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[hydrophilic attack]

from rpgs are day one

 

[AColdDay]

Harebrained Schemes and Obsidian are at the top currently. After that it's on a series basis though

HBS and obsidian are in my A tier as well.

CD Projekt Red is great and so is Larian. D:OS2 is incredible.

Bethesda used to be in that tier until Fallout 4 and Bioware used to be in that tier until Mass Effect 3. I am done buying Bethesda RPGs if they keep going in that direction and Bioware is a shell of what it used to be. Now they are in the B tier and barely clinging to that.

Monolith Soft is a tricky one, Baten Kaitos: Origins is one of my favorite RPGs ever but I wasn't impressed by any of the Xeno games. Their character design has gotten worse and worse over time too.

It is the same reason that Atlus is in my B tier as well. I think they make incredibly fun games to play, but they are a bit too anime so that holds them back. Same reason that Intelligent Systems is in the B tier too despite how great Fire Emblem is from a game design perspective.

Jeez, now that I'm looking at this I wish Japanese developers could find a better middle ground on art and story direction between Eastern and Western styles. I think if I could play those developers' games without cringing, they would probably be my favorite developers in the world.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

Everything from Atlus... Everything...

 

[hersheyfan]

Lots of great replies so far! The "instabuy" responses are tilting heavily towards Western devs, which is nice to see if not a little surprising. We'll see if the Japanese teams can move the needle through the rest of this generation, I suppose.

Its also fascinating to see that some people still have Bethesda in the top most tier. I love Bethesda as well (TES V is still one of my all time favorites), but Fallout 4 was such a disaster for me personally that I can't convince myself to blind buy their stuff any more.

Tier 1
Bioware - I just like the type of game they make, even if they end up being barely mediocre like Inquisition and Andromeda
CD Project Red (Based on TW2, The Witcher 3 & expansions. Will anticipate how they will fare with a different IP)
Yakuza dev

My man! I've always thought of Ryu Ga Gotoku as an RPG series, albeit a heavily action oriented one, but hesitated at including it in the OP because of the anticipated blowback. It's got stats, it's got leveling up, it's got side quests, its got a good plot. Boom, RPG.

Larian (since way back, I'm a hipster Larian fan)
Obsidian

I'm also seeing a lot of Larian fans in this thread, maybe I should give their games another shot. I got into Divine Divinity etc. back in the day (janky but fun), but they just seem to be making RPG's that are super involved - not really my type of game nowadays. I'll give OS another go I guess!

I don't have anyone in Tier A... 'insta-buy' with zero awarness what you're getting is for suckers and ultimately detrimental to the health of the industry. Even crowdsourcing by trusted developers should require a solid pitch and plan.

Guess CD Projekt Red, Larian, Harebrained and Obsidian have earned their bonafides... for now.

Game companies and the people in them change over time. The Bethesda that gave me Morrowind is not the Bethesda that sold me Fallout 4; the BioWare that delighted me with Mass Effect 2 is not the BioWare that gave me Andromeda etc.

Conversely, any of the Tier C developers could capture lightning in a bottle and bring out something amazing in the future.

Well, I can see where you're coming from, but the spirit of the thread is asking if certain devs have built a body of work significant enough to earn your complete trust for the time being. Case in point - a lot of posters are reminiscing about how Bioware and Bethesda used to be in their personal top tier, but aren't now.

From your own example, Bethesda and Bioware were in that space for you once (I was also "delighted" by Mass Effect 2, still my favorite Bioware game), and now they just... arent.

Likewise, Dragon Age Inquisition is an underrated game. I was initially among the detractors but when I got past the whole MMO thing it turned out there was a chewier game at the heart of it.

I really, really enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition on the PS4, I played the ever living hell out of it (stayed out of the GAF OT). Did a double dip on PC, and the replay brought out more of the game's warts. Still positive that their next entry will have signifcant improvements, in Jason Schreier's book the DA team were quoted as trying to incorporate more of CDPR's quest design into their next outing (i.e. no bald-faced fetch quests - even simplistic quest lines should have a story hook that keeps things interesting).

 

[Aters]

Everything is Tier-C for me.

 

[Scuffed]

Divinity Original Sin 2 has propelled Larian into tier one imo.

 

[Durante]

I'm also seeing a lot of Larian fans in this thread, maybe I should give their games another shot. I got into Divine Divinity etc. back in the day (janky but fun), but they just seem to be making RPG's that are super involved - not really my type of game nowadays. I'll give OS another go I guess!

You could play Divinity: Dragon Commander.

 

[GamerJM]

Game Freak and Intelligent Systems are the only ones that are actually "insta-buy".

 

[Ushay]

Usually Day 1 purchase
- CDP
- Larian
- Obsidian

Wait for a sale
- Bethesda
- Bioware
- Square
- Everything else

 

[dezzy8]

Obsidian. Everyone else is wait and see.

