Top 5 RPG's This Generation You Shouldn't Miss

Every once in a while, particularly when I can't think of anything pertinent to discuss, I feel the need for a list is in order. What better topic for a list than my absolute favorite genre, the RPG. There has been a wealth of RPG's released this generation. Some have been absolutely stellar, while others are steeped in mediocrity. This is my futile attempt to assist you in wading through the crap, and steer you towards fantastical adventures that will steal hundreds of hours of your time, and quite possibly your soul.

1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360,PS3,PC)

What could I possibly say about this game that hasn't already been said hundreds of times already. This is quite possibly the most quintessential western RPG ever created. The game world is yours to do as you wish. There is nothing you can't do and nowhere you can't go from the moment you step out of the sewers of the Imperial City prison. Odds are, if you are at all a fan of the genre, you have played this, and quite possibly are still playing this. Several have mentioned that is reminiscent of a large MMO, only single player. I think that statement alone sums it up nicely. Certainly anything associated with Todd Howard is a must buy at this point. If you have played it, and haven't downloaded the Shivering Isles, do yourself a favor and do so. You will not be disappointed.

2. The Witcher (PC, and provided a publisher decides to finally pick this up perhaps the 360 as well)

Simply put, this game is gorgeous, deep and huge, yet it remains very accessible to newcomers of RPG's. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It could be considered linear only when compared to the likes of the Elder Scrolls series. Though one area that it certainly exceeds even that of TES IV: Oblivion, is in it's consequences. For almost every action, there is consequence. It truly realizes the promises that Peter Molyneaux made of Fable many years ago. This one would truly be worthy of a complete PC build strictly to play this game. So much care has gone into the making of this it's truly almost indescribable. For example, after the title was released, the developers were not happy with the voice work. What did they do about it you ask? They re-recorded every line of dialog in the game, of which there are thousands. Not only that, there have been several expansions made available for free for registered users. So much care has been taken with this title, it's almost impossible to believe it came from such a small indie developer in CD Projekt RED.

3. Mass Effect (360,PC)

The Bioware doctors have done it yet again. Yes their games are certainly on the linear side, but the story telling is impeccable. The folks at Bioware have always made wonderfully accessible yet fairly deep RPG's. Only they had almost always done it with a known IP, be it AD&D or Star Wars. This time they did it with an all original story and setting. It is a Sci-fi epic for the ages well worth the price of admission. It's not perfect in every aspect as the combat leaves a bit to be desired. But if you make it through this game once, you will be hard pressed to not want to do it again. If only for the fact, that for the first time in a game of this scale, the decisions you make will carry over into the sequel coming next year. That alone is one of the most intriguing prospects I have ever witnessed in the industry. I for one can't wait to see how they pull it off.

4. Fallout 3 (360,PS3,PC)

Todd Howard and Bethesda took the Oblivion engine and made yet another epic. This post-apocalyptic wasteland is your playground. It lacks the sheer mass of Oblivion, but makes up for it with a personalty that TES just doesn't posses. It's quite paradoxical. On one hand you are in a desolate, post-nuclear wasteland. On the other, it is filled with so much life and humorous charm, it's hard to put down once you pick it up. There is also a wealth of DLC available that ranges from exceptionally brilliant to a little spotty. But all in all, as a complete package in the GOTY version, would be well worth the time investment.

5. Lost Odyssey (360)

I suppose I would be remiss if I didn't include at least one JRPG in this list. I enjoy the occasional JRPG. It's an itch that needs scratched at least twice a year. As long as I get this out before Final Fantasy XIII, I can keep the FF zealots off my back a bit. One thing they tend to forget however is that Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of FF, left Square Enix in 2004 and hasn't been involved in the series since. In my opinion this is truly the successor to the FF series. With Sakaguchi-san writing and Nobuo Uematsu composing, it doesn't get any more pure JRPG than this. Be forewarned however, if you don't like sappy convoluted plots with insanely long FMV sequences, JRPG's are not for you. This is turn-based old school JRPG gameplay at it's finest, including the ever annoying random battles.

It's Thinking

The industry today owes quite a bit to this wonderful little machine. You can read all about the history of the Dreamcast on gaming sites all over like Giant Bomb and GamesRadar. My personal experience tends to echo several of the sentiments of others, albeit with my own spin and personal experiences.

