And if I have to see Planescape rated higher than BG2 one more time I'm finally gonna put that crossbow in my mouth.
I used to content myself with lurking, but at that point I'd like to share my thoughts.
I am in a way also sick of seeing PS:T at the top of this chart. Certainly not because the evil mainstream stole my precious rpg gem but rather because I am very certain that this choice in particular is not at all about actual preference but simply about rpg hipster cred.
Because if it wasn't, it would pose the delicate question why Torment, that was released in fucking 1999, has only found it's way into these kinds of charts and wider mainstream media attention in general in the last couple of years.
Maybe gaming journalists needed to mature and develop the refined taste to properly judge the classics? Then surely shit like Mass Effect 2 and worse wouldn't be on this list, right?
Maybe the game needed to ripen like a good wine? After all, it's not like "Games age [...] and the technology they were built on looks like junk today." Oh.
Or
maybe, these people in fact just care so little for rpgs, but are - for obvious reasons - under no circumstances allowed to let it show - that they don't back off from even the most absurd mental gymnastics, like their hilarious definition of "the best rpgs" just to not having to actually deal with them on a substantial level beyond their gut feelings.
In my opinion, these people are simply unable to do their job, which would be bringing underrated and especially under-advertised gems to their audience's attention instead of showering them with basically insubstantial reviews of anyway hyped-to-hell-and-back games by very-to-moderately big companies.
Case in point: Serpent in the Staglands versus Pillars of Eternity, two thematically and mechanically greatly similar games. The former is an absolutely unexpected surprise made by
two fucking people with a fraction of the budget of the latter, that has exactly two things going for it, which is pre-rendered backgrounds - and those, again, are mostly a matter of budget - and the realisation that those DO in fact look better than bad to mediocre real-time 3d. Yet the former is almost not written about while the latter, despite the sobering concession of even the biggest fanbois that "well, it's not perfect but good for what it is", is apparently rpg #20 OF ALL TIME.
Case in point #2: Dark Souls I versus II. Some people love them, some people like them, some people hate them. BUT I have virtually seen no one, be it on the internet or in real life, state that II is somehow better than I. Some say I is miles ahead, others say I is slightly better, but no one ever said DSII is better than DSI. Yet Dark Souls I has a "critic" metascore of 85 while II scores a whopping 91 (and I think he difference was even greater a year ago). Guess the gaming journalists were a little late for the hype train.
To sum it all up: This list - at least from my point of view - has little to do with incline but very much with the fact that PC Gamer will be the ones scoring #1 on the Most Hipster Mainstream RPG Critics of All Time chart (this year).
