Bottom 5 Worst RPGs You Ever Played

[JarlFrank]

I don't really understand the hate for Neverwinter Nights. Sure, the base campaign was thrash, I never managed to push far into it before descending into coma...

But the system itself, it's modability and openness unleashed enourmous wave of creativity in people. Lots of quality modules have been created and new ones are still being released.

I spent probably around 200-250 hours playing the game with around 1% of that on the OC. If you take a moment to search for good stuff, you'll find plenty.

I'm one of the biggest NWN haters on the Codex so let me explain:

- single character D&D with non-controllable companions kinda sucks
- extremely slow RTwP where one action is performed every six seconds; slowness is exacerbated by the fact that you only control a single character, which means you only make a single gameplay decision every six seconds
- everything else is extremely slow too: opening chests, disarming traps, resting etc... all of these have six second countdown timers
- walking speed is pretty slow too so traversing a large map takes a lot of time
- the visuals are extremely ugly even compared to other 3D games of its time... heck, even compared to 3D games 5 years older than NWN; drab textures and a very blocky grid-locked layout are to blame

You forgot the horrible OC.

The problem is that NWN's core mechanics are so horrendous, they even make good campaigns unfun to play.

 

[agris]

i lol'd at oblivion: nv. people aren't gonna like that one, there's a lot of love for fallout: gamebryo here

People like it DESPITE gamebryo. It is a good game despite Bethderp's shitty iteration of that engine.

What exactly do you find so compelling about it? As an "immersive" experience, arguably one of the stronger arguments for 1st person perspective aRPGs, it utterly falls flat. Oh, started a new game? Enjoy an avalance of new items added to your inventory advertising you just installed all the DLCs. Is it the combat? F:NV gunplay is atrocious. The challenge? Your companions literally cannot die, I banged my head against a wall for months trying to figure out how to disable/kill companions through scripting back in the dark old days. Is it quest design and faction mechanics? I guess you can make that argument, but you cannot separate one aspect of a game from it's totality- and in totality, F:NV is a giant stinking turd. Maybe you like the dopamine drip of 1000s of containers containing garbage that you hoover up so you can craft your next widget, but that skinner box shit is so nakedly exploitative of human tendencies, I can't subject myself to it.

Fallout 1 was a classic case of the sum being greater than the individual parts combined. F:NV is the opposite; with all the largess of Obsidian's pedigree, they churned out Fallout 3.5.

Oh, it has more skill checks in dialogue and doesn't read like a 5th grader wrote it - 10/10 instant fallout classic. F:NV is a great example of the codex lauding something because it passes a bar so low as to be barely above the ground. Sure, it was better than Fallout 3. You know what is better than Fallout 3 and New Vegas? Replaying Fallout 1 or 2.

edit: this reads angrier than I intended it to be, you're generally a well-written poster. I would honestly like to hear your take on what makes F:NV a "good game". Perhaps you place it in context of late 00s and early 10s, when everything was shit so slightly-less shit means it was good? I'd like to think by 2022 we can reflect more holistically about it and judge it based on actual merits - not some comparative shades of brown.

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

What exactly do you find so compelling about it? As an "immersive" experience, arguably one of the stronger arguments for 1st person perspective aRPGs, it utterly falls flat. Oh, started a new game? Enjoy an avalance of new items added to your inventory advertising you just installed all the DLCs. Is it the combat? F:NV gunplay is atrocious. The challenge? Your companions literally cannot die, I banged my head against a wall for months trying to figure out how to disable/kill companions through scripting back in the dark old days. Is it quest design and faction mechanics? I guess you can make that argument, but you cannot separate one aspect of a game from it's totality- and in totality, F:NV is a giant stinking turd. Maybe you like the dopamine drip of 1000s of containers containing garbage that you hoover up so you can craft your next widget, but that skinner box shit is so nakedly exploitative of human tendencies, I can't subject myself to it.

Fallout 1 was a classic case of the sum being greater than the individual parts combined. F:NV is the opposite; with all the largess of Obsidian's pedigree, they churned out Fallout 3.5.

