Support NeoGAF

[kswiston]

I finished the vote tally.

Over 3800 individual recommendations were made across 537 different titles. 6590 points were cast.


239 titles had at least 5 points
157 titles had at least 10 points

Games will be ranked by points. I dislike ties, so all tiebreakers are resolved as follows:

Total Points > if tied then most underrated votes > if still tied then most highlights > if still tied then most regular votes.

There were 4 cases in the Top 100 where two titles had the exact same number of votes in each vote category, but all 4 were outside the top 50.

The cutoff for the Top 100 was 19 points with at least one Underrated or Highlight vote. Tons of great titles missed that mark.

The cutoff for the Top 50 was 35 points.

I am not going to list the Top 50 until the banners go up, but here were the 10 runners up:

51	Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow
52	Dragon Age: Origins
53	Shin Megami Tensei IV
54	Deus Ex: Human Revolution
55	Fire Emblem: Awakening
56	Fallout 3
57	South Park The Stick of Truth
58	Gothic II
59	Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
60	Dragon Quest V

 

[Aaronrules380]

Disappointed that EOIV couldn't make the top 50. wonder what did make it in

 

[Surfside]

While we allow kswiston time to finish tallying the votes (and thanks so much for all of your effort on this!), I figured that PC Gamer's recently posted list might be of interest to those here: http://www.pcgamer.com/best-rpgs-of-all-time/

Nice list! They also gave Arx Fatalis a spot. This game is criminally underrated, i find. It has the most atmospheric dungeon exploring in an RPG ever.

Also it has a very unique way of doing magic, as you have to draw the signs with your mouse in order activate a spell.

For a long time this was Arcane's best work imo, until Prey.

 

[almostheathen]

Disappointed that EOIV couldn't make the top 50. wonder what did make it in

EO 3 of course

 

[Aaronrules380]

EO 3 of course

I really really doubt EO3 did better than EOIV

 

[Flying Fish]

Aww, two of my votes fell just short of top 50.

 

[Firemind]

rby was robbed

 

[Surfside]

I finished the vote tally.

I am not going to list the Top 50 until the banners go up, but here were the 10 runners up:

51	Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow
52	Dragon Age: Origins
53	Shin Megami Tensei IV
54	Deus Ex: Human Revolution
55	Fire Emblem: Awakening
56	Fallout 3
57	South Park The Stick of Truth
58	Gothic II
59	Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan
60	Dragon Quest V

Doesn't seem like Gothic 1 will make it, seeing as 2 didn't. And that's more popular.

 

[Fireblend]

SMT IV noooooo

Spoiler

I probably should've voted

 

[not psycho]

EO 3 of course

Hopefully both EO 2 and 3 made it, with 2 in the top ten.

Fwew. Done.

Awesome list and write-ups!

I'll be looking to get several games you mentioned, especially Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter and Makai Kingdom.

 

[Flying Fish]

SMT IV noooooo

It probably competed for votes with Nocturne.

Spoiler

I really should play it.

 

[Wazzy]

Interesting results so far but not bad at all. I'm still wondering if any drastic results have happened in this years list.

rby was robbed

I think that's a perfect spot for R/B/Y especially since G/S/C will rank above it and is the far better game.

 

[FiveSide]

Dang DQV didn't make the top 50...that's a bummer. Maybe I should've made that my DQ entry instead of III...

So that basically confirms that the only DQ on the top 50 is VIII. (...right? Does VIII usually get more votes than V?)

EDIT: Wasn't FE:A in the top 15 at some point? Now it's out of the top 50, the turnaround on that game was strong.

That's kind of bizarre to me, because I never thought more or less of it as time went by. I still think it's a solid, fun game, with a basic but entertaining plot and characters.

Damn DQV missing the top 50. Top 50 better filled with GOAT.

Yea it really is perplexing. I wonder if more people voted for VIII instead of V this year, or if the DQ series as a whole got less votes.

 

[Aters]

Damn DQV missing the top 50. Top 50 better filled with GOAT.

 

[kswiston]

A few predictions just for fun. I'm not keeping tabs but this is what I roughly expect:

-Chrono Trigger will take the #1 spot again to far away times. It's just a very popular pick all around even if I suspect it didn't get the highest amount of highlights.

-Persona 4 will likely keep its #2 place. It seems to be almost as popular as CT in these votes and that hasn't changed much even with P5's release. If any other game beats it I expect it to be Dark Souls.

