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

[Vayra86]

I didn't say every games goal was photorealism. That's a strawman argument. I said it was specifically in those two games. Nothing about them is intentionally cartoony.

Neither game is about photorealism. The Witcher gives you all sorts of fantasy creatures and spells. Far Cry 5 also uses 'magical' properties to enhance the experience. They both do not resemble realism at all, they convey an artistic direction that is either helped by, or limited by the engine, and often both. In Far Cry New Dawn you can see that taken to extremes but really, Far Cry 5 also contains many utterly goofy things and realistic it sure as hell is not. The engine is also not very good at weather and lighting indoors, and it barely has any physics applied on its environment. The Witcher 3 takes weather influences to a whole other level and uses it well to create the atmosphere the game is known for. Far Cry has none of that. 90% of the time is sunshine and when it rains, its convincingly unimpressive. I'd go as far as to say that even Skyrim nails the weather effects and outdoor feel better.

From a technical point of view The Witcher 3 did some novel things, or at least stacked several technologies to great effect. Far Cry's engine is same old, reskinned and upscaled content. We've seen it before and its not impressive apart from being good at giving us open worlds.

I mean...

this - not a single tree looks the same, they bend along the wind direction and the physics are just right, notice the flag as well. Then, take note of the wild variety of different assets/objects you see here and the reflection quality, but also the definition that is still there in the sky.

Or this - 109781001 100% similar trees casting blurry reflections over a low quality water surface (because of LOD) with no influence from wind anywhere (odd.. still water should cast sharper reflections, right?). Its absolutely sterile and the long distance view is nothing more than a silhouette because apparently, sunset means fog. Far Cry is given way too much credit for its graphics. We're still looking at Far Cry 3 in that sense, with some minor tweaks.

Heck, even Ubisoft knows it can do much better than this... here's Wildlands on AnvilNext, hi draw distance, bye fog -note how the valleys are filled with a haze as well.

 

[kurosagi01]

Mass Effect 2 or Dark Souls for me, both thoroughly enjoyed and struggled to stop playing.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Neither game is about photorealism. The Witcher gives you all sorts of fantasy creatures and spells. Far Cry 5 also uses 'magical' properties to enhance the experience. They both do not resemble realism at all, they convey an artistic direction that is either helped by, or limited by the engine, and often both. In Far Cry New Dawn you can see that taken to extremes but really, Far Cry 5 also contains many utterly goofy things and realistic it sure as hell is not. The engine is also not very good at weather and lighting indoors, and it barely has any physics applied on its environment. The Witcher 3 takes weather influences to a whole other level and uses it well to create the atmosphere the game is known for. Far Cry has none of that. 90% of the time is sunshine and when it rains, its convincingly unimpressive. I'd go as far as to say that even Skyrim nails the weather effects and outdoor feel better.

From a technical point of view The Witcher 3 did some novel things, or at least stacked several technologies to great effect. Far Cry's engine is same old, reskinned and upscaled content. We've seen it before and its not impressive apart from being good at giving us open worlds.

I mean...

this - not a single tree looks the same, they bend along the wind direction and the physics are just right, notice the flag as well. Then, take note of the wild variety of different assets/objects you see here and the reflection quality, but also the definition that is still there in the sky.

Or this - 109781001 100% similar trees casting blurry reflections over a low quality water surface (because of LOD) with no influence from wind anywhere (odd.. still water should cast sharper reflections, right?). Its absolutely sterile and the long distance view is nothing more than a silhouette because apparently, sunset means fog. Far Cry is given way too much credit for its graphics. We're still looking at Far Cry 3 in that sense, with some minor tweaks.

Heck, even Ubisoft knows it can do much better than this... here's Wildlands on AnvilNext, hi draw distance, bye fog.

