Great RPGs you played and enjoyed

[vv221]

I've recently finished Bloodlines, truly remarkable game. I think it's the only RPG in existence where I can't bitch about anything.

 

Finish it again, then. =p

With a Malkavian !

[AwesomeOcelot]

I loved Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines even though I probably shouldn't have (the sexism and racism and the fact that you could get a one-way ticket to lesbian land but had only a couple same-sex options for men was just, ugh).

 

What sexism and racism? Also, so what if a game only has male heterosexual and female homosexual options? The game came out with a game breaking bug that effected everyone, the developers worked on it for free for months, it's not like they have an infinite amount of time, most people who bought it were males. Every game does not have to equally cater to you, that's extremely entitled way of thinking.

[Gorth]

Ultima IV - Hands down, the greatest CRPG of all time.

I don't know if it's the greatest, but it's definitely on my top 3

 

The downside to having played crpgs for many years is that some of the older ones tends to "slip" from your memory despite being masterpieces of their time. Is comparing a 25 year old game to a 2 year old game a fair comparison or should it be held up against it contemporaries?

 

In the beginning was the dungeon crawler and it was good...

 

First real fun "crpgs" (although I'm sure somebody today would shoot down the idea of calling the rpg's but that's a different can of worms),

Temple of Apshai and Sword of Fargoal, which had gfx on the C64, followed by Rogue, where your '@' had to fight 'r's and 'k's while collecting '!'s and '?'s... all good fun

 

Then I bought Lords of Midnight. Most awesome game ever and on my top 3 too. Later bought Doomdarks Revenge (the sequel) too and it was also awesome.

 

Later came Bards Tale and Phantasie and it was still fun to play crpgs.

 

Then I got hooked on the Ultima's, starting with III and being flabbergasted by the awesomeness of IV. Next one i played must have been VI and it was an instant turnoff, all style and no substance.

 

I also played some of the SSI games (the 3 xyz of Krynn games) but the shops never had any of the other D&D titles (Curse of Azure Bonds, something about Silver Blades and some other), but it was still fun and atmospheric for its time.

 

Last of the great games i remember from then was a gem called "Bloodnet". A cyberpunk rpg/adventure hybrid game featuring gadgets and bloodsuckers.

 

Then came a long period where I don't remember the crpgs from. I vaguely remember some isometric continous world game on my Commodore Amiga, but I don't remember the name.

 

Years later again I discovered Fallout and life was good. It was actually the game that made me cave in and retire my Amiga for a newly purchased PC (because the darn thing didn't run on the dos emulator on the Amiga).

 

That was the beginning of my love affair with first Interplay and Black Isle when crpgs got their own division. PS:T and BG2 followed as did IWD, Fallout 2 and IWD2. Loved them all. I have a strained relationship with BG because I never really got into it and just play it for completeness sake.

 

I loved VMBL and played through it a handful of times (Nosferatu being my favourite playthrough) and I also fell for the Witcher, completing that one a handful of times, trying different alliances and choices. I never could get into Witcher 2 though. Not sure what's wrong with it but it just doesn't appeal to me.

 

I tried Mass Effect on an xbox and didn't like it, but eventually bought ME2 and found myself pleasantly surprised. Also got DA:O but skipped DA2 after trying the demo. As for ME3... well enough said about that in other threads. It was a mixed bag for me (and not because of the ending).

[alanschu]

I've recently finished Bloodlines, truly remarkable game. I think it's the only RPG in existence where I can't bitch about anything.

 

Finish it again, then. =p

With a Malkavian !

 

I intensely recommend this.

[alanschu]

Ultima IV - Hands down, the greatest CRPG of all time.

I don't know if it's the greatest, but it's definitely on my top 3

 

The downside to having played crpgs for many years is that some of the older ones tends to "slip" from your memory despite being masterpieces of their time. Is comparing a 25 year old game to a 2 year old game a fair comparison or should it be held up against it contemporaries?

 

In the beginning was the dungeon crawler and it was good...