-I don't expect many changes in the FF hierarchy. VI > VII > IX (or X?) is my bet. XII will probably gain a few positions though due to the remaster. XV won't debut well at all, outside the top 50 for sure. Maybe not even in the top 100? (edit: just did a quick search throughout the thread and yikes. Definitely sub-100 material)

-Dragon Quest will remain relatively unpopular but still have 1 title in the top 50.

-Nocturne will place lower due to the higher influx of voters this year. Perhaps highlight votes will soften the fall somewhat.

-Persona 5 will either debut in the lower half of the top 20 (#16-#20) or juuust outside the top 20. P3 will probably place higher.

-CRPGs and WRPGs in general are going to place better. Seems like they're a lot more prevalent in people's lists this year.

-Witcher 3 will place higher than Bloodborne.

-Fire Emblem in general will fall. Awakening seems to have lost quite a bit of popularity, Fates is too divisive and Echoes too unpopular to matter.

Highlight and Underrated shenanigans should make for some interesting shake-ups though. It'd be fun to see another game sweep the rug under CT or some unexpected top 10/20 placings.

About half of these ended up happening

 

[MoonFrog]

Yeah that does, on the surface, look like pretty bad news for DQ as far as the list goes .

But...Hopefully more people try it thanks to the thread!!!

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

Hopefully both EO 2 and 3 made it, with 2 in the top ten.

Haha, most people that had EO on their lists put IV so if 2 or 3 even make the list at all I'd expect them to be lower than #100.

 

[kswiston]

Fire Emblem was probably the series most hurt by vote splitting. None of the Fire Emblem games ended up in the Top 50, even though the series received 157 points. Six Fire Emblem games had over 15 points a piece. Awakening was highest with 33, followed pretty closely by Path of Radiance and Blazing Sword/FE GBA.

 

[Firemind]

awakening in the top 50 would have been a disgrace honestly

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Damn DQV missing the top 50. Top 50 better filled with GOAT.

I forgot to vote for it because I was in a rush. I was looking at it and was like I know there's something else besides Earthbound that I played for the first time, but I was at work and had to hurry and place a vote. With more time the list I made would've been almost entirely different.

 

[MoonFrog]

Damn, poor FE.

IDK. I really dislike Awakening, personally, but I sort of assumed that would still be the highest FE game. I did kind of hope that the above data was more emblematic of the other FE games usurping it, but that was, apparently, a vain hope.

But, are the votes for the other games higher than they were pre-Awakening falling in the list? That is, is the series bleeding votes, period, or are just more people trying various other entries and preferring them to Awakening?

 

[Emarv]

Fire Emblem was probably the series most hurt by vote splitting. None of the Fire Emblem games ended up in the Top 50, even though the series received 157 points. Six Fire Emblem games had over 15 points a piece. Awakening was highest with 33, followed pretty closely by Path of Radiance and Blazing Sword/FE GBA.

That's rough. Would have loved to see FE GBA in there, as I assumed the community would be behind it, but I guess it makes sense that Awakening brought in the majority of recent fans.

 

[gngf123]

Damn, I really thought I had seen enough EO4 votes for it to make the top 50.

 

[FiveSide]

I think FE's dilemma is that its current flagship is Fates, which was very divisive. Fates should be the high-ranked entry with Awakening pulling up at #2. Instead Fates is...somewhere...and Awakening is still #1.

Though, if Persona 4 outranks P5 (and it will), then there are some notable exceptions to this. Same with Dark Souls and DS3.

 

[kswiston]

Because 4 people used their underrated vote on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 actually ended up with the fewest votes of all of the Souls games.

 

[Surfside]

Because 4 people used their underrated vote on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 actually ended up with the fewest votes of all of the Souls games.

I'm not too sorry about that. I like 2 much more.

 

[Pepboy]

Damn DQV missing the top 50. Top 50 better filled with GOAT.

Dang DQV didn't make the top 50...that's a bummer. Maybe I should've made that my DQ entry instead of III...

So that basically confirms that the only DQ on the top 50 is VIII. (...right? Does VIII usually get more votes than V?)

EDIT: Wasn't FE:A in the top 15 at some point? Now it's out of the top 50, the turnaround on that game was strong.

That's kind of bizarre to me, because I never thought more or less of it as time went by. I still think it's a solid, fun game, with a basic but entertaining plot and characters.



Yea it really is perplexing. I wonder if more people voted for VIII instead of V this year, or if the DQ series as a whole got less votes.

Yeah that does, on the surface, look like pretty bad news for DQ as far as the list goes .

But...Hopefully more people try it thanks to the thread!!!

Nooooooo.... I wish DQ V had made it. Maybe 8 will but I kind of doubt it, skimmed a few pages and didn't see much 8.

