Top 10 CRPGs of all time

My list is ones that I really enjoyed when I played them ... some have not really withstood the test of time, and some had little or no replay value, and some I never finished! That said, here is my list (in no particular order):

1. Might and Magic 6.
2. Ultima 5
3. Anvil of Dawn
4. Darklands.
5. Fallout
6. Gothic 1
7. Wizardy 8
8. DragonWars
9. Arcanum
10. Daggerfall/Morrowind (can't keep them straight in my head!).

And there are many that did not make the list today, but might've yesterday, and might if I did this list tomorrow: Gothic 2, Planescape: Torment, M&M 7, Ultima 6, KotOR 1, NWN 1, (sooo many hours ... it had to be good, no?), Diablo (no rock throwing!!), and a few others that have slipped my mind right now.
 
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Most of these I've finished more than twice. Here we go:

1. Planescape: Torment
2. Gothic 1
3. Fallout 2
4. Fallout 1
5. Gothic 2
6. Eye of the Beholder I
7. Ultima Underworld
9. Ultima VII
10. Eye of the Beholder II

EoBs I played on an Amiga, they were the first first person type rpgs I tried, as I missed DM. I tried U7 a while ago but it had lost lot of it's appeal. Fallouts have aged well, and they hold the personal record for most completed replays.

I just noticed that G3 is out. Seems to have a bit mixed reviews. We'll see if it makes my list :)
 
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Not really in any particular order

Gothic I
Magic Candle I
Ultima 7
Betrayal at Krondor
KotOR
Daggerfall
Fallout I
Fallout 2
Vampire the Masquarade - Bloodlines
Wizardry 7 (want to love 8 sooo bad but the combat times are a bit long, as we know)

Some of my favorites, although I liked the Might and Magic series, the Gold Box games, Ultima Underworlds, Anvil of DAwn, Realms of Arkania series, Lands of Lore, etc.......Ive been playing for a long time. Its hard to choose :)
 
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Jaz,
I want to smack you for comparing DX:IW and System Shock 2! System Shock 2 was incredible, even if some SS1 fans liked the first one better. Deus EX IW on the other hand, was hated by about 90% of Deus EX fans.

Just kidding about the smack of course:)
 
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I love these lists, and someday I'd also like to see everybody's "Ten Most Hated."

I also started playing in the late nineties and missed a lot of the old games. But I did manage to hit many of the classics after that--I'm only listing games I finished:

1. Icewind Dale series--liked them better than BG for the simple reason that I rolled the entire party and just got down to business. Linear but very good at what they did. Probably would not rate them so high if I hadn't slogged thru Baldur's Gate hating Imoen and Jaheira.

2. Might & Magic 6 & 7--again, a hand-picked party, lots of diverse questing and exploring, and a nice magic system.

3. Planescape:Torment--for all the usual reasons.

4. Arcanum--really an original take on the genre, and very involving. My elf-girl was vividly real to me by the end, and none of the joinable NPCs was overly irritating.

5.Temple of Elemental Evil--the best turn-based combat, and most disturbing frogs.

6.Gothic-again, an original take, a game with its own feel, and a huge and sometimes unforgiving world. It was a true example of role-playing for me, a female, as at the end I really had stopped thinking as one, and cooked up my lonely fried meat while sharpening my sword and wondering if I would make it to the next town without once washing the frying pan or wondering what to wear.

7.Evil Islands-this was a very old school little game and had a few tweaks that made it memorable, like crafting your own items--and it was damn hard!

8. Baldurs Gate II_Shadows of Amn & Throne of Baal--a classic, and much as I dislike a lot of the biowarianisms(find four pieces of the artifact and return them to the judge in the main square, while listening to your NPC's complain or fight with each other, etc,etc) this was a well-crafted end to the series and had a little bit of everything.

9.Diablo II:Lord of Destruction--just too much candy, and I don't really think of it as a true rpg, but after you've played through Hell difficulty, the world is a different and better place.

10.I would like to put Wizardry 8 here, but I have not to date finished it. I intend to try again someday tho--this was a game that really made today's emphasis on graphics look silly, because the graphics were at the pixel-counting levl, yet you couldn't stop playing even though death seemed to occur with monotonous regularity.

Honorable mention goes to Kult(Heretic Kingdoms), and Darkstone(more an action title, but again a game-over-graphics number)
 
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@JDR13: Just go ahead and try <_< .

