Renewal

If you're just joining us, then don't worry, I'm starting this from the beginning. First game (Phantasy Star) to begin January 31!

I found myself languishing when I first started last year, wondering, "what game should I play next?" Without a clear focus I've been jumping erratically from game to game with the sole purpose of seeing the ending, and not experiencing all the game has to offer. Taking many a cue from The CRPG Addict and consequently The Adventure Gamer, I'll be following (as close as possible) a chronological flow of console RPGs, and I'll create a rating system for the games (more on this in a future post, but it's mostly done).

The real reason we all play our games in chronological order.

I had considered exhausting a single console in date order before moving on, and summarily dismissed it as too isolating. Hopefully it's more interesting to have each CRPG played in relation to the release of each game. Yet, with the self imposed limitation of official releases, I may not have a game readily available. Rather than wait to find a game and afford it, I'll continue forward with the next game available to me.

I compiled a list using MobyGames, Wikipedia, and RPGamer. From this I did my best to weed out foreign only releases and release dates. Remember that I'm approaching this from a US release date perspective, not the original release unless they are the same.

This list should include all console RPGs released in the US with the earliest release date, although its completeness is not assured. Any suggestions are welcomed and additions especially encouraged. Consequently, the list contains many games that are listed as RPGs on these sites that would only fall into that classification with the broadest of definitions, so I'll be filtering the list in yearly chunks and any help in doing so is appreciated.

So, what is a CRPG to me?
Coming up with a definition I can settle on is the first step, and there are many definitions to go off of. The first I came across is MobyGames' as the original source for creating my list. However, this simple definition creates too broad a field, and says nothing to how a game plays, resulting in games like Mario Golf being called RPGs. I'll post what I come up with after reading through Wikipedia and compare it to the CRPG Addict's method for evaluating CRPGness.