Dragon Age: Origins

"Before us stands the Darkspawn horde. Gaze upon them now, but fear them not!"

The BioWare RPG. Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect. Even the 'smaller' projects that the wider world won't remember, like Jade Empire, show off such a devotion to the genre and a focus on building new worlds that they are deserving of a spot on the 1001 list.

It should come as no surprise that there is yet another to add to that list, a darker generic fantasy that puts the sex back in... fantasy? I have no idea where that sentence was going. Let's just go back to the start in Dragon Age: Origins.

Odin Sphere

360 degrees! All the way around! What do you mean, 'depth'?

From one action RPG to another - but the similarities between Mass Effect and Odin Sphere pretty much end right there. This is not your typical action RPG, or it certainly isn't my typical idea of an action RPG. Two-dimensional side-scrolling artwork? Well, I mean, there's no reason it couldn't work, right?

I had no idea what Odin Sphere was when going into it, and after playing it for an hour and skimming the Wikipedia article, I still couldn't give you any hint as to what the story of this game is. It's a fantasy beat 'em up that dabbles in alchemy and fills its levels with colourful artwork.

If that poor description sounds interesting, then do read on.

GrimGrimoire

Or should that be 'GRiMgRiMoiRe'?

Have you ever thought that what the Real-Time Strategy genre needed most was magical anime girls commanding elves and faeries through the corridors of an ancient castle that's also a magic school, with controls that, due to the nature of the PlayStation 2, result in stripping the 'real-time' part away?

If the answer is yes, I don't know what lead you to want that specifically, but I do know that you can find it in GrimGrimoire. New student Lillet Blan is about to find herself repeating a week of magical battles to uncover the truth about something or other. Probably something important to her, I guess?

I don't really know. I should just hop in and find out.

Final Fantasy IV

"Damnation!"

We've gone through so many Final Fantasy titles in this 1001 list that keeping track of what came out when is getting a little tricky. Luckily, the 1001 list is fairly chronological, so after FFXII we're obviously going to be playing Final Fantasy IV.

Shouldn't there be an X in that?

No, my eyes aren't fooling me. The 1001 wants us to play Final Fantasy IV, but specifically its 2007 remake that brought it onto the Nintendo DS and into the third dimension. What carries over from the 1991 Super NES original? The plot, I assume, but what about the mechanics? How much has been borrowed from the last two decades of RPG innovation? Anything? Nothing? Let's find out.

Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress

"All I see is blonde, brunette, redhead..."

Source // Wikipedia

Do you like Rogue but want more? NetHack not enough for you? Do you want all the empty, black spaces on your terminal screen to be full - absolutely crammed full - of characters you didn't even know were in the ASCII standard? And do you then want that fantasy world to be staggeringly huge, span a good few hundred years of simulated history, and be incomprehensible, nonsensical, yet insanely detailed, all at the same time?

Then you might - might, mind - be looking for Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress, or Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress, or better yet, Dwarf Fortress, the game that is almost literally like no other.

There are games you dread to start up, games you fear setting eyes upon, and then there is Dwarf Fortress, as impenetrable to new players as a good fortress should be. This post is going to be something, alright, but I know for sure it won't be useful.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Your blogging skill has increased.

An open-world first-person action-RPG where you can, if you want, leave items scattered about your house, on tables and shelves, to admire whenever you popped back into town. For some reason, when I first heard about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, this what was I couldn't quite believe.

I remember asking, on GameFAQs, if I recall, whether you could, actually, have that level of realism or immersion in Oblivion. I, having only played dumb little console games, was amazed. Easily amused, you might say, and I was desperate to get hold of Oblivion for my PlayStation 3.

Cyrodiil is threatened by the Mythic Dawn, a group of up-to-no-goods intent on opening Oblivion gates - portals to Hell, essentially - and welcoming the inhabitants into town. How distracted by sidequests will you be to help the Blades find the Emperor's only surviving son to save the day?

Final Fantasy XII

"I am simply myself. No more and no less. And I want only to be free."

