Worst RPGs All Time?

[Lord_Potato]

There is no way to establish the worst RPG of all time. What would be far more feasible - and remarkably time consuming - would be to look for the worst of each year starting in 1975.

My pick for the worst cRPG of 1975 is Dungeon.

That's actually a good idea. We should choose worst rpg of every year. It may allow us to create a truly prestigious list!

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

Every RPG is the worst in it's own way

I sense a general consensus here on codex that rpgs are just shit in general and you're better off drinking jaegermeister off a hooker's belly in your free time

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Well, nothing in the modern times comes to my mind, simply because I have a strict internal definition that rules out all the psuedo- and non-rpgs. The only actual RPG that I've played recently that think actually has just the worst writing is The Outer Worlds. I'm divided on its mechanics, so I couldn't say it's *the* worst RPG.

 

[Twiglard]

Ah, the pillar etched with the burning message of hate.

Fallout 3 for the soul-crushing despair.
Dragon Age 2 for the streamlined visceral combat, HP bloat and enemies spawning from behind mid-fight.
Numanuma for the utterly forgettable, flowery prose from industry veterans.
PoE for making the BG2 formula look banal, the encounter designs, turning skills and items into 4% extra damage mediocrity, a forgettable world made on a deadline with no passion for it.

It was Bethpizda's and EA's masterpieces that made me resentful and a Codex lurker. I remember several AoD combat demos. In retrospect, didn't we comprise the vanguard toward re-inclining of classical-style 90s-golden-age RPGs?

In fact the Fallout 3 reviews were a prelude to GG.

 

[Hafnar the Jester]

Well, nothing in the modern times comes to my mind, simply because I have a strict internal definition that rules out all the psuedo- and non-rpgs. The only actual RPG that I've played recently that think actually has just the worst writing is The Outer Worlds. I'm divided on its mechanics, so I couldn't say it's *the* worst RPG.

How is Outer Worlds an RPG? It's a popamole shootah where skills don't matter. I'm still a sucker for open world FPS games tho, so I really like OW and even, hell, Fallout 4 but these are just gun operating/looting simulators. And Outer Worlds is just feminazificated woke F4.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

How is this an RPG?

 

[Comte]

How is this an RPG?

Its got a dragon and a knight

 

[samuraigaiden]

Anyone here played Virtual Hydlide?

 

[Cryomancer]

I would add ArcaniA.



Some parts of the codex review of arcania.

source > https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=211

Exploration and visuals

Remember those jolly good times you had when you arrived at the Old Camp and it felt like the whole world was at a hand's reach, waiting to be uncovered? You might want to forget about those times. Quite possibly, one of the stupidest design decisions in Arcania, was to scrap the open world and replace it with 'sections' that you unlock one after the other.(...)

Combat and game mechanics
Everything about the combat just boils down to clicking the enemy to death. No precise timing needed, nothing. Just click the left mouse button to win(...)Another element of the Gothic series that got mercilessly castrated, was the character development. In Arcania, you no longer need to visit those pesky trainers after leveling up. You just hit 'k' to access the skill tree and assign skill points to horribly MMOmified abilities that don't give anything other than +1% mana/health/melee/ranged/magic damage.

Weapon statistics are also a hilarious matter, really. Weapons and spells only have 'damage'. No damage type, nothing. Suits of armour only have 'armour'. No protection against arrows/magic/slashing/bashing, nothing. This leads to some pretty interesting things, like bow and arrows being just as effective against solid stone golems as a huge warhammer. However, you also need to note that in the magical, mystical land of Argaan, almost all items are also magical and mystical. Because if they aren't, perhaps you could tell me how does it make sense for an arrow crafted from feathers and stingers to steal an enemy's life? Or why does a bow give +health regeneration? Or why does a heavy suit of armour give +stamina?

