Flufflist: The Top Five Western RPG's Of All Time

...No there is no Zelda here.

With the release of Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, western RPG's made a bold statement. Despite having no multiplayer whatsoever, it has been one of the best selling games this year. It is also one of the best reviewed, with over 50 perfect scores from critics, and the player reception has been just as good. It actually has me thinking about where it might end up in the all time RPG's list a few years from now. It also made me think about all the other western RPG's I've played, and their legacies too. So here, from me to you, is a list of the top five western RPG's of All Time (from my point of view)

Oh and spoilers and stuff....you've been warned.

Honorable Mention: Neverwinter Nights

Neverwinter Nights is a rare game in my mind, and it holds a special place with me personally because this was the game that really got me into RPGs. I had always been a somewhat casual gamer kid before I found my dad's copy of Neverwinter Nights, but I was hooked forever afterwards. At the time of it's release, Neverwinter Nights had some pretty decent graphics, but it was the turn-based gameplay based on Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition rules that had people interested. The solid gameplay is every D&D fans dream when it comes to taking the pen and paper experience to the digital world. The story was solid, though it did slow at times. However, these all took a backseat to the multiplayer and mod community. The robust multiplayer allowed players to pick from a multitude of severs to play consistent campaign's, as well as the campaign that shipped with the game. But for me, the thing that sets this game apart is the mod community. Neverwinter Nights shipped with the Aurora Toolset, which allowed players to create their own campaigns to play in the game. Couple that with the people who made new items, hakpacks to use with the toolset, and custom audio, and some of these campaigns actually beat out the one that came with the game. There is practically YEARS worth of excellent gaming to be found on the internet thanks to the community that loves the game so much. And that's really what sets this game apart from the others on this list (except Morrowind perhaps) is that the community actively made improvements to the game. While the game shows some serious age now, it is still worth picking up, because there is still so much to discover through the community.

#5. Planescape: Torment

If you like to be evil, and you don't want any morality conflicting your decisions, then Planescape: Torment are right up your alley. The dark and emotional story are unlike anything else I've played in an RPG. The story isn't about happy endings or saving the world from evil. It's about a man simply named...uhh...The Nameless One, who he is unable to remember who he is when he wakes up in a morgue at the start of the game. As you play you learn that The Nameless One is immortal but every time he "dies" he forgets his past. Your free to discover the truth how you see fit, and the games dark setting and premise feel refreshingly different from usual RPG's. Really this is one of the stronger stories in a game, because it's more personal. Your choices in the game often times have unpredictable consequences and makes playing the game fun and engaging, You also have the ability to learn new abilities by "remembering" one of The Nameless One's past lives, which is a genius idea. The game had some incredible music and voice acting as well, and a lot of it still holds up today. The interface is also intuitive, even today, keeping menus and screens limited so you can focus on playing the game. The gameplay is also very solid, if a bit easy. While Planescape: Torment earned a great critical reception at release, people avoided it for some odd reason. Perhaps the dark story and setting were a little too different at the time. Whatever the case, Planescape: Torment is a cult classic that has never earned the attention it deserves, but that doesn't diminish how incredibly brilliant it really was and still is.

#4. Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Morrowind is the ultimate game for exploration. The story starts with you on a prison ship, as you are transported to a small port. The guards call you up from below the decks. They check you out in a ever so brief tutorial of how the game works, which doubles as your character creation process. They politely suggest you visit a man named Caius Cosades and then send you on your merry way. From that point on the island of Vvardenfell is your oyster. You can go anywhere, do anything, be anything. Join a guild, help one of the three big houses that run the province, go side questing, or just go run around the island until your bored. For me, I never was even able to finish the story until about two years after I got the game. I got so involved with the world and the various quests and people and places that I never felt a serious desire to wrap the main story up. This game is unlike the others on this list because the story and characters take a backseat in this one entirely. Storytelling has never been Bethesda's strong suit, and they wouldn't argue that. That's because The Elder Scrolls games have always been about doing whatever you feel like doing. But Morrowind made you just feel like doing something, even if you didn't know what. The world is incredibly detailed as far as aesthetics and content are concerned. And all you have to do is see the sheer number of readable books to know that there is a pretty detailed history to go through if you feel like it as well. Morrowind also has a fairly dedicated mod community that has made numerous improvements to the game that have kept the game fresh even after Elder Scrolls IV came out. Morrowind doesn't need a super detailed story to make it enjoyable. Sometimes, just firing up the game and knowing you can do whatever comes to mind on a given day makes it incredibly addictive.