Oh, it has more skill checks in dialogue and doesn't read like a 5th grader wrote it - 10/10 instant fallout classic. F:NV is a great example of the codex lauding something because it passes a bar so low as to be barely above the ground. Sure, it was better than Fallout 3. You know what is better than Fallout 3 and New Vegas? Replaying Fallout 1 or 2.

edit: this reads angrier than I intended it to be, you're generally a well-written poster. I would honestly like to hear your take on what makes F:NV a "good game". Perhaps you place it in context of late 00s and early 10s, when everything was shit so slightly-less shit means it was good? I'd like to think by 2022 we can reflect more holistically about it and judge it based on actual merits - not some comparative shades of brown.

The problem is, everything exists in relation to one another. And New Vegas was a step in the right direction, especially considering what came after it.
What you do here, good sir, is a brother war. Even though Fallout 1+2 are one of my favorite games ever, I still could find things and use them to shit on these games. They are fucking clunky, buggy messess, with tedious combat. I could elaborate on how atrocious the UI navigation is and how bad and bland the dialogue with Katrina in Shady Sands was.

And what of it? What's the point? Criticisms towards the certified classics (like NV or OG Fallout) would be justified if the gaming industry improved upon their formula, made it better and moved on. Instead we have what we have in 2022.

Stop the brother wars and let's unite against the real enemy.

 

[d1r]

i lol'd at oblivion: nv. people aren't gonna like that one, there's a lot of love for fallout: gamebryo here

People like it DESPITE gamebryo. It is a good game despite Bethderp's shitty iteration of that engine.

What exactly do you find so compelling about it? As an "immersive" experience, arguably one of the stronger arguments for 1st person perspective aRPGs, it utterly falls flat. Oh, started a new game? Enjoy an avalance of new items added to your inventory advertising you just installed all the DLCs. Is it the combat? F:NV gunplay is atrocious. The challenge? Your companions literally cannot die, I banged my head against a wall for months trying to figure out how to disable/kill companions through scripting back in the dark old days. Is it quest design and faction mechanics? I guess you can make that argument, but you cannot separate one aspect of a game from it's totality- and in totality, F:NV is a giant stinking turd. Maybe you like the dopamine drip of 1000s of containers containing garbage that you hoover up so you can craft your next widget, but that skinner box shit is so nakedly exploitative of human tendencies, I can't subject myself to it.

Calling this game unimmersive is just bullshit, and Preorder DLC's could be disabled Day 1 in the Data Menu, as companions could die in Hardcore mode. And I never heard anyone (until now) associating New Vegas with a loot simulator, or saying that they play this game because of the loot. You seem to be incredible butthurt about a genuinely good RPG (with flaws) that allows for great character development.

 

[Jonnaz]

NWN2 OC
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Skyrim
Final Fantasy VIII

 

[agris]

Calling this game unimmersive is just bullshit, and Preorder DLC's could be disabled Day 1 in the Data Menu, as companions could die in Hardcore mode. And I never heard anyone (until now) associating New Vegas with a loot simulator, or saying that they play this game because of the loot. You seem to be incredible butthurt about a genuinely good RPG (with flaws) that allows for great character development.

I am not butthurt, I am sad to see a community that once held high standards be so depressed by the dark ages after the turn of the century as to celebrate re-heated gamebryo gruel as a good cRPG.

From your reply, you seem to be extrapolating a lot from what I wrote: pre-order DLCs, how about DLCs in general? Invincible companions unless you play in hardcore is still invincible companions. Loot simulator? I don't know what that is, but F:NV follows the Bethesda model of 1000s of containers and needless crafting because, surprise, it drives compulsive engagement.

Ok so you found the game immersive, can you say why? Is it the poor mix of low to middle resolution textures? Perhaps that awkward teenger-style not-high but not-low poly models used for everything? Oh wait, it's VATS?!

You really haven't addressed anything I've said except "it's immersive", and "you can disable preorder DLCs". Uh, ok.

 

[KateMicucci]

The problem is that NWN's core mechanics are so horrendous, they even make good campaigns unfun to play.

