Top 10 CRPGs of all time

wow you are one of few who prefers ToB over SoA. I'm surprised.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
wow you are one of few who prefers ToB over SoA. I'm surprised.

I loved the END of ToB over just about every other game out there, but the game itself, and story to me, were far inferior to SoA.

Also, I would take exception to the story being so awesome in NWN2 OC. Fun, but it really seemed to me like an episode of 24, spend the first half of the game thinking it is one thing, then once you solve that, turns out it's something else. It just seemed more like they didn't write enough story, so they added a twist and essentially retold the story. Didn't work that great for me (though I had fun playing the game).

But hey, to each their own!

You don't mean Siege Of Avalon with SoA, do you ?

Originally Posted by purpleblob
wow you are one of few who prefers ToB over SoA. I'm surprised.

I know this, there's some points I didn't like much in SoA. The point is really that in my memory I got bored sometimes by SoA when it's more something apocalyptic for ToB. A cold analysis and a replay could perhaps change my point of view.

I remember two points:

• I couldn't enter in SoA main story, such a complex machinery looked quite weird and the more the story progress the more I found it ridiculous all along the game. Just my feeling when I just remember a sort of apocalyptic raising for the much shorter ToB main story.
• The second point is fights, there's a huge difference for me, SoA got very unbalanced fights, the decision was made at first or second round. In this area I found ToB did far better job and in fact one of the best even if magic had some exaggerate domination.

Sure I remember the numerous great secondary quests in the first chapters of SoA but not enough to remove an unpleasant feeling with its main story and fights.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
You don't mean Siege Of Avalon with SoA, do you ?

SoA = Shadow of Amn

Originally Posted by Gokyabgu
I just want to open a message board here about this topic. I will be pleased if you list your top ten RPGs with your reason why you like them. Here is my list:

1) Baldurs Gate 2&TOB:

In my top 10 too, might be #1 too but Gladius (Xbox) might be there. EDIT: oh, subject is about CRPGs so I agree then.

2) Gothic 2: A world full of mysteries that shapes according to your actions and your status in society. Rewarding game structure who likes exploring, 3 different faction that you can choose…

Didn't like any of the Gothics, couldn't get used to the controls and I'm not much of an open world gamer.

3) Morrowind: First game that told what is the meaning of freedom. Alas, I could not find what i expect in Oblivion .

I liked it too, but I liked Oblivion better.

4) Divine Divinity: Excellent mix of Diablo style gameplay with vast realm that you can lost yourself in it as you please. You can even buy a house and furnish it as you like in this game.

Bleh, this one is near my 'worst 10 CRPGs'. Well, all Diablo clones are

5) Planescape: Torment: A Black Isle classic that takes place in the most sophisticated and philosophic fantasy realm ever made, Planescape; with a story that you can find only in best fantasy novels. When you play it, you feel like reading a perfect fantasy book. And, its graphics are state of art.

In my top 10 list too but I would put this one at #3 probably behind Gladius and BG2.

6) Vampire The Masquarade: Bloodlines: Fantastic vampire RPG that takes place in modern world. The game do not present you much freedom but it has the most interesting quests have ever made (You can track a snuff film in one quest). A Troika legend that gives FPS,TPS and horror game feeling at the same time. (Unfortunately with a selling value of only 75.000 caused Troika to shut its doors. People do not know what is ‘good game’.)

I liked this game a lot (but never finished it). Not sure it's in my top 10.

7) Arcanum: If you transfer elves and dwarves that live in a medieval realm to a world in an industry revolution, what will be the results? This wonderful RPG. Story that can make the player upside down in anytime in a vast world. Don’t let the graphics estrange you.

That's exactly why I didn't like this game. Somehow mixing elves and dwarves with industry revolution turned my innards inside out, just couldn't stand it.

8) Star Wars:Knights Of The Old Republic: Reflects the Star Wars universe wonderfully. Gives your character the possibility to lean towards dark or light side according to your choices and actions (changes the appearance of it as well). Interactions with characters is in top form.

I liked this one too, in my top 10 (would probably be closer to the top, like #5 or so)

9) Icewind Dale: Linear but deep story with lots of action that you can use different tactics.

Here we totally disagree. To me ID is Baldur's Gate without what made Baldur's Gate good. Take the engine and remove everything. It's like playing D&D by yourself, it's just not nearly the same as the real thing

10) Wizardry 8: The most perfect RPG system that i have ever witnessed. Your PCs gain experience with fighting and solving quest, at the same time your skills develop if you use them. Well balanced turn based system.

I loved this game too, but I think I liked W7 more (of course, with so many years between the 2 games it may be my nostalgia talking)


If I had to make a list, and if we don't include MMOs (which I'd have 2 there) and console RPGS (which I'd have 2 or 3 there) it'd be like…
1, BG2
2, Betrayal at Krondor
3, PS:T
4, KotOR
5&6: Wizardry 7&8
7, Quest for Glory (the whole series)
8, Oblivion
9, Might & Magic 3
10, Ultima 7
Other mentions: Wizardry 1 (my first RPG). Everquest (my closest experience to a true RPG). City of Heroes (most fun MMO ever). The original Pool of Radiance (and the quasi-orgasmic feeling when I started the game and saw official D&D stats and rules when creating my characters!)