#3. Mass Effect

Mass Effect is a prime example of excellent storytelling and world building in an RPG. While the gameplay is solid, and the graphics are certainly breathtaking, Mass Effect took a leap forward for games with it's story and characters. The story's premise is as follows: The Reapers, a sentient race of machine-like beings who sweep through the galaxy every 50,000 years or so and wipe all sentient life out of the galaxy. They've repeated this process for millions of years. Now it;s up to Commander Shepard and his crew to stop them once and for all. I have never played anything even close to what I get with Mass Effect when it comes to story. It's like playing a Sci-Fi movie, except your in the drivers seat. The world itself is spectacularly well put together. All the alien races have their own histories, the technology has interesting concepts, and the codex that builds as you explore the game world shows just how much effort Bioware took in building the galaxy you wander through. Really some of the history of the galaxy is so interesting it almost demands some games of their own. The characters are extremely memorable, and they all have different personalities, motives, and views on the universe and how things work. Wrex, a Krogan Battlemaster, enjoys fighting like most of his species, but is also one of the few who cares about his dying races future. Meanwhile you have Garrus, a Turian who hates to let the bad guys win. So much so that he is an "ends justify the means" type. He's also an extremely talented soldier, he's like Dirty Harry and Batman mixed into one package. Mass Effect's universe is so deeply detailed, it seems almost certain that we'll be playing in it long after Commander Shepard's story is finished this March. Just so long as we stay away from the elevators...

#2. Knights of the Old Republic

Back in 2003 Star Wars had already had a rich history when it came to games. Rouge Squadron, Dark Forces, the Jedi Knight games. But when Bioware were given the opportunity to create an original story in the Star Wars universe, they were given a golden opportunity to put their company on the map. It was also a big risk, taking on what became the biggest Star Wars game ever, which included a huge risk by setting the game thousands years before Darth Vader was even a whiny little brat named Anakin. But Bioware not only delivered a solid game, and they also didn't just delivere the most memorable Star Wars game ever. Bioware delivered on of the greatest RPGs of all time. The game wasn't just an RPG with Star Wars sprinkled in. Every second of the game feels like Star Wars.The gameplay was solid, if a little easy at times. The soundtrack was also incredible. They didn't rip tracks out of the movies, they created an original score that gave the game it;s own feeling, while also still sounding like something straight out of A New Hope or Return of the Jedi. But it was the characters and the story that really make this game memorable. Characters like HK-47 and Carth Onasi are just as beloved by Star Wars fans as Darth Vader or Obi Wan. They also develop very well, and have interesting back stories of their own. The story though, was what really made Knights of the Old Republic memorable. In my opinion, it's not just good, it's better than even the original trilogy of Star Wars movies. It's paced so perfectly, you never feel like things are rushing along or are moving too slowly. The side quests and companion quests are just as fun and detailed as the ones in the main story. And the big twist, that you are (or at least used to be) one of the most evil forces in the entire galaxy came so far out of left field you never saw it coming. It was like "Luke I am your father" all over again. My jaw had to be screwed back into place after it happened. Perhaps the biggest compliment one can give Knights of the Old Republic, is that it holds up so well. It does show it's age when compared against today's newer RPGs, but the characters, the story, even some of the gameplay, near the top of the pack. The only question left to answer now is will The Old Republic MMO live up to the legacy of the original?

