10 RPGs That Influenced Modern Gaming More Than Players Realized

RPGs are arguably one of the most influential genres in gaming of all time. Ignoring my bias as a massive RPG nerd, so many games from the genre have gone on to shape a generation of developers and the games they’ll eventually make.

Whether it’s the emotional core of a game’s story, a cast of characters that you form genuine, lifelong attachments to, or rich mechanics that stick with you and enhance your investment in the game, RPGs are a genuine gold mine for quality storytelling and unmatched experiences.

So, without further ado, here are our top 10 picks for RPGs whose influence is so important that they’ve gone on to revolutionize modern gaming.

10

Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar

Setting the foundation for Western RPGs

Despite being little more than a few different pieces of colored tiles, the Ultima series, at the time of its release, was the perfect gaming adaptation of a pen-and-paper adventure.

Released all the way back in 1989, developer Richard Garriott would create the blueprint of all future CRPG’s to come, creating the foundation for deep roleplaying systems in gaming. While you could list any Ultima game here as the grandfather of CRPG’s, it can be argued that Ultima 4 is the series peak.

Taking inspiration from fan letters, Garriott would be drawn to how players described their playthroughs of Ultima, but noticed a trend: players would commit morally evil actions to become more powerful. This led Garriott to implement a morality system in the game, rewarding players for performing honorable deeds and penalizing players for evil deeds.

Not only is Ultima: Quest of the Avatar a fantastic RPG even to this day, but you can still feel the influence it has on modern morality systems in games, which you’d see come to light in franchises like Dragon Age and Fallout.

9

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

The Inspiration for the Ancestors of JRPGs

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is often cited as one of the most influential RPGs of all time. Both the creators of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy have gone on to share that the 1981 grid-based dungeon-crawler was a direct influence for them, which is enough to put it down as one of the GOATS.

In Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, players manage a party of six freelance adventurers as they explore a challenging dungeon. Here, you’ll stumble into different random encounters which will launch you into unforgiving, turn-based combat scenarios, which will test your understanding of your party lineup.

Most importantly, the game started the blueprint of the classic “town-to-dungeon” gameplay loop. Players will create their party of six, choosing the combination to get you through whatever you’ll encounter on your run, then return to rest and buy new equipment.

Wizardry also launched the classic Final Fantasy and Dungeon Quest trope of extending spell names to showcase that the spell is more powerful. For example, in Final Fantasy, Fires becomes Fira then Firaga. Meanwhile in Wizardry, it goes Halito into Mahalito then finally Lahalito. The development team did this as the original Wizardry was running off of essentially all the computing power and memory the Apple II could offer, so the shortening of names was one solution to help trim down what they could.

While you may not have heard about the Wizardry franchise now, its influence is undeniable, with several of its core mechanics still being used in gaming today.

An RPG Giant That Defined an Entire Decade of Gaming

You could spend entire afternoons arguing over whether Skyrim or Morrowind deserves the spot here, but if we’re talking modern gaming, you have to give it to the 2011 open-world RPG.

If you’re an unc like me, you’ll probably be familiar with the “It’s like Skyrim but X” trope that plagued video games in the 2010s. Looking back, though, many of those comparisons were accurate to describe what that era of gaming was trying to emulate. No game dominated the 2010s quite like Bethesda’s apparent magnum opus, as almost every game looked to match its open-world design.

You’d see franchises like Far Cry become global household names thanks to Skyrim’s inspiration. Even The Legend of Zelda would reinvent itself with 2017’s Breath of the Wild, in which the developers directly cited Skyrim as an influence.

From the moment you escape that dragon attack in Helgen, and find the freedom to roam the lands of Skyrim, you can already tell you’re in for a treat. By letting players roam freely, gamers are instantly able to begin role-playing their journey in their heads.

Whether that’s immediately launching into the main story quest to slay dragons, or simply starting a humble life as a blacksmith who desperately needs to craft hundreds of iron daggers, players are given a large sandbox to play in as they see fit.

This immense freedom on offer is what made Skyrim one of the most landmark titles we’ve seen in generations, and the golden goose so many developers have tried to achieve in recent years.

