cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/57203969
Credit where credit is due: MEGA CRPG RECOMMENDATION LIST. Tasty comments full of people disagreeing on the OP’s categorization. Seems to have deleted their account, so no u/ I can direct you to. I left all the recommendations and categorization alone, but took out some of the color commentary (which to some might just be blandifying it, lol).
“Where do I start?” mainstream recommendations
These CRPGs tend to get recommended the most by others who are newer to CRPGs themselves and very likely started just within the last few years.
- Divinity: Original Sin 2
- Pathfinder: Kingmaker
- Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
- Pillars of Eternity
- Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
- Wasteland 3
“I’m looking for a good CRPG” middle-of-the-road recommendations
The person asking this question likely has some CRPG experience. The games that I listed here are great, but came about before the big CRPG renaissance that the mainstream gamer is familiar with. They’re extremely common to most people who’ve been playing CRPGs for years, and will very likely tug some nostalgia heartstrings despite the fact that the some mainstream gamers may feel confused or even put off by some of the older design principles. These recommendations tend to be for the person playing catch-up, working backwards from modern releases to the older stuff that CRPG veterans would still consider to be mainstream.
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
- Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines
- Gothic series
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Shadowrun series
# “My dad played it, but is it any good?” forgotten recommendations
These CRPGs haven’t actually been forgotten, of course. They’re just not spoken of regularly when compared to the modern recommendations, but a lot of long-time CRPG fans have played them and can recite fine details about their experiences of them. They were likely extremely popular at one point, maybe even to the point of being considered legendary, but have been drowned out by mainstream recommendations. In this territory, the mainstream gamer can often be seen twitching uncomfortably at some dated design principles and will shift in their seats with impatience due to the lack of quality of life options or untraditional design choices.
- Baldur’s Gate
- Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn
- Neverwinter Nights
- Neverwinter Nights 2
- Icewind Dale
- Icewind Dale II
- Planescape: Torment
- Fallout
- Fallout 2
- Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
- Deus Ex
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Temple of Elemental Evil
- Silver Box games
- Gold Box games
- Wizardry series
- Might and Magic series
- Ultima series
“I think I’ve heard of that before!” not the first to come to mind recommendations
CRPGs that maybe some people have heard in passing, or they know a guy who knows a guy whose uncle played it at some point. These are the recommendations that are a point of pride for the people who mention them, because they know that not many people have played them, or possibly have even heard of them. Some of these also tend to have a bit of a niche following or aren’t quite as popular as other entries in their series. Not everyone will love these, but the ones that do REALLY love them.
- Anachranox
- Arx Fatalis
- Balrum
- Underrail
- Kenshi
- Prince of Qin
- Atom RPG
- Disco Elysium
- Torment: Tides of Numenera
- Divine Divinity
- Beyond Divinity
- Divinity: Dragon Commander
- Divinity II
- Divinity: Original Sin
- Tales of Maj’Eyal
- Wasteland
- Wasteland 2
- Realms of Arkania
- Tyranny
- The Bards Tale series
- Lords of Xulima
- Wizards and Warriors
- Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
- Operencia: The Stolen Sun
- Legend of Grimrock series
- Star Control series
- Drakensang series
- Geneforge series
- Avernum series
- Avadon series
- Queen’s Wish series
- Nethergate
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister
- Encased: A Sci-Fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
