2007 RPG of the Year

[Dhruin]

Time for the main game - the vote on the 2007 RPG of the Year!

Again, the editorial team selected the field based on community interest to keep the list manageable. Here's a summary of the candidates...


The Witcher

It was a long time in development but The Witcher was worth the wait – even scoring 5/5 in our review. Responses from other critics have been mixed but the player response has been overwhelmingly positive. There are issues with the translation and limitations with the engine but The Witcher creates a compelling gameworld full of bitter conflict and weaves an intricate tale around the player’s choices.

NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

Arguably the best D&D campaign for many years and certainly some of the best dialogue since Planescape: Torment. The NWN2 platform still has some frustrations but this is a much more polished release with an intriguing story full of choices, as well as new races and inclusions for D&D aficionados.

Two Worlds

The original release was a disaster but Reality Pump worked hard, improving and adding to Two Worlds over and over. The NA, UK and AU releases at v1.5 were much more mature and this open world action/RPG gathered quite a few fans. Opinions were split in our review but it definitely has some passionate fans.

Hellgate: London

Has there ever been a case of pre-release hype and anticipation turned around so quickly? Did Hellgate: London suffer a backlash from fallout over the subscription model and the “from the creator’s of Diablo” hype? After some time for the dust to settle, it will be interesting to see how just how our readers see HG:L in this poll.

Mass Effect

BioWare’s epic space opera has been lauded by the critics and been a strong contender in Game of the Year polls elsewhere, although our readership is more PC-oriented. The cinematic dialogue has won awards for innovation and BioWare is famed for their story-telling.

Eschalon: Book 1

Eschalon won our Indie RPG of the Year poll in a landslide – how will it fare against big-budget competition?


So, cast your vote!

[magerette]

I know this will come as quite a shock, but I voted for The Witcher. ;)

[Dhruin]

The Witcher.

Commendations to MotB and Eschalon. Don't have an X360, so no Mass Effect for me.

[HiddenX]

1.) The Witcher
2.) MotB
3.) Geneforge 4

[skavenhorde]

1. Witcher
2. NWN2 MOTB
3. Eschalon

Witcher and MOTB both are superb.
Eschalon is a great game and I'm looking foreward to see what he does for II.

[guenthar]

The Witcher for me since the only other ones I have played are Two Worlds and Hellgate: London (beta tester) and I don't really like Hellgate: London and Two Worlds is alright but not good enough for game of the year.

Even though I haven't played the other games I probably would have still voted for The Witcher since it is the best new game I have played in nearly a decade.

[Sir_Brennus]

1. MotB
2. The Witcher
3. Two Worlds

'nuff said.

[Grumpi]

1. The Witcher (beyond doubt)
2-3. NWN:MOtB
2-3. Eschalon

[VPeric]

Definitely the Witcher. I disliked MotB (high level DnD is not something I enjoy), though it does have a strong story. Two Worlds and Hellgate are too arcadey to compete with the others, and Eschalon, while good, isn't that good.

Don't see why Mass Effect is in there, anyway - I thought this was a PC gaming site.

[Maylander]

I voted for MotB, since it's the first D&D game that felt like a proper D&D game since BG2 and IWD2. It's got all the options (characters, classes, stats), the good story, and the interesting followers needed to make it a proper D&D adventure.

For me, personally, it has a higher replayvalue than The Witcher due to all the options - what character you make defines the gameplay. In The Witcher, the only "real" choices are those made in quests, the character will always be a swordfighter and will always use the same forms on the same monsters, meaning the gameplay has very little variety (i.e fast silver form on dodging monsters, strong steel form on heavy humans, etc).

The Witcher is a clear 2nd though, but I doubt I am going to play all the way through it more than a few times.

[Majnun]

The Witcher.

Haven't played Mass Effect since I don't own a 360 yet, so that one didn't have any effect on my choice.

I'd be torn between Two Worlds, Eschalon Book 1 & Mask of the Betrayer for 2nd place though. Each is good/fun in it's own way. I think Hellgate is piece of poo (i'm sure plenty of folks like it though) so it would be a very, very distant last place (behind the game I haven't even played).

[dteowner]

I really shouldn't vote, having only played one game and tinkered with one demo from the whole field. But I'm gonna anyway, so I'm going with Eschalon.

