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For me the golden age was that entire decade, but I think the first half was still stronger: Star Wars KOTOR 1 and 2, Gothic 1 and 2, Baldur's Gate 2, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, Jade Empire, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Diablo 2, Final Fantasy 10 , World of Warcraft, Morrowind.

To me the golden age of RPGs is late 90's early 2000's. Such legendary games like Gothic 1+2, Fallout 1+2, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, Planscape Torment, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Morrowind and many others were released very close to each other. It felt very exciting to see what future might hold for us. Little did I know back then that the future of mainstream gaming will have pretty graphics, but dull and shallow gameplay. Thank god we at least have indie devs!

Kingdom Come Deliverance had this sort of beautiful "naturalism" / the same way Oblivion had back in the day. I like walking the woods in real life so in games I'm drawn to it as well.

That Vista Point from gothic 3 hits every time

I unironically love Two Worlds. Have not played the second game but it felt great to be in that world.

1997 - 2007 was the golden age of gaming. Techonology was not only developed to enough not to be hinderance, but booming and pushing the limits all the time (jump from Half Life to Half Life 2 or Morrowind to Oblivion) and industry was mature enough to have more money and people with crazy ideas willing to impliment, but not too corporate to hunt the "call of duty audiance". Personally 2008-2013 were bad years or dark ages when corporations we all know and hate were at their peak with their own sequalization, colorless, always some form of military shooter games and anti-PC rethoric and action, but even then there were gems that I adore like Witcher 2, Skyrim, Dawn of War 2 and Mass Effect. Since 2014 games are good, and you have a choice of every genre you want, but the 2005 feel of not knowing what crazy new game will pop out of nowhere and turn industry upside down like Star Wars Jedi Knight, World of Warcraft, FEAR or Crysis is missing and I think we won't see this time ever again.

I really liked the way you could customize your spells in Two Worlds 2. Unleashing an army of giant scorpions on a bunch of bandits and going invisible always makes me laugh

It was a time of brave devs and insane ideas. Now, it's mostly rehashing and polishing. Almost every big project became a polished mediocrity.

Thank you for putting the title of all of these games in the corner.

Oblivion is the comfiest RPG ever made.

Dragon age origins is my favorite

Gothic, Titan Quest, Drakensang, Risen and Neverwinter Series

BAck then studios still where about the "old school" feel of an RPG, but they started to flesh out the "cinematic" side of the RPG experience, but not to the detriment of the gameplay and the story telling and player agency. They would also try new stuff, and it worked most of the times, but in the end it made them memorable. I really loved Jade Empire, the other Bioware RPG that unfortunatly never had a sequel.

These were the games made by the CRPG OG guys from the 80s-90s, that did it for the love of RPG's, when they had a bit more money and better hardware/graphics.

The tech limitations and the ways that devs transcended these were definitely key in making certain games memorable, regardless of generation. I'd agree with your point that modern RPGs have a lot more commonalities in their visual styles and handling for sure

Thank you for finnally playing Dark Messiah. I am looking forward for your review. Take care !

why do they hit different? because back then they still had writers whose main goal was trying to tell a story. Dragon Age Origins alone probably has more memorable characters than all RPGs of the last couple of years combined. The game worlds also had a more handcrafted feel, unlike the giant, procedurally generated open worlds full of MMO style busy work quests we usually get now.

Sacred 2 was incredible, and having Blind Guardian's music was a sick touch!

I spent hours finding this video after my KZfaq refreshed and I couldn’t save it.

Witcher 1 was such a vibe man i love the atmosphere of that game

Nowadays games are mostly made to tick boxes on a list of requirements that some room of faceless suits has produced taking ideas from titles like these that came before. It's the smaller AA's and indies that will push things and experiment. Golden age of gaming began in the late 90's, so many really good titles came out around 98

My favorite era is more around Gothic 1-2 & Morrowind, but there are a lot of really solid RPGs from 2006-2009, I cannot deny. I do love Dark Messiah, such an underrated gem. It's funny you bring up Two Worlds, I'm playing Two Worlds 1 right as I listen to this video. Despite the obvious criticisms of the game, it's actually a solid action RPG (for the most part, it definitely has notable flaws).

All the old school RPGs just have that magic touch and passion behind them which makes playing them even to this day extremely fun. With the exception of a few most modern day RPGs feel like money grabs rather then passion projects. Massive open worlds with the illusion of choice and side activities that mean nothing. the early 2000s was truly the best time to be a gamer imo. there is still some amazing games these days. but far and few between which is sad.

