All unordered except for Fallout 2 which is king.
1. Fallout 2
The game that taught 12-year-old me that drugs are bad. I wanted to bust a slaver hideout (I didn't need to be taught that slavery is bad
) but wasn't strong enough, so I pumped myself full of some nasty chemicals. It helped, but left me addicted for most of the rest of the game. Which meant my stats were lowered and I sucked!
I think the other thing Fallout 2 introduced 12-year-old me to was the idea of a statistics and skills-driven cRPG. What you can do and how you solve problems is dictated by how you developed your character. Lots of charisma, intelligence and points in conversational skills can often let you avoid combat. A high pickpocket skill allows you to take stuff from people's pockets, sure, but also to put stuff in. Like an active grenade. Boom!
Fallout 2's world is noticably different from the first game. After the original, the creators could've developed it either in a more realistic, pessimistic direction of a world in which you have to fight to survive, or - and this is what they chose - focus more on the funny, campy, western-y, pop-culture-y (whoa!), science-fiction-y elements. The result is a unique creation, a game that can go from dead-serious to silly in seconds. And it works!
Sure, I still don't think much of the combat (more on that when I talk about Fallout 3) and there's a lot of jank here, but this game really deserves the top spot.
Chrono Trigger - I remember buying it for the DS and starting my playthrough in my bed, late in the evening. After a couple hours, when I finally pulled myself away from it, I was sure I've played for some 6 to 8 hours and would have to get up for school soon. When I checked the hour it was barely 1 am, and the savefile said I've only played for about 3 hours. That's how intense and packed the opening hours of this game are and it never stops getting more and more amazing!
Chrono Trigger is an adventure unlike any other. The characters that accompany you are all simple and archetypal, but their arcs are meticulously constructed and their trope-yness (I'm really quite a wordsmith, aren't I?) is used to great effect thanks to some surprising story twists and gut-punching moments. It's also a jRPG that respects the player's time - a full playthrough really doesn't have to last more than 30 hours! I also don't think there's any fluff or filler in here - all quality stuff: beautiful, unique locations and fun bossfights.
Mass Effect - laid the foundation for Mass Effect 2's greatness, while also being quite unique. The synth-heavy soundtrack, the blurry/grainy visuals. It invented the dialogue wheel (while also, admittedly, forgetting what RPG dialogue should be all about) and introduced a fantastic world - and all of it was created for a game! That feeling of exploring a wonderful universe created not for a different medium but for that of games - and one that could rival Star Trek or Star Wars at that! - was just great.
Mass Effect 2 - in trying to remove the fat from Mass Effect BioWare unfortunately also removed some muscle, but Mass Effect 2 is still a phenomenal game, one that overall left on me the biggest impression from the entire series. It mostly comes down to the fantastic cast of characters, like Mordin, Thane or the Archangel (the reveal of her identity was so good I won't spoil it to anybody even though it's probably common knowledge). Some things that were good about the original games story and approach to lore were lost, but I absolutely love what they've done with returning characters like Wrex, Tali and Liara. Wrex was awesome in the first game, but Liara and Tali were speeding down the highway to Young-And-Sexy-Aliens-You-Can-Save-With-The-Power-Of-Your-Mighty-Cock-Ville. Here they were given development and put in positions of power and responsibility and that's ace.
And, hey: the shooting feels really good!
Gothic - more people and especially more RPG designer should play the first two Gothic games. There's so much stuff they could learn from them!
There's no interactive map which highlights interesting locations. The only map is a rough drawing of the land on a piece of cloth. But you quickly find your bearings and memorize the layout of the world because every part of it is hand-crafted and unique.
There's also no level-scaling whatsoever. Some places you won't be able to enter because the enemies there are too powerful for you. But if you level-up your character or are crafty enough you can get everywhere.
These two factors combined make Gothic a game that really emphasizes and promotes exploration in the true meaning of the word, completely opposite to Assassin's Creed's understanding of the idea. You have to be careful when you go out - because, hey, who knows what kind of monster or bandit might be waiting for you on behind the curve in the road? - but you also feel motivated to seek out new locations, level up, find new stuff. Not because of some compulsion to tick all the boxes, but because you're curious what's there.
It might not sound like much, but compared to most of the gaming's industry current output, Gothic is unique, crunchy and fun.
Also, it has a cool world and never takes itself too seriously. The daily cycles of all characters may be 100% scripted (there's no emergent AI involved), but also believable and reliable. The way it show your ascent from zero to hero is great: you start out using rusted swords and barely being able to swing them, and end up a mighty warrior or a powerful mage.
And Gothic II is even better, yo.
