So on Jeff's list of games he would accept as the greatest ever there is not a single RPG.
As someone who loves that genre to death, I have a problem with that. So rather than bitch about it, I offer this list by way of rebuttal.
It seems like this game came out in the 70's. I remember how blown away I was the first time I played this game and as time passes my appreciation for it grows. This is the game that got me to buy my first strategy guide, a guide I still own today, and still refer to as I replay the game, something I do every couple of years.
There's so much to see here, so much to do, and so many different ways to do it. The scope of the game is still staggering to me and after playing it half a dozen times I still don't think I've seen everything in the game.
It's better than the game it followed in every way (which is no mean feat for a sequel to accomplish) without a doubt the best RPG of all time, and certainly a candidate for best game ever.
This game holds a lot of my personal awards: favorite JRPG, favorite console RPG, favorite story and favorite Final Fantasy game.
I know some FF VII fans out there just revoked my "RPG Fan" membership card, but that's what I feel.
First, the mechanics of this game are rock solid. Turn-based combat and an incredibly deep character advancement system that allows you to really build a party to your specifications.
Need another healer? Another black mage? More warriors? You can do it.
This game also has a ton of content, with optional dungeons, weapons and quests to undertake. After playing through once in a fairly impatient, straight-line manner, I was amazed at how much story I had skipped.
I also love the characters, the voice acting and the story. On that last front, I'll just say that this game pulls off something very few video games of any type do: it had a story twist I didn't see coming.
One last, highly personal point, this game single handedly made my 12 year old niece and all her friends into RPG fans. If you ever wondered why Final Fantasy X-2 was a little girly, with the J-Pop Charlie's Angels vibe, it might just be because there are more groups of girls like my niece and her friends in the world, who run around pretending to be Yuna, Rikku and Paine.
Again I'm sure there's more than a few Baldur's Gate diehards out there giving me the finger right now, but this is far and away my favorite Bioware RPG.
Frankly, I never much cared for Star Wars video games. You know what would be better than replaying a movie I already saw as a sidescroller? Watching the movie again.
Or putting a bullet in my fucking brain.
This game gets the Star Wars universe exactly right. It makes being a Jedi cool, but also makes it feel like a responsibility.
This is a game where the moral choice slider really made sense, and really felt like it meant something.
And on the story side, let me just say this is the single greatest "evil" storyline in any RPG ever. Having played through once as a goody-goody, I was really surprised at just how different the dark side storyline was.
This is my favorite single-character RPG ever.
For it being a wasteland and all, this game has a majesty and beauty to it and manages an almost perfect blend of open-world with dungeon crawling.
It also has the best opening of any game ever. The tutorials, through some of the early missions, like exploring the Super Duper Mart and the elementary school are some of the best moments in this game.
I also think Fallout 3 has the best run of DLC of any game ever. Bethesda took the model of the best DLC for Oblivion (Knights of the Nine) and managed to top that with three of their four DLC offerings (P.S. Operation: Anchorage, I never liked you).
It's kind of sad to say, but I'm sorry it had to end. I really almost wish Bethesda had just removed the level cap and continued making DLC with new perks.
In fact, I think The Pitt is one of the best 2 or 3 questlines in the entire game and the ending in Broken Steel is markedly better than that offered by the original game.
I don't think FO 3 would have made this list without its DLC and that's something I never thought I'd say about ANY game.
Again, probably some folks who want Diablo 2 here instead (if not higher).
And while I appreciate that there are still people playing Diablo 2, and remain mystified that there are still websites out there selling Diablo 2 magic items decades after the game was released (again time flies) I still have to give the nod to the first game here.
First, this game absolutely shook up the RPG genre as we know it. It single-handedly created a new sub-genre of action RPGs that are still made and enjoyed to this day but none of those games has ever managed to capture the simple magic of this original.
Hell, games are STILL ripping off Diablo, just ask Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which wouldn't even really be possible without this game.
Second, Diablo remains maybe the most addictive video game of all time. It has an ability second only to Civilization games to create a timewarp, causing me to lose time worse than an alien abductee.
Third, this game has the single best dungeon crawling experience of any game ever. The dungeon is almost an extra character and the ability to hear enemies before you see them, or indeed even kill an enemy before you see it (by shooting a fireball in the direction of a suspicious noise or blind into a dark room) just add to this game's charm.
This is the perfect example of a simple game done absolutely perfectly.
