Incline RPG Codex's Top 50 cRPGs - Results and Reviews

[Clockwork Knight]

Gorgeous art/graphic if you like to watch

Dis nigga real?

NPCs might be animatronic-like polygon messes straight from a Playstation 1 game but the rest of the game is quite good visually.

 

[laclongquan]

Gorgeous art/graphic if you like to watch

Dis nigga real?

For its time, Morrowind has gorgeous eyecandy. First of the type,e ven. Even now people are still play it for graphic, albeit in mods. And yeah, NPCs are bunch of cardboard, but that's what nude/graphic mods are for.

 

[Excidium]

I always found it looked like crap but I never played with any graphics mod. Actually that's maybe too harsh, it doesn't look that bad but I sure as hell never ranked it much high in terms of visuals even "for the time".

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

Very fun gameplay

 

[laclongquan]

You have fun explore the world, kill some mudcrab, loot some shits, make some stuff, train some skills, cast some spells... What? It's all gameplay.

 

[sser]

Might & Magic VI

Spoiler

The sixth entry into the Might & Magic series is a very rare example of a game greatly changing the fundamentals of its predecessors and not mucking it up. I don't want to call it The Godfather II of games, because that would be some hackeneyed nonsense, but I'm not totally above derivatives so I'll go with it being kinda like Aliens. It's hard to imagine a series changing so much and yet maintaining quality like M&MVI did. It'd be like if Knights of the Chalice got an RTS sequel set in a desert or something and we were all like, Wow, what a great game that so magnificently broke new ground while maintaining the godwater that gave its source material root in our arboreal - nay - celestial worlds. Ah. Ahhhhh...

You see, the easiest and most obvious route for VI's development would have been to transition to 3D graphics, but keep the turn-based grid movement. Maybe implement a bit more whizbang graphics and cool dude animations with complementary 90s sound effects. Instead, we got a fully navigable world with big cities (relatively speaking) and tons of differing locales with a variety of enemies filling them up. The developers didn't just go all-aboard the 3D gravy train,

Sure, the combat at times transitioned into Galaga type shit with the party peppering literal hordes of enemies with arrows. Sure, it made little sense that every tiny Hobbit-town and village-by-the-meadow had murderous armies of cannibals literally right around the hilltops. Sure, the collection of RenFaire castaways that constituted the faces of your party were a joke. Sure, they all had to be human... Okay, the M&M games have always been a bit derp, but the games - and M&MVI particularly - somehow make up for it with their almost chewable charm. You walk bizarre fantasy lands with dings and bings and goddammit the gameplay is oddly addicting. I don't even know how to explain it. It's a walkabout a la the Elder Scrolls series, but it's filled to the brim with filler combat and your characters have zero personality except their silly and unshapely paper dolls, but who cares because what's in this dungeon? What's next? That's what the game is all about. Adventure. Going wherever you dare, no matter what monsters you're told to beware. This game is either inexplicably good or I'm just too washed out to handle a review. But this ain't a review - it's a secret advertisement! Of Orcs and Men deserved a place on the top 50! How could you Codex?! How could you not see how -

Spoiler

M&MX is easily in the top 50, by the way.

 

[rbenchley]

I'm doing some as well:

Dark Souls

Dark Souls is a marvel of its time, a game that reminds us that we shouldn’t be satisfied with well-produced mediocrity and “good-for-what-it-is” games. It’s challenging, mature, deep, polished, and above all, a game that respects its players. There’s no hand-holding here, you’ll learn the ropes by playing, and the game will test you at every step, frequently killing you. The challenges are finely tuned, appearing almost impossible at first, but are in fact perfectly fair and doable, and a source of great satisfaction once beaten. The fantastic combat takes the center piece here, being easily the best you’ll find in any Action-RPG. It requires tactic, demands attention and rewards patience like no other; all while providing you a vast array of weapons and armors to equip, and diverse enemies to test them, through expertly designed levels. Another high point, the melancholic story is masterfully told through subtle details in the scenery, hints in the items descriptions and concise, well-written lines from a cast of memorable NPCs, never relying in long expositions or lazy “Lore Books” by wannabe-writers. From Software raised the bar with Dark Souls; it’s not the best game ever, but it’s one that excels in absolutely everything that it does.

