PCGamesN - 21 Best RPGs

Here is another opiniated list. This time it features the 21 best RPGs of which none is from the previous century. I guess the writer didn't think 'Best RPGs' were not made back then. Original Sin is on it though.

Larian’s latest Divinity game isn’t just a throwback to classic CRPGs, it’s a continuation of them. It’s a modern game, but based on the design philosophies of the classics like Ultima and Baldur’s Gate.

From our Divinity: Original Sin review: “When I play Divinity, I’m back in my parents’ study, gleefully skipping homework as I explore the vast city of Athkatla. I’m overstaying my welcome at a friend’s house, chatting to Lord British. And it’s not because the game is buying me with nostalgia, but because it’s able to evoke the same feelings: that delight from doing something crazy and watching it work, the surprise when an inanimate object starts talking to me and sends me on a portal-hopping quest across the world. There’s whimsy and excitement, and those things have become rare commodities. Yet Divinity: Original Sin is full of them.”

It is an RPG that focuses what the genre can be, and not what it has become. Where conflict isn’t just about fighting, where magic can be used to solve puzzles and manipulate the environment and not just kill enemies, and where simple side-quests can transform into rewarding, huge undertakings involving setting cats up on dates.

And it comes with a robust editor so you can create your own adventure, and fleshed out co-op system so that you don’t have to take on the world alone. Halting evil in its tracks is a job for friends, after all.

A sequel, cunning titled Divinity: Original Sin II, has been funded on Kickstarter.

More information.

Well they may or may not be the st best 21 rpgs; they are all ('cept one in imho) pretty darn good.

Myrthos,

I don't wanna sound annoying or picky but Planescape: Torment is from 1999 and BG II is from 2000, so both games are technically from previous century.

Oh, well, one year off. Isn't 2000 this century?

1/2 of these games wouldn't have even been classified as an RPG before 2000, but as an ARPG or simply an Adventure game.

Some would have been classified an action game.

DA2 > Inquisition
Diablo 2 > 3
South Park: The Stick of Truth? Is that for real?

STEAM FtW

Originally Posted by Myrthos
Oh, well, one year off. Isn't 2000 this century?

Actually it isn't. Because you say "we are in the year"
It's like saying "we have monday" which is "we are in the first day of the week"
A Century starts when you are in the "first year" (e.g. 2001), and ends when you finished the last year (e.g. 2100).

And now back for something completelty different

Originally Posted by Myrthos
Oh, well, one year off. Isn't 2000 this century?

Well… no

I used to make that confusion too. "The 20th century was the period between January 1, 1901 and December 31, 2000, inclusive. " (Wikipedia)

But I think I got your point here: the author didn't look too far behind in order to build his list, lefting out great RPGs (Ultima, Wizardry, Daggerfall, Krondor, among others). Maybe for him RPG era started with Planescape: Torment.

Also: Torchlight II ? South Park ? They're great games, but being two of the 21 best RPG on PC? C'mon!!!

EDIT: Ninja'ed by Kordanor

Originally Posted by henriquejr
Well… no
Also: Torchlight II ? South Park ? They're great games, but being two of the 21 best RPG on PC? C'mon!!!

Pretty new here, but…

I'm pretty sure South Park making the list disqualifies the author from ever making another list of RPGs, especially since it seems they don't realize that RPGs existed well before the year 1999.

Any RPG list without Fallout 1 and/or 2 cannot be taken seriously imho.

I don't see how anyone could rate Diablo 3 over Diablo 2. Diablo 3 had its vision compromised to allow it to be released on console. i.e the preview videos had a lot of destructible environments showcased and combat looked fast and epic.

Then it got released with an auction house (now removed) and they add features to the game to fix there 'oversights' (in terms of loot drops etc) but only if you get the expansion pack do you get most of them. Nah ah thats just a scummy move to me.

Originally Posted by Format92
Any RPG list without Fallout 1 and/or 2 cannot be taken seriously imho.

Agreed. I still enjoy the original Fallout games; whereas Fallout 3 and New Vegas both became boring and chore-like to me after a while.

Originally Posted by Silver
I don't see how anyone could rate Diablo 3 over Diablo 2. Diablo 3 had its vision compromised to allow it to be released on console. i.e the preview videos had a lot of destructible environments showcased and combat looked fast and epic.

Then it got released with an auction house (now removed) and they add features to the game to fix there 'oversights' (in terms of loot drops etc) but only if you get the expansion pack do you get most of them. Nah ah thats just a scummy move to me.

Realize that they didn't list the initial Diablo 3 but the Expansion Reaper of Souls instead which wasn't just extremely successful but also won back a lot of sympathies.
Besides of that the console version is separate. It's mechanics are separate and there wasn't a compromise on the PC version.

no gothic2, fuck off

It's not a bad list. I seem to have a copy of almost all of them. The author doesn't look all that old and that perhaps colours his view on the older games. While I am old I sort of agree with what he is saying in the main. He does state about RPGs:-

" A stalwart PC genre that came into existence in the ‘70s, things have changed a touch since then. The scale and scope is massive like never before, with tech finally starting to catch up to developers' ambitions."

In the comment section he does talk about why he excluded Ultima VII. I must admit that I try to play some of the older games but invariably give up after a short while (several hours).

He does also state (in the comment section) that the list is about providing information to others on what he considers playable games (my take on what he is saying).

These lists are always fun and stimulating. Or at least the resulting outcry is.

Originally Posted by Kordanor
Realize that they didn't list the initial Diablo 3 but the Expansion Reaper of Souls instead which wasn't just extremely successful but also won back a lot of sympathies.
Besides of that the console version is separate. It's mechanics are separate and there wasn't a compromise on the PC version.

Haven't played the sequel but I hear its better. I'm not going to debate pc console stuff other than to say I remain disappointed with Diablo 3's ambition.

Originally Posted by pmanhart
1/2 of these games wouldn't have even been classified as an RPG before 2000, but as an ARPG or simply an Adventure game.

Some would have been classified an action game.

Finally! I LOVE the demon's/dark souls series! They are right up there in my personal top 3 or 4 game series of all time, but they aren't RPGs. Just bc you can swing a sword or shoot lightning doesn't make a game an RPG.

Other peoples list, who cares.

We all like the games we like and that is why there are so many to choice from.