I wish my man play Overlord games someday. They are short and simple compared to big RPGs but they had so much potential, fun and captured the nostalgia of the era.

Surprisingly, I'm replaying Gothic 3 but this time, with the community patch. Such an amazing RPG.

I don't think you're right about being a Golden Era of RPGs, the 2000s are a Golden Era of everything.

This was a golden age for games in general. Crysis, Bioshock, COD4, Fallout 3…

This was such a welcome trip down the memory lane

This video almost making me cry, these games these real rpg's is why i love rpgs even action rpgs, special mention too some of my games too my heart, guys if you love those oldies and injoy true story lines, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2.... baldurs gate editions and part 2 on PS2 + it had co op, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2

Excellent video man! And the sweetest thing is that all of those games work on steam deck with a little thinkering. 🙃

second and third mass effect games were absolutely amazing, you should definitely try them

I love when an rpg have that soundtrack playing in the back all the time the immersion grows a lot feeling whe belong to that world

My favorite years are 99-2002 with games like Revenant,Planescape Torment,Nox,Summoner,Icewind Dale ,Baldur's Gate II,Vampire: The Masquerade ,Diablo 2,Gothic I,Arcanum,Anachronox ,Dungeon Siege,Divine Divinity,Gothic II

ΤΗΑΝΚ YOU FOR THE MEMORIES!!!! A great video, we wait for more like these!!!

Excellent work. I definitely agree with you, that age was golden for rpgs. As it was this year between Baldurs Gate 3 and Dragon's Dogma 2. We are so lucky

Yup, golden times. And Dragon Age Origins is goated

I'd expand the era to 1998 to 2012 the time when there were already huge budgets, but yet not quite the way to monetize them optimally. So instead they competed on merit.

96-06 were my favorite era of RPG's! Diablo, Morrowind, Oblivion, Baldurs Gate, Vampire Masquerade Redemption, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Diablo 2, and list goes on, some of my fav games!

Hi. I have a suggestion for an obscure RPG you can check out. Jade Empire. Don't know if you've heard of it or played it. It is a Bioware game that does not get very much attention. It is an early attempt from Bioware to make a more action focused game with lighter RPG mechanics. I love it and really want a remake or spiritual successor to it because it does many things I love. The combat is focused on styles that are like simple martial arts movesets. You collect styles and can switch between them during combat. The combat can feel very janky but it can get better as you collect more styles and find ones that work better for you. Really nice video BTW. My first RPGs were Two Worlds, then Oblivion, then Gothic 3, and then The Witcher. So this feels quite relatable to me. :D

I got started with the original Boulder's Gate, and I'm still hugely fond of all things RPG :)

In 2006-2009 video game companies made games. Now video game companies make product.

yeah, gothic 3 was my game when I was young. bought it cheap, ran on my mediogre pc fine. it has been praised all over but 1 thing I found rarely mentioned but it left a major mark on me. I love deserts in video games. They are the perfect spot to showcase your map+level design skills. in G3 it is empty, but not, the things there have reason to be there not just "stuff to fill the space" but also leaves room for you to feel that the desert is a bleak space but not without reason. its people are also not just "man but in desert clothes" they have their own themes and are connected to the main story in a non-direct way.

Should be the Infinity Engine era. 1998 onwards

Thanks for this video man, this goes straight to the heart... Sacred 2, Witcher 1, Dark Messiah, Titan Quest, Fallout & NV, Risen... Those games are very special to me too. Those I didn't complete back in the day I replayed later. And Risen is one the rare games I played thoroughly twice. I agree with the vibrant colors style, I tend to like that more too, especially nowadays after more than a decade of grimdark titles in the trail of Dark Souls. Witcher 1 had that vibe where you would really get immersed into the everyday life of a witcher, more than the others imo. Sacred 2 I'd like to replay again, but it had a memory leak problem that would make the game freeze on some modern setups, is it still the case? Dark Messiah has a uniquely fun gameplay more 1st person games should draw from. Too short but so good. If Titan Quest had a proper endgame, I would still be playing it. Grimdawn is great but yeah, I prefer TQ setting and color palette... Can't wait for Titan Quest 2! And you finally succeded at putting in my head to retry Gothic 3 ;-) As for the favorite era, I don't really have one, I think there was great stuff at all time. And nowadays with all the games releasing all the time, we're pretty sure to always find something that suits us somehow.

