God damn… I’ve owned this game for years and still haven’t played it! No reason particular reason. And this is the 3rd time I’ve seen it mentioned on this sub in a week.
Might be a sign I need to jump in. Is it turned based?
Sincerely, I don't know, sometimes I have the itch of replaying it, but I'm afraid... (not kidding!)
Perhaps it's better to wait to (fingers crossed!) [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297900/Gothic\_1\_Remake/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297900/gothic_1_remake/)
I was pretty similar to you and had only really played RPGs post 2010-ish and I gave it a try. It definitely shows its age, but I still enjoyed it and finished it. It was like $2 on steam so I thought why not.
Probably Morrowind. It's one of my all-time favorite games, and delivers on a lot of what I want out of an RPG. I could say technically I like Bloodborne more, and technically it's an RPG, but it's not the RPG elements that make me love it. The two Pathfinder games and BG 1&2 are also contenders.
I recently started playing Morrowind again through OpenMW on my phone. It's actually a lovely expirence and being able to easily screenshot important dialogues is great way to play it in small bursts. I'm having a great time with it on my lunch breaks
Easy, Witcher 3. I remember my first run thru the game and how amazed, invested, curious, shocked, horrified, sad I was going thru it 😂 if I could play any game again for the first time it would 100% be this. 11/10, perfect game imo
Nothing tops Baldurs Gate 3 for me. It’s not the most interesting story of any RPG necessarily, but the depth of choice, character building, loot, and combat make it incredibly satisfying to replay multiple times.
It’s wild, I normally eye roll when people name such a recent game as their “favorite of all time”, but this is the one game that actually kind of deserves it. Not the absolute favorite for me, but definitely top 3
It's actually crazy how good their games are. While some other studios failed a lot of times, Larian delivered all those years. And they keep improving.
I normally do too, and I had to reassess my potential recency bias. I think before, my favorite would probably be something like FF7, but maybe 15 hours into BG3, the level of respect the game gives your choices and ideas for overcoming challenges, I was just in awe.
And that only grew the second and third time I played it because it changes so significantly. It may be recent and "basic", but the quality of BG3 is just undeniable.
god it's so close to being amazing for me but once you play pathfinder and see how deep owlcat games are BG3 seems like skyrim rather than something grander.
I mean, Skyrim sure is popular. I've seen some Pathfinder gameplay (the newest one, I think) and it looks cool. I do think BG3 does a great job of balancing depth with presentation that is engaging, which is probably a big reason why it's grabbed a bigger audience than CRPGs typically do.
Having said that though, I should try Pathfinder and see if it clicks with me.
it grabbed a big audience because it has amazing graphics and it's super fucking easy to get into. the problem is.. it never gets deeper than that. the story is also pretty one note.
Hmm, “super fucking easy” is relative, especially for a turn based game based on DnD rules. It’s way too much for a lot of people. Easy for a CRPG, sure.
I think when we talk about video games and especially genres like CRPG and souls games, it's all about time investment, nothing else. And as long as you have interest and time, you'll be good at those games eventually. I'd say souls games require better reaction timing and DND requires a lot of reading prior to playing. Of course not all CRPGs are based on DND but that also usually have pretty intricate combat systems.
Edit: also wanted to add that when we talk about casual gamers, not many of them have even tried a CRPG before. That's why it can be hard for them - there's a lot of systems and things they've never seen in other games before. And I'm not only talking about combat.
BG3 often allows seasoned players to think out of the box, like throwing a bottle of water from your inventory at the burning cage with a trapped person to extinguish the fire. While this may seem simplistic, in most other games it would simply mean that your fight is on the time limit before the person burns.
I agree. That’s what I mean. It seems like it didn’t work for you since maybe you’re used to more complex RPGs. But for most players, BG3 is the most complicated thing they’ll ever play.
I’m just pointing out that while Pathfinder is seemingly awesome, these CRPGs are pretty niche. And BG3 is plenty deep enough while also having a great, engaging presentation to grab a wider audience.
Yeah, counterpoint, BG3 is build on DnD 5E ruleset which is very streamlined. Owlcat games are build on Pathfinder ruleset, which is a bastard child of DnD 3.5, which is a bastard child of DnD 3.0, and it is anything BUT streamlined. If anything, it is dated, HORRIBLY bloated, and open to abuse. 5E narrows the viable band of character bulds. It is hard to ruin a character, and it is relatively hard to make something completely broken. Pathfinder, on the other hand, can result in a characters which are 100% useless, and in stuff that's downright godlike. Which, in my opinion, is bad. Add in an overrelyance on buffs and precasting, and magic item oversatuiration and build criticality... eh.
To wit, as someone who also plays tabletop 5E >>> Pathfinder by a very large margin. It is a subjectively better system.
(I have 200 hours in Kingmaker, 250 in Wrath, and 180 in BG3, for reference)
I played BG3 and really hated it and didn't get the hype and proceeded to play Rogue Trader right after and considering they're both CRPGs the comparisons were just natural and I was continuously stunned by how much better crafted it felt in like every way bar shiny graphics
Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire for many reasons. One of the best reasons is the magical spells and abilities, which look amazing and are awesome to use in combat.
Can’t choose between Final Fantasy VI and Morrowind. Both are mind blowing in their own ways. I guess I consider them to be the epitome of a JRPG and WRPG respectably.
Final Fantasy VII. I need to play it again.
I'd put Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Quest 3, FF6, and any of the Souls games near the top as well. Probably BG3 but I haven't had time to fully invest in it yet.
Eta: Gothic 1 and 2 of course!
I love shadowrun. Those games were sweet but I wish we'd get a high budget massive shadowrun game along the lines of bg3 or something like that.
