Top 10 RPGs of the Last Decade

Welcome back Nerds for our second ever top 10 list! I've mentioned before that the plan is to put one of these out every week provided I don't fry my brain and can no longer think of any. But no worries for now as I have plenty of ideas!

Todays list is the top 10 Role Playing Games of the last decade. I had to narrow the search down to the last ten years because It was breaking my heart to cut some of these games. Perhaps I will have to make those decisions in a later list. But for now, we are taking things slow and easy so no ones feelings get hurt because I omitted their all time favourite. That being said, a lot of you reading may very well be upset that your game didn't make it onto this list, or your number one choice was not higher. 

Rules are pretty plain and simple. The game had to of been released within the last 10 years, that doesn't really mean we will be going that far back, but just to give you a time frame that you can argue about in the comments. Second, they can't be remakes or remasters. Which means no to Final Fantasy X/X-2 (Also, FFXII just barely missed the cut, having been released March of 2006). Third, only one title per franchise. Meaning there can't be multiple Final Fantasy games, or even spin offs of a series. I must only pick one game from said series. I want the list to be as diverse as possible. 
Lastly, I had to of played the game. This is where some might take an issue. But I have played many an RPG, Nerds. So fear not, I feel you wont completely disagree with my list. But if you do, lets make it a conversation!
Without further stalling, strap in for a long one...


10. Mass Effect 2


Yes, hot on the tail of the newest Mass Effect game, of course there had to be one on this list. They are all fantastic Role Playing games. (All of them, I'll fight you on it.). I think however you can agree that the absolute best entry made the list. 
Being a Playstation fan I never had the chance to play the original Mass Effect until years later when the trilogy collection was released. So my entry point to the series was Mass Effect 2. I'm sure there were plenty of story elements that flew right over my head, but I was blown away by this game. The opening, all of my crew and how much I loved getting to know every single one of them. And the climax to the game followed by the anticipation for the last game in the trilogy. All of these experiences are what I remember when I think of ME2. That Suicide Mission... To this day, I have not earned the Trophy for having everyone survive it. Even after completing everyones loyalty mission. 
Story and characters aside, the gameplay was solid for it's time and the upgrade system was great! Choosing your class in the beginning like many RPG games that came before it, however this felt different. Everyone was playing the same person. Everyone had their very own unique Commander Shepard with their own class, their own play style, their own relationships and story. It was one of the closest games I played that gave me what some would call "Water cooler moments". Except for me it was a high school cafeteria. My story ended almost drastically different than all of my friends, and watching how my friends played the game made me almost jealous that I developed my Shepard in a completely different way. 
Now, Mass Effect Andromeda I think has mastered how ME games should handle the Role Playing and leveling aspect of series going forward, but Andromeda doesn't have the same stopping power as ME2. That game his me hard, and I didn't let go for a long time.

9. Final Fantasy XIV


This one was admittedly a little hard to put on the list because theoretically it is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game/A mouth full). So, I mean, technically it is still within the realms of an RPG despite it being multiplayer. I knew I absolutely needed to put a Final Fantasy game on this list, and my choices were limited seeing as release dates for new FF games are years in between. My choices were XIII (NOPE), XV, which I originally was prepping to place on this list, because I do in fact love XV, it even made the Top 10 Final Fantasy Games list (Check it out HERE). However the more I thought about it, the more i couldn't get Final Fantasy XIV out of my head. i have easily put 12-15 days worth of game time into that beast. The best part is, if you want to play the main campaign solo, you absolutely can. Just think of all the other players as NPCs. I love playing solo, doing my own thing from time to time, but I also loved contributing to my Free Company (XIV's version of guilds). I made actual gaming friends playing XIV, and being able to explore the world of Eorza with a character I have crafted from the ground up is amazing. The world is the best looking of any MMO I have ever seen (To be fair, I have never been huge into the MMO scene, so feel free to slam me here). 
Being able to change my class without having to create ten different characters just by changing my Avatars weapon is so simplistic yet genius. I main a level 60 Dark Knight with a Black Mage as my secondary DPS class. Fighting Primals (Or Summons as they are called in most FF games) is awe inspiring and earning weapons based on these iconic beasts such as Ifrit, Shiva, and most recent Alexander feels extremely rewarding.
I also felt this was a great time to place this game on my top ten list with the release of Stormblood in June and the announcement that the game has gone Free to Play (Kind of). Anyone can play the game for as long as they want without a subscription, however you will be capped at level 35 until you decide to switch to the paid model. This is a HUGE chunk of the game available for free. I would say if you are a new time player jumping it, that is at least 20-35 hours of content for free! If you love Final Fantasy games at all, I can't recommend this enough for the amount of fun and lasting memories this game has left me. 

