Not that these are bad games, but I feel like the weighting here is a bit heavy on older games.
The first game on the list released after 2004 is Fallout: New Vegas at #10 (and that’s still 2010).
The first game released this decade is at position #29.
That seems like it’s either got a fair bit of weight on older RPGs, or is saying that the PC RPG has really gone into a substantial amount of decline.
Ordinarily, I’d expect a ranking to tend to be loading towards newer games, if anything, because developers of newer games can see what people have done in the past and what worked, often have larger budgets, and have fewer technical constraints.
There are some old-game-favoring statements here that I’d maybe agree with. I wouldn’t call it an RPG, but:
#14 - Jagged Alliance 2 (Sir-Tech, 1999)
Cholo: The king of turn-based squad level tactics games, which no competitor has been able to dethrone in fifteen years.
I’m inclined to agree with that. I enjoyed that game, have looked for turn-based squad-based tactical games, and I can’t personally name a later game that I’d prefer to it. The later games in the series didn’t really live up to the bar it set. The newer X-COMs have too much fluff for me. Silent Storm has some technical improvements like bullet penetration and destructable structures, but isn’t as good a game.
There are probably 2 reasons why this list is biased towards old games:
The RPG genre is a genre that basically died somewhere in the 2000s. Newer entries are mostly games by smaller studios that got kickstarted or went through early access. They are good but cannot really keep up with the nostalgia forthe old Fallouts and Baldurs Gates. Many modern games borrow a lot of RPG mechanics (e.g. Assassins Creed) but are not considered RPGs at least by RPGCodex users and so do not make it onto the list.
RPGCodex is a weird place. The average user over there hates videogames and/or itself. Just look in the comments under this article.
There’s something seriously wrong with authors of this list. Read the reviews of The Witcher 3 or Baldur’s Gate 3. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (or 1) is nowhere to be found. Skyrim didn’t make Top 70 RPGs? The order of the list… They seem to be living in the old days, replaying the same old games and not accepting anything new. This looks more like some kind of manifesto than a ranking. And just for the record, I did play the classic Fallouts, Baldurs, Ice Winds etc.
I don’t see why you’re outraged over their reviews of The Witcher 3 and Baldur’s Gate 3. In my opinion, those brief reviews in this article are some of the most accurate and fair summaries of both of those games, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of each in a way most people don’t. They conclude that both are worth playing, but also bring up commonly cited flaws in each.
Going off those two reviews alone makes me more inclined to trust their judgement, not less.
Not that these are bad games, but I feel like the weighting here is a bit heavy on older games.
The first game on the list released after 2004 is Fallout: New Vegas at #10 (and that’s still 2010).
The first game released this decade is at position #29.
That seems like it’s either got a fair bit of weight on older RPGs, or is saying that the PC RPG has really gone into a substantial amount of decline.
Ordinarily, I’d expect a ranking to tend to be loading towards newer games, if anything, because developers of newer games can see what people have done in the past and what worked, often have larger budgets, and have fewer technical constraints.
There are some old-game-favoring statements here that I’d maybe agree with. I wouldn’t call it an RPG, but:
I’m inclined to agree with that. I enjoyed that game, have looked for turn-based squad-based tactical games, and I can’t personally name a later game that I’d prefer to it. The later games in the series didn’t really live up to the bar it set. The newer X-COMs have too much fluff for me. Silent Storm has some technical improvements like bullet penetration and destructable structures, but isn’t as good a game.
There are probably 2 reasons why this list is biased towards old games:
The RPG genre is a genre that basically died somewhere in the 2000s. Newer entries are mostly games by smaller studios that got kickstarted or went through early access. They are good but cannot really keep up with the nostalgia forthe old Fallouts and Baldurs Gates. Many modern games borrow a lot of RPG mechanics (e.g. Assassins Creed) but are not considered RPGs at least by RPGCodex users and so do not make it onto the list.
RPGCodex is a weird place. The average user over there hates videogames and/or itself. Just look in the comments under this article.
There’s something seriously wrong with authors of this list. Read the reviews of The Witcher 3 or Baldur’s Gate 3. Divinity: Original Sin 2 (or 1) is nowhere to be found. Skyrim didn’t make Top 70 RPGs? The order of the list… They seem to be living in the old days, replaying the same old games and not accepting anything new. This looks more like some kind of manifesto than a ranking. And just for the record, I did play the classic Fallouts, Baldurs, Ice Winds etc.
I don’t see why you’re outraged over their reviews of The Witcher 3 and Baldur’s Gate 3. In my opinion, those brief reviews in this article are some of the most accurate and fair summaries of both of those games, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses of each in a way most people don’t. They conclude that both are worth playing, but also bring up commonly cited flaws in each.
Going off those two reviews alone makes me more inclined to trust their judgement, not less.