Incline RPG Codex's Top 50 cRPGs - Results and Reviews

[Broseph]

It's Bubbles, who can tell?

 

[imweasel]

#8 Fallout:New Vegas

Fun game with great writing, but seriously, it should not be ranked so high because the RPG mechanics are are utter crap and it also has many other flaws.

#7 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

What? I.... I mean.... I.... well.... it's just that.....

.... Oh forget it.

 

[Bubbles]

Might and Magic 7

Spoiler

The shorter, more linear brother of Might and Magic 6, MM7 trades away quantity of content and full freedom of exploration for higher quality in a few select areas. Highlights include a choice between two distinct advanced classes for every character, a "home base" castle, a stronger focus on story telling compared to its predecessor (but without reaching the heights of any story-focused RPG) and some faction based C&C and alternative quests. Low points include a number of particularly annoying areas that are harder or impossible to bypass for lack of decent alternative levelling routes (including a tutorial island), a stronger focus on the main quest to the detriment of side quest variety, and the feeling that the game is a bit too short.

Please stop.

Best way to shut me up is to write more reviews

 

[Aeschylus]

Some mini-Reviews for games I like.

Gothic

Spoiler

The first game in the Gothic series is smaller, clunkier, and more difficult to get into than its classic sequel, but once you do break the initial barrier of a somewhat bizarre control scheme and dying every five minutes (some might consider this a plus) you'll discover a uniquely atmospheric and surprisingly well-designed open-world action RPG. Though the world itself is not as large as what can be seen in games by a certain company-that-shall-not-be-named, Gothic was the first open-world game where the world actually felt like it was designed, rather than simply being a giant sandbox where generic NPCs milled about generic buildings doing nothing of importance. In Gothic, every NPC is unique, and every corner of the world you can explore contains something worth seeing. The game isn't perfect -- the controls can be tedious to use at times, and an occasionally frustrating number of bugs remain, but Gothic is not a game that should be overlooked. It's one of a tiny group of open-world games with meaningful character interaction and exploration, not to mention playing it will give you all the more excuse to play its absolutely amazing sequel.

Gothic II (+Night of the Raven)

Spoiler

A number of years ago, I played a game called Morrowind. It was a fairly fun game, and I sunk quite a few hours into it, but was consistently left feeling less than satisfied by the cookie-cutter NPCs, largely empty open-world, and generic writing and quest lines. Then, not long after, I picked up a game called Gothic II, and I thought Ah, this is what Morrowind should have been. Gothic II (along with its expansion) is both the greatest open-world RPG, and the greatest action RPG ever made bar none. The game is unforgivingly difficult, but rarely unfair. You will die a lot, particularly early on, but that only serves to make your eventual progress more satisfying. Unlike most games in its genre, every single bit of the world that you can explore in Gothic II is filled with interesting things to discover and quests to undertake. This is quite an accomplishment given that the game is around 3x-4x larger than the original, and no other game achieves both this scope and density of content. Sadly, no game of the genre since has been able to measure up to Gothic II's greatness -- some have made competent attempts (Risen), but none have reached its heights. Play it, and embrace being torn to bits by wildlife when you wander too far.

Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness

Spoiler

Quest for Glory is a somewhat unique animal -- a seamless integration of two genres, managing to take some of the better aspects from both while remaining a coherent whole. The series was largely unique (though thankfully that has been changing recently, with the release of Heroine's Quest, and the development of Quest for Infamy and Mage's Initiation) in that it blended elements of the Sierra-style classic adventure -- such as a point-and-click icon interface and inventory puzzles -- with those typical to RPGs -- such as character progression, different character classes, and multiple solutions to dilemmas. Quest for Glory IV was the penultimate entry in the series, and by most peoples' reckoning the best. Each game in the series moves to a distinct setting, and QFG4 made the rather brilliant choice to go with a Transylvania-esque gothic horror inspired setting, which provides quite a stable of monsters to fight, and creatures to encounter (who could forget the Rusalka). The game also continues the series' tradition of providing multiple paths for the four different classes, this time recovering from the more restrictive 3rd entry to provide a bevy of alternate solutions and scenarios for each class. If you even slightly enjoy adventure games to go along with your RPGs, the Quest for Glory series is an absolute must-play, with the 4th entry ranking near the top of the pack.