Dragon Age Origins: Dark and Gritty Dragon Ag 2: Characters cracking a joke in every conversation. Dragon Age Inquisition: Rainbows flying everywhere.

I love Neverwinter Nights a lot, it's funny but i never actually finished the story - mainly because for a DnD based title it played like a glorified ARPG, there werent really much of a story, characters and interesting side quests.. but instead i spent many hours online on custom lore friendly server. What's still amazing even without remastered edition, after 22 years it's user interface and overall controls are probably THE BEST ever created for a game like that. And the special effects from magic spells were soooo ahead of it's time it's insane. Even though NWN2 used more modern engine, it was never nearly as comfortable to play as the original game, but with NWN2 i actually finished the story and online never got that popular - so the other way around. It was a proper story RPG with party full of characters instead of carrying around a single side kick with few lines of dialogue each chapter..

Are you planning to make a "Chronicles of Myrtana - Archolos" vid? As a serious Gothic-enjoyer I would expect it from you, I've been looking forward to it since it came out.

The witcher 1 looks beautiful and i love the atmosphere. I always go back ans forth between if i like 1 or 2 more. While i can agree 3 is the best, its my least favorite. I feel like the series didn’t need to go open world. I feel like theres no reason to go open world if you dont have a huge emphasis on exploration. In 3 theres no reason to explore any place you dont have a quest for because all cool and meaningful locations have nothing of value until you get a quest for that location and that sucks.

Great vid. Brought back some memories. Hoping the Gothic remake turns out good.

„And Piranha bytes“ You have heard that the studio closed right?

I love all of these games, Dark messiah might and magic still has really yet to be dethroned as the best first person melee combat for n RPG, Darktide is about the only game to have better first person melee combat but that isnt an RPG and the OST of gothic 3 is probably one of the best video game soundtracks ever made So glad you are bringing more visibility of the Gothic series to the video gaming world, the gothic series is my favorite series of all time and for so many years i would tell people that was my favorite game and they had no idea what it even was, glad to see more and more people are realizing how good it is

Dude this video is making me feel so nostalgic, so many good childhood memories!

Been revisiting/cleaning up my backlog, as of late and having a blast.

1994-1999 was the best time for RPGs: Realms of Arkania, Thief, Deus Ex, Darklands, System Shock 2, Baldur's Gate, Fallout - I could go on!

I still go back and play Origins every other year. It was just fantastic

There was another game on those days, I think it was made in Spain, called Lionheart, which was a really great game too.

I remember that Dark Messiah got a 99 out of 100 on its reviews those days.

C4G just a heads up, I kinda feel you're gonna blow up. Love the content man!

I don't know why But when it comes to Videogames, Music and movies. The millennium era is always the golden era

Wait you've never played Mass Effect 2 and 3? Whaaat??? They are incredibly good! As far as party based RPG's go they've only been superseeded as the greatest with the release of BG3 and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I just went back to Titan Quest a few days ago to finish off one or two of my old characters that I abandoned in 2017 after playing it hundreds of hours. Dawn of Magic is also worth mentioning, even though it's basically abandonware. In tone and looks it's somewhat close to games like TQ and Sacred 2 and its large (but full of empty buildings) cities are very much culturally inspired and way too big similar to Sacred 2. It doesn't look as sharp as either of those games and the world itself is more of an ARPG killing sandox, but it still manages to stand apart with its unique magic-combo system. I have almost as much time on it as TQ. ARPGs are just much more easily replayable than huge RPGs.

I stayed up until 3am playing Oblivion last night, no modern game can keep me as invested.

The entire 2000s were a gaming golden age, 6th and 7th gen consoles and PC gaming were lit. Gaming became big enough for bolder budgets and projects. By 2013 with 8th gen consoles gaming became mainstream and corporate. Stiffled all creativity forced microtransactions, cosmetic dlcs, always on online for single player just to make back those huge ridiculous budgets. Innovation slowed down too just due to costs.

I fully agree with you and I think soon in future we will see AI upscaling of old games which will give nice new breath to older games. Cannot wait for that because in general that era of games was amazing - not just RPGs! Graphics were not that great but stories were masterpieces. Gothic series, Mass Effect, Witcher, Assassins Creed, Warcraft 3, Fable - I was able to spend whole days playing it just because of amazing stories. Now I feels games are about killing time and impress by some actions, combo and effects. But lack of good story does not keep me to finish those games.

