Ten Most Influential RPGs of Our Time

5. Ultima Series

We come to probably one of the most influential RPG brands ever. The Ultima Series was brought to the market by Origin Systems. Its creator, Richard Garriott (also known as Lord British), successfully perpetuated the series for over 25 long years. Richard has an impressive line of projects under his belt, such as Bioforge, Ultima Online, Lineage, Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Tabula Rasa and more. Even now, Ultima is regarded as one of the industry's oldest and most revered RPG series ever created.

4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

In this case, Bioware didn't just win us over with traditional RPG goodness and a powerful franchise. Thanks to all the gifted writers and first-rate designers behind the project, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic became more than a mere RPG. It was a joy to play both on the Xbox and PC and that's mostly due to the well-thought-out plot, catchy setting and brilliantly incorporated dialogue system. The game utilized a popular movie license and turned it into a wonderful single-player experience, with a narrative that could easily give the recent Star Wars movies a run for their money.

3. Diablo

There isn't a gamer on Earth that hasn't heard of this game. In 1996, Blizzard Entertainment and Blizzard North came up with Diablo, a clear-cut hack'n'slash RPG that gives players a quest to travel deep underground and hunt down Diablo, the Lord of Terror. It has all the essentials of a first-rate fantasy game: a good story, all the basic RPG character classes and excellent graphics. The intuitive interface, traditional isometric viewpoint and smooth gameplay easily reeled in the average gamer. The original Diablo now marks more than 17 million sold copies worldwide. Three years after releasing the first game, Blizzard quickly churned out a sequel, which was equally successful.

2. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

In its effort to continue its Elders Scrolls series, Bethesda Softworks sought to expand upon the recipe of free-roam RPGs. In that sense, Morrowind ended up being a complete success. To top it off, it gave players the freedom to head wherever they want, whenever they wanted within the game world. Linear gameplay was suddenly a thing of the past. Bethesda crowned its idea with a spectacularly successful sequel, Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. But, in all fairness, it was Morrowind that really made an impact on the gaming scene, opening the road to a more in-depth role-playing experience.

1. World of Warcraft

This is Blizzard outdoing itself. World of Warcraft isn't just a damn fine MMORPG. It practically embodies all the elements of online entertainment and fuses them with what we all want out of a single-player experience. It probably signifies the very pinnacle of modern-day gaming. Not only that, nowadays WoW has become a household word. Exceptional artists and designers were responsible for creating the imaginative universe, while, of course, the bulk of the game, is being propelled by a vast team of persistent programmers. When we first saw the game back in 2004, we knew nothing would ever be the same again. The ever-growing subscriber base of World of Warcraft currently numbers more than 8.5 million. The expansion pack, The Burning Crusade, boasts equally impressive sales. Roughly 3.5 million copies were sold within one month after its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Closing Word

When talking about the most influential RPGs of all time, one could hardly omit mentioning the opus of one Warren Spector. Though Deus Ex was a cross-over between a first-person shooter and an RPG experience, the game stands out as one of the boldest attempts in game design to date - a true foray into the problematic of non-linear design, as well as the tackling of moral issues pertaining to game plots.

For that alone Deus Ex should deserve a mention in this article.

In that same sense, System Shock could be perceived as a unique RPG experience, which stands out as the most successful integration of horror elements into a video game to date.

Finally, one should also mention EverQuest. World of Warcraft wouldn't have been what it is today if phenomenally successful games like Brad McQuaid's EverQuest haven't paved the way for it.

Surely, there are a number of other influential and even genre-defining RPGs that likely haven't made the list, which is why we'd like to hear from you, and have you suggest those titles to us.

START «

PAGE 1 2

54 post(s)

Reader Comments

	Burning	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Neverwinter nights??!?1oeneoen

	Pavarotti	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I agree with you on this one Vader , well done.

	GDB	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I'm actually just playing through Baldur's Gate II now. I got it when it first came out and never understood it, but now I do and I'm loving it.

	Junsui	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I spent most hours playing Neverwinter Nights online before all of the RPGs became MMORPGs... It deserves a spot!

	erotomaniac	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Re Chrono Trigger, dunno about it being influential but I know its one of the best RPGs ever made, up there with FF series. Its so good that I think Chrono Cross was sacrilege. That sequel sucked.

