall game as well.

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5. Diablo II - I never did play this game during its prime. It wasn't until GameStop offered the boxed set at $10 that I even picked it up.

I'm glad I did though. This dungeon crawler offered quite a bit to see and explore, and the classes, while limited, still offered a lot of variety with the skills. Probably the most unique thing about this game was the Secret Cow Level after beating it. It was great to see, though fairly tough. It will be interesting to see what Diablo III has to offer when it comes out.

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4. Fable 2 - Say what you will about how good or bad you thought Fable 2 was, I personally liked it.

I thought the orb system for leveling was nice, as well as the various quests and rare weapons you could find. While I was disappointed with the multiplayer system, being able to at least see your friends and give them gifts was a good touch as well. Even the add-ons, while brief, kept me coming back to the game. Overall, I had a lot of fun with the game, it just needs some more multiplayer work for the next one.

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3. Kingdom Hearts - I've always held a fond likeness of this series.

I'll admit, when it was first announced I wasn't sold on having Disney and Final Fantasy in the same universe. Once I finally tried it, though, my worries were over. The teammates you can use are unique and have various attributes that come in handy. Plus, the worlds are well known and great to be able to explore. I still remember the battles against Cloud and Sephiroth in the Olympus Coliseum. They were great fights.

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2. Fallout 3 - This may come as a shock as being number two on the list, but I have quite a few more memories of my top pick.

You all know what I think about Fallout 3. It's an amazing game, and the RPG elements work great in it. The map is huge and has tons to explore, and the DLC that's been released for it has always added something unique and interesting to the game to make fans keep coming back. If you still haven't checked it out, the GOTY edition is now out as well with all the content in it.

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1. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethsda has a nice hold on the top two this week with Oblivion taking the top spot.

I've spent over 100 hours in this game. Most of it was for quests, but I did quite a bit of wandering as well. Finding hidden secrets in this game and various spots to find was great. The missions had great rewards, whether it was a useful item or just something fun to see in action. Plus, the DLC added quite a bit of extra play time with various new missions opening up and even a separate area with the Shivering Isles. This game still has a lot of fond memories with me, and is also the topic of the 10th Hour next week.

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Well, that's all I have for this week. Like or hate what I said? Shoot me an email at [e-mail] or leave a comment below. Any feedback is appreciated.