The first RGP’s I played were Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior for the NES. I fell in love with the series afterwards. Final Fantasy 3 is my favorite game on the SNES and Final Fantasy 7 is my favorite on Playstation. Dragon Warrior 4 is a my favorite on NES.
I don’t like to classify things as favorites, because my moods and tastes have changed through out my entire life. What I talk about is what I have a special relationship with.
Lunar is a very special franchise to me. When I first got it for the SegaCD, I was blown away. It was a game I would go to when I felt down and needed a pick me up as a kid. The remakes were great, but the originals are classics. They are the only reason I still have my SegaCD in the closet.
It was the first series I wrote fanfiction for and thus discovered my love for writing, coming up with my own stories for a third and fourth sequel filled with original characters. Through Lunar I met lots of great people in the early days of the internet, and for years this game kept a lot of us bound together through sheer love of the franchise.
Classic D&D and Warhammer Fantasy, as they are for many. If you mean specifically as far as video games go, I played Dark Stone which was very enjoyable. I can easily call it a favorite.
Compared to some real classics out there I know it’s only ten years old, but I honestly thought it had the best of both worlds when it comes to old RPG’s and new “RPG’s,” without the short-comings of either.
And I enjoyed Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines PC game, even though I never finished it. I probably should, one day.
But this still had one of the best Main Quests and world-building to me:
Final Fantasy (the original) was my first RPG. Hooked on it immediately. Still one of my all-time favorites, along with Dragon Warrior. Lunar Silver Star was epic. Particularly a fan of Shadowrun as well. Lots of good RPGs from back in the day.
I think my favorite console RPG is Super Mario RPG (I’m playing through it again at the moment). It’s got that mix of classic RPG and a bit of platforming with lots of wacky and charming characters. The original Paper Mario probably comes close to that. I also really like Final Fantasy 8 and 9 as well as Dragon Quest 8 and 11. So it can be hard to have an absolute favorite at times, but it’s generally Super Mario RPG.
On the PC side of things, it’s The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall. If you play that game with the Unity remake (Daggerfall Unity) it’s modernized with updated controls and higher resolutions and is a blast to play, as well as easily moddable. The scale and scope of that game is greater than anything Bethesda has attempted since. While Oblivion is my personal favorite of that series (It was my first), I do not think it is their best, nor do I think it’s better than Daggerfall. But that’s a discussion for another time.
Haven’t played too many retro RPGs, but I’ll have to go with Super Mario RPG. I’ve never gravitated too heavily towards turn-based RPGs, but I ended up really liking this one with the turn based combat and 3D platformer navigation of levels.
I’ve never even thought of Sim City as a role-playing game. I guess you play the role of a mayor, but I’m not sure it fits in with the other RPGs. You don’t get to level-up on stats etc.