Kidding aside, for me, both were 'meh' games. SS2 was an okay game, but did not get to me like SS1 did - the problem of many sequels. I wasn't scared once, but the game made me smile when I played the 'SS1 remembrance sequence', so it wasn't a real letdown.
Unfortunately, this sequence is near the end of the game... like HL 2 - when I finally started to have fun, the game was over. Which is about everybody's fault but Barney's (Barney was and still is the best, and yes, I played and liked Blue Shift).

I found DXIW quite entertaining, but unlike DX 1, it wasn't awesome... just okay. Both DX games made you make your choice in the last few minutes so you could see all endings without replaying it IIRC - not a smart decision in my opinion.

Now I'll go over to OT to make a '10 most hated games' list... :D.
 
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If you discount the graphics, the original SS was a much better game than SS2; I struggled to finish the second, but have played the original twice!!
 
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... not really in any particular order ...
1. NWN - the reason I am here today can be traced to NWN. After not playing many RPG's in the 'Golden Era', and then really swearing off them after hating Diablo ... I was waiting for KoTOR and someone said that NWN would be a good way to 'prep' for KoTOR. But something happened - I completely fell in love with NWN. Still love it today, recentltly playing the newest Premium mods ...
2. KotOR - if NWN was my road to RPG-love, then KotOR was the city I planned to visit. And it was well worth it - great story and integration of the Star Wars universe in a completely new way.
3. Gothic 2 - on the UseNet RPG group, people said that if I loved KotOR & NWN I owed it to myself to track down G2 and play it. I got it from eBay and loved it ... then bought the 'Gold' version last year when it was released, and it was pure magic! Not just great by itself, but also opened me to action-RPG's, a door that had been slammed shut and locked by Diablo.
4. Baldur's Gate 2 - the pacing took me a bit - I got it in late '03 - but once I got myself into it I was hooked! It was my first 'classic' game, and the one I go back to again and again!
5. Divine Divinity - I love the story and music and characters and ... well, just about everything. Proves that action-RPG doesn't have to mean mindless hack 'n' slash.
6. PlaneScape Torment - like everyone says, THE STORY! This is another one that I attempted before I was ready for the pacing ... glad I persevered.
7. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - one of my all time faves; never had a real problem with bugs, loved the characters, the dialogue and just the way the atmosphere OOZED out of the screen!
8. Ultima IV - hard to choose, but this one hooked me in pretty well (as did #5). This is one that transcends the ages to remain a classic.
9. Wizardry VII - I played a bit of #1 back in the early 80's in my dorm, but never got hooked. Got the 'Collection' a couple of years ago and this was the one that I really fell for.
10. Fallout 2 - I had a hard time getting into this one at first as well ... but again, it was a great game that was worth the effort.
11. Arcanum - another fantastic Troika game ... story, music, setting ... all gems.
 
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There ya go...

1) Gothic
2) Gothic II Gold
3) Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny
4) Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
5) Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva
6) Might & Magic VII
7) Gothic III
8) Deus Ex
9) Oblivion
10) Divinity
 
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Personally, I came very late into gaming (middle 90s and the turn of the Millennium, when I got my new PC I'm still working with). So I missed most classics. Some of them I found on flea markets, though.

No order :

- my overall favourites are all three games of the "Realms of Arcania" trilogy, and of these three I like the middle game most : Startrail. The game music plays a huge part in putting it onto the top of my list.

- PS:T is another very good game, but I didn't like the overall environment too much : too morbide, spooky and dark for my own taste. Why must RPGs always gbe so dark as if they were invented by Gothic (not the RPG here) fans ?

- The only example of a colourful RPG I know is "Technomage". I don't think you might know it. I just like it, because it is so colourful. An optical delight ! so to say. :D ;)

- Gothic I. Definitively. After Zanzarah it is the most immersive 3D game I have every played. I never played Gothic II yet.

- Baldur's Gate. Nice game, although a bit too much combat for my taste.

- Wizardry 8. Ah ! What a game ! SO MUCH/MANY details I don't believe we'll see a game like this EVER again ! The most detailed game I've ever witnessed ! And I don't mean the environment, I mean just everything. The way to talk to NPCs, for example.
But too much combat. It bored me too much.

- Jagged Alliance. Interesting concept.