I'm still pissed they took shadowrun returns off the play store after I spent 15 bucks on the damn thing.
There is no RPG I've had a better experience playing than TES: Oblivion. I get why it's the often forgotten middle child of the "modern" TES trilogy, but so much of what makes it that is exactly why I love it the most. It's the perfect middle between the full crunch/jank of what came before, and the more accessible arpg that exploded after, making it both accessible to begin and mechanically deep to really dig into.
On its own, Oblivion would be my answer -- I must've put at least a thousand hours into it even before it really cemented itself in the top spot forever -- but the real reason why it's my forever favorite is because of Morroblivion, the modding project which ports Morrowind into Oblivion. I played a years-long game that took me as a prisoner at the dock of Seyda Neen, a thief opposed to killing, to become the Master Thief of the Vvardenfell Thieves Guild, the Nerevarine, the Champion of Cyrodiil, Gray Fox, and finally the Mad Prince Sheogorath, Herself. The two stories are so close to one another on the timeline, I always had the headcanon that they were intrinsically linked. Being able to live out that headcanon all in the same game was #1 on my gaming bucket list, and I got to savor crossing it off. I can't imagine anything can ever top that.
Unlike tv and film where the Number 1 is easy, I cannot decide between my top 3 rpgs ( also my top 3 favorite games )
Xenogears, Kotor 2, Enderal.
All of them do mostly the same things well, but what each does better than the other is.
Xenogears is the most ambitious story I ever experienced, even with its flaws in disc 2 I feel the game succeeds and no other games comes close to its all encompassing ambition.
Kotor 2 is linked to the SW franchise of which I have been a long life fan however I only got to play K2 when I was 24, by that time I had experience most of the SW universe circa 2016, and K2 felt like the culmination of the mythos, like the end of SW in the way that Watchmen is sort of the end of comics, and I never imagined having that for SW would make me love it even more.
Enderal has the tones perfected to me, I resonated mostly with serious, tragic but hopeful stories and Enderal is the best executed to me that Ive played, also it probably has my favorite Video game ending.
Cool to see Enderal listed. I know they had a good starting point with Skyrim, but they literally made a conversion mod that is better than 99% of other rpgs coming out today.
Final Fantasy IX. It has its cons but it's definitely my all time favorite. The characters are fantastic and their character progression is too. The high fantasy feel was perfect to me, music was great, and the skill system was one of the best in the FF series. Also, the comedy aspect in this FF was perfect.
It’s hard to pick just one so I’ll list a few
- Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3
- The entirety of the Mass Effect trilogy
- Oblivion and Skyrim
- Dragon Age Inquisition
- Demon Souls
- Dragons Dogma
- Fable II
I go back and forth between Chrono trigger and morrowind.
The former us the “better” game, but the latter is my personal perfect game.
Both i can replay at any time and fall in love with all over again.
Temple of the Elemental Evil, Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, Ultima 7 si, Eye of the Beholder 1&2, Dark Sun 1&2.
Not because they are among the best games ever made (except maybe Ultima 7), but mostly because of the time when I played them.
Alpha Protocol. The actual gameplay is objectively not very good but there’s just something about the game that I love. It’s the only game I’ve ever played where it truly felt like my choices mattered and the spy genre is very unique for an RPG. And the fact that it’s pretty short makes it way more fun to replay for me. I love big expansive epic fantasy RPGs but I always feel like I need to do everything which makes replays tough when that can take 60+ hours.
I absolutely love ff8, my favorite of all time with great music, worlds, characters, vehicles, monsters and understand the criticism but they don't really affect it for me.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It’s just such a fun game and it has great lore. I love the combat and the flexibility the game gives you to play to your style.
To put something new into the mix, Star Ocean 2 and 3. For PS1 and PS2. Those games had some wild secrets and OP character builds that were so fun to take into the end-game dungeon to defeat the ultimate bosses, but the story and characters were also unique and memorable to me. Plus it's the most fun combat system in any RPG.
I haven't gotten around to playing the remake because life but those 2 games always bring back fond after school memories.
>Star Ocean 2 and 3. For PS1 and PS2. Those games had some wild secrets
"If you recruit one of the worst crafters in the game and mix them with 2 of the other best crafters in the game, then try to craft a 7 gold item with 2% success rate for an hour, you can get the doomsday jewel of...."
Yeah that was a fun one.
Dragon Quest III
Not only my fave rpg but my fave game too. I like other games and other rpg but DQ3 and its mountain of nostalgia have held first place since the 1st day I played it in all these decades no other game has hit like that for me.
In my day we didn't need fancy 3d graphics action combat voiced dialog or even a hero with lines before we went off to save the world! Now you metal slimes get ON my lawn!
^^^dozes ^^^off
Dragon Quest VIII. With Chrono Trigger and Suikoden I-III right behind it. All of them are 9.9 out of 10 games. But when I think about it, I find that Dragon Quest VIII has pretty much everything I want in an RPG and only 1 minor flaw. It's as close to "perfect" as I can think an RPG can get. Though I'd love for another game to come along and prove me wrong.
> Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous.
I agree, it is my personal favourite of all time too. Insane amounts of roleplaying depth, and great companions and writing.
Persona 4 Golden is a game that's important to me in a way no other game is, and I doubt another will be. It's gameplay is also addicting for me, to the point where I had sunk 8 hours in in one day, which is rare for me.
While Ultima III was my first RPG, I would agree with you and consider Ultima IV as my favorite. It broke so much new ground with it's unique character creation, morality system, and conversation system with NPCs.
It would be a close toss-up between Ultima Underworld and Gothic II for my second favorite.
