The BEST 3 RPGs you have ever played

[Blarghagh]

 

Moved to Computer & Console because it's more general gaming discussion.

Whoa whoa, this isn't the Wild West. We have rules in C&C, and when you are asked to list your top 3 rpg's, you stop at 3!

 

1. Quest for Glory

2. Jagged Alliance 2

3. Fallout

When I posted that it wasn't in C&C, though.

 

Doesn't apply now, so in no order: BG2, Mask of the Betrayer, Pokemon Crystal.

[Huinehtar]

My top RPGs wouldn't be different than the ones I mentioned in the all-time top, so, unsurprisingly,

 

1. Planescape: Torment

2. Fallout

3. Shining Force III

 

For the first two, I share many things with other who already explained why these games were so good and appreciated, I would add that they literally threw me out from the "safe space" I had in RPGs back then, beyond innovation, lore and gameplay, the whole impression I had after completing them was it "changed" me, as it was a "before" and an "after", thus making me more exigent about video games, as I wouldn't easily accept less than these games delivered.

 

Shining Force III had similar qualities inside, and it isn't very popular here, sadly. To me, the best tactical RPG ever (sorry Jagged Alliance 2, but C&C and story are better in SFIII), and I suspect that many don't care about it, because they think it's a JRPG like the Final Fantasy series and co, while the Shining Force series has nothing to do with. But, the reason could be because it was released on Saturn, and only the first scenario was released in NA and Europe. About this, since I completed SFIII years after Planescape: Torment and Fallout, maybe if SFIII Scenario 2, 3 and the Premium Disc content were released outside of Japan back then, maybe SFIII would have become the first one in my top 3.

[E.RedMark]

 

 

Shining Force III had similar qualities inside, and it isn't very popular here, sadly. To me, the best tactical RPG ever (sorry Jagged Alliance 2, but C&C and story are better in SFIII), and I suspect that many don't care about it, because they think it's a JRPG like the Final Fantasy series and co, while the Shining Force series has nothing to do with. But, the reason could be because it was released on Saturn, and only the first scenario was released in NA and Europe. About this, since I completed SFIII years after Planescape: Torment and Fallout, maybe if SFIII Scenario 2, 3 and the Premium Disc content were released outside of Japan back then, maybe SFIII would have become the first one in my top 3.

I played the old Shining force...

 

Man..that was good . And never heard of a 3rd !!

 

But if it was on Saturn , then yeah . 

[LittleArmadillo0]

Favorites

-Vampires the Masquerade 

-Pillars of Eternity

-Mass Effect 2

 

Honorable mentions

-Dragon age origins (my introduction to rpgs)

-Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates

-Overlord

[Hawke64]

Favorites:

1. Dragon Age;
2. Pillars of Eternity;
3. Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

Honorable mentions:

• Dark Souls;
• Dragon's Dogma;
• Dungeon Siege III;
• Mars: War Logs;
• Mass Effect;
• Pyre;
• Torment: Tides of Numenera;
• Tyranny.

[Guard Dog]

In no particular order:

 

• The Baldur's Gate series (counting it all as one thing)
• Fallout New Vegas
• Pillars of Eternity

If it were four I'd add Planescape Torment to this list.

[WDeranged]

1. Skyrim

2. Skyrim

3. Skyrim.

[IndiraLightfoot]

NWN2 (with MotB + mods), NWN1 (with mp server xp + mods), BG1 (with Sword Coast).

[Malcador]

• Deus Ex

Witcher 3

Fallout 2

[AwesomeOcelot]

Easy.

 

1. Fallout

2. VtM: Bloodlines

3. PoE:Deadfire

 

Honourable mentions: Deus Ex, PoE + WM, Diablo 2, Torchlight 2, Rings of Power, Bastion, Arcanum, New Vegas, Fallout 2. DX: Human Revolution and Bioshock aren't really RPGs.

[Mamoulian War]

1. Skyrim

2. Skyrim

3. Skyrim.

You forgot to mention editions, we are confused!

[Huinehtar]

 

 

 

Shining Force III had similar qualities inside, and it isn't very popular here, sadly. To me, the best tactical RPG ever (sorry Jagged Alliance 2, but C&C and story are better in SFIII), and I suspect that many don't care about it, because they think it's a JRPG like the Final Fantasy series and co, while the Shining Force series has nothing to do with. But, the reason could be because it was released on Saturn, and only the first scenario was released in NA and Europe. About this, since I completed SFIII years after Planescape: Torment and Fallout, maybe if SFIII Scenario 2, 3 and the Premium Disc content were released outside of Japan back then, maybe SFIII would have become the first one in my top 3.

