RPG Codex - Top 101 PC RPGs

HiddenX

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The RPG Codex updated their old top 70 list to a top 101 list:

The RPG Codex's Top 101 PC RPGs (With User Reviews!)

Greetings traveler, I hope your mouse wheel / PgDown key are in good shape, because is this one MASSIVE piece of content!

About 5 years ago we made a voting to determine the Top RPGs of all time. We had 234 codexers voting on 223 RPGs. After we got the ranking, we asked people to write why short reviews for each title. That was the RPG Codex Top 70 PC RPGs, one of my favorite things of the Codex and what later led to the CRPG Book.

But new games are released every day now, and we decided to make an updated version, with the same rules. This time 361 codexers voted on 278 RPGs. And instead of a Top 70, we made a Top 101! With reviews!

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More information.
 
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Wow! What a nostalgia-biased list! I know everyone has a right to their opinion but I don’t see how that many people made that list.
 
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For me that list is much better than most of these lists
 
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Wow! What a nostalgia-biased list! I know everyone has a right to their opinion but I don’t see how that many people made that list.

I disagree. Apart from Dark Souls pretty much all the games in the top 20 are pretty damn great in my opinion (I haven't played The Witcher 3 nor Grimoire though so can't comment on them). While I would have a few more newer titles in my personal top 20, most would be from that list.

EDIT: Granted, I'm probably nostalgia biased as well, so I can't really argue that point. If released today it's possible I wouldn't enjoy many of those games as much as I did when I originally played them. On the other hand I enjoy very few new RPG's as well (not including titles like PoE and others from the wave of "old-school" spiritual and actual successors, many of which I've highly enjoyed).
 
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I only use lists in case I am in the mood to play something and I am not sure what it is.
So that hasn't happened much over the past few years since I have a massive backlog of unplayed games and another 30+ in my wishlist :D
 
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Witcher 3 > Witcher 1 > Witcher 2. List is legit. ;)

Wait a sec - not one Final Fantasy but Trails in the Sky and Sengoku Rance are on the list!?
 
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Like most lists, there are great games, good games, and games I think are way over rated and/or suck. That said, it seems to hit most of the classics, so there is that.

I'm not really sure why lists like this always seem to cause controversy and so on, its like, not a big deal, but whatever....
 
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I've been replaying BGII recently on a whim and it's pretty clear to me that it's my #1 CRPG of all time. Some games (like their #1, PST) have a great story, great dialogue, characters, choices, setting, that sort of thing. And some games are great mechanically (though not many, imo). BGII is the best because it's one of the only games that is great both mechanically and in terms of content. My other contenders for that top spot…. Morrowind, The Witcher 3 and the aforementioned PST…. all have much shakier gameplay that doesn't hold up over dozens of hours.

There are some kooky choices on there, imo. Kingmaker should be nowhere near the top, even if you're okay with a wildly imbalanced and unfair game. And Age of Decadence...get the hell out of here. I know there's a Codex bias for that one, but c'mon.
 
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There are some kooky choices on there, imo. Kingmaker should be nowhere near the top, even if you're okay with a wildly imbalanced and unfair game. And Age of Decadence…get the hell out of here. I know there's a Codex bias for that one, but c'mon.

Couldn't disagree with these statements more.

You say Codex is biased? Well, so are you.

I'm also big fan of BG2, it is my all time favourite game, and I found Kingmaker to be the closest game to BG2. So, even though you and I both like BG2, our opinion on Kingmaker is vastly different.

In essence, what @Arkadia7; said is correct. There will never be a list everyone is happy with - I tend to try to use it to discover a new game I haven't tried before or even giving a game I didn't enjoy a second go.
 
I didn't see Skyrim in the pictures, so skipped the article :biggrin:
 
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I see Grimoire made it on the list, and at #22 -- ahead of many more widely acclaimed games. Hmm… Has anybody actually finished that game? I can barely stand blobbers any more, so not my cup of tea.
 
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Couldn't disagree with these statements more.

You say Codex is biased? Well, so are you.

I'm also big fan of BG2, it is my all time favourite game, and I found Kingmaker to be the closest game to BG2. So, even though you and I both like BG2, our opinion on Kingmaker is vastly different.