View attachment 119985

To me it seems like one person prefers x game and one y, so you defend the game you prefer more. imo they both look great, who cares if it's not photo realistic

 

[Vayra86]

To me it seems like one person prefers x game and one y, so you defend the game you prefer more. imo they both look great, who cares if it's not photo realistic

I'm trying to move away from preference and into engines and technologies used, and how they work to improve the overall look&feel. I totally get how it works though; once you're immersed in a game its easy to think it looks better than everything else. Its how our mind works. We really don't need super advanced graphics to get the right impression; our brain is great at filling in the blanks. If you go back to the early days we played hideous looking games where 'grass' was a flat surface with a green color and we knew it was grass, it felt like we walked over it because that is what the game intended it to be.

I think putting those screens side by side makes it very clear that there is a quality difference between all three, and I'd still say the first screenshot is by far the most impressive. It has so many things going on, and while both other screens are also largely static in the game itself, (the Far Cry sunset, best you'll get is some ripple moving in the water there) the Witcher has most of the image in motion because of extensive cloth and vegetation physics.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I'm trying to move away from preference and into engines and technologies used, and how they work to improve the overall look&feel.

So i guess the story or anything does not matter then, just how it looks and feels?

 

[Vayra86]

So i guess the story or anything does not matter then, just how it looks and feels?

Huh? No, the discussion was on graphics and whether one or the other looks better, or is better at approaching photorealism. My point is that not a single engine really gets photorealism right, but they do have an artistic direction - and that art is generally closely tied to the rest of the game. Of course story / lore / world building matters. A good engine is one that can support that illusion in the best possible way. For me personally, I don't see how Far Cry's engine does a great job at that, it feels a bit easy and cheap in some ways, its limited (and reduced! Far Cry 2 had better fire simulation, it even got influenced by wind!) physics and interaction is pretty painful sometimes and detracts from the game. An engine is also more than just graphics, it directly influences the gameplay too.

An example. Compare the horse riding of TW3 with driving cars in Far Cry. Geralt's horse handily avoids all those branches and trees as you gallop through the forest and stops you when you're about to jump off a cliff or crash into a wall. In Far Cry, they had to add an autopilot to make it somewhat feasible and not feel like you've had a bottle of wodka behind the wheel. And note: they only implemented that in the game after people complained about it. You tell me how it helps immersion to have a Tesla Autopilot feature in a crappy old Jeep. Its a cheap solution for an engine-related problem.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Huh? No, the discussion was on graphics and whether one or the other looks better, or is better at approaching photorealism. My point is that not a single engine really gets photorealism right, but they do have an artistic direction - and that art is generally closely tied to the rest of the game. Of course story / lore / world building matters. A good engine is one that can support that illusion in the best possible way. For me personally, I don't see how Far Cry's engine does a great job at that, it feels a bit easy and cheap in some ways, its limited (and reduced! Far Cry 2 had better fire simulation, it even got influenced by wind!) physics and interaction is pretty painful sometimes and detracts from the game. An engine is also more than just graphics, it directly influences the gameplay too.

An example. Compare the horse riding of TW3 with driving cars in Far Cry. Geralt's horse handily avoids all those branches and trees as you gallop through the forest and stops you when you're about to jump off a cliff or crash into a wall. In Far Cry, they had to add an autopilot to make it somewhat feasible and not feel like you've had a bottle of wodka behind the wheel. And note: they only implemented that in the game after people complained about it. You tell me how it helps immersion to have a Tesla Autopilot feature in a crappy old Jeep. Its a cheap solution for an engine-related problem.

I get it, you prefer the witcher 3 over far cry 5. Also this thread was about the best RPG game, not about the witcher 3 over far cry 5

 

[Vayra86]

It's a great game, but you seem to be overestimating its graphics. It's four years newer than Skyrim, and five years newer than New Vegas. Comparing its graphics to theirs is obviously going to look favorably upon it. Comparing it to more recent games like Far Cry 5 however shows how much graphics have come in the past four years since its release. It's not even close to the best looking game out. It was at launch, and Cyberpunk 2077 likely will be when it launches, but four years is a long time to think graphical fidelity hasn't improved as a whole across the entire industry. In another four years the games of today will look noticeably dated as well.