	Cheddar	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Typical of a Vader piece, some of his picks are kind of odd, mainly because of where he decided to place them. For example, KotOR at #4, above the likes of BG, Morrowind, Final Fantasy, and Ultima........as being more influential? KotOR was a great game and a fiscal success, sure......but seriously, what has it actually influenced? What kind of long-term impact has the game made on future progression in RPG genre? Nothing except for its own sequel, that I can tell. The same point can be made for Fable (probably shouldn't even be in the list at all in terms of genre influence, and this is coming from a guy who loved Fable), and World of Warcraft (the game hasn't truly existed long enough to accurately gauge its long-term impact on the MMO genre, especially not enough to warrant placing it at #1). The list should be renamed to Ten All-Time RPGs I Like the Most, because that's what the article is really about.....not actual genre influence, like the title suggests.

	fatBastard();	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Both danishpussy and Cheddar already said what I wanted to say. A nice list with many good choices for good RPGs ... just not as the most influential RPGs. Come to think of it, one might argue that the number 1 choice on the list has actually had a very small sphere of influence since it has been described as adding nothing new to the genre, just doing everything right - and since it has totally dominated the MMO scene since its' arrival it hasn't really influenced any sort of copycating/clones yet, therefore hardly influential.

	Cheddar	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Here's my own subjective opinion as to a top 10 list more relevant to the subject of genre influence: 1. Ultima 2. Diablo 3. Baldur's Gate 4. Everquest 5. Final Fantasy 6. Morrowind 7. World of Warcraft 8. Torment 9. Fallout 10. Neverwinter Nights Notes: I think 1 - 3 is self-explanatory to anyone with a clue. Everquest should also be obvious......the first MMO to thoroughly penetrate the market (read: rape and sodomize) and light the bonfire that MMOs have become. FF is also self-explanatory (pretty much THE definitive console RPG over the years). Morrowind set a standard for non-linearity that's still being felt. World of Warcraft at #7 is more of a nod towards its speculated future influence on the MMO genre, but technically is as yet unseen. As for Torment, well, I'm sure other AT patrons are well aware that I think Torment is the best RPG ever made, and I do.....but let's face it, the game was largely ignored by the masses, and thus its influence has been much more subtle (mainly to do with dialogue-based mechanics of character development). Fallout is certainly a famed title, but can you really say that some of its marquee gameplay elements (like the turn-based combat) have really been seen to influence later RPGs? And finally, I include the first NWN only because of its unique multi-player components, although you could argue that its influence has failed to reach out to other RPGs.

	MrBored	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Ultima (including Ultima Online of course, it came before Everquest and World of Wankcraft), Final Fantasy, Zelda (omfg), Daggerfall, Diablo (just because of the sheer number of retarded clones), Lands of Lore. All games based on D&D couldn't influence a penis into a wet vag as D&D is their influence. If you really wanted to include a D&D RPG, then include Eye of the Beholder. Are you all 7 years old? Before Bioware and around the same time Blizzard started, there was this very important company called Westwood Studios, google them... The rest can go suck on my cock and see if they can influence some man juice into the back of their throat.

	Jesus Crystler Lebaron	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I really enjoyed the original Might and Magic games, 1 and 2 were great. They're some of the few games from my childhood that I still play. They would definitely be on my list.

	daver18qc	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply what about drug wars ? lol, joking !

	Vodoo	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Listen up you little barf bag born brats, nobody here is saying which ideas are perfect because in case you haven’t noticed you all made a shitload of different changes and we just might end up shooting ourselves to see who comes out on top. "You may not like some of the choices we made, so please feel free to add any games you think were important..." The list was not compiled only by Vader (i think) and that can also be seen especially in the first place where WoW lies. this is obviously due to 2lions's reluctance to give up on his addiction and lunch money to continue the process of rotting his brain. we all would change the list because we have all been influenced by games differently, but i hope it wasn’t to the extent that we might pound to shit someone else's opinions just to point our own. its morning so sorry if ive expressed myself like crap

	doomsday	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply FINAL FANTASY VII IS THA BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSTT!!! the others r good too!!! hehe

	doomsday	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply i would agree with VOOODDOOOOO!! he is right in saying that we all view each game differently etc...so no hard feelings gentlemen.. hmm GENTLEmen.........

	johnnydgood	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Define RPG. Is RPG hack and slash? If so, diablo and wow need to be up there in the highest rank. If rpg is all about living a character and be immersed in a solid story? Put NWN, the elder scrolls ans baldur's gate up there. I still play bg and frankly it's the best rpg around. Diablo comes nowhere near that game.