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
You don't mean Siege Of Avalon with SoA, do you ?

No, Shadows of Amn (though I have Siege of Avalon and keep meaning to play it).

Originally Posted by wolfing
7, Quest for Glory (the whole series)

I rally loved the first two, but I don't know if it was the change in controls, I just couldn't get into the third or fourth

Originally Posted by wolfing
In my top 10 too, might be #1 too but Gladius (Xbox) might be there. EDIT: oh, subject is about CRPGs so I agree then.

Divine Divinity
Bleh, this one is near my 'worst 10 CRPGs'. Well, all Diablo clones are

DD being a Diablo clone: how far did you play into the game?

It appears like a Diablo clone at first but is actually more than a mindless action-RPG. There are a ton of well written quests, it has an open-world feel to it (you can go anywhere), the world feels cohesive, and the developers had a sense of humor. Aside from the tons of combat, it's a true RPG.

And Gladius was definitely a very enjoyable strategy RPG, seems like no one bought it though. I remember about 2 months after it came out I picked it up for $12.99 at Costco.

Originally Posted by wolfing

Arcanum
That's exactly why I didn't like this game. Somehow mixing elves and dwarves with industry revolution turned my innards inside out, just couldn't stand it.

Icewind Dale
Here we totally disagree. To me ID is Baldur's Gate without what made Baldur's Gate good. Take the engine and remove everything. It's like playing D&D by yourself, it's just not nearly the same as the real thing

Arcanum was memorable FOR its setting. You can only do the same thing so many times, the setting in Arcanum was refreshing and it was tied into gamplay and story elements.

Icewind Dale shouldn't be compared to BG. It's more of a classic dungeon crawler experience. That being said it was excellent and trumped BG in other ways: better combat (good since the game revolved around it), better artwork, amazing soundtrack. The story was actually also good for a combat based game.

I loved IWD, just hated the ending sequence (to quick, no real resolution).

IWD II though was another story. I'm not a huge fan of 3rd Edition rules to begin with, and while the interface was much better (similar to BGII), I completely lost track of the story. I got about halfway through and really had no idea why I was on this journey. I kept waiting for it to engage me, but it never did and I finally stopped playing.

I may try it again though.

Originally Posted by Relayer
DD being a Diablo clone: how far did you play into the game?

It appears like a Diablo clone at first but is actually more than a mindless action-RPG. There are a ton of well written quests, it has an open-world feel to it (you can go anywhere), the world feels cohesive, and the developers had a sense of humor. Aside from the tons of combat, it's a true RPG.

And many good puzzling.

I don't understand how people could unevaluate so much this game and worse make a confusion with any Diablo. Ok the first dungeon is too big for its diversity and the action quite hot. But even in first part you had much more than only this dungeon and I wonder how people resist to not continue the game until you could leave the first town and explore the world and discover in detail the mysterious elements setup in first part.

Here's my list:

1. Planescape Torment
2. Baldurs Gate 2
3. Gothic 2
4. Fallout 2
5. Star Wars:Knights Of The Old Republic
6. Gothic 1
7. The Witcher
8. System Shock
9. Vampire - the Masquerade
10. Gothic 3
11. Oblivion(HEAVILY MODDED)

Sorry no old series from me I haven't played every single old RPG(although I intent to)I wasn't even born when Ultima VI was released.

Edit:@GothicGothicness I always forget about it

how come Gothic 2 and Gothic 3 is on your list but not Gothic ????

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
how come Gothic 2 and Gothic 3 is on your list but not Gothic ????

Because Gothic is automatically included in everyone's top ten, no need to even list it.

It is better to not have it in the list instead of ranking it under KoToR

KotOR got such a high place cause it was my first RPG so this decision was emotional.I wanted to have in #3 both G1 &G2.

KotOR would definitely rank high in my top ten list……….of overrated games.

Oblivion #1 Fable #2 KotOR#3?

From first parts of Kotor that I played I think that it seems to be a worthy CRPG, and I have been quite surprised by a quality I didn't expect. With time it didn't keep a such high credit highly spread and from the few I played it could be quite good in fact. I didn't push further because I was waiting OSX localized version and didn't rush on it once received because of the fights, I didn't understood how they work and got lazy to use sweat to learn it. For now I keep it for later. For me the SW movies (but the second released) are much more overrated here is more the problem.

I feel that games like Mass Effect, the top overrated Oblivion but also older stuff like the Might&Magic series more overrated. For Fable overrated, not sure, it's not such a crap and from a computer point of view I don't think it has such a high reputation commonly spread.