 

First real fun "crpgs" (although I'm sure somebody today would shoot down the idea of calling the rpg's but that's a different can of worms),

Temple of Apshai and Sword of Fargoal, which had gfx on the C64, followed by Rogue, where your '@' had to fight 'r's and 'k's while collecting '!'s and '?'s... all good fun

 

Then I bought Lords of Midnight. Most awesome game ever and on my top 3 too. Later bought Doomdarks Revenge (the sequel) too and it was also awesome.

 

Later came Bards Tale and Phantasie and it was still fun to play crpgs.

 

Then I got hooked on the Ultima's, starting with III and being flabbergasted by the awesomeness of IV. Next one i played must have been VI and it was an instant turnoff, all style and no substance.

 

I also played some of the SSI games (the 3 xyz of Krynn games) but the shops never had any of the other D&D titles (Curse of Azure Bonds, something about Silver Blades and some other), but it was still fun and atmospheric for its time.

 

Last of the great games i remember from then was a gem called "Bloodnet". A cyberpunk rpg/adventure hybrid game featuring gadgets and bloodsuckers.

 

Then came a long period where I don't remember the crpgs from. I vaguely remember some isometric continous world game on my Commodore Amiga, but I don't remember the name.

 

Years later again I discovered Fallout and life was good. It was actually the game that made me cave in and retire my Amiga for a newly purchased PC (because the darn thing didn't run on the dos emulator on the Amiga).

 

That was the beginning of my love affair with first Interplay and Black Isle when crpgs got their own division. PS:T and BG2 followed as did IWD, Fallout 2 and IWD2. Loved them all. I have a strained relationship with BG because I never really got into it and just play it for completeness sake.

 

I loved VMBL and played through it a handful of times (Nosferatu being my favourite playthrough) and I also fell for the Witcher, completing that one a handful of times, trying different alliances and choices. I never could get into Witcher 2 though. Not sure what's wrong with it but it just doesn't appeal to me.

 

I tried Mass Effect on an xbox and didn't like it, but eventually bought ME2 and found myself pleasantly surprised. Also got DA:O but skipped DA2 after trying the demo. As for ME3... well enough said about that in other threads. It was a mixed bag for me (and not because of the ending).

 

 

Sadly Ultima IV just never did grab me. Ultima VII is probably #3 on my list though.

[Gorth]

Hmm... I got IV, V and VI off GOG. I wonder if they don't have VII too... yep Ultima VII Complete

 

Added to my wishlist.

[alanschu]

Good call

 

I remember really wanting to play Martian Dreams and The Savage Empire, and they appear to be free. Though VI will have nostalgia pulling for it.

[Katphood]

Demon's Souls

The Witcher

Fallout 1, 2 & New Vegas

Alpha Protocol

Arcanum

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines

Mass Effect

[Mamoulian War]

Not all of these RPGs were "great" nevertheless I have enjoyed them a lot.

 

 

Every single Infinity Engine game

Fallout 1

Fallout 2

Fallout 3

Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X-2 (Yes I am one of the few guys who actually played this game, instead of whining about the it's girliness because the ATB system was THE BEST in all of FF games)

Final Fantasy XII

Menzoberranzan

Dark Sun

Knights of Xentar

Demon's Souls

Dark Souls

Star Ocean 1

Star Ocean 4

Atelier Totori

Last Scenario

Arena

Daggerfall

Morrowind

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehyr

Lands of Lore

Albion

Dungeon Master

Stonekeep

Suikoden

Suikoden II

Al-Qadim

Entomorph: Plague of Darkfall

Jade Empire

Edited October 1, 2012 by Mamoulian War

[Humanoid]

Despite being here on an RP-oriented games forum, I don't really have much of a history with 'classic' RPGs. Indeed I'd say the story begins and ends with Ultima 7/Serpent Isle, with a brief detour into Ultima 8. It's all down to the maligned combat system, which makes it perfect for my tastes. The closer the design of an RPG approaches that of an adventure game, the happier I am.

