RPG BUYING GUIDE for the 2002 holidays
 	by  Ronald Wartow

Has there ever been a better RPG game explosion preceding the traditional holiday gift giving season? Many quality RPG’s emerged on the PC and most of the next-generation consoles from May to November. Unless you are rolling in platforms and money, hard choices will have to be made, accompanied by a painful process of elimination. 
What follows are my choices for the best and surefire RPG’s released in 2002 to give as gifts, 8 games to be exact, 4 on the Personal Computer, 3 on the Playstation 2, and 1 on the Gameboy Advance. The RPG’s chosen are, in my opinion, must-haves for any RPG gamer. Some of the choices are sequels of outstanding games from prior years. I have personally played every RPG mentioned here, and have authored over a dozen published strategy guides, but none on any of these games.
Some quality games were left off the list because of the must-haves' excellence, but would be perfectly acceptable as quality gifts. Games Like Wild Arms 3, Legaia 2: Duel Saga, Summoner 2 for the Playstation 2, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance for the XBox and Playstation 2 come to mind. You could give Dungeon Siege and Freedom Force for the PC with confidence. Let‘s not forget the original Playstation, where the Arc the Lad Collection contains 3 quality strategy-RPG’s in one package.
No GameCube or XBox games were selected because the only GameCube RPG, Evolution Worlds, was just released, and the only 2 RPG’s on the XBox are Morrowind, issued first on the Personal Computer, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, that didn’t make the cut. By next holiday season, there should be several more RPG’s on the XBox and the GameCube, including a new Zelda action-RPG on the latter, entitled The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

PERSONAL COMPUTER
Divine Divinity
Divine Divinity comes from Belgium, normally not a hotbed of RPG’s, but this game packs quite a punch. The operative 2 words for this game are “side quests”. There are tons of them. You can spend tens of hours eschewing the main plot, by helping a damsel in distress, get some wine for a drunken captain of the guard, or delve deep into a maze-like dungeon to find a valuable artifact.
The main storyline unfolds well, if you decide to go for it. Many players took well over 70 hours to finish everything.
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Tribunal (Bethesda Softworks)
A wild and very long ride, Morrowind, and its recently-released expansion, Tribunal, hold well over 100 hours of RPG gameplay, following an intriguing main storyline plus seemingly hundreds of side quests. Tribunal alone can take about 20 hours. The first two games in the series, Arena and Daggerfall, have probably been played by your favorite RPG gamer. 
The player wanders through a gorgeous 3-D world, either in first or third person perspective. (This is an important feature as some games get dizzy playing games from a first person view, myself included.) 
Not only do you get terrific and satisfying gameplay, but a versatile construction set is included. This allows the player to modify the game world, then return to it to take advantage of the modifications. Very unique concept. Not satisfied with the way your arrows are damaging monsters, just make better arrows. Can’t find a suitable place to rest away from prying monsters, build a house close to town. The variables are endless.
Neverwinter Nights
Giving new meaning to the term “long-awaited”, Neverwinter Nights, after 5 long years of development, arrived with a bang in early summer, and is still going strong. Not 1, but 2 expansions are planned for next year, all under the Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons conventions. 
Where Morrowind gives you a great game plus a construction set, Neverwinter Nights raises the bar two-fold. With this package, you get a 40-hour single-player campaign. Unusually, you control and single character, with help and limited control from a number of different henchmen. 
The accompanying so-called Aurora Toolset lets you make your own adventures, called modules, from scratch. Almost 2000 modules have been created by avid Neverwinter Nights players, and even the game’s developer, Bioware, has released professional and playable modules. Bioware also has excellent forums where help can be sought by beginning game makers. 
Not enough bang for your buck! Neverwinter Nights also comes with a powerful multi-player option for online gaming. And, last, but not least, for the first time ever, an RPG contains an actual online Dungeon Master where your D&D tabletop gamer can do the same online.
The best thing about this game, plus its accouterments, is that your favorite RPG gamer probably will still be playing this next holiday, so no need to buy another RPG!  
Icewind Dale II
This game plays very similar to its predecessor, but now, like Neverwinter Nights, the Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons conventions apply to gameplay. Trek across a an enormous, beautifully-drawn world with your 6-character party.

PLAYSTATION 2
Kingdom Hearts (Disney and Squaresoft)
A blockbuster hit. From the prolific Final Fantasy game company and Disney comes a captivating game that keeps you wondering what’s around the next corner. The game is an action RPG, with fast and furious combat, where some quick trigger fingers are needed to defeat some bosses, and platforming expertise also comes in handy. A large and sprawling world awaits the gamer, where, believe it or not, Donald Duck and Goofy join your adventuring party. Donald is King Mickey’s court magician, and Goofy is the chief of King Mickey’s personal guard.
Sound hokey? Sure, but a dizzying array of familiar Disney characters make constant and surprising entrances and exits as you try to solve the mystery of King Mickey’s disappearance, and bring back worlds decimated by evil minions of ... (I‘ll leave it to your gamer giftee to find out!). Sprinkled among the Disney characters are some of the most famous Final Fantasy characters ever - Cloud (Final Fantasy VII), Squall (called by his real first name here, Leon) (Final Fantasy VIII), and Tidus and Wakka (Final Fantasy X), and even a master villain, plus others. Chills ran down my spine when Cloud makes his first appearance in the game, in what I consider one of my all-time favorite moments in any game, RPG or not.
Expect for your favorite gamer to spend in excess of 50 hours completing the quest. There are many side quests available for the taking. And, next year, perhaps, you can buy a planned sequel, which more than likely will find its way onto many gamers' wish lists.
Final Fantasy X (Squaresoft)
Though this game came out  in late 2001, its popularity maintains to this day, and it still enthralls gamers with probably the best graphics on any game, period. Contains all the Final Fantasy touches most gamers have come to anticipate: great combat, interesting characters and non-player characters, wild magic, a huge world, plenty of surprises, and stunning cut scenes that move the story along.
Suikoden III (Konami)
The obvious third installment is this beloved series that appeared first on the Playstation. Many tens of hours will be required to finish this one, and, as with its 2 prequels, you must find and recruit 108 characters, called the Stars of Destiny, all wrapped around an intricate and fascinating plot.
In a radical departure from the prior games, you actually play the game from the viewpoint of 3 separate characters, in turn. Each character has its own storyline flow, and all finally intersect as the story races towards a surprising and intricate conclusion. Quite a novel and unique approach. For the crummy RPG combat twitchers like me, the interesting combat is turn-based.
GAMEBOY ADVANCE
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis
A strategy-RPG very similar to the very popular Final Fantasy Tactics on the Playstation.
Expect to spend well over 50 hours to complete this lengthy game, filled with fun turn-based combat. Everything imaginable plays a role in your decisions, from the elements to attacker positioning. Like Final Fantasy Tactics, you can play any one of a number of varied classes, even change class where conditions warrant. 

Copyright Ronald Wartow 2002. All Rights Reserved. Permission to post or display this article on any website, or elsewhere, must be obtained from the author at rwartow@yahoo.com.