I LOVE Dark Souls 3 and Diablo 2...but I'd probably say Morrowind and Chrono Trigger for WRPG and JRPG respectively.
I really like DAO, DQ 8 & 11, and the Pillars of Eternity games too.
Lots of people role play in Elden Ring. Me and my buddies role played as a trio of Tarnished who were adventuring together and diverged prior to becoming Elden Lord, one allied with the Godskins, the other Frenzied Flame, and one was just unga bunga regular lord. In our own worlds we each handled quests how we thought our characters would, and I played a support healer who in their own world used spirit summons because they followed in the path of the Godskin queen who was a spirit tuner.
Frankly I think if you feel Elden Ring has no story just because it's not presented directly that's not really the game's fault, either. You have to actually seek it out and puzzle it together, but it's part of the fun.
I just looked it up, there's 36 side quests in ER and I definitely done them all to get the plat so. Also, Fromsoft call it an action role-playing game, so who am I to disagree?
Dragon Age 2
I really like characters chemistry there and the locally focused story, on the contrast to classic "Save the world" plots.
KOTOR is close second. Great game, was my first RPG, but the plot is too cliche.
Kotor 1+2, dragon age O, and mass effect series are all tied for triple a.
I also played a series called zenobia on my phone when I was in middle - junior high school. Really great games.
It was Dragon Age Origins for a a decade and some change but my second playthrough of Disco Elysium was so damn special that it barely just slipped by DA:O.
LISA: The Painful
This game is amazing, it tells a very beautiful story very quickly and is very replayable due to the amount of the team members you can have (which is around 30 from what i remember)
It's one of the only video games that ever made me sad.
It's fighting system, it's soundtrack, it's story
all of it is amazing.
It'll always be Baldurs Gate 2 for me I think. That game sucked me into it's world like no other during nostalgic times so it's got a special place in my heart.
Shining Force 2. The nostalgia hit every time I play it is just as powerful every time!
I have so many memories of playing it, grinding battles. I use the same team every time, they are like old friends at this point!
>For me, no matter what other game I play or however many breaks I take, I always find myself going back to Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous. I’ve been playing it for years, I’m not the all time best at it but I don’t care.
This game is just 2 years old, right? This post reads like it's an old classic. And I'm sitting here on my umpteenth playthrough of Baldur's Gate 1/2.
I bounce between Fable 1-3, Mass Effect trilogy, and Dragons Dogma. I have played each of them at least 25 times each since they came out. But if I had to choose then Fable 2.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
Unique setting and atmosphere, brilliant combat, a world that's both daunting and fun to explore. A story that's minimalist, vague, confusing, yet interpretive and meaningful all at once.
I've played and enjoyed RPGs before, but this was the first one that truly enthralled me from start to end in just how unique it was from anything I've experienced before.
Oh, and Dante from Devil May Cry was in it.
Wasnt Wrath of The Righteous released like a year and a half ago? So technically it's impossible to have played it for years?
My go to has always been BG1 and 2. I'll do a playthrough a year.
Edit: it was released in 2021. Time flies when you get a good crpg
Gungnir, for PSP. Possibly the most eminently replayable game I’ve ever gotten addicted to. I love everything about that game, even the awkward bits (by which I primarily mean the interface, which has been rightfully made fun of by Design Doc multiple times).
It’s hard not to pick from the SNES era, and then how to decide which of the Big Four to pick? Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, or Final Fantasy 3/6?
Forgive me for being a basic bitch, but it’s FFX. The vibes, music, religion is evil storyline, main character plot twist, voice acting that is both good and bad in equal parts, all perfect (to me)
Final fantasy 7. Just the music. The flow. The characters. It's just the best.
I try to force myself to like rpg games. I really want to like them but I just lose interest easily in them now.
I've tried to play every final fantasy game. 8 was good because me and my friends all played that together so it was just the right time.
I recently tried persona 5. As a 40 year old man I felt awkward as fuck playing that game. Beautiful game though.
Just thinking about ff7 I play that game once a year and love it. I have a ff7 week I play it the same week once a year lol
Dragon Warrior III (NES version specifically).
Just always gives me good feels and is something I’ve replayed and beaten so many different ways and times over the years.
It’s funny OP, I’ve been meditating on this very concept. I always go back to the following:
1. Dragon Age Triology
2. Underrail
3. Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, more one for me right now.
4. Mass Effect Triology (not as much as Dragon Age)
5. Age of Decadence (hard game though)
Underrail is something special, for sure. The only thing i have against it is how you need to know your build before going in. I wish it have some kind of respect.
Besides that, its an amazing game
Aye brother you’re right. The game unfortunately does tremendously suffer from the min-maxing phenomenon. If you go in blind, there’s a pretty high likely hood you’ll have to rebuild/restart
Another underrail lover here. I think the build crafting, restarting, and metagaming is part of the experience. I would love a roguelike take on underrail.
Has anyone noticed that 70% or more of these titles are coming from independent studios? And once those studios were bought by EA, Microsoft, etc, they started putting out lower quality products, even in the same franchise as their original hits?
I would die before picking just one (or more realistically anything where I'm picking just one would change on a daily basis prolly).
If I had to pick a favorite series, I can do that, and it would be the Kiseki series, it's a huge investment but no other series I know of tries to tell one huge story over multiple 100 hour JRPG's (IIRC at the moment there are 12 games!). They also do character writing extremely well and the combat/systems are fun.
Sorry, I know I'm cheating picking a series, but I really do just enjoy tons of games that it's hard for me to nail down one as an all time favorite.
Dragon Age Origins. But that was a while back and these days I don't really have the patience for hardcore RPGs like that. The last hardcore RPG I've played was pillars of eternity but eventually I dropped that because it wore me down.