Forgot to mention it requires you to buy a controller to play.

There's a patch to fix the janky keyboard and mouse controls. http://steamcommunity.com/app/211420/discussions/0/864979455329386779/

 

[Broseph]

That's a much better review than mine. Good work, you successfully captured the essence of what makes that game so awesome.

And I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who voted for MMX.

 

[HiddenX]

felipepepe you asked for it - Albion:

Short review/survey of Albion:

Spoiler

Albion - The Dark Horse of western CRPGs

Albion - a mix between Ultima and Realms of Arkania games - was released 1996 by Blue Byte GmbH.

It is a refreshing entry to the genre, mixing fantasy and science fiction elements (A bit like the movie "Avatar "). These mix leads to an interesting and powerfully written story.

You play as Tom Driscoll, a pilot from the mother ship Toronto that crashes on the planet Albion. Albion is supposed to be a barren world. Tom discovers quickly, nothing could be further from the truth: Albion is full of alien races to interact with, places to explore, rich and varied landscapes, various useful equipment and items to find. Magic and potions are available for healing and enhancement of your character's abilities.

You can build up a party with up to 5 members. Each party member has his own backpack as inventory. Each backpack is limited by the strength of the character. So you have to decide what to keep and what to sell (there are a lot of items in the game). Items can be sold in stores - the common currency is gold.

Battles are turn based, challenging long and interesting. There are a lot of options to attack and the enemies have a lot of options to attack you - be prepared. As long as one party member survives you can heal the rest of the party after battle.

In most towns and dungeons the game switches to a first person view, in outdoor areas a third person view is used. The game features auto mapping.

Interacting with the aliens is fun, you can ask everyone and your mother about many topics (listed in the dialog screen) to learn about new secrets and about new quests. The story develops through interacting with people, so you have to read and ask a lot.

The story is full of twists - but I tell you nothing here

The party members are all interesting characters, each with skills and stats that can be further developed.

Some puzzles, riddles are in the game, too.

Albion creates a fully believable alien world; you meet a lot of interesting NPCs and enemies to interact with. You find many (some unique) items to equip your characters. Character development through an interesting skill/stat/experience system is effective. Exploring the last corner of world is rewarding. There are many things, skills, spells to learn. The storyline is top notch.

Albion plays with many CRPG-elements and out comes a beautiful interesting and entertaining CRPG. I can recommend it to all Ultima, Realms of Arkania, Wizardry and Ambermoon fans. Two thumbs up!

Further details here:
Wikipedia - Albion

Character Development
Characters earn experience points by defeating enemies or by solving certain puzzles. When a character has sufficient experience points they will advance in level, increasing their maximum life and spell points. They will also receive training points which can be expended at a trainer to permanently increase one or more of their skills.

Navigation
Albion uses a hybrid 2D/3D graphical system to depict its environments. Most interior locations are shown using a 2D overhead view, centered on the player's party. Movement is possible using either the keyboard or the mouse, and the mouse is used to examine or manipulate objects within the reach of the party leader. A similar view is used when exploring the larger world outside the cities, but with objects and characters shown on a much smaller scale. Upon entering most dungeons, caves, and the exteriors of larger cities the game switches to a real-time first-person 3D view. As in the 2D view, players may use the mouse or keyboard to move around and the mouse is used to select objects to interact with. A 2D automap is available to assist navigation in these areas.

Combat
In both 2D and 3D areas, groups of enemies may be present. These groups are visible to the player and move in real time. Combat occurs when the party encounters one of these groups. Therefore combat can sometimes be avoided by slipping past or outrunning enemies. The combat system in Albion is turn-based and takes place on a five-by-six grid similar to a chess board, with the player's characters arranged at the bottom and their enemies at the top. At the start of each turn, the player selects an action for each character to perform: Attack, Move, Use magic, Use Item, or Flee. The order in which party members and enemies execute their actions depends on their relative speeds and is an important tactical consideration. Since attacks are targeted at a grid square rather than the character or enemy in it, attacks will miss if their intended target moves before they are made, even if that target is still within reach. The movement of the player's characters is limited to the bottom two rows, but there is also an 'Advance Party' option which moves all enemies one row towards the party.