That's all I think. I've never played older and newer games than that. I cannot play newer games, because my PCs already too old, and I don't have the money for a new one. So I must wait.
 
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It's so hard to pick my 10 favorite RPGs. I took the challenge and listed the games in chronological order. I tried not to pick any games from the last few years, but ones that stood the test of time, at least in my mind.

Ultima IV & V (Origin, 1985 & 1988) These are some of the games that started me on CRPGs. They had great stories, but most importantly they allowed you to explore their huge game worlds. And don't forget the music!

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus (SSI, 1987) The culmination of the oft-forgotten Phantasie series. It had a cool, linear story, great graphics (on the Atari ST) and fun combat where you could lose arms, legs, and heads.

Dungeon Master & Chaos Strikes Back (FTL, 1987 & 1988) Amazing! Real time dungeon crawling almost 20 years ago.

Demon's Winter (SSI, 1988) This game looked dated when it first came out, but the combat and character systems were very detailed. Plus the world was so overwhelming large!

Gold Box Games (SSI, 1998 - 1992) I'm sure you know all about these.

Final Fantasy VI (Squaresoft, 1994) The first and best Japanese RPG that I've ever played. The story and multiple characters are very memorable. Truly an epic game.

Diablo (Blizzard, 1996) Say what you want, call it a mindless clickfest or whatever, but this game was and still is loads of fun.

Baldur's Gate I & II (Bioware, 1998 & 2000) Simply great games.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda, 2002) All I need to say is one word: Freedom.

The Temple of Elemental Evil (Troika, 2003) I'm not sure why this never caught on more. It's like the BG games with tactical combat!
 
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Curious about those Realms of Arkania games that a lot of you are mentioning. I've heard of them but never played any. Does anyone know if they'll run on WindowsXP? Are they abandonware?

Surprised to see KOTOR on so many list. I thought it was a very average game.
 
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There's a new game from the same setting due late next year. We're covering it here, so stay tuned for updates as they come to hand!!
 
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Curious about those Realms of Arkania games that a lot of you are mentioning. I've heard of them but never played any. Does anyone know if they'll run on WindowsXP? Are they abandonware?

Surprised to see KOTOR on so many list. I thought it was a very average game.

You have to learn to like them. The setting (a quasi-viking land with orcs, elves, and dwarves) is cool, and the skill and magic system is very detailed as it seems to be a faithful adaptation of a German PnP game. There are a lot of realism features (you have to eat and drink, and your weapons break) that can get annoying or add to the experience depending on your taste. You can do cool things like poison weapons, make poisons of your own, etc.

The cons are that the direct adaptation of the PnP skills and spells mean that about 70% of the skills and spells arent ever used in the game. At the same time some skills and spells are NEEDED to get past certain points in the games, and since XP mainly is awarded for quests and the FIRST encounter with various monster types it is capped in practice, meaning that you cant level up some more to compensate for not choosing an essential spell in the past:( The reality features can get annoying and dont always make sense, for instance a stackable ingredient needed for non-stackable healing potions have a healing power that is in the same order of magnitude as the potion. Weapons breaking almost killed the second game of the series for me, as the dungeons are located very far from the smiths that can repair your weapons.

Still I liked the first game (Blade of Destiny) a lot. It is set in a world with lots of towns and dungeons that you could roam around in a manner that felt fairly free form (even if it wasnt), giving an illusion of open-endedness similar to the first Pool of Radiance.

The second game (Star Trail) has a better story but only a few towns and dungeons (about five of each) that are very far between. Weapons breaking made it a drag for me to play. And there are two instances where you are taken prisoner and lose ALL your equipment if you are careless, thats a pretty major bummer.

Didnt like nor finish "Shadows over Riva" which is the third game. It is mostly set around the city of Riva and has a more modern (primitive grid-less a la a high-resolution Arena) movement system in that city.

Also had problems exporting my chars between the first two games, ended up with the "babyface bug" and the patch found online couldnt fix that for me.

But I am looking forward to number four...
 
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I doubt that they will run on Windows XP (didn't when I tried it some years ago...) but should work with Dosbox. Part One and Two are Abandonware:

Indeed they do run with DOSBOX !

The Larian Forum has a very long German-language thread about it ... If you're there, take a look at the RPG Chat (German) and search for the word "Nordlandtrilogie". Since almost all of us there are capable of the English language, you can ask there for help.