I don't even find it close. Far Cry 5 looks night and day superior to Witcher 3 IMO.

I get it, you prefer the witcher 3 over far cry 5. Also this thread was about the best RPG game, not about the witcher 3 over far cry 5

Scroll back a page, I didn't bring it up... I'm just shooting holes in the theory that Far Cry 5 somehow 'came a long way' from TW3's quality level. There is just no possible way you can maintain that, it has nothing to do with preference. Technically you're comparing an engine that is forked from CryEngine 1 and currently far behind the actual CryEngine in development, it is handicapped for its mandatory console ports since Far Cry 2/3 and has iterated from there. CDPR produced theirs in-house specifically for TW3 and its far more recent, and as I pointed out (and tried to make visible here, again its not a pissing contest but a way to take note of things), has far more advanced weather and physics systems. And then I haven't even touched on how it is also much better at doing lots of NPCs, take a stroll through Novigrad. In Far Cry 5 the largest crowds you'll get are in cutscenes or as the same inanimate masses we've seen since Assassin's Creed 1.

You either want to see that or you don't, and your preference is your own, but objectively saying FC5 'looks better'... I'd say look again.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Scroll back a page, I didn't bring it up... I'm just shooting holes in the theory that Far Cry 5 somehow 'came a long way' from TW3's quality level. There is just no possible way you can maintain that, it has nothing to do with preference. Technically you're comparing an engine that is forked from CryEngine 1 and currently far behind the actual CryEngine in development, it is handicapped for its mandatory console ports since Far Cry 2/3 and has iterated from there. CDPR produced theirs in-house specifically for TW3 and its far more recent, and as I pointed out (and tried to make visible here, again its not a pissing contest but a way to take note of things), has far more advanced weather and physics systems. And then I haven't even touched on how it is also much better at doing lots of NPCs, take a stroll through Novigrad. In Far Cry 5 the largest crowds you'll get are in cutscenes or as the same inanimate masses we've seen since Assassin's Creed 1.

You either want to see that or you don't, and your preference is your own, but objectively saying FC5 'looks better'... I'd say look again.

I never said far cry 5 looks better, you are the one for the last few posts saying it does not. I said far cry 5 looks good. I have not even played TW3 so am completely ambivalent about it.
You can stop defending TW3, if in your onion you think it is better, I think you have got your point across now.

 

[rtwjunkie]

So i guess the story or anything does not matter then, just how it looks and feels?

No, no, no. What he is saying in more depth is what I did. That the graphics is as much a player in setting the game’s FEEL and atmosphere as the writing, pacing and mechanics. The graphics are literally suited to each game in setting the mood.

To compare different games is just not the point. TW3 for instance would not feel the same way if it had something as realistic as say the picture in the new Maxon R20 demo. All games convey their world commensurate with their game’s artistic direction and setting.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

No, no, no. What he is saying in more depth is what I did. That the graphics is as much a player in setting the game’s FEEL and atmosphere as the writing, pacing and mechanics. The graphics are literally suited to each game in setting the mood.

To compare different games is just not the point. TW3 for instance would not feel the same way if it had something as realistic as say the picture in the new Maxon R20 demo. All games convey their world commensurate with their game’s artistic direction and setting.

I understand that. I also understand He prefers TW3 over Far Cry 5.

 

[Apocalypsee]

I don't know why this thread has veered about graphics now, the thread about best RPG in recent years. I mentioned graphics because it just one of the criteria of why I chose Witcher 3 as the best. Like rtwjunkie said I can't imagine playing Witcher 3 with another graphics engine (heck if its about graphics I can't even play Metro2033 Redux because the graphics engine change from the original). And thanks vayra86 for pointing what Witcher 3 graphics strength.

