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Incline RPG Codex's Best RPGs - 2024 - VOTING IS CLOSED

mediocrepoet

Philosoraptor in Residence
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I'll try and write something for Elden Ring. I could write something for Wrath, but haven't because although I have triple digit hours in it, it's mostly from EA and mostly from the first few acts. I've never completed the stupid thing, so if there's a criticism of the late acts (and I'm sure there are many), I wouldn't be aware of it so it'd be an IGN review, not a Codex review. :P
 

Konjad

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Butter

Are 2 reviews needed for every single new game? Some of these are really long and if you compare to the 2019 list, sometimes they'd have 3 reviews but combined still the same length or shorter. I think you can get away with it, especially if those voting for games don't feel the need to write a review.
I'm not sure what you're suggesting. The 2019 list is a little inconsistent about review length. Sometimes it's a single paragraph, other times it's several. At 250-350 words, the reviews I've solicited might average longer, but not to an inappropriate degree. I don't mind having 3 shorter reviews instead of 2 longer ones, if people feel intimidated by 250 words.
I was thinking more of a suggestion/getting your thoughts about delaying things due to lack of reviews (i.e. only 1) if that one review is quite long and covers all major aspects.
It's not ideal. I think it's desirable that each game gets more than one perspective, even if both reviewers agree that it's a masterpiece or whatever. But I can live with it if nobody steps up.

By my count, we still lack one review each for Caves of Lore, Wrath of the Righteous, Elden Ring, Avernum: Escape from the Pit, and Colony Ship.
As for colony ship, Beans00 wrote one here so you should have 2 with mine, unless you consider it not positive enough :M
 

Konjad

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Are we gonna wait forever because four games are missing an additional review? I think they should just be posted with a single review, clearly even those who voted for them don't give a shit.
 

Gandalf

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For Avernum: Escape from the Pit. Did not voted for it, for your information.
There are games that one carries the memory of in one's heart.
Such a title would have been Exile I for me, had I not been suffering from memory lapses recently.

It also doesn't help that I don't know much about how to fire it up on my machine (as we know Gandalf is a stick-beating barbarian, not some marvellous computer wizard).

Fortunately, Exile 1 and the other parts of SS's (short for Spiderweb Software's) wonderful trilogy have lived to see remakes. Double that!

SS first remade Exile under the name Avernum and later released a second remake called Avernum with the subtitle of Escape from the Pit, so that no one would have a problem distinguishing between the versions.

So, what kind of cRPG is this?

Great one, in an refreshed isometric view, but at the same time being old-school. It is a good game, but if I remembered Exile 1 correctly, I would say that it probably remains better than both of the remakes.

Having written that, Avernum: Escape from the Pit is a superb return to this underground adventure anyway! Rewritten, remade with a more modern look, possible to be played several ways.

This title severs the player a turn-based combat, wonderful exploration, lot's of spells and battle disciplines. It has also pretty cool and unique story. Some folks might dislike game being somewhat more difficult and streamlined than it's precedesors, but it's still solid as an underground wolrd of Avernum itself!

Summarizing: rich system, hours of fun, SS did a great job reviving the old classic, I teel you!
263 words, 1516 characters.
 

Butter

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As for colony ship, Beans00 wrote one here so you should have 2 with mine, unless you consider it not positive enough :M
I think the end product would be far more entertaining if, for each game, the list contained a review trashing it.
This would be amazing, and nowhere but RPG Codex would ever do it. I doubt we can find negative reviews for all the games on the list though.
 

mediocrepoet

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Butter Here are two that you were looking for. Sorry for the delay. :P
Feel free not to use them if they're too shit.

Elden Ring

The Souls formula has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in Demon’s Souls on the Playstation 3. Elden Ring changes that up, for better or worse, by presenting a full open world with dungeons and secrets liberally spread around the map, although there are also spaces to traverse and at times, to determine how to navigate through into the next areas.

The game has been polarizing and how much you buy into it likely depends on what attracts you to gaming in the first place. If you enjoy atmospheric areas and exploration/discovery, you may very well like Elden Ring. If you think the greatness of Dark Souls was that you could poise through everything and that there were one way doors and such to make interconnected levels, but hate open world anything and crafting systems, this may not do it for you.

I loved Elden Ring and did several completionist runs of it back to back in the year it released and it’s telling that that accounted for roughly half of my gaming for that entire year. This is not a succinct experience, and there are times when the game really reminds you that sometimes less is more. Had From reduced some of the sprawl and emphasized more unique content as opposed to some re-skinned or samey bosses and mini-bosses in order to fill out the vast world, I suspect they’d have an even higher quality game that would have taken less time to develop and allowed them to save more for DLC areas or a proper sequel that would have been more fully fleshed out.

Despite these flaws, Elden Ring is an incredible value proposition that has felt more like a proper RPG adventure with Souls combat as opposed to the mainline Soulsborne games which tend to feel like more stripped down experiences – more akin to an action dungeon crawler than an RPG with actual NPCs and so on. It remains to be seen how much longevity this game has in years to come as the insane length of the game makes it more difficult to return to than other Souls games.



Caves of Lore

Caves of Lore is a traditional party-based RPG with up to 6 party members that hearkens back to simpler games of an earlier era with an emphasis on exploration and relatively simple combat over narrative or talking about your companions’ feelings. You create your PC and then encounter a variety of potential party members in the world which could irritate people who prefer the Icewind Dale approach of full party creation. Writing is minimalist, which is my preference for these sorts of games (unless it's amazing, but let's be real, most isn't) but it gets the point across and there are additional texts and books that you're able to read if you're so inclined.

