These are the RPGs that forever raised our role-playing standards.
Few genres are as synonymous with innovation as role-playing games.
Many early RPGs were among the most ambitious gaming experiences of their era.
Since then, the best RPG studios have aspired to raise the bar by producing increasingly advanced experiences.
That expectation for innovations resulted in advancements that often benefited every other part of the medium.
Its shocking to look back at this game and so clearly see the foundations of the future.
Rather than treat death as the absolute end, though,Rogueutilized that arcade game-like concept of a Continue?
and built its experience around the randomized thrills of dying and trying again.
Youll have a hard time finding a more obviously innovative game.
However,Hydlides influence arguably stretches far beyond that.
That may sound primitive and…ok, it kind of is.
Remarkably, even that incredible innovation sellsDragon Quests importance short.
The post-apocalypticWastelandused the inherent danger of its setting to explore a more chaotic form of RPG design.
Your character-building options would open up incredible new possibilities and lock you out of others.
Even the mightyFalloutwas really just a spiritual successor to this bold title.
That honor belongs toFire Emblem.
Fire Emblem was strategy game-wide and RPG-deep.
What they ended up with may just be the greatest RPG ever made.
However, itsChrono Triggers more unconventional qualities that sometimes go overlooked.
People couldnt believe what they saw when they set their eyesonFinal Fantasy 7for the first time.
In their mind, the problem wasnt that people had simply given up onD&D-style RPGs.
It ushered in a new era of CRPGs.
What I know for sure is thatEverQuestwas not the first MMORPG ever made.
EverQuestrefined certain MMORPG concepts in ways that made the genre more accessible than it had ever been before.
The results were historic.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002)
Take yourself back to 2002.
Into that world comesMorrowind.
That doesnt really matter much in the end, though.
So far as that goes,Dark Soulswas certainly a turning point.
Even those who looked atDemons Soulsand saw a masochist novelty were forced to acknowledge thatDark Soulswas something special.
Well,The Witcher 3gave us that and so much more.
