Best RPGs on the Dreamcast

The Sega Dreamcast was never a rpg machine. There are 4 here worth knowing — Skies of Arcadia, Grandia II, Phantasy Star Online among them — and if the genre is what you are after, another console is the better answer.

The Dreamcast and RPGs

Two years of a console that was a generation ahead and then stopped. Small library, almost no filler, and a house style you can recognise instantly.

This is not one of its strengths. Depth of catalogue. Everything here is worth playing and there simply is not much of it, especially in RPGs and strategy.

Filtering to RPG means you want progression — a character to build or a party to grow — layered on top of whatever else you liked.

The RPGs Worth Playing

  1. 1. Skies of Arcadia

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  2. 2. Grandia II

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  3. 3. Phantasy Star Online

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

  4. 4. Evolution

    Follow the link for hand-written recommendations if you want more like it.

What Makes a Good RPG Game

A reason to keep going after the novelty wears off. RPGs are the genre that reliably converts hours into feeling more capable.

Immediacy. Almost every RPG asks for a slow first few hours, and the systems that make hour forty good are the same ones that make hour one a menu.

Where This Genre Is Better Served

Saying a console is weak at something is more useful than padding a list. If rpg is what you actually want, these machines are built for it:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best rpg game on the Dreamcast?

Skies of Arcadia is the usual first answer, and there are 4 in the library we cover.

Was the Dreamcast good at rpg games?

Not especially. The SNES, Game Boy, GBA are better answers for this genre.

What is the difference between an RPG and an action game with stats?

Whether the stats are the point. In an RPG the build decides what you can do; in an action game with stats the build only decides how fast you do it.

Do I need to like turn-based combat?

No. The picks below span turn-based, real-time and action RPGs, and each one says which it is.

How is this list put together?

From the games this site covers on the Sega Dreamcast, matched against hand-mapped gameplay categories rather than a storefront's genre tag. A page only exists where there are at least four, which is why some console and genre combinations have no page at all.

RPGs on Other Consoles

More From the Dreamcast

Or browse the whole Sega Dreamcast library.