Modern games, and RPGs, are quite easy so doing them fast isn't impossible... they're not jRPGs where average playthrough is 100h+ and maxing might take even more...
Grew up a console kid so never played much CRPGs but was always fascinated with the ones my uncle played. Got into PC gaming in recent years and your channel has done a great deal in reigniting my love of the genre.
I came here with the highest hopes to not have already played all of them. And I was not disappointed haha Thanks mate. Thanks for all your content, you deserve the growth - never change!! ❤
Yes! Arcanum is an amazing game! Always felt like a fantasy version of fallout to me, would love to see more of it. Probably one of my all-time top 10 games.
Thank you for putting Deadfire in it's place as a masterpiece, it's criminally underrated. I was surprised you didn't mention just how good the voice acting, story, and general environment is on top of the 100x better gameplay that it offers vrs. the dry and extremely exposition heavy original.
You caught most of them for me, and Planescape Torment is my favourite of all time, and Tyrrany was a really plessant surprise, just to bad that the story is so short. I would have wanted to see Newerwinter Nights 1 on there though, not so much the main game, but the 2 expansions are really good.
NWN def deserve its own list of fan modules because the main strength of the game lies on its community. From The Prophet to Swordflight there's a lot of amazing modules created by the community that rivals even Planescape Torment story and writing, the Prophet is one of the best example of this if you just wanted to play a single module on NWN then let it be The Prophet, it's one of the best in terms of story module out there for NWN a must play if you value story and writing the most in a game
@@TheCheeseMovesSideways are modules like fan made campaigns that you can play single player? I know people play that game for the multiplayer but I have no interest in that. If there are single player campaigns that rival planescape though then I'm interested
I've loved Arcanum. I had it even back in the day, and I have it now. Will need to find unofficial patch. Thanks for the list, I have most of them, but it's nice to see some of the others getting some love.
I've started playing Solasta and absolutely love it. I play a lot of pen and paper table top rpgs with friends, and Solasta definitely gives me that feel that I'm on this awesome adventure with my friends beside me.
Another good thing on Tyranny is world itself. It's pretty much classic fantasy, but with "evil" twist, that make it unique. I like to have choice to play evil character that isn't just hero that act like bastard. Apart from that, good list. I would recomend them too.
Dragon Age: Origins was SO good. Quite similar to Divinity Original Sin 2. I heard the devs are working on a new Dragon Age game which revolves around the elf Silas. But this information is from 2020.
I was hoping to find some new cRPGs to play but played all those at least twice :\ I would personally add Disco Elysium to this list, though some might argue it's not a cRPG. Also I love you included Tyranny as I'm still crying inside as we probably never will get a sequel, it is probably my favourite cRPG. Great video as always!
I always wonder what would the Troika Games titles be like if they weren't pushed onto the stage halfway done pulling up their pantaloons. Arcanum and Bloodlines are gold, even with their asses hanging out of their pants.
I absolutely loved both Pillars of Eternity games. The main story arc is, in my opinion, even more beautiful than Torment. I usually do not play a game twice, but I did on Deadfire to experience both real-time and turn-based gameplay, it's effectively 2 games in one
It is an IP, it's rights ended up going to Activision following the closure of Troika and Sierra. If the Microsoft merger goes through Microsoft will own the IP and 2 of the 3 leads on Arcanum now work at Obsidian. A man can dream.
Gah!! I wanna go replay Fallout 1&2 again now!!! I love those games so much and it's great to see them here. Fallout 2 is one of the best games ever made IMO and as much as I enjoy the modern Fallout games (except 76, we don't talk about 76) it's always a shame looking back on 1&2 and wondering "what if?" Great, great games I first played in HS where I had them installed on a flash drive, which they will run off of, and would play in my programming class and during my study halls. Go play them people 100% must plays.
Finished the first Pillars, and even though I liked it a lot, it didn't "scratch my Baldurs Gate itch" as much as Wrath of the Righteous did. Being able to be a Lich, Golden Dragon, a Demon or even a do goody winged angel with pathfinder rules, turn based or real time combat and an awesome narrative made it one of my top crpgs of all time, alongside BG2, DoS1 and 2, planescape, morrowind, fallout new vegas and Kotor 1 and 2.
Ah, KotOR 1 and 2. I just recently finished my yearly playthrough of KotOR 1 and just started KotOR 2. I just love KotOR 2, it's my all-time favourite game. and just like in all RPGs you can build your character the way you want, you can go full ultra Overpowered from start if you want, there are starting character builds that by the middle of the game make you very powerful as you can craft almost anything you want as you have all the skills (repair, demolition etc. as a class skill). So you pick sentinel and then you pick Demolition class skill as your first feat at level 1, by level 4 I think it is, you pick Repair as your class feat and now you can pump points into it and make yourself really good at everything and then you can craft everything. Mortym didn't bring this up, but to get the full experience that Obsidian wanted the player to have, you need to download the Restoration mod for the game, you get it on the steam workshop if you have the steam version. it fixes a lot in the game and fills out holes in the story. and Of course, DoS2 is really good, I need to replay it, I haven't played it in a while. Other older RPGs I recommend are Might & magic 6, 7 and 8 from 1998, 1999 and 2000, they are really good too and are some of my all-time favourite Classic RPGs. I've never played Baldur's gate, but I will buy Baldur's gate 3 when it fully releases, I assume it isn't completed yet? And yes, those games are set in the world of "Heroes of might and magic".