I played the old Shining force...

 

Man..that was good . And never heard of a 3rd !!

 

But if it was on Saturn , then yeah . 

 

 

I did own a Saturn back then (and still, because it remains one of my favorite systems), but I have waited for SFIII for too long, rumors were insistant about the project of a new Shining Force on Saturn, since 1995. When Shining Wisdom came, it wasn't bad (at least not as bad as many said) but not a 'Force. And when Shining the Holy Ark released, another nice game (very good in fact), but still not a 'Force... After 2 years, the wait was a bit tiring.

The only Shining Force-like released west-wide was Riglord Saga (aka Mystaria aka Blazing Heroes, depending of the area and the date of release). A pretty good one though.

 

Rumours around were that Riglord Saga 2 was in the making too, but when Sega of America crumbled Saturn marketing in 1997, I lost hope like everyone and went to PC (that's how I discovered Fallout and so on). It was literally years after that I have learned that both Riglord Saga 2 and Shining Force III were finally released in Japan (SFIII in 3 parts along 6 months, and with a bonus disc), and even SFIII scenario 1 was released in NA and Europe!

 

In the end, happy to have enjoyed Fallout and IE at that time and thus being mainly a PC gamer, but still a bit angry how Sega did for SFIII and the Saturn as a whole.

 

"thanks Sega"

[Serrano]

Witcher 3

Planescape Torment

Deus Ex

Edited June 13, 2018 by Serrano

[SonicMage117]

Hell, if I knew we could cheat by giving more than 3 rpg's and writing a full essay to validate our choices, I would have...

[ShadySands]

It's not too late

[Mamoulian War]

It's not too late

Don’t give him ideas please, the essay would turn sooner or later into young adults story about how great is Ubisoft

[mczas]

Witcher 3

Fable

Frostpunk

[Pessimeister]

I certainly interpret "best" as favourite but have played so many over the years that a reduction to three is always tough. Thus, I'm going to cheat slightly.  

 

Bard's Tale III: The Thief of Fate

Curse of the Azure Bonds (Goldbox goodness!)

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar & Ultima VII: The Black Gate

 

Honourable mention to the Infinity Engine for my consistent return to it. (Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate especially) 

[Mamoulian War]

wow, that's pretty old classics you brought to the table

[SonicMage117]

Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen - The best combat seen in any rpg period. Defies D&D system so that also makes it a better rpg. Change your class at any time, limitless replayability, tons of content and fetch quests! Make sure you carry a lantern with you at all times, if you get stuck in the dark without one at night, you're pretty much doomed.

 

Pillars Of Eternity - An rpg founded upon religion and demonstrates what religion does relatably. As religion brings people together in real life, so it does also in PoE. And then like in real life, nay sayers will manipulate religions to be evil and not realize their unbeliefs are still beliefs which dictate their own personal mindset into religion and confusing others, savvy? And like that, a war was started and in PoE's case, an equivalent to the roman crusade but of course with dragons and the like. As someone that hates religion and seperation of people, it was nice to see an elegant truth on the war of religion vs anti-religion theology and psychology. Cleaver!

 

Kotor 2 - A more "mature" story than the previous two I've mentioned and perhaps Obsidian's finest work still this day. A vast journey which spans the galaxy, combat so easy a monkey could finish this with his eyes closed. Great casual rpg with great story... what could be better than that combination? Nothing.

 

 

Pyre - Perhaps the first game we ever see that dumps rpg combat on it's head by replacing combat entirely with a "sport tournament" that affects the storyline at every turn. Basically you're exiled to a land of exiles and the grand prize wins you freedom to go home, pardoned but even more importantly is that you are in charge of others fates as well. Who will stay in hell, who will go back to normal lives? It's all up to you. And the music is phenomenal.

 

Transistor -

DrakanOrderOfFlame: "There's no such thing as an 8 hour rpg that has as much depth and lore as a Final Fantasy or Baldurs Gate game"

 

SuperGiant Dev: "Hold my beer!"

 

Transistor proved everyone wrong, got rid of needless side-quests and filler, gave us something a bit more. Quite the feat when an indie dev can do an 8 hour rpg that challenges AAA nostalgia and bring it to its knees.

 

The Witcher 3 - It looks good, it plays good, it sounds good... IT IS JUSTLY GOOD! The Witcher 3 is an easy game to love and with good reason, there's so much quality in every department. While the prequels were hit and miss in different places, The Witcher 3 is the accidental prodigy who said "This is me, F you if you all don't like it" packaged with a "Thank you for your support" note from the dev. And it works. And couple that with dlc that add 40 hours of gameplay and you have a winner at any rate.

