I have to completely agree here. (In case my avatar didn't give it away).The Madman said:I've said it before and I'll say it again: Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
It just does nothing wrong. Great tactical DnD combat, excellent story, amazing soundtrack, crisp 2D visuals and high-resolution artwork, fantastic cast of characters including an extremely memorable villain, an amazing array of mods from an active and imaginative mod-community, and enough replayability to have someone still discovering new things years after the game has been released.
Other RPG I've played might do one or two things better, but no other that I've played it quite so cohesive a product overall. Planescape: Torment for example has the better story, but in terms of gameplay and presentation lags behind while a game like Temple of Elemental Evil I might feel has better tactical DnD gameplay, but falls behind in terms of story and narrative.
Baldur's Gate 2 meanwhile is just the complete deal. I love it!
Though if you want to break-up the RPG genre at least into eastern and western style RPG, I'd give the Best Eastern RPG to Chrono Trigger.
They just don't make 'em like they used to.
Edit: Wow, I can't express how pleasing it is to see the relative lack of "SKYRIM!!!!111!" in this thread. And all the love that older RPGs are getting. Thank you, 'scapist community. You have made me happy about how people view this genre.