The Best Single Player PC RPG Games of the Last 10-ish Years

[Ahhzz]

I'd choose Grim Dawn over D3 all day, I'm afraid.... But, that's why we have such variety available

 

[Fizban]

I think I'd pick POE over Grim Dawn, but I do definitely concur that I'd pick Grim Dawn over D3.

D2 was a great game, D3 just wasn't, and still isn't. It's better than it was at launch, but it's still not the king of the genre that D2 was at during its prime.

 

[Ahhzz]

I think I'd pick POE over Grim Dawn, but I do definitely concur that I'd pick Grim Dawn over D3.

D2 was a great game, D3 just wasn't, and still isn't. It's better than it was at launch, but it's still not the king of the genre that D2 was at during its prime.

I'm a Grim Dawn over PoE, but that may be because I've played PoE for so long, and Grim Dawn is newer heheh. I think we can definitely agree that we'd select both over D3

 

[dirtyferret]

...Which begs the question - why put DS3 in and not the first Dark Souls which is the far superior title? You put ME2 instead of ME3...

So Dark Souls was one of the harder choices among the three. DS3 made the top list for techradar, gameradar, and PC gamer while DS1 made the list for PC Gamer also as well as PC GamesN. I also took into account user reviews on metacritic for the games & expansions and DS3 seemed to get the nod by a hair.

no borderlands in that list? Strange.

It was on the FPS list and did OK in results (as was Bioshock as someone else asked about it)
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-years-post-crysis.253900/page-5#post-4018210

 

[mouacyk]

Kingdom Come Deliverance

 

[dirtyferret]

Neverwinter Nights 2...A game released in 2006, seriously?

Storm of Zehir came out in 2008 and Mysteries of Westgate in 2009 and those are just two of its many expansions (so timeline wise it makes the list). It's also made several top RPG lists and sells well on GoG to this day. I'm slightly surprised you like DA but don't like NW2 since they are somewhat similar and only separated by three years. NW2 is also one of the few good single player D&D games released within the last few years and it would be weird to have a PC RPG list without a D&D game.

 

[Rahnak]

OS 2 is still a very Indie feeling game. I like the game, I am not saying it is bad - but it has flaws I'd consider unacceptable in a game that had a larger budget.

Its tooltip damage for numerous skills is just flat out wrong. Slowdown Arrow and Knockdown Arrow for example show absolute bogus damage, to get your real damage you have to take what is displayed and divide by your warfare bonus. Similarly the infusion skills show what benefit you'd get if you had 0 in summoning rather than what you get with your actual summoning.

If you need 3 pyro to memorize a spell and you have three, and remove a piece of gear that gave +1, and replace it with a different piece of gear that also gives +1, it un-memorizes spells that required 3 pyro.

Its inventory management is terrible.

There's just a lot of small gripes with the game that I am happy to tolerate because the game has a 2-3 million dollar budget, but that I'd consider completely unacceptable if it had a proper AAA budget.

Gotta disagree with you on that one. DOS2 feels very much like an AAA title to me. Now sure, you can nitpick here and there, but you can do that for pretty much every AAA title out there. The sheer attention to detail to the world of DOS2 is for me, what makes it AAA. If you're willing to look for it and experiment, you'll find little details everywhere.

From your list, I'd say only the tooltips are a bummer, although it didn't really bother me. Inventory was completely fine for me. I mean, if you want bad inventory management in AAA games look no further than Skyrim. Needs a mod just for that.

 

[Fizban]

The inventory management in D: OS 2 is much worse than Skyrim IMO for one key reason. You have a party. Not being able to multi-select multiple items at once and send them all to a specific character at once is a major pain.

D: OS 2 is a good game, but it's not even got 1/10th of the budget of the games that are actually AAA. AAA isn't measurement of quality, it's a measurement of budget. Larian did a great job with the budget they had, but they still made due with a tiny budget, and it shows in a lot of ways. Higher budget games tend to have a lot more cutscenes, more unique voice-actors and character models, they typically have more time and money spent on QA and balance-testing, etc..

D: OS 2's attribute system is quite bad. There's only one proper way to spec a character. Max int, finesse, or strength, then raise wits. Con is garbage. Initiative is poorly designed. There's a long list of gripes with the game that I feel a larger budget could have solved. None of these things make it a bad game, I've played it for 700+ hours, but I absolutely think the game could have been greatly improved with a larger budget.

 

[Vayra86]

Diablo III either shouldn't be in the list, or Path of Exile should be.

I'd be fine with neither being listed as ARPG's aren't really "RPG's" in the technical sense, but of the two I'd definitely consider Path of Exile to be the superior ARPG.



Terrible mindset. Games don't need to be better than predecessors to be good.

Almost no game ever has been better than Morrowind, it doesn't make 99.9% of games trash.



OS 2 is still a very Indie feeling game. I like the game, I am not saying it is bad - but it has flaws I'd consider unacceptable in a game that had a larger budget.

