Have you actually played it, or...??
Because I've played every game on the list and know them back and forth better than most. Xenogears is by far the best game up there. The storyline is unbelievably good; the best in any RPG I've ever played, including Torment. The battle engine is fun for a PS1-era game, and mech combat is pretty cool with some challenging (puzzle-like) bosses (like Ramsus, Miang, etc).
Xenogears is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made. The only reason people don't think it is the best RPG is because it lost the Final Fantasy name. It was slated to be Final Fantasy VII, and the game that was VII was supposed to be VIII, but XG's storyline was considered far too controversial and it was put under it's own title. Had it been an FF game, more people would've been exposed to it, it surely would've seen the second disc get completed, and it would've surely been the best FF to date.
Yes FFVII, and FFX are great games... but Xenogears is, IMHO, a much better one.
As far as KOTOR.. Again, a great game! But the battle system was broken and very one dimensional. There's a mile of difference between KOTOR I and II in that department. For all the fuck ups Obsidian did to KOTOR, they made an incredibly improve battle-system. Also, the storyline in KOTOR was pretty straight-forward. You knew you were Revan about half-way into the game. Also, you can beat KOTOR fairly quickly, it's not very challenging at all (game is incredibly easy), and a lot of the missions are just "fetch this."
I love KOTOR, but a great deal of that love is because I so love Star Wars. It's why on replay, I prefer KOTOR II. I know both stories, and KOTOR I is better, but II has far more replay value.
Fallout 3 is a great game, but it's not even the best game in the series. I absolutely love Fallout.. But let's be honest, the story is nonexistent. The battle engine is okay, but at times seems not to make much sense; again, Obsidian made a great deal of improvements in New Vegas. Fallout 3 is massive, and I love the environment and setting.. but again, the main quest is fucking boring. You can also beat Fallout 3 in a single sitting if so inclined. The main story arc is so short, you are forced to play side-quests to get 40+ hours of gameplay. I wish there was more effort put into the story itself.
Also, there are no characters in the game at all.. Unlike every other game I've mentioned, Fallout 3 has no character development whatsoever. So, it's a "role playing game" sure, because you are playing the role of the guy from Vault 101; but still, a story, characters, something would've been nice.
Torment, it's not really even an RPG, it's more like an interactive book. You can count the number of meaningful battles on both hands they are so few are far between. The storyline is fantastic and there are tons of places to go and multiple endings. This game has loads of story, an amazingly deep setting and environment, incredible amounts of character development.. It's just a great game. But unfortunately, it can draw on at times from all of the reading. Again, it's like reading a very long novel. It is intense. There's also just not enough combat in this game, and what combat there is isn't that great.
So yeah, Xenogears, with all it's flaws, is easily the best game on this list. Hands down.