I was gonna disagree but then I remembered that all of the modules I liked were for NWN2.

 

[JarlFrank]

New Vegas has a shit engine but it works despite of that.

When it comes to worldbuilding, quest design, player choice and character system it's the best RPG Obsidian ever made (which isn't saying much since Obsidian is a painfully mediocre company, but still).

 

[d1r]

Calling this game unimmersive is just bullshit, and Preorder DLC's could be disabled Day 1 in the Data Menu, as companions could die in Hardcore mode. And I never heard anyone (until now) associating New Vegas with a loot simulator, or saying that they play this game because of the loot. You seem to be incredible butthurt about a genuinely good RPG (with flaws) that allows for great character development.

I am not butthurt, I am sad to see a community that once held high standards be so depressed by the dark ages after the turn of the century as to celebrate re-heated gamebryo gruel as a good cRPG.

From your reply, you seem to be extrapolating a lot from what I wrote: pre-order DLCs, how about DLCs in general? Invincible companions unless you play in hardcore is still invincible companions. Loot simulator? I don't know what that is, but F:NV follows the Bethesda model of 1000s of containers and needless crafting because, surprise, it drives compulsive engagement.

Ok so you found the game immersive, can you say why? Is it the poor mix of low to middle resolution textures? Perhaps that awkward teenger-style not-high but not-low poly models used for everything? Oh wait, it's VATS?!

You really haven't addressed anything I've said except "it's immersive", and "you can disable preorder DLCs". Uh, ok.

What about the DLC's? It's a problem with gaming in general, and not with FNV perse. If you're actually calling out the DLC's, then it's certainly not in your favour, because all of them minus the Preorder pack are good (and if you would combine them all together you would have gotten a good expansion pack out of it if we're talking old times here). I won't debate the invincible companion "problem" because it's a matter of playstyle. If you like the more realistic approach to the game, then you would have played in Hardcore mode anyway (which for some reason you did not). Nobody forces you to craft, nor does the game force you to loot for better items. The game gives you enough leeway to finish it with or without good items/weapons, and that's the absolute beauty of it (and which also makes it more immersive).

And on topic of immersion: Immersion is not all about graphics, nor is it all about any other specific topic. Immersion is created by combining all aspects of a game into a great mix and blend it together properly. While FNV is not a great looking game, its presentation (setting, music, lore, the map layout, the big tower in the middle of the desert, character development, writing) is still top notch, and overshadows the otherwise rather shallow graphics, and AI of the game.

 

[dacencora]

Of all the RPGs I have completed (which is, admittedly, maybe not that many) the only one that I felt like was a massive waste of time was Dragon Age: Inquisition. I liked the first two games (yes, DA2's encounter design is trash and the "AWESOME BUTTON" thing is bad, but at least it's bad in a fun way), but man I hated DAI. The thing is that I was so hyped for it too. It sounded like a dream game to me at the time in 2014. I was hyped for the GFX and the more heavily action-based combat and instead it was a shallow uninspired mess of a game. Gating the story behind the Power mechanic was so retarded that it killed the whole game for me. Corypheus was a retarded villain and basically the whole story was retarded. Gameplay was hot garbage and I can't think of many redeeming qualities.

Mass Effect 3 was similarly garbage, but not as insultingly bad as Inquisition.

I only finished Outer Worlds out of sheer inertia, but its biggest crime was being extremely boring.

RE: NWN1 OC. I actually like it for a number of reasons. Of course, I wouldn't call it good. The "gather 4 items" reused across all acts was mind-numbing, but there was some fun stuff. The first act when you are finding the WATERDHAVIAN CREATURES is a good bit of fun, in a campy way. Playing as a Paladin and facing Aribeth as a fallen Paladin was a pretty cool encounter. The lizard-people thing was ultra retarded and yeah the combat is not great. Breaking the combat can be pretty fun, even though it requires leaving any semblance of role-playing behind. (I'm talking about summoning your horse in the Goblin mines, which is beyond stupid lol, but was a very effective cheese strategy.) Overall, single-character RTwP D&D does not make for particularly compelling gameplay.