Its tooltip damage for numerous skills is just flat out wrong. Slowdown Arrow and Knockdown Arrow for example show absolute bogus damage, to get your real damage you have to take what is displayed and divide by your warfare bonus. Similarly the infusion skills show what benefit you'd get if you had 0 in summoning rather than what you get with your actual summoning.

If you need 3 pyro to memorize a spell and you have three, and remove a piece of gear that gave +1, and replace it with a different piece of gear that also gives +1, it un-memorizes spells that required 3 pyro.

Its inventory management is terrible.

There's just a lot of small gripes with the game that I am happy to tolerate because the game has a 2-3 million dollar budget, but that I'd consider completely unacceptable if it had a proper AAA budget.

Funny because some of these things aren't actually 'gripes'. They are mechanics. The fact that spells get unmemorized for example is a gameplay mechanic as you can drain stats and as a result of that, clear out somebody's arsenal. You can also equip different gear with different skill bonuses that would eliminate your memorization. And changing gear obviously means there is a moment where your score falls, need to take something off before you can put something new on...

Tooltip damage being wrong, yes. But you seem to forget that all damage is influenced by resistances as well, so tooltip damage has very little value in the greater scheme of things. It will never display correct numbers, this also ties into the freedom aspect; it just shows the base damage and again, skill points are also flexible and can change in combat. I get your point here though, but the actual 'gripe' underneath I deem to be very limited. Definitely a 'nice to have' but nothing more than that. And, there are actually numerous triple A games that are even worse in their tooltip info up to the point of simply not saying anything other than 'Strike with your sword, it may hurt a bit'.

Inventory management was horrible in OS1, I think OS2 improved quite a lot. Perfect, no... but I do still think it does better than many other complex RPGs, that often present metric tons of items to either take or drop from your bags with no real rhyme or reason to it. In OS2 you can feel pretty confident about keeping or not keeping stuff and not missing out.

I think you need to go back and play a game like Baldur's Gate for a few hours, so you get an impression what 'AAA' RPGs did in their glory days. It was far worse than this. Or better yet try other recent AAA RPGs, even The Witcher has many of the gripes you mention here, including faulty damage display, lacking tooltips and 'hidden' stats and mechanics.

@FordGT90Concept you managed to really surprise me once again with your preferences But I do think OS2 is your cup of tea, just don't play it on normal difficulty, I'm sure you can straight up jump into a harder one. And... if you like difficulty, I cannot really understand why Dark Souls isn't on your bucket list?

 

[Partaypooper]

Ya know, as generic as it may have been, I really enjoyed Kingdom of Armalur: Reckoning. It really scratched my itch for another Fable-like game

Put quite a few hours in it when it first came out and still go back and visit it to this day

 

[Ahhzz]

Ya know, as generic as it may have been, I really enjoyed Kingdom of Armalur: Reckoning. It really scratched my itch for another Fable-like game

Put quite a few hours in it when it first came out and still go back and visit it to this day

Oh, I loved it until multiple bugs caused me to start screaming at the screen.... Still can't believe no one was able to manage community patches for the silly thing...
I was in the beta for the newest Fable before it died.... SO ticked off we didn't even get going.

 

[Partaypooper]

Man I wish that was case, I would love the for it get the community treatment like the ES games. The only bug I really hated was the 4k bug where it broke a lot the quest screens and didn't display any of the text. Made some of the quests kinda difficult

Making me want to go back and play again

 

[Fizban]

Funny because some of these things aren't actually 'gripes'. They are mechanics. The fact that spells get unmemorized for example is a gameplay mechanic as you can drain stats and as a result of that, clear out somebody's arsenal. You can also equip different gear with different skill bonuses that would eliminate your memorization. And changing gear obviously means there is a moment where your score falls, need to take something off before you can put something new on...

If you replace one piece of gear, with another that also satisfies the spells requirements, it shouldn't be unmemorized. I'm not talking about removing your helmet, and then putting another one on. I'm talking about grabbing one and directly replacing the other with it. It's very simple to check for memorization requirements after the swap rather than checking during the brief moment that you technically have no helmet equipped.

As for Baldurs Gate, etc. I've played all of those. They had QOL issues too, but over time the expected standards in many regards have increased.

Hidden stats are also fine. I have more issue with a game that pretends to be transparent and lies to you than one that just outrights hides information. Many games don't tell you what damage a spell does - I'm cool with that. I'm less cool with a game telling me that an attack does 772 - 885 damage when it really does 454-521.

And no, I'm not forgetting resistances. They don't matter in this context. The skills I named do physical damage, there is no physical resistance in the game, it isn't a thing.