- Darklands
- Serpent in the Staglands
- Blackguards 1 + 2
- Wartales
- Battle Brothers
- Tower of Time
- Hard West 1 + 2
- Vigilantes
- Fallout: Tactics
- Dungeon Rats
- Amberstar
- Ambermoon
- Expeditions series
- Nox
- E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
- Silent Storm and Silent Storm: Sentinels
- Dungeon Siege
- Sanity: Aiken’s Artifact
- Goldenland
- Rage of Mages
- Space Rangers
- Septerra Core
- Age of Decadence
- Colony Ship: A Post-Earth Role Playing Game
- Black Geyser
- Pathologic 2
- Gamedec
- Mechajammer
- Death Trash
- Space Wreck
- Alaloth
- Shattered Light
“t̵̖̗̜͋ẖ̸̟̬̗̈́̋̐̊̕̕ͅe̶̢̗͇͓̙̜͐͌͌̊ ̸̨̪̗͓͇̖͙̄̈́͐̎̔̚p̶̢̞̜͙͚̘̀̈́͋̽̽̋ͅȁ̶̟͓̥͓̣̪͝n̸̫͆t̴͔̞̻̉͗̍͗h̶͈̙̬͈̄̌̿̀̾̓̚ĕ̵̹̓͛͝ȏ̶̠̫̙͙̉̍̀͜͝n̷̥͚̺͂̂ ̶̤͈̍͆̿̉̂̑̀ǫ̸̡̠̦̙̯͐́̓́̂f̵̰̟̝̓̈́́̊͗̿͝ ̷̟̤̹͕͔͊̌̈͠ẗ̸̡͉̳̱́̏̋͆͑̕͝h̷̩͉͇͊͝e̶̢̢̺͐̏ ̶̘̌̄̔ē̶̮̘͇̥̙ͅl̵̨̡̹͇̋̍͂̒̍̕͠ḑ̸̨̩̺̰̮̇̊̋̉͐̉̓͜e̶̢̢̘̼̦̭̿̉r̷̰̞͔̫̔̍̈́̌ ̸̻͌̑͒̑̓g̶̛͓͎͉̞͔͚̠̋o̸̙̗͆̈́̾d̴͖̔̅́̓̔̅͝ş̵̪̻́̐́́̉͝͝” the 1% recommendations
Some of these games are difficult to even find a single archived mention on a website, and if you were a completionist collector and wanted a physical copy of some of these, you’d be hard-pressed to find them.
- The Banished
- Mistmare
- Another War
- Shadow Vault
- Vampire Hunters
- Archangel
- Dragonfire: The Well of Souls
- Anito- Defend the Land Enraged
- World of Chaos
- Paradise Cracked
- Dark Secrets of Africa
- Morning’s Wrath
- Blind Justice
- Icarus, Sanctuary of the Gods
- Metal Hearts: Replicant’s Rampage
- Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon
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- Silver Box games
- Gold Box games
I’d have a really hard time recommending these to anyone unless they’re specifically wanting to experience an old game. Yes, at the time they came out, they were good, and I enjoyed them, but things have just moved on by way too much.
I could go back and play some of the other games in this category, like Jagged Alliance 2.
I kind of hesitate at recommending even Fallout: New Vegas to a present-day gamer, just due to age, and that’s only 16 years old. You’re talking 33+ years if you’re getting into the Gold Box stuff. There are only a few games from the early 1990s and before that I think have really aged comfortably enough to be something I’d recommend. Pac-Man or Tetris, sure.
I think New Vegas is fine if you like RPGs, the 16 year evolution from 2010 to 2016 is a lot less than say from 1994 to 2010.
For whatever reason, I can’t get into RPGs made before 95 or so. I am OK with some pre-1995 releases in other genres (strategy, adventure), but with RPGs the UI is particularly annoying and I also find pre-1995 RPGs tend to be very combat focused (there is a lot of combat in say FO1, but also a lot of conversations and alternative approaches).
Wikipedia has a timeline (spanning multiple pages).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_role-playing_video_games
They count roguelikes as RPGs, which I would not, but I could see playing some of the old roguelikes.
They include interactive fiction as RPGs, which I would not, but there is definitely text-based interactive fiction that I’d play.
They include ARPGs, which I don’t normally refer to when thinking of RPGs. There are some here that I would say are worthwhile, like the Legend of Zelda games and the Secret of Mana games.
I wouldn’t go back and play the early Final Fantasy games, but I suspect that there are fans of the series who would go for all of them.
I didn’t like EarthBound/Mother 2, but I know that it has a lot of fans. Maybe some people would enjoy it.
They include Syndicate as a tactical RPG, which I would not, but I think that I’d still enjoy it. Not a very complicated game, but satisfying.
Great list! Some games that I’ve never heard of!
Shout out to Colony Ship! I just started it today and I am loving it. It’s a great modern evolution of the FO1/FO2/Arcanum formula from the creators of Age of Decadence.
I am also not sure that Morrowing would clarify as “middle of the road” by modern standards. It can be a pretty tough and confusing game if your baseline is Obsidian’s or Bethesda’s recent output.