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

I only finished Outer Worlds out of sheer inertia, but its biggest crime was being extremely boring.

RE: NWN1 OC. I actually like it for a number of reasons. Of course, I wouldn't call it good. The "gather 4 items" reused across all acts was mind-numbing, but there was some fun stuff. The first act when you are finding the WATERDHAVIAN CREATURES is a good bit of fun, in a campy way. Playing as a Paladin and facing Aribeth as a fallen Paladin was a pretty cool encounter. The lizard-people thing was ultra retarded and yeah the combat is not great. Breaking the combat can be pretty fun, even though it requires leaving any semblance of role-playing behind. (I'm talking about summoning your horse in the Goblin mines, which is beyond stupid lol, but was a very effective cheese strategy.) Overall, single-character RTwP D&D does not make for particularly compelling gameplay.

1. Interesting how everyone and his dog calls Outer Worlds boring without dubbing the cause of it. Which was it being wiritten by dangerhair woke Karens, who are afraid to bring up anything more spicy than asexual lesbian dating.

2. NWN1 OC was good for what it was trying to do. Which is being the most generic D&D campaign of all times, to provide a template for the content creators. What is the flagship DnD campaign? Revenge of the Reptile God or some other similar shit. Go into a cave, smack a big lizard in the head, steal his gold and loot. End of story. Now, is, let's say, Planescape Torment's story better? Of course it is. Because Avellone was hellbent on subverting the generic-ness of D&D. These two attitudes are polar opposites for the right reasons.

 

[Lhynn]

Whenever I set out to build an Ubertank, Melee glass Cannon, Hadoken mage- I just have to enter a keyword and build towards the big node, picking up whatever fits my style on the way. Always works out in the end.

It's not complicated, it just looks intimidating.

As I said. Shit.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

And in that regard, the whole NWN series is mediocre to bad with the exception of MotB. At least as far as I'm concerned.

The only worthwhile Neverwinter Nights is the original:

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

The only worthwhile Neverwinter Nights is the original:

Quality aside, I can't imagine the cost of running this reliably with the 90's Internet prices.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

5. Gothic 3
Not completely unplayable, especially with community patches, but damn, what a crushing letdown it was. I admit that such a huge open world was impressive at the time and the story seemed interesting at first, but I felt something was wrong the very moment the game started: the intro cutscene ended and suddenly I was in a middle of a fight with a huge pop-up box explaining the interface in the way. I actually looked up a playthrough on Youtube to make sure it wasn't a glitch.
The game itself is nothing like the originals. The interesting quest design and story progression of the originals were replaced with something more akin to MMOs, with numerous settlements but without a single memorable one. The story quickly becomes a scrambled mess, with three paths to choose but none of which making any sense. I think they actually mixed up some of the plot points between them and didn't have time to fix it. The combat system is just a click fest with the balance turned on its head - you can free entire villages from orcs from the very beginning, yet the forest wildlife stays a mortal danger for quite some time. They didn't even bother to come up with some explanation why the nameless one is back to square zero - they just took away your equipment and skills and that's it. And I won't even talk about the bugs and glitches - the very thought of that one escort quest with the utterly broken AI that couldn't walk over a rock on the ground brings my blood to boil.
I’ve heard Arcania is much worse. Not even touching that.

4. Deus Ex: Invisible War
This is what happens when you take a work of art and try to adjust it to a wide market. While I can understand some of the simplifications, I cannot possibly imagine the thought process behind the universal ammo and lack of hit areas (I guess it's because it's hard to aim with a controller? Although I think most Xbox-era shooters did have hit areas). The story and writing are a disgrace - while the original is a masterpiece in this regard, Invisible War has a dull, uninspired setting, stupid and unplausible factions, the dialogs on par with a fanfic a 12-year-old would write (spoken by voice actors less expressive than a cashier telling me my total), mails and notes that couldn't be more than a two or three sentences long because console gamers don't like to read lenghty texts on their TVs. On top of all that, it fancies the typical mid-2000s graphics, which I'm allergic to, and throughout the earlier locations, I was wondering why everything takes place in some huge-ass complex and when was I going to see the outside... only to realize that these locations *were* supposed to be outside. It's unacceptable.

