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Worst RPGs All Time?

alyvain

Savant
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
386
Has anyone said Descent to Undermountain yet?

I think that's the only game I learned about from a magic ball in Fallout 2

And the soundtrack was very pretty, with all that dark-ambienty bits overlapping with dungeon synth
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,686
Please try those games of the "golden era":
Trash level aside, does Virtual Hydlide even count as a RPG, even a JRPG, or just as a Zelda-like? I don't remember seeing any reviews mention levelling up, and I'm sure as shit not getting a Saturn emulator just to play trash.
Has anyone said Descent to Undermountain yet?
No. Probably because nobody played it. I have it on my desk because I picked it up with a bunch of other games. I haven't touched it yet, I will, but would you mind peppering my future disappointment by telling me what went wrong? In theory, a RPG made with the Descent engine sounds like a great game, especially with that staff at that time.
 

Lawntoilet

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
1,840
And yet its combat system is so dull and tedious, its speed so slow, its lockpicking and trap disarming takes so long, that even the best modules are decreased in quality just by the mere fact that they run in the NWN 1 engine. Such a horrible, horrible piece of shit designed to be as tedious as humanly possible.
I agree with you by and large, but Swordflight is so good that it entirely redeems it. Like NWN2 and MotB.
I don't know why I'm not going back and playing NWN since Swordflight is supposedly a real high point.
Do it, Chapter 2 is still the best one but they're all (so far) excellent and worth playing.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,408
Location
Massachusettes
I think the Fable series should make the list. Not at the top or anything but those games are corny fucking dogshit and somehow people still like them.

They're kind of like baby's first RPG so a lot of people liked them because of their fairly casual but slick nature. My nephew was very fond of Fable for his Xbox for example and it was one of the very first commercial RPGs that allowed same-sex marriage which was right up my nephew's alley, so to speak.
 
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Cryomancer

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Messages
16,929
Location
Frostfell
I vote WoW. Thanks to WoW, ludonarrative dissonance which was the norm on JRPG's, become the norm on WRPG's too. Now people associate Role Playing games with cooldown managing gear farming games instead of immersive alternative fictional worlds to explore. Faggout 3/4/76 only damaged the perception of a franchise, but WoW ruined all MMO (sub) genre, ruined over 99% of SP RPG's and almost ruined TT gaming with 4e taking heavily inspiration on WoW.

Just look to 90s mmos. You had Dark Sun Online : Crimson Sands, Ultima Online and now, every mmo is the generic wow clone. Star Wars mmo? BioWare made it into a generic wow clone instead of using the solid kotor 1/2 system. Neverwinter mmo? Instead of follow the 1991 AOL Neverwinter model or the Neverwinter NIGHTS model, they copied wow. Hell, even Diablo. Diablo III is a trash generic isometric wow clone.

Dark Sun Online : Crimson Sands had you rolling attributes like the SP Dark Sun. Has Vancian magic system, lv cap = 15 and turn based combat.Thanks WoW for making the development of games like this impossible.

265302-ad-d-dark-sun-online-crimson-sands-windows-screenshot-title.png


Only by seeing this screenshot.... Non carnavalesque/flamboyant armor/weapon design in a mmo... Can someone believe on that?
 
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Self-Ejected

Lilura

RPG Codex Dragon Lady
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
Messages
5,274
If Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor came out in 2020, it would be considered monocled.

por%2Bchar%2Bsheet.jpg
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2007
Messages
34,333
Location
KA.DINGIR.RA.KI
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Oh yeah I just remembered Restricted Area and how painfully dull it was.

Played plenty of bad Diablo clones back in the day but Restricted Area takes the cake.
 

Dyspaire

Cipher
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
285
Location
Relative
No. Probably because nobody played it. I have it on my desk because I picked it up with a bunch of other games. I haven't touched it yet, I will, but would you mind peppering my future disappointment by telling me what went wrong? In theory, a RPG made with the Descent engine sounds like a great game, especially with that staff at that time.

It's just a fundamentally broken game. Mechanically; engine-wise, gameplay and story-wise. I can't remember exactly but I think it was one of those Interplay titles that was rushed out the door far before it was ready, in order to pay some bills.

It's hard to think of a bigger waste of talent and resources in the genre, honestly.

D&D license. Forgotten Realms. Proven 3D engine that should have provided for some killer dungeons. A-list (for the time) talent working on it.

It's almost literally unplayable though.
 
Self-Ejected

Jack

█▓▒░
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
4,900
Location
Yondo
Insert Title Here
What about jewels like Mistmare?
Mistmare was good, had one of the most original settings I've seen in an RPG.
Sapphires like Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon?
7/10 according to Eurogamer.
Anyone who calls Two Worlds 1 worst game ever clearly did not play Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry (of the same studio).
Raven's Cry is an underrated gem and Two Worlds was better than Oblivion.
I think the Fable series should make the list.
There's nothing wrong with the Fable series, especially not the first game, Molyneux (PBUH) just made his target audience kids with consoles. It's pretty great for what it is, despite how stupid it can get at times.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,408
Location
Massachusettes
I think the two big things that sank the Pool of Radiance remake and gave it its terrible reputation was the hard drive deletion bug coupled with the sloooow, tedious movement speed during in-game battles. Once someone came up with a mod/patch to remove those irritations the game developed a better reputation, I think. However, I never played it but looking at the screenshots and actual mechanics, though flawed, it doesn't seem that bad. I think the first Drakensang game also got a bad rep with the unacceptable amount of backtracking with outrageously slow movement speed. Today things like this wouldn't be an issue because of speedhacks like CE. But to use a cliche that just happens to be very true: if you're fighting the game's engine & interface instead of its enemies, all is lost.
 