Story and quests
After your village is burned down, Diego tells you that there's some superpowered anvil in the mountains of Argaan, that could let you forge superweapons that you could use against Rhobar III. When you come to Argaan, there is absolutely no pushing of the plot for at least 10 hours. You just keep doing fetch quests to unlock new areas to clear a way to the mountains. When you find the anvil, it turns out that you're, of course, the chosen one destined to defeat the Ancient Evil TM and bring balance to the force. King Rhobar is possessed by 'the amulet of the Sleeper'

Final thoughts

And this? This game wouldn't be worth your money even if it shipped with booze and hookers. Yes, it's that bad.(...) I sincerely hope this is the last game that ships with a 'JoWood' logo on its box.

That review is amazing. I also would like to add that rune magic not only works with no reason to work after the events of G3 but also has cooldowns with no reason.

 

[DaveO]

To show that I WON'T give up on this thread and its offshoots, I'll be tabulating the votes yet again come Chinese New Year. I know I posted that I would retabulate by Christmas, but I got pretty busy and could not do it. Everyone is welcome to put in their vote, but bear in mind that my recount includes from my thread WAY back in 2012 after my first initial final count. I'm throwing ALL of those previous votes out and it could get interesting for the next few weeks. I'll repost with the final "damage" count then...

 

[Butter]

There are bad games, and then there are bad games that inspire others to create bad games. With this in mind, you have to look at the 3 B's: Bioware, Blizzard, and Bethesda. Each of them created shit and in so doing inspired others to create more shit. So what's the worst game from these 3 offenders? NWN? Oblivion? No, it's probably WoW. Bioware had the decency to implode after turning into a shovelware studio, and Bethesda have improved (if only marginally) since Oblivion, but WoW is still a huge moneymaker and the MMORPG genre is still a fetid cesspool as a result.

 

[DalekFlay]

What would be far more feasible - and remarkably time consuming - would be to look for the worst of each year starting in 1975.

I took a quick look at Wikipedia's list of RPG games by year and since they include JRPGs I could just pick any random JRPG released that year and it would be tied for worst.

 

[Ocelot]

The worst RPG for me would be NWN2 because of its game-breaking bugs. Close second would be The Witcher 2, if it can be called an RPG. Very overrated and easily forgettable. PoE isn't that bad, but it was definitely worse than I expected it to be. Didn't interest me enough to play its sequel.

Haven't played Disco Elysium, but it looks like something the stereotypical Redditor would develop and/or play.

 

[DaveO]

Can somebody here please do me a favor? I know of this thread, one other and my old 2012 thread. Please let me know if there are any others. I want this newest vote to count. I'm tossiing out my old results from the 2012 tabulation on the old thread and picking up from there.

 

[DaveO]

Here's my tabulation from just this thead alone. There are two others that could change the voting, but you all still have a bit over a month before I put in the final tally for this round.

NWN x
Fallout 3 xxxxXxxxxX
Dragons of Flame x
Dragon Age Inquisition xx
YIIK x
Dragon Age 2 xxxxXxxxxX
Divinity: Original Sin 2 x
Fire Emblem 4 x
Disco Elysium xx
Dragon Age Origins xxxx
Dungeon Siege xx
Undertale x
Final Fantasy 7
Ultima 8 xxxx
Mistmare xx
Metalheart: Replicant's Rampage x
Heath: The Unchosen Path x
Gorasul: Legacy of the Dragon x
Knights of Legend x
Daggerdale x
Realms of Arkania remake x
Oblivion xxxxXx
Arcania xxxx
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided xxx
MM9 xx
Ultima 9 xxxx
Lionheart x
Pools of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor xxxx
Jade Empire xx
Virtual Hydlide x
Zenfar x
Fable (series) x
Two Worlds x
Vendetta: Curse of the Raven's Cry x
Descent to Undermountain xxx
Gothic 3 xxx
Worlds of Warcraft xx
Restricted Area x
Fallout: New Vegas x
Age of Decadence x
Kingdoms of Amalur x
Wizards & Warriors x
Witcher 2 x
Torment: Tides of Numeria xxxxXx
Skyrim x

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Fallout 4
Oblivion
Risen 3
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Game of Thrones
Diablo 2
Diablo 3
(I never played Diablo 1 so can't judge)

Spoiler

Wizardry 8
Arcanum

 

[samuraigaiden]

I don't agree with this being a vote thing. The truly shittiest games obviously didn't get played nearly as much as the high profile flops. To truly choose the shittiest RPGs, one must resort to specialized critical evaluation.