Conversations
Conversations in Albion are handled in two ways: Set Topics and Keywords. The Topics usually signify something you can specifically ask that person, for example the leader of a tribe about an object that only he knows about, or a shopkeeper to show you his or her wares. Keywords are more dynamic and may yield different results to different people. Besides being able to type them freely, you learn keywords for a particular town by speaking to people about common topics, and gradually you will learn all there is to know in the game just by speaking to people. For example, you can learn some of the native language and culture, some superfluous knowledge about who likes whom, and what kind of drink is preferable.

 

[Lhynn]

Your review made my head hurt HiddenX, you should go more into detail about what makes the game, instead of superficially mentioning the features.

 

[HiddenX]

Lhynn
Further details here:
Wikipedia - Albion

Character Development
Characters earn experience points by defeating enemies or by solving certain puzzles. When a character has sufficient experience points they will advance in level, increasing their maximum life and spell points. They will also receive training points which can be expended at a trainer to permanently increase one or more of their skills.

Navigation
Albion uses a hybrid 2D/3D graphical system to depict its environments. Most interior locations are shown using a 2D overhead view, centered on the player's party. Movement is possible using either the keyboard or the mouse, and the mouse is used to examine or manipulate objects within the reach of the party leader. A similar view is used when exploring the larger world outside the cities, but with objects and characters shown on a much smaller scale. Upon entering most dungeons, caves, and the exteriors of larger cities the game switches to a real-time first-person 3D view. As in the 2D view, players may use the mouse or keyboard to move around and the mouse is used to select objects to interact with. A 2D automap is available to assist navigation in these areas.

Combat
In both 2D and 3D areas, groups of enemies may be present. These groups are visible to the player and move in real time. Combat occurs when the party encounters one of these groups. Therefore combat can sometimes be avoided by slipping past or outrunning enemies. The combat system in Albion is turn-based and takes place on a five-by-six grid similar to a chess board, with the player's characters arranged at the bottom and their enemies at the top. At the start of each turn, the player selects an action for each character to perform: Attack, Move, Use magic, Use Item, or Flee. The order in which party members and enemies execute their actions depends on their relative speeds and is an important tactical consideration. Since attacks are targeted at a grid square rather than the character or enemy in it, attacks will miss if their intended target moves before they are made, even if that target is still within reach. The movement of the player's characters is limited to the bottom two rows, but there is also an 'Advance Party' option which moves all enemies one row towards the party.

Conversations
Conversations in Albion are handled in two ways: Set Topics and Keywords. The Topics usually signify something you can specifically ask that person, for example the leader of a tribe about an object that only he knows about, or a shopkeeper to show you his or her wares. Keywords are more dynamic and may yield different results to different people. Besides being able to type them freely, you learn keywords for a particular town by speaking to people about common topics, and gradually you will learn all there is to know in the game just by speaking to people. For example, you can learn some of the native language and culture, some superfluous knowledge about who likes whom, and what kind of drink is preferable.

 

[Ravel myluv]

Posted this in the other thread, unsure if it was the right place so here we go again:

Deus Ex

Deus Ex might feel bad in its gameplay, but it is a classic case of the player willingly ignoring the game's shortcomings for the whole forms a greater thing than the addition of its individual parts. Deus Ex offers many different paths and options to the player, setting a standard for the FPS/RPG. The game's pace is handled wonderfully, alterning action, infiltration, social interactions... Every level feels unique, and the game offers some nice twists on players' expectations. The scenario is clever, while not taking itself too seriously (and helped in that by tongue-in-cheek voice acting). There's a sense of believibality in the people you meet and the places you explore, and credit to the developers for not going the "epic" route of making everything grandiose and disproportionnate. Overall, not only is Deus Ex a historically important RPG, but it is still trumendously enjoyable today for very few are the games that match its level design and writting.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Might & Magic VI

Spoiler

The sixth entry into the Might & Magic series is a very rare example of a game greatly changing the fundamentals of its predecessors and not mucking it up. I don't want to call it The Godfather II of games, because that would be some hackeneyed nonsense, but I'm not totally above derivatives so I'll go with it being kinda like Aliens. It's hard to imagine a series changing so much and yet maintaining quality like M&MVI did. It'd be like if Knights of the Chalice got an RTS sequel set in a desert or something and we were all like, Wow, what a great game that so magnificently broke new ground while maintaining the godwater that gave its source material root in our arboreal - nay - celestial worlds. Ah. Ahhhhh...

