EMGN's Ben: "A few weeks ago I was stuck for something to play, after all, game releases over the last few months have been scattered to say the least (at least for the 360). So I went through my old games to try and find something that I hadn’t played in a while, and my eyes landed on Fable 2. Fable 2 was a great game, with its corruption and reputation system, it seemed that you couldn’t do anything greedy or selfish without feeling the repercussions. I truly enjoyed this game and would recommend it to anyone who is only a newly discovered gamer or maybe just wanted something fun. But when I put it into the disk tray I realized something, something so horrible that I almost slapped myself in the face (but I didn’t, that would hurt). I had committed the blackest sin when it comes to RPGs, playing the core storyline of a game and then shelving it.
I had done barely anything outside of the quest to thwart Lucien. I hadn’t unlocked any of the Demon Doors, I hadn’t bought any of the large buildings such as the Cemetery Mansion or Brightwood Tower, and I hadn’t, even once, ran around in my underwear slaying bandits. This was a shock to me, but also a welcome surprise, as I now had several hours of fresh content to play and spent the next week re-absorbing the beautiful landscapes of pre-revolutionary Albion.
This got me thinking a bit, how many RPGs suffer the same problem?"
Replaying Skyrim after 13 years is a reminder of the progress made in western RPGs over the last decade, but also what's been lost.
RPGs are often huge, sprawling endeavours. With limited playtime, we have to choose wisely, so here's the best western RPGs available today.
"I started playing games yesterday" the List... Meh!
How about a few RPGs that deserve some love instead?
1 - Alpha Protocol - Now on GOG
2 - else Heart.Break()
3 - Shadowrun Trilogy
4 - Wasteland 2
5 - UnderRail
6 - Tyranny
7 - Torment: Tides of Numenera
And for a bonus game that flew under the radar:
8 - Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
Not only glorious jank, but the idea that the story can completely change depending on what you do, or say, or side with, makes it one of the most forward thinking games ever. The amount of story permutation is the equivalent of a Hitman level but in Story Form. And it wasn't just that the story changed, no, it was that you met completely new characters, or missed them, depending on your choices. Made Mass Effect feel static in comparison.
Alpha Protocol was absolutely glorious, indeed. And it was, and still is, more Next Gen than most anything out there these days. In this regard at least.
Pity.
A new Partner Spotlight Sale is now live on the Switch eShop, including Skyrim, lowest price ever for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and more.
After reading this, I wonder if this person ever played a morrowind game. An yes it truly reads like he just wants to see some dragons and then shelf the game. That... is a personal problem. I play elder scroll game for two things, the story of course and also the ton of other short stories/adventures random npc's have for me to explore. You can't help but get side tracked while in the middle of the main campaign. And never has the wide assortment of weapons and armor which can prove essential to beating the game been soley available to you unless you explore beyond the main quest. A elder scroll gamer would know as much welcome to the game new guy. You will be shocked when you haven't even started the campaign beyond 20 minutes after playing for 10+ hours.
From morrowind to fallout Vegas. The first thing I personally do in these open world games is pick a direction and go see the virtual world I have to play with. Then, I barely start the campaign to only be thrown off course again.