Gothic II - 3 points - the sequel takes everything that was good about the first game and makes it MORE. More land, more enemies, more characters, more exploration, more possibilities, more Gothic. Every single element is as good. I particularly love how every of its six acts has a unique flavour. The first is all nice little quest, choosing which of the three prominent groups to ally yourself with, reintroductions of characters from Gothic I and low-level combat. Act two puts you in the role of the hunted when you have to manouver the terrain from the previous game, this time all occupied by strong Orcs and other nasty creatures way above your level. Act three is your return from the mining colony to the city of Khorinis - but this time full of dangerous cultists and even with some Orcs! Act four is the cathartic moment when you are finally strong enough to take on most of the threats from the second act and you're also given a badass goal of killing a couple dragons! Act 5 is your zenith: you know the world inside out and are given quests that use that knowledge. Act six and its one long dungeon neatly closes the game.
The expansion - Night of the Raven - adds new questlines, locations, items and characters to the original world, but it's actually best played after finishing Gothic II once. It's harder (probably too hard, to be perfectly honest) and it's super fun to see how the creators decided to fuck with the original in many ways, adding and mixing up stuff through the entire length of the story.
Fallout 3 - the first person perspective is a perfect fit for Fallout, which always emphasized the singular you of the player rather than the plural you of the player's party of adventurers. The game is big, has a lot of well-developed sidequests and tiny but interesting locations to see. It has one of the best opening sequences ever - playing through your character's first 16 years of life in superspeed really makes you feel like one with your avatar - and I'm also one of the few people who loved the ending (
).
I'm curious whether this'll be replaced by New Vegas once I finally play it.
Jeanne d'Arc - basically an entry-level tactical jRPG, but I played id after Final Fantasy Tactics and still enjoyed it enough for it to be one of my favourite games ever. It distills the sRPG into the very basics of the genre and makes sure it nails those elements perfectly. Customization is in, but it's not a burden and never feels like a chore. The Godspeed mechanic - which lets your character move once more during their turn after killing an enemy - often turns fights into fun puzzles. Sure, you could be effective and destroy your enemies with cunning, but why not do it with some style as well?
Jeanne d'Arc also uses its story premise to great effect, combining the history of the titular character with magic and demons to create some truly memorable scenes.
Pokemon Crystal - my first Pokemon game, of course, but I will defend the position that this generation was the best. Not one, but TWO continents to explore meant you had more high-level content to play through and the number (and visual design) of Pokemon was just right.
Alpha Protocol - a lot of people wrote about how meaningful your choices are in Alpha Protocol, so I'll focus on something different. This is one of a few RPGs that really understands dialogue, even though it only lets you pick the tone of your character's responses, not the text itself! BioWare created the dialogue wheel in Mass Effect to make conversations more fluid and cinematic and it worked. You no longer had to read whole lines before choosing what to say. However, in doing so they also boiled down all the dialogue in the entire Mass Effect series to choosing between te top and bottom right options - paragon and renegade, respectively. Choosing either of them will always yield good results for you. This is silly.
In Alpha Protocol not everyone is going to be satisfied if you approach them in with a smile on your face, shooting jokes and snarky replies left and right. Not everyone is going to be satisfied with a goody-two-shoes. The developers at Obsidian understood that, if you want to earn points with people, you have to know what to say and when. While talking with a serious leader of a dangerous organization it might be a good idea to approach him professionally and get right down to business, but if he warms up to you and cracks a joke you probably should respond in kind.
This makes conversations in Alpha Protocol tense and rewarding, while also giving you the space to role-play the kind o Mike Thorton you want - I recommend watching the hilarious "Mike Thorton, Psychopath" video: http://youtu.be/VUydx57te9s (spoiler warning!).
Honorable mentions:
Final Fantasy Tactics - the story blew my 13-year-old mind. What do you mean I'm branded a traitor and criminal?! That said, I'm not sure to how much scrutiny it would stand up if played by a more mature person. Still, the Job System is pure gaming bliss: addicting in the way increasing numbers in games is, but meaningful and full of crazy possibilities.
Planescape: Torment - the story is great and "the writing" is wonderful, but for me all the game-y parts really dragged it down. And it's a shame, because the original pitch reveals that the creators had quite ambitious ideas for the mechanics.
Final Fantasy VII - it's a huge, huge adventure full of memorable characters and moments, with a unique setting and visual aesthetic. It's really, really fun.
Final thoughts: man this is a rich and enormous genre that I want to explore more of! I hope that by the time the next edition of this thread comes, I'll have played through many other great RPGs and thoroughly expanded my knowledge of this part of gaming.