 

I had no interest whatsoever in the combat-oriented RPGs of the era - your Might and Magics, your Wizardrys, your Gold Box games - I watched my older cousin sink hours into the latter, but never was interested in trying it out for myself. My PC gaming fare as a kid was more along the lines of the god game: even a game like Civilization which was one of my first loves I generally played as a god game instead of a strategy game, peaceful perfectionist expansion on easy difficulty.

 

But I digress. Sometime in the latter part of that decade, I had an Electronics Boutique voucher that I needed to use within a month, and there being no titles at the time that I was interested in specifically, I ended up using it on what happened the most critically acclaimed title of that particular time, being Baldur's Gate 2. From that gateway I suspect my story mostly lines up with a majority here, getting attached to the BIS ecosystem and all that.

 

 

Ahem, so to answer - it's not a very long list:

 

Ultima 7: The Black Gate

Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle

Ultima 8: Pagan (somewhat incongruous inclusion, but a big part of my transition to full term PC gaming)

Baldur's Gate 2; into Fallout 1/2/NV, Torment

Bloodlines

The Witcher 2

 

There aren't really any "almost" titles that I could include in the list: the gap to the next tier of RPGs for me personally is a fairly big one.

[LadyCrimson]

Baldur's Gate, Kotor2, FNV, Might & Magic 6-8 type games fit my tastes. I tend to like crpg's that have a lot of combat action/exploration, but are deeper/more involved in terms of quest, far-reaching arcs, memorable characters, and meticulous game/skill mechanics/combat strategy than the loot-hunting games ala Diablo will have.** I like freedom but I am also one of those players that can be easily overwhelmed with too many constant quest/chr. choices (quest overload, for example), so there's a fine line between freedom and wanting at least some sense of direction, for me.

 

 

**Not that I don't like simple loot hunting action games too. I do, quite a lot.

Edited October 1, 2012 by LadyCrimson

[Chr1s]

* Planescape Torment

*Fallout 1,2 & NV

*Nox

*Dungeon siege

* TES series

* Deus Ex series atleast first and HR

*Icewind Dale

* Anachronox

* Arcanum

* Soulbringer was kinda underrated, not nearly as bas as some reviewers thought.

 

could take up a ton more but these will suffice.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I've played more or less everything from '99 onward but it boils down to Infinity engine games (specifically BGII and PST) and the Witcher as a distant second.

 

The list keeps on getting shorter and shorter as my tolerance for flaws drops over time while at the same time my expectations grow to probably unrealistic proportions.

 

Really, unless a game is the new BGII or a new Shadow of the Colossus, or PST, Homeworld, Alpha Centauri, Dawn of War - I'm not likely to care about it much. And I'm not talking about sequels but exceptional, one-of-a-kind originality and quality.

 

That sort of innovation is long gone from the RPG genre.

Edited October 2, 2012 by Drowsy Emperor

[Mamoulian War]

Oh man oh man, how I could forget to add Anachronox and Septerra Core to my long list :/

[HoonDing]

Knights of Xentar

I have fond memories of this one as well. You could bang Little red riding hood, after all.

[argan]

Fallout - My favourite, remember playing the demo when it was released and then getting the full game.

Fallout 2

Arcanum

Deus Ex

Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate 2

Neverwinter Nights

Knights of the Old Republic (very enjoyable, but crap writing)

Knights of the Old Republic 2 (far better than the first, especially the characters and theme)

Temple of Elemental Evil (though I barely remember any of it, I remember enjoying it)

Baldur's Gate

Baldur's Gate 2 (one of my favourites)

Vampire: Bloodlines (simply excellent)

System Shock 2 (just amazing. Still have the first one that I got from eBay some time ago, but haven't gotten around to it yet)

Planescape: Torment (of course)

Fallout: Tactics (far better than given credit for)

Jagged Alliance 2

Morrowind (never played Arena or Daggerfall, though)

Icewind Dale

Divine Divinity

The Witcher

The Witcher 2

 

My backlog:

Icewind Dale 2

System Shock

Edited October 21, 2012 by argan

[Frederick]

Planescape: Torment

Deus Ex

Arcanum

Fallout

Fallout 2

...and hopefully, in the future: Arcanum 2!

 

I've played more, but I've reduced the list to the absolute best.