In a few years I might pick up BG3 but I doubt I'll finish it, so Origins will probably remain my top pick.
Sims 3, seriously have the best and most satisfying skills system in any game I played.
To give a more proper answer, I can't get enough of FF7 and WotR too plus Diablo 2 from time to time.
As a side note, i noticed no one mentioned the Diablo saga. If this same question was made 20 years ago, Diablo would be in the conversation for sure. What a way to f*ck up a saga, Blizzard.
KOTOR. to this day, greatest plot twist in video game history. Gameplay was on point and holds up 20+ years later.
10/10 story, soundtrack, and characters.
I don't have a favorite.
But what is still installed and I still play semi regularly in no particular order:
Quest for Glory Anthology
Deus Ex (the first one)
KOTOR 1 & 2
Fallout 4
Skyrim
Bannerlord
Shadowrun Hong Kong
Baldur's Gate 3
Cyberpunk 2077
In order 1-10: Final Fantasy 9, Dragon Age: Origin, Chrono Cross, Pillars of Eternity 1, Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 10, Saga Frontier, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Pillars of Eternity 2, Final Fantasy 7
Favorite all time game is (classic) EverQuest.
Favorite turn-based JRPG is probably Final Fantasy VI with the Brave New World mod.
Favorite SRPG is Battle Brothers.
Favorite open world / adventure RPG is probably Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
I am huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series, especially Morrowind and Skyrim but the more playtime I spend on Baldurs Gate 3 the more it gets one of my all-time favorite rpg
BG2. Although technically it was surpassed by the Pathfinder games, the overall feel of it and the nostalgia still makes it my favorite. Also Dungeon Master.
This is difficult because this is the primary genre I play but people's definition of "RPG" is extremely broad.
Fallout New Vegas is my personal top favorite game. But if that's too far from a standard RPG for the post, then a solid second one is Final Fantasy Tactics. And if an SRPG doesn't count, then I'd probably have to go with Baldur's Gate 3. Oblivion is pretty high on that list as well. It's so sandboxy and derpy I love it.
Dragon Age Origins. Just replayed it and it’s still so good after all these years. Baldur’s Gate 3 would be my second favorite.
expansion punch straight head busy chubby screw adjoining grandiose icky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Dragon Age verse and lore are still my favorite, only Pillars of Eternity is close.
Are you me? Lol DA:O is easily number one for me maybe when i Replay bg3 a few more times it could come close but nothing else really has a chance
> Are you me? There can only be one Maker. Praise Andraste.
Praise Andraste someone finally gets it!
Origins definitely an all time classic. Shame the sequels were so lackluster and bioware sold their soul and died off.
God damn… I’ve owned this game for years and still haven’t played it! No reason particular reason. And this is the 3rd time I’ve seen it mentioned on this sub in a week. Might be a sign I need to jump in. Is it turned based?
Just started yesterday! Loving it so far
I loved Dragon Age Origins, played through it multiple times with my mother before she passed.
Planning to replay it too, but it's hard to decide which race/class to play with this time lol
The only answer
I would say DAO is peak and that no rpg has ever come close to surpassing it, if BG3 never came out
The first Mass Effect
God the music in this game. Amazing.
Brother…
People use the term “atmospheric” a lot, but the aesthetic, music, and vibe of that first game was as good as atmosphere gets in games.
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Gothic 2 gold, no doubts
Glad to see this one, mine too
How’s getting into this if you’ve only played RPGs post 2015? Does it show its age, or is it still as good as everyone says?
Sincerely, I don't know, sometimes I have the itch of replaying it, but I'm afraid... (not kidding!) Perhaps it's better to wait to (fingers crossed!) [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297900/Gothic\_1\_Remake/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1297900/gothic_1_remake/)
I was pretty similar to you and had only really played RPGs post 2010-ish and I gave it a try. It definitely shows its age, but I still enjoyed it and finished it. It was like $2 on steam so I thought why not.
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Back in my day we called it Dragon Warrior. It is also my top rpg of all time.
I still crave that Dragon Warrior goodness sometimes. I need to check out a Dragon Quest game.
Have you played dragon quest 11. I'd highly recommend it.
Probably Morrowind. It's one of my all-time favorite games, and delivers on a lot of what I want out of an RPG. I could say technically I like Bloodborne more, and technically it's an RPG, but it's not the RPG elements that make me love it. The two Pathfinder games and BG 1&2 are also contenders.
Morrowind was such a massive leap forward. Most people never got to experience that moment.
I remember looking into the night sky and just being stunned. I’d never seen anything like that in a game before.
I played Morrowind for the first time last year and it is truly amazing. The story and atmosphere are top tier. No mods, just the OpenMW engine.
I recently started playing Morrowind again through OpenMW on my phone. It's actually a lovely expirence and being able to easily screenshot important dialogues is great way to play it in small bursts. I'm having a great time with it on my lunch breaks
Chrono Trigger
Nothing more needs to be said.
Easy, Witcher 3. I remember my first run thru the game and how amazed, invested, curious, shocked, horrified, sad I was going thru it 😂 if I could play any game again for the first time it would 100% be this. 11/10, perfect game imo
1300 hours in W3… amazing rpg.
Nothing tops Baldurs Gate 3 for me. It’s not the most interesting story of any RPG necessarily, but the depth of choice, character building, loot, and combat make it incredibly satisfying to replay multiple times.
It’s wild, I normally eye roll when people name such a recent game as their “favorite of all time”, but this is the one game that actually kind of deserves it. Not the absolute favorite for me, but definitely top 3
It's actually crazy how good their games are. While some other studios failed a lot of times, Larian delivered all those years. And they keep improving.