1. Fallout 2
The game that taught 12-year-old me that drugs are bad. I wanted to bust a slaver hideout (I didn't need to be taught that slavery is bad
) but wasn't strong enough, so I pumped myself full of some nasty chemicals. It helped, but left me addicted for most of the rest of the game. Which meant my stats were lowered and I sucked!I think the other thing Fallout 2 introduced 12-year-old me to was the idea of a statistics and skills-driven cRPG. What you can do and how you solve problems is dictated by how you developed your character. Lots of charisma, intelligence and points in conversational skills can often let you avoid combat. A high pickpocket skill allows you to take stuff from people's pockets, sure, but also to put stuff in. Like an active grenade. Boom!
Fallout 2's world is noticably different from the first game. After the original, the creators could've developed it either in a more realistic, pessimistic direction of a world in which you have to fight to survive, or - and this is what they chose - focus more on the funny, campy, western-y, pop-culture-y (whoa!), science-fiction-y elements. The result is a unique creation, a game that can go from dead-serious to silly in seconds. And it works!
Sure, I still don't think much of the combat (more on that when I talk about Fallout 3) and there's a lot of jank here, but this game really deserves the top spot.
Chrono Trigger - I remember buying it for the DS and starting my playthrough in my bed, late in the evening. After a couple hours, when I finally pulled myself away from it, I was sure I've played for some 6 to 8 hours and would have to get up for school soon. When I checked the hour it was barely 1 am, and the savefile said I've only played for about 3 hours. That's how intense and packed the opening hours of this game are and it never stops getting more and more amazing!
Chrono Trigger is an adventure unlike any other. The characters that accompany you are all simple and archetypal, but their arcs are meticulously constructed and their trope-yness (I'm really quite a wordsmith, aren't I?
) is used to great effect thanks to some surprising story twists and gut-punching moments. It's also a jRPG that respects the player's time - a full playthrough really doesn't have to last more than 30 hours! I also don't think there's any fluff or filler in here - all quality stuff: beautiful, unique locations and fun bossfights.Mass Effect - laid the foundation for Mass Effect 2's greatness, while also being quite unique. The synth-heavy soundtrack, the blurry/grainy visuals. It invented the dialogue wheel (while also, admittedly, forgetting what RPG dialogue should be all about) and introduced a fantastic world - and all of it was created for a game! That feeling of exploring a wonderful universe created not for a different medium but for that of games - and one that could rival Star Trek or Star Wars at that! - was just great.
Mass Effect 2 - in trying to remove the fat from Mass Effect BioWare unfortunately also removed some muscle, but Mass Effect 2 is still a phenomenal game, one that overall left on me the biggest impression from the entire series. It mostly comes down to the fantastic cast of characters, like Mordin, Thane or the Archangel (the reveal of her identity was so good I won't spoil it to anybody even though it's probably common knowledge). Some things that were good about the original games story and approach to lore were lost, but I absolutely love what they've done with returning characters like Wrex, Tali and Liara. Wrex was awesome in the first game, but Liara and Tali were speeding down the highway to Young-And-Sexy-Aliens-You-Can-Save-With-The-Power-Of-Your-Mighty-Cock-Ville. Here they were given development and put in positions of power and responsibility and that's ace.
And, hey: the shooting feels really good!
Gothic - more people and especially more RPG designer should play the first two Gothic games. There's so much stuff they could learn from them!
There's no interactive map which highlights interesting locations. The only map is a rough drawing of the land on a piece of cloth. But you quickly find your bearings and memorize the layout of the world because every part of it is hand-crafted and unique.
There's also no level-scaling whatsoever. Some places you won't be able to enter because the enemies there are too powerful for you. But if you level-up your character or are crafty enough you can get everywhere.
These two factors combined make Gothic a game that really emphasizes and promotes exploration in the true meaning of the word, completely opposite to Assassin's Creed's understanding of the idea. You have to be careful when you go out - because, hey, who knows what kind of monster or bandit might be waiting for you on behind the curve in the road? - but you also feel motivated to seek out new locations, level up, find new stuff. Not because of some compulsion to tick all the boxes, but because you're curious what's there.
It might not sound like much, but compared to most of the gaming's industry current output, Gothic is unique, crunchy and fun.
Also, it has a cool world and never takes itself too seriously. The daily cycles of all characters may be 100% scripted (there's no emergent AI involved), but also believable and reliable. The way it show your ascent from zero to hero is great: you start out using rusted swords and barely being able to swing them, and end up a mighty warrior or a powerful mage.
And Gothic II is even better, yo.