7

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

A Landmark in RPG Storytelling

BioWare spent a large part of its early life making studio-defining RPGs that would pave the way for the genre. However, it wasn’t until Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) that the studio would discover its blueprint for merging a rich, engaging story with a deeply satisfying role-playing experience.

In KOTOR, it’s easy to lose yourself in the game’s rich world-building in BioWare’s fresh take on the Star Wars universe. Taking place thousands of years before the events of the movies, the developers boldly expand on the lore between Sith and Jedi, and the universe’s relationship to the two factions.

Over the course of your playthrough, you’ll also form an attachment to your ragtag group of allies, as every conversation deepens your bond with them. BioWare’s impeccable writing ensures each conversation not only expands your understanding of these characters and the world they’re from, but also your character and how you feel you’d react to the situations in the game.

KOTOR is a landmark in role-playing gaming that defined how players can form relationships with an ensemble cast in the game. And thanks to the game’s celebrated twist, it also changed how player characters can go beyond a mere self-insert of the player, and let them truly feel like they’re part of the story.

6

World of Warcraft

What Finally Kicked off the MMO Craze

There’s no denying that World of Warcraft may just be the most influential MMORPG of all time. It’s rare for a game to come out over 20 years ago and still be the basis that all games get compared to. But somehow, WoW continues to hold onto its crown.

Before WoW released, MMOs were seen as a more niche form of gaming. Games like EverQuest, Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies had their passionate fans, but it wasn’t until WoW nailed the MMO formula that gamers would fall into the genre and let it dominate their free time.

One reason you can attribute to WoW’s success was how it streamlined many MMO tropes to be more player-friendly. For example, players wouldn’t have to grind by killing monsters just to level up; instead, they could roam from quest to quest, getting a minor dopamine rush each time they turned in a quest.

WoW would also pioneer one of the largest and most active online communities of all time, turning servers into tight-knit groups of players who would work together to grind levels, trade valuable items, and more.

In terms of cultural impact, it’s hard to argue WoW might have had one of the most powerful pop culture impacts on gaming at the time. Who here doesn’t remember Ozzy Osbourne’s fantastic commercial promoting the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in 2008? Or the endlessly quotable South Park episode?

World of Warcraft proved the potential online games could have with forming passionate communities online, and the rich roleplaying potential MMO’s can offer, where players get to create their own stories with each other.

5

Diablo 2

The Finest Loot System to Grace an RPG

Diablo 2 would be a stand-out title in the ARPG genre thanks to its stellar combat system and brooding atmosphere alone. But what’s kept the game’s enduring legacy over the years is its impeccable loot system, which makes every playthrough unique and special.

Loot systems in games can be one of the hardest aspects to tune. It’s tough to keep players engaged with loot that feels rewarding to collect, without a majority of it ending up as garbage players can sell en masse at their earliest convenience. Diablo 2, however, managed to find a near-perfect balance to keep looting feeling rewarding and ensure that players were incentivized to be flexible with their builds.

A key reason for this is that every item feels valuable. Contrary to the Borderlands approach of flooding the game with “a million guns” which mostly blend together, Diablo 2’s loot manages to make all types of loot useful regardless of rarity.

To this day, there are still entire essays out there helping players understand the game’s dense item systems and how to build an appropriate late-game character.

It’s this considerate approach to loot that has made Diablo 2 a staple influence for games like Path of Exile and Torchlight, which would also set out to have deeply rewarding loot systems.

4

Fallout

An RPG That Makes Player Choice Feel Impactful

While playing the original Fallout today can feel less fun than slamming your face into a hot sandwich press, the title is still a landmark achievement in recognizing player autonomy and rewarding (or punishing) your decisions.

Taking place in a post-apocalyptic America, your character must depart from the safe confines of their vault into the wild and dangerous wasteland. From here on out, players will get to explore the new world in whatever order they choose, deciding to resolve conflicts by smooth-talking their way out of them or through a violent shoot-out.

As a lover of speech checks, Fallout 1 may have the best implementation of this playstyle of all time. If you accrue all of the correct information throughout your playthrough, you’ll be able to reason the major villain out of their master plan by exposing its flaws, avoiding a more violent encounter.