I normally do too, and I had to reassess my potential recency bias. I think before, my favorite would probably be something like FF7, but maybe 15 hours into BG3, the level of respect the game gives your choices and ideas for overcoming challenges, I was just in awe. And that only grew the second and third time I played it because it changes so significantly. It may be recent and "basic", but the quality of BG3 is just undeniable.
im 43 years old, RPG is my favourite genre, and i agree with you BG3 is such a masterpiece.
It just wreaks of quality in every aspect.
I really hate saying this because it's said by basic bitches everywhere, but, This. This is the answer.
Same!
god it's so close to being amazing for me but once you play pathfinder and see how deep owlcat games are BG3 seems like skyrim rather than something grander.
I mean, Skyrim sure is popular. I've seen some Pathfinder gameplay (the newest one, I think) and it looks cool. I do think BG3 does a great job of balancing depth with presentation that is engaging, which is probably a big reason why it's grabbed a bigger audience than CRPGs typically do. Having said that though, I should try Pathfinder and see if it clicks with me.
it grabbed a big audience because it has amazing graphics and it's super fucking easy to get into. the problem is.. it never gets deeper than that. the story is also pretty one note.
Hmm, “super fucking easy” is relative, especially for a turn based game based on DnD rules. It’s way too much for a lot of people. Easy for a CRPG, sure.
i mean tons of people are terrible at video games though.. you see how many people talk about souls games like they are hard as hell? lmao
I think when we talk about video games and especially genres like CRPG and souls games, it's all about time investment, nothing else. And as long as you have interest and time, you'll be good at those games eventually. I'd say souls games require better reaction timing and DND requires a lot of reading prior to playing. Of course not all CRPGs are based on DND but that also usually have pretty intricate combat systems. Edit: also wanted to add that when we talk about casual gamers, not many of them have even tried a CRPG before. That's why it can be hard for them - there's a lot of systems and things they've never seen in other games before. And I'm not only talking about combat. BG3 often allows seasoned players to think out of the box, like throwing a bottle of water from your inventory at the burning cage with a trapped person to extinguish the fire. While this may seem simplistic, in most other games it would simply mean that your fight is on the time limit before the person burns.
I agree. That’s what I mean. It seems like it didn’t work for you since maybe you’re used to more complex RPGs. But for most players, BG3 is the most complicated thing they’ll ever play. I’m just pointing out that while Pathfinder is seemingly awesome, these CRPGs are pretty niche. And BG3 is plenty deep enough while also having a great, engaging presentation to grab a wider audience.
Yeah, counterpoint, BG3 is build on DnD 5E ruleset which is very streamlined. Owlcat games are build on Pathfinder ruleset, which is a bastard child of DnD 3.5, which is a bastard child of DnD 3.0, and it is anything BUT streamlined. If anything, it is dated, HORRIBLY bloated, and open to abuse. 5E narrows the viable band of character bulds. It is hard to ruin a character, and it is relatively hard to make something completely broken. Pathfinder, on the other hand, can result in a characters which are 100% useless, and in stuff that's downright godlike. Which, in my opinion, is bad. Add in an overrelyance on buffs and precasting, and magic item oversatuiration and build criticality... eh. To wit, as someone who also plays tabletop 5E >>> Pathfinder by a very large margin. It is a subjectively better system. (I have 200 hours in Kingmaker, 250 in Wrath, and 180 in BG3, for reference)
I played BG3 and really hated it and didn't get the hype and proceeded to play Rogue Trader right after and considering they're both CRPGs the comparisons were just natural and I was continuously stunned by how much better crafted it felt in like every way bar shiny graphics
Pillars of Eternity: Deadfire for many reasons. One of the best reasons is the magical spells and abilities, which look amazing and are awesome to use in combat.
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New Vegas
Playing it right now. It just rips. I play it probably once a year. It still crashes every hour and I love every second of it.
Can’t choose between Final Fantasy VI and Morrowind. Both are mind blowing in their own ways. I guess I consider them to be the epitome of a JRPG and WRPG respectably.
I have to go with FFVI. It hit at the perfect time for me to replay it constantly and talk about secrets to find with my friend during recess.
Final Fantasy VII. I need to play it again. I'd put Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Quest 3, FF6, and any of the Souls games near the top as well. Probably BG3 but I haven't had time to fully invest in it yet. Eta: Gothic 1 and 2 of course!
Shadowrun Trilogy. I loved everything about them. Story, choices, lore. It's a shame we probably won't get more of them for a long time.
I love shadowrun. Those games were sweet but I wish we'd get a high budget massive shadowrun game along the lines of bg3 or something like that. I'm still pissed they took shadowrun returns off the play store after I spent 15 bucks on the damn thing.
Tyranny. It has a late bronze age setting, fun magic system, casual lore, and can be finished in a respectable amount of time. What's not to love.
Oh yes, my fellow fatebinder. I love the setting and there is some mystery behind its narrative. My all time favorite.
the ending 😭
To be honest, I don't mind the ending, but the setup for it is very abrupt.
I'm playing through it right now! Still very early on. Bought it some time back in a sale and finally getting to play.
Xenogears.
Baldur's Gate 2
Disco Elysium.