#1. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

The oldest game on this list also happens to be the best. Simply put, western RPG developers have been trying to top this one for more than ten years, and while many have gotten somewhat close, no one has been able to fully top what this game did. It's main story alone is almost 70 hours short. Add in the side quests, class specific quests, an companion quests and this game is nearly 200 hours in length. The story is incredible in and of itself, taking a few twists and turns en route to a hell of a final showdown. The game, for it's time, was absolutely drop dead gorgeous, and even today, while clearly dated, they aren't half bad. The characers in Baldur's Gate II are by far some of the best in gaming period. Minsc (and Boo!) alone has earned a place in gaming lore forever, but add in characters like Imonen, the childhood friend of the protagonist, Yoshimo, the mysterious swordsman, and Edwin, a rouge wizard who enjoys insulting you (and gets transformed into a girl if you play through his side quests)  and you have a great party to adventure around with. In fact, even with room for five people to take with you, I found it difficult to choose from the extensive list many times. Add to all that the gameplay and leveling systems which were nearly flawless, and you have a game that just stands at the top of the mountain. The story is thrilling, the characters interesting and detailed, and the world is vast and deep. Nothing has quite reached the level of fun, depth and storytelling that Baldur's Gate II reached.

So there it is. I imagine more than a few of you are wondering are a few different games are here. So post up what you think in the comments. Did I get it really wrong? Do you agree? Let me know!

Until next time space cowboy...

Weekly Wrap Up: A New Format

Before we get started...

Okay, so you know how this blog has been updated here and there with some in depth stories and pieces? Yeah that's changing today. I'm making some changes to make this place somewhere where you can keep coming back all the time to find new stuff to read and listen to. A lot of this will be a work in progress as I go along, and more changes will more than likely to occur. As per the usual, your guys job is to spread the word as much as you can, and mine will be to keep them (and you) coming back for more.

Don't fear though, if you enjoyed what I used to do, those kinds of things will still be here, and I will still be writing new ones. But I felt like I could make this blog somewhere people flock to for the most interesting reading material about video games period. So, let's see how this goes.

- Nolan


...Let it begin.

The reason I almost missed Thanksgiving dinner.

This past week was, for us here in America (ummm....hell yeah?) was Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally Black Friday, the single biggest shopping day in the world. Ridiculous sales are on in every shop and everyone knows it's the best chance they have to haul in huge savings while doing Christmas shopping. Nonetheless the world continued to spin, so here are some of the highlights in news and interesting accomplishments from the past seven days.

South Korea's "Cinderella Law" Goes Into Effect

Fearing the problem that game addiction in a technologically focused country could have on the next generation of Koreans, South Korea has put into effect a law that bans players under the age of 16 from playing online between midnight and six in the morning. The law was drafted in April, and while it initially only covered MMORPGS, the law was extended to cover all kinds of gaming.

The law has met (obviously so) some harsh criticism from various gaming groups. The Korean Association of Game Industry, a massing of fourteen publishers and developers, has called it "excessive prohibition" of a specific group, and reportedly has plans to file a lawsuit.

The obvious reason behind this law is that teenagers should be spending the evening hours sleeping rather then gaming, but the law calls into question the civil liberties of children. And while the Korean government have made their views crystal clear, one has to wonder if this kind of law could spark similar reactions elsewhere in the world. The law also calls into question whose job it is to see that children get a decent amount of sleep, but for now this law is here to stay.

Curious Elder Scrolls Player Finds Entire Continent Beyond Skyrims Borders

One person playing Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim decided he just had to know what lay beyond the invisible boundaries of Skyrim's game world. I'm not entirely sure what he was expecting when he turned no-clip mode on to see what lay beyond Skyrims invisible borders, but I can guarantee he did not expect to find the entire continent of Tamrieal. The player took numerous screenshots as he flew around, seeing such sights as the Vvardenfell volcano and the Imperial City (well, the land area it sits upon anyhow.)