 

Costume Quest 1&2 - Well uhhh, they're amazing so yeah and I'd like both ported to android phones. They are filled to the brim with Schafer's charm and a delight to explore. Every quest is a fetch quest - literally, every one of them but none are boring so, you could say they handle them better than other rpg's?

 

 

 

That's the basic gist.. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Wall-E even agrees with me on all these finely executed points

 

 

 

Edit: I just noticed that all mine are newer rpg's... what a surprise

Edited June 23, 2018 by SonicMage117

[Chilloutman]

so much for 'BEST 3'

['GM']

1. Grim Dawn

2. Witcher

3. DA Origins

 

Probably in that order

[Undecaf]

Fallout (1&2)

Planescape: Torment

Arcanum

 

Then come the rest.... VtMB, Wizardry 8, M&M 6 and 10, Deus Ex, Morrowind, etc.

[Taevyr]

Top 3 would likely consist of Tyranny, DA:Origins and Dragon's Dogma in an undecided order. I'll be writing short points on various of my favourites below. Warning: Wall of Text, contains many musings on game music.

 

Dragon's Dogma: one of the best combat systems i've seen, a really enjoyable open world that keeps you on your toes, and built-in companion AI that isn't retarded (when trained correctly)! The music is really great at setting up the atmosphere, from the palpable tension in Dark arisen to the glory of turning around a fight with a Dragon. Also, the Dark arisen expansion is horrifying at moments. If you see Death appear out of nowhere, run. Run for your life.

 

The Dragon Age series: Great setting (if a bit Wheel of Time derivative in places), Origins definitely one of my top 3 RPG's played. Don't know if I want to see it stray further after Inquisition though, even with Trespasser being a big improvement story-wise.  The music is alright, though Inquisition was disappointing in atmospheric music. The Descent and Trespasser had some good tracks though.

 

Tyranny: I actually prefer this one over Pillars I, probably since I like the setting and prefer story and reactivity over combat complexity; Also has great replayability, and I love the magic system, even if it's OP and imbalanced. Definitely in my top 3. Has music, though no real memorable tracks come to mind.

 

KOTOR 1, 2 and the TOR MMO. Yes you read that last one correctly: Love all of 'em storywise,  though the MMO doesn't quite reach the level of Kotor 2 and has some lacking class stories. It also suffers more from EA syndrome with every passing day; stopped playing it a few years ago because of it, but it'll probably remain my favourite MMO. Never had a class fit my playstyle as well as a Jedi Shadow Tank, but I'll always be on the lookout. Decent music, and the MMO had some great planet themes..

 

Pillars: good in every aspect at first, great when White march 2 and version 3.0 came around. If Deadfire goes the same route, it'll be amazing aside from the main "story", and even that could be improved upon. Also, Deadfire's musical score is amazing, and certain PoE1 tracks like the one in Sun-in-Shadow are great

 

The Elder scrolls series, including ESO: May be nostalgia or the fact they were the first real open world RPG's I've played, but no game gives you quite the atmosphere and feel of discovering and travelling a rich open world a TES game gave me. Largely caused by the great atmospheric music, especially in Oblivion. I always forget the composer's name, but he's a god. He has to be.

 

Other games I really enjoyed would be the Shadowrun games from Harebrained schemes (great cyberpunk music in Dragonfall), Various Final Fantasy games (always good music), Fallout: New Vegas (Big Iron), and the Mass Effect series (something something music).

 

If anyone's not yet tired of hearing about game music: Check out Nier Gestalt/Replicant and Nier:Automata. Best game music I've heard hands down, and good games too when you're tired of RPG's for a moment.

 

EDIT: probably going to play Planescape: Torment at some point should I find the time, as I've heard a lot about its story, and a friend had me listen to Torment's amazing soundtrack to convince me.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Taevyr

[bugarup]

Nice to meet another game music aficionado    (albeit my own tastes are more on "VtM: Bloodlines" and "Brutal Legend" side and I am probably the only person on Earth who finds ESO series music ultimately nondescript).

 

(Also SWTOR: Imperial Agent story is one of my favourite RPGs, and pretty high on the list. It's criminally wasted as a part of a MMO)

 

Also², Mask of the Betrayer's soundtrack was fantastic and complemented game's atmosphere really well. 

 

Also³, Arcanum's soundtrack is to RPGs what Ennio Morricone's scores are to Westerns. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by bugarup