Best video game RPG

If you like old school D&D like I do, then I'd highly recommend the Wizardry franchise. They're pretty much all hardcore D&D first-person dungeon crawlers that focus on stats, combat, and dungeon exploration rather than story or character development. The series started out in the West, but it was insanely popular in Japan, so they gradually took control of the franchise (they've put out dozens of Wizardry games that we never got in North America). My favorite installments are the Gaiden (Japanese for "side story" quartet. Suffering of the Queen, Curse of the Ancient Emperor, and Scripture of the Dark were made for the original black-and-white Gameboy, and the fourth, Throb of the Demon's Heart, was made for the Super Famicom (SNES). They're all completely in Japanese though, so you'd have a hard time playing them without any knowledge of the language. If you want to know more, check out my translated bestiaries for the first three Gaiden games:

Suffering of the Queen:

Curse of the Ancient Emperor:

Scripture of the Dark:

I liked mass effect, fallout, and elder scrolls and grand theft auto. awesome games.

The PSP actually has some good RPGs too. I don't think they have the Tales series but they have 2 remakes of the Star Ocean games.

Thanks everyone !

Then I hit on some then little known ones like Shadowrun, 7th Saga (man that game was tough), and the Ys series which turns out to be as big in Japan as Final Fantasy.

yeah FF 6 or 7 for me too

It was FF2 and 3 in the US that got me liking RPGs, before that I found them dull. Now I'm killing myself to get all the old ones.

Never played 6 so I couldn't comment but 7 took my RPG cherry and I'll always remember it

FF6 was just as good in my opinion, especially for the system it was on. Sadly turned based old school rpgs only exist in japan now.

I actually felt FF6 was the superior game out of the two. I'm sad that Square doesn't hold the same standards of quality for their RPGs nowadays. Or maybe I'm just getting old, and less adaptive to change..

FF6 was just as good in my opinion, especially for the system it was on. Sadly turned based old school rpgs only exist in japan now.

Skyrim for the win and if you're looking for a cheaper option then go Oblivion. Months of fun!!

As for old school RPG, it's gotta be final fantasy 7, nothing has ever even come close to it in my opinion.

If your talking modern theres the Xbox & Knights of the Old Republic or Morrorwind. Latest system Xbox 360 and definitely Oblivion or Skyrim both are amazing in my opinio. :-)
Rogue

Sadly the console RPG is all about dead thanks to FPS games being incorporated. I agree the PC and handhelds are where the old school RPGs and turn based ones are.

If you're into D&D then PC is your best bet, honestly. There are several AD&D games for the PC, such as Baldur's Gate I and II, Icewind Dale I and II, Torment and Neverwinter Nights. Arcanum is also great and made in a similar style, though it isn't actually an AD&D game. They're older games, but they're still pretty awesome.

I don't think any of the current generation of consoles really offer that kind of game play. I remember there being some Baldur's Gate run on Ps2, but never looked into it. Fable I and II, Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Arkham City/Asylum(more action and detective-y, but still has some RPG elements, kinda) are really great modern RPGs that are multi-platform (including PC) that may strike your interest if you want something newer.

The Super nintendo had a ton of them if you're into retro. The genesis had a few good ones including some strategy/RPG and a Shadowrun game. Xbox and 360 don't have much old school style. Sadly turn based RPGs are a dying thing in the US other than some on the PC.