Cheating slightly with more than 3 options:

 

1:Witcher 2 and 3. 2 had a better story mainly due to the open world issues the last one had. Though within those handicaps 3 was superb, easily one of the best games I've played.

2: Neverwinter Nights - mainly from nostalgia - it was one of the first rps that I played. Though it's pretty much unplayable nowadays - as are most of the old ie games.

3:  DA Origins, Pillars, Mask, Warcraft 3 (also from nostalgia, and no I have never played WOW.)

Weird that people keep mentioning Dragon Age and Skyrim, I thought this thread was about RPGs...

 

I think a lot of people under-rate KotoR2 because of its slipshod ending.  If only they'd scrapped one of the planets in the middle of the game and spent that time giving KotoR2 the ending it deserved, it would probably end up on a lot more top-10 (or top-3) lists.

 

Oh, be nice. 

 

There is a game for every taste and that's good, because I don't want to eat mouse au chocolat (Original Sin, Pillars, Fallout 2) all the time. Sometimes, good old Snickers (Skyrim) is also just fine.

 

Skyrim is a great game, if you don't play the mainquest. But telling your own story (Voltor the Marauder!!! got rich through killing Bandits!) has it's own charme.

I liked to play as assassin with illusion, sneaking and backstabs'n stuff in Skyrim.

Totally different gameplay then and very immersive, too.

I once nearly peed myself when I was playing at night... on the PS3 with projector (~4m screen width) in my living room, exploring a dark and gloomy cave... and suddenly a hand was placed onto my shoulder... It was my wife and I nearly knocked her out by accident because I was jumping up like a crazy rabbit who licked a 1000-Volts-wire. Today I would just suffer a heart attack and instantly die I guess.  

Today I would just suffer a heart attack and instantly die I guess.

This right here is why I feel I should finish all good horror games while I'm still relatively young, there will be a point in my life when it'll be a form of suicide.

 

Eh, it'll leave me with plenty of time to try out Pillars of Eternity builds I 'spose.

Edited February 9, 20178 yr by Fenixp

1. Ultima 7

2. Baldurs Gate 2

3. Baldurs Gate 

4. Dragon Age Origins

5. Planescape Torment

1. Pools of Radiance (C64, pure nostalgia)

2. Pillars of Eternity (I put +3k hours into it - it MUST be good)

3. Eye of the Beholder 1+2 (nostalgia)

3b. Legend of Grimrock (maybe 1k hours? )

 

Honestly I never played Planescape. Don't know why. I played every other RPG that came out after Pools of Radiance I guess. Baldur's Gate I and II and the expansion were great, too, but at that time I didn't have the time do really dive into it like I did with other games. I even played that Ishar stuff, Ultima and also Lands of Lore and so on. Like... nearly everything. But only RPGs. That includes Diablo and Torchlight, too. Actually, I liked Diablo II + expansions a lot and wasted at least one semester at university because of that friggin' game. Diablo III was a big disappointment.

 

There's one exception though (no RPG) and I consider it to be my favorite game of all times until today - and that's Faster than Light (Advanced Edition). But for obvious reasons I can't put that on the list.

1. Pillars of Eternity.

2. White March Part 1.

3. White March Part 2.

1. Pillars of Eternity.

2. White March Part 1.

3. White March Part 2.

Game length apart, I would have said:

1. White March Part 2

2. White March Part 1

3. Pillars of eternity.

 

WM is overall a bit better, and WM2 has awesome levels.

 

Abbey of the Fallen moon deserves a medal on its own. Very challenging fight, unique lore, magnificent music and an awesome conclusion with excellent voice for Ondra.

 

And I like the ambiance and music in Stalwart . Especially the song at tavern, for which I just realized it was so closely related to the plot !

Edited February 9, 20178 yr by Elric Galad

1. Baldur's Gate 2, it is a classic for a reason.

2. Fallout 1 Great fresh setting and feeling of the game world, i really liked that the world felt as if it didn't revolve around you.   

3. Shadowrun: Dragonfall

I loved all 3 Shadowrun games since they were really focused on story telling and felt like playable cyber punk thrillers. I wish there were more fairly linear  rpgs with a strong focus on a good plot like the late Shadowrun games. I think open world has been overused and has not improved the gameplay in many cases. I often feel like it is only implemented for the sake of it so they can use it in advertisement but I don't care for big game worlds if they are boring. The first two mentions are positive exceptions although not truly open world since every region is a hub with a lot of content.

Cheating slightly with more than 3 options:

 

1:Witcher 2 and 3. 2 had a better story mainly due to the open world issues the last one had. Though within those handicaps 3 was superb, easily one of the best games I've played.

2: Neverwinter Nights - mainly from nostalgia - it was one of the first rps that I played. Though it's pretty much unplayable nowadays - as are most of the old ie games.

3: DA Origins, Pillars, Mask, Warcraft 3 (also from nostalgia, and no I have never played WOW.)

Unplayable? Blasphemy! I just finished an Ultima 1-4 run. Next is the entire Wizardry series, for the upteenth time. There are so many mods for the IE games that I think I will never stop replaying them. Also like to revisit Darksun and the Goldbox games after 4-5 years or so. Can't wait to get my kids playing them!

1. for being so much more than the sum of its (not always great) parts: Baldur's Gate II. Also, mods.

2. for worldbuilding and the "main quest? what main quest?" approach to RPGs: Morrowind. Xenophobic elves in mushroom towers eating beetle legs FTW! Also, mods.

3. in the "great experience while playing, rarely going to replay" category: Witcher 3. Narrowly de-throning Planescape: Torment because of the gigantic effort put into it.