You see, the easiest and most obvious route for VI's development would have been to transition to 3D graphics, but keep the turn-based grid movement. Maybe implement a bit more whizbang graphics and cool dude animations with complementary 90s sound effects. Instead, we got a fully navigable world with big cities (relatively speaking) and tons of differing locales with a variety of enemies filling them up. The developers didn't just go all-aboard the 3D gravy train,

Sure, the combat at times transitioned into Galaga type shit with the party peppering literal hordes of enemies with arrows. Sure, it made little sense that every tiny Hobbit-town and village-by-the-meadow had murderous armies of cannibals literally right around the hilltops. Sure, the collection of RenFaire castaways that constituted the faces of your party were a joke. Sure, they all had to be human... Okay, the M&M games have always been a bit derp, but the games - and M&MVI particularly - somehow make up for it with their almost chewable charm. You walk bizarre fantasy lands with dings and bings and goddammit the gameplay is oddly addicting. I don't even know how to explain it. It's a walkabout a la the Elder Scrolls series, but it's filled to the brim with filler combat and your characters have zero personality except their silly and unshapely paper dolls, but who cares because what's in this dungeon? What's next? That's what the game is all about. Adventure. Going wherever you dare, no matter what monsters you're told to beware. This game is either inexplicably good or I'm just too washed out to handle a review. But this ain't a review - it's a secret advertisement! Of Orcs and Men deserved a place on the top 50! How could you Codex?! How could you not see how -

Spoiler

M&MX is easily in the top 50, by the way.

sser , I like you review, but any discussion of MM6 has to include the fact that it has the best dungeon design of any Might and Magic game before and since. In addition, these dungeons were huge and each could require many hours exploring.

 

[Minttunator]

Further details here:
Wikipedia - Albion

The point of these reviews originally was to write a (single!) paragraph describing why the game is good - more as a brief recommendation to people who haven't played that particular game, telling them why it's worth playing. I think that's what Lhynn meant. Pasting Wikipedia doesn't really add anything - most of the people on this site can read and are capable of looking games up on Wikipedia themselves.

Example Albion review by Spaceman Spiff from the other thread:

Spoiler

Abandoning the open-world exploration of its predecessor for the most part but keeping everything else intact, Albion is the perfect mix of a linear, story-focused jRPG style and western cRPG gameplay.
Companions got more backstory and involvement in the plot, the dialogues/story are intelligent and very well written while the difficulty curve and combat mechanics are (still) unbalanced as shit. Then again, it has hundreds of interactive objects and items, quests with multiple solutions, optional dungeons and simply the most gorgeous 2D visuals in any RPG to date. And a fantastic soundtrack.
It certainly isn't the most complex RPG with its limited character building options but the adventure aspects and imaginative Sci-Fi/Fantasy setting more than make up for it.
Have I mentioned how beautiful this game is?

I might do one as well, but Albion sadly didn't make the top 50 so I'm not sure if there's a point.

 

[HiddenX]

Further details here:
Wikipedia - Albion

The point of these reviews originally was to write a (single!) paragraph describing why the game is good - more as a brief recommendation to people who haven't played that particular game, telling them why it's worth playing. I think that's what Lhynn meant.

But thats exactly what I did in the first place - I added the wiki data only for more info that Lhynn requested - you Codexians are weird people

 

[felipepepe]

Minttunator, I want to post 2-3 reviews of the Top 50 games, and at least 1 for the 22 runner-ups, so there is a point.
This means that Crooked Bee can write about Dark Heart of Uukrul and Wizardry 4, and JarlFrank about Heroine's Quest... lar_q and ForkTong can do Divine Divinity and Divinity II as well.

 

[Koschey]

Seeing how close it was for Albion, I feel terrible for not having shifted around some points to include it in my vote like I considered for a time.