I’ve refused to play deadfire until I finish the first game, but the early parts are such a drag that I keep falling off. I think I made it to the second major city (not counting the first village) once, but never even that far again. It bothers me because I like the characters who appear to continue into the next game. I don’t want to skip their tale
I just skip the dialogs in Pillars tbh. That's the reason it feels like a chore. Classic Obsidian writing: they flood you with lore details and forgettable characters... you just can't invest that much energy into understanding so many minute details that are completely irrelevant and uninteresting tbh. I loved the combat system though.
"Dragon Age Origins - Ultimate Edition" works fine, but yes you want to at least install the "Qwinn's Ultimate DAO Fixpack" and use the launcher replacement that allows using more video memory. - see PC Gaming Wiki for those essential improvements. I also recommend the "Unofficial Remaster" mod for nicer textures/graphics.
Great video! A lot of my favs here. I haven’t played any of the modern crpg’s yet. I have to get around to them soon. I’ll use your video to guide my choices. I think I’ll do Tyranny first.
Not sure about IV, I remember starting loving them from V till VII. VII is basically two whole games, plus two great expansions, and are probably best in the series.
Yes, came here to see if Ultima was in the comments. Ultima VII is prob best game of my past. Still have all the cloth maps that came with the physical games. Absolutely loved the Ultima series, had its hits and misses but great overall. It was a year or two ago when I was searching for an 'Ultima VII-like' game and the search/algorithm gods sent me to DOS2 and this channel.
Can't argue with most of those (although Deadfire and the whole franchise seems a bit trivial to me). I would add: NWN1 for the mods and multiplayer (one of the few places you could get an actual role-playing experience to rival tabletop, with communities of hundreds of players in its heyday - harder to find company outside of US timezones now though). NWN2 for the Mask of the Betrayer expansion, extremely well written. Morrowind because duh. Wizardry 8, maybe, because party blobbers were a huge genre completely omitted here, although it does play a little rough. Fallout: New Vegas possibly, although it's a little redundant with the originals and Morrowind. Disco Elysium as a modern example of the story-driven/text-based adventure/RPG. (That's leaving out most action RPGs like Deus Ex, Gothic and Dark Souls, which are must-plays in a broader video game context.)
Can you make a video about all the reasons WHY you love CRPGs, how you got into them, which ones you recommend for ppl trying to get into them, and the specific aspects of them that you think someone should note and appreciate as they play them? Would love a video like that as someone who has been trying to get into them for awhile... Thanks!
Really enjoy these type of videos in addition to the reviews! Thanks! Besides, recently started pathfinder wotr because of your Vids. Took some time getting used to but currently really enjoy it!
A few older classics that could also feature on a list of must-play RGPs: 1. The Bard's Tale I to III 2. Ultima VI and VII 3. Ultima Underworld I and II 4. Eye of the Beholder 1 and 2 5. The games in the Gold Box series, to differing degrees All these were really influential in the '80s and '90s, and they have contributed a lot to making the genre what it is today. Some of them seem clunky and difficult to get into now, while some have actually aged reasonably well. The Steam re-release of the Gold Box games comes with some really useful quality-of-life updates (also otherwise available via mods), for example.
Not sure if it's classed as a Gold Box, but it's still AD&D by SSI: I replayed Dragonstrike on the pc a couple of years ago and really got into it. Actually completed the game, which I didn't do on the Amiga way back then. Fun game and would like to see it remade with modern visuals and sound while keeping the gameplay intact. Not likely..
@@heroictesticles6870 : My favorite SSI Gold Box games (finished every one of them back then) weren't the D&D ones ... it was the Buck Rogers ones. As for the OP's list, there was also Starflight (1 and 2), Sentinel Worlds and Hard Nova, and I always had fun with the Sierra Hero's Quest games. And I would love to see a modern day version of the Ultima games (I enjoyed Black Gate/Serpent Island, Pagan, Origin too - those games just have so much story in em and I enjoyed the whole thing).
@@marchuitt I remember Countdown to Doomsday. Agree, that was a good one at the time. I think I had the sequel too but don't remember playing it. Was a nice change of pace going from Longswords +3 to blasters and lasers.
A few tips for people interested in picking up Planescape Torment: 1. Don't bother with combat. Set the difficulty to 1. Focus on the story alone. 2. Dump all your stats into WIS, INT and CHA in that order. This will unlock some dialogue options vital to the story.
Morrowind is a must play, especially on OpenMW. its set in the world of Tamriel which many people know so its already a good jumping in point, but its also just a really good rpg with some of the best worldbuilding in gaming, and it has spellcrafting
Always heard about Baldur's Gate and finally bought it on Steam, I would have gone nowhere if it weren't for Mortym's videos explaining it all. I've got most of these titles on my backlog, just need to find the time to play them now.
