Well, here it is folks!!! Number 1 of the Top Ten RPGs of Metacritic:
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn!!!
Scoring 95 across 30 critics, it's an oldie and a goodie, people!
Picking up where Baldur's Gate left off, "Shadows of Amn" just improved on pretty much everything about it's predecessor.
While clearly visually dated, BG2 hasn't held on to the top spot for no reason!
It's got an expansive plot that follows directly from the first game, a bigger worlds, more quests, improvements all around, AND… See More
the classic pedigree of what is arguably D&D's most famous campaign setting: the Forgotten Realms.
The bit about the Forgotten Realms might not mean as much as it used to, with all the great IPs we see nowadays, but at the time it was the gold standard of Fantasy RPG worlds.
Being a D&D game, with the all the depth and developed history of the Forgotten Realms, is one of the major reasons that BG2 became a measuring stick for titles that came after.
And that's a role it continues to play, despite it age. It's just that good.
Steam offers the Enhanced Edition and so, once again, it's not a perfect apples to apples comparison and I'll supplement with Metacritic's User reviews again.
Steam Users rated it 83% Positive across 2,271 reviews.
However, Users on Metacritic gave it a 9.2 (out of 10) across 1236 reviews.
Since the Metacritics User rating and Metascore are about a margin of error apart, that disconnect with the Steam reviews is probably the result of Steam offering the updated "Enhanced Edition" and players comparing it to more modern titles.
This may not look as great as more recent titles, but it's got it where it really counts and it'll take you back to you D&D days. Nothing like a little nostalgia to make all your troubles disappear!
Wow, I really expected more responses toward the "social" side. I didn't expect it to be first in the poll, but it's surprising that a genre that has it's roots in social gameplay has so few respondents preferring it.
I feel that there is so much potential in social RPGs. Maybe publisher/studios just haven't found the right formula?
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I enjoy both, but there are RPGs that are better solo and better with friends. I have to know the people in order to fully RP with them, otherwise it's a leap to extend the trust to someone else. That can be a lot of fun if you and the people you interact with can form a community of friends. Not so fun if it's just a gathering of people you don't know to well.. In those instances, Solo play is preferable. At least in my view.
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I'm a solo player really, I don't have time to really schedule a social experience and really there isn't anything in the social RPG environment that screams "must play with people...". Of course I played WoW incorrectly, basically all quest and PVE, no raids, no PVP...
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