The system is classless, with both levels and learn by doing systems in place. There are also additional perks and abilities that you can learn every several levels (different intervals on each), and spells are learned by casting them, at first with the aid of items such as spellbooks, up until the spell is fully known by the character.

There are a few minor issues with the game, but it’s inexpensive and a great example of a hidden gem.
 

Anonymous Ranger

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I really was hoping someone else would do the WOTR one but I guess I'll do it if no one else is willing. Feel free to not use if someone else does one cause there's is probably going to be a lot better.

WOTR

Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous is Owlcat’s second game after 2018’s, Pathfinder Kingmaker. Playing basically the same in terms of combat, Owlcat’s real change comes from the scale they decided to operate at. The game is longer, the story is more epic with higher stakes, the battles are against demons instead of fey and there’s more classes to choose from.

The most impressive feature that Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has to offer is the mystic paths. You get a choice between nine of them and a majority of them alter not only what skills your character can learn but also the way other characters react as well as what happens in the story. Some of them change the game in big enough ways that it’s worth playing through the game a couple of times to see the differences.

The game is great but not without its issues, some people dislike the number of classes that are in the game as not all of them are difference enough from each other to justify existed, there’s sometimes too many trash mobs that just slow down combat and that the game is too long and peters out near the end. These are all fair criticisms; however, I still believe that these issues don’t out weight the amount of fun that the game has to offer and I would strongly recommend.
 

Tavar

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RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In
Colony Ship
Colony Ship is the latest game of Iron Tower Studios. It takes place on the titular colony ship which has been on its mission to reach Proxima Centauri for generations. After a disastrous mutiny against the ship's original leadership, the population has splintered into different fractions and no one has a clear idea on the state of the mission. Our adventure starts in the Pit - a sprawling heap of vacant cargo containers populated by those who couldn't afford to stay in the nicer parts of the ship. An old friend has a hunch on where to get some valuable tech and he wants us to check it out.

In terms of gameplay, Colony Ship is a isometric, party-based RPG which reminded me a lot of the original Fallout games. It can be played with or without party members, features turn based combat and likes to use all kinds of skill checks. In contrast to Fallout, skills level up by use in Colony Ship rather than by spending skill points on them. This needs to be kept in mind when deciding on how to solve a certain problem. The progression feels very satisfying and one of the key strengths of the game. The combat is a bit more complex than in Fallout. It places a heavy emphasis on debuff grenades and features reaction attacks, aimed shots as well as timed gadgets. Also, the game has a lot of consequences of choices. It's very easy to miss content in this game and seeing everything in one play-through is close to impossible. Hence, there are a lot of incentives to do multiple play-throughs. I've finished the game four times by now and I rarely replay games, so it works like a charm. It also helps that a single run only takes 10 to 15 hours. I think the emphasis on consequences of choices really makes this game stand out and is its second key strength.

However, Colony Ship is also a flawed game. Certain areas feel unfinished, controls are clunky, the graphics are dated and the writing is only passable. Itemization is also bad: It's hard to get excited about the next dozen of shitty boots which fetch ten credits each. Nevertheless, I think that it's still a good game and it was the game I enjoyed the most in 2023. If you liked Fallout, then you should give this game a try.
 

Butter

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So when's the article coming out, Butter
It'll happen. I gotta source screenshots for each new game so I can make these:

16828.jpg
 

KafkaBot

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Is it going to be a top 75?

Also, I just realized Sengoku Rance fell off the list. That is pure decline, honestly.

Didn't vote for it because I think it belongs in the top 20, not the top 10, but still.
 

Butter

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Is it going to be a top 75?

Also, I just realized Sengoku Rance fell off the list. That is pure decline, honestly.

Didn't vote for it because I think it belongs in the top 20, not the top 10, but still.
Strategic voting is valid. It's going to be the top 70 + 14 hidden gems. The coomers all came out for BG3 this time instead of Rance.
 

KafkaBot

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Fair enough. Kicking Prey and Dungeon Rats off the list is sad, but keeping Skyrim out of it is probably worth it.
 

mindx2

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Is it going to be a top 75?

Also, I just realized Sengoku Rance fell off the list. That is pure decline, honestly.

Didn't vote for it because I think it belongs in the top 20, not the top 10, but still.
Strategic voting is valid. It's going to be the top 70 + 14 hidden gems. The coomers all came out for BG3 this time instead of Rance.
At least this time around I have most (if not all?) of these that had/have physical boxed copies... :shredder:. For the games that don't, I wish I could remember the guy in Europe who made me the Grimrock I & II and the Heroine's Quest boxes. He did an awesome job with those. I should make another RPGCodex Top 70 Boxed Edition article again... :hmmm:
 
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Will you accept rewrites of previous "reviews" for games while you are working on the screenshots Butter ? As in, weigh new reviews of games against the ones already written for games which made it into the top 101 rpgs list? There's a couple of games I voted for which I feel like do not convey why the person should play it with the first mini-reviews.
 

Butter

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Will you accept rewrites of previous "reviews" for games while you are working on the screenshots Butter ? As in, weigh new reviews of games against the ones already written for games which made it into the top 101 rpgs list? There's a couple of games I voted for which I feel like do not convey why the person should play it with the first mini-reviews.
Yeah, that's fine.
 

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