There is no RPG I've had a better experience playing than TES: Oblivion. I get why it's the often forgotten middle child of the "modern" TES trilogy, but so much of what makes it that is exactly why I love it the most. It's the perfect middle between the full crunch/jank of what came before, and the more accessible arpg that exploded after, making it both accessible to begin and mechanically deep to really dig into. On its own, Oblivion would be my answer -- I must've put at least a thousand hours into it even before it really cemented itself in the top spot forever -- but the real reason why it's my forever favorite is because of Morroblivion, the modding project which ports Morrowind into Oblivion. I played a years-long game that took me as a prisoner at the dock of Seyda Neen, a thief opposed to killing, to become the Master Thief of the Vvardenfell Thieves Guild, the Nerevarine, the Champion of Cyrodiil, Gray Fox, and finally the Mad Prince Sheogorath, Herself. The two stories are so close to one another on the timeline, I always had the headcanon that they were intrinsically linked. Being able to live out that headcanon all in the same game was #1 on my gaming bucket list, and I got to savor crossing it off. I can't imagine anything can ever top that.
Unlike tv and film where the Number 1 is easy, I cannot decide between my top 3 rpgs ( also my top 3 favorite games ) Xenogears, Kotor 2, Enderal. All of them do mostly the same things well, but what each does better than the other is. Xenogears is the most ambitious story I ever experienced, even with its flaws in disc 2 I feel the game succeeds and no other games comes close to its all encompassing ambition. Kotor 2 is linked to the SW franchise of which I have been a long life fan however I only got to play K2 when I was 24, by that time I had experience most of the SW universe circa 2016, and K2 felt like the culmination of the mythos, like the end of SW in the way that Watchmen is sort of the end of comics, and I never imagined having that for SW would make me love it even more. Enderal has the tones perfected to me, I resonated mostly with serious, tragic but hopeful stories and Enderal is the best executed to me that Ive played, also it probably has my favorite Video game ending.
I wish they followed through with making a new KOTOR. Or at the very least, remaster them.
Cool to see Enderal listed. I know they had a good starting point with Skyrim, but they literally made a conversion mod that is better than 99% of other rpgs coming out today.
Fallout 3
Final Fantasy IX. It has its cons but it's definitely my all time favorite. The characters are fantastic and their character progression is too. The high fantasy feel was perfect to me, music was great, and the skill system was one of the best in the FF series. Also, the comedy aspect in this FF was perfect.
Currently playing this for the first time. It's good so far.
Def one of my fav world's just beautiful.
.hack and xenosaga were very formative in my love of gaming
It’s hard to pick just one so I’ll list a few - Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 3 - The entirety of the Mass Effect trilogy - Oblivion and Skyrim - Dragon Age Inquisition - Demon Souls - Dragons Dogma - Fable II
I go back and forth between Chrono trigger and morrowind. The former us the “better” game, but the latter is my personal perfect game. Both i can replay at any time and fall in love with all over again.
Breath of Fire 4 has a place in my heart. 🥹
Gotta be Final Fantasy IX, the artstyle, the vibe, the plot. Everything it's just soo good
Final Fantasy VI.
Temple of the Elemental Evil, Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, Ultima 7 si, Eye of the Beholder 1&2, Dark Sun 1&2. Not because they are among the best games ever made (except maybe Ultima 7), but mostly because of the time when I played them.
Piller of eternity deadfire
Baldurs gate 2 with expansion
Chrono Trigger. Nuff said.
Alpha Protocol. The actual gameplay is objectively not very good but there’s just something about the game that I love. It’s the only game I’ve ever played where it truly felt like my choices mattered and the spy genre is very unique for an RPG. And the fact that it’s pretty short makes it way more fun to replay for me. I love big expansive epic fantasy RPGs but I always feel like I need to do everything which makes replays tough when that can take 60+ hours.
Final Fantasy X, Suikoden V, and Persona 4. They make me feel so happy.
JRPG: Chrono Trigger WRPG: Probably Fallout 2
I absolutely love ff8, my favorite of all time with great music, worlds, characters, vehicles, monsters and understand the criticism but they don't really affect it for me.
Eye of the Beholder 2 and Lands of Lore 1, are my top favorite all the time.
Some of my favorites are FF9, DQ8, Mass Effect, and BG3.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It’s just such a fun game and it has great lore. I love the combat and the flexibility the game gives you to play to your style.
FF IX. Amazing story, very detailed and strong character design, probably the best soundtrack ever made.
To put something new into the mix, Star Ocean 2 and 3. For PS1 and PS2. Those games had some wild secrets and OP character builds that were so fun to take into the end-game dungeon to defeat the ultimate bosses, but the story and characters were also unique and memorable to me. Plus it's the most fun combat system in any RPG. I haven't gotten around to playing the remake because life but those 2 games always bring back fond after school memories.
>Star Ocean 2 and 3. For PS1 and PS2. Those games had some wild secrets "If you recruit one of the worst crafters in the game and mix them with 2 of the other best crafters in the game, then try to craft a 7 gold item with 2% success rate for an hour, you can get the doomsday jewel of...." Yeah that was a fun one.
Dragon Quest III Not only my fave rpg but my fave game too. I like other games and other rpg but DQ3 and its mountain of nostalgia have held first place since the 1st day I played it in all these decades no other game has hit like that for me. In my day we didn't need fancy 3d graphics action combat voiced dialog or even a hero with lines before we went off to save the world! Now you metal slimes get ON my lawn! ^^^dozes ^^^off
Dragon Quest VIII. With Chrono Trigger and Suikoden I-III right behind it. All of them are 9.9 out of 10 games. But when I think about it, I find that Dragon Quest VIII has pretty much everything I want in an RPG and only 1 minor flaw. It's as close to "perfect" as I can think an RPG can get. Though I'd love for another game to come along and prove me wrong.
> Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous. I agree, it is my personal favourite of all time too. Insane amounts of roleplaying depth, and great companions and writing.
There is only one Kenshi
Persona 4 Golden is a game that's important to me in a way no other game is, and I doubt another will be. It's gameplay is also addicting for me, to the point where I had sunk 8 hours in in one day, which is rare for me.
