Top 5 RPGs

[Gamerforlife]

I've certainly put enough time into western RPGs; I enjoy playing them. But JRPGs will probably always be the top for me.

Same.

Though I think if I made a top 50 RPG list it would have like 15 WRPGs.

I honestly don't even bother with western RPGs unless its Bioware. They are the only ones that seem to deliver them in a way that I find palatable. I've tried Elder Scrolls games and they put me to sleep. Unless it's by Bioware, everything I play is JRPGs

[BoneSnapDeez]

That's like limiting yourself to Square Enix JRPGs!

So you don't like any WRPGs made before 1996?

I like Bioware too, but there are tons of other great WRPG developers, past and present - Troika, Piranha Bytes, Dynamix, Origin, Interplay, Sir-Tech, Black Isle, New World Computing, Blizzard, Reality Pump, CD Projekt RED......

[TheBrick]

I've certainly put enough time into western RPGs; I enjoy playing them. But JRPGs will probably always be the top for me.

Same.

Though I think if I made a top 50 RPG list it would have like 15 WRPGs.

I keep meaning to play a few WRPGs, but they're not really my area of expertise. Any suggestions?

[MrPopo]

I've certainly put enough time into western RPGs; I enjoy playing them. But JRPGs will probably always be the top for me.

Same.

Though I think if I made a top 50 RPG list it would have like 15 WRPGs.

I keep meaning to play a few WRPGs, but they're not really my area of expertise. Any suggestions?

http://www.gog.com/mix/must_play_classic_crpgs

[BoneSnapDeez]

I've certainly put enough time into western RPGs; I enjoy playing them. But JRPGs will probably always be the top for me.

Same.

Though I think if I made a top 50 RPG list it would have like 15 WRPGs.

I keep meaning to play a few WRPGs, but they're not really my area of expertise. Any suggestions?

Popo's link is solid. It covers virtually all the ones I was going to recommend.

The Temple of Elemental Evil and Diablo II are also must-plays.

I'd say (roughly) 1994-2004 was the best era for the genre. This is when the D&D games really hit their peak, for instance.

As you probably know, early floppy-disk based DOS WRPGs have a reputation for being cryptic and hard as hell. And while I like some of the more recent WRPGs, many of the newer console-based games tend to be action/RPG hybrids or feel more like action-adventure games with some RPG elements shoehorned in.

[TheBrick]

Thankee sirs. I shall start with those ones then.

[casterofdreams]

I don't want to quote any one person specifically but I see a common trend that people feel Mass Effect 2 dumb down the RPG elements and made it more of a third person shooter.

So what where these RPG elements that was in the first game that the second game lost? And what made the second game more of a third person shooter over the first entry?

[Exhuminator]

I have beaten many JRPGs but only a handful of WRPGs (or CRPGs if you wanna call them that). It's not so much that I think JRPGs are superior, as it is JRPGs are more linear and are more concerned with keeping the player on task. By "on task" I mean focusing on the main plot and having obvious rails that lead the player to the credits. Most of the time with WRPGs I start off loving the game but about halfway through I just have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing anymore and lose interest. This is simply a byproduct of having so much exploratory freedom at one's disposal, not necessarily bad game design or anything.

So to recommend WRPGs, I have to think of any that were perpetually interesting enough that I actually finished the game. This will be a short list...

Fallout
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_%28video_game%29

Fallout 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_3

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_T ... Bloodlines

In contrast, WRPGs I can remember starting but stopping halfway through:
Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale, Arcanum, Anachronox, Arx Fatalis, Ultima Underworld, Morrowind, Oblivion, KOTOR, Jade Empire, and so on... All fine games that for some reason my attention span didn't do so well with.

[isiolia]

I don't want to quote any one person specifically but I see a common trend that people feel Mass Effect 2 dumb down the RPG elements and made it more of a third person shooter.

So what where these RPG elements that was in the first game that the second game lost? And what made the second game more of a third person shooter over the first entry?

Partly, it's streamlining. The first game has a more involved inventory system, or rather, it has an inventory system at all (poorly regarded as it may be). In 2 and 3, when you get new stuff, it just becomes available at your equipment locker. There are stats to put level up points into purely there to beat conversation checks. In 2 and 3, those are based on your Paragon/Renegade scores from previous decisions (and there are QTEs in some conversations enabled by them as well). Stuff like that.

Additionally, the game can be faster. Guns use heat sink clips instead of having unlimited ammo but heat generation to work around as in ME. Powers share a cooldown, but it's a fraction of what the individual cooldowns tended to be in the first game. Health regenerates as well as shields, so healing items are basically for reviving KO'ed squad mates.

I think it depends on what you're looking at for RPG-ness. The second and third games do away with a lot of the inventory and stat management of the first, but they build on the morality system, extend the choices you make, and that kind of thing, and are more refined shooters to boot.
ME3 does give the option to play the game more like a straight up action game, by making decisions for you. There's also an option to play with easier combat if you want to focus on story/role playing (such as it is).

[darsparx]

Ok I have to add my own reply in here because I love rpgs but these are in no specific order:

- Golden Sun Series(sorry but you can't list one without the other in this one...it's incomplete as a game that way) - this game and the way you used the magic to move stuff and solve puzzles was genius!!
- Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga
- Tales of Phantasia - played it to a good extent before losing it for the gba...definitely planning on getting the reproduction carts a local store sells
- Final Fantasy Adventure - played on gba as sword of mana but amazing game none the less started playing it's gb version and just as good!

- Grandia - for a ps1 era rpg it plays great on the vita and it's story is probably the most original in some extent and it's game play matches


I wish I could put more most of those that I have played tie for first and the rest tie for second and third XD