The Five Best RPG Video Games of All Time

The RPG genre is without a doubt the most complex genre of video games. Games range from futuristic battles between spaceships to hack-and-slash games in the distant past, and games set on completely different worlds. Games take place on your own, with single-player campaigns that can last tens or hundreds of hours, but also online, with quests that are accomplished together with a team of hundreds of other players.

1) The first game on the list, and in my opinion the best, is Neverwinter Nights, published by Bioware in 2002. Based on a game originally developed by AOL in 1991, this game added incredible graphics for the time, combined with an enthralling story line. It was revolutionary in the genre mostly for the huge range of classes and different playing styles, expanded even farther with later expansion packs. The game still has an enormous following today.

2) The next best game is definitely World of Warcraft, or WOW, the most popular paid Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game to date. This game is most famous for the sheer size of the world, and the way that one can feel that they are truly within it, based both on the visuals and the number of people that can be found populating the world. Gameplay is above-average and the classes allow for extreme character customization. The only downside to this game is that as an MMORPG, it requires monthly payment to play.

3) Morrowind, published by Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft in 2002, the third game in the Elder Scrolls series, is my second-favorite single player RPG. This game is excellent for a number of reasons. The first is how open-ended the gameplay for the game really was. The "monsters" that populate the realm get harder as your character levels up, meaning that the designers were able to adapt in quests that one had to go back to complete, meaning that a person was never truly done exploring any area of the world. The game was designed to be very "free-form," meaning that it is simple fun to just level up or become the head of the thieves' guild, completely ignoring the main quest. It is perpetually installed on my computer and I don't think that I will ever be done.

4) Baldur's Gate, published by BioWare in 1998, is a classic that simply cannot be ignored. The game was the first that implemented many of the level up and character class aspects that we take for granted today, and had such a rich story that it is still a good play. The series had a number of sequels, all of which were very good, I would say that any true RPG fan has to try this game at least once.

5) Dragonshard, published by Atari in 2005, is the final game on my list. This game is not an RPG in the true sense of the word, but in fact more of an RTS (real time strategy) game. However, it implements so many aspects of an RPG game that it can make converts of even haters of the RTS genre, including myself. The game is a clash between two opposing mythical armies on the top level of a two level map, but below, if one brings their army to the "underworld," it is a standard dungeon crawl, in which characters can level up and equip items like any RPG. It does an excellent job combining two very different genres.