09. The Shin Megami Tensei franchise (PS2, PS3)

Whether it’s Digital Devil Saga, Nocturne, Devil Summoner or the Persona series, few RPG franchises were as prolific as Shin Megami Tensei in the past decade. The interesting thing is what sets them apart; they’re hard to beat, darker in tone and definitely M-rated. That bucks the trend of most RPG developers, which is to dumb down RPGs to gain mass appeal.

Also interesting is how varied and different each series in the SMT franchise is; few people will mistake Digital Devil Saga for Persona, or Persona for Nocturne, for example. That kind of variety is hard to find, even in as prolific a franchise as Final Fantasy.

Sure, some of the games are a bit on the esoteric side and, as a result, as appealing as searching Orange NJ invisalign users for matching dental records, but hey, quirkiness is good when too many RPGs are “me too” in approach.