Phew, that was more work than I anticipated. I don't think I've played any new RPGs this year and I still haven't gotten around to playing some "classics" like Mask of the Betrayer, Planescape: Torment, Dark Souls or Deus Ex. But I've never participated in one of these so here we go:
1) Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn [PC] 3 Points
"Life... is strength." This guy. This guy right here. David Warner's slick and sinister vocalization of the villainous Jon Irenicus is probably the most enduring element of BioWare's role-playing masterpiece. There is little doubt that Shadows of Amn is
the Western RPG. Despite the utilization of a clunky 2.5 D&D ruleset conjured for the game alone, the second installment of the Baldur's Gate "trilogy" is a pitch perfect combination of gorgeous painted backdrops, engrossing epic narrative, surprisingly deep party member interactions and a combat system that will have you frantically pausing and planning throughout the entire game. The rich modding community and decent expansions are just icing on the cake. This game is the reason people wistfully long for sprawling plots that take over a hundred hours to complete and carry you across numerous exotic locations. The scope of this game is truly staggering but it is that damnable Jon Irenicus that will keep you pressing through pirate coves, haunted graveyards, hellish planes and alien caverns. It's countless sidequests are as engaging and realized as many main arcs in more modern tales. It may not be the deepest story but it is superbly handled and captures the right elements of the hero's journey to make it more mythical than anything else. BioWare and Black Isle had stumbled upon true gold here and both companies would be haunted by it ever since.
2) Chrono Trigger [NDS, PSX, SNES]
Nostalgia is a power emotion that almost always insures that the best games are always something from our childhood. The classic tunes and aged art have a way of sending us back to a simpler, fonder time. Thus, it was a stroke of pure brilliance when a game was designed to specifically tap into these emotions. Chrono Trigger represents the height of the powerhouse that was the nineties JRPG video game industry. It's an epic story that crosses generations and epochs but starts so innocuously at a simple village fair. Our mute protagonist is accidentally swept away on the grandest journey that would have him jumping back and forth through time meeting friends and enemies as welcoming and terrifying as they are familiar and alien. The story is gripping and one of the rare times that I would be so invested in the characters I was moved during the emotional climaxes. The music is powerful and memorable, striking the perfect score for every leg of the adventure. The characters are fully realized, the gameplay is unendingly enjoyable, the graphics are beautiful and the choices and actions you make will decide one of thirteen unique endings. The only blemish on this game is Square's poor handling of the series and refusal to ever return to it again.
3) Fallout: New Vegas [
Steam, PS3, Xbox 360]
Perhaps the most tragic tale in New Vegas is the one about the developer themselves. They had to abandon the property when Interplay closed down Black Isle. Then they had to watch Bethesda scoop it up and put out Fallout 3 - an interesting but ultimately shallow version of the original post-apocalyptic role-playing game. The most endearing feature of the Fallout series is it's throw back to 1950's Americana in a dystopia future ravaged by atomic warfare in a market inundated with generic fantasy stories of Tolkien elves and stubby dwarves. While Bethesda attempted to replicate the same feel, they fell quite short of reaching anything close to the morally complex and intriguing originals with their baby-eating, puppy kicking villains and third-world charity organizing paladins in gleaming bright power armour. Then came the opportunity of a lifetime and Obsidian was given the chance to make a spin-off of 3. Perhaps Bethesda thought they could cash in quickly with a "sequel" to their aging and crippled Gamebryo engine. What they probably didn't expect was for New Vegas to outsell 3 or to be far better than their take in almost every conceivable way. This was Fallout at its finest with deep characters, superb writing, a sense of history and a handful of philosophy driven factions fighting over the war torn deserts surrounding the bomb shattered ruins of the Vegas Strip. This was the original Fallout's development team's swan song, however, as they failed to reach the critical benchmark set by their contracts to receive the bonus they deserved and needed thus ensuring the two companies will likely never work together again. But this is Obsidian at its finest with writing that demonstrates games aren't just for kids and that stories can be far more than your classic "good versus evil." Everyone needs to die to cazadors at least once in their life.
4) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 [PS2, PS Vita]
If there was one award I would give Atlus, it would be for having the most incomprehensible lyrics for a song. If there was a second award I could give, it would be for making the best modern JRPGs. While the rest of the industry across the sea seems to have stagnated, Atlus continues to create interesting, stylish, compelling and damn well made games. I'm a relative new comer to the Shin Megami Tensei series which has been around since the early nineties. Which is a shame since their trademark is the utilization and exploration of every mythos, fable and legend known to mankind. All of their series I have tried have been fantastic, from the bizarre but Hindu inspired Digital Devil Saga to the turned base tactic handheld Devil Summoners. However, it is their Persona series that has really taken off. These games follow a bunch of teenagers who can summon Thor, Thanatos and Lucifer in order to do battle with the psychological worries and traumas that plague their community. Persona 3 was a turning point in the series both for including dating simulator elements into their game in a way that wasn't creepy as well for having their kids shoot themselves in the head to perform magic. And while Persona 4 regrettably dropped the ego suicide summoning tactics for tarot cards, they did manage to improve the formula in every other way possible. The menus are slick, the music is stupid but catchy, the characters are morons but infinitely endearing and you can fight black blobs by invoking the power of a penis riding a spike covered chariot.
5) Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines [Steam]
This isn't Twilight and if you were expecting something pretty you're going to be disappointed. Flawed but ambitious is perhaps the best way to describe some of the greatest RPGs ever created. And if you don't believe me that this game is ambitious, you need to try a Malkavian playthrough. There are many parallels we can draw between Troika studios and Obsidian. Not least is an emphasis on expert storytelling and complex characterization perhaps to the detriment of a game that unfortunately becomes riddled with bugs and reaches a point where it's obvious the developers ran out of time to finish (which unfortunately led to Troika's demise). Despite its flaws, Bloodlines captures the tortured life of monsters doomed to pitiful power struggles as they slowly watch their humanity melt away that was intrinsic to the White Wolf tabletop game. If you've never heard of White Wolf or Vampire the Masquerade before then get ready for a take on vampires that you will have never seen. It's sexy and soul sucking with each new location bringing to focus a different aspect of damnation. Strap in and enjoy, just beware the park at night.
6) The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim [
Steam,
PS3, Xbox 360]
Skyrim is as much about what it lacks as it is about what it possesses. This isn't a game with an amazing storyline. The characters are easily forgettable. The dialogue is pretty inane and given rise to a couple of memes because of how annoying it can be. The combat still degrades into "run backwards and mash attack until things are dead" that has characterized the series for at least four entries. The loot is atrocious. The highly touted "Radiant" quest design is incredibly repetitive. But despite its flaws, there is one thing that Skyrim does and it does like no other game: atmosphere. More than any other entry in the series, Bethesda has perfectly nailed its setting and wandering the snowy hinterland beneath the gaze of towering, mist veiled mountains is unlike anything found anywhere else. While picking your way through a forest of looming pine trees a sudden snow squall will descended and before you know it, a chorus of viking warriors will raise their voices from the tumbling drifts as the screech of a fearsome Elder Dragon fills the air right before the mighty beast descends upon you. It is those moments that make Skyrim stand above other role-playing games. If exploration and self driven discovery aren't your thing, you'll find nothing of value here. But if you love just throwing yourself into a foreign land and finding things on your own then war-torn Skyrim might just be the place for you. One final word of advice: always purchase your Bethesda games on PC as they support a modding community that makes the game so much better that you'll forget what the original release was like.