Gothic II - 3 points - the sequel takes everything that was good about the first game and makes it MORE. More land, more enemies, more characters, more exploration, more possibilities, more Gothic. Every single element is as good. I particularly love how every of its six acts has a unique flavour. The first is all nice little quest, choosing which of the three prominent groups to ally yourself with, reintroductions of characters from Gothic I and low-level combat. Act two puts you in the role of the hunted when you have to manouver the terrain from the previous game, this time all occupied by strong Orcs and other nasty creatures way above your level. Act three is your return from the mining colony to the city of Khorinis - but this time full of dangerous cultists and even with some Orcs! Act four is the cathartic moment when you are finally strong enough to take on most of the threats from the second act and you're also given a badass goal of killing a couple dragons! Act 5 is your zenith: you know the world inside out and are given quests that use that knowledge. Act six and its one long dungeon neatly closes the game.
The expansion - Night of the Raven - adds new questlines, locations, items and characters to the original world, but it's actually best played after finishing Gothic II once. It's harder (probably too hard, to be perfectly honest) and it's super fun to see how the creators decided to fuck with the original in many ways, adding and mixing up stuff through the entire length of the story.
Fallout 3 - the first person perspective is a perfect fit for Fallout, which always emphasized the singular you of the player rather than the plural you of the player's party of adventurers. The game is big, has a lot of well-developed sidequests and tiny but interesting locations to see. It has one of the best opening sequences ever - playing through your character's first 16 years of life in superspeed really makes you feel like one with your avatar - and I'm also one of the few people who loved the ending (
I love the idea of beginning the game with your birth and ending it with your death - it gives you ownership of your cahracter and the decisions you've made
I'm curious whether this'll be replaced by New Vegas once I finally play it.
Jeanne d'Arc - basically an entry-level tactical jRPG, but I played id after Final Fantasy Tactics and still enjoyed it enough for it to be one of my favourite games ever. It distills the sRPG into the very basics of the genre and makes sure it nails those elements perfectly. Customization is in, but it's not a burden and never feels like a chore. The Godspeed mechanic - which lets your character move once more during their turn after killing an enemy - often turns fights into fun puzzles. Sure, you could be effective and destroy your enemies with cunning, but why not do it with some style as well?
Jeanne d'Arc also uses its story premise to great effect, combining the history of the titular character with magic and demons to create some truly memorable scenes.
Pokemon Crystal - my first Pokemon game, of course, but I will defend the position that this generation was the best. Not one, but TWO continents to explore meant you had more high-level content to play through and the number (and visual design) of Pokemon was just right.
Alpha Protocol - a lot of people wrote about how meaningful your choices are in Alpha Protocol, so I'll focus on something different. This is one of a few RPGs that really understands dialogue, even though it only lets you pick the tone of your character's responses, not the text itself! BioWare created the dialogue wheel in Mass Effect to make conversations more fluid and cinematic and it worked. You no longer had to read whole lines before choosing what to say. However, in doing so they also boiled down all the dialogue in the entire Mass Effect series to choosing between te top and bottom right options - paragon and renegade, respectively. Choosing either of them will always yield good results for you. This is silly.
In Alpha Protocol not everyone is going to be satisfied if you approach them in with a smile on your face, shooting jokes and snarky replies left and right. Not everyone is going to be satisfied with a goody-two-shoes. The developers at Obsidian understood that, if you want to earn points with people, you have to know what to say and when. While talking with a serious leader of a dangerous organization it might be a good idea to approach him professionally and get right down to business, but if he warms up to you and cracks a joke you probably should respond in kind.
This makes conversations in Alpha Protocol tense and rewarding, while also giving you the space to role-play the kind o Mike Thorton you want - I recommend watching the hilarious "Mike Thorton, Psychopath" video: http://youtu.be/VUydx57te9s (spoiler warning!).
Honorable mentions:
Final Fantasy Tactics - the story blew my 13-year-old mind. What do you mean I'm branded a traitor and criminal?! That said, I'm not sure to how much scrutiny it would stand up if played by a more mature person. Still, the Job System is pure gaming bliss: addicting in the way increasing numbers in games is, but meaningful and full of crazy possibilities.
Planescape: Torment - the story is great and "the writing" is wonderful, but for me all the game-y parts really dragged it down. And it's a shame, because the original pitch reveals that the creators had quite ambitious ideas for the mechanics.
Final Fantasy VII - it's a huge, huge adventure full of memorable characters and moments, with a unique setting and visual aesthetic. It's really, really fun.
Final thoughts: man this is a rich and enormous genre that I want to explore more of! I hope that by the time the next edition of this thread comes, I'll have played through many other great RPGs and thoroughly expanded my knowledge of this part of gaming.
