Top 10 RPGs of the last decade

Makes me happy to see so many gamers listing Witcher 1 in their top 10 list. While the production values of 2 & 3 far exceed 1, I just liked 1 a lot better.

I can't possibly imagine top10 of 2007-2017 without all three on it.

Pongo said:

Mass Effect is a difficult one. In retrospect I think it should be on my list because I really enjoyed my first playthrough, particularly the second one despite dumbed down rpg mechanics. On the other hand, I tried to replay the series recently and found I wasn't enjoying it second time round. Hmph. Not sure where that leaves it.

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I had exact same problem with ME2, but I suspected it - it's a short game and not much more new to discover on second play through. What I enjoyed the most is dialogues/companion interactions, which there weren't that much, so it's literally like watching a short movie for the second time while you remember practically everything about the movie.

purpleblob said:

I had exact same problem with ME2, but I suspected it - it's a short game and not much more new to discover on second play through. What I enjoyed the most is dialogues/companion interactions, which there weren't that much, so it's literally like watching a short movie for the second time while you remember practically everything about the movie.

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Yeah I think that's it. First time round I enjoyed the great lore and characters and alien designs etc, and the apparent freedom to rove the galaxy being a Captain Kirk. Second time round I still enjoyed ME1, although less than first time round, but I eventually gave up on the second one about half way through. Its still on my list of great gaming memories, but not one I'll replay again.

In no particular order:

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Divinity: Original Sin 2
Divinity: Original Sin
Fallout New Vegas
Dark Souls
Dark Souls 3
Skyrim
Mount & Blade Warband
The Witcher 3
Risen

Here's the standings after post 85. For anyone wanting to refresh their memory before posting their lists and to enable them to give boosts to certain games if they're undecided about their lower-ranking games:

1. Dragon Age: Origins (19)
2. Skyrim (15)
3. Fallout New Vegas (13)
4. Divinity: original Sin 1 (12)
4. Witcher 3 (12)
6. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (9)
6. Lords of Xulima (9)
6. Mass Effect (9)
9. Might and Magic 10 (8)
9. Risen 1 (8)
9. Wasteland 2 (8)

12. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (7)
12. Elex (7)
12. Witcher 1 (7)
15. Dark Souls 1 (6)
15. Pillars of Eternity (6)
15. Underrail (6)
18. Battle Brothers (5)
18. Fallout 4 (5)
18. Knights of the Chalice (5)
18. Neverwinter Knights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (5)
18. Shadowrun: Dragonfall (5)
23. Avernum: Escape from the Pit (4)
23. Dragon Age Inquisition (4)
23. Mass Effect 2 (4)

26. Fallout 3 (3)
26. Mount and Blade (3)
26. Torment: Tides of Numanera (3)
26. Tyranny (3)
26. Witcher 2 (3)
31. Age of Decadence (2)
31. Dark Souls 3 (2)
31. Dead State: Reanimated (2)
31. Diablo 3 (2)
31. Divinity 2 (2)
31. Dragon's Dogma (2)
31. Expeditions: Viking (2)
31. Grim Dawn (2)
31. King's Bounty: The Legend (2)
31. Legend of Grimrock 1 (2)
31. Legend of Grimrok 2 (2)
31. Legends of Eisenwald (2)
31. Mass Effect 3 (2)
31. Path of Exile (2)
31. Stardew Valley (2)
31. Stranger of Sword City (2)
31. Valkyria Chronicles (2)

And all the following with just one vote currently:

Avadon 1
Avadon 2
Bloodborne
Celestian Tales: Old North
Disgaea 2
The Division
Drakensang
Drakensang: The River of Time
Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening
Elminage Gothic
Inquisitor
Jagged Aliiance 2 1.13 mod
King's Bounty: Armoured Princess
Lords of the Fallen
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Nioh
Paper Sorcerer
The Quest
Rift
Risen 3
Serpent in the Staglands
Shadowrun 1
Shadows of Morder
Star Wolves 3: Civil War
Sword Coast Legends
Tales of Symphonia
Warframe
World of Warcraft
Xcom 1
Xcom 2
Xcom: Enemy Unknown


This is not a perfectly accurate list as many of the replies to the thread are full of little rebellions and confusions themselves and my own human error could have tallied incorrectly at any point, but it's a sincere nearly-best attempt to provide a current standings.