8. Borderlands 2


This Diablo style first person shooter blew me away. Killing enemies, gathering massive amount of loot, leveling up/placing points in my skill tree. I live for that shit! Something about that formula is so painfully addicting. It's the type of gameplay that makes you say "One more boss fight/One more level" until it's 4am and you need to start being a human being in just short of two hours. 
Everything about this game speaks to me, the Cell-Shaded graphics, the six playable characters, their many vastly different play styles, the huge amount of personality the game has in general. It's all fantastic stuff. It's a game that even after placing five whole days of playtime into ONE CHARACTER I still wish there was more to do in the game. And no, I don't mean Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. While not a god awful game, it doesn't reach the heights that Borderlands 2 brought to the table. 
Borderlands fully embraces the comedy of the Mad Max styled dystopia. Everyone is insane. Everyone is a little bad, some far worse than others. And unlike Mad Max, everyone explodes into guns. As a huge bonus, Handsome Jack is one of the most hilarious and charismatic villains I have ever witnessed in any form of media, period. Every single interaction with with Jack is rewarding in some way. You thirst to know more about why Jack is the monster he is. And I mean, monster. He does some horrendous shit. And no, I don't just mean he is a dick. You'll want him dead by the last quarter of the game. 
My only hope is that when Borderlands 3 comes around (You better believe they aren't going to leave that cash cow), that it takes it a step up from Borderlands 2 and makes another game that blows my damn mind and has me painfully addicted to it years after the release. 


7. Dragon Age: Inquisition

That Bull Romance was real
I bet you figured if there was going to be a Dragon Age game here it would of been Origins. you would of figured wrong. Origins was fantastic and really set the ground work for a great series. Inquisition is where I really got to sink my teeth in. Maybe I just really loved having Iron Bull and Varric as my bodyguards in DA, or I really enjoyed the Bald/Big Beard badass Necromancer that I created so serve as the leader of the Inquisition. This is a game I have always wanted to go back to after I put it down, and now that all of the DLC is out it may finally give me a reason to go back once I am down with Bioware's current RPG life waster. Because there isn't much better things to do in life than to waste it raising the dead in a video game to fight by my side wearing armour carved from Dragon Flesh.. Put that on your resume.

6. Dragon's Crown

This damn game.. I ignored it for months before release. Only to finally do a quick Youtube search after seeing so many articles about it flying around the interwebs. That one Youtube search was all I needed to know I was one thousand percent in. Holy hell, this game looked fucking fantastic. The best part was, my assumptions were right. A side scrolling "beat em up" essentially where you pick your starting class, each with a vastly different play style with a difficulty curve depending on how hard it was to play that class. A very satisfying leveling and loot system. Surprisingly fantastic co-op, yet it was still hard to convince friends to pick up an RPG so different from a sprawling open world game. The game was criticized for being over sexual with it's character designs, and I one hundred and ten percent agree... However, the game is so damn good I pretend to ignore this issue and just hope VanillaWare tones it down in the future because I don't want to feel guilty for completely falling in love with this game. 
If you weren't sold on this game, it's Odin Sphere, but infinitely better. Also, cross play on PS4 and Vita. Please VanillaWare... Give me a sequel/spiritual successor or HD remaster. I would give a lung.

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

An Elder Scrolls game absolutely had to make this list. An if it weren't for the ten year restriction I think the winner would have been The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played a little bit of Morrowind, but it was really Oblivion that drew me into the Elder Scrolls world. However, Skyrim improved on the gameplay aspects of the Elder Scrolls games and in another smart move, centring the whole story on Dragons and being the "Dragonborn". It almost seems like a cheep marketing move. If I am playing an RPG, I want two things. One, I want to be a fucking wizard. Two, I want to kill some goddamn dragons. I apologize for the excessive amounts of harsh language in the last two sentences, but my brain explodes in "awesomeness" when I think about taking down a Alduin with a giant stream of LIGHTNING FROM MY FISTS! 
Also, with the HD Special Edition it just made me realize how much I love exploring the world and building a nearly un stoppable wizard. My only hope is that Elder Scrolls Online brings me back with the Morrowind expansion.

