1. Tales of Phantasia (Playstation, PSP, GBA)
Our final epic RPG is Tales of Phantasia, which was released on multiple platforms, including PSP and GBA and the original Playstation. And if you havent figured it out yet, this is the ancestor for the more famous games Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Graces and so on. However I find it to be one of the more interesting story-lines out of the entire
Tales series as it involves a lot of travel through time in a fantasy world, but still falls in the same vein of the later games with being action, real-time oriented combat and a young male character as the player. Much like the later series, it does the best with its characterization, which really makes you want to see the story conclude with the main character saving the world and getting his revenge on the jerk who destroyed his town (which doesnt necessarily mean that happens though). Unfortunately at the time JRPG games weren't that well known and no one really wanted to take a risk on them. It's clear since then though with the massive support the Tales series has gotten and the re-release of this system on multiple platforms that more people know about it, but just have not played it because they'd rather be playing the more recent ones in the 'Tales' series. It's disappointing, considering this was the game that started it all, and it offers one of the better gameplay designs, it's just most people can't always get passed the graphics being a bit lower than what they would expect today. When it comes down to it, there are so many other great RPGs that many people just cant or wont get around to and a few honorable mentions include Okame Shadow King for the PS2, and Nostalgia for the DS, which is another steampunk RPG. Id love to hear what other ones I havent mentioned that people might not know about, so dont forget to leave a comment if you have one.