Lamenting on the past - Favorite RPG of all time

[Knightshade Dragon]

Reading over the vanquished companies that have passed into oblivion (Origin, Looking Glass, etc.) it got me thinking about what game I might consider to be the best RPG of all time.  I'm eager to hear what tops your list.

[stiffler]

The crystal ball predicts this thread will produce the following results:

Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate II
Ultima VII
---
anything else

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Ultima V is my all-time favorite. It had the right amount of darkness mixed in with the classic Ultima gameplay. Morrowind is my favorite in terms of exploring a strange and new world.

[Daehawk]

Wow so many...

Ultima 7 pt 2 Serpent Isle
Fallout 1 & 2
Morrowind
Icewind Dale
Gothic 1 & 2
Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday

[Knightshade Dragon]

The crystal ball predicts this thread will produce the following results:

Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate II
Ultima VII
---
anything else

Ok, let's shake the rules.  No Torment, Baldurs, or Ultima.  Those are a given.  What ELSE.

I'm with you on Buck Rogers.  I really enjoyed the old school TSR titles too though.  Curse of the Azure Bonds comes to mind quickly, as does Heroes of the Lance.

[stiffler]

In no particular order:

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon - Weswood/SSI 1991
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant - Sirtech 1992
The Summoning - Event Horizon/SSI 1992
Darklands - MicroProse 1992
Betrayal at Krondor - Dynamix/Sierra 1993

[warning]

Man I played the hell out of Might and Magic 2 & 3 and Ultima 4 back in the day.  They were the gateway drugs that got me hooked.

I gotta add Fallout 1 as I played it twice and loved it.

But my all-time favorite is Deus Ex.  While some might not consider it a role-playing game, it's just never been beat.  System Shock 2 came close...

[Knightshade Dragon]

System Shock 2 came close...

I predict that Bioshock will be that game...

[Qbe]

Ultima IV
Ultima Underworld
Might & Magic VI

[Knightshade Dragon]

Ultima IV
Ultima Underworld
Might & Magic VI

Hey!  No Ultima.

[Purge]

Might and Magic - World of Xeen
Eye of the Beholder 1 & 2
Dungeon Hack (text)
Ultima VII and VIIpt.2 were my favorites (screw you Ron! )

There was another game that was awesome, but I can't remember the name of it. :: sigh :: I can't even describe it.

[Daehawk]

Krondor
Savage Empire
Dark Sun
Arx Fatalis

[Qbe]

Ultima IV
Ultima Underworld
Might & Magic VI

Hey!  No Ultima.

There can be no discussion of great classic RPGs without Ultima.   :wink:    Maybe the rule should be, "No games before 1998".

[Destructor]

In no particular order:

Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon - Weswood/SSI 1991
Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant - Sirtech 1992
The Summoning - Event Horizon/SSI 1992
Darklands - MicroProse 1992
Betrayal at Krondor - Dynamix/Sierra 1993

Wow, these were all fantastic games. Darklands especially, as the world was so insanely open, and you had pretty much no guidance whatsoever. The only thing even close to that game was the likes of the Elder Scrolls series.

And Betrayl at Krondor...classic game.

[greeneggsnham]

No love for Wizardry 8?

To this day, that's one game that if my CD's went missing or got damaged, I'd have to buy another copy. Pronto.

Then again, I already have 2 copies of Planescape: Torment (and the Fallout dual jewel case is trivial to find), so maybe it's just me.

[Dreamshadow]

Greatest RPGS?  


The 1st Vampire game..err...Vampire: The Masquerade.  I really thought it was good, especially the multiplayer DM mode.

The KOTOR games.

[CeeKay]

Krondor
Savage Empire
Dark Sun
Arx Fatalis

I see you trying to sneak that Ultima game in there

Beyond the Ultimas and Baldurs Gate 2, I'll have to say:

The Bards Tale 2 & 3
Oblivion
Champions of Krynn
Eye of the Beholder 2
Knights of the Old Republic

[whiteboyskim]

The crystal ball predicts this thread will produce the following results:

Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate II
Ultima VII
---
anything else

Ok, let's shake the rules.  No Torment, Baldurs, or Ultima.  Those are a given.  What ELSE.

There is nothing else. Torment FTW.

[Mattc0m]

I've got to give my love to Morrowind, I spend close to 300 hours on that, no kidding. It was like crack.

A close second is Chrono Cross (the PS1 game), what a fantastic story.

[Jimmy the Fish]

You have to go old school.

Might & Magic 1 and D&D: Pool of Radiance because you had to manually draw maps on paper as you played. No automapping in the old days!

Not sure if it counts as a traditional RPG, but Starflight 1 and 2 were great just for the sheer size of the game world.

Bard's Tale 1 because it was so freaking hard. At least it was for me.

Wasteland, the true precursor to Fallout.

And going REALLY old school, the first RPG I can remember playing was an Atari computer game called Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. A fantastic game because it could be played co-op multiplayer. That was a huge deal in 1982.

[Old Negus]

My fondest memories are of Daggerfall and Might & Magic VI.

[Laner]

Wasteland
Fallout 1&2
Neuromancer
KOTOR
Questron 2
Might & Magic 4-6

[Zarkon]

*dangles his AD&D Collector's edition in front of everyone*

[Daehawk]

*dangles his AD&D Collector's edition in front of everyone*

Ill see ya and raise my AD&D Gold Box collection of Gateway to the Savage empire, Treasures of the Savage Empire, and Pools of Darkness.

