Yeah, this ones going to get a lot of flak for being so high on the list.

Also, that article was fun.

11. Record of the Agarest War (PS3/360)
      First off, for those who saw the trailer, no, this game is not entirely focused on Fan Service. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, this game is solid, and very unique in it’s story. Not so much the overarching plot, but more the execution.

      This game spans five generations. Our hero makes a vow that will keep him alive to fulfill a promise, and as a result a burden is placed on him and future generations of his family. You play through five generations of the family, each one being a full story in it’s own right, all while building up to that fifth generations finale. And each generations story is great.

      The only real weak point for me is Generation fours hero is a smurfing tool. Though it is amusing that most of your party treats him like he’s useless half the time, so there is some compensation there. He’s not bad by the end of the generation, but he’s it doesn’t really make up for it. On the other side, we have Generation 3 with the greatest main character in the game, Thoma. He’s amazing as a character, and I was sadder at the end of that generation then any other point in the game.

      The character relationships and interactions in this game are handled amazingly well. It has a huge cast of characters, really only comparable with games like Suikoden in shear volume. It also does a comparable job at giving all of these characters personality and story, and in a lot of instances the shear length of the game allows it to do even better. I love the premise your relationship with your potential spouse is based on more then just your interactions towards them, but also general choices you make in how to proceed.

      Gameplay is great. I love teaming up multiple guys and ‬performing a huge variety of combination attacks. By end of third generation you have a pretty set way of handling fights though, but a continuation of characters getting added in there are still ways to keep changing up your strategy by small bits.

      And this game’s difficulty can get pretty damn brutal at times. Midas from Generation three is a damn beast of a man, but the final defeat of him was so wonderfully satisfying. After him the difficulty tones itself down a lot, but a great chunk of the game keeps the heat up. Of course difficulty comes in for more then just battles. The game keeps track of turns used, and if you take to long you can actually miss out on different aspects of the game.

      It also comes with a great sense of humor, and very great comedic timing. Never does the comedy disrupt the games serious moments, something that bothers the hell out of me is some games. Not a huge point, but something worth mentioning I think.

      Finally, I like the ‘morality system’ if you can call it that. Rather then a complete overhaul of character, it’s more a lean your character takes on how things should be handled. It’s well handled in that your choices matter, and your character still holds on to his strong and distinct personality. Amazing SRPG right here.