25 Top RPGs of the Last Five Years

[ecoho]

I do enjoy lists. I like seeing what other people think of games that I enjoyed. I didn't have any problems. I don't think I would have ranked Mass Effect 2 quite that high, but I'm glad someone else appreciates what Dragon Age II did. I did enjoy that game, and the DLC showed what it could have been if it had been given a chance.

So true about The Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3. That DLC is my new ending for the franchise now, and it managed to redeem Mass Effect 3 for me.

I beat Skyrim. I have to say, the main story was a bit of a let down. Bethesda seemed to do a better job with the side stories and little details than the actual main stuff. Of course, I think that might be because the side stuff still left questions unanswered and had a sense of mystery, whereas by the time you finish the main quest, all sense of mystery is gone because you know everything now.

Recently just got the platinum for Dark Souls. I did enjoy that game once I did research and figured out how it worked. That, and I played Dark Souls II, which did make those small adjustments and made me feel confident enough to go back to the first one and try it again. Just finished up the Sunken King DLC. Still just as much fun as when I first started it.

theres quite few of us on here who though DA2 was a good game and didn't think ME3's ending was as bad as a national tragedy, look for the user group DA2 was a good game.

OT: don't agree with skyrim being number one but different tastes. Also like I said above don't let people with differing opinions get you down, dragon age 2 was a good game despite its flaws and as such deserved to be on this list.

 

[Westaway]

This list is a fucking joke. Skyrim should have barely made the list. New Vegas #24? Under Skyrim and fucking Pokemon? In a list about Role Playing Games?

Come on. Was this list based off of sales or just someone's terrible taste?

 

[daibakuha]

theres quite few of us on here who though DA2 was a good game and didn't think ME3's ending was as bad as a national tragedy, look for the user group DA2 was a good game.

Speaking for myself I think Act 2 of Dragon Age 2 might be better than most of the games on this list. Holy crap was that good stuff. The rest of the game is still good for me, but act 2 really stood out.

 

[Vivi22]

and somehow FFXII did not make the list.

FFXII is eight years old now. Unless you really mean FFXIII, which is one of the worst RPG's I've ever played.

Definite bias towards western titles here though.

And with regards to the Deus Ex mention, the boss fights being lackluster is no longer a valid criticism since the release of the Director's Cut.

 

[Vivi22]

Eh... too many JRPG's and Bioware games for my taste. I find myself agreeing more with PC Gamer's list. Tons more of Obsidian/Black Isle love and a tempered approach to Bioware's games, which is always refreshing.

Not sure how 5 JRPG's count as too many on a list of 25. Note that I'm not counting the Souls series in this total since they play far more like western RPG's than what people think of when they hear or say the term JRPG. If anything, JRPG's are underrepresented when there have been a number of great ones in recent years, and Dragon Age 2 is on the list.

 

[Sanunes]

I think making a list based on anything RPG is never going to turn out well for the criteria is so far over the place and what RPG means to people can be a drastically different thing. Looking at the BioWare boards if a game doesn't have exploration its not an RPG, if it doesn't have a specific inventory where you are carrying around 200 items its not an RPG, and there are more things that some people use to define the genre.

I believe there should have been a set criteria to what makes a RPG instead of "we couldn't classify it any better then this". Even if I don't agree with your criteria it wouldn't have made this list feel so over the place and brought some feeling of uniformity to the list.

Now I can understand the reason for Dragon Age 2 being on this list, even though it was a mess of a game you could see where BioWare was trying something new, which is something they are getting flack for with Dragon Age: Inquisition because they are going back to their old formula. I wish the game had another year of development so we could have seen what it was intended to be instead of getting what we did. Now would I rank it in the top RPGs of the last five years, I really don't know, but I also don't know about a lot of games on this list either.

 

[SuicidalBaby]

The number of posts overlooking that he included mods in the reasoning for Skyrim is surprising. If you take any time at all to look at what has been built by the community you will see a staggering amount of content and overhaul to the entire system that is Skyrim. Requiem stands out for it's RPG elements as they were it's intent and focus. Interesting NPCs fills the world with rich characters, 99% of them voice acted to perfection. Combat overhauls, creature diversity and population, immersion and itemization mods round out any mod list for an entirely new and amazing experience. Let's not forget the ENB, environmental, weather, audio, and lighting mods that make it a stunningly beautiful world.

It really is a shame that the console user experience is so limited on the subject of Skyrim.

 

[softclocks]

Mass Effect 3 higher than Dragon's Dogma and Fallout: New Vegas.

Stopped at 23.

List is beyond redemption.

 

[The_Scrivener]

I'm with the column. The top 3 are more or less interchangeable and the other 22 you could pretty much draw out of a hat. (Except Kingdoms of Whatever Reckoning. Offline MMO? Hallowed out shell of an actual game instead of just checking boxes and going through the motions? Get out please.)

