10 Best RPGs Of All Time @ MyGaming

As far as I'm concerned, a game needs choices/consequences in addition to character development to be a proper RPG.
I strongly disagree. When game developers announce that some elements in their games are rpg-ish, they always talk about including levels and special abilities.

C&C is not an element of a CRPG. Otherwise SHOGO:MAD, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Dune 2000, Half-Life, ect… would be RPG's, since you can influence their endings or mid-game scenario's. Switching from a linear story telling to divulging story telling is evolution of the medium as a whole, since personal interaction and feedback become more and more possible.

It is not however, a defining element of a CRPG. It is a defining element of the evolution of video games as a whole. But for some reason, if you claim that, it is perceived as an insult by many Mass Effect 2 fanatics.

Character evolution : yes, non-lineair story : no.
 
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I think one could easily build ion choice & consequence into an Adventure game.

but so far no-one has ever made such n hybrid - it would look like n RPG but with Adventure-game technology.

And pure Adventure games with a fantasy setting aren't often to find, either.
The opposite is true as well: There are only very, very few "real-life"-inspired RPGs out there. Alpha Protocol is one of these few.

Which could perhaps be a consequence of marketing beliefs : Marketing people might perhaps believe that both groups of RPG players and Adventure game players too much overlap with one another.
 
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C&C is not an element of a CRPG.

Fully agree. C&C can be (and should be and often times is) an element of any game or genre. It's certainly not a defining element for "what makes an RPG" though.
 
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Interesting perspective. I've always assumed C&C was an integral defining feature of RPGs. But perhaps not.
 
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Interesting perspective. I've always assumed C&C was an integral defining feature of RPGs. But perhaps not.

Well, I agree with you. C&C needs to be into an rpg.
 
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All of these lists are complete and utter crap. I dont know why anyone would get worked up over them. Everybodys top 10 is going to be different than anothers. Its all a matter of personal preference.
 
Yeah, I don't see who simply choosing how to level up your character makes it a 'role' playing game. To me, the idea of the 'role' is that you have to put yourself into the 'role' and make decisions as if you were really there. But to each his/her own.
 
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it is as much RPG as final fantasy, Mass Effect or chrono-trigger ( not that I think these are particularly RPGish either ) .

This doesn't make sense. Which Final Fantasy game are you referring to? They are quite different, you see. Chrono Trigger is BY ALL MEANS an RPG. Stats, levelling, round based combat (ATB), loot and so on. It also contains some C&C aspects, which make it the most Western JRPG that has been produced up to today (and one of the best RPGs ever designed).

Mass Effect is a role playing game in my book. ME2 is not.
 
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Which Final Fantasy game are you referring to? They are quite different, you see. Chrono Trigger is BY ALL MEANS an RPG. Stats, levelling, round based combat (ATB)

Well the thing is the game tells you, congratulations you've leveled up, but you don't get any points to distribute. Notice what I was saying was that it isn't anymore RPG than ocarina of time and I don't think they are particularly RPGish either. I think CT is more RPG than the FF's but they all share this kind of thing. I know you can change your characters progress by equiping items, but eveything is just geared towards combat, while in ocarina of time there are many objects you can equip which are none combat oriented and give you other things to do or other options than just fighting your way through ( + ranged and bow )

IMHO an RPG needs to have a world you can explore and learn lore etc about, people you can talk to, some kind of character progression which you have control over ( Not just congratulations your character is now another level ) , some C&C, equipable items, dialog options among a bunch of other stuffs. Because in all games you play some sort of role, but to really make it roleplaying game you need to be able to play the role with a lot of freedom and not only follow the path made by the developers from A to A,B,C,D,E ( endings ) the FF and CT games play almost the same except the ending and a few scenes, there has to be enough freedom and possiblity to do all of these things IMHO.

Now what they probably meant was RPG-hybrids ( acctually for the most part Mass Effect is still an FPS IMHO ) I can say an FPS-RPG hybrid… but in that case as already noted it is even more wrong not to include ocarina of time.
 
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Ocarina of Time doesn't have any RPG elements. You don't level up, you don't have character stats. You don't choose dialogue options. Mass Effect, incidentally, has all of those things. ME2 plays like a 3rd person shooter, (I'll do you the charity of assuming that that is what you meant when you described ME as an FPS) ME1 does not.

As for there being some kind of 'official' classification that we all have to go by, well that is the most ridiculous thing I've seen on the internet this week. Ocarina of Time is not an RPG by any definition of the genre. It's a fantasy setting and has a story line, but there are no role-playing elements whatsoever.


I think one could easily build ion choice & consequence into an Adventure game.

but so far no-one has ever made such n hybrid - it would look like n RPG but with Adventure-game technology. ...

Heavy Rain. That's a game that the RPG genre could learn a lot from, actually. In particular the idea the having a character fail can be a legitimate choice for the player, and that it often leads to the most interesting outcomes.
 
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I strongly disagree. When game developers announce that some elements in their games are rpg-ish, they always talk about including levels and special abilities.