The part I found most amusing was that the OP title clearly says 10 years, the OP post explicitly states 2008-2017 and without hesitation huge numbers of people are jamming their lists with 2007 titles, haha. But don't worry, I've included those as well.

Please also note, this list represents only quantity, not necessarily quality.

Thanks Lackblogger! I know there are a few Lords of Xulima fans around here, but it's interesting to see it doing so well overall. I gave it a go but just couldn't get into it. I'm starting to think I might have been a bit harsh.... maybe time to try again.

I bought it but haven't played it yet, so I can't say why each person likes it while you didn't, initially, but from what I know it's quite unique in its design, by combining isometric movement with blobber combat, like King's bounty but with a more strict RPG blobber rather than strategy chess-like design and structure, and when someone sees something unusual its normally harder to get into than the familiar. It's also a huge game in the 100+ and then some hours, most which is going to be combat, which, for some, would indeed lead to burn out and a sense of dread. However, for people whole played a lot of pre-1995 blobbers, like wizardry and Might and magic, long run times and extensive combat are something to look forward to. For me, the idea of an infinity engine game crossed with a blobber with a King's bounty vibe intrigued me enough to buy it without any immediate intention to play it and place it on my definitely-to-play-at-some-point RPGs.

Dasale said:

Condensed

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Excellent list you have there, and you've reminded me of a couple games I completely forgot to mention.

For one, Torchlight 2. I spent so many hours in that one. Similarly, post-auction house Diablo 3.

purpleblob said:

Yay, fellow Stardew Valley fan!!!

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Indeed! It's truly a captivating game, and I'm so excited for the major update.

Dajjer said:

Makes me happy to see so many gamers listing Witcher 1 in their top 10 list. While the production values of 2 & 3 far exceed 1, I just liked 1 a lot better.

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Agreed. I will give major props to The Witcher 3 for being such a technical achievement, but the first one was just so different and so special to me. They really nailed music, atmosphere, and character development. I remember exploring Vizima and thinking it felt so big, but also so small. Chapter 4 is still branded onto my brain. Musical tracks such as The Dike and River of Life really put you in a certain frame of mind, and complimented the game's moody atmosphere.

Ok here is my list based on games I've played and reminders from other's list in no particular order:

DKS (dragon knight saga)
Divinity Original Sin 2
Witcher 1
Witcher 3
Valkyria Chronicles
Dragon Age Inquisition (NOT origins)
King Bounty Legend
King Bounty Crossroad (prefer mechanics but prefer the first story - this is the re-release of armoured princess)
Child of Light (is this an rpg or platformer?)
wasteland 2
--
That's the list for myself. There are a lot of games I liked that are not on the list like
dragon age origin
nwn2
me1/me2
witcher 2
and many others but i picked the ones that i liked - btw

JDR13 said:

No Dark Souls 2? Do most fans of the series consider DS3 to be better?

Also, have you played DX:MD yet? I thought it was superior to DX:HR in most ways.

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DS1 is my favorite but that may be due to it being the first game of its kind that I played. DS3 is great but lacked the mystery that 1 had. Which is to be expected since I’d played DS1&2, bloodborne and lords of the fallen at that point.

DS2, I didn’t care for as much. It was still a decent game but I rushed through the last quarter of it and was glad when I was finished. Also it was the only one that I didn’t play the DLC. Instead of improving AI, coming up with better bosses or level design to increase difficulty they just threw a bunch of enemies at you at once. Some levels had endless horde of enemies until you rang a bell to stop them even bosses had low level enemies thrown in with them in an effort to bump up difficulty. I much prefer difficult 1 on 1 battles.

DS2 also had the most tedious and annoying level of any souls or souls like game imo. It was a level with statues that spit endless poison at you while other monsters would pop up from puddles or holes in the walls. I don’t know how many statues there were (50, 100?) it was a ton. You’d have to slowly advance killing the monsters and breaking the statues and if you died all the statues respawned as well as the monsters. It was tedious, long and not fun at all.

As for DX:MD, I haven’t had a chance to do a proper play through yet. I played through DX:HR twice and really enjoyed it despite the disappointing, select a button ending.

lackblogger said:

9. Wasteland 2 (2)

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Guess that should have been 8

Edited.

sakichop said:

DS2 also had the most tedious and annoying level of any souls or souls like game imo. It was a level with statues that spit endless poison at you while other monsters would pop up from puddles or holes in the walls. I don’t know how many statues there were (50, 100?) it was a ton. You’d have to slowly advance killing the monsters and breaking the statues and if you died all the statues respawned as well as the monsters. It was tedious, long and not fun at all.

