Summary
- RPGs like Skyrim offer unique and diverse magical systems for players to explore.
- These games allow players to master different magical abilities, from destruction magic and conjured swords to transformation and D&D druid-inspired magic.
- Players can mix and combine magical abilities with other combat styles, providing a variety of playstyles and strategic options in battle.
RPGs are known for having a lot of different combat options, and the best RPGs give characters the option to fight in completely different ways during different runs. From the medieval to the modern and even sometimes the futuristic, this means that players will be able to use magical abilities as a part of their arsenal in combat.
Magic systems are a hugely important part of many RPGs and leave players with some amazing options for different ways to play through the game. Though magical systems aren’t the most-used part of combat in many RPGs, some games make it well worth the player’s while learning how to master magical abilities.
10 Skyrim
Though it is not usually the most overpowered of the builds available to players in Skyrim, the latest Elder Scrolls entry provides a lot of great ways to play, and that includes a variety of magical schools which players can master individually.
For instance, players can choose only to master destruction magic, using fire and lightning energies against their enemies. But the unique ideas presented in Skyrim come through other schools, like using conjured swords to fight, or alteration spells that can affect the world around them and either charm or scare enemies away.
9 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Almost instantly proclaimed by fans as one of the best RPGs ever, it is no surprise that Divinity: Original Sin 2 makes it onto a list of the best magical systems, despite the combat used not being directly referred to in the game as magic.
Instead, the abilities are known as skills that can be used by every class in the game, which is a particularly different idea compared to the class systems built for characters in most other RPGs. Divinity forces players to become accustomed to the many types of magical damage that can be inflicted.
8 Dragon Age Origins
Despite only allowing players of one class type to use magical abilities that were particularly fascinating, Dragon Age Origins deserves a lot of praise for managing something which has long been an idea in fantasy but has rarely been so well-executed in gaming.
In Dragon Age Origins, mages can use the magical ability to transform into a variety of different creatures, in the style of Dungeons & Dragons druid-related magic. This impressive style of magic works incredibly well and made mages one of the most desirable classes in the game, this blood magic will hopefully continue getting explored further in the franchise.
7 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Another great RPG that presents players with different ways to fight, The Witcher 3 is better at forcing players to utilize their different options in combat while playing as Geralt of Rivia. While players could make do without the signs, such as the Aard sign, that make Geralt’s strange style of Witcher magic, they will be much better off making use of them regularly in battle.
Although the signs aren't as much of a magical system as those in other games, they present players with a great opportunity to mix their fighting styles, which a lot of RPGs aren't as good at as The Witcher 3.
6 Octopath Traveler
A JRPG which allows players to travel through the stories of eight different characters in Orsterra where they must stop the child of an evil deity from bringing her to walk again upon the world she helped create and wanted to rule. A fascinating story, players get to experience this through many different eyes.
However, not all the characters available in Octopath Traveler use magic. There are very different classes, but the magic that players can use with the characters focused in that direction is far different from any other game, making for a highly memorable experience.
5 Pillars Of Eternity
One of the more incredibly intricate magical systems that a game has implemented over the last decade, Pillars of Eternity had several different classes that could utilize magical power. There are Chanters, who can string a variety of words together to create spells, and then there are Priests.
What is so fascinating about priests is the D&D style way that their powers work, their abilities and spells are dependent upon which God they follow, and their powers don’t work as well if their morality falls out of alignment with that of their religious beliefs, making this magic system one of the best in gaming.
4 Hogwarts Legacy
One of the best unique magic systems in gaming is the complete delve into the world of Harry Potter in Hogwarts Legacy. This game managed to give players a real taste of what combat and life could be like for a Hogwarts student.
The complete building of an amazing Hogwarts world complete with magical creatures, broomsticks, and more, made for an incredible gaming experience. One of the most surprising things about the game though is the impressive fashion in which combat was handled throughout, creating magical combat that was always interesting and felt pleasingly fluid.
3 Magicka 2
One of the best ways to create something unique is to keep it simple, and Magicka 2 does this very well by giving players eight different types of magical abilities, the usage of which is dependent on how the player chooses to combine these.
Magicka 2 is a great example of a game where the rules of magic and the workings of it are simplified greatly, and yet it still manages to create something incredible with how players can inventively add something new to their style of play as they continue to explore the limits of the system, it is also a real friendship-ending game.
2 Elden Ring
The magical systems are not the first thing that comes to mind when playing Elden Ring, wielding huge weapons against even larger adversaries is the first thought players will have. However, there is something massively impressive about the variety of magic in this game.
Elden Ring allows players to cast a hundred different spells, mage builds are one of the less common but most deserving and unique ways to play through the game, and any fan of the Soulsborne games will find it an intriguing experience.
1 Final Fantasy 7
Known for being one of the very best games of all time for a lot of reasons, Final Fantasy 7 provided players with the great opportunity to cast magic and support allies with a great variety of spells.
Besides this, it also let them change up the usual formula with support material for an extra punch.
The unique way in which this allowed players to come up with their own unique methods of attack and support was truly industrious and provided just one of the things that fans continue to love today about Final Fantasy 7.