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.