Summary
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic featured a fantastic story and characters, setting a high standard for RPGs.
- Final Fantasy 7 remains unmatched despite remakes, showcasing the potential of the original PlayStation for RPGs.
- Fallout 2's original gameplay depth surpasses newer Fallout games, emphasizing player decisions and outcomes.
A classic RPG is often what players call a great game from the golden '90s whose gameplay is often based on the classic D&D mechanics. These games were known not only for their rich stories, but also for their characters, beautiful graphics, and sometimes groundbreaking mechanics that would end up inspiring many games to come.
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With the wild advancements in technology over the past decades, there's no denying that these classic RPGs can sometimes feel dated, but some of these incredible games have never been surpassed by other titles. That might be because no other game could compete, or because they didn't even dare to. Either way, this list aims to celebrate some incredible classic RPGs that are yet to be topped by any modern title.
1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Peak Star Wars
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Released
- July 15, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
- How come they never made a third one?
The idea of ditching high-speed Jedi vs dark side combat in favor of a more tactical D&D-type of gameplay might've seemed very counterintuitive when Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic was first revealed to the public, but it made such an impact that it became the gold standard against which all future Star Wars games would be compared.
Kotor isn't just an exhilarating RPG that makes lightsaber combat and force-usage fun in all sorts of surprising ways; it also features a surprisingly fantastic story (at a time when Star Wars stories were at a famously low point) and a great cast of characters (again, at a time when no one expected anything great out of Star Wars characters). Kotor 2 is also excellent and features a deeper and possibly even more interesting story, but the original game provides the most fun experience overall, so that's definitely the one curious players should check out first.
2 Final Fantasy 7
Eternal Classic
Final Fantasy 7
- Released
- January 31, 1997
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation (Original), PC, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PS4
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Final Fantasy 7 got two remakes, and there's one more on the way — for those who don't know — and yet these are completely different games. They share many of the same plot beats, yes, but they're completely different games. The essence of Final Fantasy 7, the game that opened everyone's eyes to the immense potential of the original PlayStation for RPGs, remains unchallenged. SquareSoft even created similar — and better-looking and sounding — games, and continues to do so as Square Enix, but it has never managed to land quite a hit among fans in the same way.
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That's in part because of the game's setting, a steampunk dystopia unlike anything ever tried by the studio, as well as its cast of memorable characters, who are almost all universally beloved by fans and immediately recognized even by people who aren't that much into the series. FF7's ATB battle style, an evolution of the traditional turn-based system, is also the best it has ever been, with Final Fantasy 8 missing the landing a bit with its divisive "junction" system, and with 9 just not bringing anything new. After that, the series returned to the traditional turn-based battle system on FFX, then abandoned it altogether in all subsequent iterations, making Final Fantasy 7 a classic and still a groundbreaking title at the same time.
3 Fallout 2
Nothing Beats the Classic
Fallout 2
- Released
- October 29, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
- Don't mess with what isn't broken — even if it's radioactive.
Most fans of the Fallout series tend to argue over which is the best game: Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas. But, longtime fans of the series would argue that the best game in the series is actually Fallout 2. The newer games completely revamped the gameplay and made the game "prettier," but that always came at the cost of cutting a lot of the game's original gameplay depth.
One of the best things about Fallout 2 was seeing the players' decisions really shape the world and the various outcomes of the game, and a great part of that was lost. The new Fallout games are great, but are they really Fallout? Players who have never experienced Fallout 2 should definitely give it a chance to see what they're missing out on.
4 Planescape Torment
The Best Chatty RPG Ever
Planescape: Torment
- Released
- December 12, 1999
WHERE TO PLAY
- Still to be out-texted
Planescape Torment is Black Isle's crowning achievement, as well as an all-timer when it comes to video game writing in general. Anyone who finds The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt awe-inspiring for its writing should definitely check out Planescape: Torment, an oldie that puts never-before (and since) effort into world-building via character interactions.
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Though it features an incredible amount of dialogue, Planescape: Torment is no slouch when it comes to classic RPG mechanics, and its combat — though not as intensive as what one would see in Diablo, for example — is no slouch, either. Planescape: Torment received an HD remaster that makes it still a perfect title to experience.
5 Vagrant Story
Square's Most Underrated Remains One of its Best
Vagrant Story
- Released
- May 15, 2000
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Square
- Publisher(s)
- Square
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
- Platform(s)
- PS1
- The mechanics that would inspire more recent Fallout games were perfected here.
Though not an American RPG, it's simply unfair not to include Vagrant Story. That's not only because it's one of the best RPGs ever made, but also because of the huge influence it had on the supposedly revolutionary mechanics of Fallout 3 and the subsequent Fallout games.
The V.A.T.S. Mechanic from Fallout — the one that stops time to allow players to pick exactly which part of the opponent's body to hit — was nothing new for anyone who'd played Vagrant Story. That's far from the only lesson Western devs learned learned from Vagrant Story, a game with an amazing plot that ditched the then-still popular pre-rendered backgrounds to give players some of the best-looking 3D ever seen on the PS1.
6 The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
Bethesda's Peak
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
- Released
- May 1, 2002
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC, Xbox (Original)
- Unlikely to ever be beaten.
While both Skyrim and Oblivion (in either the old version or the remaster) feature better graphics than Morrowind, they still don't hold the same visually distinct identity that Morrowind did back in the day. (That's especially true when players install the fantastic community-made mods, but always true, regardless.)
Still, that's not Morrowind's greatest trump card against all other games of its kind. That honor goes to the game's depth, both in terms of gameplay and exploration. Morrowind's less obvious routes just paved the way to much more whimsical wandering, which naturally led to a much more memorable adventure.
7 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Aged Like Fine Wine
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
- Released
- November 16, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Troika Games
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC
- Can its undying successor surpass it?
True to its themes, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines came out in what seemed like a dead-on-the-water state. A Myriad of bizarre bugs, resulting from a horrible development cycle and rushed release, plagued the game to the point of near unplayability. Still, many noticed that underneath its rough shell, a spectacular world filled with nuanced writing and worldbuilding flourished.
Fans spent years reworking the game into a playable state, and their patch turned out so good that it's now a part of the GOG version of the game — the best version anyone can currently buy. Nothing has even come close to outdoing Bloodlines in what it set out to do in terms of dark RPG storytelling and gameplay. A sequel has been in the works for a long time, but true to the Bloodlines name, the development has been a nightmare. Here's hoping it turns out for the best.
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