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The (many) RPGs of 2014 - this is the year

It's great to be RPG fans in 2014. I finally left my mmo addiction because of the amazing list.

How about 2015 RPGs?
My anticipated RPGs are the Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Pillars of Eternity, and Torment. Dragon Fin Soup looks interesting as well. I hope we can get Mass Effect 4, Unsung Story & Project Phoenix in 2015.

There's no way Torment makes 2015.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Yea given how far over schedule that Wasteland went I'm pretty sure Torment will be 2016.

As for 2015 the only things that have really grabbed my attention are Pillars and Witcher.

EDIT: I guess Kingdom Come as well though in my mind I keep seeing that as more of an action game.
 

Slixshot

Banned
It's great to be RPG fans in 2014. I finally left my mmo addiction because of the amazing list.

How about 2015 RPGs?
My anticipated RPGs are the Witcher 3, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Pillars of Eternity, and Torment. Dragon Fin Soup looks interesting as well. I hope we can get Mass Effect 4, Unsung Story & Project Phoenix in 2015.

Yo... it's allllll about that fresh Xenoblade
 

kswiston

Member
Damn, sinatar got banned. Again.

I wonder what he was banned for.


I haven't had nearly enough time to play rpgs this year with my first child being born this past February. I spend a bit of time in Bravely Default, Divinity: Original Sin, and Dragon Age Inquisition, but that's about it. I added Might and Magic X, Black Guards, and a couple other titles to the already big backlog, but have been holding myself back from buying too many new games. I will be optimistic that I will get to more games in 2015. I took the 50/50 book and movie challenge which ate up a lot of my very limited free time.
 

Noaloha

Member
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

1. Age Of Wonders 3 ; I've played so much AOW3 this year and it eats my life away every single time. I don't even consider it a 4X really, not in the onboard mental compartmentalisation I go through -- it's a turn-based combat game with a 4X-ey strategy layer. The battle system is so good; variety, interesting systems, customisation and a distinct lack of dice rolls. That last point has a large part of why I enjoy the combat so much -- there's no missing on basic attacks and this allows for a lot more forward planning, you know you'll kill a unit and can position/focus/retreat in confidence. Tiny, simple system that I've spent a lot of this year thinking about.

2. Divinity: Original Sin ; Most fun turn-based combat ever put down in videogames, straight up. The opening 10, 15 hours are stunning, especially. A game which appreciates the part of pen n paper RPGs that's most fun - brain-engaging improvisation and playful, ego-stroking environmental interactions.

3. Might & Magic X: Legacy ; Janky and wobbly in places, presentation-wise. Skippable story. Lack of meaningful stats to consider outside of your core class choices. And amazing turn-based combat with exceptional balance. There's a recipe that this game follows to the letter, hell, beyond the letter. It nails why I play games like this and demands my attention, deliciously, from start to finish. It's a game that will grab you by the nuts by the second level up and not let go.

4. Banished ; Simple, clean, fresh, comforting, reliable, relaxing, nice, neat and uncommonly humble. I think I'll be playing Banished for years and years. It's a game entirely free from annoyances.

5. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut ; Combat's okay, serviceable, but the world-building, writing and characters are all perfectly pitched in the pulpy sweet spot that this genre revels in. A really fine piece of interactive story-telling, sublime escapism.

6. Legend Of Grimrock 2 ; A lovingly crafted world of buttons and puzzles and atmosphere with a combat system that I'm not fond of. The parts of Grimrock 2 which appeal to me, which suck me in and have me perma-grinning on the inside, are so strong that the minor design niggles inherent in the game (wall-staring, square-dancing) don't faze at all. For a tile-based 'puzzle island', this game's most surprising element is its little story moments, its scripted events; the game has exceptional character.

7. Wasteland 2 ; Flavour, writing, scenarios and world are spot on. Atmosphere through the roof. Combat's good enough to avoid tedium. Some UI elements aside, hard to actually fault the game. It does what it sets out to do with great success. Really easy to have fun with this game when you're in a mood for its specific setting. The game is a huge celebration of telling tales of the wastes.