3. Restricted Area
I was reminded of its existence recently when someone posted it in the obscure RPGs thread. I actually got this game years ago when it was fairly recent. I still think the setting and visuals were kinda cool and the very concept of Diablo with guns and cyberimplants had some potential, but the game itself looks like the developers just gave up after the initial stage of production. It has whole two types of environment (desert and bunkers) and just a couple types of enemies but there could be just two as well - melee and ranged, as there are no real differences between them. The levels drag for far too long and when you finally finish one, it turns out that the next one is pretty much the same. The game does nothing to introduce any kind of variety - if you thought Diablo was just pointing and clicking with not much else, try Restricted Area. Pistols are better than shotguns and rifles. I assume the game isn't very long but I gave up before finding out for sure.

2. Fountain of Dreams
After learning that it was supposed to be a sequel to Wasteland and that it's a post-apocalyptic cRPG set in Miami, my enthusiasm peaked - just to be quickly extinguished by harsh reality. After creating my party and having basically no information about anything, I went to wander around the worldmap just to find out that the world is laughably tiny and Miami is the only city in the game. There are some quests to do but 99% of this game is grinding the same type of enemy. Grinding and praying to God that you don't die, as the game is straight-up unfair towards you - the first Wasteland is child's play compared to Fountain of Dreams. I've read that after you've grinded enough, you can go to the clowns klowns base and even have some chances of survival, but I only have one life and didn't waste enough of it to ever reach that point. You could as well just throw a dice and say that you lose when you roll less than four - the same amount of fun and you’ll save on electricity. The only single good thing about this game is the cover art.

1. Fallout 3
Enough said.

Dishonorable mentions:
Beyond Divinity - maybe not as terrible as people say, but gets very boring very quickly and suffers from being a sequel to a better game.
Scavengers of the Mutant World - I like the setting and at least it's a bit more managable than Fountain of Dreams, but definitely not something I would go back to
Two Worlds - more like two hours, that's how long it held my interest
Oblivion - I found it immensely dull and boring

Your very first post as a Codexer was made just to bitch about games you hate. Welcome aboard. You'll do fine here.

 

[Skdursh]

Bards Tale IV
Skyrim
Shenmue 3
Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods
Xuan Xuan Sword VII

 

[Funposter]

Oh, started a new game? Enjoy an avalance of new items added to your inventory advertising you just installed all the DLCs

you can uninstall them, you know

 

[hibby]

1. Mass Effect 1
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Mass Effect 3

I have not played 5 RPGs.

 

[Miner Arobar]

Ultima 9. Which I actually finished back in the day. I recall how accidentally walking the wrong way from Britain would completely break the storyline. Makes me think people who put Skyrim on lists like these are a bit spoiled. U9 reaches levels of "bad" that Skyrim's fully functional-if-bland gameplay and perfectly coherent-if-unimaginative storyline can never aspire to. Recall the funnily-dressed "wyrmguards" running around Lord British's kingdom and operating a torture dungeon without any explanation? IIRC they're a remnant from a storyline feature that was cut, and U9 is completely filled with such remnants.

Oblivion. Which contrary to U9 is functional as a game: you can run around a fantasy countryside and stealth-kill bandits at leisure. You can go in a cave and stealth-kill bandits at leisure, and once you've reached the end of the cave, the bandits at the beginning have miraculously revived! Never-ending fun. It's just a complete atrocity as an Elder Scrolls game.

Lands of Lore 2. It has some very nice ideas (PC unpredictably changing into a hulking monster or a lizard that can creep through small places) but the storyline (presented through some really badly done FMV sequences) is completely incomprehensible.

Two Worlds. Everything about it gives me a headache. The life and mana shrines defacing the countryside every few steps, the weird day-and-night cycle, the voice acting, the weird absence of female NPCs making me think I'm roleplaying my way through a Rammstein videoclip, and the general absence of any inspiration in world design.