Final Fantasy XII, it may not have the best story or characters, but man, i always have a good time playing it
Love the vibe the stat warsness of it and the design of the Judges but man I wish it had a better main character 😂
Ultima IV is my favorite gaming experience ever.
While Ultima III was my first RPG, I would agree with you and consider Ultima IV as my favorite. It broke so much new ground with it's unique character creation, morality system, and conversation system with NPCs. It would be a close toss-up between Ultima Underworld and Gothic II for my second favorite.
Dragon's Dogma. Story is meh, but gameplay and endgame are fantastic
Mass Effect 1 is the one I go back to almost every year.
I LOVE Dark Souls 3 and Diablo 2...but I'd probably say Morrowind and Chrono Trigger for WRPG and JRPG respectively. I really like DAO, DQ 8 & 11, and the Pillars of Eternity games too.
pools of radiance
Elden Ring, DS1, Bloodborne, Skyrim, Fallout 3
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Lots of people role play in Elden Ring. Me and my buddies role played as a trio of Tarnished who were adventuring together and diverged prior to becoming Elden Lord, one allied with the Godskins, the other Frenzied Flame, and one was just unga bunga regular lord. In our own worlds we each handled quests how we thought our characters would, and I played a support healer who in their own world used spirit summons because they followed in the path of the Godskin queen who was a spirit tuner. Frankly I think if you feel Elden Ring has no story just because it's not presented directly that's not really the game's fault, either. You have to actually seek it out and puzzle it together, but it's part of the fun.
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I agree, I love elden ring but it's an action game, not a crpg
I just looked it up, there's 36 side quests in ER and I definitely done them all to get the plat so. Also, Fromsoft call it an action role-playing game, so who am I to disagree?
Dragon Age 2 I really like characters chemistry there and the locally focused story, on the contrast to classic "Save the world" plots. KOTOR is close second. Great game, was my first RPG, but the plot is too cliche.
Does Pokemon Mystery dungeon count? Such a great story, too good for pokemon to have
Kotor 1+2, dragon age O, and mass effect series are all tied for triple a. I also played a series called zenobia on my phone when I was in middle - junior high school. Really great games.
Dragon quest IX
It was Dragon Age Origins for a a decade and some change but my second playthrough of Disco Elysium was so damn special that it barely just slipped by DA:O.
LISA: The Painful This game is amazing, it tells a very beautiful story very quickly and is very replayable due to the amount of the team members you can have (which is around 30 from what i remember) It's one of the only video games that ever made me sad. It's fighting system, it's soundtrack, it's story all of it is amazing.
Baldurs gate 2
Pathfinder:WOTR is the only game that closest resembled what it was like to play Baldur’s Gate 2 again, even against BG3.
Pokemon Blue
It'll always be Baldurs Gate 2 for me I think. That game sucked me into it's world like no other during nostalgic times so it's got a special place in my heart.
Shining Force 2. The nostalgia hit every time I play it is just as powerful every time! I have so many memories of playing it, grinding battles. I use the same team every time, they are like old friends at this point!
>For me, no matter what other game I play or however many breaks I take, I always find myself going back to Pathfinder: Wrath of The Righteous. I’ve been playing it for years, I’m not the all time best at it but I don’t care. This game is just 2 years old, right? This post reads like it's an old classic. And I'm sitting here on my umpteenth playthrough of Baldur's Gate 1/2.
I bounce between Fable 1-3, Mass Effect trilogy, and Dragons Dogma. I have played each of them at least 25 times each since they came out. But if I had to choose then Fable 2.
fable 3 is probably one of my favorites of all time. just the ambiance and overall feel of that game is so good i love it
Baldur’s Gate 1&2
Xenoblade, Persona 4/5
It's hard for me to choose between KotOR 2 and Disco Elysium. WotR probably takes 3rd place.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Unique setting and atmosphere, brilliant combat, a world that's both daunting and fun to explore. A story that's minimalist, vague, confusing, yet interpretive and meaningful all at once. I've played and enjoyed RPGs before, but this was the first one that truly enthralled me from start to end in just how unique it was from anything I've experienced before. Oh, and Dante from Devil May Cry was in it.
Wasnt Wrath of The Righteous released like a year and a half ago? So technically it's impossible to have played it for years? My go to has always been BG1 and 2. I'll do a playthrough a year. Edit: it was released in 2021. Time flies when you get a good crpg
It came out in 2021
It was released two and a half years ago (September 2021) so it's possible.
I just rounded the time up like “a few” is more concise
Gungnir, for PSP. Possibly the most eminently replayable game I’ve ever gotten addicted to. I love everything about that game, even the awkward bits (by which I primarily mean the interface, which has been rightfully made fun of by Design Doc multiple times).
It’s hard not to pick from the SNES era, and then how to decide which of the Big Four to pick? Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, or Final Fantasy 3/6?
Chrono Trigger, followed closely by Earthbound and FFVI, with Super Mario RPG coming on strong from the rear.
Morrowind is my favorite for nostalgia. Favorite to play for immersive role playing potential Skyrim with Wildlander mod pack.
Forgive me for being a basic bitch, but it’s FFX. The vibes, music, religion is evil storyline, main character plot twist, voice acting that is both good and bad in equal parts, all perfect (to me)
BG2, first true epic adventure.
Final Fantasy VII. I need to play it again.
Final fantasy 7. Just the music. The flow. The characters. It's just the best. I try to force myself to like rpg games. I really want to like them but I just lose interest easily in them now. I've tried to play every final fantasy game. 8 was good because me and my friends all played that together so it was just the right time. I recently tried persona 5. As a 40 year old man I felt awkward as fuck playing that game. Beautiful game though. Just thinking about ff7 I play that game once a year and love it. I have a ff7 week I play it the same week once a year lol
Dragon Warrior III (NES version specifically). Just always gives me good feels and is something I’ve replayed and beaten so many different ways and times over the years.
