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UbiSwanky2 wrote:
Oblivion-never played Morrowind but after reading this might have to give it a shot

Morrowind is hard to go back to. I absolutely LOVED it when it first came out. But, now, it's graphics are no longer up to par. And, the whole wide-open-sandbox gamestyle is no longer unique or innovative.

I often times go back and replay old school RPGs, but Morrowind doesn't really draw me in like it once did.

Baldurs Gate. The first one. I preferred it's asthetic over the second and the way you moved around the map. In the second you had to find out about a location before you could travel there whereas on the first you could travel the map square by square and go wherever.

Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

whatwhat wrote:Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

I've never thought of Ocarina of Time as an RPG. Your equipment grows and gets better with time but there's no leveling system. It's a lot like Super Metroid, both of which I'd call an adventure game, but not quite an RPG.

Grakmar wrote:

whatwhat wrote:Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

I've never thought of Ocarina of Time as an RPG. Your equipment grows and gets better with time but there's no leveling system. It's a lot like Super Metroid, both of which I'd call an adventure game, but not quite an RPG.

Since when did leveling up become a requisite of an rpg?

whatwhat wrote:

Grakmar wrote:

whatwhat wrote:Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

I've never thought of Ocarina of Time as an RPG. Your equipment grows and gets better with time but there's no leveling system. It's a lot like Super Metroid, both of which I'd call an adventure game, but not quite an RPG.

Since when did leveling up become a requisite of an rpg?

Well, its a tricky line. What exactly does a Zelda game have that makes it an RPG that Super Metroid, or a GTA game don't have?

Another vote for the Fallout Series and the Mass Effect games.

Grakmar wrote:

whatwhat wrote:

Grakmar wrote:

whatwhat wrote:Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

I've never thought of Ocarina of Time as an RPG. Your equipment grows and gets better with time but there's no leveling system. It's a lot like Super Metroid, both of which I'd call an adventure game, but not quite an RPG.

Since when did leveling up become a requisite of an rpg?

Well, its a tricky line. What exactly does a Zelda game have that makes it an RPG that Super Metroid, or a GTA game don't have?

Yeh I see your point about Zelda. But I think RPG's are defined more by their non-linear storyline than a levelling system.

Forgot to mention... Might & Magic .. that whole series. Lots of fun, old school stuff Like, back when you needed a different DOS boot disk for each game...

And the original Neverwinter Nights on AOL. Back when it cost $6 a hour to be online.. my bill was like $400 one month.

Fallout 2 is by far my favourite RPG. Many fond memories with that game and I still play it. While FO3 was good, it doesn't come anywhere close to being as fun as 2. It's a shame Interplay couldn't complete 3. FF VII and Parasite Eve round out my top 3.

I still have to go with Knights of the Old Republic.

Mass Effect 1 was/is awesome. It's number two, but KotOR is number one on the strength of its story. ME1 got the mechanics right (like 95% perfect) but the story wasn't as personally engaging as KotOR. Neverwinter Nights is up there as well.

whatwhat wrote:

Yeh I see your point about Zelda. But I think RPG's are defined more by their non-linear storyline than a levelling system.

How is Ocarina of Time a non-linear storyline? It seemed like quite the one way street to me. More recent Zelda games might be different, I'm not sure, but I remember that one as being a "one run game".

metallifan wrote:

whatwhat wrote:

Yeh I see your point about Zelda. But I think RPG's are defined more by their non-linear storyline than a levelling system.

How is Ocarina of Time a non-linear storyline? It seemed like quite the one way street to me. More recent Zelda games might be different, I'm not sure, but I remember that one as being a "one run game".

I didn't say Ocarina of time was a non linear story line.

That was what you were discussing at the time, I was under the impression that you made that comment in context.

My bad

metallifan wrote:That was what you were discussing at the time, I was under the impression that you made that comment in context.

My bad

I acknowledged his point that Ocarina of Time wasn't a RPG. Then disputed the idea that RPG's are dependant on levelling systems. Sorry.

Super Mario RPG. Hey, what can I say? Geno is the man!

I remember playing this years ago.

My favorite RPG of all time has to be Skies of Arcadia. I played it on the Dreamcast, and then the Gamecube. It is one of the few RPGs I've played that I still plan on going back and re-visiting some day. I mean, cm'on, SKY Pirates!

The Mass Effect series comes in second. The little flaws in the games (thinks like the inventory management, etc) are overshadowed for me by the sheer win of the game's concept and setting. These games just "click" with me on a fundamental level. It almost feels like a Star Trek game to me, except it doesn't suck .

Following that up, the Fire Emblem series is another big favorite of mine. It is difficult to pick just one game, but I would have to go with Path of Radiance (the Gamecube version) as my top. That game just oozes polish, and was a great challenge.

whatwhat wrote:

Grakmar wrote:

whatwhat wrote:Also Zelda Ocarina of Time deserves a mention.

I've never thought of Ocarina of Time as an RPG. Your equipment grows and gets better with time but there's no leveling system. It's a lot like Super Metroid, both of which I'd call an adventure game, but not quite an RPG.

Since when did leveling up become a requisite of an rpg?

A role-playing game is essentially any game in which you play a role of any sort. Hence most story-based games are RPGs by the broadest definition.

'Levelling up' as a chief driver of gameplay and progression correlates to the classical PnP RPG like AD&D, so most people identify games with experience or skill 'points' as RPGs. There are plenty of PnPRPGs that don't have experience points or 'levels' but pretty much all of them involve a numerical system on which a character's skills are based.