7) Final Fantasy 6 [SNES, PSX, GBA]
I have no idea how this game doesn't make it on the list of the guy who
debuted in it. Final Fantasy 6 (or 3 if you're American) was the last Final Fantasy on the Super Nintendo and our last hope we'll get Setzer in a Smash Bros. Perhaps all the stars aligned for this one but for whatever reason, Final Fantasy 6 hit all the high notes with not a single element to drag it down. You know this is an epic not because it has a story unfolding over two major acts with fourteen different characters but because it has one of the definitive opera scenes in gaming history. And much like Baldur's Gate, this game's antagonist leaves a permanent impression on the player. There is a reason that Kefka comes up as the most fearsome villain of the series and least of all is the fact that he seems to just have plain, good old fashioned maniacal fun throughout the thing. It also gave us Woolseyisms which, love them or hate them, had a ton of character. I'm disappointed that Square didn't keep some of them when they retranslated the game in its numerous re-releases. In my heart, you still cry "Son of a submariner!" to me, Kefka!
8) Alpha Protocol [Steam, PS3, Xbox 360]
This is the greatest RPG that no one played. Watching the review thread and OT on Gaf for this game was very interesting. For some inexplicable reason, it seemed reviewers were divided but not how you would expect. Those who reviewed the game in Europe had an average score 20 points higher than those in America. I'm not a sociologist to analyze this data but the most common complaint about Alpha Protocol was that it was not Mass Effect. While BioWare fever seemed to be at it's highest pitch, Alpha Protocol came and went. It's continued existence seems to be solely attributed to the handful of people that actually played it and espoused it's virtues beyond not being an action space opera. Primarily, the choice and consequence of this game is mind blowing. This is more than a couple of binary choices at key locations. How you choose to proceed through three hubs and the order in which you accomplish them can have rippling effects from different dialogue to making bosses incredibly trivial or changing the entire outcome of the game. All this and it's delivered with Obsidian's trademark charm and skill through dialogue and characterization. I challenge anyone to not like Heck by the end. The combat is unbalanced and there's a few non-game breaking bugs but overall it's one of Obsidian's most polished efforts.
9) Diablo 2 [PC]
What is there to say about Diablo? It is a game that spawned a genre and yet remains the least plumbed franchise from Blizzard. It's an action-rpg with little focus on story and greater concern about clicking and looting. However, it works and Diablo II is the uncontested king of its series. It was bigger, bolder and better than it's predecessor with an online as unforgiving as it was thrilling. It offered a lot in terms of play, least of which was the present danger that, unless you were in a password protected game, some jerk could load in at any given time and hunt you through the twisting, randomly generated levels in search of your prized ear and a handful of gold like a ravenous Mike Tyson. I, shamefully, was one of those people and by the time I'd finally hung up my Diablo hat I possessed a brimming chest full of unfortunate auricula from innocent souls. But even if you weren't a jerk, the game had four acts capped with terrifying boss monsters and a treasure trove of obtainable loot that could be combined to turn you into a champion of glowing justice. Or, after the hundredth time some asshole sorceress teleports in to steal all your loot, you let that savagery take over until you hunt that witch down and rip her lobes from her bloody skull.
10) Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords [
Steam, Xbox]
The Sith Lords is the follow-up of BioWare's grossly popular Knights of the Old Republic. It was a broken, unfinished mess rushed hastily out the door just in time to be completely ignored for the Christmas season. It was a game that was sent to die with the small prayer that it would at least make enough to cover development costs based on its name alone. And yet, it's still one of the best western role-playing games ever made and easily the best Star Wars story ever told. It miraculously took the cookie-cutter, cardboard cut-out character of the first and somehow made a compelling, deep character driven story without showing that character once. It was so much better than the original that BioWare promptly ignored and retconned it when they were handed the reigns to make their "sequel" MMO. Which is a shame, since Obsidian designed the game to by the second of a trilogy so we'll never see their ending of a story that took the Star Wars universe in a direction it had never gone before. Was this worth full price at release? Probably not, but the game can be had for a pittance now and with the fan driven Restoration Mod (which I have yet to try) it is certainly to be the most compelling story about the fall of the Jedi with one of the best written characters in the industry.
Honourable Mentions
1.
