This year had perhaps the most variety in role-playing games of any E3 yet, with Square-Enix representing Japanese RPGs with Kingdom Hearts 3, Lightning Returns and Final Fantasy 15, Western RPGs getting a healthy boost from The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, and MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV: A Relam Reborn and World of Tanks around seemingly every corner. Traditional role-playing mechanics even managed to sneak their way into other genres, as perhaps best demonstrated by Ubisoft's The Division.

Yes, the show floor was thick with RPGs this year, but only one can take home the crown. So head below to find out which it was...

Runner-Up

Final Fantasy XV

Square-Enix's reveal of Kingdom Hearts 3 was a great cherry on top for role-playing fans, but it was the re-reveal of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, now re-dubbed a proper Final Fantasy XV, that really blew me away.

This last generation really soured me on Final Fantasy games in general, and it doesn't seem like Lightning Returns is really trying to change that. But my hopes for the next generation of the beloved series soared when Square-Enix played the trailer for XV during Sony's press conference, and only heightened further when I was afforded a closer look at the game at Square-Enix's booth. The kinetic action of this frenetic RPG looks positively stunning, and seems to have been influenced by both the Kingdom Hearts series before it (fitting, since there's so much overlap between dev teams) and maybe even a little Uncharted.

Only time will tell if Final Fantasy XV can earse the stains of the Fabula Nova Crystallis titles, but for now I'd say it seems likely.

Winner

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

I spent an entire morning in the company of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt and its Polish devs, CD Projekt Red. I conducted an interview with the game's Creative Director, Konrad, in which we discussed taking on Skyrim, DRM on next-gen consoles, and The Witcher 3's new combat system, and I was treated to a whole hour of gameplay from the title. 

Even so, I wished that I could turn right around and experience more of CD Projekt Red's dark fantasy world the moment I set foot outside of that theater. The game's massive open world seems dense with activity, sailing and riding horseback look to open up plentiful new avenues for gameplay, and monster hunting has been bolstered greatly thanks to an internal Wiki that contains all the information you could ever need to hunt monsters to your heart's content. But perhaps most promising to me was the ambient weather system, and how it can potentially effect gameplay. Sail in a storm, for example, and you're likely to get thrown overboard and drown in the icy waters.