Originally posted by: aCynic2
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Originally posted by: aCynic2
not Diablo or Morrowwind, if Morrowind is anything like Oblivion.
Morrowind was a good game, loads better than oblivion.
I'm not saying it wasn't, I'm considering getting it since it's still available, but it's not likely to be an RPG, if it's anything like Oblivian. I don't really consider Oblivian an RPG. It's more a sword and sorcery FPS.
Originally posted by: bfdd
I still think the Ultima series should be 1st or second. There was only ONE mmo before UO came out and there was a TON of Ultima RPGs before the MMO. It's the whole reason EQ came out and we even play that genre today.
Originally posted by: alaricljs
What about The Bard's Tale?!? (The original!)
Originally posted by: KeithTalent
WoW is too young to be most influential. Popular does not necessarily equl influential.
KT
Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha
The list is a joke, and a bad one at that. It has very little to do with influence, and is essentially a 'games I liked' list.
No rogue on influential rpgs list = bad. And since Diablo's on that list, can't claim hack n' slash isn't rpg. The game essentially created the underlying game mechanics every last rpg uses (kill stuff, get bigger, kill bigger stuff).
Originally posted by: jwpeer
The problem is, you have to start SOMEWHERE.
And you also have to pick out something that had a HUGE impact. When you pick the ultima -series-, you pick a series of games that influenced MULTIPLE segments of rpg development, not just one small stepping stone. That's what I was trying to do with my list.
Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
You are saying that Rogue created the idea that kill stuff=get bigger??
Originally posted by: jwpeer
I'd rewrite the list like this.
INFLUENTIAL TOP 10
1. Ultima series: Created the western RPG, created a HUGE market that bred large series such as Might and Magic and Wizardry. Also created the MMO market with UO. And heck, it created the huge bomb to end a series in Ascension (which was like 6 years ahead of its time graphically). Some would say Rogue should be before this, but if you've ever had the ultima collection, you can play the precursor ultima game whose name escapes me that was very similar to rogue and developed at the same time. Oh and not to mentioned Ultima Underworld, which is really the precursor to games like Morrowind and Gothic.
2. Final Fantasy. Moreso than Dragon Warrior, started the console RPG craze, and then casual-popularized it with FF VII. As i age, I realize that the gameplay style does not keep me interested anymore, but I can't help but nod to the influential nature.
3. Diablo I and II. Created the action RPG genre, and has it stuck. (Can't wait for HGL).
4. World of Warcraft - Redefined the expectations of an MMO.
5. Morrowind. Popularized the FPS FANTASY rpg game, see: oblivion, Two Worlds, Project Offset. Big budget games that have huge content. Very influential to modern rpg design. People would say Gothic is on the same timeline, but it's not the big hit that Morrowind was.
6. System Shock - led the way for Deus Ex, SS2, now Bioshock. Stalker takes pages from this genre, even a series like Syphon Filter always seemed to me to be influenced by this. Even you could say games like Farcry and Crysis are taking pages from having FPS character development.
7. Everquest - Showed MMOS could make huge money, as well. Still makes tons of dough. Much more profitable than UO, and this led to the big developers getting involved in MMO design (for better or worse.)
8. Baldur's Gate - Showed that a D&D based RPg can be commercially successful and a good game. Icewind Dale, ToEE, Neverwinter Nights, even D&DOnline. Even paved the way for Torment
9. Knights of the Old Republic: Showed that a Western style rpg can do well on a console (Possibly with the right license...we'll see with mass effect).
10. (The Super Future Influence Pick) - Hellgate London - Creates the 3rd 3D action rpg genre. If you don't think there'll be clones of this game, you're crazy. Right now nothing really comes close.
notable missing: Planescape: Torment. Best RPG ever, not influential.
Fallout is the same way. It didn't lead to any real influence on the rest of the genre, outside of the devs who worked on it doing Arcanum, and the terribly flawed Lionheart.
Neverwinter Nights was the first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) to display graphics, and ran from 1991 to 1997 on AOL (then called Quantum Computer Services). The genre had previously been pioneered by the all-text Islands of Kesmai series created by Kelton Flinn at Kesmai.
In addition to being the first graphics-based MMORPG, the game also marked the first appearance of online Clans and Player versus player (pvp) combat in multiplayer RPGs.
Neverwinter Nights was followed by a series of progressively more successful graphical MMORPG's, including Shadow of Yserbius (1992-96), Ultima Online (1997-Present) and Everquest (1999-Present). By 2000 the category was well-established and multiple titles began to appear in North America and in Asia.
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The game originally cost USD$6.00 per hour to play. Some users bragged about monthly game bills of $500 or more. As the years progressed, Internet connection costs dropped, AOL and NWN membership grew, the servers became faster and the hourly player charge declined. As a result of these upgrades, the capacity of each server grew from 50 players in 1991 to 500 players by 1995.[2] Ultimately the game became a free part of the AOL subscriber service.
Near the end of its run in 1997 the game had 115,000 players and typically hosted 2,000 adventurers during prime evening hours, a 4000% increase over 1991.[3]
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...The iterations of these and many other spells made NWN PvP arguably the most skill-based strategic PvP engine ever created in the online world to this day.
Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
Are there really no former oNWN players on the board?
Originally posted by: aCynic2
Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
Are there really no former oNWN players on the board?
I played it, but I hated the online version, I hated the rest system, yadda, yadda, yadda. As good an upgrade it was to the infinity engine, it sucked for persistent world. It was from that and hearing other people's horror stories, I decided MMORPGs are not for me.
Co-op is good, MMORPG no!
Posted By: Canai
I agree with all that except for Fallout. Fallout was the first RPG where you could go anywhere and do anything (well, maybe Fallout 2 fits the bill more), and it really is one of the most influential games (just look at all the crazy fanbois for Fallout 3) I think it would have been more influential if Black Isle hadn't gone under.
Originally posted by: Tizyler
Crono Trigger?