 

[AsRock]

I'm trying to move away from preference and into engines and technologies used, and how they work to improve the overall look&feel. I totally get how it works though; once you're immersed in a game its easy to think it looks better than everything else. Its how our mind works. We really don't need super advanced graphics to get the right impression; our brain is great at filling in the blanks. If you go back to the early days we played hideous looking games where 'grass' was a flat surface with a green color and we knew it was grass, it felt like we walked over it because that is what the game intended it to be.

I think putting those screens side by side makes it very clear that there is a quality difference between all three, and I'd still say the first screenshot is by far the most impressive. It has so many things going on, and while both other screens are also largely static in the game itself, (the Far Cry sunset, best you'll get is some ripple moving in the water there) the Witcher has most of the image in motion because of extensive cloth and vegetation physics.

Needed imagination back then and i believe people are not training their brains to have it these days. Like what kind of imagination was need before like with the Atari games or even those hand held controlers that took a shit load of batteries and plugged right in to the TV.

Or not even , https://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/sinclair-zx-spectrum/gunship

People are just getting more lazy. they want every thing done for them.

 

[Vario]

Needed imagination back then and i believe people are not training their brains to have it these days. Like what kind of imagination was need before like with the Atari games or even those hand held controlers that took a shit load of batteries and plugged right in to the TV.

Or not even , https://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/sinclair-zx-spectrum/gunship

People are just getting more lazy. they want every thing done for them.

Somehow my mind made Betrayal at Krondor look amazing and Thief the Dark Project photorealistic. Then years later, I look at it and it is brutally ugly. The ravages of time.

 

[AsRock]

Somehow my mind made Betrayal at Krondor look amazing and Thief the Dark Project photorealistic. Then years later, I look at it and it is brutally ugly. The ravages of time.

True but that's new expectations, and not always for the better. I could say the same about the original Ghost Recon and look how UBI messed that up so many times now, Wildlands is alright but still not the GR and all UBI had to do was to graphically enhance the graphics so yes it's not always the user and just wants some thing new. But these company's keep failing mostly due to their wanting to sell a new game ever year.

Far Cry is a good example to it's been getting their ( not sure about the last ) but they will never give the options available that were in GR in these newer games.

So yeah it's not always the user but we are the ones expecting better, 1/2 dozen the user and 1/2 dozen of the company at fault ?. One thing for sure UBI know what we want but we will never get it as it's not good for sales later as they are stuck thinking in the box and not like other company's like Frontier Developments with games like Elite Dangerous.

But then their is always some one unhappy. I have known people hate NWN1 and loved NWN2 and still today think they are crazy. And people think i am crazy for enjoying TW1 ( same game engine as NWN1 ) way more than TW2, well as long as you got the blood patch .

 

[metalfiber]

https://www.gamesdatabase.org/game/sinclair-zx-spectrum/gunship

Thanks for the link AsRock. My favorite system of old was the Coleco Vision. Didn't have to wait on dad to take me to Aladdin's Castle to get to play a real arcade game any longer. I even had the Atari 2600 adapter for it. The down fall of that system was the power adapters. I had to get a new one about every 6 months and after so many years they quit making them or i would still have it.

Y'all got me messed up. I was here for something else on page 1 and when i got to page 5 ......oh yeah, I like just about every RPG except Dark Souls. After an hour of taking 3 steps and dying, i was over Dark Souls forever.

 

[AsRock]

Thanks for the link AsRock. My favorite system of old was the Coleco Vision. Didn't have to wait on dad to take me to Aladdin's Castle to get to play a real arcade game any longer. I even had the Atari 2600 adapter for it. The down fall of that system was the power adapters. I had to get a new one about every 6 months and after so many years they quit making them or i would still have it.

Y'all got me messed up. I was here for something else on page 1 and when i got to page 5 ......oh yeah, I like just about every RPG except Dark Souls. After an hour of taking 3 steps and dying, i was over Dark Souls forever.

Hehe i had the paddles for the 2600, how ever being from the UK i don't believe that system was available.