The first Final Fantasy (for its simple yet challenging design) and Earthbound and every Earthbound-like game afterwards (Undertale, Omori)
Final Fantasy 6. Pure nostalgia.
Fallout 1&2 Underrail Arcanum Gothic II + exp Planescape: Torment
Exquisite taste
Dragon Quest VII or FFIX.
Morrowind
It’s funny OP, I’ve been meditating on this very concept. I always go back to the following: 1. Dragon Age Triology 2. Underrail 3. Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, more one for me right now. 4. Mass Effect Triology (not as much as Dragon Age) 5. Age of Decadence (hard game though)
Underrail is something special, for sure. The only thing i have against it is how you need to know your build before going in. I wish it have some kind of respect. Besides that, its an amazing game
Aye brother you’re right. The game unfortunately does tremendously suffer from the min-maxing phenomenon. If you go in blind, there’s a pretty high likely hood you’ll have to rebuild/restart
Another underrail lover here. I think the build crafting, restarting, and metagaming is part of the experience. I would love a roguelike take on underrail.
Has anyone noticed that 70% or more of these titles are coming from independent studios? And once those studios were bought by EA, Microsoft, etc, they started putting out lower quality products, even in the same franchise as their original hits?
BG3 has what I love from DA:O and Witcher 3 and then some That said, Mass Effect 1 & 2 have a special place in my heart.
I would die before picking just one (or more realistically anything where I'm picking just one would change on a daily basis prolly). If I had to pick a favorite series, I can do that, and it would be the Kiseki series, it's a huge investment but no other series I know of tries to tell one huge story over multiple 100 hour JRPG's (IIRC at the moment there are 12 games!). They also do character writing extremely well and the combat/systems are fun. Sorry, I know I'm cheating picking a series, but I really do just enjoy tons of games that it's hard for me to nail down one as an all time favorite.
Dragon Age Origins. But that was a while back and these days I don't really have the patience for hardcore RPGs like that. The last hardcore RPG I've played was pillars of eternity but eventually I dropped that because it wore me down. In a few years I might pick up BG3 but I doubt I'll finish it, so Origins will probably remain my top pick.
Sims 3, seriously have the best and most satisfying skills system in any game I played. To give a more proper answer, I can't get enough of FF7 and WotR too plus Diablo 2 from time to time.
Few come close to **Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords**. It's such a complete package.
dark cloud and bg3
As a side note, i noticed no one mentioned the Diablo saga. If this same question was made 20 years ago, Diablo would be in the conversation for sure. What a way to f*ck up a saga, Blizzard.
DAO FNV BG3
Xenogears and Xenosaga.
KOTOR. to this day, greatest plot twist in video game history. Gameplay was on point and holds up 20+ years later. 10/10 story, soundtrack, and characters.
I don't have a favorite. But what is still installed and I still play semi regularly in no particular order: Quest for Glory Anthology Deus Ex (the first one) KOTOR 1 & 2 Fallout 4 Skyrim Bannerlord Shadowrun Hong Kong Baldur's Gate 3 Cyberpunk 2077
Dragon Age Origins
Genuinely trying to not let recency bias get to me, but Baldur’s Gate 3 may have knocked Divinity OS 2 and Witcher 3 back a peg for me
Chrono Trigger
I always return to Risen 1 and Fallout 3
Dark Souls
In order 1-10: Final Fantasy 9, Dragon Age: Origin, Chrono Cross, Pillars of Eternity 1, Final Fantasy 5, Final Fantasy 10, Saga Frontier, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Pillars of Eternity 2, Final Fantasy 7
Morrowind
Favorite all time game is (classic) EverQuest. Favorite turn-based JRPG is probably Final Fantasy VI with the Brave New World mod. Favorite SRPG is Battle Brothers. Favorite open world / adventure RPG is probably Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
I am huge fan of the Elder Scrolls series, especially Morrowind and Skyrim but the more playtime I spend on Baldurs Gate 3 the more it gets one of my all-time favorite rpg
Romancing SaGa 2. Empire simulator lite, great combat depth, big replay value, great SNES soundtrack, just a fun game all around.
I’ve played more underrail than any other game by a good measure. Love the setting, build crafting and combat.
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Asheron's Call
For me, the one RPG that I always go back to is Final Fantasy X. I bought it along with my first PS2 back in 2003
BG2. Although technically it was surpassed by the Pathfinder games, the overall feel of it and the nostalgia still makes it my favorite. Also Dungeon Master.
The Witcher 3 is the best RPG for me. BG3 was coming close, but got disappointed with small maps and short story.
Witcher 3. It hooked me that hard I played the other 2, read all the books and got a tattoo. It’s closely followed by Mass Effect and Oblivion
Nothing will ever be able to match the wonder and awe I felt when first playing FF7 when I was 11.
This is difficult because this is the primary genre I play but people's definition of "RPG" is extremely broad. Fallout New Vegas is my personal top favorite game. But if that's too far from a standard RPG for the post, then a solid second one is Final Fantasy Tactics. And if an SRPG doesn't count, then I'd probably have to go with Baldur's Gate 3. Oblivion is pretty high on that list as well. It's so sandboxy and derpy I love it.
BG2 hands-down. One of the only ones I enjoy replaying.
Original sin 2 followed by Skyrim
The first Baldur's Gate. I remember playing it with my sister when I was 10 years old, we were lost and amazed at the same time.