Bottom 10 CRPGs Of All Time

[Sergius64]

1. Pool of Radiance 2 : Ruins of Myth Drannor - Ugh, boring repetative tactical combat with nothing to break the boredom.
2. Icewind Dale 2 - More boring repetative tactical combat. At least it had some quests and story.
3. Neverend - Ugh, if you're going to try to copy FF combat system at least make the other parts of the game interesting.
4. Bard's Tale(the newest one) - Painted itself like an RPG, but didn't seem to be one. Couldn't make myself play it for more then an hour. At least it tries to be funny with some success.
5. Betrayal at Antara - Big dissapointment after the beauty that was Betrayal at Krondor.
6. Lionheart - Fantasy doesn't mix well with Historical stuff in this title. Got boring later on cause of clickfest combat.
7. Metal Heart: Replicant's Rampage - Game managed to lose my interest within 20 minutes.
8. Beyond Divinity - felt like a Giant Diablo (Diablo's quickness made it hard to notice the normal boredom of clickfest combat, this game on the other hand made it very obious). Plus it started getting real hard after a while.
9. Borderlands - Buggy, buggy, buggy. Looked like it could be interesting if they got it right though.
10. Dungeon Siege - Extremly Linear clickfest. The skills raised by use system actually made this game worse because it encouraged grinding them and finding every mob you can, thereby making the few towns and conversations even farther apart.

 

[Squeek]

I'll add my voice to all the others that think Dia blowed. Boy, did it ever.

Dungeon Siege -- I never made it to that part.

Morrowind, Morrowind, Morrowind...why, why, why? I tried. I really did.

Oblivion -- Thank God for modders. If only they were magicians!

KOTOR 2 -- It was loads of fun till it deserved my hatred. Send in the modders.

Then there's all those late DOS games that made me cry, trying to get them to install! Not really! (ok, really).

 

[txa1265]

So here is an interesting challenge:
- Separate the games that you think are actually 'bad' versus the ones you know are regarded as good but you just didn't like / didn't get.

 

[Zaleukos]

So here is an interesting challenge:
- Separate the games that you think are actually 'bad' versus the ones you know are regarded as good but you just didn't like / didn't get.

Trying to make us think like professional reviewers, eh?

Of the games I mentioned I'd say that Ultima IX was "objectively bad". Crappy combat, horribly buggy. Otherwise Lionheart, Dungeon Lords, or the newest Bard's tale (which I didnt mention) are deeply flawed products with more than there share of problems, but which I still managed to get a load of fun out of.

Compare that to Oblivion which is a highly polished piece of craftsmanship where I simply disagree with many of the design decisions...

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I#ve heard about the role-playing term "railroading" before ... but when i played DS, I instantly knew what was meant (with it).

 

[POLYGON]

1.Dungeon Seige--Both parts, too repetetive
2.Oblivion
3.Gothic 3---If it was not a gothic it would be a good game but being a gothic meant it had a huge burden on its shoulder and it failed miserably to live up to its predeccesors..
4.Pool of Radiance:Ruins of Myth Dronnar--Got out of that dungeon to find myself unable to spend another minute playing it..
5.Summoner 2---Never played it although I loved number 1 because it was only PS2 that's why I hate it
6.The Witcher--crappy combat, shallow plot, no role in the game, no choices especially this one:

Spoiler

I'm just kidding

 

[txa1265]

Trying to make us think like professional reviewers, eh?

No - but the distinction between Dungeon Lords and Oblivion is a great one. I share your opinions - I really liked DL much more than I objectively should have, and found Oblivion a well-made game that I really could never get past the flaws.

 

[Prime Junta]

About Morrowind... I managed to play it through once, and some of my fondest gaming memories are from it. Getting to know the Ashlanders; navigating the lethal politics of the Telvanni; figuring out the mystery behind that plague.

I liked it so much that I tried to replay it, on numerous occasions... and never got further than Balmora. Those early quests are bloody tedious.

If there's a mod out there that genocides cliff racers, I just might give it one more go.

 

[aboyd]

So on my post on page 1, I left 2 blanks in my top 10 list. After reading your posts, I would like to fill in one of those blanks. I concur about Dungeon Seige, so:

#9. Dungeon Seige

That's not a fun game. I gave it to my daughter, who was 7 at the time, and she played for about 15 minutes and said, "All I do is walk and swing? That's boring." Uninstalled by a 7 year-old girl for being too easy. That's a bad game.