Well Arcade wise my most loved ones were Missile command and Gauntlet which both were some thing i couldn't ever play enough. In fact if i was in the place to do so i would buy them, wife be pissed but meh. One being the use of a ball movement and the other being 4 player.

http://www.arcadedivision.com/classicgame12/shooting/missile-command.html

As for gauntlet my wise would out right kill me, if i had the money to throw at it i would in a heart beat.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Working-Gauntlet-Arcade-Game-4-player-/183760430159

Been tempted in buying R-Type on steam as that's a good classic.

 

[metalfiber]

As for gauntlet my wise would out right kill me, if i had the money to throw at it i would in a heart beat.

"my wise"?....i guess that would be an example of a freudian slip.

Back to RPGs, Throw in the 2 newest Assassin's Creed games. I think they would qualify as RPGs.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Back to RPGs, Throw in the 2 newest Assassin's Creed games. I think they would qualify as RPGs.

They do, definitely.

 

[AsRock]

"my wise"?....i guess that would be an example of a freudian slip.

Back to RPGs, Throw in the 2 newest Assassin's Creed games. I think they would qualify as RPGs.

How funny i totally missed wife out

 

[Flogger23m]

I played three of those games, Mass Effect 2, Fallout New Vegas and Witcher 3. There is absolutely no comparison between those three in terms of quality, Mass Effect 2 is the winner by far.

But ME2 was fairly dumbed down from ME1. I think ME1 should have been in that list. Story was much better. ME2 did have much better combat but the story was a big step down and the weapons became too simple. ME3 retained the combat and made perfect weapon customizing and they felt different enough to be worth using.

New Vegas was good but the combat sucked, the engine sucked, the quality sucked, invisible walls sucked, the UI and weapon selection was utter trash, and well, a lot sucked. But it still had a nice open world feel and you felt like you could choose a different path in the story even if the only real difference was the cut scene at the end. The exploration was good though and really what the core of Fallout is. I wish they'd add more quality control, FO4 style combat with NV style story and diolgue options for FO5.

Witcher 3? Quality issues, pacing issues, story issues, far too long, ending was utter gibberish and nonsense, combat was very lack luster. It did have nice voice acting but too much time was spent on pointless conversations and side tracking that had little to do with the story. Spending 9-12 hours listening to a generic "I beat my wife and kids I'm a drunk" story line to progress the main story was just painful. Especially when the story really just ended up being "find this girl, then immediately find this other girl. Now the bad guys are super-duper evil Elves on another planet. Beat them in a pointless fight at the end was spout some gibberish dialogue". A long journey that you simply can't care about.

Still a decent game but it isn't up there with the quality of the Mass Effect games.

I'm Geralt of Rivia, and I'm stuck in a tree.

http://imgur.com/TvA13PK

 

[rtwjunkie]

I played three of those games, Mass Effect 2, Fallout New Vegas and Witcher 3. There is absolutely no comparison between those three in terms of quality, Mass Effect 2 is the winner by far.

But ME2 was fairly dumbed down from ME1. I think ME1 should have been in that list. Story was much better. ME2 did have much better combat but the story was a big step down and the weapons became too simple. ME3 retained the combat and made perfect weapon customizing and they felt different enough to be worth using.

New Vegas was good but the combat sucked, the engine sucked, the quality sucked, invisible walls sucked, the UI and weapon selection was utter trash, and well, a lot sucked. But it still had a nice open world feel and you felt like you could choose a different path in the story even if the only real difference was the cut scene at the end. The exploration was good though and really what the core of Fallout is. I wish they'd add more quality control, FO4 style combat with NV style story and diolgue options for FO5.

Witcher 3? Quality issues, pacing issues, story issues, far too long, ending was utter gibberish and nonsense, combat was very lack luster. It did have nice voice acting but too much time was spent on pointless conversations and side tracking that had little to do with the story. Spending 9-12 hours listening to a generic "I beat my wife and kids I'm a drunk" story line to progress the main story was just painful. Especially when the story really just ended up being "find this girl, then immediately find this other girl. Now the bad guys are super-duper evil Elves on another planet. Beat them in a pointless fight at the end was spout some gibberish dialogue". A long journey that you simply can't care about.