 

[William Fleming]

No mention of Star Ocean 2 makes me sad. Skyrim taking no. 1 doesn't bother me, though Mass Effect 2 taking the no. 3 spot, that does kind of bother me since I felt that game became a slog (my personal favourite Mass Effect is the first one).

 

[Asun]

I have played Skyrim with countless mods installed and had a good time. Then again, I've played New Vegas without any mods and thought it was a better experience. Never had trouble with any bugs but I was playing the ultimate edition so most of them were probably ironed out. Hopefully Obsidian can deliver again with their Pillars of Eternity.

 

[Ishal]

Eh... too many JRPG's and Bioware games for my taste. I find myself agreeing more with PC Gamer's list. Tons more of Obsidian/Black Isle love and a tempered approach to Bioware's games, which is always refreshing.

Not sure how 5 JRPG's count as too many on a list of 25. Note that I'm not counting the Souls series in this total since they play far more like western RPG's than what people think of when they hear or say the term JRPG. If anything, JRPG's are underrepresented when there have been a number of great ones in recent years, and Dragon Age 2 is on the list.

Simple, those five spots could have been occupied by better western RPG's.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Eh... too many JRPG's and Bioware games for my taste. I find myself agreeing more with PC Gamer's list. Tons more of Obsidian/Black Isle love and a tempered approach to Bioware's games, which is always refreshing.

Not sure how 5 JRPG's count as too many on a list of 25. Note that I'm not counting the Souls series in this total since they play far more like western RPG's than what people think of when they hear or say the term JRPG. If anything, JRPG's are underrepresented when there have been a number of great ones in recent years, and Dragon Age 2 is on the list.

Simple, those five spots could have been occupied by better western RPG's.

YOU BETTER NOT BE DISSING ON MY FIRE EMBLEM ************, OR I WILL TAKE YOU OUT BACK AND OPEN UP A CAN OF GRADE A WHOOP ASS ON YOU! THERE AIN'T NO BETTER GAME! NOT IN THE WEST, NOT IN THE EAST, NOT IN ANY OF THE MILLIONS OF GALAXIES THAT EXIST BEYOND AND WITHIN THE CONCEIVABLE UNIVERSE, NOT ANYWHERE!

OT- But seriously guys, Skyrim? Sure, it wasn't terrible, but there are better games out there. I mean, New Vegas is superior in every conceivable way.

 

[Primero Holodon]

It's nice to see Dragon age 2 get some recognition. despite all of its flaws DA2 still stands as one of the compelling stories I've played.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

Reading the title of this thread, I anticipated that they'd be hard-pressed trying to come up with 25 RPGs, period. This is one of my favorite genres and the scarcity of RPG titles is upsetting.

I'm going against popular opinion here since I'm thrilled to see Skyrim at the top of this list. I also wish Fallout 3 could have qualified. What everyone seems to like about New Vegas - its limitations and consequences - is exactly what I don't like about it. What I like to experience when I play games, especially RPGs, is feeling like I'm eventually the supreme ruler of all that I survey. Fallout 3 gave me that in spades, while New Vegas withheld that satisfaction.

 

[RealRT]

Where is Alpha Protocol? And JRPGs and both Dragon Age games have no business being in a "Top RPGs" list.

 

[vhailorx]

I strongly suspect that the best RPG of the past five years is some tiny indie game made for iphone/android that was completely lost in the overwhelming number of titles on those platforms, and has consequently never been played by anyone but the devs. So that would make this list 'the top 25 well-known and (basically) commercially-successful titles of the past five years.'

I haven't played all the games on this list, but I did have a couple of problems:

First: Dragon Age 2 is a travesty of a game. Not because of the changed perspective or reduced scale of the story. I like the idea of a longitudinal RPG that follows the course of a protagonists life, rather than the standard story that has the protagonist go from nobody to world-altering hero in 2 months of game time. So kudos to Bioware for a bold story decision. But then they ruined it completely with terrible execution. The recycled environments, railroaded story line, and boring encounter design clearly demonstrate how badly this game was rushed. It was incomplete, and it showed. Moreover, the main story was nonsense. I can see why Greg wants to praise this game. There was actually a lot to like about it. But as a final product, it was fatally and irreparably flawed.

Second: Skyrim should not be first. That game is impressive and pretty...at first. But it doesn't take long to realize that the entire world of the game (and every bethesda game) is impressively vast, but cardboard thin. There is no depth or vibrancy to the world. It's just full of dumb robots. The game is good, and worthy of acclaim, but I can't see a justification for putting above games with more ambitious and succesful gameplay, or story elements, or both.