Back in the nineties, the RPG genre was dominated by two big players. Square led the way with its immensely popular Final Fantasy franchise while Enix was responsible for Dragon Quest and also published the fantastic Soul Blazer trilogy. It, therefore, came as no surprise that after merging in 2003, the newly-formed Square Enix continued to light up and define the genre.
While the company continued to rely quite heavily on its big-hitting franchises, it has also released its fair share of smaller, more experimental titles too. Over the last decade, the company has released a very healthy range of games, with many surprising both critics and players alike with their depth and quality.
10 Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster (86)
While Final Fantasy VII undoubtedly had a far greater impact, there is a strong argument to be made for Final Fantasy X being the series’ greatest entry. It features some wonderful characters, an immense soundtrack, and some of the very best storytelling to ever grace a Final Fantasy game.
It’s perhaps unsurprising then that Square Enix opted to remaster the PS2 classic before work began on remaking its predecessor. The resulting release not only made the game look far better, but it also included a copy of its criminally underrated sequel too. Unfortunately, Tidus’ laugh is still just as cringey as it was in the original, although some would argue that this only adds to the game’s charm.
9 Final Fantasy VII Remake (87)
Fans had been requesting a remake of this nineties classic for decades and so it always felt more like a case of when, not if, Square Enix would finally oblige. The developer eventually caved to the pressure in 2015 and the excellent Final Fantasy VII Remake followed in early 2020. For most, at least, it was well worth the wait.
By opting to focus solely on the Midgar section of the game, the developer was not only able to increase the project’s profitability, but also give some of the game’s underutilized characters a bit more love. The work done by the remake to flesh out some of the supporting members of Avalanche and the city in which they reside helped to add a whole new layer of depth to proceedings without ever feeling out of place. It may not have been as faithful to the original story as some would have liked, but it definitely sets things up nicely for future parts.
8 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (87)
Prior to being dissolved into Square Enix in 2002, Quest was one of the biggest developers out there when it came to tactical RPGs. Its Ogre Battle series was incredibly popular in Japan with many of the team behind the games later going on to work on Final Fantasy Tactics and other big Square Enix IPs.
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was originally released in 1995, but was remade for the PSP some 16 years later after Yasumi Matsuno finished work on Final Fantasy XII. The remake is fairly faithful to the original, although there are some pretty big changes to the leveling, chariot, and world systems which help make the game a lot more user friendly than it once was.
7 Tomb Raider (87)
Despite a promising start to life, the Tomb Raider series really began to lose its way around the turn of the century, with a string of mediocre releases all but killing any interest there had once been in the franchise. Thankfully, there was just enough life left in the series for the team at Crystal Dynamics to bring it back from the brink.
The 2013 reboot laid the perfect foundation for the games that would follow while also giving Lara a much more relatable personality and backstory. The presentation is excellent throughout and the narrative is well crafted and full of exciting moments. Whether or not it really needed a multiplayer mode is debatable, but the single-player experience provided by Tomb Raider is more than enough to cover the cost of admission.
6 Rise Of The Tomb Raider (88)
In many ways, Rise of the Tomb Raider is the perfect sequel. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, the team over at Crystal Dynamics instead set about refining the Tomb Raider experience while continuing to develop the series’ leading lady. As the game’s Metascore might suggest, they definitely succeeded in that regard.
It’s not quite a case of “more of the same,” but rather more of the things that made the original so enjoyable. Combat feels more exciting, animations appear more fluid and the story is as captivating as ever. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of the game, however, is Lara’s continued character development.
5 Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 Remix (88)
There are times when it can be difficult to understand how exactly an idea came to be greenlit. When that idea is to take characters from two of the biggest franchises in the world though, it’s a little less perplexing. In spite of its narrative complexity, the Kingdom Hearts series is a perfect example of how good plus good invariably equals great.
Despite the series only having three mainline entries, there have been more than 20 Kingdom Hearts games and collections released over the past few decades. The pick of the bunch, however, is Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 + II.5 Remix. It offers the definitive versions of the series’ first two entries and allows players to enjoy them without having to hook up their old consoles.
4 NieR: Automata (91)
With its wonderful art style and branching narrative pathways, NieR: Automata surprised a lot of people. It was one of the best games to come out of 2017 and the Game Of The YoRHa Edition that released a few years later improves upon the experience further still.
It includes all of the game’s DLC as well as a selection of bonus content, but even without all of that, it’s still a wonderful game. Rarely is a story as well crafted as the one found in Nier, nor is it common for video game characters to possess such charm and gravitas. It can be a little rough around the edges at times, but most players will be too busy staring at the center of their screens to even notice.
3 Final Fantasy XIV (91)
Following its somewhat rocky debut, Final Fantasy XIV has gone from strength to strength with each new expansion. The latest, Shadowbringers, is the standout so far, although with a new one expected later this year, that might not be the case for too much longer.
Even for an MMORPG, the game is absolutely huge; both in terms of its sprawling open world and the thousands of hours worth of content that has been forcefully crammed into it. That it’s still going strong almost a decade on from its original release is a testament to the quality of that content and as good a reason as any for those who haven’t played it yet to log in and see what all the fuss is about.
2 Deus Ex: Human Revolution (91)
Some may be a little surprised to find a Deus Ex title so high up the list of top Square Enix games, but anybody who has actually played Deus Ex: Human Revolution will understand exactly why it’s there. The game looks and plays fantastically and while Jensen may not be the most exciting protagonist, the supporting characters do more than enough to make up for his shortcomings.
Even the Wii U port of the game managed a Metascore of 88, but it’s the Director’s Cut for PC that impressed critics the most. With a host of new content and mechanics as well as revamped boss battles, it’s undoubtedly the best way to play the game and a great example of a Director’s Cut done right.
1 Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes Of An Elusive Age (92)
It took a little while longer for the Dragon Quest series to gain traction in the west than it did Final Fantasy, but the last few entries in the series have performed incredibly well. Unsurprisingly though, it is the most recent Dragon Quest game that leads the way in terms of rankings.
Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes Of An Elusive Age and the subsequently released definitive edition provide players with a truly unforgettable experience and one of the best protagonists in the series in years. The game looks fantastic and sticks to the franchise’s roots with an incredibly intuitive turn-based combat system. The music is great too, with the definitive edition even featuring a full orchestral soundtrack.
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