C&C is not an element of a CRPG. Otherwise SHOGO:MAD, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Dune 2000, Half-Life, ect… would be RPG's, since you can influence their endings or mid-game scenario's. Switching from a linear story telling to divulging story telling is evolution of the medium as a whole, since personal interaction and feedback become more and more possible.

It is not however, a defining element of a CRPG. It is a defining element of the evolution of video games as a whole. But for some reason, if you claim that, it is perceived as an insult by many Mass Effect 2 fanatics.

Character evolution : yes, non-lineair story : no.

Please read what I wrote. I said:
As far as I'm concerned, a game needs choices/consequences in addition to character development to be a proper RPG.

So no, strategy games are not RPGs. They lack character development.

A proper RPG needs:
- Choices w/consequences.
- Character development.

Lack either one and it can still be a very good game, just a very good game in a different genre.

Edit: It doesn't have to be a non-linear story. It could be other things, such as non-linear side quests, dialogue options and so on and so forth. Something that lets you roleplay a character, making decisions based on what kind of character you are roleplaying.
 
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Ocarina of Time doesn't have any RPG elements.

You can collect "hearts" to increase your HP, you can also learn lots of new "skills" throughout the game, you can increase your "mana" etc, just because they are not presented in number it doesn't mean they are not there. And you do have dialogue and actually some of them have options........ It also has a lot of free exploring, you can ride a horse, learn to play an intrsument. I don't see how it is any less RPG than final fantasy which you think is an RPG.

As for there being some kind of 'official' classification that we all have to go by, well that is the most ridiculous thing I've seen on the internet this week.

As I said we all have different classifications, some think the others are ridicules, officially borderlands is an action-RPG too, is that any less ridicules? I have not said the official definitions are good.

Mass Effect, incidentally, has all of those things. ME2 plays like a 3rd person shooter
ME2 was the game in the list..... but I think the fact remain even in ME1 in the combat, your FPS skills is going to be a major factor.
 
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It will be there probably as long as there are RPGs.
 
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I'm surprised people are still having this debate….

All our debates more or less boil down to this :D sooner or later....... imagine how hard it most be for gaming sites who have to try and classify all the games in a genre.... on the other hand it is still very good they are there... otherwise we'd never know which games to keep a lookout for.....
 
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Yeah, of course you're right - and maybe it's just me.

I guess I simply don't care about the genre in itself. Sure, my idea of the CRPG genre is probably my favorite, with several classics in there - but looking back at my all-time favorite games, there are plenty of them that I wouldn't categorise as RPGs.

Like System Shock, Master of Orion 2, X-Com, and so on.

They had some elements of that, certainly, but not enough to qualify as RPGs.

But, so what? They're BRILLIANT games all the same ;)

Some dudes want to refer to them as RPGs, whatever - they're still great, and THAT is what we should be caring about, imo.

To me, a genre is there to help categorise stuff in order to communicate - but it'll never be enough anyway, and as such we'll always need a finer definition than that - if we are to articulate what a game really is, to someone.
 
Please read what I wrote. I said:
As far as I'm concerned, a game needs choices/consequences in addition to character development to be a proper RPG.
While I was talking about elements the whole time, I slipped when I said it makes games RPG's and might have confused you. It should have been RPG-like.

Apart from that, my post replies perfectly to your statements, both old and new. C&C is too commonplace in video games to be defined as a RPG element. It is the same as saying that a 3D engine is a defining element of RPG's.

Imagine the future, where we would have holodecks as in star trek. What would then separate RPG's from FPS's?
 
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Ocarina of Time is an Action-Adventure. I've always been a fan of the Zelda series, and I've played every title since the original, but they are definitely not RPG's.
 
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While I was talking about elements the whole time, I slipped when I said it makes games RPG's and might have confused you. It should have been RPG-like.

Apart from that, my post replies perfectly to your statements, both old and new. C&C is too commonplace in video games to be defined as a RPG element. It is the same as saying that a 3D engine is a defining element of RPG's.

Imagine the future, where we would have holodecks as in star trek. What would then separate RPG's from FPS's?

I'll try to explain it again. When you have BOTH character development AND C&C, you can call it an RPG. I'm not saying either one is exclusive to the RPG genre. I'm saying when you have BOTH, it's an RPG.

If you happen to have both character development AND C&C in a shooter? Yes, then you have Alpha Protocol or Might & Magic, both of which are certainly RPGs.

Bottom line: The fact that you have C&C means nothing. The fact that you have character development means nothing. If you have both however, you're in the RPG genre, whether it's an action RPG like Gothic, a shooter like Alpha Protocol or a more strategic one like Arcanum and Baldur's Gate.

They're in different subgenres due to how different the gameplay is, but they're still RPGs, due to C&C and character development (pretty much the only two things they have in common).

I suppose it's possible to say that games that are not RPGs still have RPG elements. Warcraft 3, for example, is not an RPG. It is a strategy game, but with RPG elements (character development). Diablo is an action game with RPG elements. And so on and so forth.
 
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