Great classics all around, Ive actually played all of those. I'd add the first Deus Ex to the list. I did like the newer ones too (except maybe Invisible War), but nothing beats the original. I would also give honorable mention to the Ultima series, though maybe just Ultima 7, as the others haven't aged well at all, even 7 is clunky and aged. Also Ultima Underworlds, 2 especially, are great too, though focusing more on the dungeon crawling aspect and aside from slight build variety, I don't recall if there were any actual choices to be made. There are also the Mass Effect trilogy, though maybe less choices and more action. And Disco Elysium, though I suppose its arguable whether its a CRPG or a point and click adventure with RPG elements.
I agree with all of them, but where's my Disco Elysium at? Also Neverwinter Nights 2 and Expansions? Or Underrail? :( and many many others, because people should play mostly cRPGs and topple this corrupt action based AAA games' market! (Viva la revolution!)
These games are interesting but so time consuming that I might have to take a sabbatical to have time to play them. Either that or wait until I’m retired and played them all back to back!
I have yet to play Deadfire and am looking forward to the gameplay improvements. Playing through PoE one right now and I must confess that I love its serious, more mature story & multifaceted characters. The lack of an unwavering positive hero protagonist trope is refreshing, and almost all the companions have worthy stories to tell (no, not you Aloth). You said multiple times that Deadfire's main story is meh, which is a shame since the original's is intriguing.
I'd really want to add Dragons Dogma to this list. It feels like so many later CRPG's took inspiration from it, yet its pawn system and story just need to be experienced.
15:18 - If you can fugure out how to use a hex editor, and find the locations of all the various bits, you can manipulate your abilities and skills, by adjusting your character lever, distributing points, then bringing your level down again-- rinse, repeat (Don't ask me the particulars; it's been decades.). Then you can explore every possible avenue and quest line, to say nothing of being nigh-invincible! The most frustrating thing I found about Arcanum, is that your character is tied to the saved game, not as something you can insert into any campaign, like BG1 & 2. Arcanum came with tools for players to create their own campaigns, and there's even a sample alternate mini-campaign that comes with the game itself, but there is no way to bring an existing character into a different campaign. There is also no way, as far as I could find, to insert expert/master trainers for the various abilities into a custom campaign. This might have caught on among CRPG players, if it weren't so flawed. The unique Tolkein-steampunk aspect of the game would have also made for an outstanding MMORPG world. But that's just one more thing that was never meant to be.
After 100%ing this video i can safely say that i almost agree with everything, especially loved that you included arcanum, one if my all time favorite! However, as much as i loved the sw kotor games, i was pretty disappointed in their way of showing the dark side of the force, as it often times seemed too mindless. It felt that choosing the dark path often times meant you had to play a mindless murder psycho where evil deeds are much more nuanced. You could see a glimpse of it in the sith academy but even then it wasnt very deeply flashed out in my opinion. A good example of evil can be found in pathfinder wotr where evil can also be smart and wicked. I would love to hear your opinion about what makes a "good" evil character/story and which games excel at it. Mass effect for example had the most lovable d*ckhead if i remember it correctly. Maybe even make a video about the best evil campaigns or something similar?
Vampire Bloodlines is my favourite game of all times. I just can't get enough of playing a Malkavian in that game. The npcs are the best and most deep I encountered so far. And there are so many great story mods to keep on playing after the main story is finished.
pathfinder in its second installment is by far my favorite game and pillars 2 is a game that no matter how many times I start it I can never finish it, what attracts me the most about crpgs are their d&d mechanics and pillars 2 does not stand out too much in this regard mostly cuz it uses his own thing.
Oddly pleased that I have not played only 6 (counting Fallout and KOTOR as 2 games each) of the listed gems. And as soon as I've finished Deadfire I'll tackle Tyranny!
You forget never winter nights 2 mask of the betrayer almost as good as planscape torment!! and main campign was good too Also Icwinddale 1 and 2 Fallout new vegas Never winter nights 1 es the underdark expansion All the rest I agree with you
When you know the quality of this channel you just order those few games that you did'nt already knew and played 1000 hours. Well for me that means Fallout 1 & 2, Kotor and Dragon age
Aw, I already played all of them... nothing to discover for me. Well, at least I it confirms that I can reliably look at your channel to discover games I will probably like. I love how you describe Arcanum as "a fantasticly flawed masterpiece" and I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. On the note of Arcanum, I will add that it is one of those game where you have multiple ways to solve the same problem and it's almost impossible to softlock yourself because you didn't do what you were supposed to do. Hell, even murderhoboing everything alows you to finish the game...
i got Divine Divinity for free from a PC magazine way back when i was a kid. It is the first CRPG ive tried and i have fond memories of playing it, never finished it though cause some areas were too spooky for me back then lol. Thanks for reminding me about it, i might try it out again.
