Welcome to RPGFan's Top 10 RPGs of 2001. In order to come up with an overall list for RPGFan, we have taken the top 5 RPGs of all the editors on RPGFan and combined them to get an overall ranking. If a game was given 1st place by one editor, that would give this game 5 points, 2nd place gives 4 points and so on. By combining every editor's top 5, we have come up with this overall RPGFan ranking. As you can see, first place was no contest: Final Fantasy X swept the whole thing.

Keep in mind, however that it is impossible to have an accurate Top 10 listing since not every editor have played every RPG so things might have been different if the editors had played all RPGs. With all the RPGs that came out late in 2001 (Final Fantasy X, Golden Sun, Dragon Warrior VII, Hoshigami, Tsugunai, etc.), it's difficult to really come up with an accurate ranking since it's impossible to have played all these RPGs in such a short period of time. So, anyway, here it is! RPGFan's Top 10 RPGs of 2001!

Also, don't forget to check out the individual RPGFan Editor Top 5 RPGs of 2001.

Trepidation, anxiety, fear: these are the words that were on the minds of all Final Fantasy fans with the announcement of Final Fantasy X. Would this game live up to its predecessors? Would it fall flat on its face? Well, the fact that it's the number one game this year should tell you how things worked out. The first Final Fantasy with voice acting, great PS2 graphics, and the intuitive yet original Sphere Grid system make this Square title RPGFan's RPG of 2001.

Apparently it was a good year for Square. Final Fantasy Chronicles takes the number two position this year, and the reason is mostly the rerelease of Final Fantasy IV. Still, that's not to say Chrono Trigger is without merit; on the contrary, aside from the load times, Chrono Trigger is pristine, with added anime sequences to boot. These games may be old and graphically dated, but the gameplay is there, and it's golden.

Whoever said that good things come in small packages must have been referring to Golden Sun. Developed by much loved Shining series studio, Camelot Software Planning, and published by the big N, Golden Sun delivers traditional RPG gameplay with some interesting innovations and probably the best graphics on a GBA RPG, hands down. If Castlevania: Circle of the Moon wasn't enough reason for you to buy a GBA, Golden Sun is.

There's something about Ogami... This year marked a high point for all fans of the Japanese strategy/dating sim series known as Sakura Taisen. You know that it was at the top of the list for editors Feena and Sumire, but it also has a fanbase amongst some of the other editors, such as Professor Gast. See, he has a sensitive side. Besides being just Sakura Taisen, it's got improvements and that je ne sais quoi that makes the series so enjoyable. A surprise to some, but not to the fans.

There were so many fans of the original PSO amongst the editors, that it was difficult to imagine a Games of 2001 that wouldn't include PSO ver. 2 somewhere along the line. It's a phenomenon, and once you get sucked in, you do NOT come out until you're pried away by the sanitarium workers. The only thing surprising me is how far down the list it was.

We debated about separating these games, but they just fit so well together, and make up the entire package that is the latest Zelda series on the GBC. It may not be a leap from Zelda: Link's Awakening, but it doesn't have to be: that Zelda charm and gameplay carry both titles through to the end.

The originator, the instigator, the perpetrator that addicted more RPGFan editors than I can count and legions of Dreamcast owners. This is the main reason people kept their DCs after Sega made "the announcement," and can you blame them? Though superseded in most aspects by version 2, PSO nonetheless has one thing which keeps players coming back: it's free to play.

While those familiar with the PC versions of Baldur's Gate may not recognize this game as a Baldur's Gate title, it's still a fantastic hack-and-slash Action RPG in the tradition of Diablo (and even older games like NetHack).

This title took the RPGFan editors by surprise near the very end of the year, and they liked it. Shadow Hearts mixes some surprisingly innovative gameplay with excellent graphics and lots of blood and gore, improving upon its predecessor, Koudelka in almost every way. Too bad it'll probably be passed up with the release of FFX.

Tailoring has never been this much fun. Dark Age of Camelot swept the online gaming community by storm with its solid gameplay, factional world, and stable engine. This game has taken the lives of at least two editors at RPGFan, and it's been only recently that we got Tortolia back from it!

We debated on whether or not to even cover this PS2 masterpiece, and in the end decided that it's too good a game not to. The landscapes are incredible, the gameplay involving, and the puzzles just tricky enough. The game's got a charm, as well, and it's as much about atmosphere as it is about gameplay. ICO and Yorda forever!