Witcher 3 did lots of things wrong, but they were mostly gameplay and combat-related. In that game that didn't matter that much as what made the game great was never its combat. D: OS 2 on the other hand is mostly a standout game due to its combat. Its story isn't fantastic IMO, D: OS 2 is a great game because of the creativity its combat system allows. If the combat system is the primary thing going for a game it makes sense to me to more harshly judge its combat system. ie. I think Witcher 3 is better than Dark Sous 3. That said, I think Dark Souls 3 has significantly better combat mechanics.

Witcher 3 isn't great because of its combat, it's great in spite of it, as such I pay less attention to the faults of its combat system than I do when critiquing games that shine as a result of their combat.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Witcher 3 isn't great because of its combat, it's great in spite of it,

Indeed! The story and lore and interwoven quests and rich world are what make the game great, despite the less than satisfying combat.

 

[Vayra86]

If you replace one piece of gear, with another that also satisfies the spells requirements, it shouldn't be unmemorized. I'm not talking about removing your helmet, and then putting another one on. I'm talking about grabbing one and directly replacing the other with it. It's very simple to check for memorization requirements after the swap rather than checking during the brief moment that you technically have no helmet equipped.

As for Baldurs Gate, etc. I've played all of those. They had QOL issues too, but over time the expected standards in many regards have increased.

Hidden stats are also fine. I have more issue with a game that pretends to be transparent and lies to you than one that just outrights hides information. Many games don't tell you what damage a spell does - I'm cool with that. I'm less cool with a game telling me that an attack does 772 - 885 damage when it really does 454-521.

And no, I'm not forgetting resistances. They don't matter in this context. The skills I named do physical damage, there is no physical resistance in the game, it isn't a thing.

Witcher 3 did lots of things wrong, but they were mostly gameplay and combat-related. In that game that didn't matter that much as what made the game great was never its combat. D: OS 2 on the other hand is mostly a standout game due to its combat. Its story isn't fantastic IMO, D: OS 2 is a great game because of the creativity its combat system allows. If the combat system is the primary thing going for a game it makes sense to me to more harshly judge its combat system. ie. I think Witcher 3 is better than Dark Sous 3. That said, I think Dark Souls 3 has significantly better combat mechanics.

Witcher 3 isn't great because of its combat, it's great in spite of it, as such I pay less attention to the faults of its combat system than I do when critiquing games that shine as a result of their combat.

I can get into that. But one more example for tooltips: Diablo 3. 95% of the game is about damage and the best youll get is ultra vague percentages in tooltips...

Speaking of which... this one actually does apply too and should be in place of D3.... and just now got its 2nd expansion too

GRIM DAWN

https://twitter.com/x/status/1110965898704125952

 

[biffzinker]

Ya know, as generic as it may have been, I really enjoyed Kingdom of Armalur: Reckoning. It really scratched my itch for another Fable-like game

Put quite a few hours in it when it first came out and still go back and visit it to this day

Sounds familiar, this game? I have wanted to go back for a second play through.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Sounds familiar, this game? I have wanted to go back for a second play through.
View attachment 119742
View attachment 119744

Ok, I’m going to have to try this out. I admit I never tried it.

 

[Ahhzz]

Ok, I’m going to have to try this out. I admit I never tried it.

Gotta warn you, there may be some bugs that jump all over your play. Best recommendation is save early, save often If you can get past them, or get around without hitting any serious ones, I really enjoyed the game

 

[biffzinker]

Gotta warn you, there may be some bugs that jump all over your play. Best recommendation is save early, save often If you can get past them, or get around without hitting any serious ones, I really enjoyed the game

Have to say for me I don't remember running into any bugs or glitches. Maybe I did though and I'm not remembering. Game is from 2011 so it's been awhile.

 

[TheOne]

despite the less than satisfying combat.

Quen, fast strike, fast strike, dodge, fast strike, fast strike, dodge, repeat.

 

[Vayra86]

Ok, I’m going to have to try this out. I admit I never tried it.

Go into it thinking you are playing an MMO with no friends Its grindy, but has nice combat and big open maps to explore.

Quen, fast strike, fast strike, dodge, fast strike, fast strike, dodge, repeat.

Yeah, for me it was mostly Quen abuse too. Probably the coolest skill the game has.

 

[Fizban]

I liked Kingdoms of Amalur. I don't recall it being particularly buggy either. Certainly much less buggy than Bethesda's games.

 

[moproblems99]

I liked Kingdoms of Amalur. I don't recall it being particularly buggy either. Certainly much less buggy than Bethesda's games.

It has been a while since I played it but if I recall, it started out slow and then I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, for me it was mostly Quen abuse too. Probably the coolest skill the game has.

Quen? What was that?

*I didn't use that shiedly thing that made you nearly invincible. Really. I didn't.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Quen was an absolute must on the hardest difficulty but it also felt like cheat mode to use.


Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning is a fantastic traditional RPG game. Beat it twice a long time ago. Very long with a lot of variety. I like their twist on the portrayal of elves.

 

[vectoravtech]

This steam game looks good, HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed too bad itd not on itch.io