Still a decent game but it isn't up there with the quality of the Mass Effect games.

I'm Geralt of Rivia, and I'm stuck in a tree.

http://imgur.com/TvA13PK

I have to wonder if we played any of the same games. Wow. Literally every single point of yours I had the exact opposite.

Nearly everyone thinks story was better in ME2. It was very encompassing and vast, getting the player invested in gettin the gang together.

FONV is considered by the vast, overwhelming majority to be the best of the new Fallouts, mostly because it wasn’t made by Bethesda.

As to TW3, the whole point of it was being in an epic tale that millions do care about. Pacing, length, story and quests all combine to make it the RPG example for all others to emulate. Obviously, you dont enjoy getting your money’s worth or you’d not complain it was too long. Frankly, it could have been longer. If you make choices as Geralt would, the ending doesnt even suck. To complain about the story tells me you are not familiar with Witcher lore. Combat is really the only weakness. It could be better but doesn’t suck.

I’m thinking RPG’s just aren’t your thing, and that’s ok.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Nearly everyone thinks story was better in ME2. It was very encompassing and vast, getting the player invested in gettin the gang together.

This author pretty much summed up my feelings about Mass Effect 2 (Flogger23m would likely concur): https://thenocturnalrambler.blogspot.com/2017/08/mass-effect-2-sucks.html

In the absence of an actual story with plot points, developments, twists, or rising action, the thing you're supposed to care about is the game's wealth of characters -- getting to know them and helping them solve their problems. Except much like the story, most of the time I felt myself not actually caring about any of them.

New Vegas was good but the combat sucked, the engine sucked, the quality sucked, invisible walls sucked, the UI and weapon selection was utter trash, and well, a lot sucked. But it still had a nice open world feel and you felt like you could choose a different path in the story even if the only real difference was the cut scene at the end. The exploration was good though and really what the core of Fallout is. I wish they'd add more quality control, FO4 style combat with NV style story and diolgue options for FO5.

I'd say FNV is the best Fallout has to offer to date, but I concur, it's not the best RPG.

Witcher 3? Quality issues, pacing issues, story issues, far too long, ending was utter gibberish and nonsense, combat was very lack luster. It did have nice voice acting but too much time was spent on pointless conversations and side tracking that had little to do with the story. Spending 9-12 hours listening to a generic "I beat my wife and kids I'm a drunk" story line to progress the main story was just painful. Especially when the story really just ended up being "find this girl, then immediately find this other girl. Now the bad guys are super-duper evil Elves on another planet. Beat them in a pointless fight at the end was spout some gibberish dialogue". A long journey that you simply can't care about.

I generally agree which is why I can't rush to calling it the best RPG. It's a great game but it is also marred by flaws. That's why I pointed at Heart of Stone as the standout. By the time you play it, you have most of the grind out of the way so you can focus on the story. The story, I thought was novel, and I loved how it tied back into the mysterious character you run into at the very beginning of the game. I also liked how they never really explained the nature of him, but that mysteriousness remains satisfying. Bringing back Shani was a stroke of genius too. They hit all of the right notes on Heart of Stone. One beacon of light doesn't make the best RPG and, for that matter, it's not even RPG mechanics that made Heart of Stone good.

 

[HD64G]

I have played 4 of those, I like most TW3 by far. I like ME3 muchly also, even the ending is logical for the lore. Divinity OS2 should be one of the best from what I have read around the web also. DAO is also great since my brother played it and was totally in fond of it. I put Deus Ex Human Revolution in my list of the best RPGs I have played. NWN2 is a great one also for its moddable nature and its great story in some fo its expansions.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I rarely find a game that I don’t enjoy to some degree because I let myself escape to the world of the game and just enjoy it. If I approached every game as a reviewer does and not as a gamer I would probably stop gaming.