[Arma]

The Witcher. I would have put Puzzle Quest second (if such an option was present) since it has far more proper RPG elements than some of the titles in the poll. NWN2 and Eschalon Book I would tie for the third in my short list this year.

[Dyne]

The Witcher by a country mile.

[Corwin]

Much as I like Eschalon, the Witcher is definitely better!!

[realmzmaster]

My vote is for Eschalon. The Witcher does not grab me. I vote MOTB for second.

[narpet]

I really enjoyed Two Worlds... it was a blast... but I had to vote for The Witcher. I am nowhere near finishing it yet, but it's on a completely different level than the rest of those games (just my opinion)... so, The Witcher it is.

[$ax]

There is some serious shit going on in this poll. After refreshing the page (5 sec after last one) I found MotB having about 20 more votes. Reconsider making this poll for registered users only.

Anyway, this poll is more for cookie-haxing fanboys...

[$ax]

Lol, Shitgate has now 113 votes (and 10 minutes ago there were only 2 votes :P) Marvelous.

[Lod Dagom]

Al those games suck Weres Shivering Isle?

[Grumpi]

WTF??

I suspect cheating. This is ridiculous - Hellgate takes the first place?!?! C'mon man, that cannot be true.

[dude]

It's more interesting that Mass Gate and Two World don't seem to have any Fanboys - poor wallflowers.

[Malakh]

With all due respect to the fine people at Flagship, there can't be 400+ people who read RPGWatch that think Hellgate was that good...

[Crolug]

Haha, the poll was flooded and trolled like hell :D. With all due respect to all competitors but... 20% for Eschalon? Hellgate on first place? You can't even call it an RPG in a first place! How you could compare screenplay of NWN2 Mask or The Witcher to mindless clickfest against hordes of Hell? :D

[Elwro]

I thought poll rigging was a Polish national sport. But come on, we don't have so many Hellgate fans here!

[Corwin]

A few hours ago, Hellgate had almost no votes. Something is wrong here, but I'm not in a position to check.

[skavenhorde]

When I was at work both Hellgate and Two worlds had close to 1 vote each. I get home and Hellgate is in the lead. I blame Bush. It was only a matter of time before he figured out how to fix polls on the internets:shakefist:


Edit: While writing this Hellgate jumped up by 97 votes from 500 to 597. No Way that many people voted in the space of 3 minutes.

[GothicGothicness]

HAHAHAHAHA, you guys it has 666... rings a bell? anyway someone obviously cheated :D

[Benedict]

I really hope the hellgate thing isn't a real stat . . . .

I'm torn between the witcher and motb, and extremely happy to actually have two games good enough that I'm genuinely torn. 2007 has been a good year for rpgs, long may it continue :)

[skavenhorde]

It's not real.

@GothicGothicness I just noticed the 666. I bet it stops there now.

[Remus]

This morning i noticed NWN expansion suddenly leading the pack before Hellgate taken the lead. Someone apparently have nothing better to do during Chirstmas holidays.

[$ax]

Heh, RPG Watch Members: 1,129, Active Members: 310

Votes: 1775

Oh well, so HG:L is RPG of the Year now? :P Don't forget to put this news on your website dear Flagship Studios crew ;).

[skavenhorde]

I already checked there to see if we were being bombarded by Hellgatians, but not a word in their forums. So I guess it's just one butthead that doesn't know that this is Christmas not April Fools Day.

[Elwro]

Hm. I thought you had to be registered to vote and you could only vote once...

[skavenhorde]

Replace the Butthead with Hacker and there you go. You got one butthead/hacker that thinks it's April Fools Day.

[dteowner]

Some day, I hope to turn 12 years old and mess with internet polls. I will be l33t haxxorz! :rolleyes:

[dude]

Lol, now de Witcher ees the roxxor!!1!1one

[Brother None]

Heh, counter-hack?

Whatever. This is kind of funny, but still, time to reset. Maybe try again if whatever hole that's allowing this hacking can be plugged. If it's unpluggable, I guess no GotY this year

[cba]

Not to disenchant those hackerz, but all you need to do is disable cookies, and you can vote as often as you want... As long as this isn't changed there is no point in any of those polls.

