+ Final Fantasy - I can't ignore this one. Plus I'm in a Square-Enix and Final Fantasy-based community as I type this, so I'm essentially obligated to mention this franchise. Final Fantasy has encompassed a huge part of my childhood since I first laid my hands on FFX-2 (of all games to touch first), and ever since it's been a major influence in my last ten years, inspiring me to write and explore my own fantasy worlds - heck, I even got carried away and wrote a whole novel when I was 13, even though my English teacher only asked us for a short sci-fi story - and get into other contemporary fantasy fiction. I will be one of the people to say that the series hasn't been very good this generation. Except when many people say it's not been good since FFX, I say it's suffered since FFXII. Hopefully next-gen?
+ Valkyrie Profile - my next RPG series following Final Fantasy. I started with Silmeria, but a lot of it was beyond my 13 year old mind's comprehension. But I was inspired to delve into exploring Norse mythology, and a couple of years later, got my hands on the first Valkyrie Profile game as a proper starting point. I grew to love it, even if it's still one of the most depressing games I've ever played, with how many deaths there are with the lengthy backstories accompanying each Einjerjar. Then I returned to Silmeria a year later and was finally able to fully appreciate the game. I've even played the DS game to the death, though disappointed obviously that Hrist wasn't receiving her own game. And probably never will. Unfortunately, I've had to make peace with the fact that we may never see a new console Valkyrie Profile game ever again.
+ Mass Effect - I ALMOST purchased an Xbox 360 for the first game, but then decided to switch to the PS3 as FFXIII and Uncharted 2 appeared over the horizon. Then one day I got my hands on the first two games in a big Steam sale, and despite all my nitpicks at some of the more questionable game design choices, I absolutely loved them. Huge, expansive space opera with its own rich lore that I could pause the game at any moment and spend up to an hour just reading the entries, and on top of that, endearing, well-written characters that even my Renegade FemShep couldn't help but gladly talk to in between missions, and be kind and considerable towards. Mass Effect 3, despite even more jettisoning of RPG features, is still a very solid game, despite the last ten minutes of the ending. Weird how many fans of the series strangely let those ten minutes alone make them swear off the whole franchise as a trash heap. Yes, BioWare bizarrely dropped the ball so hard that it killed a kitten in the process, but it doesn't negate the overall experience of the series, which I highly recommend to any RPG and sci-fi fan.
+ Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - do you know why I really adore the KOTOR games? Evil escapism. Sometimes you grow sick of being a kind, thoughtful, considerate person in real life to friends and acquaintances, while knowing full well that you lack the ruthlessness of others you know. Then come the KOTOR games when I can just be an evil Dark Jedi/Sith for the whole duration of the games. I could simply do the right thing. Old man despairing that a corrupt merchant nearby is screwing him over. Go beat up this corrupt merchant and bring justice. Or I can totally do the wrong thing and side with the corrupt merchant, before screwing him over in the end with my own double-crossing as the merchant splutters disbelief that I would do such a thing. It's much more entertaining! Who needs to be a hero all the time? Furthermore, KOTOR 2 is the better game of the two, despite the fact that it...wasn't exactly a finished game (go get the mod for it, PC gamers!), because Chris Avellone was in charge of the writing. He essentially mocks and critiques the banality of the black-and-white dichotomy of the Light Side and Dark Side nonsense through the words of Kreia, who herself has to be one of the best video game characters I have encountered yet. And furthermore, boooooo. When BioWare said The Old Republic MMO would be like KOTORs 3,4,5, 6 and beyond, I was bitterly disappointed.
Other RPGs I've played have been single entries in a franchise, or just single entries on their own. I love Xenoblade to pieces, though I've never had the opportunity to play the full Xenosaga trilogy, or Xenogears, because I'm a filthy UK peasant. Despite a stupid save system, I am thoroughly enjoying Shadowrun Returns, though I've no experience with any of the earlier games. Fallout: New Vegas is a solid and exhilarating experience, even though I've yet to finish it, and therefore haven't yet checked out Fallout 3. My Elder Scrolls experience is limited to the tidbits I've played of Morrowind, and the wacky hijinks that my boyfriend and I got up to in Skyrim (the allegedly awful PS3 port that is). My only Star Ocean experience is with Star Ocean 4. And sadly, despite great gameplay, a terrible story and cast of characters grounded the momentum to a screeching halt and I've struggled to carry on ever since.
I adore Dragon Age: Origins, and I'm cautiously anticipating Inquisition, but Dragon Age 2 has been something I've managed to put off for this long. I think it's general negative word-of-mouth, how bizarrely ugly it looks, and well, it's somewhat unrecognisable. The thing is BioWare, Dragon Age could have been its own thing. It could have been the natural evolution of the old CRPGs that I'm interested in checking out. It didn't need its own established "Shepard" of a main protagonist, nor did it need an abrupt transformation into what I think DA2 looks like. It didn't need to be contorted into a medieval equivalent of Mass Effect with a greater emphasis on the cinematic.
EDIT: Yes, I am a Suikoden, Tales, Shin Megami Tensei, Grandia, Lunar, Golden Sun, Wild Arms, Ys, Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts and Shadow Hearts virgin. =(