They just don't stop coming, do they? Final Fantasy is the gift that keeps on giving, should you be a fan of the JRPG series with far more entries and versions and spin-offs than I'm even aware of. I'm still very much an outsider, even having played a few for this 1001 list, but you can't not know about FFVII, or FFX, or FFXIII.

You can picture the art style, you can have a pretty good guess at who the main characters are, even if you don't know their names... but when I tried to remember anything I had come across for Final Fantasy XII, I was drawing a complete blank. No characters sprang to mind. No look, no environments, no mechanics. Nothing. Was this the black sheep of the family?

For once, I'm actually going into an FF title completely blind, rather than mostly. What will I find?

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

"Have at thee!"

Source // Moby Games

The Real-Time Strategy genre, so says the 1001 entry to this next game, could have gone so very differently. While the Command & Conquer series kept churning out entries, sequels to Warcraft were thin on the ground. Both series had stamped their mark on the genre, but only C&C was parading it around the place, making its presence known.

It's now 2002, and someone has returned - with friends and enemies - to define the next stage of the RTS. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos sees Humans, Orcs, Elves and the Undead face off for supremacy in a game more personal than you might imagine.

Hotkeys at the ready, because we're about to micromanage!

Neverwinter Nights

1. Continue

When I first knew of people building their own PCs it was back in the early to mid-2000s, and if my mates weren't building them specifically for Neverwinter Nights, then it was a game I heard them mention often enough.

They had their own Dungeons & Dragons group going, but Neverwinter Nights would allow them to adventure together on the computer, using the latest D&D rules, no less. Not only that, but it would allow whoever was the DM to create their own campaigns and alter them on the fly to accommodate the groups' actions. Neverwinter Nights was the future of Dungeons & Dragons.

Or was it?

RuneScape

Just a few seconds...

The MMORPG. Will I ever be interested in this genre? The next title to see if it can wow me is RuneScape. The only thing I know about RuneScape is that you ought to run and escape it. Thanks, Internet. Real helpful.

You are whoever you want to be in a simple, graphical, multi-user dungeon. The text adventures of the past are now the graphical adventures of the future in this free to play, no download needed, world of questing with your friends and a whole load of strangers too.

It's been some 18 years since its release at the time of writing, so playing it is a little different nowadays. RuneScape Classic was available until around this time last year, before being shut down for good, which leaves me with the closest playable version of the original game, Old School RuneScape, recreating the game from around 2007. It'll do. After all, I don't expect to be spending ten years in this game catching up with the community...

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

I've found something!

It was only yesterday when I was mumbling something about the games on this 1001 list getting more familiar to me. The next game is so familiar that my one memory of it from nearly twenty years ago is that I was borrowing from a friend and I'm relatively sure I returned it a week later having completed it.

But that really is my one memory of it. I can't remember how Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance plays. I don't recall its plot. I don't even recognise areas from skimming through speedruns. Did I actually complete this as a teenager? Did I even play it at all? I'm sure I remember the cover and the name...

Whatever is going on in my memory, it's time to refresh it with a playthrough.

Vagrant Story

"This is my game."

With many games on this 1001 list, I've either known about them for decades (whether I've played them or not) or haven't got a clue what they are at all. The middle ground didn't seem to exist, but it's the best way to describe my awareness of Vagrant Story, an Action RPG that I've been aware of for only a few years at most, and only when it's mentioned in passing by gamers recounting memories of their childhood favourites.

From the precious little I've seen, I've always been interested in it, but not so curious that I had to stop what I was doing and try it out. It has always caught my eye as being a looker, brown and beige though it may be, but I suppose I've then been put off with it being a game that would require many hours to get the most out of it.

What, then, can I find out about this Vagrant Story in the here and now of the 1001 list? Will I confirm my interest in it? Will I see what other gamers love about it? It's time to finally find out.

Final Fantasy IX

"I can't sit around knowing a girl's in trouble. Goes against my nature."

For the past few entries in its rather lengthy list of games, Final Fantasy has, one might argue, moved a little too far away from the fantasy. Steampunk futures and sci-fi military schools... they're interesting settings, no doubt, but ought we go back to a more fantastical setting?

