The RPG Oscars

[Elric Galad]

The topic about the 3 best CRPG was very interesting, so I thought it could be fun to debate about which were the best CRPG for various categories.

Putting apart the "very best of the best" question because it has already been debated on the other topic, I propose following categories :

 

 

World and Story :

 

Best Story : The main story, the way it is conveyed, the ideas behind it as well as their development.

 

Best Lore : The Universe itself, its consistency, with its people, legends, artifacts and cosmology. I would give to bonus to original worlds (Fallout or PoE) compared to License (D&D and friends)

 

Best Protagonist (including companions for party based game) : because it's funnier to play heroes with personal link to the main story, or good character development with relevent choices. 

 

Best Antagonist(s) : Who would be Batman without the Joker ? Because "An ancient and evil force who seeks to destroy the world" is not that fun, it's good to have an interesting and deep villain. Or, at least, "An ancient and evil force" with good lines !

 

 

Mechanics :

 

Best overall Battle Gameplay : Because, let's face it, most RPG are often about battles, preferrably tactical ones.

 

Best Boss Battle : Because RPG is about epic battles. This is more linked to encounter design than the previous category which is more about regular tactics and mechanics.

 

Best Character/Party Building Design : Because RPG is about getting stronger. Are you able to make unique Builds ? Are you able to get interesting abilities ? Are your commitment to a certain path rewarded ? Do abilities get good synergies ? This is what make character progression interesting IMHO.

 

Best Itemization : The materialist cousin of character builds. From consumables to golden armor, from talking swords to cursed necklass, your strategy often rely on them. And it is also so much fun to get Also includes possibility to craft, and bind artifact to oneself.

 

 

Other stuff that contributes to one experience :

 

Best musics : Without music, RPG would be a mistake.

 

Best Visual Design : Let's not say "graphics" to avoid gimping the elders. Which game do you think had the best visual direction ? The best buildings, nature, environment, creatures and effects.

 

Best Interface : A good interface is like good slippers. It makes you feel home.

 

Best Content : Because Hardcore players want big adventures. Replayability, hidden secrets, lots of companions, lots of children and a big manor.

 

 

---------------------

 

Template for Lazy Copy-Paster: 

 

Best Story : 

Best Lore : 

Best Protagonist : 

Best Antagonist : 

 

Best overall battle gameplay : 

Best boss battle : 

Best Character Build Design : 

Best Itemization : 

 

Best music : 

Best Art Direction : 

Best Interface : 

Best Content : 

 

Best dialogues : 

Best "choose-your-own-adventure" factor : 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Elric Galad

[Hynkel]

Best Story : Planescape Torment

Best Lore : Planescape Torment

Best Protagonist : Fall-from-Grace from Planescape Torment

Best Antagonist : that ending mutant robot boss from Fallout 1 I can't remember the name of but who was hella cool.

 

Best overall battle gameplay : Pillars of Eternity and Divinity Original Sin, tied

Best boss battle : Firkgraag from Baldur's Gate 2

Best Character Build Design : Fallout 1/2

Best Itemization : Pillars of Eternity (tbh I can't name a single-player RPG who does this very well. Diablo and MMO's do it probably better but they're not my cup of tea)

 

Best music : Planescape Torment

Best Art Direction : Baldur's Gate 2

Best Interface : A good interface is an interface you don't notice. Thus it's hard to name a best one

Best Content : Oblivion (haven't played Skyrim. Not a huge fan of the Elder Scroll series but gotta admit they're far ahead on this matter)

 

I think you're missing 2 very important topics :

- Best dialogues : how well-written and memorable those lines are ;

- Best "choose-your-own-adventure" factor : how the game allows you to have entirely different experiences depending on the choices you make.

[Elric Galad]

So now, my own answers :

 

 

World and Story :

 

Best Story : Well... Planescape : Torment.  I don't think I have to explain this one.

 

Best Lore : I would propose Pillars of Eternity. Because it's original (not D&D), mature, deep, complex. Because they made glanfathan language. Because Nature feels like a force to be reckoned. I'm pretty sure Pillars of Eternity 2 will prove I'm right to believe in Eora.

 

Best Protagonist(s) : Planescape : Torment. The Nameless One was great, complex, and all his companions were memorable to some extant. Because Dak'kon and his blade, because Annah was sexy and because Morte was so fun.

 

Best Antagonist(s) : Icewind Dale 2.

This one may be harder to justify, but I really thought Isair and Madae were awesome. The whole Legion of the Chimera motives and reasons to fight were pretty cool. They have a cause while you're just another random adventurer.

They were an evil force which was not a caricature. The good guys started the war, but the bad guys were slavers. Dilemna.

Sherincal was such a good secondary villain that she could have been the main villain of her own game.

The twins also have very good lines.

Irenicus is great, and especially well depicted, but I still prefer the twins. 

