Not to cause a fuss or anything but I have to agree with Urza, whiles I respect irpacynot's opinions, I have to disagree with his/her list of good RPG. RPG needs a good plot/story, and all games he [listed] are seriously lacking in that, they might be fun to play, but they are hardly RPG, in my opinion.
Well, thanks for being a little more civil in the way you "discuss" RPGs, but I guess we have different ideas of what an RPG is. When I first started playing D&D in the early `80s, we had to create our own stories -- someone had to be the DM (dungeon master, for those of you too young to remember). Story, though, was never a big part of the adventure -- leveling up and engaging various monsters / gods was. Sure, it was always more entertaining when you had a friend who really had a great ability to articulate their imaginings, but role-playing for most RPGers, back then (and into the early days of video-game RPGs), was always about going through the motions of rolling the dice, engaging new creatures, acquiring new items and equipment, and becoming a demigod.
Yeah, RPGs have changed. When I played Tales of Symphonia for the first time, after taking a hiatus from RPGs, I was blown away by how much story there was. That said, chess and checkers are still good games. You could add story elements to those games, too, but liking classic chess and checkers doesn't necessarily mean you don't have a fundamental grasp on what a "good" game of chess or checkers is. Just look at Club House Games; there's nothing new there, but it's still a very highly rated, very well-regarded DS game.
That's fine that Ursa, or anyone else, for that matter, doesn't agree with my opinion -- and I can tell you why I like those games, but, again, I don't have to justify that to anyone. However, no one has to be an ass about how they disagree with people. Discussion doesn't always mean agreeing with one another, but it also has nothing to do with a pissing contest. That's all I'm saying. I love Pokemon (playing Pearl again right now) and I love DQM-Joker. I make no apologies for that. I think they're great RPGs. Nope, the story for both games is nothing epic, but each game is fun, and that's all I require from a game.