#8 on the countdown of my favorite RPGs of all time is Valkyrie Profile for the original PlayStation! This game is just beautiful in all respects. It is also like a breath of fresh air to the genre since it is so different from everything else.

You play the game as Lenneth Valkyrie whose job as assigned by Odin is to collect human souls to fight amongst the Gods as einherjar. The game can be incredibly sad and dark throughout since the plot revolves around death, but I actually really enjoy this as a change in pace from many happy-go-lucky games. Most of the characters and their struggles ring true. Even though there are many characters to gain, all of them have an incredible amount of backstory and depth. All of this backstory for most of the characters is gained right when you are obtaining them and none from then on, but it gives each person personality which is lacked in characters of most games with such a large cast.

The most unique thing, aside from the Norse god and soul harvesting story line, is that the game brilliantly combines aspects of traditional RPGs with those of platformers. Characters level up by killing the undead, equip various weapons and armor, and fight enemies in an almost Final Fantasy meets Tales of kind of format. All of these aspects are very RPG, but between battles Lenneth traverses the dungeons in a platformer method. Puzzles revolve around the use of crystals that Lenneth can create in order to get to otherwise unreachable areas. The enemies appear on the platforms and can even be avoided by freezing them or just avoiding them altogether. This mesh of genres I think works amazingly well together.

Valkyrie Profile is also incredibly non-linear. You can do as many or as few of the dungeons as you want before traversing to the next "period." Obviously the more you do the stronger your characters will be, but it can be fun to see if you can rock the big baddie at as low a level as possible.

Overall Valkyrie Profile is an incredibly fun experience. I keep going back to it and using different characters just for fun. Valkyrie Profile 2 for the PS2 is also a fun game, but I gotta give this original title the edge. If you have not played this gem then you really must get a hold of a copy even though it is quite rare and expensive nowadays. And there you have it, my #8 favorite RPG of all time.

Sorry this took so long to put up, but I have been swamped with school stuff. I hope in the meantime all of you checked out the video(s) that I put up, and if you haven't seen them yet please check them out and let me know what you think!

Ok, now on to the #9 game on my countdown: Golden Sun for the Game Boy Advance! I am sure some people will be quite upset at me for having this game ahead of Suikoden II, as well as many fine games that didn't even make this list, but I really don't care...this is my list after all. Golden Sun is an absolutely fantastic game that combines an old-school feel with new (for the time and for being on a handheld system) music and graphics.

The story follows my friend Isaac here as he tries to rescue his friends and stop some evil people from taking over the world with alchemy. Nothing really new with the story, but it is still told quite well and is enjoyable enough. Solid graphics and music also add to the story to make an incredibly enjoyable environment.

The main reason I have this game as my #9 favorite RPG of all time, however, is the battle system and puzzles which really go hand-in-hand. Djinn and psynergy make up these aspects of Golden Sun. Equipping different Djinn boost the stats of your characters and can even change their job title depending on which ones you equip. Psynergy is the magic of the game which is also used outside of battle to solve dungeon puzzles by moving rocks or doing various other things such as reading people's minds. These details are what keep me coming back to this game and allowed me to enjoy this title as much as I have.

I feel that it also must be stated that this game is for the Game Boy Advance. The fact that a game this good is for a hand-held system just adds to its appeal. I can take this game in the car, on a plane, play it basically wherever. This really can't hold true for most other great games out there; this is in fact the only hand-held game on my top 10 list.

Well that's about all I have to say about Golden Sun, my #9 entry on this countdown. It should be noted that I enjoyed the sequel to this great game, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, just as much as I enjoyed the original, but because I liked them equally the nod has to go to the game that came first. I am also not putting both games on here since that would just be silly. Stay tuned for #8 in the countdown which really will be coming along in a few days, I'll make sure of it. Again be sure to check out my video countdown for Top Final Fantasy Songs that I uploaded and be sure to comment on it!

Well I haven't had time to get my next entry in my top games countdown taken care of, but I uploaded a video countdown so please check it out in my videos! Let me know what you all think! I'll get my next favorite game up here shortly.

