Well, Dragon Quest is my all time favorite RPG series although I wouldn't put any of them as best RPG (That could change when Dragon XI comes out though :P can't wait for it).

If you are counting ARPG in this category then I would have to say Diablo 2. The amount of hours I spent on that game back in the day... just too much.

Golden Sun.
Persona 4 Golden
That's it.

TES series (mostly 3,4,5) - create your own character and then do whatever you want and ignore most quests. You can be a smith, an adventurer, an assassin, thief, hunter or trader. You can make this stuff up yourself and you don't need a guy in a cubicle to make it up for you.

Dragon Age : Great characters and wonderful world - lots of atmosphere.

BG2 - Great characters and great lore - love Forgotten Realms

Souls series - best combat ever.

The Sims - everyday roleplaying

Gothic 2 - amazing exploration (maybe not so much roleplaying).

Vampire TMB - vampires kicks ass

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Torn between Fallout 1 & 2 and Planescape: Torment.
But I'll go with Torment. For the writing alone.

I can't name one, but seven best I played are:
1. Fallout 2
2. Planescape Torment
3. KOTOR 1
4. The Witcher 1
5. Mass Effect 1
6. Vampire - The Masquerade - Redemption
7. TES III - Morrowind

Secret of Mana

Also:
Diablo 2
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
The Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past

I hate turned based games. Where's the fun in that? I'd rather go in swinging. Although I did play through Earthbound Zero and enjoyed it.

Chrono Trigger was pretty awesome too, but I had to force myself to finish it. Longest final boss fight ever. I think it took me like 45 minutes non-stop.

I played all the way through FF3 (SNES) but man was it grindy. Sure it was cool, but I HATE random battles. And that same battle music over and over. Tried FF7, didn't get far for the same reasons.

Tried Baldur's Gate. Oh I have to read a few paragraphs every few minutes to do anything? Nope. Same for Planescape, KOTOR, Mass Effect, Fallout, etc.

Oh well. ARPGs all the way for me.

I would throw my vote in for the original Icewind Dale. It had most of the same combat that I loved in BGII, only without the constant annoyance and irritation that for me, came from my party members shoehorning their life stories and personal problems into my CRPG.

Hmmm, a few of my favourites:

Chrono Trigger - Seems a few people have already mentioned this one, but a good story (with multiple paths and endings), fun characters (Robo is still one of my favourite characters ever) and an interesting combat system (I love how the different combos of characters allow you to perform different attacks.

Seiken Densetsu 3 - Multiple stories and characters, multiple class choices for each character, a big world, fun combat. One of my favourite games ever.

FF V - By far my favourite entry in the Final Fantasy series, the story is pretty generic and crap (as are the characters) but the job system is still the best. Finding cool ways to combine classes to make brilliant characters was awesome. Plus the game is massive with quite a few extra side quests and things to keep you interested.

Fire Emblem - Not the same kind of RPG, but I'll add it because I love them. Any of them really, though the first one with an English release on the GBA and Awakening are my favourites. I just love Tactical RPGs and the permadeath in FE makes the stakes higher and the strategy more rewarding. There's nothing like finally figuring out how to beat a tricky level with out losing any of your characters. Plus the stories and worlds aren't half bad either.

FF Tactics Advance (and A2) - I've never actually played the plain Tactics, but the GBA and DS instalments rank amongst my favourite games for their brilliant job systems. I enjoyed the Laws in the original as well (though the second didn't utilise them as well) as it meant you had to change up your playstyle and couldn't rely on spamming certain classes or moves all the time.

Xenoblade Chronicles - This probably has to be my all time favourite though. Excellent story (if with slightly annoying characters some times), huge and interesting world, good combat and (some) customisation. It quickly became my favourite game after playing it and as the sequel lacks the originals charm it doesn't look like anything will top it soon.

The parts of the game that could be considered flaws never bothered me, so they don't really factor in to my thoughts about it. Still, I suppose it'd be more accurate to say that I personally and entirely subjectively consider it to be the RPG closest to perfection out of the many I've played.

The button mashing is the drinking contest against Ayla, right? I'll give you that, though auto-fire controllers make that a cinch on the original hardware, and emulators often have something similar. What part of the game requires pressing multiple buttons at the same time, though? I can't think of anything mandatory (optional, yes, but not mandatory) that would require more than one hand.

Seems kind of closed-minded that Marle has to be the white mage-type party healer with all the healing spells. Personally, I have her attack with ice magic and have whoever's available heal with items when necessary. It makes sense to spread healing magic out since you eventually choose your own party and having a healer be a single person would necessitate their presence and mean less flexibility when choosing a party.

I'm more of an ARPG fan, so here are five of my all-time favourites:

- Terranigma;
- Diablo II;
- The Witcher;
- Nox;
- Seiken Densetsu 3;

I'm not sure of how much these count as "proper" RPGs, but they are the ones I like.

I come back today and I have 56 replies :o
Sorry but I'm not going to read all of them.

When you first visit the future, in one of the dungeons you have to press a certain combination of buttons in order to open the passage needed to continue.
The problem is that Marle isn't good at offensive magic, either; she only gets a couple weak attack spells and that's it.

The thing is, since Marle isn't good at anything other than healing, she *should* be better than anyone else at it.

As for the "healer be a single person" factor, my thought is, if a player wants a pure healer in the party, the obvious choice would be Marle (since she isn't good offensively), and she really ought to fill the role more effectively than anybody else. Giving Frog and Robo healing magic doesn't prevent Marle from being the strongest healer (note that my proposed changes wouldn't touch any other character: You would still have Robo's Heal Beam healing the entire party, Frog being able to heal the party (though less effectively than Robo), and Ayla being able to cure statuses while healing).

To put it another way, I don't mind other characters having healing (actually, I would go a bit further and give Chrono a spell that can heal characters who are not dead); what I do mind is the character whose primary focus is healing not being the most effective healer.

The Spiderweb games are ideal for me: Geneforge, Avernum and Avadon.
I'm not sure which one I like the most. Perhaps Geneforge for its stronger originality.