The question now is what exactly are they doing there? The most likely answer is so that when players look out over the horizon, they can see familiar landscape landmarks from past games, to help them feel like they are in the same world as the past Elder Scrolls games, but who knows? Maybe there is some sort of secret Bethesda hasn't let us in on yet.

New Xbox 360 Dashboard Launches December 6th

The title is somewhat self explanatory. Microsoft will roll out it's newest version of the Xbox Dashboard on the 6th. Aside from a sleeker look, the new dashboard will have greater integration for Kinect Voice Recognition. This is also the same day that the Microsoft will be launching some new TV and movie apps, so Xbox users should be paying special attention to this date.

All in all a quiet week overall, but the "Cinderella Law" (as it is apparently being called) that went into effect in South Korea this past week is an obviously important event. South Korea has earned a notorious reputation for how seriously they take their games, and for how long some people play them. But, as stated above, this law causes many questions to appear, and some have no clear answers. I personally find this law a bit of drastic step, and for parents it's somewhat of a slap in the face that the government has decided that they can't keep their children offline. We'll see what kind of an uproar we get from this law in the coming weeks.

Are The Golden Years of FPS Gone? Can We Fix It?

...Master Chief is rolling in his power armor.

The marquee match-up in the shooter world these days is Battlefield and Call of Duty. Both had games out this year, and both spent quite a bit of time saying that theirs was going to be better than the other. They sank millions upon millions into their respective games. Modern Warfare 3 shattered sales ratings and Battlefield 3 has been among the top sales as well. Plenty of people are playing, and the critical reception has been seemingly positive.

So why are these games both so bad?

Metacritic's user rating for Modern Warfare 3 is a 28. Let that sink in for a moment. And before you go saying, "Oh but that's just all the haters reviewing it poorly because they think it's trash." If you compare it to the previous three entry's there is a disturbing trend that one can see. Black Ops has at least garnered an average score from users of about a 58. But Modern Warfare 2 is almost as disdained with a score of 31. Then we look at Modern Warfare and see an 84. This series has been around long enough that those figures are not just people hating on the franchise. The critics always seem to give these games high scores, but in the court of public opinion, Call of Duty has never been worse. And you know what they say...the people are always right.

So why is it so bad then? Well if we again go to Metacritic, a lot of people are upset by the poor quality of the multiplayer, and the single player campaigns  Michael Bay explosionfest. Most people are seeing this game as a $60 map pack, and the maps are average or worse. The only feature that hasn't been lambasted by players is the Spec Ops mode, but even that mode isn't having it's praises sung. People have accused Call of Duty of failing to change or do anything new or interesting, and given the way the player reaction to the newest installment, it's getting really hard to argue the point. In order to write this I sat down and play it myself for some firsthand perspective. The honest answer is: I found myself very upset and frustrated by this game. The multiplayer frequently had me in fits of rage has higher leveled players with ridiculous weapons and perk packages slaughtered me. I am no slouch at shooters, but I was almost always hovering at around an even K/D ration or worse and a score in about the lower end of the board. Some of the weapons are just ridiculously overpowered, and some even came back from Modern Warfare 2. The maps might be the worst they've been in a Call of Duty title. It really felt like they were assembled to the point of 'just good enough'. The campaign really is just a Michael Bay explosion experience. Whatever the critics are seeing, I, and many others, can't see it.

How Not To Make A FPS

But don't think Battlefield 3 is escaping my attention here.

This game has almost singlehandedly made a case for why shooters should just not bother with a story mode sometimes. Not only does it rip elements of other games (especially Call of Duty: Black Ops) to compromise it's story, it is the most emotionless shooter story I think I have ever played. I felt like a mindless drone playing it. And then, halfway through, they try to make you care about soldiers, whose names you've heard have maybe twice and have the emotion and characterization of a rock, by throwing in a 'tragic event'. Even as the game tries to insist that I should care about whats going on, I find myself with no reaction to anything that happens, aside from my appreciation of the production values. At least Call of Duty has the immortal Captain Price as a memorable character, not one character from Battlefield 3 will be remembered past the end of this year. I actually had to replay it briefly just to remind myself who the main character was. The multiplayer is decent but it has yet to blow me away. There are some issues with balance during some games, especially between players of high and low rank, and snipers can sometimes get to be too much of a problem on the more open maps. There is also a clear favor for most players to play the engineer class, sometimes entire teams ignore the other three classes. Again, I don't see how this game has been so well received by critics.