 

[Kill3r7]

Blizzard
CDPR
FROM
Bethesda
Bioware
Square (use to be instant buy)
Altus
Obsidian

 

[nelo_inc]

Tier A:
- Square Enix
- CD Project Red
- Monolith Soft


Tier B:
- Bethesda
- Obsidian
- Bioware
- Atlus
- From Software

 

[Javier23]

None.

Sure, I'm *really* looking forward to Cyberpunk, but even then I'll be waiting very excitedly for reviews.

 

[Zukkoyaki]

P-Studio and CDPR are the only ones that I'll buy unconditionally.

Square Enix, Bethesda, Bioware, Obsidian and the Tales team will always receive a good look.

 

[yukimeans_snow]

every Japanese RPG dev has their fair share of bad stuff, so pretty much any game will have to be researched heavily before I buy something.

Tri-Ace used to be on the top of my list, but they're kind of gone now.

I liked Level-5 in the PS2 days, but then they dropped Dark Cloud for Professor Layton and their fake Studio Ghibli art style. Just not a fan anymore.

 

[Host Samurai]

I will instantly buy anything from the Persona team and From.

 

[iceblade997]

I'm not sure I have a tier A dev, but for tier B I'd probably put the following (in no order):

Obsidian
P Studio (I've only played Persona 5 but it was that good)
Silicon Studio
Intelligent Systems

 

[Xaero Gravity]

Bethesda, Obsidian, and CD Projekt RED.

The Persona team was on the list before but I ended up hating P5, so their next game is a wait and see for me.

 

[Mudcrab]

Tell you what, these Larian guys know how to make a good RPG.

Them and Obsidian are firmly in the instabuy category.

 

[Rhoc]

CDPROJEKT Red the goats at the moment for me they can charge 100 euro and I would buy the game probably.

From Software always high quality never disappointed me.

Larian Studios after Divine Divinity 2 they have to be included.

Bethesda F4 was mediocre but I have still fate in them. But they are walking on thin ice they get one more chance from me to redeem themselves.

 

[Trago]

CDPR.

 

[QFNS]

Tier A (aka Will absolutely play their games assuming ports/releases aren't garbage fires):
Larian
Falcom
Harebrained Schemes
Obsidian

Tier B (aka Game needs good reviews AND their port/release isn't a garbage fire):
Square Enix
From Software
Intelligent Systems
CDPR
Blizzard (LOL They don't make RPGs, just card games, WoW, a MOBA, and a shooter)

Tier F (aka the never again tier):
Bioware
Bethseda

 

[BlondeTuna]

Tier A:
CD Project Red
Nintendo EPD

Tier B:
From Software
Obsidian

Tier C:
Everything else

 

[KKRT00]

I think only Bethesda games are a blind purchase for me, especially ES games.
I know that there is no way i wont be enjoying and not playing ES game.

 

[Xumbrega]

CDPR.

 

[Syrus]

Stoic and Xcom guys

 

[dashonfire]

From Software. Developed three of my favourite games of all time (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne). I'd instantly buy anything they put out, don't care what it is at this point, they've earned my trust.

 

[tebunker]

None but instant interest list is pretty long.

Yeah wow first post nailed it. I have 0 instant buy devs, pubs or series.

I try to look at each release in a vacuum as much as possible. That doesn't mean I don't put stuff on my radar for certain groups but I can't imagine insta buying almost any product without doing thorough research.

 

[Arkhanor]

A

- CD Projekt Red
- Obsidian
- Blizzard (If they ever make a "real" RPG)
- InExile

B

- Bioware
- Bethesda
- Square Enix

 

[Wulfram]

A: Bioware (Dragon Age)
B: Bioware (other stuff)
C: Other people

I don't really believe in paying launch price when I'm not short on games I've already bought and haven't finished with. I make an exception for Dragon Age because I like discussing story and lore online for that series, and thus pay a premium to not have to go into hiding to avoid spoilers.

 

[DustyVonEric]

From Soft and Squaresoft

 

[His Majesty]

I'm also seeing a lot of Larian fans in this thread, maybe I should give their games another shot. I got into Divine Divinity etc. back in the day (janky but fun), but they just seem to be making RPG's that are super involved - not really my type of game nowadays. I'll give OS another go I guess!
.

If you want to play a Larian game that is less involved, be sure to give Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga a try. It's a very charming action RPG set in the same universe as the other games.

 

[Kientin]

A Tier:
Larian
FromSoft (I like their old, janky stuff too)

That's it really. Very few games I would buy on blind faith.

 

[Aaron D.]

Bethesda Softworks for me.

Damn I love their unique sandbox rpg footprint.

Prob. Obsidian next.

