RPG Codex's Role-Playing Game of the Decade
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When it comes to RPG sequels, there's nothing quite like sticking to the same one for two whole decades. I am of course talking about the Elder Scrolls series, Bethesda's stalwart entry in the RPG category.
During the 2000's, Bethesda even managed to release the same game twice, down-grading it in the process. Then taking that down-graded game, adding guns and releasing it again. We are of course talking about Morrowind, which was pretty, had lots to do and was full of interesting underwater areas compared to its successor Oblivion. Oblivion had shitty looking people, fugly graphics and no interesting underwater areas, along with axes which had become blunt. Followed at last by Fallout 3, which finally has fixed people issues but still suffers from the same fatal RPG flaw that affects all of Bethesda's titles: You get to role-play everything at once.
I mentioned earlier that "choice and consequence" is a catch-cry here on the Codex. Well, choice and consequence is not an ingredient in a Bethesda game. In your typical Bethesda game, you get to role-play everyone. You get to make every choice, typically without any consequences.
And by God does that make their games hugely successful.
Fallout 3 was a big step away from this formula for Bethesda. And by big step I mean there are at least a handful of choices with multiple consequences. Though its core system still suffers from the same "you're likely to end up with every skill anyway" mind-set, NPCs that are just too important to die and level-scaling, in any regard, they're trying and I can't fault them for that. If only they could just make it look like they weren't trying so hard (Vampires? Really?).
But going back to their success... Fallout 3 with its consolised interface, sold millions. Oblivion and Morrowind before it also sold millions. Where then does that leave the modern RPG? The game where making choices actually results in missing out on things? The game where you don't get to use the best axe because you're focussing on guns instead? While RPG becomes a modern marketing phrase to slap on titles in the hopes of selling additional units and some companies are making real efforts, the truth is, the core mechanics of the most successful RPGs released by the main-stream developers are becoming less and less RPG like.
Where then should those who want RPGs with some real choice and consequence turn?
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There were so many good RPG's released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the (RPG of the Decade). I am embarrassed to say that I haven't played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
There are so many things about this game that I loved. It was an open sandbox world, where I was free to go where I wanted and act how I wanted, and I had to live with the consequences of my actions. I became a vampire (and got cured later), I joined every guild and reached leadership status in them (and I loved the Dark Brotherhood the most), I did every Daedric shrine quest, and I explored most of the continent. In fact, I ignored the main storyline for most of my playing of this game, and I had more fun with the guild storylines and with trying to get every house in the game. The huge combination of skills, stats, spells and items, and the detailed character customization at the beginning of the game, really made me feel that I could play roleplay anyone I wanted. The game is not without its flaws (the auto-leveling of monsters springs to mind), but overall, this game was everything I wanted in an RPG: open-ended, re-playable, good-looking and downright fun.
However, an honorable mention must go to Blorp Zingwag: Elf Detective. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.