[magerette]

I've looked back at some of our other polls, and the average number of votes is around 300-400, and while a GotY poll will draw more votes, obviously something is seriously out of kilter. But the Watch powers that be will make sure of a fair result somehow.
I could understand it if fan forums were posting about this but I've checked several Hellgate sites and see nothing. The Witcher international forum has a reference stuck in a thread on the IGN poll, but Flagship has nada.

[Brother None]

Not to disenchant those hackerz, but all you need to do is disable cookies, and you can vote as often as you want...

Really? I thought RPGWatch was one account-one vote, I don't see how cookies would factor into that.

[cba]

Really? I thought RPGWatch was one account-one vote, I don't see how cookies would factor into that.

Try it out: log out re-enter the site as a nobody

one vote - one cookie
delete cookie - next vote
disable cookies - infinite votes

On the other hand, maybe those votes also take the enthusiasm into account, one really dedicated fan may count as much as 688 normal fans... ;)

[Eliaures]

Yeah, there must be something wrong there. Hellgate doing better than NWN2: MotB? It also may be because most of the folks that would have voted for MotB are voting for The Witcher. I know I did.

1. The Witcher

2. NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

3. Most likely Escalon, but I've barely started that one and I haven't gotten far enough to form a "voting opinion".

[Thaurin]

Obviously, this poll is going to be biased, which makes it close to worthless. In any case, I voted Mass Effect, for it's excellent production values and story.

[Corwin]

Life's far too short to waste time cheating at voting in online polls!! I suppose we could always disable guest voting!!

[Jaesun]

NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

Best cRPG Game of 2007.

[cba]

Life's far too short to waste time cheating at voting in online polls!! I suppose we could always disable guest voting!!

couldn't you simply check the IP instead of just placing a cookie? This would already complicate things for the cheaters. (Although I doubt it was cheating, as first MotB, then Hellgate, then The Witcher got hundredths of votes within a few minutes, more likely either one butthead trolling or several ones having a race (with the Witcher guy winning, gratulations)

Anyway I think you should reset the poll or at least delete yesterday's votes.

[Crolug]

Hey, I want to vote for Oblivion-The-Best-RPG-EVAH! Why there's no Bored..., ehm, I mean Oblivion on the list??

[Korplem]

I demand Florida do a re-count!

[GothicGothicness]

I guess the polish hackers are best after all :D

[Jaz]

Deducting guest votes, current (Dec. 26, 21:05 local time) results are...

Mass Effect - 4 votes
The Witcher - 38 votes
Two Worlds - 1 vote
Hellgate: London - 0 votes
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - 3 votes
Eschalon: Book 1 - 6 votes

So among Watch forum members, The Witcher is in the lead ATM, followed by Eschalon and Mass Effect.

[skavenhorde]

I'm really surprised that NWN2:MOTB only got 2 votes from Watch members.

I voted for The Witcher but I thought NWN2:MOTB would be a close second in the polls.

[Prime Junta]

I'm really surprised that NWN2:MOTB only got 2 votes from Watch members.

I voted for The Witcher but I thought NWN2:MOTB would be a close second in the polls.

I think that's the problem right there -- most of us played both, and for most of those who did, MotB comes in second, but with a really nice shiny silver medal. However, we can only vote for one of 'em. It's certainly true that that split of votes doesn't accurately describe how much better TW is than MotB.

[SacrificiaLamb]

Hellgate is more at home in the 'Most Disappointing Game of the Year' category.

1. The Witcher
2. MotB
3. Mass Effect (Saw someone else play it for a good 30 minutes. Very cinematic, heavy yet largely inconsequential dialogue, absolutely crappy gameplay, interactive movie + bad shooter clone, minimalist RPG)

[magerette]

Actually, it's kind of interesting the only one that's really out of sync with the member vote is Hellgate:London. Otherwise the numbers follow the same pattern, with The Witcher a clear #1, a few votes for Two Worlds, and Mass Effect, MotB and Eschalon vying for second place.

Haven't played HG:L but the internet buzz would suggest that Sacrificial Lamb has given it the correct game award.

[narpet]

Is this poll messed up, or is Two Worlds in second place with 1018 votes? I personally loved that game (as many of you know), but I can't imagine that many people voting it as their #1 for the year... I personally voted for The Witcher, even though I haven't finished it... it's just that darn good!