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You're talking about Black Gulch. The trick is to find the places you can drop down to and enter the caves below the poison statues. You can skip most the puddles this way. One tunnel contains probably my favuorite piece of NPC dialogue in the game then you'll exit out behind the statues where you can safely destroy them and drop down again to find a locked door then drop down more and find a pitch black cave with some giants in it. I assume you found the giants because from memory they drop something important but I forget what.

The whole area is more of a room than a full level and hardly long. Just stock up on OP lifegems and run.

Where's the love for Dragon Age 2 haha? I mean it was pretty innovative for its time. People tend to forget that it introduced the AWESOME-button™.

After much thought here would be my list.

1) Eador Genesis

2) Battle Brothers

3) Knights of the Chalice

4) Skyrim

5) Wasteland 2

6) Fallout 4

7) Lords of Xulima

8) Might and Magic X

9) Underrail

10) Avernum: Escape from the Pit or Elex, hard to leave either out.

Just started playing Divinity: Original Sin 2. So it didn't make my list.

This list made me download Knights of the Chalice again and play it for the 5th time. BASTARDS.

I guess it's easy to see I like turn based and open world games with tactical combat. My top 2 games could be considered strategy games.

My most time played would look like this:

Eador
Skyrim
Battle Brothers

sakichop said:

DS2, I didn’t care for as much. It was still a decent game but I rushed through the last quarter of it and was glad when I was finished. Also it was the only one that I didn’t play the DLC. Instead of improving AI, coming up with better bosses or level design to increase difficulty they just threw a bunch of enemies at you at once. Some levels had endless horde of enemies until you rang a bell to stop them even bosses had low level enemies thrown in with them in an effort to bump up difficulty. I much prefer difficult 1 on 1 battles.

DS2 also had the most tedious and annoying level of any souls or souls like game imo. It was a level with statues that spit endless poison at you while other monsters would pop up from puddles or holes in the walls. I don’t know how many statues there were (50, 100?) it was a ton. You’d have to slowly advance killing the monsters and breaking the statues and if you died all the statues respawned as well as the monsters. It was tedious, long and not fun at all.

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I would strongly advice replaying DSII with the DLCs - the three DLCs are effectively a whole new Dark Souls game, with an impressive, multilayered level design that I have yet to see elsewhere.

With the 3 DLCs, I personally rate DSII much higher than DS1 - not only for the DLC but the more open world design, variety of environment, secrets, size, more robustness and flexibility in progressing the game (multiple routes, secrets .. etc.), and huge array of weapons, gear, customisation, NPCs and lore. It is a 'massive' game with so much to discover.

Lemonhead said:

Where's the love for Dragon Age 2 haha? I mean it was pretty innovative for its time. People tend to forget that it introduced the AWESOME-button™.

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I did enjoy DA2, it was full of choices and consequences with a fresh new setting telling more personal stories, memorable companions and very decent story/lore. The combat was flashy but solid, and lacked better level design to enable more strategic approach.

Few things were streamlined (gear, switching weapons .. etc.) and dungeons assets were recycled, but the story, characters, and choices and consequences are all there, enjoyable and warrant many playthroughs.

Here is my top 10 :

#1 Shadowrun : Dragonfall
#2 Fallout: New Vegas
#3 Wasteland 2
#4 Deux Ex : Human Revolution
#5 Caves of Qud
#6 Shadowrun : Hong Kong
#7 Knights of the Chalice
#8 Templar Battleforce
#9 ELEX
#10 Grimoire

Hastar said:

After much thought here would be my list.
1) Eador Genesis
2) Battle Brothers
3) Knights of the Chalice
4) Skyrim
5) Wasteland 2
6) Fallout 4
7) Lords of Xulima
8) Might and Magic X
9) Underrail
10) Avernum: Escape from the Pit or Elex, hard to leave either out.

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Eador Genesis? Didn't play that one, but tried Eador: Masters of a broken world which...while being somewhat decent, was also extrmelely repetitive.
Basically the levels looked like this:
1. Extrmely hard start, heavy reloading
2. A couple of interesting fights
3. You managed to overpower your enemy
4. Hours of "clearing" the rest of the level with boring and repetitive combat as they weren't any match anymore

Is the older game better in any way?