I'm not sure about number five. I'm weirdly in two minds about Witcher 3, because on the one hand some of the storylines are absolutely great, and Novigrad is the best representation of a medieval fantasy city I've seen in any game, but on the other hand the gameplay itself is repetitive, there's this huge open world but no incentive for exploring due to pervasive level-scaling that would make Oblivion jealous, gameplay is constantly broken up by overlong cutscene sequences, and the pacing is really weird (Geralt must save Ciri and the world from the wild hunt! But first, let's do a few drowner contracts and install a new monarch on the Skellige isles...).

 

[EvilWolf]

What exactly do you find so compelling about it? As an "immersive" experience, arguably one of the stronger arguments for 1st person perspective aRPGs, it utterly falls flat. Oh, started a new game? Enjoy an avalance of new items added to your inventory advertising you just installed all the DLCs. Is it the combat? F:NV gunplay is atrocious. The challenge? Your companions literally cannot die, I banged my head against a wall for months trying to figure out how to disable/kill companions through scripting back in the dark old days. Is it quest design and faction mechanics? I guess you can make that argument, but you cannot separate one aspect of a game from it's totality- and in totality, F:NV is a giant stinking turd. Maybe you like the dopamine drip of 1000s of containers containing garbage that you hoover up so you can craft your next widget, but that skinner box shit is so nakedly exploitative of human tendencies, I can't subject myself to it.

Fallout 1 was a classic case of the sum being greater than the individual parts combined. F:NV is the opposite; with all the largess of Obsidian's pedigree, they churned out Fallout 3.5.

Oh, it has more skill checks in dialogue and doesn't read like a 5th grader wrote it - 10/10 instant fallout classic. F:NV is a great example of the codex lauding something because it passes a bar so low as to be barely above the ground. Sure, it was better than Fallout 3. You know what is better than Fallout 3 and New Vegas? Replaying Fallout 1 or 2.

edit: this reads angrier than I intended it to be, you're generally a well-written poster. I would honestly like to hear your take on what makes F:NV a "good game". Perhaps you place it in context of late 00s and early 10s, when everything was shit so slightly-less shit means it was good? I'd like to think by 2022 we can reflect more holistically about it and judge it based on actual merits - not some comparative shades of brown.

You can just play on survival for companions to die, if you dont want to manage survival features then it's just like every other NetImmerse game, toggle essential, the only difference is they had added the protected function by then I believe so yoy also need to toggle protected.

 

[Reinhardt]

1. Mass Effect 1
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Mass Effect 3

I have not played 5 RPGs.

You have not played 3 rpgs either.

 

[kangaxx]

All five are probably Japanese, fucked if I can remember the names though. Pokemon perhaps?

 

[Kruyurk]

KoV
DT II (1st one was decent tho)
HnoFT (I avoid JRPGs since that one)
PLS
NotB

That being said I enjoyed PoE 1 enough to finish it on PotD difficulty after more than 200h (re-started several times until I deciced to finish a playthrough). But I totally see why it is not considered great, and even considered shit by many.

lol, I literally have no idea what game any of those acronyms translate to

I have got to be honest now and admit I made up these 5 bullshit acronyms.
The part about Pillars is true though, I just wanted to throw in some real acronyms in there to make it believable.
Most chaotic evil stuff I did in a while.

 

[hibby]

1. Mass Effect 1
2. Mass Effect 2
3. Mass Effect 3

I have not played 5 RPGs.

You have not played 3 rpgs either.

You are correct.

My actual "worst ever" list is even shorter. I'm probably too picky about what I play.

1. Morrowind, the only game I fell asleep playing
2. KOTOR 1, which was so tedious and clunky that it put me off from trying the sequel

I didn't lose much time to either because I couldn't get into them at all. If anybody thinks I'm missing out, I'd like to know what you find appealing about these games; maybe they deserve another try.

 

[Spectacle]

The only worthwhile Neverwinter Nights is the original:

Quality aside, I can't imagine the cost of running this reliably with the 90's Internet prices.

What's this "internet" you're talking about?