What a grand garden, and now snow or ice at all!- Mass Effect 3
'Customizable Arsenal' Trailer - Mass Effect 3
'Adrenaline Pumping Gameplay' Trailer - Mass Effect 3
'Interactive Storytelling' Trailer - Mass Effect 3
'Ruthless Enemies' Trailer - Shank 2
Launch Trailer - Sleeping Dogs
Trailer - I Am Alive
'How to survive climbing' Trailer
- Driver: San Francisco
v1.04 Patch - X3: Terran Conflict
Patch v3.1 to 3.2 - Might & Magic Heroes VI
Patch v1.2 to v1.2.1 - ArmA 2
v1.11 Patch - ArmA 2: Operation Arrowhead
Patch v1.60 - Operation Flashpoint: Red River
v1.2 Patch - Anno 2070
v1.02 Patch
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.
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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.
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.
The rest can go suck on my cock and see if they can influence some man juice into the back of their throat.
"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**
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...
But then again the topic is INFLUENTIAL and not greatest, so I suppose you have a point there.
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).
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)
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.
Yes, I fully understand the "Our Time" part. But a game still needs to actually be influential to be on that list.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
- 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.
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?
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.
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. !!!!
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.
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