RPG Codex People’s Awards: Best RPGs and JRPGs

Our brothers at RPG Codex have published a community-backed list of their top 10 RPGs and JRPGs of all time. On those lists, we’re definitely pleased to see titles like Morrowind and Fallout. Although the list only has write-ups for the top 10, you can also find a full list of all games to see some more classics that didn’t quite make the cut. And even though this is a top 10 list, the community members and staff who contributed certainly didn’t hold back some negative thoughts here and there as well.

#10: Deus Ex

Infinitron (RPG Codex News Staff): Legendary FPS/RPG hybrid. Deus Ex’s mechanics are rather wonky and the enemies and combat are downright lame, but the game is still a winner because of content, content, content. The huge, non-linear maps are full of things and are incredibly fun to explore, the near-future setting and storyline are easy to become immersed in, and the augmentations and abilities are just fun to play around with, regardless of how ridiculous or unbalanced they are. The game’s mission-based structure keeps players focused on achieving short-term goals in diverse settings, and thus prevents gameplay from losing coherency because of the game’s mechanical weaknesses. The game also has C&C, but I find its importance overrated. What’s sad about Deus Ex is that it may be the least likely game on this list to ever get a sequel that improves on its weaknesses while completely preserving its qualities, due to the technological limitations of consoles and the ballooning development budget of modern first person games.

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#7: Baldur’s Gate

Trash: This great RPG that we got near the end of the 90’s was to me the epitome of the decline of the genre. It also reminded me a whole lot of Dark Sun: Shattered Lands from SSI. Although a lot prettier and a whole lot less interesting. The lack of any reactivity in the gameworld and the abundance of pointless exploration of otherwise mostly static maps quickly bored me. The dungeons should’ve been kinda fun to fight through if the combat wasn’t so incredibly dull. Got to admit though, I really enjoyed the opening video and quote from Nietzsche. “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” Shame the game never really builds upon the expectation for something interesting that quote instilled in me.