Betrayal at Krondor

Spoiler

Betrayal at Krondor is a classic for a number of reasons. It is one of the first games to feature a satisfying open world to explore, while also having one of the better stories to be found in video games at the time (or since, for that matter). The game was set in the world of Raymond E. Feist's novels, and was written by the accomplished duo of Neil Hallford and John Cutter. Even though I'm a particular fan of Feist's work, the characters and lore of the game are both extremely solid, and hold up quite well today irrespective of any feelings of nostalgia. There is a real sense of background and history to the world, which makes exploring the extensive landscape and wandering into seemingly non-descript towns an interesting experience each time. While the story is a definite high points of the game, perhaps even more worthy of mention is the game's turn-based combat. Encounters range from simple skirmishes with bandits, to puzzle-like encounters with magical traps. It is further buoyed by an excellent magic system filled with strategic spells to manipulate the battlefield. Combine this with scarce special ammo for ranged weapons, equipment breaking at inopportune times, and unique enemies pulling out unexpected abilities it all comes together to make one of the best combat systems ever in an RPG. Sadly, the sequels (Betrayal in Antara and Return to Krondor) didn't live up to the original, but Betrayal at Krondor is a prime example of how to do a lot of things right, and should be played by a lot more people.

Might do a few more later if I feel like it.

 

[Malpercio]

It's kind of funny reading some of the borderline worshipful comments there, like they are looking at some kind of strange, grognard wonderland that they can never hope to reach.

I was really surprised by the reaction on NeoGAF as well - I've never paid much attention to that forum, thinking it was mostly for casual console gaming faggots and JRPG fans. Some of those dudes seem all right, I wonder why they don't post here if their taste is so similar to that of the Codex...

Some of them probably do it already or are lurkers..

Spoiler

No one will know my secret

Gaf is mostly JRPG- Oriented , though.

 

[Bubbles]

Realms of Arkania II: Star Trail

Spoiler

The best entry in the great German RPG trilogy is perfectly playable in isolation, as it has virtually no tie-ins to its predecessor Blade of Destiny. The game features an overworld map of a medieval fantasy world with dozen of towns, small hamlets, dungeons, and other points of interest, many of which can be explored in the first person perspective. The game's turn based combat, however, takes place on isometric battle fields, where players control a party of 6 custom created characters against a wide variety of enemies. The gameplay is based on the Dark Eye ruleset, which offers many non-combat skills like Plant Lore, Persuasion, Climbing, Acrobatics, Danger Sense, and three different types of healing skill. Not all of the available skills are actually used in this part of the trilogy, but the sheer breadth of useful non-combat skills still represents a towering achievement compared to most other games on this list.

Although Star Trail places few restrictions on exploration and offers a fair amount of side quests, the game's main focus is on its sprawling main quest that offers many large, expertly designed dungeons filled with hidden switches and passageways and a variety of cunning traps. The storyline is quite complex and twisty, challenging the player to navigate a network of political intrigue, racial resentments and divine manipulation.

Star Trail also has a wonderful atmosphere, aided by the game's beautiful music and the detailed 2D art used in dialogue screens and town buildings. The intricate resource management system involves food, water, seasonal ailments (like freezing while exploring the mountains in winter), and multiple diseases and poisons of varying lethality; thus, the game manages to convey a far greater sense of realism than modern open world games like New Vegas or Skyrim.

There are no real negatives to this game; any serious RPG fan ought to play Star Trail at least once.

 

[felipepepe]

Your best review so far.

 

[Bubbles]

Played through it five times

 

[Sceptic]

#7 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

What? I.... I mean.... I.... well.... it's just that.....