The immense freedom with so many branching paths to complete quests has gone on to inspire future RPG’s like Cyberpunk 2077 and Disco Elysium.

3

Final Fantasy VII

The Game That Made JRPGs a Household Name

If you were to ask any RPG developer working today what their favorite JRPG of all time is, Final Fantasy VII is sure to come up more than a few times.

While the Final Fantasy franchise had a humble fanbase in the West, it wasn’t until its seventh numbered entry that the series would launch itself into the global mainstream.

Following former soldier Cloud Strife and his ragtag group of party members, players will go from the rundown slums of Midgard to the sprawling green world that lies outside it. Along the way, you’ll recruit a wide variety of party members with distinct personalities (and iconic designs), fight off a few body horror Jenova monsters, and get turned into a toad a couple of hundred times.

At the time of release, Final Fantasy 7 was a technical achievement for what a PSX could achieve, with the game covering a grand total of 3 discs. And while the action-time battle style of combat holds up to this day, what’s really kept Final Fantasy 7 at the top of everyone’s minds is its hard-hitting story.

Thanks to a major plot twist at the end of the game’s first disc (and a stellar two discs after that), Final Fantasy 7 has remained the staple JRPG in pop culture to this day, serving as a stellar introduction to the genre and the joy that can be found in them.

2

Disco Elysium

The Creator of the Disco-like Genre

It’s been seven years since Disco Elysium released, but its impact on gaming has already been felt. Taking place in the city of Revachol, you play a detective who wakes up from a drunken stupor having entirely forgotten who he really is. Quickly, you learn you’re staying at a hotel in Martinaise, a run-down working-class district with tense political conflicts brewing.

Before getting black out drunk, you were tasked with investigating the death of a man left hanging on a tree (and ideally succeeding in getting the body down as well). With your backup officer, Kim, you get to uncover more about the murder, the district of Martinaise, and remember who you really are.

Where most RPGs would place a focus on combat and skill trees to give players a power fantasy, Disco Elysium instead pivots to dialogue. Of the 24 skills available, each one represents a facet of the playable character Harry’s mind. Depending on how you want to imagine your Harry, you can spec into a variety of different personalities to unlock new dialogue options and increase the success rate of different skill checks in the game.

Another impressive change Disco Elysium makes is its fresh take on UI. Instead of regular dialogue boxes that sit at the bottom of the screen, the developers instead chose to leave dialogue on the side of the screen, letting players scroll through it as if it were a social media feed.

The delightful and most recent Esoteric Ebb would follow in this dialogue-heavy approach to its RPG, sharing a similar UI design as well to help streamline its immense amount of endlessly quotable dialogue. While the developers who led the development of Disco Elysium have yet to release a follow-up, smaller studios have been able to meet the occasion, following in their footsteps of delivering excellent RPG experiences that focus on dialogue and world-building.

1

Baldur’s Gate 3

The Future of RPGs

It should be no surprise to say that Baldur’s Gate 3 may just be the most “complete” RPG experience available by far.

Using Dungeons & Dragons’ 5th edition rules, the game offers players an unprecedented amount of freedom in the number of choices they can make. Developers Larian went out of their way to consider thousands of outcomes players might choose throughout their playthrough, and all the different ways they may build their character.

Specific classes with certain specializations will have unique dialogue options that reward multiple playthroughs and ensure each experience is never the same as the last.

Like in Dungeons & Dragons, players will even be rewarded for thinking outside the box. Early in the game, players will encounter a large goblin camp celebrating, which you can infiltrate and stealthily poison, wiping everyone out. These unique solutions can even extend to the freedom in the game mechanics, such as the famous “barrelmancy” build, which involves dropping large objects onto enemies’ heads, one-shotting them.

The impact of Baldur’s Gate 3 could be seen at the most recent Game Awards, where games like Solasta 2 and Warlock: Dungeons and Dragons seem primed to follow up on Larian’s immaculate title. While it’s too soon to say if Baldur’s Gate 3 will become the most defining RPG in the 2020s, there’s no denying its influence won’t be felt in future games.