Ranking The 40 CRPGs I've Reviewed

Nice review, didn't know about a few games, Shadowrun and Expeditions Rome look promising.

Unfortunately for me DA:O was ruined by a game breaking bug and I just wasn't able to get back into it.

Unpopular opinion too, but I'm glad the KOTOR remake may have fell through because I believe they were going to drop the Crpg format. Now thanks to Baldur's Gate 3 becoming so huge, hopefully any future remake plans will be done as a CRPG.

Lionheart Legacy of the Crusader! I have been looking for what that game was called for years. I remember playing it when I was young but could never remember the name. I'm going to subscribe to you for this reason alone. I was beginning to think I had made this game up. 🤣

Curious where Baldurs Gate 3 falls on this list now that it is out.

Phantom Doctrine?! I love the spy setting in the 80s!

Such a low placement for Dragon Age Origins breaks my heart. It has always been my favorite game.

WHERE IS BG3 ? ^^

I'm actually surprised you didn't even mention Solasta: Crown of the Magister ... check it out

One of the things I love about Pillars that isn't talked about much is the attribute system. Instead of strength you have power, which gives global damage to anyone. Intelligence increases AoE range, etc. It just felt like every attribute could work on almost any character.

Icewind Dale II better than Fallout New Vegas?!!

I believe we love our first games way more. For me it was fallout 2, icewind dale 2, bg have sentimental and historical value over any new ones. Thank you for the video, lots of happy memories.

Where would you put BG3 on this one?

"There's just a lot of cool stuff going on, except the main story, which is a problem when it's your main draw" I just had to comment on this because, I'm not sure I understand why the story is in your opinion supposed to be the main draw.

What I love about lists like this is the pleasure of seeing the joy of others in games you have yourself loved, as well as one or another game you might have missed. I know there are a few still to be found and played!
Currently, I am being completely vanilla - playing through BG 1 and 2 EE before getting into BG 3.

Personally like:
*The OG infinity games of course! Except for the completely nuts ability to plunder.
*Pillars (still to finish 1, yet to do 2, Eora is Critical Role level worldbuilding with some of the same voice actors). POE 1 with its expansions is excellent.
*Tyranny
*Planescape: Torment
*Pathfinder 1 is interesting, although for me the kingdom management kills the CRPG. You can see how much more complex the rules are to D&D5E, overwhelming choice sometimes.
*Solasta is bought but not played yet, looks good.
*Jade Empire - have to fire that up at some point - the 5 elements system was cool.
*The Shadowrun setting, but not the games as much
*Fallout is a mixed bag - like the look of Encased.
*Yet to get fully into the Divinity Universe, but given it is the solid legacy of Larian...
*TOEE was actually pretty cool and huge scape Greyhawk

But for every good CRPG there are tens of average ones, and a few terrible ones, including quite a few under D&D license that are plain abandonware (Tales of the Sword Coast for example).

Thanks for reminding me about Black Geyser - if I get time for it - had fallen off my list.

Apropos Neverwinter as a platform - it is very interesting to see quite a few people wanting to see BG3 be opened up to allow worldbuilding for 5E.

The fact that Icewind Dale is the lowest cRPG from the golden age in this list and it is still not close to last... Says a lot about those RPGs. Love this list. Btw where would BG3 rank on this list for you? Top 5 for sure but where?

No disagreements here. Wonder where you will be putting Baldurs Gate 3 if / when you update this list in the future.

Do you consider games like Ultima and the Spiderweb Software titles as CRPGs? Didn't see them in this list but would love to hear your thoughts on those

Curious where BG3 would rank on here now

I really hope some day you'll check some older stuff like Ultima Underworld, the OG that made Carmack to make his own engine and games...