They've done some wonderful work of late revitalizing the classic cRPG sub-genre.

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

A Tier: I'm hesitant to put any company with too much output (Square Enix or Atlus) in this category, regardless of the quality of their games.

Studio Zero - I know they technically haven't made anything yet, but I'm day one because of Katsura Hashino. He' my favourite active developer right now.
CD Projekt Red - I've only played The Witcher 3, but even though I don't usually like Western RPGs or open world games, it was damn good. Plus, the rate of one game every five years or so seems like a reasonable purchase.

B Tier:
Atlus - I love SMT and Etrian Odyssey, just not all SMT and Etrian Odyssey. We'll see what Persona becomes without Hashino and friends (I'm optimistic honestly).

C Tier:
Square Enix - Even games I don't particularly like in retrospect (like FFXV) are still memorable in one way or another.
Larian - Not my favourite type of games, but goddamn to I respect what they do with them.

D Tier:
Bethesda - Everything Bethesda is known for is something I either don't care about or actively dislike.
Bioware - I think my first Bioware game was Mass Effect 2 on PS3, so I had just enough time to fall in love with them before they went rapidly downhill and broke my heart.

 

[Artdayne]

Insta buys:

CD Projekt Red
Obsidian
Larian - I've only played Divinity OS 1 and now working my way through 2 but both games have been absolutely stellar.

 

[Exploratory]

Literally no one. If Anthem knocks it out of the park then that'll be it.

 

[spad3]

A: CD Projekt RED
B: Game Freak
C: Bethesda
D: Square Enix

 

[lumzi23]

Interesting.

For me it's personally that when I play an RPG, I wanna be invested in the tale of the characters that I am following, both in the mainline story and all the side stories that pop up, and that is where I consider these two studios the weakest.

Bethesda in their latest 4 games have honestly produced high profile duds in storytelling. The main quests in Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 have been some of the weakest and lacklustre stories among RPGs I've heard. And it doesn't get better with their sidequests, how they treat the lore of Fallout in their games (a ghoul surviving in a fridge for hundreds of years still irks me, not to mention how they wrote The Enclave, the Brotherhood of Steel etc.) They have the weakest writing team for being such a prominent RPG making studio. I can't seriously recall much except the stuff that really stood out in how much I thought it was just absolutely stupid (the thief guild quest in Skyrim having basically one mission of actual thieving).

The same goes for Bioware. DA2 was overall a boring story despite them having all the groundworks for a pretty good one (a story centralized a city amidst a turmoil of hate between magic and non-magic users), not to mention the cheap look of the game, the weird detractions of art (that old lady dragon who suddenly turns out in super cleavage and giant hair horns in DA2) and more. DA:I had just a boring story with boring antagonist that wasn't the antagonist but I thought was the antagonist but have been told that wasn't so now I know not what the fuck was going on in there. And oh dear god I wanted to strangle some of the characters. Mass Effect 3 messed up just not the ending (which was an awful way of tying up a beloved series) but tons of plot threads from earlier Mass Effect games (the mystery of dark energy, what was happening with the star on the planet Tali was on in ME2 and much more). ME:A I don't have to go through at all it's just self-explanatory why that one fell on it's face.

I can see why people still like these two studios and it's fine, but personally they have just become, honestly, quite awful at writing their games which is a major important aspect of RPGs for me. When I spend so much time as a RPG demands of me, I want the story to be damn good or interesting. It's why I personally praise the shit out of The Witcher 3, especially Hearts of Stone which has one of the best antagonists, characters and stories of RPGs of all time. It's why I wish Bethesda would pull their head out of their ass and get Obsidian on making Fallout: New Francisco or something as they made the better of all 3 3D Fallouts (by freakin' miles).

I agree about Bethesda not having the best stories though for some reason both Fallout 3 and Skyrim pulled me in for what I played of them. I would probably be among the 100+ hours people were it not for the fact that I don't generally like high tension games (these games frequently send you into underground tombs and bunkers. That said I actually finished and enjoyed Fallout 3 (though I missed most of the side quests).

I haven't finished DA:I but I think if it wasn't for all the meaningless sidequests (which I am growing a resistance to) it would be much more loved. I enjoy the core story and all the character related stuff. The cast of characters is one of the best from Bioware.

I don't have a strong enough memory of previous Mass Effect games to remember all the loose plot threads but Mass Effect 3 is the game that had the most powerful effect on me of all the ME games. The game was just amazing.

I would agree though that CDPR makes better stories than Bioware but I wouldn't use the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to prove that point. You really need to play the previous game Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. What resplendent storytelling, dialogue, characters and voice acting that game had. The third game was comparatively disappointing in the all those areas (though I hear and think the magic of the Witcher 3 is in how the main story and side quests interweave - the latter of which I largely avoided (side quests, I mean) due to the tension inherent in going off the beaten path in open world wilderness games. Also, the Witcher 3 could be quite harrowing in its outcomes for some of the most innocent actions from what I hear/understand).

