Poll: The greatest RPG developer ever?

[tjarne]

Bethesda Softworks what can I say? I love elder scrolls and Fallout 3. Bioware come close though.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

I'd have to place the labyrinthine mind of my best friend and personal Dungeon Master into the other category. That kid can make a simple skirmish the most exciting moment of my young life. Seriously, the plot twists and weird experiences that he places in EVERY encounter more than bring the Role Playing Trophy home.

In fact, just last night I was walking through a farmers woe-be-gone field in an attempt to rid it of the local Bug Bear when I was picked up by an alien spaceship.

Absurd? Yes.

Nut Tighteningly Cool? You bet your ass.

 

[E-Hybrid]

While the other developers are respectable, Bioware is my choice with games like Kotor and Mass Effect. Classics in each era

 

[Syphous]

Bioware's games are actually fun and the story is great. So... there you have it. I'm sick of androgynous JRPG protagonists that just cry the entire game.

 

[H0ncho]

Black Isle of course, they are practically the father of modern western crpgs. If you play their games you'll understand that Bioware's spam is nothing but pale imitations of their work.

Sorry, but I did play Black Isle games back when they first came out, and while it's true that they're awesome and Bioware owes a lot to them, Bioware games are better. Bioware gets my vote.

The problem with Bioware however is that all they do is derivative cliched shit, and while they do this well (how could they not, when they have done exactly the same so many times before) they do not push the genre forward* like Black Isle did

*No, mass effect does not count as moving the genre forward, it counts as forgoing RPG elements for FPS elements. And while that can be enjoyable enough, this does not push the *rpg* genre forwards.

 

[KellyKMc]

I think you clearly have to make a distiction between Japanese style RPGs and Western RPGs. Both of my kids love JPRGs but are "meh" when it comes to western RPG's. I am the opposite. I think a lot of people are. I suspect people love one genre more than the other. I would be surprised to find someone who loves Mass Effect as much as they loved Eternal Sonata.

In any case, my list is:
Bethesda for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout III
Bioware for KoTR, Mass Effect, and DA:Origins
2K for Bioshock
RockStar for Red Dead Redemption (could never get into the GTA series tho)

 

[-Seraph-]

Atlus is probably the only RPG developer I can always count on to deliver good material so they get my vote.

 

[Kruxxor]

I would've voted for Square. But they went downhill.

Bioware wins.

 

[XMark]

In the time up to and including Final Fantasy 7, I would have said Square. However, in the present day Bioware is the king.

 

[Dracovec]

i picked bioware because i cannot support squeenix any longer not with the crap they have kept rolling out...
and also gotta give big love to atlus and nis love them to death,companies that cater to their fans

 

[Ieyland]

From that list it's:
1. Square Enix
2. Bethesda
3. Black Isle
4. Blizzard
5. Bioware
6. Lionhead

Though I wouldn't even put Lionhead in the top 50, and with their recent snore-fest DA:O and catty comments, Bioware'd be lucky to hit my Top 15.

If only there were 50 RPG developers. Life would be much better.

*Facepalm*
That's you response!
I'm sure over 50 devs have made an RPG in the last 25 years. Now go take a long walk off a short pier.

snip

Here.
Let me know if there are more than 50 RPG developers ever:
http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/companies/fulllist.html

Spoiler

As predicted, there are a lot more

Uh, yeah. Now there definitely video game developers who developed a single RPG game or two. At least fourty out of your fifty. But this is a best RPG developers list, if, in your opinion, BioWare doesn't even beat them. Then you have a, uh, very unique opinion? And was your comment really necessary? I wasn't even sarcastic, I was serious. You even looked up a website? This is a forum, lighten up.

 

[Ieyland]

Bioware.

They made KotOR, Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect games for fuck's sake!

[small]Yes, the ME games are RPGs, just because the combat is good doesn't change that.[/small]

I'm glad someone agrees with me! I say that the original ME combat is boring but ME2's was really awesome! Everyone I have met told me the combat was dull.

 

[OceanRunner]

SquareSoft/Square Enix for me. They've brought us Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Vandal Hearts, Vagrant Story, etc.

 

[gjendemsjo]

Bioware, 'cause they made a game featuring the badass that represents my avatar. I'm on my 6th playthrough of Mass effect 2 now, that should speak for itself.

 

[Ieyland]

Uh, yeah. Now there definitely video game developers who developed a single RPG game or two. At least fourty out of your fifty. But this is a best RPG developers list, if, in your opinion, BioWare doesn't even beat them. Then you have a, uh, very unique opinion? And was your comment really necessary? I wasn't even sarcastic, I was serious. You even looked up a website? This is a forum, lighten up.

You did question whether there were even 50 RPG devs all time. I found the answer.

Note: I said Lionhead probably wouldn't break my top 50.
Bioware wouldn't break my top 15.

I mean, there are so many good ones that went unmentionned:

Nippon Ichi (Disgaea)
Level 5 (Take your pick)
Atlus (Persona)
Monolith (Xeno series)
Gust (Atelier series)
Neverland (Estopolis ie. Lufia)
Konami (Suikoden)
Capcom (BoF)
Sega (Phantasy Star, Valkyria Chronicles)
HAL (Earthbound ie. Mother)
Origin (Ultima)
From Software (Demon's Souls)
TSR (DnD)
Contrail (Legend of Legaia, Alundra 2)
Media Vision (Wild Arms)

There's 15. Plus the ones previously mentioned. IMO, they are all ahead of Bioware.

I understand. I've mostly only played Square and Ware's RPG. I need to broaden my horizons.