5. Grandia (Sega Saturn, Playstation)
Moving on, we come to a fantasy RPG born for the original Playstation (actually first seen on the Sega Saturn). Its had many sequels and spin-offs created after it, but I feel like none of them have truly lived up to the original Grandia. Still you can find many of the other versions on things like the Playstation Network, which probably makes them easier to grab. Im almost certain this game is what led to some gamers ultimately growing up to be archeologists (combined with their love of Indiana Jones) as the design of the games story focuses on a young boy (yet again) uncovering a civilization that no one was really aware of. It has a bunch of magic and technology mixing together and the best of all is the characters throughout the game. Id equate the character design and development to the level of the Tales of Symphonia series. If you like JRPGs or Tales of Symphonia at all then this is a major title to consider, it even has a similar concept of the monsters appearing on the field so you can sneak up on them and get a surprise round in battle if you are smart about it. You'll also find some of the 'anime-esque' cutscenes throughout this one, which is why I likened this one to the Tales series, though it has a completely different story-line. Of course it is because of some of the other JRPG's that we run into the issue of this game not being nearly as well known as it should. That wasn't the only factor, the other main issue is that JRPG's weren't that famous or known back then; it was mainly because of the Tales series that we are even aware of them today (outside of Japan anyway). There's the added effect of many people not really wanting to deal with Anime as there is a social stigma that its only the lame people and people that don't actually function in society watch anime and read manga (which is carried over from Japan), this makes great games like this one that is likened to anime get tossed aside by many people, but it would be the same as just saying there are cut-scenes in it.