 

 

Mechanics :

 

Best overall Battle Gameplay : Pillars of Eternity. This is a more balanced BG2. What to ask more ?

 

Best Boss Battles : Baldur's Gate 2. The Dragons. The Five. A lot of challenges with epic music. Really superior encounter design. Nothing ever equalled this level of epicness. 

 

Best Character/Party Building Design : Pillars of Eternity. One could just read Boeroer multiple builds to get convinced.

 

Best Itemization : Baldur's Gate 2. This game managed to create extremelly powerful artifacts which didn't brake the game while being very unique. Robe of Vecna, Flail of Eternity, and a crapload of rings and necklaces.

 

 

Other stuff that contributes to one experience :

 

Best musics : Planescape : Torment. Great themes, original and epic. Battle music is the best part of battle in this game.

 

Best Visual Design : Morrowind. Because, after all, 3D matters. And from classical buildings to giant mushroom and chitinous armor, it was just perfect. More original than its successors.

 

Best Interface : Pillars of Eternity. Just a more modern version of the BG one. Baldur's Gate 1 woud deserve this one by the way...

 

Best Content : Skyrim. Because it filled just that huge. Because of freedom. You can get married, have children and a lots of house. You can hunt dragon priests. and there were 2 add-ons, just in case.

Edited March 19, 2017 by Elric Galad

[QuiteGoneJin]

World and Story :

 

Best Story : Torment PS tied with Witcher saga

 

Best Lore : POE tied With Modded Skyrim if you read everything they are both intense.

 

Best Protagonist: Geralt tied with Minsc (and Boo)

 

Best Antagonist(s) : Kefka or Jon Irenicus tied. 

 

Mechanics : People aren't gonna agree with me here but Witcher 3, Mass Effect 3, and Middle Earth Shadow Of Mordor for game mechanics, NOT for character creation however. 

 

Best overall Battle Gameplay : Because, let's face it, most RPG are often about battles, preferrably tactical ones.

 

Best Boss Battle : Dragons in BG 2, Souls bosses (ALL of em!)

 

Best Character/Party Building Design : Divinity Original Sin, Vampire the Masquerade, Pillars of Eternity, Arcanum; Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura... I can't decide. 

 

Best Itemization : BG2, talking sword omg. 

 

Other stuff that contributes to one experience :

 

Best musics : Witcher 3. I could listen to "A Night To Remember" for ages, love the gothic feel of all the music in this game. 

 

Best Visual Design : Witcher 3, not just because of graphics but effects too.

 

Best Interface : Witcher 3, very minimalist

 

Best Content : Witcher 3, PoE. both super replayable with tons of added stuff via DLC and xpacs. 

 

Best dialogues : Witcher 3, had me laughing and genuinely upset many times. No clearcut goodguy/badguy decisions really helped with this. 

 

Best "choose-your-own-adventure" factor : Torment PS

Edited March 21, 2017 by QuiteGoneJin

[Messier-31]

Best Antagonist(s) : Icewind Dale 2.

This one may be harder to justify, but I really thought Isair and Madae were awesome. The whole Legion of the Chimera motives and reasons to fight were pretty cool. They have a cause while you're just another random adventurer.

 

- I say, Madae, these guys don't like us very much.

- You are correct, Isair.

- Let's be di*ks in retaliation.

- Let's.

 

Yeah, really great motive

 

 

***

 

Best Story: Baldur's Gate for the iron crisis

 

Best Lore: Pillars of Eternity, for all the great details

 

Best Protagonist: Baldur's Gate for the child of Bhaal

 

Best Antagonist(s): Baldur's Gate for Sarevok Anchev

 

Best overall Battle Gameplay: Fallout 2 for the overall experience

 

Best Boss Battle: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn for Thaxll'ssillyia and Firkraag

 

Best Character/Party Building Design: Pillars of Eternity for a lot of options to choose from, and Divinity Original Sin for a classless system

 

Best Itemization: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn for celestial fury and other stuff

 

Best musics: Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal for Amkethran and Abazigal's Lair

 

Best Visual Design: Icewind Dale for Kuldahar and other great locations

 

Best Interface: Fallout for the junky-clunkyness

 

Best Content: Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for a great world imported from a series of novels coming to life in a game

 

Best dialogues: Mass Effect 2 for its entirety

 

Best "choose-your-own-adventure" factor: Skyrim for doing everything else but not the main plot, which sucks donkey balls btw

 

 

 

***

 

I really like Planescape: Torment, I'd rather nominate it for a separate category: Best Uniqueness!

Edited March 22, 2017 by Messier-31

[Katarack21]

Best Story: Final Fantasy 3/6. In part because halfway through the bad guy wins and destroys the world.

 

 

Best Lore : Fallout lore *fascinates* me.

 

 

 

Best Protagonist (including companions for party based game) : Nameless One

 

 

Best Antagonist(s) : Jon Irenicus.