Nice answer!

1) BG2(Honestly, BG Trilogy)/PS:T/IWD/PoE and I'll just go ahead and list PoE2 - This is my favorite game style

2) Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen / Final Fantasy Tactics - These were two different companies, but it was the same people. Very fun, complicated mechanics, if a little too far on the grindiness.

3) Final Fantasy II/VI - My first JRPG, and still the best of the standard series, IMHO

Hmm.... it's not really a fair comparison, because the rose coloured nostalgia glasses does compensate for some of the technical weaknesses of older titles. So listing the crpgs that left the biggest, lasting impressions on this greybearded gamer.

 

In no particular order:

 

1. Nethack

2. Ultima IV

3. Temple of Apshai

 

 

I left out my all time greatest game favourite 'Lords of Midnight' as that one is genre hybrid which is hard to really classify. Should probably have a category all of its own (turn based exploration-strategic-warfare-roleplaying-game).

In no particular order, since I tend to like most of them for vastly different reasons and because my favourite changes with the moon:

 

Pillars of Eternity

Witcher 3

Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines

Alpha Protocol

Final Fantasy 7 (with 9 being a close second, not played 15 yet so won't comment, oh and I do NOT include the spin offs for 7 there like Advent Children or Crisis Core, I feel they actually detracted from and missed the enjoyment of 7)

 

Baldur's Gate used to be up there but its been knocked out by Pillars, yes I consider Pillars to actually be a better game than BG even with the nostalgia factor.

Edited February 13, 20178 yr by FlintlockJazz

1&2. Baldur's Gate I&II, even though I never felt like my spell casters couldn't really get off many (if any) high level spells. I still go back and play BGII from time to time.

3. Neverwinter Night, primarily the user generated modules. NWN2 was a sad attempt to update the original.

3.5 I really enjoyed Diablo 1&2, but 3 was also a bust.

 

Joe

Strangely enough, too few Diablo fans here. I didnt expect such an outcome when I started this pole. Maybe people dont think Diablo 2 was a real RPG, it was too much hack-and-slash, true, true.

Diablo 2 is one of the best action RPGs I have ever played, but not one of the best RPGs in general.

Avernum 2. FNV. Skyrim.

I just started Pillars but I hope it makes it in here. For now I think these I have had the most fun with

 

Dungeon Master

Might and Magic 6

Icewind Dale

 

Action RPGs

Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance

Dungeon Siege III

Skyrim

 

Honorable mentions

ToEE

Darklands

Ultima 7

SMT Strange Journey

Demons Souls

This is fun.

 

1. BG series. I love 1 (NON modded. It feels more desperate. Modded it feels.... easy) as much as 2. Just for totally different reasons.

 

2. Icewind Dale 1. Absurdly underrated. In fact there are times I put it above Baldur's Gate. I thought Icewind Dale did a better job of incorporating your chosen CLASS into the game's story and mechanics. While BG focused on WHO you are more so that WHAT you are. IWD also has some of the best music I've ever heard, and I enjoy the setting and atmosphere more than BG. While I love a great story and narrative, I have to admit that I enjoy storytelling (in a GAME) done through atmosphere and setting first, and characters second. It lets my imagination run wild doing it this way. Maybe IWD should be number 1..... 

 

3. Fallout New Vegas. I cannot get over how good this is. I keep coming back to it as the replayablility is crazy high. Incredible writing and excellent character building. This FELT like a fallout game.

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

4. Fallout 1 and 2.

 

5. Witcher series. It can't be understated how well done these games are.

 

6. Pillars of Eternity

 

7. Divinity Original Sin

 

8. Jagged Alliance 2. Yes yes. Probably not a classic RPG-type game. But it does have a lot of RPG elements and any excuse I have to put it on a list, I will do so.

 

9. Diablo 1 and 2. Speaking of wonderful atmosphere. The story was done "enough" but the atmosphere was GRIPPING in these two games. Loved them. Diablo 3's atmosphere is like a Saturday morning cartoon. Travesty. 

 

10. Dark Age of Camelot. I have a lot of great memories from this. Still the best pvp in any game I've played because it felt like you were fighting for something.

Strangely enough, too few Diablo fans here. I didnt expect such an outcome when I started this pole. Maybe people dont think Diablo 2 was a real RPG, it was too much hack-and-slash, true, true.

I think you're right to point out this difference and agree it can be tough to know exactly where to draw that line.  Similar discussions could be had with Dragon Age Origins (adventure game with RPG elements) and even Skyrim (sim game with RPG elements). 

 

Strangely enough, too few Diablo fans here. I didnt expect such an outcome when I started this pole. Maybe people dont think Diablo 2 was a real RPG, it was too much hack-and-slash, true, true.

I think you're right to point out this difference and agree it can be tough to know exactly where to draw that line.  Similar discussions could be had with Dragon Age Origins (adventure game with RPG elements) and even Skyrim (sim game with RPG elements). 

 

 

Ye i mean i put a jrpg on my list chrono trigger. I did it mainly because it was my first game i played like that and it really stuck with me more than the final fantasys in similar era. So there are lots of rpg genres. So games like diablo seem like fair game.

Planescape: Torment

Baldur's Gate I & II (Big World Mod)

Shadowrun: Dragonfall (Directors Cut)

 

Not in the top three, but still memorable would be:

Darklands

Fallout 2

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura

Dragonage: Origins

Mass Effect

Fallout: New Vegas

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Edited February 20, 20178 yr by TMZuk

1. Baldur's Gate 2

2. Kotor 1

3. Baldur's Gate 1