Yeah I know, I felt the same.



I mean, fucking Baldur's Gate 2 is above it!

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Wanted to post this before, never got around it, but seems to me that the point system used this year emphasizes rabid fanboy-ism over objectivity, and is very gamey in general. To some degree that applies to any system of course, but this one really encourages that. There were people who were making objective lists, and they included a whole bunch of games (because as much as everyone whines about shitty games, there HAVE been plenty of good-great cRPGs over the decades), and because of the 25 total point limit, this forced them to lower the points for any given game, just to be able to include other deserving ones. On the other hand, you have many people just handing out 5 points to several games they are fanboys of, in order to game the system. Personally, I would prefer to go with a simpler system where people just submit their favorite 10/25/50/whatever cRPGs, or something along those lines. Not saying the results would be drastically different, this is the Codex after all, but at least the gaminess wouldn't be so obvious.

 

[Roguey]

Personally, I would prefer to go with a simpler system where people just submit their favorite 10/25/50/whatever cRPGs, or something along those lines. Not saying the results would be drastically different, this is the Codex after all, but at least the gaminess wouldn't be so obvious.

That's already happened several times before, newperson.

 

[tuluse]

Wanted to post this before, never got around it, but seems to me that the point system used this year emphasizes rabid fanboy-ism over objectivity, and is very gamey in general. To some degree that applies to any system of course, but this one really encourages that. There were people who were making objective lists, and they included a whole bunch of games (because as much as everyone whines about shitty games, there HAVE been plenty of good-great cRPGs over the decades), and because of the 25 total point limit, this forced them to lower the points for any given game, just to be able to include other deserving ones. On the other hand, you have many people just handing out 5 points to several games they are fanboys of, in order to game the system. Personally, I would prefer to go with a simpler system where people just submit their favorite 10/25/50/whatever cRPGs, or something along those lines. Not saying the results would be drastically different, this is the Codex after all, but at least the gaminess wouldn't be so obvious.

We did list 25 game last year. It produced shit results because a vote for something you think is "ok" is equivalent to a vote for something you think is great. Icewind Dale was in the top 10 just because a lot of people played it and though why the hell not put in the top 25.

Switching to the point buy system was supposed to encourage what you call "rabid fanboyism". We wanted to know which games the codex really loves, not what games are most commonly played.

The numbers of points were carefully selected so a single person couldn't throw the system out of whack. I get the impression that people figured out tiers and assigned points to their favorite games according to how they would tier them. That seems well and good to me.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

That's already happened several times before, newperson.

Oh, I know. I was just saying I prefer the old way, though maybe with some modifications, see below.

We did list 25 game last year. It produced shit results because a vote for something you think is "ok" is equivalent to a vote for something you think is great. Icewind Dale was in the top 10 just because a lot of people played it and though why the hell not put in the top 25.

Switching to the point buy system was supposed to encourage what you call "rabid fanboyism". We wanted to know which games the codex really loves, not what games are most commonly played.

The numbers of points were carefully selected so a single person couldn't throw the system out of whack. I get the impression that people figured out tiers and assigned points to their favorite games according to how they would tier them. That seems well and good to me.

Yeah, I get that, but I think this year's system broke something else by fixing the problems with last year's system (like most fixes). Based on the responses in this thread, not everyone has even finished 25 cRPGs, much less considered them great. Maybe 25 favorites was too large, and maybe it would work better with a smaller number, say favorite 10 for example. I just think, based on the results I saw in the vote thread, too many people were assigning points to game the system as opposed to accurately represent how they felt about cRPGs.

 

[Aeschylus]

Another one, because why not.