Great content as always! I don't know how you find the time 😂 I always go with Planescape because if anything can get you through some oldschool game mechanics by pure intrigue alone, it's that game. If you find yourself so inclined, I would love to see a list (ranked or otherwise) of crpgs that have your favorite/most memorable party members, or ones that have the best interaction systems for party memebers. You tend to mention your feelings on the main plots, missions, and lore but not so much on the party members themselves when you do these kinds of lists.
You mentioned without naming the villain of KotOR 2, and i just wanted to point out that this character is kind of a retake on a Planescape Torment both written by Chris Avelone.
I would love to see any of Microsoft's development teams do something with Arcanum. I played through that entire game thinking about how so much was so close but nothing was really ideal. It definitely deserves to be on a list like this. But my ending thought to playing it was that it really could have been something special - it just wasn't.
I’ll forever be confused by the fact that Deadfire didn’t sell as well as Poe1. It’s a more thought out, feature rich game in basically every way. The only quibble I have is the main quest being a little too “hurry up and save the world” and creating some dissonance with all the cool stuff there is to do. It’s still such a good game. I desperately hope we get Poe 3 at some point.
PoE1 sold well, because it essentially started the wave of modern isometric RPGs. People were really excited over that game. Deadfire didn't sell, because PoE1 turned out to be a dry, boring slog, which scared off that initial wave of enthusiasm.
How no-one has taken a shot at following Bloodlines is mind blowing. Whether or not you can land the WoD tie-in, Bloodlines being a cult classic is going to net you a dedicated base of people who will absolutely be interested in checking your game out. Also, with the Mass Effect definitive edition being a thing, why no Dragon Age 1-3 release?
I don't understand how Mortym finds the time to 100 percent every game and put out new content every morning. Does he ever sleep?
Modern games, and RPGs, are quite easy so doing them fast isn't impossible... they're not jRPGs where average playthrough is 100h+ and maxing might take even more...
@@gab_shirohige his subscriber numbers don’t support a bunch of employees. He’s most certainly doing this himself.
@@SpecShadow Divinity and Pathfinder games take more than 150+. just for one playthrough
He sleeps in the loading times of the older games.
Is it really THAT hard to understand? He became a Lich, duh!
Grew up a console kid so never played much CRPGs but was always fascinated with the ones my uncle played. Got into PC gaming in recent years and your channel has done a great deal in reigniting my love of the genre.
Really appreciate the Planescape Torment and Arcanum inclusion. I totally agree with your choices and those are all must plays.
Planescape is the best game ever made but it seems like almost no one knows it. Even old-school players often dont know it.
It's great to see Div Div and Arcanum in there ❤️
This was my exact tought.
Just would have replaced the booooring Dragon Age Origin with Divinity 2.
But Planescape, Fallout 1 and Arancum...very good taste indeed :)
What is most interesting about this list is how many of those who are at Obsidian had a hand in these games.
They are good whit storys and gameplay(not in every game. Yes, im looking at protocol game. Gameplay is terrible)
Two of Troika's three games too.
those people make good stories is why, it's why earlier fallouts are better story wise :) and why people like fallout new vegas more than III
@@grog_speed right now obsidian is just the name, the crew is different. Outer worlds wasn't made by Chris Avellone and others
almost all of them
I came here with the highest hopes to not have already played all of them.
And I was not disappointed haha
Thanks mate.
Thanks for all your content, you deserve the growth - never change!! ❤
Dragon age origins was the first PC game I played in about 10 years back in 2017. Loved it. Played all the way through and through the dlc
Yes! Arcanum is an amazing game! Always felt like a fantasy version of fallout to me, would love to see more of it. Probably one of my all-time top 10 games.
Thank you for putting Deadfire in it's place as a masterpiece, it's criminally underrated. I was surprised you didn't mention just how good the voice acting, story, and general environment is on top of the 100x better gameplay that it offers vrs. the dry and extremely exposition heavy original.
You caught most of them for me, and Planescape Torment is my favourite of all time, and Tyrrany was a really plessant surprise, just to bad that the story is so short.
I would have wanted to see Newerwinter Nights 1 on there though, not so much the main game, but the 2 expansions are really good.
I thought NWN main and HotU expansion were both amazing. NWN2 was worse.
The amount of community content for nwn1 and nwn2 should be enough for the list. Endless D&D content. well not exactly endless
NWN def deserve its own list of fan modules because the main strength of the game lies on its community. From The Prophet to Swordflight there's a lot of amazing modules created by the community that rivals even Planescape Torment story and writing, the Prophet is one of the best example of this if you just wanted to play a single module on NWN then let it be The Prophet, it's one of the best in terms of story module out there for NWN a must play if you value story and writing the most in a game
@@TheCheeseMovesSideways are modules like fan made campaigns that you can play single player? I know people play that game for the multiplayer but I have no interest in that. If there are single player campaigns that rival planescape though then I'm interested
@@schmecklin377 yes every module can be played single player
I've loved Arcanum. I had it even back in the day, and I have it now. Will need to find unofficial patch. Thanks for the list, I have most of them, but it's nice to see some of the others getting some love.