And these two are not the only games in the first person shooter genre that have caused some people to question where this genre is headed. Resistance 3 has been called average at best, Medal of Honor's reboot was but a shadow of it's former self, and Call of Juarez: The Cartel is one of the most insulting games to ever be released. Go watch this video if you want an explanation: Extra Credits: Call of Juarez

So all this negativity has to have at least one or two of you re-examining the FPS genre. Believe me, a few weeks ago I hadn't felt this bad about the genre but recent events have demanded we sit down and look at these games and ask some questions about what is going on here.

So, there are problems, we can see that now. The real question now is: Can we fix it?

Honestly, I don't know.

There's a few reasons I think that way, and first and foremost is sales. I can sit here and point out flaws all day, and the public opinion can dip into the negative numbers on Metacritic, but the big companies have made it pretty clear that if we keep buying these games they will keep making them, and they will stay the course unless the backlash is big enough. Medal of Honor's reboot is getting a new game, desptie some harsh words against it from critics and payers alike, all because the game sold millions of units. Video Games are a business after all. I get that. Developers and publishers want to rake in as much as they can.

But you reach this point (reason number two inbound) where you start sacrificing quality for quantity. I think we are defiantly seeing that with Call of Duty, which Activision insists must be released yearly. Battlefield's main series does not have a game every year, but the Battlefield franchise also seem to be on the boat of yearly releases. These games have started getting progressively worse, that is almost undeniable, and part of it is the publishers insistence on having a new iteration of a franchise every single year. When you put that kind of development window on the table, even if you have two studios taking turns the way Infinity Ward and Treyarch have been, two years or so is not enough time to craft a masterpiece. Corners have to be cut, and deadlines must be met.

Pictured: The Boat of Yearly Releases

Which brings me to reason three. The apparent lack of progression. For some reason, these games don't seem to take steps forward in the areas that really matter. Example: Modern Warfare 2 was a real step backwards from Modern Warfare in a lot of peoples eyes, and Treyarch was due to release the next Call of Duty title. They had to come up with some ideas to try and get people back into the franchise. So they came up with COD points, a system where you earn spendable credits while playing the game to buy equipment and weapons as you progress. While it was a somewhat skeletal system overall, there was a clear framework in place for a big step forward in how a player progressed in the Call of duty series. With some more tweaks and support it could have become a staple feature. Instead, after Black Ops came out, and Infinity Ward was up to bat yet again, they insisted that the two development teams were separate and would not use each others work. Guess what they did not even consider bringing back in Modern Warfare 3? That decision made no sense whatsoever from any standpoint. It hurts the franchise's progress, and it subtracts an interesting feature from your game.

And now we come to point four of this increasingly depressing list. The lack of will to try and be different. Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and Medal of Honor may all be different franchises with different backgrounds but they all have two things absolutely in common. They are setting their games in the 'modern war' time, and they do not show any signs of trying anything different anytime soon. The lack of creativity is starting to spread it seems, and it is really making the genre a stale place to be. Yes Halo is out there still, and sure Resistance and Killzone are trying, but the sales (yet again) don't lie. For whatever reason we are not yet sick of going to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Russia to fight terrorists. And now there's the disturbing trend of blowing up, or threatening to blow up, New York City (see: Modern Warfare 3/2, Battlefield 3, Rainbow Six: Patriots). This happend with the World War II setting as well, we got game after game in the setting, the sales kept growing and growing and then they just, stopped. Players started to get bored and started accusing developers of a lack of originality. So why is that not happening now? It's been nearly five years since Modern Warfare really kicked off this trend, and it is still running strong. Does no one else want to shoot something other than a terrorist or Russian for once in a game?