I am starting this top 10 countdown with my favorite entry from the Suikoden series thus far, Suikoden II for the Playstation(I have yet to play Suikoden V). The third numbered entry in this fantastic series came close to taking this spot on the list. I love an RPG with originality. The Suikoden series contains some very unique aspects that really have not been emulated outside of the series. The 108 Stars of Destiny make it so that you can easily play the games many times with a completely different party. The battles are fun just by the fact that you fight with up to six people in your party. Magic is performed through the use of runes and I think the battle system works incredibly well. The largest strength of Suikoden II, as well as all the Suikoden games for that matter, would be the story. I stated earlier how I love originality in RPGs and the story of the Suikoden series definitely breaks the story mold. Instead of the great struggle between your main character and some evil clown trying to take over the world just for the heck of it, Suikoden tells a story much more down to earth with real difficulties, emotions, and solutions to problems. The story revolves around the military struggle between two nations with the main characters fighting in this war. Obviously one thing leads to another causing our heroes to change their plans around. Emotions run high throughout which I feel always leads to a great story. Plus you just gotta love a story with Luca Blight as the antagonist. Just look at this guy:

Graphically the game isn't the best out there, but graphics by no means are the top factor on determining the entries in a list like this. Sound, on the other hand, is something I really do focus in on. Music establishes the environment of a game just as much as the visuals. Unfortunately this is where I feel Suikoden II falls short. It's not that the soundtrack is bad, I just really don't remember any of it. A good soundtrack could have moved this game way up my list. This is a fantastic game recommended for everyone.

Honorable Mentions to the List: Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy X, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Suikoden III, Grandia, and basically any Shin Megami Tensei Game. That's right, none of these games are in my top ten.

#9 on my list will make its appearance probably Sunday.

Well here it is folks, my first blog. I usually don't do this sort of thing, but I really have nothing better to do right now with my time so here I am typing this. For this first blog I figured I would tell a little bit about myself for anyone who cares to know (I don't even know how many people will read this, if any but whatever). The name's Tom, but many of my friends call me Hollywood for reasons I won't get into right now. I am 22 years old and live in the great state of Pennsylvania in the USA. Bucknell University is currently the place I call home where I am now a senior (it sucks to actually say that out loud). What I am going to do with the degree in European History and minor in Religion is still the question that I have yet to answer which makes graduating this year all the more depressing.

To be quite honest I would absolutely love to find a career in gaming. By this of course I don't mean just sitting around and earning money for playing video games, although that would be epic. Writing about games is a passion of mine and I would really love to do more of it if I had the time. I know that obtaining this goal is a reach and I really don't even know how to get into the field or how much it would pay, but it would be great if things worked out that way.

Okay, back to the About Me stuff. I used to run track and cross country for school, but I quit this year because of knee injuries that have been nagging me for the past 4 years or so. I used to love to read but that kinda fell by the wayside and I'm not quite sure when or why. My hobbies include playing sports, cards, and of course video games.

Ah, video games! This brings me now to the reason I'm blogging on this site as opposed to basically any other site as well as I'm sure to the reason why you are really reading this load of garbage that I continue to type (again if there really is anyone reading this). RPGs essentially rule my life. Sometimes I feel as if I am the main protagonist in an RPG that is actually being played by other RPGs (if you understand what I just said then congratulations! you might just be as insane as I am). I would call myself a collector although I by no means have a close to completed collection. I only collect games that I can actually play (and yes I do play them so I am not one of those clowns who freak out when the factory seal is taken off a game). What is the point of collecting if I can't actually play them myself? Thus I only collect those RPGs for NES, SNES, Genesis, N64, PSX, and PS2. Once Final Fantasy XIII comes out I will be getting a PS3 so I can then start collecting for that system as well.

My PSX and PS2 collections are what I am focusing on now (since they are far less expensive than the older ones and I am a college student after all) and they have grown quite nicely over the years. Some still elude me and others I just refuse to buy. Any game that is well known to be complete garbage I'll steer clear from (I'm looking at you Unlimited SaGa among others, but I may end up getting it anyway since I have all the other SaGa games (*open mouth insert foot*)) as well as games with X-Men and stuff like that in them just because they really aren't my style. I want an original story, not one that revolves around one that's been done to death on TV and in comic books. Once I get a job and have a steady flow of money then I will proceed to snag all that I see fit for the other systems.

Alright, I think I will end this first episode of Follow the Yellow Blog Road right here (I know...another Wizard of Oz reference. I just couldn't help myself. I don't care if any of you laugh when you read that or not cause I found it funny and that's all that matters). Hopefully I will be able to update this every week, but who knows what my schedule will be like. This weekend I plan on typing up my next entry and I have already decided to just make a list of my Top 10 Favorite RPGs. #10 on the list along with my own commentary on the game will be up this weekend so you are not going to want to miss that one.