Top 3 favorite RPGs per gaming era/system

[Wolf Kanno]

NES:
Final Fantasy - While incredibly basic for today's player, I appreciate the replay value and easier sequence breaking this game has over other JRPGs of its time.

Final Fantasy III - Basically FFI on steroids, I love the new job mechanics and the fiercer difficulty.

Dragon Quest III - Probably the best JRPG on the NES. It has my favorite setting and story twist within the DQ universe. It also has the strongest gameplay of the NES entries.

GB:
Saga 2(FFL2) - It's everything I liked about the first game just more and packaged in a tighter and more interesting story.

SaGa 1(FFL) - A surprisingly good, if really quirky RPG that changes how you really think about RPG mechanics. It's honestly well designed for handheld gaming.

Pokemon Red/Blue - The games that started it all, it has the distinction of being the only entries in the franchise I ever really got into.

SNES:
Final Fantasy VI - Still my absolute favorite FF game that really changed my thoughts on gaming in general.

Chrono Trigger - My favorite game of all time that I still feel has the closest overall perfect design.

Secret of Mana - The game that really got me into RPGs. It's still my favorite Mana game and one of the rare Action RPGs I enjoy.

GBA:
FFTactics Advance - While I feel its a bit stripped down from its predecessor, the story for this game is phenomenal and underrated.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories - Probably the last well written KH game. I love the more tactical battle system and the darker direction it took the series.

FFV Advance - While I dislike the new classes and weaker audio presentation, FFVA has the best translation for this overall stellar game.

DS:
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - One of the most underrated of the pure SMT titles outside of maybe "if...". This game has one of the better narratives for the SMT franchise and strong gameplay despite dropping the awesome Press Turn System for something more conventional.

The World Ends With You - One of the rare games built to tackle all of the DS gimmicks and somehow make it fun. A great story, cool aesthetic and OST work well with a quirky battle system that is unlike anything we've ever really seen since.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - A great remake of a great 16-bit RPG. I appreciate the fact the new content doesn't feel as intrusive as the ones for other DQ titles and instead just lets the game shine for its own merits.

Wii:
Xenoblade Chronicles - One of the most impressive games on the Wii period, the scale of its world combined with its user friendly quest mechanics and intriguing gameplay made this one of the great gems for this system.

The Last Story - One of the more underrated games for the Wii as well as Mistwalker in general. While its main characters are cringy as hell, the actual plot is decent and is combined with really groundbreaking gameplay I'm sad that no one else really picked up on.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Hell yeah I'm counting this, if anything, so I can have three entries. Easily my favorite game on the Wii and my favorite of the 3D Zelda titles.

PS1:
Xenogears - With a plot ahead of its time, Xenogears pretty much destroyed my expectations for narratives in this genre.

Vagrant Story - Probably Matsuno's true masterpiece, VS is a quirky but engaging game that combines interesting gameplay with a stirring narrative.

Suikoden II - An awesome expansion from the criminally underrated first entry. The game is the other well known RPG about two friends being torn apart by war and finding themselves on opposing sides of the conflict. Expanded gameplay and a more cohesive storyline that isn't as guilty of dipping too much into RPG cliches made this a fan favorite for sure.

PS2:
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - My favorite SMT game and the title that made me fall in love with the franchise. I still feel its one of the most engaging entries and best game out of Atlus.

Persona 3 FES - Probably the best Persona game in general that rebooted the franchise and turned it into a powerhouse. It still has the best design of the series.

Suikoden V - Easily the most underrated entry of the "good" Suikoden games. SV takes everything that was good about the series and puts it together in one package. At least Suikoden fans can agree that the mainline series left on a high note.

PS3:
Demon's Souls - This game had been on my radar since it was causing a stir in Japan. One of the most innovated RPGs on the system that really deserved a remake treatment over its spiritual predecessor.

Dark Souls - Taking the great core concepts from Demon and ironing out all the bugs, it is no surprise to me that DS1 was such a phenomena for this generation. It made difficult games hip again and helped propel the most engaging aspects of its predecessors to a more mainstream audience.

Dark Souls 2 - While it may be the black sheep of the franchise, DS2 is still a pretty solid game overall that just gets a bit bloated in a few places. yes, I'm a fanboy now...

PSP:
Persona 2: Innocent Sin - The most underrated entry of the franchise, P2 is really where we get to see this franchise flex its narrative muscle and I still prefer its more punk aspect compared to the streamlined anime styling of its successors. It's just a damn shame that Eternal Punishment wasn't ported over either.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - A real cool game that deserved better than to be on the PSP, I still feel this game should have been KHIII.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions - The best FF game on the PS1, this game takes the narrative points from Tactics Ogre and turns it into an engaging character study that is combined with one of my favorite Tactical RPG battle systems. The PSP version adds a bunch of cool features, but I feel the new translation is the best part.

PS4:
Bloodborne - Easily my favorite of the Souls-like titles. Bloodborne takes the elements I love from Dark Souls and merges it with faster and more aggressive combat and a better setting based on Lovecraft. In fact the Lore based story-telling and bleakness of the setting works well for a Lovecraft inspired gem. Happy hunting good hunters indeed.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - While the graphical update wasn't really special for this game considering the original still looks stellar, finally getting a hold of the superior Zodiac Jobs version of this game helps to smooth out a lot of the gripes on the gameplay side of things. The gameplay changes honestly help make this feel like a different game which is much appreciated for someone who poured a lot of time into the original. Still love the plot and cast too!

Persona 5 - A stellar RPG that showed people that turn based combat can still be fun and engaging. P5 feels like a proper sequel to P3 that largely fixes major problems from the previous entries like way better dungeon design, more challenging combat, a more engaging social link system, and a story that feels more hard hitting and will make you walk away from it thinking more about your life. It is one of the rare sequels in development hell that was actually worth the wait.