[Video Game Wednesday] Five Square-Enix RPGs That Are As Good Or Better Than Final Fantasy VII

In his FINAL form, Kefka is way more awesome than Sephiroth. But prior to that, he's just a weird clown.

So, I got a little passionate last week and decided to slay the sacred cow that is Final Fantasy VII. To summarize, I concluded that it’s a good game, and maybe even a great game, but hardly the greatest game of all time. (I’ll tell you what that is next week.)

But in talking about FF VII, I realized that one of the reasons it’s so popular is because people don’t realize that there are many other RPGs that are just as good, if not better, than FF VII. Oddly enough, none of them are recent titles, and all of them predate FF VII or were in development when it was in its heydey. And, just to make things fun, I’m going to set my handicap to “only Square Enix titles.” That means I can’t bring up Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Lunar or Lunar 2: Silver Star Story, Grandia, Suikoden II, or The Legend of Dragoon, all of which were great RPGs. I’ll also restrict myself to leaving out other Final Fantasy titles, since VII is generally considered the best of the series. (That assessment is incorrect, by the way; VI and XII are far superior in terms of actual gameplay, and VI’s only downside is the peculiar nature of its villain, a clown named Kefka, who just can’t manage to be as badass as Sephiroth despite the fact that he destroys civilization halfway through the game and rebuilds it with himself as its god.)

If there are any games on the following list that you have not played, do yourself a favor and track them down, if you can. Each of them is an amazing experience. Read more »