8. The Banner Saga ; I've several problems with the combat, but they're on the side of 'interesting system design discussion', rather than dismissive 'this is crap'. I think the battle system just needs more time in the oven, the next iteration should be fantastic. And that aside, the rest of the game is superb. The writing is tight, directed and uses brevity where other games would wallow in exposition. The presentation is outstanding, truly beautiful in a retro cartoon way that lends an odd (perhaps personal to me, based on my childhood) legitimacy to this other-worldly magical land that the events occur within. It also has the best gameworld map. The best ever.

9. This War Of Mine ; Respectful and muted and just complicated enough to let its emegent storytelling sing. Not a happy song, but a personal and maudlin one, with a voice somewhat unique in this kind of resource management, pseudo-stealth game. Definitely a mood game, not one to have as a fallback - I can only play it when I'm after a certain experience. But if I'm looking to engage with emotions and uncertain fates in the face of adversity, TWOM has my back.

10. Blackguards ; A combat game, just a combat game, with an intensely open and detailed party-building foundation underneath it. The story is forgettable, flawed in places. The world is just a spreadsheet you go through. The writing has its moments but, for the most part, it's uninspired fantasy fare. None of which matters! This is wonderful turn-based grid combat, with varied and deadly encounter maps, brutally unforgiving dice and enemies abound. The game absolutely does not focus on its weaker aspects, the game absolutely does focus on getting you into mean fights and one-upping itself every battle. There's arguably an odd reliance on save-scumming for initial encounters, if only to figure out how the environmental interactions on any given map function, or to stick a middle finger up to five shitty opening dice rolls, but it is what it is. A very satisfying combat game. An additional positive aspect of the presentation is also an important, simple one -- everything's very, very snappy, very responsive. The game feels nice.

Aaagh, I look at that top 10 and I just think, "Fuck, 2014 was, for my personal tastes, really damn good."

Honourable Mentions
x. Wolfenstein: The New Order ;
x. South Park: The Stick Of Truth ;
x. Hearthstone ;
x. Endless Legend ;
x. Dragon Age: Inquisition ;
x. Xenonauts ;
x. Dark Souls 2 ;
x. Warlock 2 ;
x. Valkyria Chronicles ;


I wish I'd picked up and played The Talos Principle, everything I've seen about the game screams "mmmm, delicious." Just a bad month for finding 'treat myself' funds where games are concerned. Damn you, Santa.
 

Jag

Member
Lords of Xulima should be mentioned more, fantastic game and came out of nowhere.

1000% this and I have been playing cRPGs since the 80s. I have been playing Xulima non-stop. It puts most games that claim to be old school to shame. In fact, it does a great job of combining what was great in the old days with newer style quality of life tweaks.
 

zkylon

zkylewd
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

can't really quote it without breaking the pretty graphics but my list was pretty stacked with rpgs: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143582995&postcount=220

1. dark souls 2 (soulsrpg) - thought it was worse than 1 but still great
3. valkyria chronicles (srpg) - loved it
5. dead state (wrpg/xcom thing) - very clunky and disapointing dialogue but i enjoyed the xcom-y thing a lot
6. tloh: tits (jrpg) - child of the 90s, jrpgs with ps1-esque visuals win me over easily
8. divinity (wrpg) - loved the beginning, but felt it lost steam and imagination half way through

the banner saga got an honorable mention and wasteland 2 would've probably made the list if i had the time to give it a fair shot
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=143582773&postcount=218

1. Divinity: Original Sin ; Not just my favorite game this year, but on my short list of favorite RPG's ever.
2. Elite Dangerous ; The most immersive game I've ever played.
3. Might & Magic X ; The impossible game. A grid movement, turn based blobber released by megapublisher Ubisoft? And it's amazing? How the fuck did this happen!?
4. The Legend of Grimrock 2 ; The template for how a sequel should be done. Improves on everything from the first game and is one of the best real time blobbers ever.
5. Wasteland 2 ; A great CRPG, lots of great choice & consequence stuff. Great writing. Had a blast with it.
6. South Park: The Stick of Truth ; One of the best licensed games I've ever played. It does a phenomenal job of putting you right in the middle of the show.
7. Blackguards ; A deep, challenging SRPG with a great complex character development system.
8. Lords of Xulima ; Haven't finished this yet, but what I've played so far has been excellent.
9. Xenonauts ; A fantastic attempt at remaking X-COM with a modern interface. Makes for a nice companion game to XCOM.
10. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ; I forgot this came out this year on PC. Fantastic character action game.