Of course, I bought it knowing I only had the disks so I could play the Ultima V: Lazarus remake. That was OK.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

What about "Broken Land" ? I heard it was not very good ... ?

 

[dteowner]

Well, Mike, you don't make it easy, do ya?

MM9- a POS by any measure

MW- the depth and detail of the world deserve accolades and the graphics truly were spectacular. I would say the quality of gameplay would be very user-specific--some folks are going to like the sandbox nature while others (like me) will find it pointless. Overall, the game probably rates somewhere in the middle of the hype and my low opinion

BG1- Probably a good game that just didn't appeal to me

W&W- actually said it was a decent game. Could have been a truly great game with more refinement and a major bug-stomping. Made my list because of the "could have been" factor.

Gothic1- Might be the gem everyone says, but it certainly hasn't grabbed me yet.

 

[stealth]

It hurts to see KotOR, Fallout and BG being mentioned...

Disappointments:
Divinity titles
NWN1

Disasters:
Lands of Lore II (III ?)
PoR2
Ultima 9
Descent to Undermountain
Stonekeep

 

[txa1265]

Well, Mike, you don't make it easy, do ya?

Never ... but in my eyes the value of the thread just increased exponentially ...

 

[Squeek]

OK, Mike. I'll give your challenge a try.

If I separated the games that were actually "bad" from the ones I just didn't get or like, then Morrowind comes off the list. And maybe Dungeon Siege and Dia didn't blow either, since I didn't actually play them enough to really know.

But KOTOR 2 made you miserable. It promised so much and then just left you hanging at the end. That was bad, very bad. Team Gizka may turn it around, though (big thanks to the Gizkas).

Come to think of it, modders came to the rescue of TOEE, which was an ugly disappointment at first.

So I'll rise to the challenge by adding TOEE to my list while removing those others.

 

[Prime Junta]

Humm, actually bad as opposed to merely disappointing?

"Bad" is relative, of course. For example, Fallout 2 is, IMO, actually bad compared to Fallout -- but compared to *most* games out there it's not bad at all. Oblivion has to be doing something right since it has such a huge following (and if I try to be charitable, I can see what it is -- if you've never played anything where the main entertainment is walking around and hitting things, it's thrilling I'm sure). Can't say about BG2 since, as I said, I never managed to get past the first few hours of it. NWN OC and NWN SoU? Bad. Unquestionably bad. NWN2 OC? Gaah... again, it's so relative. Compared to anything else that came out around then, not too bad. Compared to what it could/should have been, or the classics it's inevitably compared against... yeah, bad.

 

[Prime Junta]

Oh, about KOTOR 2? I agree that the endgame was bad enough to take much of the shine off the game. However, everything else about the game I loved, so I can (almost) forgive the utterly disappointing Trayus Academy. But yeah, yay for Team Gizka, and here's to them finishing the job this year.

 

[Jaz]

So here is an interesting challenge:
- Separate the games that you think are actually 'bad' versus the ones you know are regarded as good but you just didn't like / didn't get.

No way.
I can't make such a distinction - for me there is no way of being 'objective' when the subject is fun, and in my book, games are all about having fun. Thus, a game I enjoyed could not possibly be bad, no matter how buggy it may be, and a game I did not enjoy could not be good, regardless of the level of technical perfection or artistry or... whatever. I could never call DS or BG good games (for example) just because millions of gamers loved them. Millions of flies love shit, but I still don't want to eat it because it's just not my idea of a great meal.

 

[magerette]

@Jaz -- Way with words, my girl!



@ Squeek--Yes, it's easy to just say diablowed. Harder to get away with saying ten thousand people still play a game ten years after its release, but it has no redeeming qualities since I dislike it. I now respect your opinion a great deal more. (I don't agree with it, esp about TOEE getting on anybody's bottom ten, but that's only to be expected.



My list with Mike's criteria applied:

Just Plain Bad

1. Black and White -- Labeled and sold as an rpg --wtf?--A game I bought because it looked like it would be totally innovative, reactive to the player and had a sense of humor. It was all of that. It just wasn't any fun to play, had no hooks that worked to pull you along, and became endlessly repetitive. Infantile humor can be funny---the first time, but hearing the same 'amusing' song lyric for the five hundredth time is just flat. An ambitious game that fell short and I think, a bad game, not just one I didn't click with.

2. Lionheart-- It has to be here, We all know why. Bad? Let's just say unprofessional development, unrealistic publishing demands, & chaotic execution ruined what could have been an exemplary, if combat heavy, crpg.

