Curated playlist

Turn-based role-playing video games

Final Fantasy Legend IIA smashed goddess statue scatters 77 magical stones across linked worlds in Final Fantasy Legend II.
Final Fantasy IV (2007 video game)Three quarters of Final Fantasy IV's original script never reached players in 1991.
Suikoden IVIn Suikoden IV, a cursed rune jumps to the nearest person when its bearer dies. It slowly drains its bearer's life.
Final Fantasy XIIIFinal Fantasy XIII's heroes learn their mission is to destroy their own world.
Final Fantasy Legend IIIFinal Fantasy Legend III began in Japan as SaGa 3, planned as the last game in its series.
Final Fantasy VJapan asked Square not to release Final Fantasy V on a school day.
Pokémon (video game series)The Pokémon video game series has sold more than 515 million units worldwide. That makes it the fourth best-selling video game franchise, behind only the Mario franchise, Call of Duty, and Tetris. It started in 1996, when Pocket Monsters…
Final Fantasy IIIFinal Fantasy III's developers followed a programmer to Sacramento after his work visa expired.
Final Fantasy VIIFinal Fantasy VII skipped the Nintendo 64 after one big enemy slowed it down.
Final Fantasy IXFinal Fantasy IX deliberately turned backward to medieval castles and minstrels.
Final Fantasy XIII-2In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Serah and Noel jump between eras to repair paradoxes in time.
Final Fantasy X-2Final Fantasy X-2 built its costume-changing battles from magical girl anime and Charlie's Angels.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIIIIn Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning has thirteen days to save the world.
Suikoden (video game)Suikoden, a 1995 Konami role-playing game, asked players to recruit 108 warriors to overthrow an empire.
Baldur's GateBaldur's Gate is a series of fantasy role-playing video games, and one of its best-loved heroes takes advice from a hamster. Minsc, a berserker ranger from the human nation of Rashemen, travels with a hamster named Boo. He believes Boo is…
Persona 3Persona 3 asks its player to press a gun-shaped device against their own head and fire. The device is called an Evoker, and the shot summons a Persona, a physical form of the shooter's psyche. Atlus developed this role-playing game, which…
Honkai: Star RailHonkai: Star Rail, a free-to-play role-playing game from the Shanghai studio miHoYo, had 22.98 million people in mainland China pre-register before it opened its doors. Another 10 million signed up from outside the mainland. That is an…
Final Fantasy IIFinal Fantasy II replaced experience points with stats that grow by use. Its designer felt it went too far.
Final Fantasy XFinal Fantasy X shipped in Japan in 2001 and sold more than 2.14 million units on its first day alone, including 1.4 to 1.5 million pre-orders. A million copies moved within hours of release. Square had expected modest returns from a…
Suikoden VIn Suikoden V, the Prince's trusted aunt betrays him at the moment he could end the war.
Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2Belgium's anti-gambling law forced Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 to shut down there.
Persona 5Persona 5 opens in an interrogation room in Tokyo, and it keeps pulling the player back there. The 2016 role-playing game, built by the Atlus development studio P-Studio, is the sixth installment in the Persona series, which grew out of…
Persona (series)In Persona 3, released in 2006, the heroes of the Persona video game series raise a gun-like device to their own heads and pull the trigger. The device is called an Evoker. Firing it is meant to overcome the user's cowardice, and what…
Pokémon Red, Blue, and YellowPokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow began as a pitch that Nintendo's own staff could not make sense of. In 1990, the game developer Satoshi Tajiri described his concept to them, and the response was skepticism. They judged his ideas too…
Baldur's Gate 3Wizards of the Coast first turned down Larian Studios' bid to make Baldur's Gate 3 in 2014.
Final Fantasy (video game)Final Fantasy got its name because its creator planned to quit if it failed. Square was also facing bankruptcy in 1987.
Final Fantasy IVFinal Fantasy IV began with a Formula One race. Hiroyuki Ito saw cars pass at different speeds and got an idea.
Final Fantasy VIFinal Fantasy VI lets its hero fail to save the world. The story's second half is called the World of Ruin.
Final Fantasy VIIIFinal Fantasy VIII sold 2.21 million copies in one day in Japan.
Suikoden IIIn Suikoden II, best friends Riou and Jowy are fated to fight until one dies. A hidden third ending spares them.
Persona 4Persona 4 is a 2008 role-playing game from the Japanese developer Atlus, and it opens on a puzzle that sounds like a ghost story. In a small rural town, bodies are found dangling from television antennas, and no one can say what killed…
Pokémon Scarlet and VioletPokémon Scarlet and Violet are role-playing games from the studio Game Freak, built for the Nintendo Switch and released on the 18th of November 2022. The story starts at a school. Players enroll at Naranja Academy in Scarlet or Uva…
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a being called the Paintress paints a number on an enormous rock formation known as the Monolith. Every person at that age or older then vanishes. The event is called the Gommage. It happens once a year, and…
Chrono TriggerChrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing game that Square developed and published for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It began with a research trip. In October 1992, three veteran creators traveled to the United States to study…
Pokémon Diamond and PearlPokémon Diamond and Pearl, a pair of role-playing games for the Nintendo DS, helped players complete more than 10 million Pokémon trades over Wi-Fi. Game Freak developed them for the Nintendo DS and released them in 2006, the 10th…
Mother 3Mother 3 is a role-playing game that took twelve years and four consoles to finish, and then never left Japan. In the run-up to its release, people who phoned the Japan Post heard the game's main theme, "Love Theme", while they waited on…
Bravely DefaultThe team behind Bravely Default never expected the 3DS game to leave Japan. It sold a million copies by July 2014.
The Final Fantasy LegendThe Final Fantasy Legend's last boss can die to one chainsaw hit. A Game Boy weapon with instant death does it.
Suikoden IIISuikoden III tells one war from three sides, with no heroes or villains. Players live through each view in turn.
Pokémon X and YPokémon X and Pokémon Y, released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2013, sold more than four million copies worldwide in one weekend. That made them the fastest-selling games the handheld had ever seen. Game Freak developed the pair, and The…
Dragon Quest VIIDragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past sold 3.57 million copies in Japan within 17 days of going on sale in 2000. Enix published it for the original PlayStation, as one more entry in a role-playing series that Yuji Horii has…
Pokémon Black and WhitePokémon Black and White, a pair of role-playing games for the Nintendo DS, began with a rule that broke a long habit of the series. After the first generation, every new set of games had mixed fresh creatures in among old favorites.…