Anyway... whether the poll is bugged, or someone is cheating the vote (if possible), or Two Worlds is indeed legitimately in the number 2 spot... I'm glad to see it... I think it belongs in that space ;)

EDIT: okay, I just saw the discussion talking about this... I guess somebody's cheating... which, like others have said... is just goofy.

[Benedict]

I think that's the problem right there -- most of us played both, and for most of those who did, MotB comes in second, but with a really nice shiny silver medal. However, we can only vote for one of 'em. It's certainly true that that split of votes doesn't accurately describe how much better TW is than MotB.

Agreed, in any other recent year MoTB would have been comfortably in the lead but the witcher does have the edge. Story for story I think they're largely equal but the look and game engine for the witcher makes it a more polished experience overall for me (maybe simply because it's new and fresh).

Great year for rpgs though :)

[dteowner]

Great year for rpgs though :)Isn't it sad when a year with 2 successful blue-chip releases and a couple good indies can evoke a comment like this? Not picking on Benedict, since compared to recent years this truly might qualify as a "great" year.

[Benedict]

Isn't it sad when a year with 2 successful blue-chip releases and a couple good indies can evoke a comment like this? Not picking on Benedict, since compared to recent years this truly might qualify as a "great" year.

I don't know, how many other years really had that many that were memorably great? I think both the Witcher and MoTB are games that 10 years from now I'll be telling n00bs they should play because they're true classics. Two stand out gems would have been pretty good going even back in the golden ages.

In terms of the filler releases, four indie games with depth but no flashiness and Mass Effect with flashiness but possibly no depth isn't bad going at all.

I don't know, I've got much less time for gaming these days, but what time I have had has almost all gone on stuff I've genuinely enjoyed :)

[fatBastard()]

Well, I voted for The Witcher.

I've play through Mass Effect several times now and enjoyed it immensely and had this been game of the Year with the same candidates I think I might perhaps maybe would have given ME my vote over The Witcher. However, it is on the light side in the RPG department so The Witcher is clearly deserving of the RPG of the Year title in my book.

MotB and Two Worlds are still waiting patiently in my stash of purchased but not yet played games and I'm looking forward to playing them both when I have the time.

[crpgnut]

1. The Witcher
2. Two Worlds
3. Eschalon

I'm sure MotB is a better game than Two Worlds or Eschalon but I can't ever seem to get into high level D&D games. I loved NWN though.

[jhwisner]

Saw someone else play it for a good 30 minutes.

And that would be where you should have stopped, realized you had nothing relevant to say about it, and posted one bullet point lighter. It's almost as silly as people posting amazon reviews based on commercials they liked/didn't like.

[skavenhorde]

And that would be where you should have stopped, realized you had nothing relevant to say about it, and posted one bullet point lighter. It's almost as silly as people posting amazon reviews based on commercials they liked/didn't like.

Wow, I didn't know forum members were held up to the same standards as paid reviewers and here I just thought we posted our opinions. Oh well, silly me for thinking this.

@PJ You're right. Most of us did play The Witcher and MOTB and from the comments and polls results MOTB would be golden and most definatly first place if not for The Witcher. The Witcher pushes the envolope on our beloved genre.

[GothicGothicness]

None is going to fix this?? maybe better to just remove the poll ??

[Jaz]

There's no way to 'fix it' as I have no way of finding out which voting guest is who. Perhaps our database wizard can do it, but he is busy... which is why I added (and updated) the forum member votes to put things in relation.

Here's the latest count (Dec. 28, 18:02 local time):
Mass Effect - 4 votes
The Witcher - 39 votes
Two Worlds - 1 vote
Hellgate: London - 0 votes
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - 4 votes
Eschalon: Book 1 - 6 votes

[magerette]

It's too bad, because I'm sure some of the guest votes were legit--but as usual, a few idiots spoil it for the honest folk.

Thanks for keeping up with the member vote, Jaz. And I guess people can always register and vote as members if they want their opinion to be heard.

[curiously undead]

i can understand this disclussion of stalker from the list, but why is jade empire not on this list?