Final Fantasy IX takes players back to a setting more akin to the brand name, as we follow the inevitably epic adventures of Zidane, Vivi and whoever else will come along for the ride through the skies on sailing ships that fly.

Couldn't agree more, ol' man, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see what Final Fantasy IX is all about.

Grandia II

"You better practice if you wanna beat me"

A while ago I had a look at Threads of Fate, a colourful RPG full of weirdly proportioned, goofy-looking characters who I just didn't take to. The next entry on the 1001 list is a colourful RPG that is said to be as good a starting point into this type of RPG as you'll find... and happens to contain slightly weirdly proportioned, less-goofy looking characters that I might like instead? Maybe?

Grandia II follows the hard-man-for-hire life of Ryudo on his quest to make some money. I like to think of him as some kind of Witcher, just doing the messy jobs so that the cogs in the kingdom keep turning, but that's just me imprinting hopes onto a game that is about to show me what it can offer on its own, thank you very much.

I know absolutely nothing about Grandia II, and that obviously includes the plot, so it's another blank slate and a chance for me to play something new.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

You must gather your party before venturing forth.

I have been looking for an isometric RPG that suits me just fine for a little while now. I've not been actively looking, but I've been aware that they've been coming since the likes of Planescape: Torment, and it seems that the next on the 1001 list has been described as 'probably still the pinnacle of the Western RPG'.

Based on that, here's hoping that Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is the kind of game I'm looking for - a deep story, lots of gameplay options, engaging to both the new and old players...

It's time to roll up another a character.

EverQuest

Don't forget: You're here forever.

If you're thinking 'isn't it a little late to be playing a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game first released in 1999?', know that you're correct. It is a little late to be playing EverQuest so long after it's launch, but this game is still up and running and free to play for new players going back through the history of video games to see what the must-play titles are.

Because there is literally no other reason to play it.

Xenogears

Huff, huff... We shall be as Gods.

This shot, more or less, was the image used in the 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die book in order to entice readers into a deep, deep game that merges science fiction and fantasy and philosophy and ethics and lord knows what else, I was too distracted by the mechs it had as well.

This is the first playable section of Xenogears and a better screenshot should have been used. I don't know what - I'm no editor (have you even read this blog?) - but it could be more descriptive, I think. Something like this.

Yeah. Hard to see Mechs in the dark. That's the one.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go to space and see what's happening.

Shining Force III

Rain Thunder!

Source // Emuparadise / Baffou

The Sega Saturn has a kinda-3D turn-based tactics fantasy RPG, along the lines of Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics, so large in scale that it was split into three parts, only one of which made it outside of Japan and onto the 1001 list.

Its name is Shining Force III, and specifically Scenario 1, aka 'God Warrior of the Kingdom'.

I have a good history with the Saturn, aka 'not a chance in hell of being able to play this game'.

Ultima Online

A Muhmorpuhger, you say?

Ever since playing Dungeons & Dragons with a group of school friends a long time ago, I've enjoyed role-playing games. They come in many, many forms, of course, and there are highlights of this gargantuan genre in both physical and digital media. But of all the many ways you can play roles in games, I've never gotten into the MMORPG.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. It's a mouthful, and it was a term used to describe Ultima Online, the next step for the already pretty damn big Ultima series.

Now, I didn't have the best of times with the previous Ultima entries on this 1001 list, and I'm not expecting anything different here, but I have to say up front that it must be doing something right to still have players twenty years after its initial release, and credit to whoever deserves credit here, but you can play a trial version with your choice of client, including the original.

All I need now is dial-up internet.

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness

Hello!

The juggernaut that is World of Warcraft had to start somewhere, and while Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness wasn't that start, it is the first of the Warcraft titles to make the 1001 list.

A real-time strategy title in the vein of Command & Conquer but swapping out humans for humans and orcs, tiberium for gold and wood, and full motion video cutscenes with in-game one-liners that do eventually get a bit old but at least lend to the almost cartoony charm on display.

It may sound like a reskin of a more familiar game, but saying that doesn't really give it a chance to show itself off, so I'm going to dive right into another game I've never played, absolutely blind as usual.

Wish me luck.