Question of the Day, September 6, 2010

[Knight Templar]

I wan't to say Baldur's Gate, but since Zelda has influenced so many games, I have to pick it. Even if it isn't a traditional RPG.

 

[Enigmers]

Dungeons and Dragons more than anything on this list. Otherwise, Final Fantasy probably influenced jRPGs heavily, whereas on the western side, I'd have to go with Diablo because it's the iconic ARPG (every other ARPG is referred to as a Diablo-Clone). I've never played Dragon Quest, I don't think Zelda i enough of an RPG to have influenced them very heavily, and Oblivion/Dragon Age are really too new to have influenced the genre.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

So that everybody agrees, BALDUR'S GATE !

although i played much more BG2 than the first one...

 

[The Last Nomad]

Baldur's Gate. Everything used in Baldur's Gate has been re-used so often its easy to actually forget that Baldur's Gate actually did most of it first. Neverwinter nights is pretty much a Baldur's Gate game, so I picked that becuase I hate voteing other.

Final Fantasy is a close second though.

 

[ItsAPaul]

Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn, because a better rpg has yet to be made.

 

[Dectilon]

Well... FF was originally inspired by D&D, wasn't it?

 

[Rickyvantof]

A Zelda RPG? Where? When? I WANT TO PLAY IT!

 

[GothmogII]

The thing is...I would -love- to cite Planescape: Torment as being a big influence on RPG's, or at least, the western variety, however, that's clearly not the case as, after Baldur's Gate 2, that style of RPG started dropping in quality as time went on.

Now, the Neverwinter Nights series and Dragon Age, and Mass Effect -are- all influential games, but, I've often felt that since the early days of the Forgotten Realms inspired RPGs there's just been something missing from the pie, something essential.

As for Oblivion and it's ilk, those are...different, I'd even go so far as to call them fantasy simulation games as much as they're RPG's. It could very well be in all these instances it's a lack of good writing that's souring me on these games, because otherwise they've got fantastic premises and almost fully realised worlds, if not the right wordsmith to unlock them.

 

[BlackIronGuardian]

Well first of all, Zelda isn't an RPG at all. These choices suck. Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Ultima Online, Fallout etc are all far more influential.

My votes going to Baldur's Gate.

This, easily this.

 

[GothmogII]

Was Final Fantasy influential? I'd love an example of a game influenced by the first Final Fantasy. Shouldn't be hard I hope.

But, even taking the series as a whole...it's certainly popular, well known, but where can we see the results of it's influences??

 

[solidstatemind]

Somebody has probably already said this, but I'm in a hurry so I can't read all the posts:

Without the original Dungeons & Dragons (and the product that SSI brought to the computer), the genre 'RPG' doesn't even exist.

 

[Nimzar]

from the JRPG pool I'd say Dragon Quest... 'cause it led a failing Squaresoft to try their hand at a similar game. Final Fantasy.

and the I find the lack of Baldur's Gate on this pool to be a bit stupid. (Why is dragon age on here? The game hasn't been around long enough to have had an influence )

 

[Alumit]

I'm torn between Zelda and Final Fantasy. They were both pretty solid in my opinion.

Peace~

 

[8bitmaster]

dungeons and dragons. Its not a video game, but where would rpgs be without its existence.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I REALLY want to say Zelda, out of personal bias, but I am a man of logic, and thus my vote goes to Final Fantasy.
It's become the template for almost all JRPGs, and is the first game that comes to many gamer's mind when you say any of the following:
-(J)RPG
-Square/Square Soft/Square-Enix
-Androgynous teenagers (KIDDING!)
-Great story (debatable, but still...)

My other personal vote goes to D&D, because without it, would there even BE any RPGs?

 

[Abanic]

Oblivion obviously, that game is epic. Final Fantasy has too many cut scenes, if it were not for this, I would choose final fantasy.

The question was "Which of these is more influential?" not "Which do you like the most?"

I hate Final Fantasy and everything related to it, but I can still recognize that it was one of the key turning points in RPGs.

I know what the question is and I answered it accordingly, Oblivion was more influential because it didn't have any cut scenes and still was a great game, meaning it focused all on gameplay. It was the first RPG I am aware of to do this.

That's really not 'influential' since there AREN'T a lot of RPGs that do this.

No, their aren't a lot of RPGs that do this, but the ones that do are all modern RPGs with more following in their footsteps. It has shown the RPG genre that cut scenes aren't needed, thus changing the genre, MAKING IT MORE INFLUENTIAL.

You do realize that Final Fantasy only started it's 'cut-scenes' with #7, right? Before that the characters would simply move around and talk without the player being in complete control, or they wouldn't talk at all (silent protagonists) and the story would evolve around them. Oblivion (though I love it) was not the innovator here.

It was for current gen consoles. Final Fantasy evolved with adding cut scenes and RPGs followed this. Oblivion however, went against this changing how we play RPGs today.

What was "for current gen consoles"? You said 'it'.

 

[Uri]

Baldur's Gate series?.....

screw NWN, dragon age or Oblivion, all just Baldurs gate in a new shiny jacket. Still all very awesome.

 

[Firia]

Well first of all, Zelda isn't an RPG at all. These choices suck. Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Ultima Online, Fallout etc are all far more influential.

My votes going to Baldur's Gate.

That's just like, your opinion, man.
The daily vote seldom have options that don't suck, or cause you to question "why." But I think there are some pretty good choices here. Depending on what era of RPG you look at, the answer is totally different. In the NES era, you better bet that Final Fantasy was the ringer. When the PC started to roll out better games, Baldurs Gate, no doubt. In recent games? *shrug* Anyones guess!

Legend of Zelda: Adventures of Link was RPG'esq. Aaaand that was it.

 

[Yureina]

Final Fantasy. That's an easy choice. Also, where were Baldur's Gate or Fallout on that list?