I've started playing Solasta and absolutely love it. I play a lot of pen and paper table top rpgs with friends, and Solasta definitely gives me that feel that I'm on this awesome adventure with my friends beside me.
Hats off for including _DivDiv_ - at its time it was absolutely outstanding..
Good to see Tyranny. I love that game. So underrated
Mortym is simply a godsend for crpg community
Another good thing on Tyranny is world itself.
It's pretty much classic fantasy, but with "evil" twist, that make it unique.
I like to have choice to play evil character that isn't just hero that act like bastard.
Apart from that, good list. I would recomend them too.
Speaking of divine divinity, it must be added that this game has a outstanding sundtrack. It's probably one of the best game soundtrack ever created.
Dragon Age: Origins was SO good. Quite similar to Divinity Original Sin 2. I heard the devs are working on a new Dragon Age game which revolves around the elf Silas. But this information is from 2020.
After DA Inquisition, I lost all hope for the franchise.
I was hoping to find some new cRPGs to play but played all those at least twice :\
I would personally add Disco Elysium to this list, though some might argue it's not a cRPG.
Also I love you included Tyranny as I'm still crying inside as we probably never will get a sequel, it is probably my favourite cRPG.
Great video as always!
I always wonder what would the Troika Games titles be like if they weren't pushed onto the stage halfway done pulling up their pantaloons. Arcanum and Bloodlines are gold, even with their asses hanging out of their pants.
I love that I was into D&D and MTG before I understood they existed, because many years earlier I had enjoyed the KOTOR series and Pokémon.
I absolutely loved both Pillars of Eternity games. The main story arc is, in my opinion, even more beautiful than Torment.
I usually do not play a game twice, but I did on Deadfire to experience both real-time and turn-based gameplay, it's effectively 2 games in one
Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous allows for the same thing, turn-based or real time combat.
heretic
The universe of Arcanum is so damn attractive and it should be a crime that its not an IP.
It is an IP, it's rights ended up going to Activision following the closure of Troika and Sierra. If the Microsoft merger goes through Microsoft will own the IP and 2 of the 3 leads on Arcanum now work at Obsidian. A man can dream.
Great list. After this i really know i need to play Divine Divinity and the BG1 and BG2
Oh and Planscape and Disco.... Plan escape is a masterpiece. Baldur's 3 will be legendary
Tyranny was so good, and I have transpositioned my character from it to Pathfinder WOTR because TN Judges are super interesting
Gah!! I wanna go replay Fallout 1&2 again now!!! I love those games so much and it's great to see them here. Fallout 2 is one of the best games ever made IMO and as much as I enjoy the modern Fallout games (except 76, we don't talk about 76) it's always a shame looking back on 1&2 and wondering "what if?" Great, great games I first played in HS where I had them installed on a flash drive, which they will run off of, and would play in my programming class and during my study halls. Go play them people 100% must plays.
Divinity original sin 2 is what got me into Crpgs^^
The second one i've played was PoE Deadfire and also loved that
Finished the first Pillars, and even though I liked it a lot, it didn't "scratch my Baldurs Gate itch" as much as Wrath of the Righteous did. Being able to be a Lich, Golden Dragon, a Demon or even a do goody winged angel with pathfinder rules, turn based or real time combat and an awesome narrative made it one of my top crpgs of all time, alongside BG2, DoS1 and 2, planescape, morrowind, fallout new vegas and Kotor 1 and 2.
Your videos always inspire me to get into playing more CRPG games. Thank you!!
I was hoping Arcanum would be on this list. It's so good. And so unique.
Mortem channel is growing and it’s beautiful and along with that come the haters and doubters. That is how u k ow ur makin it my boy. Awesome. Content
Other than the exclusion of Disco Elysium, this is a banger list, good job!
Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines really was ahead of its time: back then an incomplete and buggy game was doomed to fail - today that's the norm! 😔
Planescape Torment is awesome.
Some of the best companions.....
Ignus.... Valor..... Morte...
Loved it. :)
ah yes divine divinity i ocasionaly fire it up for that early 2000's feel
Ah, KotOR 1 and 2. I just recently finished my yearly playthrough of KotOR 1 and just started KotOR 2. I just love KotOR 2, it's my all-time favourite game. and just like in all RPGs you can build your character the way you want, you can go full ultra Overpowered from start if you want, there are starting character builds that by the middle of the game make you very powerful as you can craft almost anything you want as you have all the skills (repair, demolition etc. as a class skill). So you pick sentinel and then you pick Demolition class skill as your first feat at level 1, by level 4 I think it is, you pick Repair as your class feat and now you can pump points into it and make yourself really good at everything and then you can craft everything. Mortym didn't bring this up, but to get the full experience that Obsidian wanted the player to have, you need to download the Restoration mod for the game, you get it on the steam workshop if you have the steam version. it fixes a lot in the game and fills out holes in the story.
and Of course, DoS2 is really good, I need to replay it, I haven't played it in a while. Other older RPGs I recommend are Might & magic 6, 7 and 8 from 1998, 1999 and 2000, they are really good too and are some of my all-time favourite Classic RPGs. I've never played Baldur's gate, but I will buy Baldur's gate 3 when it fully releases, I assume it isn't completed yet? And yes, those games are set in the world of "Heroes of might and magic".