I had initially intended to do a happy birthday Dreamcast post last night, on it's ten year anniversary. I however got entirely too wrapped up in playing some Magic, HALO 3 and CoD 4 multiplayer on XBox Live. In retrospect, I find that to be the most appropriate way to have celebrated the Dreamcast's tenth birthday.

The Sega Dreamcast was the first system to have internet connectivity out of the box. It was only 56kbps to start, but it was there nevertheless. With web browsing capabilities and online gameplay, it was a revolution in the industry that many scoffed at during that particular time. I can still remember playing NFL2k1 over Seganet. The games were competitive, and in some respects, more fun than today. There were no headsets to listen to eight year old kids cuss you out, and apparently "Rage Quitting" had not been invented yet either. Eventually the 56k modem could be replaced by a network adapter. At the time, this was what inspired me to get broadband at home. Literally, I signed up for AT&T @Home due to the Dreamcast. So it begs the question, would the current generation of consoles be where they are today with connectivity, were it not for the Dreamcast? Impossible to answer, but fun to speculate.

It also revolutionized the industry graphically. I don't personally believe we have had as big of a jump graphically since that time. Some of you may not remember how atrocious looking the 32-Bit era actually was. Go and boot up a 3D PS1 or Sega Saturn game if you can. Today the graphics alone can render a good chunk of them unplayable. The jump was as big as the 8-Bit to 16-Bit jump a decade earlier. It was the first time textures were actually smooth and bit-mapped without looking like puke. Every upgrade since has seemed incremental, be it slightly higher resolution textures, bump-mapping, pixel shaders, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering or just some good old fashioned polygon pushing horsepower. I'm not saying your 360 or PS3 games look just like a Dreamcast game, but they sure don't look light-years ahead of them like the DC did compared to the 32 and 64-Bit systems of the time.

This was also a system that packed a wallop when it came to software. I still personally proclaim (along with many, many others) that the NFL2k series is still superior to Madden. We finally received Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on XBLA this year, but it's emulation still makes it inferior to the original Dreamcast version from nearly a decade ago. When has a launch title been as impressive as Soul Calibur? It introduced me to the Dead or Alive series with DoA2, and I still have my pre-order calendar believe it or not. SegaGT was the first sim-racer that ever got it hooks into me. Shenmue still haunts my dreams to this day on occasion. I absolutely adore that game. It had the first console MMO in Phantasy Star Online. Speed Devils was a jaw dropper. Sonic Adventure was an abomination, with some good bits thrown in that made it a classic. Ready 2 Rumble was probably considered the graphical showcase at launch due to it's character animation, and was pretty fun to boot.

If there was any one glaring weakness in my eyes, it would be the lack of depth with so many of Sega's own titles. Mostly because Sega was a huge arcade game maker, and so many of their arcade ports were exactly that, shallow arcade games for $50. I still loved every minute of them though, and perhaps that's what made it so special. Every time a big arcade hit came to a home console since the 8-Bit days, we were always promised an "Arcade Perfect" port, yet they never truly were. With the Dreamcast however, that dream was finally realized and sometimes even exceeded.

For those of you that owned one, you know exactly where I'm coming from. For those of you that didn't, to say your missing out on something pretty damn special would be an understatement.



ZDTV Gamespot TV's Dreamcast special:











My personal favorite Dreamcast game Speed Devils in action:

97.5 Brodeo Reunion @ PAX

Who is This Guy?

His name is Jeff. He's a Mormon, though I don't hold it against him. He is also a former Best Buy employee and a future husband. He is also the only man I have ever known ballsy enough to wear videogame related items with pride in public, most notably at work. He's a goofy and cool motherfucker, though now mullet-less, not even Kotaku can keep him down.

Sorry For Taking So Long

I really have no excuse for not posting. Then again, who am I posting for really? Myself I suppose. I'm not expressing that in a bad way. How can one get better at something without practice, regardless of how small the increments of progression. That's the whole point of maintaining this pointless blog, for myself.

On another note, a new legitimate post will be up on the 9th. Most likely late as usual. It seems to be time to wish a dear friend of mine a happy tenth. If you can't figure out what I'm getting at, well then you will just have to wait. Until then, goodnight folks...er, me.

I leave you with this.