 

[DaveO]

Below is the list from the second thread:

1. ArcaniA: Gothic IV
   42 vote(s)
   
   
2. Descent to Undermountain
   7 vote(s)
   
   
3. Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
   10 vote(s)
   
   
4. Might & Magic IX
   7 vote(s)
   
   
5. Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
   12 vote(s)
   
   
6. Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny HD
   13 vote(s)
   
   
7. Ultima IX: Ascension
   46 vote(s)
   
   
8. Fallout 3
   31 vote(s)
   
   
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
   19 vote(s)
   
   
10. Dragon Age: Inquisition
    15 vote(s)
    
    
11. Dragon Age 2
    18 vote(s)
    

Adding in the totals from this thread, the count so far is:
Fallout 3 - 41
DTU - 10
Lionheart - 11
Arkania Remake - 14
MM9 - 9
Ultima 9 - 50
Oblivion - 25
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor - 16
Gothic 4 - 46

Again, you all have 30 days until Chinese New Year to post your votes before I go back to my old 2012 thread for the final tabulation.

 

[DaveO]

Ok, since tomorrow is Chinese New Year AND I doubt one day is going to make a difference I'll be looking at the old 2012 thread to add in the votes. I should have a tabulation in the next 30-60 minutes.

 

[DaveO]

Below is from the initial count from the OLD 2012 thread. Bear in mind that I'll be counting votes from the thread from page 10 on to the last one.

Revised totals from my count:
Oblivion - 51
NWN - 44
DA2 - 39
Fallout 3 - 38
Gothic 4 - 21
Dungeon Siege - 20

Nothing else breaks 20 votes, although Mass Effect and NWN2 are closest with 19 and 18 votes.

 

[Sergiu64]

Pools of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor is my vote.

 

[anvi]

It shames the codex to have NWN on there.

 

[DaveO]

RPG Codex - Top 50 WORST RPGs YOU'VE PLAYED

OK, that took a bit longer than expected. I had to go back and forth for recounts and I'm not doing it a fourth time.

Here is the list, so anyone can go back to page 10 of the old thread and do counts of the ones I have question marks for.


Oblivion - 39
NWN - 24
DA2 - 20
Fallout 3 - 30
Gothic 4 - 7
Dungeon Siege - 5
Mass Effect - 11
NWN2 - 12
MM9 - 8
Ultima 9 - 16
Pools of Radiance: Myth Drannor - 6
Dragon Age: Origins - 11
Morrowind - 8
Skyrim - 12
Planescape - 8
Arcanum - 9
Witcher 1 - 6
Witcher 2 - 6
Mass Effect 2 - 8
DA: I - ?
Mass Effect 3 - 5
Lionheart - 7
Alpha Protocol - 5
Gothic 3 - ?


New additions put +1 to NWN and Pools of Radiance. I have NOT added in the totals from the newer thread.

There are now THREE separate counts on the three separate threads. The count above is from the oldest thread(the 2012 vote thread). Now IF you still are voting, please let me know for which thread so that I can keep the counts in order. You have until the end of Chinese New Year and I'll then consider all three threads done.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Dragon Age: Origins - 11

meh
to think this is the worst RPG you've played would mean you haven't played very many RPGs

 

[DaveO]

I'm NOT voting for DA: O. I was just putting in the totals. My vote has been and always will be Descent to Undermountain.