Often mixing fantasy with fiction, role players put the gamer in the shoes of the game’s main character. The thing I love about RPG’s is a lot of them employ a levelling up system, where players start off with basically nothing and level up and improve skills as they progress through the game.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Just like the games in the Fallout series, Skyrim was one game that seemed to never end, not that it was a problem. In the fantasy land of Skyrim, players roamed an open-world full of villages, fortresses and dungeons either in first or third person. Non-playable characters filled the land, and depending on your actions (such as killing them) would determine the quests that could be undertaken. The game had pretty cool features, such as bribing guards with gold to avoid being arrested.
Final Fantasy VIII
Ok so I realise there’s more graphically pleasing versions of this beaut of a game, but this ps1 title was my favourite. It differed to the previous Final fantasy games in that it was the first to swap levelling up to learn new skills and spells for a draw points system as you drew points from enemies you defeated. It was also the first to feature vocal music, and realistic character models.
Pokemon Red/Blue
It surely goes without saying that the first Pokemon games set a bar pretty high for RPG’s. I remember spending hours on end, even after finishing the story, collecting Pokemon to fill my Pokedex. Linking with friends was often the easiest way, unless they fancied a battle!
Mass Effect
Like a fine wine, the Mass Effect games got better with age. Set in the Milky Way, the games see players making dialogue choices to non-playable characters, and an improvement was made from 2 onwards being able to interrupt a cutscene all guns blazing or take the more calm approach.
World Of Warcraft
This fantasy based, massive multiplayer online RPG was the fourth instalment of the game franchise that just kept getting bigger with several expansion packs released. Although this was a subscribe to play game, fighting monsters, completing quests in a first or third person view must of done something right achieving over 5.6 millions subscribers.
Baldur’s Gate
Using the Dungeons and Dragons rules, the Baldur’s Gate series proved a hit for fantasy RPG lovers. The game offered free roam of the forgotten realm world map across seven chapters, and each chapter incorporated spoken dialogue to aid progression. The main character begins weak with no equipment, and through killing monsters and completing quests the character learns new skills and magic to help throughout the game.
Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time
Nintendo went a little different with this DS game as they did with Superstar Saga, using a 2×2 progression stage that was puzzling while still enjoyable to play through. The game saw the brothers going back in time to work with their younger selves to regain the mushroom kingdom.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
It would be a crime not to include a Zelda title in this list and we’ve got for Ocarina of Time. Although there are multiple iconic games from the Zelda franchise this one is the Elvis Presley of the bunch. Stepping out into the dark new world of Hyrule as an adult after pulling the Master Sword is still one of the best moments in gaming history.
Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time
Nintendo went a little different with this DS game as they did with Superstar Saga, using a 2×2 progression stage that was puzzling while still enjoyable to play through. The game saw the brothers going back in time to work with their younger selves to regain the mushroom kingdom.
Pokemon Red/Blue
It surely goes without saying that the first Pokemon games set a bar pretty high for RPG’s. I remember spending hours on end, even after finishing the story, collecting Pokemon to fill my Pokedex. Linking with friends was often the easiest way, unless they fancied a battle!
