My favourite (and therefore obviously the best) RPGs
I'm a huge RPG fan, there's possibly a game or two in here that you've never heard of, but I'd urge you all to at least try them out, even if some of the are a little dated these days.
List items
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This is it, the daddy of all RPGs, past and present.
This is, in my opinion, the pinacle of all RPG’s. It’s an epic tale that covers 2 main games and 2 expansions, all of which follow you, the child of Bhaal, the Lord of Murder. The first game involves your main character (created from the usual D&D character classes) as you investigate the death of your foster father at the hands of a massive heavily armoured figure. Along the way you will meet many NPC’s all with their own personalities and objectives. You can have up to 5 other characters in your party all of which have their own strengths and weaknesses. Be careful though, if you do too many things that go against what your companions believe in, they may leave the party and attack you! The 1st game is set in an open world with various citys and towns spread over the map. The second game follows on almost direclty from the first, with your character having been captured by mysterious mage called Jon Irenicus. The second game featured an even bigger and more detailed world, more character development and interaction and even higher power levels. This was followed up the epic expansion pack The Throne Of Bhaal, the conclusion ot the series that raised the level cap yet again and added many hours of new gameplay (I‘ve clocked it about 25-30), including a massive new dungeon, acessible in both the expansion and the second game. Every game in the series has lead up to the final battle in Throne Of Bhaal, where you will decide your destiny.
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This is a game about words. The whole game is filled with detailed discriptions of just about everything. Estimations have placed the games script at around 800,000 words. Every character has something to say and all of it is worth reading. Based on the famous Infinity engine, the game revolves around a character known only as ‘the namelesss one’. The overall goal of the game is to recover The Nameless One's lost memory, and to discover both his identity and why and how he has become immortal. That’s right, your character is immortal, in a departure from the norm, if you die in the game you don’t have to start over, you simply wake up in the local morgue and can carry on. The thing that makes this game stand out isn’t just the level of detail and the quality of writing, it’s that you can talk your way out of just about every fight, there’s only about 4 compulsary fights in the game. If you’ve never played this game you owe it to yourself to play it
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Set 1000 years before the events of Episode 1, these are Star Wars games unencumbered by the films and they benefit greatly from it. Although the first is widely regarded to be the best, the second is no slouch and is a wonderful game in its own right. The KOTOR games allow you to make choices which shape you and, in the second, your party. With some truly memorable characters (who can forget HK-47?) and the familiar, yet different Star Wars universe it’s a true example of an excellent RPG. Shame the second was so rushed.
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This may be a somewhat controversial inclusion, as it’s not a pure RPG, however those elements far out weigh the FPS elements. A game that had a modern and deep story, you played JC Denton, a government agent, who’s been upgraded with nano technology. As you accomplish different objective you’re given points with which you upgrade these various implants allowing you to see better, run faster and hack computer better. You also have a limited inventory with ammo, weapons and other items all taking up precious slots. This meant you really had to think about what you picked up and manage your space well. The weapons could be customized with various items including laser sights and silencers. The game is most praised however, for its open ended gameplay and the way in which your choices affected the world around you. For example a choice you make in the game will decide later if your brother lives or dies, but unless you play through the game again, taking the other option, you’d have no idea that that wasn’t what was supposed to happen.
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What really needs to be said that hasn't already? While the first game has it's issues, though still a brilliant game, the second was almost the perfect unity between RPG and third person action. The sheer number of GOTY awards for both games shows just how well respected the game is, both among critics and fans alike.
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TES series is well known for its attention to detail, realism, and the long, complex lists of names, dates, and places. It’s a series with a massive and well developed history of towns, religons and people. The series wasn’t really noticed by the general public until the release of the third game, Morrowind. This was a HUGE game, that allowed to to go anywhere and o just about anything you liked. Don’t want to follow the story? That’s fine, go off and explore the many dungeons, or wander the countryside, looking for treasure. Morriwind was succeded by the gorgeous Oblivion, another open ended game that allowed you to make your own adventure, completely ignoring the main storyline for as long as you want. TES are as close to open ended RPG perfection as you can get.
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Set in a post apocalytpic world with a 50’s tinge, this is one of the greatest RPG series ever made. With it’s genuine adult themes, such as drug use, prostitution and explicit violence and gore, all of which have consequences, it’s a true example of how to make a game mature, without simply slathering it in sex and blood. Fallout uses the SPECIAL system, this included traits, that could seriously alter gameplay depending on what was taken. These often involved giving up certain stat point in return for a reward, such as giving up action points (that decide what moves you can make in combat) to do more melee damage.
Plus you know you want to take Explorer as a perk.
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Considered by many to be the granddaddy of all RPG’s the venerable Ultima series has spawned many follow-ups (over 25) and set several precedents that changed the RPG genre for ages. It was also one of the first examples of a MMORPG, started in 1997, it was instrumental in the mainstream acceptance of the genre and the rise of monthly subscriptions and PvP (Player vs. Player) combat. If you’ve never tried to play an Ultima game you can’t call yourself an RPG fan.
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Created by the much praised developers Blizzard, Diablo and it’s follow ups are possibly the purest examples of ‘hack and slash’ gameplay you’ll find. Displayed from an isometric view, as many of the great western RPG’s have been, it’s graphics were functional, but the fairly simple visuals belie the depth of the game. With hundreds and hundreds of items to collect, various classes to play as and a massive world to explore its clear this isn’t a game you can expect to breeze through. The main reason it’s been included in this list though, isn’t for the single player, as good as it is, it’s for the multiplayer. A community that’s still active today and the lead for Blizzards online platform Battle.net. A free online service that allowed up to 8 players to play together or against each other, through the massive world.
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To start off with, a game that most of you have probably never heard of. Betrayal at Krondor was released in 1993. It’s based on the work of the bestselling fantasy author, Raymond E Feist. It’s played from a 1st person viewpoint using basic 3d, though combat switched to a 3rd person view. It features a large gameworld, filled with characters and secrets from Feist previous books. The game was very well received by critics, with praise for its level of detail and well written story. The graphics might look past it now, but if you’ve never played it, you owe it yourself to give it a go.
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Released in 2004 and developed by the now defunct Troika games, Bloodlines is a first person RPG, using Valves ‘Source’ engine. This allowed for incredible facial animations that really helped to portray the characters and their emotions. With a dynamic storyline, including 5 endings, it included a massive amount of detail and featured several groups you could side with. It was well received by critics, but underperformed at retail. It did however, develop a large cult following that are still releasing patches and updates for the game, even now.
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This game isn't on here for it's main campaign, though it is enjoyable enough (I thought NWN2 did a much better job of it) Where it really comes into it's own is in the expansions (esp Hordes of the Underdark) and user created modules.
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You can fart and burp in peoples faces.
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