Daily Grind: The Best RPGs Of 2016

Don't let anyone tell you the JRPG genre is dead. To be sure, the category may not be soaring in terms of mainstream popularity — but at least as far as 2016 is concerned, that has absolutely nothing to do with the games' quality. While last year brought such sublime Western takes on the genre as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, this year was packed with winner after winner from Japanese creators. Having reached the end of such a momentous year for my favorite genre, it's now my pleasure to reveal We Got This Covered's picks for the best RPGs of 2016. From the Pokémon series' most bold revision in years to Final Fantasy's blockbuster return, this is a list of games that every role-playing fan worth their salt should check out. Enjoy! 10) Dragon Quest Builders I have to admit, on my list of most wanted franchise mixups, a Dragon Quest-Minecraft crossover wasn't anywhere near the top. Okay, so this game doesn't officially have anything to do with Mojang's smash hit franchise, but the influence is evident in every screenshot — and that's beside the point, anyway. The point is, I never expected a crafting take on Square Enix's other longtime RPG series to be so fun, flexible and addictive — and yet Dragon Quest Builders provided me with countless hours of fun to kick off the fall gaming season. Its take on Dragon Quest's combat was a little oversimplified for my taste, but its deep and varied set of building tools helped fill that void. And to be fair, it's undeniably refreshing to see an RPG title focused on creation rather than destruction. 9) Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir I debated whether to include Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir on this list, because it's technically a remastered version of Vanillaware's 2007 cult classic. I put it on here regardless, though, because calling this masterful update a mere "remaster" seems a criminal understatement to me. In addition to updating the gorgeous hand-drawn 2D sprites for high definition, Leifthrasir tweaks a million little things to get them just right. As a result, the side-scrolling combat and exploration play a million times better than they did nine years ago, and make this Atlus-published title among the best examples of refining a game ever. 8) Fire Emblem Fates Fire Emblem: Awakening is a tough act to follow. That 2013 masterpiece single-handedly reversed the series' fortunes, offering a lovable cast of characters, epic story and heavy revisions to the franchise's strategy-RPG gameplay. Fire Emblem Fates' trio of games — Birthright, Conquest and Revelation — can't help but feel like a lateral step by comparison. And yet... when you've got a base as solid as Awakening's, that's more than enough to push the proceedings over the top into "excellent" territory. What Fates does differently is offer three unique takes on the same world: Birthright and Conquest offer Fire Emblem newcomers and experts a robust campaign, respectively, while Revelation provides a more satisfying conclusion to the tragic tale spun in the other two entries. 7) World Of Final Fantasy What a way to celebrate the Final Fantasy franchise's 30th anniversary… you know, besides that other huge game we might be seeing later in the list, of course. World of Final Fantasy's Grimoire lovingly blends three decades' worth of characters and worlds into a single narrative, and the results are as silly, convoluted and downright charming as you might expect. Yeah, to be honest, I'm still not sure I completely follow this game's story. But that's hardly a point of contention when I got to spend more time with beloved characters like Tidus, Squall and Vivi — all while experiencing a new combat system that gamely blends traditional turn-based Final Fantasy combat with addictive and fun monster capturing. This was one of the most joyfully goofy times I had with a game all year, and I can't help but smile when I think of it. 6) 7th Dragon III: Code VFD Talk about a game I had zero expectations for — and I mean no disrespect when I say that! The fact is, the 7th Dragon franchise has never made it stateside before, so I was prepared to be extremely confused by the series' third entry, 7th Dragon III: Code VFD. Thanks to a self-contained narrative and an excellent localization by Sega, however, I soon found myself completely absorbed in the game's world. Fun, open-ended exploration and highly customizable turn-based battling are just two of this title's advantages — and that's without getting into the narrative, which somehow spins a delightful yarn despite a party of mostly-mute player-created protagonists. Plus, I have to give credit to any game that lets characters go on a date with others of the same gender; it might not be a major feature here, but it absolutely delighted me, and served as a little testament to just how much representation can make a difference in gaming. 5) Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE When fans first heard about the Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover, I'm pretty sure exactly no one had this in mind. A game about high school-age Japanese idols who use Fire Emblem characters as Persona-like sources of power to stop evil from overrunning Tokyo? Uh, all right, if you say so. Some of my fellow game journalists' reactions to this title's insane, hyper-Japanese reveal at E3 2015 still make me laugh when I think about them. And yet, in spite of all this, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE proved to be the game a lot of us didn't know we wanted — serving as one of two sources of magnificent Shin Megami Tensei relief in the agonizing wait for Persona 5 (more on the other source later). Adorable characters, fun dungeons and an addictively fast-paced and flashy combat system come together to form the defining JRPG experience on Wii U. Oh yes. I went there, Xenoblade. 4) Dark Souls III This might be the last of Hidetaka Miyazaki's fan-favorite franchise we see for a while, and if that turns out to be true, it's a hell of a send-off. Offering up a nightmarishly challenging campaign set in a world full of eldritch abominations and macabre visions of hell, Dark Souls III righted the series ship many felt had gone astray in Dark Souls II. As someone who'd never ventured into the dripping, slimy corridors of the Souls world before, I found this entry a welcoming (well, as welcoming as a Souls game can be, anyway) introduction to everything that makes the series so beloved by hardcore RPG fans. And in terms of universes and lore created by games in 2016, you'd be hard-pressed to find one more fully-realized in its horror than Lothric. 3) Pokémon Sun And Moon I thought X and Y were going to offer this series sort of fresh revision it desperately needed after so many generations, but I couldn't have been more wrong: the weak story and lack of truly new content left me in an unprecedented sort of Poké-fatigue. After taking a break from the series for a few years, there couldn't have been a better re-introduction for me than Pokémon Sun and Moon. With a Hawaii-inspired setting that feels more fleshed-out and exciting than anything the franchise has seen in decades, and a number of important revisions to the central gameplay mechanics, Sun and Moon are exactly the kind of refresh that Game Freak's storied series needed — without sacrificing everything that made the games wonderful in the first place. 2) Final Fantasy XV When it comes to turning a series on its head, few games have gone as far as Final Fantasy XV. Not only has the turn-based action been swapped for real-time, Kingdom Hearts-style hack-and-slash, but the overall style feels more akin to a Western open world game than a traditional JRPG. That might feel a bit strange to some, but Final Fantasy has always been a franchise that excites specifically by offering new ways to experience the familiar. And boy, are these some new ways of seeing things — including a latter half that goes to far darker places than Square Enix has ever taken us before. I'm not sure the company will ever be able to avoid its latter-day entries being as divisive as they are, but I for one am glad to see this series willing to shake itself up time and time again. Final Fantasy XV offered me some of the most fun I've had playing a video game in a year I (and so many others!) desperately needed escapism, and its central characters — though contained in a story that's undeniably messy — are among the strongest in RPG history. Oh, and Sephiroth can suck it — this game's deliciously nasty villain is the franchise's best, as far as I'm concerned. 1) Shin Megami Tensei: Apocalypse The fact that Shin Megami Tensei: Apocalypse probably won't land on many others' year-end best lists — let alone make the top spot — does absolutely nothing to dissuade me from putting it here. In fact, it makes me more inclined to include it, in hopes of getting the word out about this absolute gem of a handheld RPG experience. Where do I even start? Apocalypse nails absolutely everything it attempts, from its macabre tone to its decidedly old-school battle mechanics. It may not be the next big innovation of the genre, but it polishes tried-and-true tropes and gameplay systems to sparkling perfection. In short, it's everything I love about RPGs packed into a portable package — a massive, highly addictive adventure that never strayed far from my pocket in the latter half of 2016. This is exactly the sort of sequel we so rarely see in any entertainment medium: one that takes everything great about its predecessor and ups the ante. I called the game "pure JRPG bliss" in my review, and I find no better phrase to describe it here — after well over 100 hours of exploring its hellish vision of post-apocalyptic Tokyo, the very thought of the game makes me want to play it for another 100 hours. Gaming experiences just don't get much better than that.