Arx Fatalis

Spoiler

While it never quite enters the same realm of quality as its classic spiritual forebear Ultima Underworld, Arx Fatalis is an excellent game in its own right, and manages to do enough things right to overcome a few pretty big problems. The main thing it does right is to simply be a classic dungeon crawler -- the many dungeons you delve into throughout the game are almost all unique, well designed, and filled with puzzles that are actually genuinely clever at times, rather than simply sequences of lever pulling. One dungeon in particular, the crypt in the city of Arx, is really an all-time great. Of course, the main thing that usually gets mentioned along with this game is the magic system, and not without reason. It is quite unique, and works surprisingly well -- essentially, all spells are cast via the manual drawing of runes in real-time, and numerous, sometimes unexpected combinations are possible. The system can take some time to get used to, but is a lot of fun to mess around with and is less troublesome in combat than it might have been thanks to being able to 'store' four previously cast spells for instant use. Sadly, the other types of combat do not measure up to the magic system -- melee combat is a frustrating combination of awkward controls and poor balance towards the end of the game, resulting in some nigh-unwinnable combats if you chose to focus purely on melee. In spite of some highly questionable design decisions, Arx Fatalis is very much worth your time. It's entirely unique magic system, fun dungeon delving, and excellent atmosphere are hard to find anywhere else.

 

[tuluse]

Yeah, I get that, but I think this year's system broke something else by fixing the problems with last year's system (like most fixes). Based on the responses in this thread, not everyone has even finished 25 cRPGs, much less considered them great. Maybe 25 favorites was too large, and maybe it would work better with a smaller number, say favorite 10 for example. I just think, based on the results I saw in the vote thread, too many people were assigning points to game the system as opposed to accurately represent how they felt about cRPGs.

This seems to be a problem with no consequences. Do you want to point to any game unfairly rated because of system gaming?

 

[felipepepe]

I'm doing some as well:

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a marvel of its time, a game that reminds us that we shouldn’t be satisfied with well-produced mediocrity and “good-for-what-it-is” games. It’s challenging, mature, deep, polished, and above all, a game that respects its players. There’s no hand-holding here, you’ll learn the ropes by playing, and the game will test you at every step, frequently killing you. The challenges are finely tuned, appearing almost impossible at first, but are in fact perfectly fair and doable, and a source of great satisfaction once beaten. The fantastic combat takes the center piece here, being easily the best you’ll find in any Action-RPG. It requires tactic, demands attention and rewards patience like no other; all while providing you a vast array of weapons and armors to equip, and diverse enemies to test them, through expertly designed levels. Another high point, the melancholic story is masterfully told through subtle details in the scenery, hints in the items descriptions and concise, well-written lines from a cast of memorable NPCs, never relying in long expositions or lazy “Lore Books” by wannabe-writers. From Software raised the bar with Dark Souls; it’s not the best game ever, but it’s one that excels in absolutely everything that it does.

System Shock 2

System Shock 2 is a tense game. You’re lost in a derelict spaceship, away from everything and everyone, while trying your best to survive and understand what is going on. Every element of this game is masterfully designed to keep you always at the edge; weapons break all the time, ammo is hard to find and the inventory space is limited, meaning you never feel well-equipped and has to make tough decisions. The levels are claustrophobic and help to create the heavy atmosphere of loneliness, but also feel real, an actual spaceship, not a pointless maze. Even with danger lurking in every corner, exploration feels great; there are various secret caches, and you will slowly uncover the fate of the crew through mutilated corpses, bloody scenes and the now-famous voice logs. On top of all that, the class system provides many builds for players to try out, various solutions to the diverse challenges and a solid reason for multiple playthroughts of this gem.

Divine Divinity

A rather overlooked game, usually dismissed as a Diablo-clone, Divine Divinity is actually way more ambitious, having his aims set at Ultima VII. Here you have a huge world map to explore (without any loading screens), various quests with multiple outcomes, and the ability to freely interact with thousands of items in the game world, from weapons and armors to spoons and beds. The combat is solid, and the class-less system gives you great freedom to create and advance your character. The tone of the game is also unique; the writing is way above average, but the game doesn’t take itself too seriously, and provides some really funny scenes and characters , a refreshing departure from other cRPGs. As many games in this list, it suffers from a rushed ending, and also from some weird balance issues, but it’s still a great game that deserves to be played.

