World of Warcraft (not my jam, but it’s insanely popular)
There are a ton more, especially if you broaden the definition to sub-genres to include Diablo 2, TLoZ games (esp. Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild), and Dark Souls.
Half of these games are absolutely nothing like each other, maybe we would all be better off if we just stopped trying to place boxes around things and appreciated them for what they are.
Yeah, I intentionally picked a diverse set of examples. My point here is that “best RPG” doesn’t make much sense without qualifiers, like a year or sub-genre.
The story and engagement. Ultima IV let you talk to literally every NPC in the game, everyone had a name and a job and something to say.
Phantasy Star II was essentially ripped off for Final Fantasy VII to the point where from the minute they introduced Aerith I was like “Well, shit, better not give HER anything I want to keep, she’s dead 1/2 way through the game.” (That was Nei in PSII).
To be clear, those are just the first two off the top of my head, there were other excellent, excellent RPGs.
I really liked the gold box D&D games from SSI - Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades. They don’t hold up well now due to all being turn based RPGs. There is a Steam Collection of ALL of that.
Speaking of, before Fallout, there was Wasteland which has had a modern reboot and sequel. Also a great game that had copy protection built into a story book full of backstory paragraphs.
For JRPGs, it’s hard to go wrong with Suikoden 1 and 2, recently re-released on PS5, drop dead gorgeous RPGs. The Golden Sun games were great too.
I’ve played probably hundreds of RPGs since the start. Disco Elysium isn’t even top 10. It LOOKS great, the writing is dogshit.
The writing is the key point, it has the best writing of most novels so that shows how badly the game is being misrepresented even here by people who didn’t give it a chance because they expected something else or have millisecond-long attention spans. I don’t know why anyone would compare it to any of the other games you listed, the title of the post and article is clickbait, the game is an interactive narrative, not anything like fucking Phantasy Star or others. They’re all great games but it’s weird trying to box them together.
Subjectively What the fuck is even this choice? #1
Fixed that for you. For many people who appreciate nuance and dark humor and a more subtle narrative interaction, these choices are what made the game great. It’s not going to land with everyone and that’s okay, it just needs to be understood that these are personal tastes.
well to say Xenosaga surpassed it…I mean that’s not hard to do.
Xenogears is great but keep in mind it’s not finished. the entire second disc is proof of this. It’s an unfinished game that is regarded as one of the greatest RPG’s of all time. Same with Xenosaga. that’s an unfinished series. so to say Xenosaga surprassed it…well yeah it got further along than Xenogears did.
Out of curiosity, what are some games that you consider contenders for greatest RPG?
Not OP, but:
There are a ton more, especially if you broaden the definition to sub-genres to include Diablo 2, TLoZ games (esp. Ocarina of Time and Breath of the Wild), and Dark Souls.
There are just so many bangers.
Half of these games are absolutely nothing like each other, maybe we would all be better off if we just stopped trying to place boxes around things and appreciated them for what they are.
Yeah, I intentionally picked a diverse set of examples. My point here is that “best RPG” doesn’t make much sense without qualifiers, like a year or sub-genre.
Western - Ultima IV
Eastern - Phantasy Star II
Damn, RPGs peaked in the 80s for you. What did these games do right that nothing has done better since?
Exist when they cared more and had less things to compare it to so that nothing can ever surpass the nostalgia of the game, regardless of quality.
The story and engagement. Ultima IV let you talk to literally every NPC in the game, everyone had a name and a job and something to say.
Phantasy Star II was essentially ripped off for Final Fantasy VII to the point where from the minute they introduced Aerith I was like “Well, shit, better not give HER anything I want to keep, she’s dead 1/2 way through the game.” (That was Nei in PSII).
To be clear, those are just the first two off the top of my head, there were other excellent, excellent RPGs.
I really liked the gold box D&D games from SSI - Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Blades. They don’t hold up well now due to all being turn based RPGs. There is a Steam Collection of ALL of that.
Speaking of, before Fallout, there was Wasteland which has had a modern reboot and sequel. Also a great game that had copy protection built into a story book full of backstory paragraphs.
For JRPGs, it’s hard to go wrong with Suikoden 1 and 2, recently re-released on PS5, drop dead gorgeous RPGs. The Golden Sun games were great too.
I’ve played probably hundreds of RPGs since the start. Disco Elysium isn’t even top 10. It LOOKS great, the writing is dogshit.
The writing is the key point, it has the best writing of most novels so that shows how badly the game is being misrepresented even here by people who didn’t give it a chance because they expected something else or have millisecond-long attention spans. I don’t know why anyone would compare it to any of the other games you listed, the title of the post and article is clickbait, the game is an interactive narrative, not anything like fucking Phantasy Star or others. They’re all great games but it’s weird trying to box them together.
Games are entertainment. When you’re playing a game and you are presented with:
Terrible choice #1
Terrible choice #2
Terrible choice #3
Just godawful choice #1
What the fuck is even this choice? #1
That’s not entertaining. I can get where some people might derive some kind of enjoyment from that, I don’t.
Fixed that for you. For many people who appreciate nuance and dark humor and a more subtle narrative interaction, these choices are what made the game great. It’s not going to land with everyone and that’s okay, it just needs to be understood that these are personal tastes.
Xenogears. Just off the top of my head.
That was made 25 years ago. And just off the top of my head, Xenosaga surpassed it.
well to say Xenosaga surpassed it…I mean that’s not hard to do.
Xenogears is great but keep in mind it’s not finished. the entire second disc is proof of this. It’s an unfinished game that is regarded as one of the greatest RPG’s of all time. Same with Xenosaga. that’s an unfinished series. so to say Xenosaga surprassed it…well yeah it got further along than Xenogears did.
Just because an RPG was made 25 years ago that does not automatically make it bad lol
Half-finished, at best.