4. Dark Souls 3

Jeez, this list makes me feel like the king of the unpopular opinion. Yes, I picked DS3 over the original. Once again, the original was such a great game. Took all of the gameplay concepts from Demon's Souls and improved greatly on them. I am a HUGE souls fan. I love absolutely everything about all of them. Even Dark Souls 2, the so called "Black Sheep" on the series is still far far better than most game that got released that year. 
Dark Souls 3 mastered everything that was ever great about the Souls-Borne series. Hands down the best combat the series has seen. Bloodborne was a huge improvement with the fast paced hack and slash, but always felt something was missing. And that something was, as mentioned in the Skyrim entry, I want to be a fucking wizard. That is kind of make-or-break with me. And in Dark Souls 3... I am, indeed a wizard. My level 200 Gandalf the Grey looking Unkindled is a complete badass with maxed out Intelligence so I can sling spells and fireballs at Phantoms faces. 
Also now with all of the DLC out, it makes for a completely fantastic end to the Dark Souls series (The Ringed City review coming soon... After it stops kicking my ass).
I recommend this game for anyone who enjoys Purple Nurples and playing Roshambo. And prepare to die more times than you have hours invested into the game. 

3. Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

I will start by saying, when this game first came out, I hated it. I loved the amazing, mind blowing graphics, but hated the combat. I couldn't customize Geralt to be a fucking wizard. Yes, I can shoot fire from my hands, but I can't solely rely on my magic powers to disintegrate my enemies and terrify their allies into submission. 
It was only months later once both lengthy, rightfully names Expansions were released that my interest in the series peaked and after it had won so many GOTY awards. I realized that maybe being a fucking wizard wasn't the most important thing in a Fantasy RPG. it lined up perfectly, I had vacation booked at my day job, so I decided to sit down and put a good hour or two into the game and test the waters. Something clicked, and an hour or two turned into 40-60 hours that week. Eventually the combat that I hated at first grew on me, And I can now say it's one of my favourite combat systems in almost any Fantasy RPG.. I fell so in love so hard and became absolutely addicted to everything in this world... I even want to dive back in right now...    

2. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

To say this game took me by surprise is an understatement. Final Fantasy crossed with Pokemon. Sounds good right? Well, it's amazing. A new JRPG IP that makes you fall in love with the world and characters in the first hour. The world and characters of Ni No Kuni are surprisingly fun and light considering that the premise of the game is that you play a little boy who's mother dies at the beginning of the game and you are trying to bring her back. This isn't a spoiler for the game as you it's the premise of the whole plot and happens within the first half hour of the game and sets up the whole story. A dark beginning for a heart filled story of capturing monsters, training them to be the very best and battling along side of them to beat the White Witch. 
I am fearful that the Ni No Kuni 2 wont be as fantastically good because now I have expectations. Extremely high expectations. As in, this game had better be GOTY worthy and should sell millions.

1. Diablo III

Before you say it, I agree. Diablo II would of been on the list if it weren't for the Decade rule. However, how great has Diablo III become? This and Final Fantasy XIV are both amazing examples of how the poor initial state of a games release doesn't plague the game from amazing future updates that turn a game from the Black Sheep of a series to one of its strongest entries. If you remember, the reason Borderlands 2 is on my list is because it copies the Diablo formula. Exploding loot bodies and grinding. How could I mention that formula and not have the king of all RPG Dungeon Crawling looters on the list. I have lost weeks of my life playing Diablo II, and I am crawling up there with Diablo III. and Honestly I probably wouldn't of played half as much of D3 if it weren't on console. I basically platinumed the game twice. once on Playstation 3, and again on Playstation 4 with the Ultimate Evil Edition. However, I can't stop playing this game even with no more virtual trophy mounts to collect. And with Seasons finally coming to PS4/XBOX One, you had better believe my life will wither away while I pour it into a seasonal (fucking) wizard. All of this however, is just passing time until the release of the beloved Necromancer. The reason I can't remember anything between the years 2001 and 2006.. I honestly can't believe I graduated from Elementary and Jr High with the likes of Diablo at my finger tips. 2017 is going to continue to be a fantastic year for Diablo III. And with any Blizzard game, you know so much more is still to come to this already amazing game. 

There you have it! Top Ten RPGs of the last Decade. I know plenty of you are mad that I left yours out, and may be upset with my number one pick. The world will keep turning, everything is going to be okay, just breath. But Please, tell me what you would change. Or if you agree with me, I would love to know some of your fondest memories with the games listed above! 

For more reviews and Top Ten lists, keep checking out Relatable Nerds! 






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