I’ve refused to play deadfire until I finish the first game, but the early parts are such a drag that I keep falling off.
I think I made it to the second major city (not counting the first village) once, but never even that far again.
It bothers me because I like the characters who appear to continue into the next game. I don’t want to skip their tale
They only carry over a few of the characters from the first game so honestly you can play the 2nd game first, the stories aren't really connected
Just play the 2nd game first. You can come back for a "prequel" afterwards.
I just skip the dialogs in Pillars tbh. That's the reason it feels like a chore. Classic Obsidian writing: they flood you with lore details and forgettable characters... you just can't invest that much energy into understanding so many minute details that are completely irrelevant and uninteresting tbh. I loved the combat system though.
Divine Divinity was probably one of the first CRPGs I ever played. I'm glad to see it mentioned here, it really is a special game.
"Dragon Age Origins - Ultimate Edition" works fine, but yes you want to at least install the "Qwinn's Ultimate DAO Fixpack" and use the launcher replacement that allows using more video memory.
- see PC Gaming Wiki for those essential improvements.
I also recommend the "Unofficial Remaster" mod for nicer textures/graphics.
YT keeps blocking my comments and I had to re-edit it x times. Clearly an honest modding site I shall not name is banned by YT...
Great video! A lot of my favs here. I haven’t played any of the modern crpg’s yet. I have to get around to them soon. I’ll use your video to guide my choices. I think I’ll do Tyranny first.
Really cool to see Arcanum and Divine Divinity on the list!
I think that Ultima IV to VII might be worth putting on the list so you can see the development of CRPGs from their infancy.
I've been pushing Ultima as a series he needs to check out for a while. Hopefully he gets to it.
Not sure about IV, I remember starting loving them from V till VII. VII is basically two whole games, plus two great expansions, and are probably best in the series.
Yes, came here to see if Ultima was in the comments. Ultima VII is prob best game of my past. Still have all the cloth maps that came with the physical games. Absolutely loved the Ultima series, had its hits and misses but great overall. It was a year or two ago when I was searching for an 'Ultima VII-like' game and the search/algorithm gods sent me to DOS2 and this channel.
The inclusion of Divine Divinity without an ultima ( especially VII ) in the list is mind boggling
@Captain Reason have you played Witcher games? They have the same kind of world building, especially Witcher 3.
Pillars 2 was very good for me. It was fun and easy to get into. Also the setting was nice
KOTOR. Yes.
KOTOR 2 ... More Yes !
@@Haywood-Jablomie More KOTOR yes!
@@taomahNEGEV I even play KOTOR on my phone. lol
Played Divine Divinity in 2002. Such an amazing game and a true rpg.
Arcanum is one of my favorite games ever. Such a nice atmosphere!
Can't argue with most of those (although Deadfire and the whole franchise seems a bit trivial to me). I would add:
NWN1 for the mods and multiplayer (one of the few places you could get an actual role-playing experience to rival tabletop, with communities of hundreds of players in its heyday - harder to find company outside of US timezones now though).
NWN2 for the Mask of the Betrayer expansion, extremely well written.
Morrowind because duh.
Wizardry 8, maybe, because party blobbers were a huge genre completely omitted here, although it does play a little rough.
Fallout: New Vegas possibly, although it's a little redundant with the originals and Morrowind.
Disco Elysium as a modern example of the story-driven/text-based adventure/RPG.
(That's leaving out most action RPGs like Deus Ex, Gothic and Dark Souls, which are must-plays in a broader video game context.)
omg a dragon age origins remaster i would love so much
Origins was amazing. I couldn't believe playing it in on my gaming laptop
Can you make a video about all the reasons WHY you love CRPGs, how you got into them, which ones you recommend for ppl trying to get into them, and the specific aspects of them that you think someone should note and appreciate as they play them? Would love a video like that as someone who has been trying to get into them for awhile... Thanks!
I've made videos on those topics previously, you can search the video tab of the channel page to check some of them out
@@MortismalGaming nice, thank you! 🙏
Wonderful list. Although in Kotor you can choose which side of the force you feed, I just can't be a "Jedi".
Kotor 2 is the better game for a Sith main character
More Tyranny love hurray! This whole list is fantastic
Really enjoy these type of videos in addition to the reviews! Thanks! Besides, recently started pathfinder wotr because of your Vids. Took some time getting used to but currently really enjoy it!
A few older classics that could also feature on a list of must-play RGPs:
1. The Bard's Tale I to III
2. Ultima VI and VII
3. Ultima Underworld I and II
4. Eye of the Beholder 1 and 2
5. The games in the Gold Box series, to differing degrees
All these were really influential in the '80s and '90s, and they have contributed a lot to making the genre what it is today. Some of them seem clunky and difficult to get into now, while some have actually aged reasonably well. The Steam re-release of the Gold Box games comes with some really useful quality-of-life updates (also otherwise available via mods), for example.
