RPGWatch - Best PC RPGs of the 1990s Poll

Looks like I am the only one who voted for Thunderscape. Not the best game but I had a fun time playing it. Dark Heart of Uukrul would be #1 if it was on this list.

In no particular order:
Planescape: Torment
Fallout
Fallout 2
Baldur's Gate
Quest for Glory 2
Quest for Glory 3
Quest for Glory 4
Daggerfall
Albion
World of Xeen

I see the usually suspects are currently winning the poll I'd rather see PST on top though!

Several of the games in the list I don’t consider true RPG games but multi-genre with small RPG mechanics.
Still, so many good games!.
1) Ultima VII
2) Ultima VIII
3) Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
4) Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire
5) Fallout 2
6) Betrayal at Krondor
7) Planescape: Torment
8) Baldur’s Gate
9) Albion
10) Final Fantasy VII
By the way, Syndicate is on the list so I take this opportunity to tell you that you can get it for FREE in Origin for a short time. So grab it while it last!

I'd go:

1) Neverwinter Nights. Does this make me a bad person? I enjoyed 3rd edition D&D better than BG's 2nd, and... Aribeth... (sigh)

2) Baldur's Gate. Obvious reasons.

3) Diablo. The only one of the series I enjoyed.

-Ultima Underworld
-TES: Arena and Daggerfall
-Betrayal at Krondor
-Might and Magic (VI-VII-VIII)
-Baldur´s Gate
-Fallout 2

ChaosTheory said:

I'd go:

1) Neverwinter Nights. Does this make me a bad person? I enjoyed 3rd edition D&D better than BG's 2nd, and… Aribeth… (sigh)

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The 3rd edition NWN released in 2002...the one in the list is the AOL game.

azarhal said:

The 3rd edition NWN released in 2002…the one in the list is the AOL game.

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It's an easy mistake to make, since the poll doesn't disambiguate the name. I suspect it's why the score is as high as it is.

Oops.

1)M&M 6
2)Land of Lore 1
3)Fallout 1
4)Albion
5)M&M Xeen
6)System Shock 2
7)Betrayal at Krondor

I would have liked to put Daggerfall in the top 10, but it was so buggy and the person who made that automap will be getting a special place in hell.

My votes went to...(from a criteria of my own personal enjoyment)

1) Betrayal at Krondor
2) Baldur's Gate
3) Hero Quest
4) Fallout 2
5) Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness
6) Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
7) Ultima VII
8) Planescape: Torment
9) Fallout 1
10) Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon

Originally Posted by Lucky Day View Post
Nevwerwinter Nights is on that list? Someone must have mixed up AoL NWN with Bioware NWN1.

rjshae said:

Possibly; voters may find it confusing at any rate.

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I was one of them… And I just found out that I can't redo my voting !!! Oh well, back to cleaning I guesses…

In any case, my top 10 were (in no particular order):
Baldur’s Gate
Planescape: Torment
Fallout 1
Fallout 2
Diablo
System Shock 2
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Neverwinter Nights (damn you AOL version!)
Final Fantasy VII

Lucky Day said:

guess I can start the unofficial missing list part 2

Dark Heart of Uukrul

didn't make the 1980's list because it was released in 1990

Wasn't a there a really good one that was Amiga exclusive?

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Dangit! Thanks for your suggestion. Too bad we didn't get it during the pre-poll phase that we've been running for the last month

Shall we give it an honorable mention?

Caidh said:

Ah - the 1990s. Such a great time for games.

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First couple years and the last couple years, yeah. Middle part? Not so much…

Anyway, I wanted to vote for Sentinel Worlds and Dragon Wars but it seems they came out in 1989. This always happens to me. I wanted to vote for EOB for 1980s but it allegedly came out in 1991…

Anyway, I did manage to vote for Bard's Tale III which was the closest thing on the list… which is odd since Bard's Tale III was published in 1988 and it was merely the DOD port of it that was published in the 1990s… OK, whatever. The list seemed pretty complete and I actually had more than 10 games I wanted to vote for. Surprised me. I recall the 1990s as being pretty sparse.

Jagged Alliance 2 should have been on the list, though. It was a far better roleplaying game then most the RPGs that *are* on the list. Just saying…

Edit: Damn... I voted for one of the Dark Sun games but somehow neglected to vote for Wizardry 7? That can't be right. Somebody tampered with my ballot. I want a re-vote.

CraigCWB said:

Anyway, I wanted to vote for Sentinel Worlds and Dragon Wars but it seems they came out in 1989. This always happens to me. I wanted to vote for EOB for 1980s but it allegedly came out in 1991…

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I was looking for Centauri Alliance (By Michael Cranford of Bards Tale fame) but the game came out in 88, 90, 91 (from Googling). I got it new in 91 but apparently somebody got it in 89 and left it off the list.

These are not RPGS but quite frankly in the 90's i wasn't playing many RPGS but my favorites were tie fighter; half-life; duke nukem and starcraft

I did like system-shock2 and bg but i didn't play those two games till early 2000's as well as most of the might and magic games.

Oh yeah...totally forgot about the Jagged Alliance games as RPGs
...would have been my favorite RPG then actually.

Why is Final Fantasy VII on that list of (what appears to be) Western/PC (non-console) RPGs?

Diablo... ffs.

PsychoSyd said:

Dangit! Thanks for your suggestion. Too bad we didn't get it during the pre-poll phase that we've been running for the last month

Shall we give it an honorable mention?

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yeah, honourable mention. it wouldn't get a single vote except from me I bet , in spite of those who remember it when it came out as one of the best games written for Apple ][. I did mention it in the pre-poll here but clearly you guys missed it.

As well, there's a huge difference in the eras from early 90's and late 90's for CRPG's.

The early 90's can be considered the end of the Golden Age and the beginning of what I call the Dark Age or 400 Weeks of Silence as first Space Sims (distracting Origin from their founding product), Myst clones, then smooth scrolling FPS took over. Like the 400 Years of Silence, its a monicker that is simply not true as it is also the era that console games took over, i.e. The JRPG's, not to mention games like System Shock being ignored and the influence RPG's had on games like Doom.

With MM6, Diablo then UO, PC RPG's were back, but in a far different way that made their predecessors look primitive in comparison. Diablo and UO start their own forks and MM6, Fallout, and Baldur's Gate start the Renaissance, new Golden Age, or Silver Age of CRPG's.

But again, there's a big difference. Look at Wizardry 7 compared to Wizardry 8 which was finished in the 90's.

TES: Daggerfall... no other game before or after completely OWNED me to the complete detriment of health, relationships, and subpar work performance (from too many late nights) and I loved every blessed minute of it. My number 1 with a bullet.
After that, it's the usual suspects: Planescape, Fallout 1/2, Baldur's Gate, Realms of Arkania: Star Trail, Betrayal at Krondor, Lands of Lore: Thrones of Chaos, Pools of Darkness, and Wizardry VII.