By the way, the English versions of the games seem to have some significant changes in the rule set, especially the number of needed experience points for leveling up, seemingly to make the games more appealing to gamers used to the AD&D rule set.
 
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I don't enjoy playing most of the old games. I enjoyed them a lot in their time but without modern conveniences like automap or easy to use inventory system they drop off my all time favorites. For example, MM3 was near the top for me for many years but now it's not close.

This isn't necessarily in order (especially the top 3)

* Baldur's Gate 2 (quintessential)
* Planescape Torment (amazing and unique)
* Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 (great)

* Neverwinter Nights 2 (updated quintessential)
* Jade Empire (coming soon to PC so this counts here)
* Wizardry 8 (great)

* Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2 (very good)
* Neverwinter Nights (considering all the fan-made modules)
* Oblivion (best of its class)
* Baldur's Gate 1 (original quintessential)
* Ultima V Lazarus project (I know that's 11 on this list but I couldn't leave this out)

Old games which would be on the list if not for the interface/etc.

* Wizardry 7 (would top the above list if not an older game)
* Wizardry 6 (still holds up)
* Might & Magic 3 (lost its luster, great for its day)
* Lands of Lore 1 (very enjoyable)
* Eye of the Beholder 2 (very well done)

I'm probably leaving off one or two which I'm not remembering at the moment.
 
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The problem with your list, is that it only contains games released in the last few years!!

I agree with Gokyabgu's response: 2000 & 2001 was a great time for RPGs, so that era is going to be represented heavily in many people's lists, even if they've been playing for decades.

I personally cannot stand any of the old games that are first person, WASD, grid-based. I dutifully mapped out each 10' block, but I didn't think that was the height of fun. And now that I'm older, I don't have my old hand-drawn maps, and I take no pleasure in repeating such a painstaking process.

However, as a bow to you, if I were able to include console games in the CRPG category, I'd include one game from maybe 2 decades ago that still holds up well... in fact I'm replaying it now.

10. Crystalis, for the NES. The crappy graphics were enchanting enough to keep me happy. The dialogue was decent, considering it was limited to the resolution of a TV screen. The loot & power ups were fun. The story was satisfying.

9. FATE. Diablo clone, but very fun. Better than Dungeon Seige. Better than Sacred (well, Sacred was actually very good as a hack & slash, but I spent far more time playing FATE, so fun-wise, I guess I naturally gravitated to FATE, so it wins).

8. Diablo 1. My first online multiplayer RPG experience. Also, my awakening as to how strategy could be done in hack & slash CRPGs. I recall dying at a mob of poison spitters. Then I watched, dead, while some guy in another country tried to save my corpse. His strategy was eye-opening.

7. Diablo 2. I still play this, now with both my kids, who are almost 5 & 9. Aside from the graphics of ritualistic killings, it's a great kids-first-RPG, as it's easy to pick up, good UI, and sensible system.

6. Vampire: Bloodlines. The Malkavian dialogues. Miss Multiple Personality. The haunted house. Some things were actually scary, some things were actually tragic. It felt like a game for grown-ups.

5. Arcanum. Good freedom, big world, good stat-based dialogue.

4. Baldur's Gate 1, with TotSC & Tutu. Someone else mentioned that they cannot stand to play any 640x480 games like BG1. But I didn't think anyone was still playing it in such an old-fashioned way. Everyone I know uses Tutu, which copies the BG1 materials over to the BG2 engine. Playing BG1 at 1280x1024 is great!

3. Baldur's Gate 2, with ToB. Still trying to convert Viconia to neutral alignment!

2. Tales Of Arterra, for NWN 1. It was "just" a set of two player-created modules. However, after years of hating NWN 1, this module turned me around. I played it and cared about the NPCs. I felt that the story -- especially the trip to the planes to rescue Persey -- was very compelling. To me, it's a full-fledged game. To me, it is NWN.

1. Planescape: Torment. I am in love with Annah, and still completely shaken over what my character did and the price it cost.
 
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My list in no particular order, and entire series where I feel appropriate:
Wizardry 6-8
Might & Magic 6 & 7
Ultima 4-7
SSI Gold Box AD&D games: Pool of Radiance, 1st Treasure of the Savage Frontier game
Fallout 1 & 2
Darklands
Realms of Arkania 1 & 2
Magic Candle series
Wasteland
Bard's Tale I - III & Dragon Wars
 
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