Some pen-and-paper effort. It doesn't really matter which one: just pick one, get a great group and you're all set.

This is an entirely subjective question that is impossible to answer.

But here are my personal top 3 in numerical order of preference:

3. Final Fantasy VI
2. Xenoblade Chronicles
1. Chrono Trigger

Since "best" is a relative term, it requires a comparison metric be specified in order to be objective.

Heart says PST.
Head says BG2.

What's 'overall RPG?'

If it means a good balance between story, exploration and combat, I would say Elder Scroll series up since Morrowind. Before someone brings up 'But Morrowind had terrible combat system!' - yeah, depends on who are you asking. And yes, to get the story properly, you need to get into lore and you need the willingness to read blocks of text. Oblivion resolves most of these issues while adding a truckload of its own, and then Skyrim kind of connects all of that and screws up something completely different. Still, when it comes to a good balance of all that makes RPG an RPG to me, TES series are the best.

The Mario and Luigi games have overalls. Bowser's Inside Story is particularly good. So, that's my pick.

For me has to be BG2 one of the best and longest rpg going and sadly we wont see many of these games ever again since bioware became eaware.

Depends what are the things you are looking for the most in an RPG. Some are looking for a story, some for exploration, some for challenge (in combat) and the stats (development of your character/party) etc.

Since to me the stats part seems to be pretty important, I've lately found e.g. Icewind Dale quite satisfying, playing it on the hardest difficulty level. I just love that sound of a party member levelling up, learning a new kickass spell, or finding some weapon or item that gives me some much needed abilities, like running faster or regenerating health (haven't found yet in IWD, unfortunately). And then being able to kick the ass of that big bad dragon that easily brushed me off earlier.

I like the exploration part as well (depending on the RPG), and the story. The story is pretty generic in IWD (finding who is causing all the trouble to a nice village), but keeps me still entertained. To me a good story in a game is like good in-game music: always nice to have and can make the gaming experience more pleasant, but still not necessarily needed in order to enjoy the game. I actually dislike many JRPGs which IMHO concentrate too much on the story and character interactions.

I won't say what is the best RPG, as there are still so many big holes, like only barely playing the TES games, still to properly play many Bioware/Interplay RPGs etc.

Wasn't e.g. Dragon Age Origins supposed to be pretty good too? Or are you referring to Mass Effect 3 or something?

I don't have much experience with RPGs, but of the ones I've tried, APILAS is probably the best. It's pretty light, but still has a range of half a kilometer. A major downside is the difficult multiphased assembly. The 95 S 58-61 was pretty hardcore, but it's harder to move fast because of its weight. Now, I don't have experience with the next one myself, but I believe the RPG-7 is widely considered one of the best RPGs overall. So maybe you should look into that? Depends on what you need the RPG for of course: are you going to be shooting tanks, or smaller targets?

For me (emphasize on "for me"), it is Baldur's Gate 2.

Oh right, and I personally prefer party-based RPGs to single-player RPGs, as with a party you can play with a set of different characters and classes at the same time.

Like when I started playing Icewind Dale, I didn't have to decide whether I play a mighty warrior or a spellcasting wizard... instead I have all these in my party (some of them multiclass):

paladin, fighter, druid. thief, mage (both a generic mage, and an illusionist), cleric

Sure there are still some classes missing like a bard, but that's a good enough combination.

It always irritated me that e.g. Diablo 2 LoD had many different player classes, but you could choose only one to play. And in order to try out another with a wildly different play style, you actually have to restart the game from the very beginning, fighting the same hordes of enemies.

Plus, having a party of several different classes makes the combat more tactical, as in different classes having a different role during a battle, or even outside of them (like Paladin with high charisma being the main negotiator, or the thief being a scout looking for traps or moving undetected behind enemy lines). I'll never figure out how some people power-play those Interplay/Bioware RPGs with only one character.

They're all good. Just not in the same level as BG2.

The ultimate overall RPG would clearly be Fallout. Not only do you always wear an overall beneath everything else you might wear, it's one of the most iconic overalls in video game history.

Morrowind, Nuff Said.

By your nick, I can judge that there's absolutely no bias in any way, shape or form :-P