It comes full circle when we appreciate that all computer programs are mathematically and logically driven. But then again, that gets you so far from the purer aspects of RL role-playing that it's almost irrelevant.

+1 for the Infinity Engine Baldurs Gate/IWD games. I enjoyed all of them for various reasons but preferred BG2 for its depth. Fallout 1/2 were also some of my best times as a kid - Black Isle did some great gameplay as far as I'm concerned. Honourable mentions go to the System Shock games (1/2), Pool Of Radiance and, of course, the Ultima Series.

Ruckdog wrote:My favorite RPG of all time has to be Skies of Arcadia. I played it on the Dreamcast, and then the Gamecube. It is one of the few RPGs I've played that I still plan on going back and re-visiting some day. I mean, cm'on, SKY Pirates!

I only played Skies of Arcadia Legends, but it is one of the few games I would honestly buy another game system to play again.

I am a big fan of the Mass Effect games, 1&2 are truly great games and part 2 builds on the choices you made in 1 brilliantly.

I also love the Fallout series, I have played Fallout 1, 3 and New Vegas but not played 2 as of yet.

I also like Dragon Age : Origins, and blasphemy upon blasphemy I played it on 360 and loved every second of it.

There are many more I could mention, such as The World Ends With You on the Nintendo DS and the Megaman Battle Network series on the GBA but I will refrain from just firing up a huge list.

Romancing SaGa 3. To frell with all these newfangled Xbox games!
They don't make rpgs like that game anymore which is a shame because that was a super cool system!

Dark Heresy.

Oh you mean video games?

Hrm.

I'm not sure. I really loved Neverwinter Nights, its various sequels, and its expansion.

Final Fantasy for the NES. That was the game that got me into RPGs. I remember sitting there w/ my dad, my Nintendo Power strategy guide and being there for hours. I couldn't wait to get out of school and Dad to get home from work to see what we were going to run into next. Ah, memories.

Now:

Fallout 3
FF7
FF10
Diablo 2 (DER!)

Today, I got Dragon Age Ultimate Ed. to go along w/ FO:NV. I'm going to need a year to myself. If that.

Morrowind you could play that for a month straight and still not even half way done with every thing

right now, i am diggin Age of Conan. Basically the wife and i have been looking for video games that we can enjoy together, and quite frankly WoW was just far too cartoony and too many little children for either of our tastes.

Other than that, i love the Fallout series, as well as TES games.

Ooohhh Check Malfred on the first page with 'Planescape: Torment'. Face it, no-one played it when it was out, all we know is it was the best game ever... I've read the story, does seem pretty good (A bit 'extra-dimensional' for my taste), and the parts of the dialogue i've seen are top notch but i just can't stand isometric games of any type... My favourite RPG was San Andreas, okay the RPG elements didnt work espeicially well but it was an ace game and very brave in it's divergence from the first two.

Been a while since i last posted here, but recently been playing Monster Hunter Freedom Unite again.

Now it may be another JRPG with no story watsoever unless you make gettin revenge on a beast part of the story. But this game has one of the largest array of weapons and armours iv probly seen.
The monsters themselves look amazing and in some cases totally annoying(Tigrex any1? lol).

The thing that makes this game awesome imo is the fact its not a generic hack and slash where you trade blows with your opponent, if you try attack at the wrong time you will probly get beat.
Even with all the high level gear a monster from the 3* quests can be trouble to deal with.

Was very excitedto hear that an Xbox 360 version was released, but sadly was only goin to be for Japan(very disappointed), That would encorporate an MMO like status.

If it wasn't for FO3, Morrowind.

Fallout 3. Simple as that.

Hmmm this is tough a question to answer...

Typical J/RPG (Console):
Breath of Fire 3 (First RPG I played outside of Final Fantasy for the console and it was awesome, loved turning into a dragon and kicking ass.)
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and Tactics (I have Tactics for the PS, Gameboy and soon PSP, it's just an awesome game.)
Fable I & II (haven't played III yet, but I played the first one and it hooked me.)

I'm sure there's more for the console I have, but I'm just not remembering what I have in my video game library at the moment.


PC Based RPG:
Diablo I & II (Still can't believe no one mentioned these yet.)
Fable: The Lost Chapters (Just amazing, the original game was great, and added content was wonderful.)
Oblivion (Being able to suck you into the world and make you feel apart of it.)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Good D&D rules and story, although I hated the expansion the Mask of the Betrayer, just stupid mechanic they added was just worthless and tedious. Once I learned the console commands to turn it off, the game was much more enjoyable.)
The Witcher (Bought the special copy on Steam, it's just dark and the main character is a bad ass.)

PC MMO's:
Anarchy Online (The BEST MMO for Character development/customization bar-none, hands down.)
World of Warcraft (scoff if you must, but it's the top game since launch.)
Everquest 2 (had a great looking game, I just never had anyone to play it with so I lost interest.)
Guild Wars (for it's innovation in dungeon questing with groups and solo questing everything else without getting ganked.)

There were just to many to choose just 1, so I listed my favorites and the reasons for their selections in my list.

I think no one mentioned Diablo because its more of a hack-and-slash than an RPG.

The leveling and items are definitely major elements from RPGs, but there's just so little storyline in Diablo games for it to feel like you're actually role playing. But, it's a very fine line, so if you want to classify them as RPGs, I won't argue.