 

 

 

 

 

Mechanics: Honestly, I think Pillars shines here.

 

 

 

Best overall Battle Gameplay : Grandia II, mother****ers! Special mention to the shop battles in Skies of Arcadia.

 

 

Best Boss Battle: Lavos.

 

 

 

Best Character/Party Building Design: Fallout

 

 

 

Best Itemization : Again, Fallout.

 

 

 

 

 

Other stuff that contributes to one experience :

 

 

 

Best musics : BG2 had an amazing orchestral score.

 

 

 

Best Visual Design: Pillars and Tyranny both have spectacular painted backgrounds.

 

 

 

Best Interface : I liked Tyranny for this a *lot*. The UI improvements over Pillars were spectacular.

 

 

Best Content : Castle of the Wins for infinite replayabiliy, BG2 for sheer density to size.

[Obsidian sucks]

Best Story :                          Torment                    (Never finished it because the gameplay wasnt nearly as good as the story)

Best Lore :                           Darklands                  (I love medieval history so this was amazing to me)

Best Protagonist :                  Torment                     (I guess, I dont play alot of game where you cant create your characters)          

Best Antagonist :                   Strange Journey           (I consider the Schwarzwelt, an anomalous dome in Antartica, to be the                                                                                       antagonist, and it rocked  the heroes world unlike any other game.)

 

Best overall battle gameplay :  Demon's Souls

Best boss battle :                  Nocturne

Best Character Build Design :   Might and Magic VI     (Finding the skill trainers was so engaging and the magic rocked.)

Best Itemization :                  Shadow Tower           (Some really neat design concepts that help make items, armor and weapons in                                                                              this game so fulfilling.)

 

Best music :                        Icewind Dale 

Best Visual Design :              Demon's Souls              

Best Interface :                    Dungeon Master                 

Best Content :                      Might and Magic VI    

Edited March 21, 2017 by MeteorBear

[Elric Galad]

Icewind Dale 1&2 were 2 great competitors for the best music.

Could be the best epic fantasy music piece ever.

[Obsidian sucks]

Everytime I hear that opening music for Icewind Dale I want to play. I almost picked Might and Magic VI for best music, that was amazing soundtrack too but in a completely different way.

 

Maybe you can put a simple template for all the categories on your first post so people can copy and paste the whole thing easily.

Edited March 21, 2017 by MeteorBear

[Elric Galad]

[...]

 

Maybe you can put a simple template for all the categories on your first post so people can copy and paste the whole thing easily.

 

Done 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Elric Galad

[FlintlockJazz]

Many of the awards I flip flop on or have a 'current' favourite due to my mood, so going to answer just a few.

 

Best Story :

Best Lore : Pillars of Eternity.  The Elder Scrolls games have lots of lore but that was built up over many games, while many others were based on pre-existing franchises.  Pillars came in with just one game and yet has more lore than most other games around at the moment.  I think people don't really grasp just how much lore has been put into it particularly in such a short amount of time, the detail and the actual thought and care. 

Best Protagonist : Stephen Heck.  I think they should make a game called Heck Protocol and just have you as Heck blagging everyone.

Best Antagonist : Hard one (wahey!).  Irenicus was good until you find out about his background and realise that its all a bit ****e really (basically he tried to suck on a magic tree because his sister told him to despite banging the local queen there, then got upset that he got caught whilst Ellisime the supposedly wise queen thought it would be an absolute dandy idea to strip him of a conscience and send him out into the world... the idiocy in this hurts everyone).  Sephiroth has been tainted by all the stuff after FF7.  Hmmm. 

 

Best overall battle gameplay : Varies on mood and and whether we are talking about party-based RPGs, action RPGs, etc.

Best boss battle : 

Best Character Build Design : The Sims (yeah I be trolling).  Class-based, Pillars of Eternity.  Classless, that's harder, I both prefer classless and acknowledge that its harder to do right. 

Best Itemization : 

 

Best music : 

Best Art Direction : 

Best Interface : I find I don't notice it if its good, only if its bad.  Shame really, bet there have been some really well-designed ones where they put tons of effort in too.

Best Content : This is one of those "Best as in amount, or as in quality or reactivity?"  Baldur's Gate 2, the first half of VtM: Bloodlines, and Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt vie for this I think, but I am going to give it to Witcher 3.

 

Best dialogues : I'm gonna go with Alpha Protocol here.  The dialogue just flowed!  Mikey Thorton was such a sarky little beeatch that you know he's British, or the love child of a one night stand between Jason Bourne and James Bond.  That's right, Bond knocked up Bourne!

Best "choose-your-own-adventure" factor :

Edited March 22, 2017 by FlintlockJazz

[rheingold]

Could we have the rasberries as well as the oscars....

[FlintlockJazz]

Could we have the rasberries as well as the oscars....

I'd go with this, probably be easier at least for me to decide too.  A separate thread may be better though, keep them focused.