That's actually the Final Fantasy Legends series of Gameboy games you're thinking about. It was really the precursor to the modern-day Saga system, having the same stat-growth system (or a variation thereof), races, etc.

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest wasn't either, actually. It was basically a "RPG for morons.". Square wasn't exactly convinced that the western world could handle a "real" RPG, so they left the training wheels on and turned out that sub-par piece of programing. =)

Old games, eh? Well, there's always FFIV and VI, Chrono Trigger,and the Breath of Fire series for console games.

For PC titles, however, there are quite a few goodies. Fallout/Fallout 2, System Shock II, BG/BGII, Anachronox (Absolutely fantastic work, and by Ion Storm, no less) Deus Ex, Gothic/Gothic II, etc.

And let's not forget Vampire: The Masquerade, Mage: The Ascension, Demon: The Fallen, Cyberpunk, and Shadowrun here. =)

Old games, eh JC123.
Well if you ask me, Earthbound was and still is pretty awesome. I will dress up as a schoolgirl and parade throughout Nintendo's offices if that is what it takes to get an Earthbound 2.
I got the Zelda collectors edition with my Gamecube, and I have to say that the original Legend of Zelda is harder than any of the new ones. But Zelda 2 is stupid.
Also, I've been playing Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask with my Gamecube. God, I wish they would bring back MM transformation masks. That was fun.
And for the 64, I still like Perfect Dark. One of the best FPS ever.
Plus, there is that one old wrestling game I have for 64. I still play it and I've even used the create a wrestler mode to make George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, and Abraham Lincoln as wrestlers. Ah, good times, good times. Next time I play that game though, I got to remember to make Strong Bad as a wrestler.

WCW vs. NWO World Tour? That one was good... And they put my fave character in there... Kinnikuman! Well, yeah, you had to put him in there and make the stuff but that was beside the point. I can still remember his theme song... If ONLY the N64 could play custom music!

Oh yeah, Kinnikuman!

Super Smash TV on the SNES. I still play it to this day. Must've beat it a hundred times over. It's fun violence.

Oh, and sorry but I have to take this on:

Nope, nope, and nope.

It's difficult to understand and appreciate FF:MQ unless A) you're a young child or B) you are a parent of young children. When this game first came out I was in my teens. I borrowed it from a friend and played through it. Kinda fun. Yawn. Oh Well.

Last year, when my son turned five, he asked if he could play my old copy. I popped it into the SNES, handed him the controller, and suddenly we were both mezmerised: He at this game which he thought was "really awsome cool" and myself at my son playing an RPG for the first time without having to ask me "what's happening" and "what do I do now" every two minutes.

Squaresoft made and released this game for a much younger audience. The original advertising for the game even said as much. The best example of Square thinking a game was too sophisticated for us gaijens is the fact that they chose not to release FFV in the US until it's rerelease on the PSX six years ago.

thanks
 

well, I remember it was my second RPG, and me n my bro would play it. We loved tristams music, we would sit there for almost 10 minutes every time he came on screen... good times, before finals, homework, and all that other stuff. But really, the first RPG was one of squares lesser known serieses (SP?)
Super Mario RPG, Legend of the Seven Stars. Who beat Smithy? I want to know! there were minigames galore, and it wasnt too hard for a pair of five year olds... but i digress. I agree that the oldest school zelda was definetly a step above the newer ones, and only because i own a nintendo and the N64 ones, the GC ones, the GBA ones, and the greatest. SNES link to the past.

Link to the Past WAS the best, by far.