Fire Emblem was probably the series most hurt by vote splitting. None of the Fire Emblem games ended up in the Top 50, even though the series received 157 points. Six Fire Emblem games had over 15 points a piece. Awakening was highest with 33, followed pretty closely by Path of Radiance and Blazing Sword/FE GBA.

KSwiston, would you consider adding a list of top 10 RPG franchises by total votes? Either in main thread or this one. No banners or anything too fancy, just curious.

Thank you again for setting this up, I can't wait for results thread.

 

[FiveSide]

Because 4 people used their underrated vote on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 actually ended up with the fewest votes of all of the Souls games.

Wow. That's kind of a bummer too. At least it was close to DS2.

 

[Thud]

That's the problem when all of them are basically similarly good and wasting 4 or 5 spots on a list just for 1 series feels like a waste.
And basically <20k people have played Trails the 3rd, so uh yeah.

We are the select few.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Because 4 people used their underrated vote on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 actually ended up with the fewest votes of all of the Souls games.

Hah! I was one of those, and I actually love all Souls games equally, but I'm glad DS2 gets a bit more love to counter-balance all the hate it unfairly gets.

 

[MoonFrog]

Hah! I was one of those, and I actually love all Souls games equally, but I'm glad DS2 gets a bit more love to counter-balance all the hate it unfairly gets.

That's voter power. Now I hope the next anecdote is that because of highlights DQIV made it into the top 50 beating the doom and gloom on this page Then I'll feel special!

 

[tiebreaker]

I only hope for Ni No Kuni to make top 50 this year, and Suikoden 2 to make top 10.

 

[ankle-rocker]

I'm so excited that this is wrapping up and that I got to put my two cents in this time around.
Even if I likely dumped my underrated vote to a game that's really unlikely to place.
So be it I guess. I still got to toot the horn for it here so I'm pleased.

 

[Iva Demilcol]

Because 4 people used their underrated vote on Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3 actually ended up with the fewest votes of all of the Souls games.

You're welcome =D

 

[kswiston]

Here were the Top 25 series where at least 3 different games received votes. Spin-offs are includes where applicable. In a few cases, I listed metaseries.

For SMT, I have the combined franchise, and the totals with Persona separated out.

	Series					Total Points
1	Final Fantasy				638
2	Shin Megami Tensei (with Persona)	543
3	Soulsborne				329
-	Persona					316
-	Shin Megami Tensei (no Persona)		227
4	Fallout					212
5	Xeno (gears+saga+blade)			204
6	Pokemon					177
7	Mario (SMRPG+Paper+M&L)			165
8	Fire Emblem				157
9	The Witcher				154
10	Mass Effect				148
11	The Elder Scrolls			118
12	Mother					117
13	Dragon Quest				114
14	Legend of Heroes			98
15	Suikoden				97
16	Deus Ex					85
17	Tales					76
18	Diablo					71
19	Divinity				67
20	Shadowrun				58
21	Ys					58
22	Legend of Zelda				57
23	Kingdom Hearts				56
24	Etrian Odyssey				44
25	Gothic					42

As always, the longer running classic computer RPGs (Ultima, Wizardry, Might and Magic, etc) are under-represented on this forum.

 

[FiveSide]

Here were the Top 25 series where at least 3 different games received votes. Spin-offs are includes where applicable. In a few cases, I listed metaseries.

For SMT, I have the combined franchise, and the totals with Persona separated out.

Interesting. Pretty awesome to see SMT so high even without the Persona boost.

Surprised Xeno is higher than Pokemon. I'm assuming that's mostly Xenoblade Chronicles piggybacking.

Ultima might've had a chance but Wizardry and Might & Magic are a lost cause.

 

[kswiston]

People forgot about Ultima this year. Might and Magic was higher thanks to a handful of us boosting M&M6

 

[Opa-Pa]

SMT and Souls being top 3 is too beautiful, they're my favorite RPGs. Lucifer bless.

Edit: Ah, with Persona. Individually Persona beats SMT... Everything is terrible then! (though not too surprising)

 

[MoonFrog]

No Elder Scrolls either. Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim were pretty big games. Surprised they can't, combined, crack those numbers.

 

[kswiston]

Wait. I forgot TES

Give me a minute to fix that.

EDIT: Fixed. The Elder Scrolls was #11 if you count SMT as one big chunk. or #12 splitting out Persona.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Curious.

Did you count Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE as part of an overall franchise?

 

[kswiston]

Curious.

Did you count Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE as part of an overall franchise?