Lawntoilet

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
1,840
There's nothing wrong with the Fable series, especially not the first game, Molyneux (PBUH) just made his target audience kids with consoles. It's pretty great for what it is, despite how stupid it can get at times.
I thought his target audience was citizens of the Caliphate, given that Fable's morality system classifies divorce as a greater evil than just killing your wife.
 

Cryomancer

Arcane
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Jul 11, 2019
Messages
16,929
Location
Frostfell
and Two Worlds was better than Oblivion.

Is not hard to be better than Oblivion. Lets be real.

Two Worlds only by not having cooldowns and flamboyant armor is a playable game IMO. Some people here only can enjoy masterpiece RPG's and anything bellow the best 90s games is unplayable. Two Worlds 1 was decent(not good, nor masterpiece) and Two Worlds 2 had a cool card system. Archery on two worlds is also good, is the unique game which made different arrows having different projectile speed that I know. I an not saying that Two Worlds is a masterpiece. Only that is a decent game and playable on higher level, contrary to oblivion...
 
Self-Ejected

Jack

█▓▒░
Patron
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
4,900
Location
Yondo
Insert Title Here
There's nothing wrong with the Fable series, especially not the first game, Molyneux (PBUH) just made his target audience kids with consoles. It's pretty great for what it is, despite how stupid it can get at times.
I thought his target audience was citizens of the Caliphate, given that Fable's morality system classifies divorce as a greater evil than just killing your wife.
That's British morality, or it used to be anyway and it will be again.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,408
Location
Massachusettes
No. Probably because nobody played it. I have it on my desk because I picked it up with a bunch of other games. I haven't touched it yet, I will, but would you mind peppering my future disappointment by telling me what went wrong? In theory, a RPG made with the Descent engine sounds like a great game, especially with that staff at that time.

It's just a fundamentally broken game. Mechanically; engine-wise, gameplay and story-wise. I can't remember exactly but I think it was one of those Interplay titles that was rushed out the door far before it was ready, in order to pay some bills.

It's hard to think of a bigger waste of talent and resources in the genre, honestly.

D&D license. Forgotten Realms. Proven 3D engine that should have provided for some killer dungeons. A-list (for the time) talent working on it.

It's almost literally unplayable though.

I recall reading about the first playthroughs of Descent to Undermountain and how buggy it was. Though it wasn't funny for the poor bastards that threw away $40-$50 to buy this loser on its initial release, I did find the numerous bug reports humorous and the ensuing rage. I remember one guy on newsgroups having a seizure of buyer's remorse ranting about how he'd enter a cave or a chamber or something and all the kobolds or whatever would be swimming in the air above his head towards him. Suddenly, it all made sense why you probably shouldn't be using the Descent engine for a cRPG with ground-based models.
 

Morpheus Kitami

Liturgist
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
2,686
It's just a fundamentally broken game. Mechanically; engine-wise, gameplay and story-wise. I can't remember exactly but I think it was one of those Interplay titles that was rushed out the door far before it was ready, in order to pay some bills.

It's hard to think of a bigger waste of talent and resources in the genre, honestly.

D&D license. Forgotten Realms. Proven 3D engine that should have provided for some killer dungeons. A-list (for the time) talent working on it.

It's almost literally unplayable though.
Ah, that makes sense. I'm guessing there was never a patch then.
I recall reading about the first playthroughs of Descent to Undermountain and how buggy it was. Though it wasn't funny for the poor bastards that threw away $40-$50 to buy this loser on its initial release, I did find the numerous bug reports humorous and the ensuing rage. I remember one guy on newsgroups having a seizure of buyer's remorse ranting about how he'd enter a cave or a chamber or something and all the kobolds or whatever would be swimming in the air above his head towards him. Suddenly, it all made sense why you probably shouldn't be using the Descent engine for a cRPG with ground-based models.
With that it sounds less horrible and more endearingly bad. Like Simcopter. But I suspect there's more mundane failures than that.
Ed Hunter
RPGs. Not shooters.
 

DaveO

Erudite
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
1,258
I don't mind if somebody wants to take results from my old thread, and add the votes from after my "final" tally with added results from this thread and any similar ones. I DON'T see much chance of anything chaning on the "top" four.

At #1 - Oblivion with over 50 votes

At #2 - Neverwinter Nights with 44 votes

At #3 - Dragon Age 2 with 40 votes

At #4 - Fallout 3 with 39 votes

At #5 - Gothic 4 with 21 votes

At #6 - A tie between Dungeon Siege and Mass Effect with 20 votes
 

Lawntoilet

Prophet
Patron
Joined
Oct 5, 2018
Messages
1,840
I don't mind if somebody wants to take results from my old thread, and add the votes from after my "final" tally with added results from this thread and any similar ones. I DON'T see much chance of anything chaning on the "top" four.

At #1 - Oblivion with over 50 votes

At #2 - Neverwinter Nights with 44 votes

At #3 - Dragon Age 2 with 40 votes

At #4 - Fallout 3 with 39 votes

At #5 - Gothic 4 with 21 votes

At #6 - A tie between Dungeon Siege and Mass Effect with 20 votes
I think NWN might drop a tick or two, FO3 might move up to #2 or #3, and Mass Effect 1 definitely wouldn't be on the list.
 

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