Not sure if it's classed as a Gold Box, but it's still AD&D by SSI: I replayed Dragonstrike on the pc a couple of years ago and really got into it. Actually completed the game, which I didn't do on the Amiga way back then. Fun game and would like to see it remade with modern visuals and sound while keeping the gameplay intact. Not likely..
@@heroictesticles6870 : My favorite SSI Gold Box games (finished every one of them back then) weren't the D&D ones ... it was the Buck Rogers ones. As for the OP's list, there was also Starflight (1 and 2), Sentinel Worlds and Hard Nova, and I always had fun with the Sierra Hero's Quest games. And I would love to see a modern day version of the Ultima games (I enjoyed Black Gate/Serpent Island, Pagan, Origin too - those games just have so much story in em and I enjoyed the whole thing).
@@marchuitt I remember Countdown to Doomsday. Agree, that was a good one at the time. I think I had the sequel too but don't remember playing it. Was a nice change of pace going from Longswords +3 to blasters and lasers.
Wizardry 6-8
A few tips for people interested in picking up Planescape Torment:
1. Don't bother with combat. Set the difficulty to 1. Focus on the story alone.
2. Dump all your stats into WIS, INT and CHA in that order. This will unlock some dialogue options vital to the story.
great list, probably the best RPG you can play right now
baldurs gate 3 gonna set the precedent for the future!
Morrowind is a must play, especially on OpenMW. its set in the world of Tamriel which many people know so its already a good jumping in point, but its also just a really good rpg with some of the best worldbuilding in gaming, and it has spellcrafting
I never finshed many crpgs but I did finished Shadowrun : Returns and Dragonfall
Always heard about Baldur's Gate and finally bought it on Steam, I would have gone nowhere if it weren't for Mortym's videos explaining it all. I've got most of these titles on my backlog, just need to find the time to play them now.
Thank you for making this list. I have been playing strategy games for a long time, but have been wanting to expanding into other genres of games.
I've played and enjoyed 10 of these, so I guess I approve of this list😛
Great classics all around, Ive actually played all of those.
I'd add the first Deus Ex to the list. I did like the newer ones too (except maybe Invisible War), but nothing beats the original.
I would also give honorable mention to the Ultima series, though maybe just Ultima 7, as the others haven't aged well at all, even 7 is clunky and aged.
Also Ultima Underworlds, 2 especially, are great too, though focusing more on the dungeon crawling aspect and aside from slight build variety, I don't recall if there were any actual choices to be made.
There are also the Mass Effect trilogy, though maybe less choices and more action.
And Disco Elysium, though I suppose its arguable whether its a CRPG or a point and click adventure with RPG elements.
I agree with all of them, but where's my Disco Elysium at? Also Neverwinter Nights 2 and Expansions? Or Underrail? :( and many many others, because people should play mostly cRPGs and topple this corrupt action based AAA games' market! (Viva la revolution!)
I've heard some Arcanum devs are working on a successor at InXile.
These games are interesting but so time consuming that I might have to take a sabbatical to have time to play them.
Either that or wait until I’m retired and played them all back to back!
I have yet to play Deadfire and am looking forward to the gameplay improvements. Playing through PoE one right now and I must confess that I love its serious, more mature story & multifaceted characters. The lack of an unwavering positive hero protagonist trope is refreshing, and almost all the companions have worthy stories to tell (no, not you Aloth). You said multiple times that Deadfire's main story is meh, which is a shame since the original's is intriguing.
Disco Elysium is my favorite CRPG and game of all time so for sure that one would be on my list, as well.
Arcanum is such a gem. Not that fallout or BG arent but arcanum isnt well known
I'd really want to add Dragons Dogma to this list. It feels like so many later CRPG's took inspiration from it, yet its pawn system and story just need to be experienced.
15:18 - If you can fugure out how to use a hex editor, and find the locations of all the various bits, you can manipulate your abilities and skills, by adjusting your character lever, distributing points, then bringing your level down again-- rinse, repeat (Don't ask me the particulars; it's been decades.). Then you can explore every possible avenue and quest line, to say nothing of being nigh-invincible!
The most frustrating thing I found about Arcanum, is that your character is tied to the saved game, not as something you can insert into any campaign, like BG1 & 2. Arcanum came with tools for players to create their own campaigns, and there's even a sample alternate mini-campaign that comes with the game itself, but there is no way to bring an existing character into a different campaign. There is also no way, as far as I could find, to insert expert/master trainers for the various abilities into a custom campaign. This might have caught on among CRPG players, if it weren't so flawed.
The unique Tolkein-steampunk aspect of the game would have also made for an outstanding MMORPG world. But that's just one more thing that was never meant to be.
I always thought Temple of Elemental Evil was a top effort and did a brilliant job at bringing the system to life.
Baldur's Gate up to Throne, Iceland dale 1and 2 (2 is the technical best of the infinity engine games) and pillars of eternity2
I don't think it counts as a crpg, but I will always have a place in my heart for Divinity: The Dragon Knight Saga.
DOS2 armor system annoys me, but the game is so fun!
