Final Fantasy 1

Saving a princess was the usual theme of early console RPGs, and Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy, released in 1987, opens just with such a quest: Defeat the evil Garland and save the princess. This is, however, just the beginning of a more intricate plot. "When the world is veiled in darkness, four warriors of light will come"... The earth is dying, and you have to discover who is behind this disaster, and defeat the ultimate evil. The story features some unexpected turns and twists, previously unseen in a RPG, and also introduces an interesting concept of a time loop, through which the heroes have to travel in time in order to defeat Chaos itself.

The original Final Fantasy remains until now the only Final Fantasy game that allowed the player to assign classes to your characters before starting the actual game. You have a choice between fighter, thief, black belt, and three kinds of wizards. Later in the game, the classes are automatically upgraded; fighter becomes knight, the wizards turn into sorcerers, etc., each gaining new unique abilities. Once chosen, the classes remained set for the whole game for all four characters. Other than their class, the heroes of Final Fantasy lack any other attributes. They are speechless, and have no personality whatsoever.

Plot: "The world is out of balance; the elements are in revolt. Four young heroes, each with a darkened orb, must restore order to this chaotic world.

Four Light Warriors appear among the people, each carrying an Orb. Two thousand years ago, the Orbs shined with Light. Now, only darkness.... The Light Warriors are the world's only hope. They will journey all across the land, through dark caverns, into the depths of the sea, and even amongst the clouds, looking for some way to save the world from the plague that is slowly consuming it..."