Dragonfall would definitely been on there (probably where South Park sits) but I hadn't played it when I did my voting.
 
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

I didn't vote in the GOTY thread, but I have been working furiously on my backlog for the past month, and I feel pretty good about my top five at this point:

1. Divinity: Original Sin
2. Might and Magic X: Legacy
3. Dark Souls 2
4. South Park: Stick of Truth
5. Shadowrun: Dragonfall

I can't stretch it to ten without including some games I disliked. Maybe if I get around to Lords of Xulima and Trails in the Sky.
 
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

Mine will be super short, as I'm pretty late on the recent releases.

1. Shadowrun Dragonfall : head and shoulders above its previous iteration, the biggest surprise of the year for me and a game worthy of the original tabletop RPG. Riggers are OP.
2. Divinity Original Sin : for its humor, its slick presentation and the physical-based fighting system which add a nice touch of tactical improvisation.
3. The Legend of Grimrock 2 : Okay, I 'm cheating, I haven't played it yet. But if it is at least as good as Grimrock 1, I know I won't be disappointed.
4. Might & Magic X : surprised by how faithful it is related to "old" M&M games. Tough as nails (I restarted several times before sticking to my current party).
5. Wasteland 2
6. Persona Q : at least the design of the dungeons is far superior to the random locations of Persona 3/4. Cute & clever little dungeon romp.

Haven't played yet but thrilled for :
- South Park: The Stick of Truth
- Lords of Xulima
- Pier solar

What I expect for 2015 :
- Pillars of Eternity
- Shadowrun HK
- Dark Souls 2 - Scholar
- Stranger in sword City (hopefully)
- Serpent in Stagland
- Underworld Ascendant KS
 
RPG Gaf, I wanna see your listings now we've come to the end of this pant-moisteningly good year. If you're so inclined, please find your GOTY post in the main thread and pop it in here. I'm curious where you've all placed this year's RPGs in relation to each other. Mine is super-heavy on the many turn-based RPG-a-likes of 2014.

My list is pretty short because I played a lot of classic rpg's this year as well as the new stuff.

1. Dark Souls II - It's hard to say if I like the first Souls game more because it was something completely different or was just a better game, but I sunk about 90 hours into this one and enjoyed every minute of it. Getting the game at launch made the CO-OP so much more fun, and my skills were decent enough for PvP. I had a blast defending the bell towers. I love the souls games and Bloodborne will be the reason I buy a PS4 this spring.
2. M&M X Legacy
3. Divinity Original Sin

It was tough to chose between these two, but in the end M&M X just sucked me into the game better. I think the combat system in Divinity was amazing, but it got a little repetitive towards the end. The story was also a little boring. The pacing and feeling of adventure/exploration in M&M X was fantastic. Mix in a heavy dose of nostalgia and you've got a winner. It made me want to go back and play the original M&M, which was one of the first video games I can remember playing. Back then I had no idea what I was doing, and could barely get out of the first town, but I loved it anyway. M&M X tapped into that love and I've really enjoyed it.

Wasteland 2, Bloudborne and Pillars of Eternity our on my list so far for next year. Hopefully my computer can run Pillars, because I'm trying to hold off on getting a new computer until 2016. It'll be the first computer I build myself, and the only reason I'm doing it is to play all these great CRPGs!
 

Jag

Member
Just finished Xulima. What a great game. Got a bit long and grindy towards the end, but it also awoke the sleeping completionist beast that lies dormant in CRPG players. It was challenging enough, that I wanted to have every advantage for the endgame.
 
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