2014-08-13

RPGs have one of the most loyal followings of any video game genre. You can find Final Fantasy fans and Zelda fans arguing in forums to this very day about which franchise is better. Pokemon fans are always bragging about how they caught a MewTwo without a Master Ball. One thing they all have in common is that they all love the RPG title. However, for Android, a good RPG can be hard to find as a simple search can turn up hundreds of results. So we’ve put together a best RPG list to help people find the best of the best. The written list has been updated so it’s more current than the video!

Emulators

[Price: Varies]

Okay, so emulators aren’t technically RPG titles. However, by using an emulator, there is a huge selection of RPGs available to people who know how to find them. We’re not talking obscure titles either. With an SNES emulator, you can find Zelda and Final Fantasy games along with more obscure classics like Mario RPG and Star Ocean. With a PlayStation emulator, you can find greats like Lunar 1 and 2, Final Fantasy 7 through 9, and some more obscure classics like Legend of Legaia and Chrono Cross. With a Game Boy Advanced Emulator, you can play some classic Pokemon games, Breath of Fire, and Golden Sun, among others. If you want to check out the best emulators, click here to see our list!


Aralon Sword and Shadows 3D RPG

[Price: $4.99]

Aralon Sword and Shadows is a highly regarded RPG and was recommended for this list by our readers in the comments. It’s an RPG with over 30 hours of game play, first and third player game modes, huge landscapes, epic quests, and pretty much everything else you could ask for in an RPG. Some people have had problems on a few tablets and some bugs here and there but overall it appears to be one of the best.

Baldur’s Gate

[Price: $9.99 with in app purchases]

Baldur’s Gate is a classic PC game from back when RPGs weren’t yet a respected genre on PC. For $9.99 you get the entire core game along with all of the expansion packs and the in app purchases are actually just peripheral stuff like character voices that you don’t need at all to enjoy the game. It has an insanely long story line so you’ll be on this one for a while. It’s a little complicated to learn and the touch controls don’t always translate well to mobile but it’s one of the best and a classic to boot! If you’re just a casual gamer, you should probably stay away. This is a pretty intense game.

Blood Brothers (RPG)

[Price: Free with in app purchases]

Blood Brothers is another RPG that was recommended to us by our readers and this one is really good. It uses some different mechanics than classic RPGs such as a board game style layout and utilizes cards for things like battles and allies. If you like card-based RPGs, this is one of the best available right now and the developers seem to be listening because they actually rolled back to a prior update when their latest one was broken. That takes guts but it also shows that they’re paying attention.

Chrono Trigger

[Price: $9.99]

Chrono Trigger holds a special place in the hearts of many RPG players because it is still among the best ever released. It has time travel, talking frogs, and a great soundtrack. It’s been ported to Android by Square Enix as one of their very first efforts. It’s been a roller coaster ride but if your device is able to play it, then you’re in for one of the best stories ever told in a video game.

Covenant of Solitude

[Price: $2.99]

Covenant of Solitude is the first RPG on the list that’s native to Android. As such, it’s also one of the best. It presents with a polished look, easy to learn game mechanics, and an original story line. It’s a top down, 2D RPG like Final Fantasy or Pokemon. So fans of those types of games will find this game easy to get used to. We were actually going to take this off the list but saw that it has been reduced in price from $7.99 to $2.99 and that’s good enough to keep it here!

Eve of the Genesis

[Price: $7.99]

Eve of the Genesis HD comes from the same development team that also produced Covenant of Solitude. Between Covenant of Solitude and Eve of Genesis, this makes Kemco Games easily one of the best RPG studios for Android. Eve of Genesis is even more polished and refined than Covenant was and Kemco Games put a bunch of extra little details to make things feel more complete. The characters’ mouths move when they talk and you can see it when you touch or swipe on the home screen. Little things like that do actually matter to some gamers.

