The role-playing genre has become all the rage in modern times, with pretty much every company slapping the genre's name on their games in the hopes of generating interest from a wave of gamers who love the sense of progression they experience in such titles. However, while the definition of a role-playing game has definitely changed over time, most people still remember the golden age of classic RPGs that made it a point to prioritize each and every facet of the role that players adopted.
Thankfully, many games are still doing justice to the classic definition of role-playing games — one where everything from a player character's stats to the traits they choose plays a major role over the course of the game. One of the most unique stats that RPGs love messing about with is the Luck stat, with some titles using it pretty creatively to make it a worthwhile stat to invest in.
1 Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas is one of the most rewarding role-playing experiences of all time. The game combines the best of modern Fallout gameplay with the role-playing excellence of its CRPG roots, resulting in arguably the best Fallout game in the series and one which has amassed a massive fan following for obvious reasons. The game rewards a player's build in many subtle ways, to the point where playing as a character with a high Luck stat is perfectly viable in the game.
After all, Luck lets players win at almost everything and amass a massive hoard of bottle caps early on while also enjoying the benefit of much more frequent critical hits. If that wasn't great enough as is, then players can also unlock special dialogue options and figure out unique ways to finish a quest that would not have been possible if they didn't have high Luck.
2 Wasteland 3
The Fallout series might be flourishing as a first-person open-world RPG, but there are still many old fans of the series who love the first two games for their CRPG roots. For these people, it might seem like the days of roaming around a desert wasteland might be over, but this is where Wasteland 3 comes into the picture. This game is pretty much a version of Fallout for people who want to enjoy these games as a CRPG, so it's easy to see why the Luck stat is also quite powerful here.
Not only is Luck a great way to ensure critical hits and gain a ton of money, but it also has other functions in the game that are far more useful. The fact that players can potentially get a free turn with a character who has high Luck is good enough as is, and the chance for a mega crit is also quite welcome indeed.
3 Final Fantasy 10
Final Fantasy 10 is one of the greatest Final Fantasy games ever made that any JRPG fan needs to try out. This title adopts a unique Sphere Grid system that lets players maximize and customize the growth of their party members. Many unique custom spheres can be used to manipulate the stats of a playable character, including Luck.
Most Final Fantasy games do a halfway decent job of making the Luck stat relevant, but increasing this stat is downright mandatory in Final Fantasy 10 if players want to accomplish the endgame challenges. The Luck stat in this game improves a character's chance of hitting an enemy, which is pretty important if players even want to make a dent in Penance's HP.
4 Shin Megami Tensei 5
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The massive popularity of the Persona series has brought a ton of eyes over to its parent franchise, Shin Megami Tensei. The latest game in the series, Shin Megami Tensei 5, is just as brutal as the rest of the games in the series, making it downright necessary to afflict debuffs and use the most optimal party combinations to tackle the various tough and challenging bosses in the game.
The fact that Luck can be a pretty viable and important stat in the game makes Shin Megami Tensei 5 a fairly unique JRPG on its own. Increased item drops are always a bonus, but players also get to inflict enemies with ailments more frequently and the main character resists debuffs more often. All of these facts make Luck a viable stat to invest in if the player knows what they're doing.
5 Etrian Odyssey
Etrian Odyssey is easily one of the hardest RPGs on the Nintendo DS. This dungeon crawler punishes players with poor party organization, making them experience a game over screen over and over again unless they do something substantial to change their fortunes. In certain cases, some characters need to have a high Luck stat in the game if players want to keep faith in their build.
This is especially true in the case of characters that apply debuffs to enemies. A high Luck stat ensures a greater chance of a status afflicting the enemy, which is pretty useful and needs to be pretty high for certain characters to even be viable in combat.
6 Dark Souls 3
Dark Souls 3 caps off the final chapter in a trilogy of incredible action-adventure games and set the gaming industry ablaze by showing just how successful hardcore games can really be when they're marketed to the right audience. The final game in the Dark Souls trilogy is a fitting sendoff to the universe of the game and one of Miyazaki's best titles.
It's important to make a viable build in Dark Souls 3, so many people might ignore the Luck stat. However, players who understand the systems of the game can develop their entire build around this stat, with both weapons and certain status effects (Bleed and Poison) scaling on the basis of how high the Luck stat is.