Let me contribute to the Albion review overflow to ease my conscience:

Albion

Albion is the more linear and plot-driven spiritual successor to the unfinished Amber Trilogy and it shows. It combines blobber exploration in dungeons and big cities with an overhead view for most buildings and small settlements and a seperate battle screen for combat. Puzzles are mostly on the tame side, but there are lots of secret rooms and passages to discover. Combat involves some mild tactics via movement, positioning as well as range and area of effect of weapons and spells, but it isn't deep enough to scratch the itch for combat maniacs.
The real reason to play Albion though is the world building and lore. Albion is a low-key sci-fi/fantasy blend and features keyword-based dialogues, spiced with some common questions ('Who are you?', 'What's your job?') and options specific to certain characters and situations (like trading and training). In every game region the inhabitants have their own extensive set of local history, believes, politics and rumours they'll be happy to share with you. While the first big region you visit, Nakiridaani, home to the cat-like Iskaii, is in my opinion the most polished and interesting region (perhaps not surprising, as it was the region you would get to explore in the Albion demo), all featured cultures are intriguing and should entice you to want to learn more about them. Lorefags, play this game!

 

[octavius]

Played 48/50
Finished 28/50

How do you compare? Come on, this is fun.

Played 26, finished 18.
Most of those I haven't finished is on my play list, though.

 

[skacky]

Played 21 and finished 11. I must play more RPGs.

 

[HiddenX]

Played 50/50
Finished 49/50

Dark Souls is the only one of the top 50 I haven't finished yet -> lack of time.

from 51 to 71 I played and finished all except:

King of the Dragon Pass
ADOM
Star Control II
Heroine's Quest

 

[JarlFrank]

Minttunator, I want to post 2-3 reviews of the Top 50 games, and at least 1 for the 22 runner-ups, so there is a point.
This means that Crooked Bee can write about Dark Heart of Uukrul and Wizardry 4, and JarlFrank about Heroine's Quest... lar_q and ForkTong can do Divine Divinity and Divinity II as well.

When should the review be ready? Cause I'm really busy with real life stuff, having a paper for uni due at the end of February (and a girlfriend whom I waste a lot of time with ). I'll likely only be able to write after the 27th of February, which is the date my paper has to be ready. Before that... work work work.

 

[ForkTong]

Minttunator, I want to post 2-3 reviews of the Top 50 games, and at least 1 for the 22 runner-ups, so there is a point.
This means that Crooked Bee can write about Dark Heart of Uukrul and Wizardry 4, and JarlFrank about Heroine's Quest... lar_q and ForkTong can do Divine Divinity and Divinity II as well.

I'd rather do a Krynn trilogy review, but seen as they didn't even make it to the top 50, I don't see why. Happy to see Wiz8 is in the top ten though.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Maybe a better way to rank games would be a tier system? Everybody choses their top 10, top 20, top 30 etc. Based on which tenth the game falls, it will be granted more points, like 5 for being in first 10, 3 for being in a second 10, 2 for being in a third 10, 1 for being in a fourth 10. Also only votes counts, when voter is able to submit at least 30 entries, so it will eliminate anybody who is not enough experienced to give an informed opinion. Also all voter would be granted 5 slots for honorable mentions, for games they think does not belong in any top, but for some reasons are worth checking.

 

[Minttunator]

Let me contribute to the Albion review overflow to ease my conscience /---/

I think you did a great job! The exploration in particular - learning about the different cultures in the world, their history, religions and customs - was my favourite part of that game and definitely deserves to be highlighted.

 

[imweasel]

Maybe a better way to rank games would be a tier system? Everybody choses their top 10, top 20, top 30 etc. Based on which tenth the game falls, it will be granted more points, like 5 for being in first 10, 3 for being in a second 10, 2 for being in a third 10, 1 for being in a fourth 10. Also only votes counts, when voter is able to submit at least 30 entries, so it will eliminate anybody who is not enough experienced to give an informed opinion. Also all voter would be granted 5 slots for honorable mentions, for games they think does not belong in any top, but for some reasons are worth checking.

I think it was better this year, but I am not totally satisfied, because it was rather annoying to distribute the 25 points. I think it would be better to just ask everyone to choose their top ten or so favorite RPGs and a.) either give them all one point each or b.) go with a Formula One style system, i.e. distibute points according to the place that a codexer gives the game or c.) something else.

But the voting is done for this year, we can discuss this all next year.