[Dhruin]

Because I didn't choose to include it after deciding to field a short-list rather than the 30 or so releases if we went with every possible title. ;) Excluding the fact that the voting has been borked, we figured The Witcher was a likely winner, with Mask of the Betrayer likely to put up the best competition and maybe some fans of Two Worlds might make an impact. Add Eschalon as a popular indie and HGL mostly to see just what the community reception was (I figured it might not get any votes). JE had no chance of making any impact, in my opinion.

[skavenhorde]

JE compared to The Witcher, MOTB, Eschalon and even Two worlds wouldn't have a snowballs chance in hell :) Maybe between Two Worlds, HGL and JE it might have a chance, but it didn't add anything new to the genre like Witcher, MOTB and Eschalon did(Eschalon pushed the envelope on indies).

I liked JE and espcially liked the setting but other than that it really is the same old same old when compared to the big 3 on the list.

[Dez]

I voted witcher before this poll was hacked. A breath of fresh air to rpg genre, a rpg game where storyline matters.

[Jaz]

Final results:

Mass Effect - 4 votes
The Witcher - 42 votes
Two Worlds - 1 vote
Hellgate: London - 0 votes
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - 4 votes
Eschalon: Book 1 - 6 votes

So Hellgate still got zero member votes, earning it a solid last place.

First Place: The Witcher
Second Place: Eschalon
Third Place: Mass Effect and Mask of the Betrayer

[uhmmm]

Hellgate: RPGWatch RPG of the Year 2007!

[Corwin]

I don't think so!!

[xSamhainx]

I pity the soul whose life is so devoid of meaning that gets his jollies from sitting there clearing out his cache and re-voting over and over again one some poll, one that really doesnt mean squat anyway!

[dteowner]

Yeah, but you could write a DOS batch file that would do it for you. Endlessly. How 1337 would that be???

[Corwin]

Haven't written a DOS batch file in years; I've almost forgotten how!! :)

[Bartacus]

Haven't written a DOS batch file in years; I've almost forgotten how!! :)

It ends with ".bat" :)

[Corwin]

And I thought it was .bart!! lol

[Jaz]

i can understand this disclussion of stalker from the list, but why is jade empire not on this list?Hmmm, I played it back in 2006 or even 2005, don't remember the exact date, so I never even wondered why it wasn't on the 2007 list. Anyway, for me it was the best cRPG of the time period when I played it.

[JDR13]

i can understand this disclussion of stalker from the list, but why is jade empire not on this list?


I feel the exact opposite.

[Myrthos]

I went through the list and removed all votes that were too close to each other (successive votes within a minute or 2). I kept all the registered votes, regardless of how close they were.
The results then are:
Mass Effect - 38 votes
The Witcher - 620 votes
Two Worlds - 7 vote
Hellgate: London - 7 votes
NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer - 82 votes
Eschalon: Book 1 - 153 votes

I think the Witcher votes might still be flawed

[Prime Junta]

Might be a good idea to record the IP number of the votes. Combine that and the times, and you'll get a system that would be pretty hard to game. You'd need a botnet or something...

[Bartacus]

Might be a good idea to record the IP number of the votes. Combine that and the times, and you'll get a system that would be pretty hard to game. You'd need a botnet or something...

Even then I could vote from work and from home as a guest. I think a poll should be only accesible for members. It's not that you have to share your whole live here when you don't want too -> Make a gmail address and it's done.

[Myrthos]

We had 58 votes from members. Just a marginal percentage of all voters even if everybody would have voted only once.
I prefer to allow guest voting in our polls even if it does mean investing time and effort in getting the poll results fixed (to some level), just as I prefer to allow guest comments to newsbits.

RPGWatch is by all means a site for all RPG lovers, not only for the registered ones. I know it comes with downsides and we'll do our best to minimize them. I prefer to live with those downsides over allowing only registered guests to vote.

[txa1265]

Wow ... who knows what you'll miss on vacation ...

[Corwin]

Exactly, so stop taking all those holidays!! :)

[scott]

WTF??

I suspect cheating. This is ridiculous - Hellgate takes the first place?!?! C'mon man, that cannot be true.

well said hellgate is no ware near top in my book....... and i think lots of peeps will agree!!! The witcher is one of the best RPG games i have ever played and is fair to say that it is like fable and oblivion together but BETTER.

[JemyM]

I do not count the diablo-style games as RPG's at all. STALKER falls closer as a true RPG in that regard.