Making the thread a contest between Bethesda and Bioware is silly; neither of those companies make great RPGs. Western RPGs are... (insert insulting comment).
Ogre Battle is one of my favourites; Secret of Mana is probably top of the list though. FF4,5,7,9,10 are all great. There were a lot of pirate rpgs in the late 80s/early 90s like 1869, Sid Meier's Pirates etc. Every game ever made in that genre was amazing. Majora's Mask is one of my favourite stories of all time.
Fable was an awesome game, but only because you could kick chickens and have many wives.
Few other notable mentions: Legend of Dragoon, Earthbound, Legend of Mana (probably the least-liked on my list), the entire Ultima series, the entire Might and Magic series, LORD (the BBS game), Exile (if you loved this game I will buy you premium), Phantasy Star Online (dreamcast game, first and only MMO I really enjoyed).
Also, dozens of roguelikes; current fave being the ones that I can play on my iPad while waiting for other things.
DoomYoshi wrote:Thanks natty for representing the roguelikes.
Making the thread a contest between Bethesda and Bioware is silly; neither of those companies make great RPGs. Western RPGs are... (insert insulting comment).
Ogre Battle is one of my favourites; Secret of Mana is probably top of the list though. FF4,5,7,9,10 are all great. There were a lot of pirate rpgs in the late 80s/early 90s like 1869, Sid Meier's Pirates etc. Every game ever made in that genre was amazing. Majora's Mask is one of my favourite stories of all time.
Fable was an awesome game, but only because you could kick chickens and have many wives.
Few other notable mentions: Legend of Dragoon, Earthbound, Legend of Mana (probably the least-liked on my list), the entire Ultima series, the entire Might and Magic series, LORD (the BBS game), Exile (if you loved this game I will buy you premium), Phantasy Star Online (dreamcast game, first and only MMO I really enjoyed).
Also, dozens of roguelikes; current fave being the ones that I can play on my iPad while waiting for other things.
My friend said Phantasy Star was what originally got him into MMO's. Mind you that was before he became one of the worst WOW addicts I know..
DoomYoshi wrote:Thanks natty for representing the roguelikes.
Making the thread a contest between Bethesda and Bioware is silly; neither of those companies make great RPGs. Western RPGs are... (insert insulting comment).
Ogre Battle is one of my favourites; Secret of Mana is probably top of the list though. FF4,5,7,9,10 are all great. There were a lot of pirate rpgs in the late 80s/early 90s like 1869, Sid Meier's Pirates etc. Every game ever made in that genre was amazing. Majora's Mask is one of my favourite stories of all time.
Fable was an awesome game, but only because you could kick chickens and have many wives.
Few other notable mentions: Legend of Dragoon, Earthbound, Legend of Mana (probably the least-liked on my list), the entire Ultima series, the entire Might and Magic series, LORD (the BBS game), Exile (if you loved this game I will buy you premium), Phantasy Star Online (dreamcast game, first and only MMO I really enjoyed).
Also, dozens of roguelikes; current fave being the ones that I can play on my iPad while waiting for other things.
My friend said Phantasy Star was what originally got him into MMO's. Mind you that was before he became one of the worst WOW addicts I know..
Most people I knew played Everquest extensively, but I liked to play a game for a few weeks and then move onto another. Me and the everquest people drifted apart because 3 years later, they were still playing the same game and I had moved on (although not necessarily to new games since old ones are cheaper).
Morrowind beats the shit out of anything on this list.
Final Fantasy Tactics comes in a close second, although it's not truly a role playing game.
But as far as storytelling, an interesting and fun to explore world, a deep back story, in depth character customization, and interesting characters, all things important in a game meant for role playing, Morrowind takes the cake, so to speak.