Which of these fantasy RPG social media hyperbole darlings was your favorite? Why?

Which of these fantasy RPG social media hyperbole darlings was your favorite? Why?

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LakeOf9

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Over the last 15 years, we have had multiple fantasy RPG adjacent games that have become massively popular – record breaking critical and commercial success, sales well beyond what anything by that series/developer had managed before, multiple game of the year awards, and social media virality.

Obviously there have been several games even outside of this list in this time period that did well, but they have been kept from this list either because they are not fantasy (such as RDR2, Persona 5, or Cyberpunk 2077), or because they did not achieve the level of widespread acclaim that these games did (such as Metaphor ReFantazio, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth).

As far as these seven games go, you can argue they are among the seven best games that have come out in the last decade and a half. Which is your favorite, and why?
 
My answers, in order: BOTW>Skyrim>BG3>Elden Ring>Witcher 3>GOW2018

Have not yet completed E33, so holding off on putting that in my list for now
 
I get God of War because it leans more heavily into RPG elements with builds and customizations, but BOTW isn't an RPG at all.

BG3 from that list.
 
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CO:E33 gets my vote, but mostly because it was a small team showing every POS AAA and AAAA studio how it's done while embarrassing all the EAs, Activisions and Ubisofts out there. If it were just about the product I'd go with Zelda, GoW and CO:E33.
 
Quite brave to make a thread about RPGs without knowing what an RPG is. :goog_relieved:
 
Can't in good faith put E33 in it, long ways to go on it.

Between Skyrim and TW3 is hard, but I will go with TW3. Over 100+ Hours into it and never even started the DLC.

Skyrim will always be great for a fun romp and exploring. TW3 is far more narrative based.
 
For me, every single game on that list is a fucking banger, but Elden Ring is king. I would add Hades, P5R, and Hollow Knight to the list and now we have a stew going. Skyrim won't get a lot of love but it might have the most playtime out of all these games x10. Each game here is a cultural phenomonon.
 
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Zacfoldor said:
For me, every single game on that list is a fucking banger, but Elden Ring is king. I would add Hades, P5R, and Hollow Knight to the list and now we have a stew going. Skyrim won't get a lot of love but it might have the most playtime out of all these games x10. Each game here is a cultural phenomonon.
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Skyrim is definitely my most played, and absolutely any second favorite of this bunch lol

And yes, I think P5, Hollow Knight, Hades, RDR2, and Mario Odyssey are definitely all games that could also be in this list!
 
Witcher 3 for me. Played it twice. It had an engaging story and world. Excellent character and enemy designs too. I could never get into any Bethesda open world game, they bore me to death. Not a fan of FromSoft games, Zelda or this new GOW either.
 
Skyrim.

As much as I want to say BotW or Elden Ring (both interchangeably 2nd and 3rd for me) skyrim was the picture definition of a game i could play over and over again thru different playthroughs in both vanilla and modded sessions for days on end without getting bored.
I put hundreds of hours into the latter two, I put THOUSANDS into skyrim.

Its reveal and gameplay trailers were also hype af (on par with the halo 3 reveal trailer for me)
 
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Going to go with recency bias and choose E33. The hype around Skyrim in 2011 was something else though.
 
Never played BG3 and living up to Shadows of Amn, one of my favorites, has me scared to even pick it up. The Witcher's combat and world design reminded me too much of Arkham Asylum/Assassin's Creed and it's a really bloated game. I get while people enjoy the narrative, but the game is a nightmare if you have OCD. I liked God of War reboot better than its' predecessors, but that isn't saying much. Elden Ring is one of my least favorite From Souls titles, but I'd still consider it great. I fell off of Clair Obscur pretty quickly, but I see the quality and understand why people like it, thematically it just isn't my cup of tea. Skyrim still paled in comparison to Morrowind. And speaking of Morrowind, there is Breath of the Wild which was one of my favorite games to just explore in. It probably has as many faults as any game on the list, but traversal and the interplay between systems just enthralled me. I did all of the shrines before the divine beasts so I'd explored just about every nook and cranny of the map without Revali's Gale which would have robbed the game of the sense of accomplishment from reaching some parts of its' map. BOTW gets my vote.
 
BG3 for me. Witcher3, Skyrim and exp33 are great, but BG3 just does something for me that the others don't. If I had to try and put it into words I guess it's what I've always dreamed about as a perfect RPG for me.

P5R would be another one I would add. We've been eatin' good lately with exceptional RPGs. Quite a few turds too, but the good ones have been great.
 
My favorite is Elden Ring (I love Souls games and I liked FS games since the ps1), followed closely by The Witcher 3 (I really enjoyed 2 and 3 is even better) and then on a distant third place is God of War tied with Skyrim (I played both at launch and I liked them).

The others:

I played the Baldurs Gate 3 trial and, while it seems cool, I never liked this type of game... Although, I might buy it one day during a sale, it really seemed cool.

E33 and Zelda are not for me.
 
They are all amazing games right up my alley, but since im polish obvious choice gotta be w3, back in the day there was a saying among polish pc community- u upgrade/change ur pc only at new diablo or witcher game launch :D
When u play w3 as a pole u can experience middleages poland setting to the T with magic/all slavik legends sprinckled on top, cant really say no to that :P
 
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It's a bit of an interesting choice and personally I would take Pathfinder Wrath if the Righteous or 40K Rogue Trader.

