What is the greatest RPG of all time?

[Illuminatus]

ah yes, KOTOR is good - has an epic soul, but it is somehow - too simple? for my taste. I am still going to finish it at least four times more.

[child of Thor]

I love Rpgs

8bit era(pre 1990's) : Alternate Reality( the city and the dungeon) on the atari 8bits - i have played the pc version which is horrible in comparison and the C64 version didnt look as good!

16bits(amiga/st)(pre 1995ish) : Ishar 1-3, and Eye of the Beholder series.

on PC : Fallout 1+2, BaldursGate series, Planetscape, Twilight2000 based on the pen and paper rpg of the same name, Elderscrolls games(Arena/Daggerfall/Morrowind)

on xbox KOTOR+Morrowind, Fable is looking promising

some of the rpgs i've found most engrossing

[Jamski]

You weren't impressed by the PoR, CotAB, SotSS & PoD series then on the Amiga? I thought they edged EotB1+2 out of the running.

-jam

[child of Thor]

elaborate on the full names - i only started to understand 'IMHO' last year on poly and what you mentioned doesn't ring a bell yet

[Jamski]

Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Secret of the Silver Swords, Pools of Darkness....

See why I just put the abreviations?

-Jam

[child of Thor]

yes i do! and whats worse is i never played any of them! so sorry for your wasted effort -
I have heard of them though, and i guess EoB got alot of attention(and ended up on my harddrive) because it had a lot of polish for an rpg of the time?

[Jamski]

But EotB was a bit lacking in the character development and roleplaying. Excellent action/adventure game though

-Jam

[Spaced Cowboy]

I guess that I love RPGs too, although I find them hard to finish.

Early one c64: Ultima 4, the one where you had to obtain traits to finish (never did, but good idea in that one)

Little later c64: Bard's tale...something about me and a bud of mine trying to finish it first.

C64: Mars saga, 1st real time combat and your party members would always be short lived (died a lot).

Other c64...tooo many to mention....I think that I played all the major ones.

Amiga...??? Nothing comes to mind....I must of been in an RPG slump. I do remember one called dungeon master (or something like that) where there were lots of graphical puzzles, switches, pressure plates, etc.

Modern era: The Baldur's gate and ID series are great. PT was good too. I also liked KOTOR very much. Arcanum was interesting at first, but too hard in some places. Fallout was another good series.

[Odin]

Whats the deal with dissing with Adventure-RPGs?

[Sandman]

Mmm... KOTOR, probably. Simple, NOT simplistic.

Although I have to say, the term 'RPG' has very little meaning to me. It often seems to mean games which involve stat-management, rather than actual role-playing.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Originally posted by Sandman
Mmm... KOTOR, probably. Simple, NOT simplistic.

Although I have to say, the term 'RPG' has very little meaning to me. It often seems to mean games which involve stat-management, rather than actual role-playing.

True, True...I was going to mention that there is aways way too much combat in these types of games and very little roleplaying.

[General Ludd]

"Roleplaying" is confused with "Rollplaying" by many...

[Grumbold]

Originally posted by Odin
Whats the deal with dissing with Adventure-RPGs?

Just that many feel they should be in their own separate category, preferably not called anyhting like roleplaying. Exactly the same comments will be levelled if someone pipes up with games like Dungeon Siege or Diablo.

There's a significant difference between choosing your own character(s) to play the game with and making plot choices so you can personalise your experience vs playing through a storyline where you have no significant dialogue, character or plot choices. If the latter is roleplaying then so is reading a book. That is not denying that some of them are extremely fun games (FF7, for example, is my favourite Japanese adventure)

I can't offer one top RPG. Ultima 4, Ultima Underworld 2, Fallout 2, BGs 2 and Planescape are all first rate.

[Elok]

Well, everybody means different things by "RPG." I personally refuse to roll dice and create a level 46 Elf Ranger/Sorcerer with a +6 Gauntlet of Power or some crap like that. FFXI does that, apparently, which is why I refuse to have anything to do with it. That and I'm too cheap to go paying fees to play a game. Actual, concrete characters as opposed to tolkien-ripoff statistics templates add a lot to a game...if all you're going to do in a game is balance a load of figures, you might as well stick to D&D. Or a Diablo clone.

With that said, FF6 really was a shameful little pile of crud. At least support something fun from the SNES, like Crono Trigger. Or even something like Romancing SaGa 3 that was awkward, boring and sucky but innovatively awkward, boring and sucky. FF6 plays like a half-baked FF7.

[Spiffor]

MORROWIND!

Although I love Fallout too, and FF6 is the best of the series. But none compare to Morrowind, in that Morrowind feels simply like a voyage. At least, now that I stopped playing the game, I have the same kind of memories from that game as from travelling in faraway places.