My vote goes to Vampire:Bloodlines. Even without the player created patch it was amazing(despite the publisher pushing it out before it was ready), immersive, various ways to complete the many quests, etc. Amazing. The soundtrack was excellent too. And the voice acting. A lot of replayability, I rarely play an RPG more than twice let alone about 8-10 times. Ok i'll stop.
Some honorable mentions:Baldger's Gate IIFallout IIFallout New Vegas(Fallout III was irritating due to using a few voice actors, bad ones at that, for many characters.)Arcanum(I could never get interested enough to finish it, but a lot of it was unique and interesting, particular since it was before the steam punk craze)
Planescape: Torment, Wizardry VII or VIII and I'll give an honorable mention to Icewind Dale 1 or 2.
I would put Vampire: Bloodlines near the top of my list also and Torment. I loved Arcanum, magic, steampunk and sheep fucking. I just don't know if I can name a favorite RPG, I love so many...I didn't like Baldur's gate or Neverwinter Nights as much as other people do, I liked them and all, but not as much as many other games.
My list of awesome RPGs I'm sure there are more I could mention...
Arcanum
Vampire: Bloodlines
Planescape: Torment
Fallout, 1,2,3,NV
Ultima 4 Avatar
Drakensang the Dark Eye, and River of Time
Knights of the Old Republic 1&2
Dragon Age Origin, not so much the sequel
TES Morowind and Skyrim. Oblivion was pretty good, but it's loot system made exploration pointless and I didn't have as much fun with it.
I bought it after all the praise of the game. I played for about an hour and was so annoyed and bored. I felt like I was playing a WoW clone made single player.
The Quest for Glory series.
Origins or the sequel? The start of the sequel, I can't actually remember what the title of that game is, was pretty ridiculous in a bitchin Poochie arcade beat-em up kind of way and most of the battles of the game was like that. Not sure if I would say the game reminded me of WoW very much.
I would have real troubles for chosing only one... But I think I'd give the medal to BG II. Not because it is absolutely the best (Torment is, from my point of view, as awesome... a bit more), but because it was the first RPG I played as a boy and I played, and played, and played... I can remember almost every single quest still So, that would be my choice.
Now, in the bunch of RPGs I have enjoyed after BGII, I would definitely have:
Vampire Masquerade: awesome, immersive, really, really cool adaptation of the pen and paper.
Torment, of course... As cool as BG and even more imaginative, with an even cooler plot. I discovered it too late, but it really feels like reading a great fantasy novel.
Dragon Age: Origins, because it really recovered a lot of BG feeling, at least for me. Banters between followers, good plot, many choices... I loved it! The second, though, sucked completely. They even re-used maps without even editing the mini-map... Really confusing, really annoying.
I'm going to go with Dragon Age: Origins as well. Great party interaction, truly brilliant dungeons, awesome storytelling.
Morrowind. Not the least because I was head of the mages before I remembered that there was a "main" quest
Can we have hybrid games? If so Deus Ex and Dragon Age Origins.
Honorable mentions- Kotor 1&2, TES Morowind and Skyrim (lots of mods), (games not out but) Project Eternity (do want and can't wait), Witcher 1&2, (ARPGs Diablo 2, and Path of Exile).
I once made a list of every game I've ever truly loved. You know, the games you'll remember (if you can still remember anything by then) when you're 90 and reminiscing about being young, hunched over your PC (or console) and experiencing virtual adventures. It was extremely difficult to narrow down the list and to decide between games in order to establish a favorite. But at the end of the day, I ended up having to concede that Morrowind was probably my most beloved game of all time. So I guess that makes it my favorite PC RPG of all time, too.
Skies of Arcadia was my runner up lol. (Yeah, yeah, I know. What can I say? That game captivated me.)
As everyone already said
FUCKING VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE, YOU JUST DON'T FUCKv WITH THE TREMERE! Seriously this game blew me away....
I loved the first dragon age origins, it was soft, sexy, and strategic. Number two kind of made me cry... I just wasn't a fine of the class combo thing, and the lack of shapeshifter hurt my heart.
Knights of the old republic and the old republic are effing amazing. I never got to play two though sadly.
I just cannot, not mention TES, I'm a huge lover of that series.
Amazing how much consensus there is, particularly given that some of the most beloved now weren't major commercial successes at the time (eg. Bloodlines, and Torment).
Though to really sort this out you need to decide if you mean "best for the time they were made," or "best right now for someone who's never played an CRPG." For example I loved the Nintendo game "dragon warrior" when I was a kid, but I can't say I'd really recommend it to anyone now.
I basically agree with Lord Xia's list, though I missed Arcanum and never really like any of the Ultima games.
Since MMO's weren't explicit excluded, I'd add in Dungeons and Dragons Online. It suffers from the lame storytelling of other MMO, but really is a fun and well designed game to play with some friends for a bit.
IDK about DNDO, I played it like a year or two ago, and reinstalled it late last year. It was fun at the very beginning but got stale later on down the lane for me. Then again I don't think it hels that I was a free player trying to build a necromancer, and who is on the later side of the argument when it comes to Dragon borns being brought into the game. (That would rekindle a flame in the game for me, they are part mothfuckin dragons, haters can suck a pickle.)
Planescape: Torment. Only things that come close are Ultima VII, Morrowind and Betrayal at Krondor, in my opinion.
Arcanum is one of the those tragic games that the publisher (I forget who it was) never let the studio (Troika) completely finish. An amazing story, open world, great characters. I would put that high on my list. And Pool of Radiance.
Let's not forget Temple of Elemental Evil with the Circle of Eight patch/mod.
I love too many rpgs to name THE BEST. Baldurs Gate Saga, Planescape Torment and Morrowind are definatly in my Top Ten. Bloodlines is great and so is KotoR I & II. DA: O was very, very good.
I will mention three series, that are great too:
Might and Magic 6 - 8
Gothic I & II
Realms of Arkania 1 - 3
Baulders Gate
Neverwinter Nights 1
Knights of the Old Republic 1, and 2 (with the deleted content restored).
Mass Effect 1, and 2, but NOT 3.
Skyrim.
Diablo II Still playing it today. Need to finish Hardcore Hell difficulty in Singleplayer.
As for other RPGs I've tried:
I've played Diablo, Diablo III and Torchlight as well but can't remember all. I've never played Ultima, Might & Magic, Planescape Torment, Arcanum and other classics.
This doesn't resemble any Baldur's Gate II I've played, and I've played it through several times. In the first five minutes, you get to release several characters from prison, equip them, discover a bit about them, and launch into a battle in perhaps the third room. Then, it's straight fighting aside from the eerie occasional areas where you find creatures trapped in liquid, discover a genie who gives you a quest, etc. If this is your idea of writing a book, maybe you should stick with a straight-up fight game.
I don't claim to have a perfect memory. On the contrary, I know it only picks up main points or things that stand out.
Oh I like reading a bit, but that much right at the beginning....
Are you sure you aren't confusing it with Planescape: Torment? Because PS:T is very text-heavy. BG II gets right down to battles, after just a small amount of information. There might be a gameplay for it on Youtube you could check out.
This isn't intended as criticism of you. I just honestly think you're referring to a different game, and might enjoy BG II.
No I'm talking about Baldurs Gate II.
Perhaps I thought it was dragging on due to no text....I remember there was quite some text from all the guys I released though now that I think about it, it may have been one to two minutes of text instead of five ^^
You're the best judge of what you like, in any case.
Imo.
#1 goes to Planescape: Torment.
#2 goes to Dragon Age: Origins
#3 goes to KOTOR
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