 

[opoth]

Not much these days, but CDPR and Atlus come closest.

 

[lumzi23]

I really, really enjoyed Dragon Age Inquisition on the PS4, I played the ever living hell out of it (stayed out of the GAF OT). Did a double dip on PC, and the replay brought out more of the game's warts. Still positive that their next entry will have signifcant improvements, in Jason Schreier's book the DA team were quoted as trying to incorporate more of CDPR's quest design into their next outing (i.e. no bald-faced fetch quests - even simplistic quest lines should have a story hook that keeps things interesting).

That would be great. If they can make a large game like DA have the same consistent quality as something like the Kotor games that would be amazing.

 

[Theodran]

Tier A:
- CD Projekt Red
- Obisidan
- Larian
- From Software
- inXile

Tier B:
- Atlus (Persona only)
- Square-Enix
- Level 5

Tier C:
- Harebrained Schemes
- BioWare
- Bethesda

How far the mighty have fallen. BioWare used to be a Tier A studio.

 

[adj_noun]

Bioware and Obsidian. Though I have more emphasis on Obsidian in this post-Andromeda/pre-Anthem phase. I dig Bioware primarily for the huge squad-based epics that very few other folks can even attempt.

I have about 200 hours in Pillars, so Obsidian's kinda obvious.

 

[Valkerionseven]

Back in the day, PS1 era, Squaresoft was my 100% if they made it, I wanted it company. Heck the majority of my PS1 era titles are from them.

Now I can't say there is any company that I would instantly buy anything from. Theres too many variations in quality and I have a better feeling of what I would want to play myself to just buy whatever.

 

[guyssorry]

The only consistent developer I can think of is FromSoftware (specifically, the Souls/BB games). They're extremely consistent, and all of the games have been incredible.

 

[Ml33tninja]

Tier A:
Obsidian(are there games perfect no but I have never been bored or disappointed)
Larianbeen a fan since buy divine divinity on GOG)
Platinum Games(nier that's all I need to say)
Cd Project Red(Witcher 1-3)
From Software(demons souls and I have never looked back)
Tier C
Bioware(I'm just done with until I see something blow my socks off
Tier D
Bethesda(after fallout 4 I'm beyond done with this company)

 

[LectureMaster]

Falcom and CDPR for me. Some of the best memories in my gaming experience.

 

[Azzanadra]

Tier A:

FromSoftware

CDPR

Tier B:

BIoware (these guys used to be A tier, my favorite RPG developers....)

Obsidian (I honestly really love these guys, New Vegas is top 10 of all time material, but I always have to think about buying their games simply due to the extreme variety in their projects from South park to PoE).

Bethesda

Blizzard (however a Diablo 2 remake ala HD Starcraft would definitely be an instabuy)

Tier C:

Bungie

Platinum Games

Larian (not because there games are mediocre by any means but because I may not buy them due to time constraints, D:OS2 looks so huge and thus long of a game that I will not be buying it for a while)

Atlus (same problem as Larian)

 

[StereoVsn]

Good topic. In recent years developers such as Bioware and Bethesda have gone from firm A tier to B and borderline C even while others like CPDR, Larian and Harebrained Studios went to tier A. Anyways, in no particular order:

Tier A:
- Larian (amazing improvement game to game)
- CPDR (come on Cyberpunk)
- HBS (Shadowrun Dragonfall and HK are a must play)
- Yakuza Studio (Its ARPG!)
- Atlus' P Studio and SMT studio (will probably add their new studio as well but we shall see)

Tier B
- Obsidian (Tyranny was meh, PoE was ok)
- Zeboid (loved CSH, so could move to A after another game)
- Falcom (not crazy about characters in CS series and Ys Celcetta and VIII didn't quite grab me, up this could be borderline A)
- SE (very wide output)
- Namco various studios including Tales Of
- Bioware (could slide to C)
- Bethesda (could slide to C)
- Monolith
- KOEI (could slide to C)
- Level 5
- Marvelous
- Vanillaware
- From Soft
- Platinum

Tier C
- NISA
- Compile Hearts
- InXile
- Idea Factory
- Other small Japanese studios
- Variety of Western Indie Studios

 

[StereoVsn]

Tier A:
- CD Projekt Red
- Obisidan
- Larian
- From Software
- inXile

Tier B:
- Atlus (Persona only)
- Square-Enix
- Level 5

Tier C:
- Harebrained Schemes
- BioWare
- Bethesda

How far the mighty have fallen. BioWare used to be a Tier A studio.

This is a travesty. HBS should be at least in Tier B. Shadow run Dragonfall and HK were amazing.