	Zolneirz	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Thinking of the one RPG I was truly immersed in, enjoyed by far the most thoroughly and was hurt when it finished (because I loved it so much) was Deus Ex. I don't know of any game that could influence me more as a writer or a player.

	unskinnybob	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply WOW RP servers are for gays and lesbians only. 2Lions is prolly looking at the list, looking at the WOW box in his trash can and listening to Kelly Clerkson's "Since you've been gone".

	2Lions	[STAFF] [mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply "2Lions is prolly looking at the list, looking at the WOW box in his trash can and listening to Kelly Clerkson's 'Since you've been gone'." I'd be fucking lying if I said that's far off truth. Sigh...

	Spyx	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply This is a joke right?

	danishpussy	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I'd still like to know what Fable has influenced.

	johnnydgood	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply The purse of Peter Molyneux.

	freefall	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply It's kinda sad Fallout, Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment get ranked below Diablo, Wow and Kotor. Granted, Kotor was an amazing game, but it's nowhere near as deep or well-written as any of the Black Isle games, and it was pretty linear to boot. Diablo was RPG-lite. Lots of fun and it bridged the gap between hardcore gamers and people who have never played an RPG all their life, but while Diablo was a great game, it wasn't an amazing RPG. But then again the topic is INFLUENTIAL and not greatest, so I suppose you have a point there.

	Sword Fight	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply None of the other games are popular with people who are not gamers because they're actual games. World of Warcraft is popular with housewives because it's more of a social activity than an actual RPG. Just because it has sold a lot doesn't mean it's going to influence RPGs. It has no real depth, and the same formula is transparently repeated until level 60, which is going from area to area picking up repetitive quests, and past 60, raiding for fancy gear. Not to be a bastard, since this list is just an opinion, but selecting WoW as #1 is pretty retarded considering the list is about influential RPGs, not MMOs. There's a big difference between the two.

	danishpussy	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply It's generally a decent article, but there are some glaring flaws. First of all, what have KOTOR and Fable influenced? I haven't seen other games draw from them (apart from KOTOR2 and the upcoming Fable 2, obviously). This is more like a "Ten Best RPGs of Our Time" list if you have those two on there. System Shock influenced Deus Ex and Bioshock, so it belongs on the list more than either KOTOR or Fable. The only thing I can think of that KOTOR might have influenced is console ports, but unfortunately that's not the case. Most ports are nowhere near the quality of KOTOR. As it stands, it hasn't influenced anything. For that matter, where's Freedom Force? That influenced City of Heroes to an extent (due to the drought of comic-book games, I'm certain they noticed Freedom Force).

	Xmortis	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I wouldn't put an MMORPG on such a list. They are mindless grind fests, no single player story line. Its all about maximizing your grind time to keep you dumping in the monthly fee. I agree with Baldur's Gate, Fallout, and especially Ultima. Diablo is somewhat walking the line. Its a hack/slash clickfest. Elderscrolls.. sure. KOTR, sure. It was well designed, the sequel.. no. Planescape.. why not. But I'd put it into the category of Baldur's Gate as it was essentially a followup game using the same guts/mechanics. Fallout was an excellent series, but we can't forget the game was rooted from a game called 'Wasteland' back in the C64/IIe days. But if you want to go back to the core of it all. That is, the RPG's which started it all. You'd have to mention the early Wizardy, Might and Magic, and even the early Bard's Tale games. Eye of the Beholder was also a classic series but came a bit later in the 80's 90's. Lest ye not forget Zork and even Moria/Rogue running on mainframe computers (pre PC).. While it sucks by today's standards, Zork was one of the earliest of the RPG'esqe fantasy text adventures that sparked the imagination of many future RPG game developers. On the space RPG side. We have StarFlight and Sentinel Worlds.. but that probably sways from the fantasy RPG topic.