That said I would probably pick BG3 overall in the list as it just has such a well built choice and consequence system in the story and characters. And reactivity and many ways to approach questing is great. Love the game and I have second playthrough going on a die after the big recent patch and official mod support.

Witcher 3 is also pretty amazing, especially on PC with some judicial mods that help equipment variety, fix some bugs, improve combat, introduce QoL improvements and more. It's also a very very good game.
 
God of war kinda sucks.

But the rest of those are absolutely outstanding. It's games like those are the reason I even bother still picking up a controller
 
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I am a simple man. If Fromsoftware is an option, I typically pick their game.

Except Sekiro. Controversial opinion, I did not enjoy that.
 
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Clair Obscur would be a close second because it showed a turn-based game from a mid-sized company could do big numbers, and prove bloated budgets don't need to exist.

Baldur's Gate 3 would be my actual answer because it did what I want a AAA RPG to be where the scope and degree of play choice scaled with the budget, and not just production values. Also, previously Larian released Divinity: Original Sin 2 which also was a great AA success sold at $45.
 
Had to put Witcher 3 and Expedition 33 eh?

As much as I loved Expedition 33 and its my current GOTY, I will pick Witcher 3. Bigger scale and executed everything perfectly. From world to story to combat to even DLCs.
 
BotW.

I remember pouring over all that E3 footage for weeks. Everyone had so many different experiences around that Great Plateau are and seeing all the different interactions you could do with the physics system. The hype around the game was unreal.

And I picked the game up at midnight alongside the Switch and I loved every moment of it, it's definitely something special I'll always remember.

I remember eventually getting to Rito Village and you're greeted by a rendition of the Dragon Roost Island theme from Windwaker. I stopped playing for a good 20 minutes and just listened.

 
Haven't played Clair, yet but so far Skyrim. Hundreds of hours across i don't know how many playthroughs, so many memories. Game has legendary status at my place.
 
I enjoy most of these games for different reasons, as their gameplay styles vary significantly.

The Witcher 3 has a strong story and excellent dialogue, but I found the gameplay to be some of the worst I've experienced.

Elden Ring offers great combat and exploration, but it started to feel repetitive toward the end.

Breath of the Wild didn't resonate with me much, but Tears of the Kingdom realized the potential I saw in its predecessor. The ability to fly and move around more freely made the world feel much more accessible, although there is still a lot of reused content.

Baldur's Gate 3 is one of my favorite games of all time. I love the exploration, meaningful world interaction, and roleplaying depth. Almost every location serves a purpose, and quests are tightly integrated with the environment.

I'm currently playing Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (just finishing Act 2). I'm thoroughly enjoying the combat, abilities, and exploration. The cinematics are impressive, and while some of the writing and acting feel off at times, the narrative overall has been engaging.

So yeah, each game has its strengths, and I appreciate them for what they offer.

making love GIF by Refinery 29 GIFs
 
Skyrim, even though almost everyone has played it to death by now, it was the last game that wowed me on release and i played the game non stop for years and with the amount of great mods I used to make it even better, I was living in the game world half the time,

I spent thousands of hours in Skyrim and it became a victim of it's own success, Bethesda has milked the game way too much and we should of had a new entry by now or even 2 of The Elder Scrolls, but when it came out 2011, I loved the game.
 
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Zelda > E33 (dat new game boost/bias for sure...but is is extremely good) > ER > W3 > BG3 > Touch The Skyrim.

GoW is out of place on this list imo.
 
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Yeah god of war so rpg press right mouse button to throw axe, watch cutscene. Rpg overload.
 
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Skyrim without a doubt. BG3 and E33 are two of the best games in years, but there's just something about Skyrim that keeps me coming back. The world, the music, the atmosphere. The number of mods and options for different playthroughs and playstyles. Every year I get a huge itch to play it again.
 
Pretty tied between Elden Ring an E33.
I probably like the design and gameplay of Elden Ring a bit more, but at the same time there is something a bit "samey" about it essentially just being open world Dark Souls.
E33 on the other hand feels really fresh and unique, and has a more interesting and memorable story.


Also why hyperbole?
I swear some people refuse to accept anything they didn't play growing up can actually be one of the best games ever.
 
Fbh said:
Also why hyperbole?
I swear some people refuse to accept anything they didn't play growing up can actually be one of the best games ever.
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2 of those games are in my top 10, and 6 out of the 7 are in my top 50 lol

Hyperbole is mostly just a way to label how insane and widespread the praise for these games was when they came out. Not even saying the praises were undeserved, just that they were VERY loud and VERY pervasive.
 
Witcher 3 and Baldur's Gate 3 for me. I like my RPGs to have a plot and characters, not just endless wandering with some cool moments every now and then.

Skyrim would be my 3rd, with Zelda 4th and Elden Ring 5th.

God of War I just didn't think the combat was anything special, and that's all there was in the endgame. Definitely deserves last spot in the poll.

Haven't played Clair Obscura. Seems way to recent to even include on a poll like this. Put out this same poll 2 years from now and I guarantee it has half the votes.
 
Elden Ring was this great blend of no handholding yet accessible, a great mix of mystery and revelations/developments, totally self-driven exploration. It was such a magical adventure to go on, didn't fall into piddly stupid crap like BotW and didn't become about dealing with a bunch of bitching people like Witcher 3. It was really your existential path on something grand. The only thing I would change is the fuuuuuucking Fire Giant.
 
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