So the 10s comes to an end and I wanted to ask y'all what your Top 5 is. I initially wanted to ask about a Top 3 but there is no ignoring 4 games for me
My list looks like this in no particular order
- Divinity Original Sin 2
- The Witcher 3
- Disco Elysium
- Dragon Quest XI
I don't think I need to talk much about the first two mentioned because there is lots of talk about them whenever there is talk about RPGs. The only thing I am interested in is how the talk about The Witcher 3 will change once The Witcher 4 comes. Because a while ago someone on the RPG Era Discord mentioned how everyone talked about The Witcher 2 being great and now the conversation almost completely shifted towards The Witcher 3.
Disco Elysium is maybe a little too close to now to give it a place in the list but since I finished it I still regularly think about it. It is still pretty unique with its setting, the worldbuilding is fantastic, the characters are great, the art is nice and I liked the soundtrack. One could maybe even call it "human". Add to that that almost every line in the game is a joy to read. It also is one of the games where I felt it succeeds at the "playing a role" for the most part. While it has task completion syndrom like every other game, there were quests I didn't want to do because they wouldn't fit the character I wanted to be. In other games I would also have these moments but I would probably do them anyway because there is loot to be had. With its decision to not focus on "gameplay" Disco Elysium gave me the willpower to not do everything in the quest log.
Dragon Quest XI is probably the best JRPG of the decade for me. Charming cast, pleasant to look at, great vignettes and great turn-based battles. The latter often gets a lot of flack for being "too basic" but too me it is a matter of what you do with the ingredients and not how many you have. Also didn't care much about the soundtrack because I usually don't care about a game's soundtrack other when it is really great.
I want to take this opportunity to talk about my short history with the series. Since Dragon Quest VIII was the first mainline DQ in Europe it was also the first one I saw on store shelfs in 06 (There were probably Monster spinoffs, too, but I got my fill from Pokemon). As a Dragon Ball fan the DBZ looking characters on the cover spoke to me. I then looked on the back on the package to see that it looked similar to FFX and decided not to buy it because I hated FFX which I did play pretty recently at the time (only got a PS2 in 05). Years passed and for probably similar reasons I ignored the DS games. It wouldn't be until the 3DS remake of DQVII until I finally would play my first Dragon Quest and absolutely loved it. Now I am on my way of going through the older games with the RPG Era RPG Backlog Blitzes. And I don't want to miss it. Currently playing IV and after that only VIII and IX of the mainline series left.
Dragon Quest is the only series that left an impression on me in my adult life that only a few series managed in my childhood.
I then had a hard time coming up with a fifth because I couldn't really think of one for the fifth place.
The first one that came to mind after a while of thinking were the Dark Souls games, particularly Dark Souls 1 because that is still the most present in my mind though Dark Souls 2 (yes) and Dark Souls 3 refined it even more. What made Dark Souls special is well documented and how it had an impact on the industry (sorry Demon's Soul) can still be read in comparisons today so I don't want to talk too much about it. Maybe it will end up as my fifth pick but there are other games I want to talk about first.
While we're at From Bloodborne should maybe be mentioned since for many people it is the best of its kind and I expect to see it on some of these lists. For me I didn't really click with it and to this day I haven't finished. Part of it due to its technical issues and some of its design decisions. However, now that I got a nice TV I am willing to give it a third chance though probably only on the next PlayStation.
Another candidate for this list would've been Persona 5 if you asked me three or four years ago. Now the more time passes the more negative my impression of Persona 5 gets. The game has style, its moments and the sequence of entering the weapons shop, talking to the clerk and then the music kicking in just at the right moment when the shopping menu has loaded up is fantastic and its pretty unique vibe it shared for me only with its predecessors. But other than maybe two or three characters no one really clicked with me. The story is bungled after the first palace. If anything the more time passes the more it is one of my personal disappointments when I consider my time with Persona 4.
Another one I expect to see often is Nier: Automata. While I like the game when I think about its genre I think more action-adventure than RPG. Great game though.
One of my darlings would also be Fallout: New Vegas and while I still think it is the best of the Bethesda-like Fallouts I played I hardly remember my playthrough of it at all. To maybe re-evaluate it I would need to play it again but who has the time?
Speaking of Obsidian there is also Pillars of Eternity. I didn't really like it and stopped it after 10 hours or so. Don't really like RTwP and I found the writing to be pretty dry. But maybe one wants to mention it for its influence in the cRPG renaissance of this decade. I have an interest in the successor since they added turnbased combat though.
Then there is the matter of Outer Worlds which I had some hopes it would make the list. But alas it was probably one of my bigger disappointments. It does most of its things well but to me nothing stood out.
Another consideration would be Mass Effect 2. For me personally it is the first western RPG that I played legitimate (my only prior experience was fooling around with cheats in Gothic 2) and generally being one of the first big console/PC game I played after years of handheld only. However, over the years I come to also like it less. The level design is pretty boring, as a third person shooter it is pretty stiff, the story is whatever. It also feels like the game that popularized "relationships" with your teammates for me which got one of the most annoying aspects in games in general for me. On the one hand because of the discussions around them and on the other hand because of relationships are not done well in most games. The presentation is great though and the characters are likeable.
Then there is stuff I didn't even think about until looking at a list like Undertale, Diablo 3 (console edition), Darkest Dungeon, Skyrim, Fable 3, Kingdom Hearts 3 etc. But while I enjoyed all of them they didn't leave that much of an impact on me.
Then there are the so called "immersive sims". Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Prey are fantastic games and also give good options for "role-playing". Perhaps Prey is my fifth place thinking about it.
But over everything there is the massive blind spot of games I haven't played yet. Trails of Cold Steel 1-3, Ys 8, TitS SC und TC, Underrail, Age of Decadence, Bard's Tale IV, Operencia, Legend of Grimrock 1 & 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Alpha Protocol, Kenshi ... The list goes on and on together with classics I still want to play.
That is about it for now.
So how does your Top 5 list of favorite RPGs of the tens look like?
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