"Are they Terrorists or Russians?!" "Whats the difference?"

I have a list that goes further than this but I'll stop because my point has been made. All of these things are contributing to a genre that just is not what it used to be. It used to be hard just to pick which FPS you were going to go with, now it's getting hard to decide if your even going to get one, if any. Fixing this problem will not be easy, and it is going to require some of us who aren't voicing our concerns to step up and start letting these developers know we need some changes. We can make this genre interesting again, it's not so far gone that it will always be a world of explosions and dull grey and brown, but we have to be a part of making the change, or else developers and publishers will keep giving us the same things over and over again.


Well that was...long. I was going to start getting into how to fix it, but I think it's easier to just go through my points about what is wrong and just add to the end of it 'so fix it'. I hope you guys liked this one. As usual, please, spread the word, go like the facebook page (link to it on the page coming soon) and give me some feedback. Comment, email me, give me some ideas. I'd really appreciate it.

We Need A Proper Award Show

...No Spikes VGA's do NOT count.

This is about the time of year when we, the gaming masses, begin debating about what game deserves the honor of Game of the Year. It's also a good time for us to reflect on the many other great games we've seen over the year (or in some cases the not so great ones.) But the gaming industry has several places that give away awards to the top games of the year.

But we are missing one that really shows up somewhere everyone can watch and enjoy AND really rewards the industry as a whole for it's work, not just the games themselves.

Do not tell me that Spike's VGA's are an equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are not. They had about a dozen or so award categories last year, want to guess how many awards I actually saw get awarded? Three. Maybe four if you count the farce that was best voice acting, which they gave to the host of the show over several, much more deserving efforts (sorry Neil Patrick Harris, but it's the truth...) Everything about this award show is a joke. It's all about trailers of new projects and the really cool people who decided to show up at our award show from elsewhere. Green Day doesn't go up on stage during the Grammys to announce a new album and M. Night Shyamalan doesn't announce his next big movie in the middle of the Academy Awards. Even if some of these other award banquets and shows have become shadows of what they used to be, it's still about celebrating the work of the industry. Spikes VGA's are about next years work, while finding time to kind of recognize the work of the past year. Also (get ready because I'm about to do some large font and caps...): MOST ANTICIPATED GAME IS THE BIGGEST JOKE OF AN AWARD EVER. PERIOD. 


I'm okay now...

And while we have award shows, they almost always seem to avoid one very important part of any industry: the people behind it. Movies, TV, Music, and Theater all have awards shows that honor, not just the work, but the people. They give out awards to individuals who were important factors behind some of the best works of the year. We do not currently have an award show that really does that. The one award banquet that gets close is the one that is held at the Game Developers Conference every year. However those are only given out to longtime members of the industry like Peter Molyneux or Sid Meier. I never see any real award given to anyone in the industry for their current work. While the games are the real stars of these shows, there are people behind them who deserve some of the recognition.

Really, the GDC awards are the closest we get to a real celebration of the industry. Almost everyone in the industry, aside from a few eastern developers (which is a shame, because they should be there too), is at this show and attends the awards banquet. The awards are decided upon by the industry, for the industry. The fans and players do not get a say in the awards here. This is all about the gaming industry. While yes, we the gamers should get a say somewhere in there, it's nice to have an award show where the industry takes a good look at itself and decides who's doing the best work.

We need a true award banquet where we can see the past year in retrospect, and really remember all the great things we got to see, and all the hard work that the people behind these games put in. Every other entertainment medium has one, and they are always doing their best to respect their industry and look at all the amazing things that they have accomplished. Why should we not do the same?

I'd like to start pushing the people reading this regularly to go out and share this with all the gaming people you know. Seriously, just mention it, show it to them if they are around while you read. It'd be really cool if that followers bar on the side grows or the likes on the facebook page shoot up.


Until next time.