	Clewin	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply The two eponymous original RPG game series were Ultima and Wizardry. Both series spawned many clones and both had a run of bad sequels, but I feel bad that Wizardry isn't even mentioned. At its heart, you could say Wizardry was influenced by the dungeon part of Akalabeth (remember that one? sometimes it's called Ultima 0), but I feel it influenced the first person view more than any other game. How can you mention Ultima without mentioning the first realtime first person RPG - Ultima Underworld? Fallout, while an excellent game (one of my favorites) was most influential in saving the industry - most companies were leaning towards only supporting first person shooters at the time and dumping the old genres like adventure and RPG. No other RPG to this day had the moral ambiguity of Fallout, and it was even too much for Interplay - they made the developers change some of it, such as one original ending that had supporting the gang make the town fruitful while supporting the sheriff make the town stagnate. You could even open fire on crowds of children, which was patched out of European versions (there are laws against that). Baldur's Gate mostly was influential for their realtime pausing, colorful and interesting characters and proving that a D&D licensed game was still viable after many failures. I was underwhelmed by the plot, but it's better than average (certainly not as detailed as Planescape). And while Planescape was an interesting game in itself, it didn't really influence anybody unless you count MMORPG res shrines (due to your inability to die). I don't quite understand WoW being influential - they took a genre and a formula that worked and streamlined it, which is what they did with nearly every game they've had. Yes, other games are borrowing back some of the changes, which does make them influential, but I wouldn't say most influential. Ultima Online was much more influential for creating the genre. Did you know Diablo started as a turn based, graphical nethack clone? Speaking of nethack, where is Rogue or rogue-likes (like nethack) on this list? I'd say they were more influential to RPGs than Diablo (though I think Diablo deserves credit for moving the genre to realtime and putting together the gameplay fundamentals for modern MMORPGS). The Elder Scrolls deserves credit mostly for TES - the Elder Scrolls Editor. Games like NWN would follow in their footsteps in creating an editor to ship along with a game. the early Final Fantasy games were not influential at all - it was the middle of the series where they began having scripted cutscenes and became more cinematic where the series really held its own. KOTOR was a good use of a license and a decent game. Influential? Maybe for console gamers, but not so much for traditional PC gamers - I mean, it seems more influenced by other games than influential (see honorable mention, below). Still, the morality aspect and the dark and light paths appear to be influential on modern games (but really this was done way back with Fallout). The game was somewhat open-ended which helped the fact that the planets were essentially "on rails" forcing you to take specific paths. For honorable mention there are many hybrids that include some aspects of RPGs like Wing Commander, Tomb Raider (or Prince of Persia, but that didn't really have inventory management) and Castle Wolfenstein. The main difference between these and Deus Ex is character development, so where do you draw the line for what is and what is not an RPG? I guess Ultima Underworld might fall here, but Underworld had more character development than those. Where would KOTOR be without Wing Commander? It's essentially the same basic formula - cutscenes and branching storyline to develop plot interspersed with action sequences. I admit, I was not able to play through System Shock or Deus Ex due to motion sickness problems, so I may have missed some aspect of those. This is hit-and-miss with first person games for me (Unreal and Battlefield games have never been a problem, Half Life, Marathon, and System Shock were bad after 30 minutes or so, Duke Nukem and Deus was 5 minutes or less)

	Amok	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I generally agree with the list. Hell, I'm not gaming expert, on RPGs and otherwise. I don't see how exactly Fallout influenced other games, but I know it had a massive impact on the fan base it currently possesses. Maybe my favorite game series ever. I'm glad Deus Ex got mentioned. While it might've not influenced any other games (it very limitedly influenced it's own sequel), playing it was a phenomenal experience for me. On a short note on WoW, it's a multiplayer only game, there is a constant social experience that is generally a plus for the game, so it surpasses all other RPGs present on that list on that aspect. I'd like to make one other note here, about all the previous comments - most of their authors aren't grasping exactly what Vader meant with this article. At least, I get that impression. Many of you know the first oldies which most influenced the games and series present on the list and the genre itself. However, the title of this article is "Ten Most Influential RPGs of Our Time". "Our Time". You're going back to the very beggining of the genre. At least part of the games and series listed, while partially resulting from influences themselves (if they hadn't been influenced at all, they might've not even been RPGs, but something else), they actually improved on the genre's aspects, they developed their own characteristics. An example is Fallout, influenced by Wasteland. Yes, it was. But Fallout _isn't_ Wasteland. It's something more, it developed - and I don't mean just graphically. By naming it "Ten Most Influential RPGs of Our Time", Vader was aiming more at titles the current gamer audience is more aware of. That's what I believe.

