1. Shining Force II: Accessibility, polish, charm - Shining Force I and II do not represent the sense of complexity and challenge that the SRPG genre usually invokes. Other than the four items characters bring with them into battle and the personal choice of when/if to promote their classes, the player doesn't have to make decisions about the progression of her characters. What made the game really shine was the way they used the Genesis system to its strengths. They used charming sprites when it was feasible, but talking character portraits and beautiful character illustrations during the battle scenes when possible. The soundtrack is one of my favorite Genesis compositions, creating mesmerizing songs and battle themes. Artistically, it's one of the most well-rounded games I've played and the combat is not advanced enough to drive away curious casual players. For these reasons I think it's one of the most perfectly packaged games I've ever played.

2. Final Fantasy VII: pacing - I think Final Fantasy VII is the best paced RPG I've ever played. It goes beyond what JRPGs were at the time and is essentially a collection of mini-games and story sequences. Sometimes you would run from cover to cover at just the right time to avoid detection. In another scene, you'd pilot a submarine with missiles. The battles were fare more fluid and fast paced than their PlayStation counterparts and the game rarely spent too long with text boxes. Things were constantly going on around you in the environments - soldiers fighting and falling from the plate pillar in Sector 7, or helicopters flying in the Rufus fight. This combination of intense scenes, varying gameplay in mini-games, action-packed turn-based combat, imaginative cutscenes and unique characters made it a joy to play through, whereas too many games get bogged down today in any one of these factors, especially due to a lack in the variety of gameplay.

3. Tactics Ogre: scope and scale - I previously would've put Tactics Ogre here, but I prefer its predecessor better. When it comes to games that have casts of hundreds of characters, with a story whose implications span thousands of years, and subject matter that delves into the mature and sometimes dark, few people do it better than Matsuno and crew, especially with the art, music, and customizable gameplay

4. Valkyria Chronicles II: cast development and progression - I really love the first, but the second hit me hard with how they developed so many side characters. These people come from varying backgrounds and viewpoints and I love how the game gives you the opportunity to interact with each of them to find out what makes them tick and then gives each one a character arc, a resolution to a conflict or an advancement of their goals. I love how side missions with unique contexts and challenges are consistently used to help with this. It's a very large cast of characters and when you see all of them working together or putting differences aside throughout the story, it makes for really emotional storytelling that is always different depending on the player.

5. Dragon Quest V: classic RPG gameplay - most any game in the DQ series would do, but I think the factor that has made Dragon Quest such an enduring success in Japan is how they grasp what makes the JRPG formula good, better than any of the developers that have emulated it. I think the way the combat is relatively simple and starts off so is what makes the game friendly for everyone. Then, you get just enough new abilities and the enemies get difficult at just the right rate to make it the best scaled games. It gets more difficult and more complex just as it should, whereas so many RPGs have horrible difficulty spikes or the player can take advantage of the system far earlier than they should with respect to the enemies they're facing. The dungeons are also novel with each one having a unique twist with either the setting, the traps, and the puzzles always require just enough ingenuity to have that "a-ha!" moment. I love how Dragon Quest takes just enough of these ingredients to make such a delicious meal.

So those are the five games and their elements I would take to making a modern, greatest RPG of all time.