Arcanum is so overlooked but still so good
when Rogue Trader comes out, I can't wait to play it. I've already got DOS2, DA series and Kingmaker, I've just started really getting into CRPGs.
After 100%ing this video i can safely say that i almost agree with everything, especially loved that you included arcanum, one if my all time favorite! However, as much as i loved the sw kotor games, i was pretty disappointed in their way of showing the dark side of the force, as it often times seemed too mindless. It felt that choosing the dark path often times meant you had to play a mindless murder psycho where evil deeds are much more nuanced. You could see a glimpse of it in the sith academy but even then it wasnt very deeply flashed out in my opinion. A good example of evil can be found in pathfinder wotr where evil can also be smart and wicked. I would love to hear your opinion about what makes a "good" evil character/story and which games excel at it. Mass effect for example had the most lovable d*ckhead if i remember it correctly. Maybe even make a video about the best evil campaigns or something similar?
Vampire Bloodlines is my favourite game of all times. I just can't get enough of playing a Malkavian in that game. The npcs are the best and most deep I encountered so far. And there are so many great story mods to keep on playing after the main story is finished.
BG 3 whetted my appetite for CRPGs so this is a great list. Thanks
pathfinder in its second installment is by far my favorite game and pillars 2 is a game that no matter how many times I start it I can never finish it, what attracts me the most about crpgs are their d&d mechanics and pillars 2 does not stand out too much in this regard mostly cuz it uses his own thing.
Oddly pleased that I have not played only 6 (counting Fallout and KOTOR as 2 games each) of the listed gems. And as soon as I've finished Deadfire I'll tackle Tyranny!
I would recommend playing POE 1 as I think the story is much better than POE 2. I have over 500 hours in each game 😊
Great vid 👍
You forget never winter nights 2 mask of the betrayer almost as good as planscape torment!! and main campign was good too
Also Icwinddale 1 and 2
Fallout new vegas
Never winter nights 1 es the underdark expansion
All the rest I agree with you
When you know the quality of this channel you just order those few games that you did'nt already knew and played 1000 hours. Well for me that means Fallout 1 & 2, Kotor and Dragon age
I just came here to say one word : Gothic!!!!!
VTMB is superb
Aw, I already played all of them... nothing to discover for me.
Well, at least I it confirms that I can reliably look at your channel to discover games I will probably like.
I love how you describe Arcanum as "a fantasticly flawed masterpiece" and I wholeheartedly agree with that statement.
On the note of Arcanum, I will add that it is one of those game where you have multiple ways to solve the same problem and it's almost impossible to softlock yourself because you didn't do what you were supposed to do. Hell, even murderhoboing everything alows you to finish the game...
i got Divine Divinity for free from a PC magazine way back when i was a kid. It is the first CRPG ive tried and i have fond memories of playing it, never finished it though cause some areas were too spooky for me back then lol. Thanks for reminding me about it, i might try it out again.
Very much surprised that Neverwinter Nights 2 is not on this list!
Great content as always! I don't know how you find the time 😂 I always go with Planescape because if anything can get you through some oldschool game mechanics by pure intrigue alone, it's that game.
If you find yourself so inclined, I would love to see a list (ranked or otherwise) of crpgs that have your favorite/most memorable party members, or ones that have the best interaction systems for party memebers. You tend to mention your feelings on the main plots, missions, and lore but not so much on the party members themselves when you do these kinds of lists.
You mentioned without naming the villain of KotOR 2, and i just wanted to point out that this character is kind of a retake on a Planescape Torment both written by Chris Avelone.
My guy pumping out lists at an insane rate , take some time to relax bro 😁
I liked Divine Divinity, too
It's almost fully voice acted as well
I would love to see any of Microsoft's development teams do something with Arcanum. I played through that entire game thinking about how so much was so close but nothing was really ideal. It definitely deserves to be on a list like this. But my ending thought to playing it was that it really could have been something special - it just wasn't.
I’ll forever be confused by the fact that Deadfire didn’t sell as well as Poe1. It’s a more thought out, feature rich game in basically every way. The only quibble I have is the main quest being a little too “hurry up and save the world” and creating some dissonance with all the cool stuff there is to do. It’s still such a good game. I desperately hope we get Poe 3 at some point.
PoE1 sold well, because it essentially started the wave of modern isometric RPGs. People were really excited over that game.
Deadfire didn't sell, because PoE1 turned out to be a dry, boring slog, which scared off that initial wave of enthusiasm.
I'm so glad to see Arcanum on this list! Totally a must play.
How no-one has taken a shot at following Bloodlines is mind blowing. Whether or not you can land the WoD tie-in, Bloodlines being a cult classic is going to net you a dedicated base of people who will absolutely be interested in checking your game out.
Also, with the Mass Effect definitive edition being a thing, why no Dragon Age 1-3 release?
Fallout was great.
The first one has a great surprise ending.
Loved it. :)
I also loved that the different subplots had different endings based on your success and/or choices. Wonderful game!
@@captainhrothgar4637 I mean it's Obsidian's feature