[Gratch]

Icewind Dale was the perfect combination of action & story for me.  BGII & Planescape were both a bit too wordy and complex for my tastes, but ID got it just right.

Man, I need to play through that again.

[Destructor]

*dangles his AD&D Collector's edition in front of everyone*

Ill see ya and raise my AD&D Gold Box collection of Gateway to the Savage empire, Treasures of the Savage Empire, and Pools of Darkness.

AD&D Collector's Edition game? Check.

The 'uber' release of Might and Magic containing a bunch of their classic games? Check.

Currently on the wall in my gaming room poster of the box art from MM5 (I think) that I won in a contest? Check.

So much old school gaming. I feel like such an old school gamer somedays. Then again, I was there playing RPGs back in the Apple IIc era.

[olaf]

Baldur's Gate II in the top spot for me.

olaf

edit: If BG2 is not allowed...hmm.  Fallout 2 or KOTOR.  They are a lot tougher to call for me after BG2.

[Autistic Angel]

If Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate are both disqualified, I'm going to act as though Icewind Dale is off-limits, too.  I think of those as being "separate games" in the same way that Buffy and Angel are "separate shows."

With Ultima also off limits, I'm going to have to go with Daggerfall as the game that leaves me with the fondest memories.  I really spent a *vast* amount of time with that game one year, and even though I could never revisit it the way I could many of these other games, I can remember my adventures in that game much more clearly than several more recent games.

For the record, though, I've never been able to get into the Wizardry series, nor have I ever played the Bard's Tale games, so none of those were in contention for me.  Actually, I've really enjoyed Wizardry VIII every time I've tried it, but for some reason something else has always distracted me away from it by the time I finish that first dungeon.  :oops:

-Autistic Angel

[Daehawk]

I liked W8 too but I never got past that first town.

[coopasonic]

Fallout - BG2 would be a close call if it were allowed, but i think fallout still wins.

[farley2k]

Perhaps it isn't old enough but I am going to go with KoToR.  I got to be a Jedi.  It just satisfied a childhood dream in a way that no other game has.

[Purge]

Krondor
Savage Empire
Dark Sun

THERE ya go. Loved Dark Sun. Ooo, and Ruins of Myth Drannor (EOB, IIRC).

EOB1 and 2... 3 was SSI with no westwood, and somehow made it run WORSE.

[gilgamex]

I don't have anything "new" to add as you all have pretty much covered the bases.

My list:
Knights of the Old Republic
Betrayl at Krondor
Eye of the Beholder Series
Ultima VI
Dark Queen of Krynn (I don't know if this really qualifies... but I had a hell of a lot of fun with this one).

Might and Magic III would have probably made the list if it weren't for the buggy mathematics puzzles that had incorrect answers. This was before the days of the internet and Gamefaqs. I remember sitting around with 4-5 of my college buddies trying to solve some sort of inane equation that I later found out was bugged and wouldn't accept the REAL answer.  :roll:

[Big Jake]

As probably obvious from my diatribes in the past, Fallout 1 & 2 are my favorite rpg's ever.

[Autistic Angel]

Are there any fan-made patches for Fallout or the sequel to fix up any of their lingering problems?  I tried the first game last year and got stuck very early on in a mission which didn't seem to trigger its scripts properly.

I have no problem enjoying older games.  I'm currently playing The Longest Journey for the very first time and having a great time with it.  I do, however, start to get frustrated if I have to replay a section of a game again and again because something outside of my control isn't working correctly.

-Autistic Angel

[siege]

Baldurs Gate series
Icewind Dale series
Planescape:Torment

I'd be hard pressed to name another modern (single player) RPG that is worth installing on the PC.

Not a fan of the Elder Scroll games. The have great worlds to explore, but the combat mechanics really rub me the wrong way. Kotor was OK and NWN might as well have forgone the single player portion entirely.

[stiffler]

As far as modern games go, I nominate Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura.

And contrary to siege, I will also go ahead and mention the Hordes of the Underdark expansion for Neverwinter Nights.  Sure the original campaign sucked, but Shadows of Undrentide was a step in the right direction and Hordes was excellent.

[Zarkon]

*dangles his AD&D Collector's edition in front of everyone*

Ill see ya and raise my AD&D Gold Box collection of Gateway to the Savage empire, Treasures of the Savage Empire, and Pools of Darkness.

Which is -in- the Collector's edition.

Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Secret of the Silver Blades
Pools of Darkness
Champions of Krynn
Death Knights of Krynn
The Dark Queen of Krynn
Gateway to the Savage Frontier
Treasures of the Savage Frontier

Also, all of the physical documentation and code wheels.

[Blackadar]

Ok, let's shake the rules.  No Torment, Baldurs, or Ultima.  Those are a given.  What ELSE.

I'm with you on Buck Rogers.  I really enjoyed the old school TSR titles too though.  Curse of the Azure Bonds comes to mind quickly, as does Heroes of the Lance.

I think we'd see the next 2 in the list as:

Fallout
KOTOR

Then we get into the Morrowind/Bard's Tale/Wizardry/Betrayal at Krondor/Dark Sun/Gold Box games discussion.

I'll throw out a couple of others (assuming only PC games).  Mind you my top 3 are still PsT, BG and U7 (in that order).

Interesting there's no love for Diablo, which was considered a RPG when it came out.  
Neverwinter Nights - has this even been mentioned?
Divine Divinity - my underdog choice

[Zinfan]

Black Crypt on the Amiga
Divine Divinity
Savage Empire