Final Fantasy (all of them)

[Price: Dimensions - $16.99 / Final Fantasy I - $7.99 / Final Fantasy II - $7.99 / Final Fantasy III - $15.99 / Final Fantasy IV - $15.99 / Final Fantasy V - $15.99 / Final Fantasy VI - $15.99]

Having a best RPG list without a Final Fantasy title is very nearly blasphemous. It happens to be the second highest selling RPG franchise of all time behind only Pokemon. So we’ve included all of them as a single entry on ours. For those who love the old school charm of the early Final Fantasy titles, Square Enix has heard your pleas and has been systematically releasing all the classic Final Fantasy titles for Android. You can currently get remakes of Final Fantasy 1 through 6 along with Final Fantasy Dimensions, which is a mobile exclusive.

If you want to grab Final Fantasy Dimensions, click the button above. To get the rest, follow the links below.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI

Inotia 4

[Price: Free with in app purchases]

Inotia 4 is another highly popular and highly rated series that was recommended by our readers. It features a huge world (400 maps) with a lot of character types and game play available for you to enjoy. There are in app purchases if you wish to purchase items but the core game is free to play and judging based on its 4.6 rating, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of people who are unhappy about this freemium title. The graphics are a little old school but it makes up for it by being colorful and fun. It’s worth a shot for sure.

Zenonia 5

[Price: Free with in app purchases]

In an attempt to capture as many different types of RPGs as possible, we’ve included Zenonia 5 on our best RPGs for Android list. Zenonia 5 is a hack and slash RPG where gamers accept new quests from people, go and kill some bad guys, complete the quests, and accept the next one. This is definitely geared toward the more casual RPG gamer. It’s perfect for those who don’t want the tedious dialogue associated with in depth story lines or level grinding.

SoulCraft

[Price: Free with in app purchases]

We’re not going to beat around the bush, SoulCraft is one of the best looking games on this list. It cant compare to the best on console and PC, of course, but compared to most Android games, SoulCraft delivers some great graphics. As opposed to most RPGs on this list, SoulCraft plays more like Gauntlet Legends. Players enter levels, hack enemies to pieces, and use the loot and experience to level up and buy upgrades. For fans of hack and slash RPGs, this is among the best out there.

Order & Chaos Online

[Price: Free with in app purchases]

For you MMORPG fans wondering if we would include something for you, your time has come. Order & Chaos Online is a masterpiece MMORPG on Android and definitely the one we’d recommend to anyone looking for an MMORPG adventure. The graphics are above average, the game play is pretty simple to learn, and people in the game are generally pretty friendly. In fact, while I was testing this game, someone randomly came up and saved my life from an enemy that someone at my level had no business fighting. As I say in the video, thank you again random online person!

Pocket RPG

[Price: $1.99]

Pocket RPG is an old school style dungeon crawler with graphics not unlike the old Gauntlet Legend games. It’s colorful and reminds one of a cartoon but it’s still quite fun to play. It’s been around for a few years but the developers are still updating it. User reviews have talked about the game giving them that “just one more” feeling and that’s pretty much what a review for an addictive game sounds like. It’s not expensive so why not try it?

Bard’s Tale

[Price: $2.99]

Last but certainly not least is Bard’s Tale. This classic RPG brings not only a great RPG experience, but also a really goofy one. Reviewers praise its sarcasm and wit and the game itself is pretty good too. There are two packages to choose from: a standard definition and high definition package. So if you can’t afford to lose the 3GB of space for the high def package, you can opt for the smaller one. It has great characters, lots of content, and is well worth your time!

Ravensword: Shadowland 3D RPG

[Price: $6.99 with in app purchases]

This is by far the most gorgeous game on the list. It has fantastic graphics along with your standard RPG game play. It also has first and third person views if you want them, a long story line, and plenty of places to explore and quests to go on. There’s an awesome soundtrack and pretty much everything about this game is fantastic. However, do beware and read the user reviews because some devices (particularly older ones) could have problems running the title.

Best RPGs wrap-up

As we initially stated, RPG gamers are among the most loyal in all of gaming. So if we missed one of your favorites, we sincerely apologize and we invite you to comment below to let us know what we missed. Also, do check out the comments because even as we update this list over time, our readers have already helped out by providing even more RPGs in the comments to take a look at.

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