Suikoden 5 [PS2] - I've always wanted to play Suikoden II since it comes up on so many Best RPGs of All Time lists. However, I have had zero luck in securing a copy. Suikoden V came out in 2006 and I grabbed it based on the hype of its predecessor alone. I do not regret this decision as it is an interesting style of turn based gameplay with probably the least offensive use of quick time events I've ever seen. Containing over 100 recruitable NPCs with varying levels of development and depth, it has all the trappings of a standard JRPG combined with that collective drive of a Pokemon game. Unfortunately, the combat is far too easy and the plot does start straying into some standard JRPG tropes which precludes it from the actual top ten list. I never see it discussed, however, and I certainly feel that it remains a mighty fine game on its own even if it never replicates the supposed perfections of II.
2.
The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall [PC] - I think everyone remembers their first Elder Scrolls game fondly. Consequently, the sequel is always an enormous disappointment since Bethesda has been doing nothing but cutting from their original formula with each iteration. I hated Morrowind for everything that was missing from Daggerfall. The world was smaller, there were less skills, dungeons weren't randomized, the spell system was restricted and on and on it goes. Unfortunately, Daggerfall is an old game and while it's bizarre mix of 2D sprites in a 3D environment certainly allowed them a lot more freedom in their designs the game really shows its age. I don't put a lot of weight on graphics but there is no denying its ugliness by modern standards and that can certainly impede a player's enjoyment. Furthermore, there's a fair amount of unintuitive design which was common for older games but pretty inexcusable now. Despite this, climbing and jumping across the roofs of the marketplace beneath the spires of Palace Sentinel while being pursued by an army of guards in the hopes of reclaiming their ancestral dagger is a gaming experience that will remain with me forever.
3.
Tales of Phantasia [SNES, GBA, PSX, PSP] - I haven't played any Tales games since this one so it still remains my only experience with the curious action/rpg hybrid of the series. The story is pure Japanese but back from a time before we got into really cringe worthy main characters and plots. It carries a lot of nostalgia like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI but just never reached the same level of intricate but beautiful blend of compelling narrative, characters and combat. But, I think I'll always be fond of that whimsical main theme which captures the spirit of the game perfectly. I've been told Tales of Vesperia is really good and perhaps when I get around to actually playing it, it may sneak into my Top Ten. Course, I need a 360 first.
4.
Mass Effect [PC, PS3, Xbox 360] - Oh Bioware, how the mighty do fall. Here is a company that just can not escape from beneath the enormous shadow of Baldur's Gate. Every game they make is compared to that classic and all of them come up wanting after analysis. Mass Effect, however, stands out amongst their middling fare by being one that at least succeeded in offering a unique experience. While they certainly borrowed their fair share of ideas from Star Wars for their own take on the space opera, the universe they created is far more interesting than anything else they've developed. Unfortunately, a number of unique design decisions BioWare thought were revolutionary to the genre instead of just a quirky element to this game were applied far too liberally to their other games with disastrous results. The sequels are also hilariously bad. At the very least, the series has been entertaining whether you enjoy the gameplay or just how much of a train wreck BioWare is capable of creating with their own properties.
5.
Seiken Densetsu 3 [SNES] - Grab your hipster glasses, here's a game that never saw an English release. For us baka gaijin who don't understand the glorious tongue from the Land of the Rising Sun we had to rely on a fan translation of this crazy real-time action-RPG. Which is a shame since the game features six playable characters across three interweaving plot lines and is the only Japanese game I am aware of that has unique interactions between certain party members if you select them together. Its class system incorporated branching light/dark selections which gave you four different end classes for each character. There was also a passage of time system which strengthened your magic if you used it at the appropriate hour as well as having unique encounters on certain days. The story was silly but it had a character incongruously sharing my name which seemed bizarre given the setting but was no doubt unique and foreign for the original Japanese audience. It was fun, fantastical and certainly another gem of Japan's RPG golden years.
)