 

[Lhynn]

I say that every game that makes the top 3, or 5 goes to a hall of fame and doesnt get to participate in the next year vote, so we get some fresh titles each year into the list.

The hall of fame itself would slowly grow into something very interesting for anyone that is trying to get into the genre, while the vote results would give us relatively more obscure games that people may have not tried.

Just a thought tho.

 

[jdinatale]

Dark Souls is better than Baldur's Gate, KOTOR II, Temple of Elemental Evil, IWD, SS2, and the Witcher? Not sure if serious.

 

[Excidium]

I'm doing some as well:

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a marvel of its time, a game that reminds us that we shouldn’t be satisfied with well-produced mediocrity and “good-for-what-it-is” games. It’s challenging, mature, deep, polished, and above all, a game that respects its players. There’s no hand-holding here, you’ll learn the ropes by playing, and the game will test you at every step, frequently killing you. The challenges are finely tuned, appearing almost impossible at first, but are in fact perfectly fair and doable, and a source of great satisfaction once beaten. The fantastic combat takes the center piece here, being easily the best you’ll find in any Action-RPG. It requires tactic, demands attention and rewards patience like no other; all while providing you a vast array of weapons and armors to equip, and diverse enemies to test them, through expertly designed levels. Another high point, the melancholic story is masterfully told through subtle details in the scenery, hints in the items descriptions and concise, well-written lines from a cast of memorable NPCs, never relying in long expositions or lazy “Lore Books” by wannabe-writers. From Software raised the bar with Dark Souls; it’s not the best game ever, but it’s one that excels in absolutely everything that it does.

Forgot to mention it requires you to buy a controller to play.

 

[imweasel]

#7 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

What? I.... I mean.... I.... well.... it's just that.....

Yeah I know, I felt the same.



I mean, fucking Baldur's Gate 2 is above it!

Fucking Dragon Age 2 should be above Morrowind too actually.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

This seems to be a problem with no consequences. Do you want to point to any game unfairly rated because of system gaming?

I certainly think there is a bunch of games up there that got up-voted more due to gaming the system rather their actual merits, but I don't want to get into the specifics because then it will just turn into one of those flaming threads and accusations of butthurt. More generally, I just happen to think a "top whatever" list should allow voters to evaluate each entry based on its own merits rather than forcing them to allocate a limited number of points between different entries (and often allocating those based on previous contest knowledge). Anyway, just my two cents.

 

[laclongquan]

Morrowind

A classic tittle with all the trademarks of Bethesda game makers: Very fun gameplay features that will keep you busy for hours, Gorgeous art/graphic if you like to watch, open world for you to sandbox, Diversified Item crafting for your inner packrat, and extreme moddability for mods and users. After you get tired of the main game, you can spend the same amount of time with various mods from graphic changes to quests. Of course Morrowind also bear the trademark writings of Bethesda, ie suck like a donkey's hoof to the face. But that's okay, because we dont play their games for their writings and totally, easily ignore it with no effect. It is no wonder that the modding community, as well as hardcore players, adore this tittle. This is a good game for beginners to learn to play games, a good games for advanced players to learn to make use of features to powergame, and for hardcore long timers to just mess around. This is the APEX of Bethesda game making.

 

[Bubbles]

Morrowind's writing is great, you swine.

 

[Excidium]

Gorgeous art/graphic if you like to watch

Dis nigga real?

 

[Cowboy Moment]

Dark Souls is better than Baldur's Gate, KOTOR II, Temple of Elemental Evil, IWD, SS2, and the Witcher? Not sure if serious.

Better at what? I kind of agree with neogaf posters that Dark Souls doesn't fit on our list; it's not really an RPG any more than something like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but a lot of people like it for the same reasons they like actual RPGs, and that's why it ended up on the list. Comparing it to IE games or SS2 is fruitless. May as well ask: Thief or JA2, which is better and why, discuss! Games can be good for different reasons, not everything needs to fall on some normalized linear scale for autists.