3. Might & Magic 9-- MM9 is to MM6-7 what frozen pizza is to that served in a roadside taverna in Tuscany. An obvious game whose only excuse was to wring the last penny out of a dying franchise.

4. Beyond Divinity -- All the idiosyncratic charm removed fom DivDiv, and a lot of mindless combat and abysmally bad voice acting added instead. Graphics were hideous. So bad it was uninstalled the same day I started.

Games That Didn't Click

1. KotOR -- To me this is the game where Bioware began cloning instead of inventing games, as foreshadowed in NWN. It isn't a bad game, but it was a dumbed down game, a buggy game, and a deeply formulaic game, none of which worked for me, though I did get some fun out of a few of the planets. HATED the NPCs(but that follows a pattern--hated many other Bioware NPCs--in fact I think Imoen, Bastilla ,Jaheira etc,are all the same woman) escept for the killer robot, who actually was a well-done character. I played through half the game, and I do feel I got my money's worth despite the bugginess and the other factors, and compared to much of what's out there, it certainly can't be called worthless, just disappointing.

2. Baldur's Gate 1-- I played many many hours of this game, so it may not be accurate to say it didn't click, but it did disappoint and frustrate. I often go back and play around in BG2; I would never consider replaying BG1. 70% of the reason is the performance, 30% the other game factors. Certainly not a bad game, and beloved of many, but ended up boring me to the uninstall stage.

3. Gothic 2-- I still retry this every so often but I never seem to be able to get past the early onslaught of FEDEX quests in the first act. I feel much more constrained in G2 about character paths, that I'm being forced into a faction before I'm ready, that I'm unable to roleplay without a heavy emphasis on theivery, etc. Just didn't have the addictiveness of Gothic for me, but many find it the best in the series with the NoTR expansion, I know.

Lots of others' bombs I never played because I decided they weren't for me i.e; Morrowind was okay, but Oblivion sounded meh--didn't buy it. KotOR 2, well obviously, didn't buy it. Dungeon Lords--read the reviews, didn't buy it, etc etc.

 

[blatantninja]

Howdy everyone!

I wasn't surprised to see some names on this list of games that I love (BG1 & 2, namely) as I can understand why some didn't love them.

The ones that I think are just bad (in no order):

1) IWD 2 - loved 1, even if it was a bit light on the plot, just a fun dungeon crawl. I got I think halfway through and literally had completely forgotten what the plot was about. Being a diehard 3-d isometric fan and this being one of the last in the genre (of production quality), I desperately wanted to like this game. Too bad

2) NWN 1 - Loved the concept, but was REALLY turned off by the single player + 'henchman' concept. The plot certainly didn't help either. May have liked some of the modules, but the single player thing killed it for me.

3) TOEE - Again, really wanted to like this. However, never got more than about 20 minutes into it. I like turn based combat, but not where it totally stops between each turn. Killed the game for me. If there was a way to make it function like other turn based (BG series, etc.), I'd give it another chance

4) Elder Scrolls (XBox version). Only RPG I've tried on my XBox. Good looking game, but I couldn't get into the plot.

5) Ultima VIII - When I finally was able to upgrade my PC to run this game, I was excited. Innovative, I'm sure, but it killed me.

6) Ultima IX - took forever to even get the game to run, then just didn't care for it. I'm considering though trying it with the user dialogue mod, I'm told it's a lot more fun!

7) Pool of Radiance (the new one) - Thought I was going to get something like BG 1 or BG 2. Drove me nuts instead and I dropped it.

8) Times of Lore (going old school!) - granted, I think I was about 8 when I tried to play it, but I couldn't never figure out what to do!

I will say that while I loved BG1 (I played it several times, and added several of the user mods), the unmodded version did frustrate me on two fronts: 1) Had hated that there was an experience cap as I seemed to hit it well before the end of the game (glad there was a user mod to take care of that!) and 2) while a good dungeon crawl doesn't HAVE to be part of a game, in that genre, I always enjoy having a couple deep dungeons to explore.


For those of you that have Dungeon Siege, if you haven't played the Ultima V mod for it, I highly recommend it! I have DS, but I've never even loaded the OC for it.

I have to say that I understand the linearity complaints of NWN2 OC, I'm about 90% done, and it's starting to annoy me a bit, but until the 3rd act, I really didn't find it too linear. I think I'm just so happy to have a single player game with party based play that I don't care! Seems to be a dying breed.

 

[Stanza]

Wait, no one mentioned Mistmare?