	danishpussy	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I understand your point, Amok, but it still doesn't address my questions. How are KOTOR and Fable influential? I can see how KOTOR influenced Jade Empire, but what did Fable influence? Yes, I fully understand the "Our Time" part. But a game still needs to actually be influential to be on that list.

	Barzenak_39	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Divine Divinity, Dungeon Siege 2 and Gothic 3 added too since we are just adding all rpg's we like...

	Hawkthalas	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Dont take it bad but, The one that make thsi list need to know more about RPGs. First of all, World of Warcraft cannot be in this list cause it have some technology advance that make it an MMORPG and not just a plain RPG. If you want to find really cool RPG tittles you must investigate a little more. i will give you some titles to check out: Breath of fire series Xeno Gears Tales of Phantasia Star Ocean Chrono Trigger Might and Magic Bards Tale and a looooot of more... Just remember: You dont play a RPG for the graphics, you play for the history line and the customization capabilities, the other things are pluses for the game.

	Little Beaver	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Fucking exactly.

	Baulderan	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Arcanum should be on the list. WOW IS NOT AN RPG! I don't care WHAT it is, but it's NOT an RPG. I think it's more LCC (legal crack-cocaine), but it's NOT an RPG.

	cdnfish	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply youve got falble and planescape on here but not even a mention of the mana series? give your head a shake man...

	guenthar	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Ok this list is out of order since for one if you are actually doing a most "influential" RPG then you would put the Ultima series in the number one slot. The Ultima series influenced every single RPG that has existed since Akalabeth came out (even Final Fantasy and other JRPGs) and all games today have some kind of elements that were originally created in CRPG form (besides some old server games that you would have never heard of) in the Ultima series. Other changes would be removing WOW and putting Everquest in it's place since it actually influenced WOW and most other MMORPGs that have been created and take Fable and Kotor off for already mentioned reasons and put System Shock and probably Wizardry or one of the gold box games in there place.

	evofusion	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I know this is a PC gaming website so you love your PC games. However, please don't make a top 10 list for PC RPGs and MMORPGS and say it is for PC and consoles. Makes you look stupid. WoW gets 1st place on an RPG list? Right... You do realize it's only three yeras old and it's an MMORPG? The one true console series on this joke of a list is Final Fantasy, the god father of RPGs, and it's 9th. And to add insult to injury, Planescape is higher up the list! It's crap like this that reminds me, I only come to AT for my shits and giggles.

	anduz	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply This list is frankly rather silly, it's called the most influential RPGs of our time and yet it clearly isn't when you look at the results. The winner world of warcraft, has influenced two games - Vanguard and Lotro, but it's been influenced by half the other RPGs on the list - not to mention all the MMOs that came before it, like Everquest which is honestly the father, and the mother, of that style MMOs. The elderscroll series might have sold a lot lately but are you kidding? It hasn't influenced half as much as the Final Fantasy series, not to mention the Ultima series which has influenced everything else on the list... Fallout hasn't influenced enough games to deserve a 6th place, God knows I love the series, it's my favorite game of all times actually - but it just hasn't, not even within Black isle or Trokia themselves. The Baldurs Gate series is 8 which is absolutely ridiculous because it's the series that made Bioware into what Bioware is today. Bioware needed the big hit sales to break away from Interplay, and if they hadn't gotten them they'd gone the same road Black Isle did. Basicly there would be no Knights of the old republic, neverwinter nights, jade empire or mass effect if it wasn't for the Baldurs Gate series... If this list was going for biggest hits, or biggest sales in our time the numbers are still flawed because the final fantasy series is 9. Silly silly list.

	adrichardson	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Couldn't disagree more with the review. NWN1 (+ expansions) deserves to be in there if only on the grounds that it proved you could do a 3d rpg with good visuals, a strong plot and a party. Baldurs Gate series should have been higher up the list - after all, it's the game that more or less single-handedly revived the genre. Fable really doesn't deserve to be on the list at all - compared to everything else here it's a lightweight, and I definitely wouldn't put KOTOR anywhere near the top 5. Other suggestions - Vampire Masquerade?