Of course I'm biased to like the games I like. It would be weird if I wasn't. But the bias I'm talking about with AoD is a different kind of bias, borne of being made by a member of that forum and a comfortable occupant of their echo chamber. There's no way that objectively that game is anywhere near that good.

As far as Kingmaker goes, I can only surmise that it was enough for you that Kingmaker is stylistically the sort of game BG2 is because qualitatively, it's vastly inferior. Some of that is opinion (like the writing), but some of it is objective appraisal... Kingmaker is like playing with a vindictive GM on crack cocaine with all its bugs and balance issues.

I agree with your last statement, of course, and I agree that that's the best use of such a list. I've played all the golden oldies, but I check lists like this to see if there's some degree of consensus on some semi-recent indie's that might have slipped under my radar or that I passed on upon first glance.
 
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As far as Kingmaker goes, I can only surmise that it was enough for you that Kingmaker is stylistically the sort of game BG2 is because qualitatively, it's vastly inferior. Some of that is opinion (like the writing), but some of it is objective appraisal… Kingmaker is like playing with a vindictive GM on crack cocaine with all its bugs and balance issues.

I quite disagree with your assessment with Kingmaker - I didn't notice any balance issues apart from the last 2 chapters with the Wild Hunt spam, other than that, it was perfectly fine from my point of view. Most of encounters were something players can deal with given abilities and consumables, just requires change in tactics if you are having difficulty. Not to mention the game offers highly customisable difficulty settings options.

As for the bugs, these were addressed a long time ago and it's no worse than any other similar games out in the market.

You may dislike the game but saying the game is vastly inferior is a false statement.

EDIT: Anyway, back to topic.

I think it's a decent list, there are still many I haven't had a chance to play, hopefully I will get around playing some of them one day.
 
Yeah I thought that was a good list overall. BGII would get top spot for me though. :) I still haven't played Kingmaker but I'm really looking forward to it - RL just isn't giving me the required time for a massive 100hr game at the minute.

I'm surprised Shadowrun Dragonfall did so well, beating both of the Original Sin games. Was it really that good? I played the first one and found it ok but a bit underwhelming.

Grimoire is rated higher than all the Wizardrys except 8. ;)

I'm surprised Dark Sun did so well. I love my D&D games but I've never played it or even heard that many people talking about it. I think it's already on my GOG account though as part of a bundle purchase so it sounds like I'll have to give it a go. Especially since it's a recommendation from our own HiddenX!

Tyranny should be higher. And no Skyrim? I know Bethesda aren't flavour of the month, bit I'm surprised it doesn't make a top 100 (and that Oblivion does!).
 
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I'm surprised Shadowrun Dragonfall did so well, beating both of the Original Sin games. Was it really that good? I played the first one and found it ok but a bit underwhelming.

I can vouch for Dragonfall being much better than the first game. I loved it, but as an overall game it's still a bit too lacking in exploration, encounter variety and things like that to rank it partcularly high on an all-time list, but if you thought the first was okay, I encourage you to play Dragonfall. I think you'd be happy with it.
 
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Shadowrun doesn't deserve to be anywhere near that high imo. I feel the same way about Age of Decadence, Dark Souls, and Grimoire.

I'm surprised Dark Sun did so well. I love my D&D games but I've never played it or even heard that many people talking about it.

Dark Sun has a great setting, but I recall it being pretty buggy. Never did finish that one.
 
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First 2 Gothics are in the top 20, list approved.

Gothic should be in the top 10.

I'm a little surprised to see Elex at #38. I wouldn't have thought it would make the list at all, although I'd personally rank it even higher.

Also surprised that Temple of Elemental Evil isn't higher on the list.
 
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I think this list is actually more of a list of to-play games for RPG fans.
Of course you won't like all of them. Some of these are too old for some to play. Others are turn-based and you may not like turn-based. You even have games which are just combat games or looters or blobbers.

If these aren't your style you probably won't like them.

However, I think for me it's a good list to look at and see what I haven't tried and may be willing to.

I think the order is unimportant, just that it's on there means it's unlikely to be complete and utter ****. It is also morel likely to be good/fun to play.
 
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