Yes, I threw it under SMT, as one of the many, many spinoffs.

It doesn't make much sense to include it with Fire Emblem.

 

[MoonFrog]

Wait. I forgot TES

Give me a minute to fix that.

EDIT: Fixed. The Elder Scrolls was #11 if you coun't SMT as one big chunk. or #12 splitting out Persona.

Ah Ok. That makes sense! Thanks for doing this.

 

[StrangeRoboMemory]

Looks like there was a huge turnout for this one, which is awesome to see!

 

[PFD]

While we allow kswiston time to finish tallying the votes (and thanks so much for all of your effort on this!), I figured that PC Gamer's recently posted list might be of interest to those here: http://www.pcgamer.com/best-rpgs-of-all-time/

Spoiler

Divinity: Original Sin 2
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Anachronox
Grim Dawn
Legend of Grimrock 2
Arx Fatalis
Undertale
Tyranny
Path of Exile
Darkest Dungeon
Mount & Blade: Warband
Neverwinter Nights 2
Gothic 2
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Pillars of Eternity
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
Divinity: Original Sin
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Diable 3: Reaper of Souls
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Fallout: New Vegas
Dark Souls 3
The Witcher 2
Dragon Age: Origins
System Shock 2
Ultimate VII: The Black Gate
Deus Ex
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Mass Effect 2
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Fallout 2
Baldur's Gate 2
Planescape: Torment

Glad to see Witcher 3 amongst the greats, where it belongs

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

A shame that Shin Megam Tensei IV fell just short of the Top 50; it should be much higher. Nice to see that the series as a whole is in the top 5 even without including Persona.

Trails and Ys are both way too low on that series ranking, though. More of GAF needs to discover the joy of Falcom games.

Edit:

Question about this:
"6 Pokemon 177
7 Fire Emblem 157
8 The Witcher 154
9 Mass Effect 148
10 Mario (SMRPG+Paper+M&L) 165"

is Mario's point total wrong, or was it supposed to be in 7th rather than 10th?

 

[kswiston]

A shame that Shin Megam Tensei IV fell just short of the Top 50; it should be much higher. Nice to see that the series as a whole is in the top 5 even without including Persona.

Trails and Ys are both way too low on that series ranking, though. More of GAF needs to discover the joy of Falcom games.

Edit:

Question about this:
"6 Pokemon 177
7 Fire Emblem 157
8 The Witcher 154
9 Mass Effect 148
10 Mario (SMRPG+Paper+M&L) 165"

is Mario's point total wrong, or was it supposed to be in 7th rather than 10th?

It was supposed to be 7th. I originally had Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi separate, but then I didn't know what to do with SMRPG, so I just lumped everything. I then forgot to re-sort the list.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

It was supposed to be 7th. I originally had Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi separate, but then I didn't know what to do with SMRPG, so I just lumped everything. I then forgot to re-sort the list.

When you had them separate how did you count Paper Jam? As solely a Mario & Luigi game?

Thanks again for all the work on the list.

 

[kswiston]

I started the free game raffle. Rad Shadow was the first name picked by the RNG gods. He will get first pick (or first pass) of one of the prizes. Once I get a reply from him, I will proceed to the next draw. It will probably take me a few days to get through everything with the delays between PMs. People whose names are picked for the raffle will be highlighted in red in my list of eligible participants (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11NygxUUHbzKMmPF3fUKiJqE7OYx-TAlf15rfElUN3Ng/edit?usp=sharing). You can only get picked once.

Cosmic Star Heroine keys should be going out in the next day or two. You will be getting an automated PM + key, so PM me if there are difficulties. If you don't want your key for whatever reason, give it to a friend that might be interested, or raffle it off in the Steam community thread. Hopefully most of you will actually play the game though!

If you like it, spread the word.

When you had them separate how did you count Paper Jam? As solely a Mario & Luigi game?

Thanks again for all the work on the list.

I originally had it in the Mario & Luigi category, but combining everything was less of a headache. The Mario and Luigi games didn't get a lot of love this year.

 

[FiveSide]

A shame that Shin Megam Tensei IV fell just short of the Top 50; it should be much higher. Nice to see that the series as a whole is in the top 5 even without including Persona.

Trails and Ys are both way too low on that series ranking, though. More of GAF needs to discover the joy of Falcom games.

It's also a shame that Apocalypse is nowhere in sight. It has the most refined gameplay in SMT, polished Press Turn up to a beautiful, perfect sheen.

I haven't played Trails, but yea it's unfortunate that Ys is that low. Hopefully more people got a chance to play VIII, which is one of the better entries so far.