	Amok	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Vader: "(...) taking into account a variety of CRPGs, RPGs and MMOs that made the greatest impact on modern-day PC and console gaming." As in, success of said games counts? I believe so. The title has significance, but people, there's an intro for a reason. @danish - me: "At least part of the games and series listed, (...)" Anduz: "The winner world of warcraft, has influenced two games - Vanguard and Lotro, but it's been influenced by half the other RPGs on the list - not to mention all the MMOs that came before it, like Everquest which is honestly the father, and the mother, of that style MMOs. " Read my first quote and respective comment. Also, me: "At least part of the games and series listed, while partially resulting from influences themselves (if they hadn't been influenced at all, they might've not even been RPGs, but something else), they actually improved on the genre's aspects, they developed their own characteristics." Being influenced doesn't diminish a game's own influence and success. Unless it's a blatant copy, of course.

	himself	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I agree with the bulk of the list but I do have some personal mentions: - Final Fantasy should have been higher. I mean, come on. Even if you didn't liked the series it practically started the whole Asian RPG style. - Baldur's Gate should have been higher. That was truly influential (IWD, PST, NWN, etc) not to mention that people who had no interest in D&D before changed after playing that game. - Fable? Sure, it was an interesting experiment but I wouldn't call it an influential RPG. It tried to combine RPGs and The Sims. Plus, it was way to short. - Morrowind... It continues to be my second favorite game (after Planescape :D) but second place is a bit to high IMHO - WoW - Well, I'm not really into MMORPGs but that doesn't mean I don't realise what a great game WoW is and how much it wil influence the future of gaming. But I do believe the time has come (after the flow of MMORPGs from the last years) that the gaming press draws a big line between MMORPGs and CRPGs making them two different genres. That would put an end to stupid disputes. Trying to compare WoW to BG for example is like trying to compare Starcraft to Civilization. Sure, they're both strategies but you can hardly find similarities. Also, if Ultima was here so should have Wizardry :P Ok...Ultima was a bigger series but it was the competition with Wizardry that got it there. If I were to name some names that would make a top 15 (I couldn't kick anything from this top...ok..maybe Fable but that's it) I would say the Gothic series. It's 3rd person perspective was a breathe of fresh air. So was the fact that it came from Germany, giving us hope for other good RPGs coming from outside the USA\CANADA\JAPAN triad. Also I would name Sea Dogs for it's great merit of putting sea simulation, trading and RPG together (along with it's pseudo-sequel Pirates of The Caribbean). The thing is it's influence spread not on the RPG part, but on the simulation part, burrowinf ideas and concepts to series like Port Royale, Anno, Patrician and other pirates\ships games.

	uk_john	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Fable and WoW should not be on this list - they are the result of previous games being innovative. Why does it always have to be 5 of this or 10 of that or 20 of the other?! If there are 7 influential RPG's of all time, let's have a list of 7, Why pad it with obvious large publisher pandering usually for games that can still be bought at retail and therefore create income for the publishers concerned, all so the media can stay 'friendly' with the gaming industry in a fawning way! Quite simply this list is a product of the 'let's put something together to fill out the editorial, bcause we just have nothing to write about in this declining games market'!

	Five Miles Out	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Mm... For those of you who see hack'n'slashing as a bad thing in CRPGs, I'd like to point out that role playing is extremely difficult when the only link between you and your character is a mouse/keyboard/gamepad. And yes, you may roll your eyes and point, yelling 'Real-life roleplayer!' in silly fasletto voices, but that doesn't make it any less true. That being said, I think that a 'Ten Best CRPGs of Our Time' list would've been nicer, but harder to pull off. That being said, what have CRPGs influenced, anyway?

