I'm going to ignore FPS games that masquerade as RPGs, such as Mass Effect and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Not sure if the latter would be in my list anyway, but just to give an idea of what I don't class as an RPG.

1. Final Fantasy VII
Over the years I've tried to ascertain exactly what it is that makes me consider Final Fantasy VII the best game I have ever played (the only game to compete with it, for me, has been Uncharted 2). There are too many reasons to list, in the end. Yes, there are some things that weren't quite right, but overall I feel the game just caught me at every turn. I loved all the characters bar Aeris, and she got killed. I mean, if that can't make me love a game on it's own, I don't know what can.

But more notably, the other stuff the fact that both Sephiroth and Shinra actually made me give a damn about the storyline. There are far too many games these days that have villains which feel as though they are just thrown in there with little thought, but in this case both of them felt like they fitted the world, fitted the story, fitted the attitude and fitted the look perfectly.

Gameplay was immense - there were loads of things that you did in this game beyond fighting and traveling. You had chocobo capturing, chocobo breeding, chocobo racing, materia leveling, gambling, submarine chases, snowboarding, the highway battle, dungeon puzzles, unlocking limit breaks, amusing NPCs, unlockable characters and their relevant sidequests... just so much to do! I would be loathe to finish the game because I always felt I should do just one more of the many things that you could take on in the game.

The story was very well done, and perhaps a little ahead of it's time. I think others have covered this stuff, such as Bolivar with pacing and if someone hasn't mentioned the gorgeous use of music then I'm stunned (haven't read everything just yet). I dunno, the game was just perfectly done for me.

All the others are in no order because I can't decide which is better than the next.

Final Fantasy VIII
Perhaps a surprising addition, but it gets the nod because of how well it mixed up the gameplay aspects and the exploration. Multiple travel methods, each with their own 'indoors' areas, good twists in the storyline, interactive limit breaks, Triple Triad (and card mod, one of my favourite things ever), interesting sidequests and whatnot. I just felt it was a very enjoyable game, and didn't suffer from Tidus/Yuna/Seymour like FFX did. So I could actually play it without wanting to kick my TV. Sure, the VIII character's aren't amazing, but they're tolerable at worst and amusing at best.

Final Fantasy XII
Gets a nod for the vastness of the maps, the fantastic world (although obviously credit can largely go to FFT etc. for this, FFXII was a JRPG rather than strategy RPG which is what I'm going for), the quality characters, the interesting bestiary, the hunts and whatnot. I felt it had a great amount going for it, so much that the downside was that I would never remember to get on with the storyline and would forget what was going on. That, and like many FF's, I didn't care about the enemy.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Walking from one corner of the map to the other and being confronted with so many different things I've never experienced or noticed in the game puts this high on my list. But obviously such things happen in games! What is key about this is that this was after I had finished the game. I'd completed four main questlines, maybe five, and I came across new things in the game time and time again. I would not be surprised (and I mean this in a good way) if something new were to come up should I load the game up once more. Also, modding this game makes it incredible. The stuff people come up with enhances the game to no end. I fully reccomend having a look around.

Excelsior
The amount of skills and the amount of diversity in character creation alone make this game incredible to play. There is so much to do and the puzzles are very well done. I seriously enjoy this game every time I play it, because with the character creation system it always makes each game different when I play it with a new setup.

Pokémon Red/Blue
Because they had the Pokémon I actually give a crap about. This would be higher up the list if I could actually get all 151 Pokémon in a single game, but you have to catch them in two different games. I don't know about you guys, but I feel like my character (and thus, me) is cheating when he trades in Pokémon. Even when he's trading them from another game that is controlled by me. :S