	Kukuk	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Lol, this is a horrible list. How is WoW more influential than FF? If it wasnt for FF, there would be no J-RPG genre. And what has KOTOR influenced? It just took the NWN gameplay and stuck it in the Star Wars universe. On a side note, NWN should be up there, since its one of the first games to have an easy to use, and widely used module maker. Man, this list has all sorts of problems.

	MrBored	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I think we can all agree that this is the worst list ever.

	adehe.d	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply WoW has proven only one thing... That with enough marketing a mediocre mmo can sell a lot of copies. On that front I wish they would influence other mmo's. MArketing that is... not Mediocrity ;)

	Vader	[STAFF] [mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply WoW is hardly a mediocre MMO.

	_Chaks_	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply I dont see Chrono Trigger/Cross on the list.

	Kn0w0ne	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Phantasy Star!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO. What's wrong with the world today that Final Fantasys greatest competitor of old doesn't even make it on the list. I remember when it was just - Phantasy Star, and Final Fantasy. They were the only RPGs that meant anything. And you guys don't even give it a second thought. Shame. And you real gamers --- Where are you? Am I the only one? If I wasn't, there would have been some mention of the only real #2 behind FF. Terrible. Only thing against me on this one is the latest couple of lame attempts by Sega to revive the series. In effect ruining its good name. But, 1-4 were some of the best ever. Period. !!!!

	Kn0w0ne	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply In addition, Fable and WoW definitely don't belong on the list. WoW is an mmorpg not an rpg. They are totally different. WoW is a friend making/destroying machine. I have seen it do both. But not an RPG. Not at all. And Fable hasn't influenced a damn thing yet. Has it? If it has I must have been asleep. And what about the classics like Dungeons & Dragons - there were a tonne of these and they were in their infancy way more of an RPG than WoW. The only reason WoW made the list is because it's some fanboy that had input into this lists favorite game. #1)Final Fantasy #2)Phantasy Star The rest work.

	JasmoVT	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply What, were you born in the 80's??? To list influential RPGs and leave out Wizardry I. Oh my.

	ShinsFortress	[mail] Sep 03 2009, 12:00 am EDT
	Reply Well, guess maybe it should have been more about how many sales, since that seems to be it. Or hiow famous? I certainly wouldn't agree with the definition of the list. Take music, modern popular music. How many people know of the likes of Style Council, Scritti Politti? Band like these are almost unheard of these days. So sucessful? Maybe not. Influencial? They certainly did. The point is, as successful and fun as KotoR was, for example, I would so not place it on the list. Heck, I bet if it was for the root franchise, KotoR would have been an also ran. Some items, I agree with (though maybe not their position), e.g. BG, PS:T, Diablo (though that was very lite on the RP...). But overall? The list is as authoritive to me as a slice of lemon. Where was Dungeon Master? Bard's Tale? Maybe not successful by todays standards, but I bet a lot of the developers for listed titles were "influenced" by such things. Maybe this publication is just not for me. shrug Each to their own, if they wish, I guess

COMMENTS PAGE 1

I want ActionTrip to:
	Start reviewing PS3 games.
	Start reviewing Wii games.
	Review more PC games.
	Offer more features, articles, interviews, etc.
	Post more news.
	Post more videos.
	Post more screenshots.
	Bring back files and patches.
	Say how utterly beautiful I am every day.

» view results » view poll archives

	Yesterday 9.2 avg score 1126 people voted
	Two days ago 9.0 avg score 1115 people voted
	Three days ago 8.9 avg score 1369 people voted
	Four days ago 9.4 avg score 1654 people voted
	Five days ago 8.8 avg score 1224 people voted

	Swift Punishment 11/14/2009 17664 views
	Unreal - The Un-tease 10/26/2009 16104 views
	A Tough Dalish Life 11/02/2009 14656 views
	Destined For Greatness 11/09/2009 13607 views
	It's Epic Mickey 10/19/2009 10230 views

	Halo 3: ODST 'Terra Incognita' Trailer 8:33
	Assassin's Creed II Gameplay trailer 2:04
	Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 - Chaos Rising Trailer 1:01
	Aliens vs. Predator 'Aliens' Trailer 1:59
	Forza Motorsport 3 Trailer 1:18

USER PASSWORD
	Forgot username or password? Click here.

BABES

TOP COMICS

TOP VIDEOS