I just realized that this was probably the time in my llife where I was more about getting drunk and partying than playing video games. played way more before and after that^^

It took a while for the game industry to do good combat in a rpg. Early games had to use pause or a turn based tactics style to get around limitations. Others used first person view for its immersion even though the actual combat was bad it was fine since the immersion level was there and the rpg mechanics were robust since they took inspiration from table top.

Yeah I think that’s the same Xbox 360 golden era too. Batman, mass effect, elder scrolls, fable and a bunch of others. Man that was good gaming. I wonder what happened. Games aren’t like that anymore

Since i started watching your videos my GOG library as augmented significantly lol

Love your videos man

No doubt, this era of rpgs is the foundation for everything to come. The layout, enemy/activity density, and traversal from open worlds of this time is apparent in modern titles. The reason why this era had so many is because live service games were not a studios high profit business model. Single player odysseys was the most popular game back then

I REALLY loved the colors in old games. There are some games I dont like playing just because the colors feel too faded, like ESO and FFXIV. Also, for the record, you can have a dark colored game that still has amazing colors!

The oblivion soundtrack hits different nowadays❤

Have you tried Arx Fatalis? It is maybe a bit old for this time period, but it was one unique experience for me back then, especially the magic system was brilliant

Absolutely loved and agreed to every miniute of this video!

2001 - FFX, Golden Sun, Diablo2 Lord of Destruction expansion and Gothic. You just can't beat it.

It's funny, as someone who remembers this time well, it was a common sentiment that RPGs were in decline. Western RPGs were becoming more simplified and action oriented as development costs rose and developers had to appeal to a mass audience, and JRPGs were seen more and more as relying on tired tropes. A lot of the games you mention here were seen as exceptions. The Witcher, in particular, felt like a breath of fresh air because it showed that smaller teams could still make ambitious, complex games. In retrospect, a lot of good games did come out at that time though. It's interesting to see the era being reappraised by another generation.

Dark Mesiah of might and magic multiplayer was really good.

I literally started replaying Witcher one like week ago

It's because they weren't just action rpgs, yet. They were RPGS. Character crafting and roleplaying were the focus. That's starting to come back a bit, thankfully.

8:45 Saying that Gothic 3 had plenty of technical issues and bugs is really underselling it. I bought the German version on release day back then and I remember having to download a updated Installer for the game because the one they shipped on the disc didn´t work correctly. And then I had a progression breaking bug maybe 30 Minutes into the game. After getting send to the beach and going back to the down the character that´s supposed to give you the quest to find that wizzard guy wasn´t in the town anymore. I couldn´t start the main quest of the game.

For anybody not already familiar with the indie scene, you need to do so. I recommend Splattercat the most as he features one indie game every day on his KZfaq channel.

Facts, great video once again bud

Sacred 2 looks like a game i would enjoy Thanks for the recommendation

will you ever do a full review on chronicles of myrtana ?

Risen was also one of those games that have a special place in my gamer heart. And two worlds for some damn reason, even though it blows.. I always reminisce about it, I think it was just the time in general. I tended to stray from the mainstream games, even though I loved the morrowinds and oblivions etc. I liked getting lost in the eurojank piranhabyte games and other underrated games of the time.

Loved me some Gothic 3 back in the day!

You should do review four spellforce series. It blends RPG and RTS very well aloso it has very nice story and setting

Dark Messiah of M&M is one of my all time favorites. Such an under-rated gem IMO. Did you try Might & Magic X yet, @C4G ? It's a grid based one like grimlock but it's not bad either. I had fun once I got the hang of it. In your video of Gothic 3 did you get the game from Steam? I can't seem to ever get those working. It took a long time to get Gothic 2 to work I had lots of crap to do to make it happen.

dont forget abount mount & blade, the game was awesome

sjajan video, kao i uvjek... Hvala. Kad stignes, potrazi Seal of Evil igru, malo ljudi zna za nju.

Love your chanel. Have you tried ATOM RPG? As an isometric post apocaliptic RPG it is awesome. Like Fallout 2 were back in its time.

I just talked about this today, how old games were more colorful and how everything was modeled and placed in a deliberate manner. where as now everything is so 'realistic' (meaning mundane) and rng-spawned over vast areas. every rock and tree used to feel like it was placed there with a meaning, and it made everything so much more immersive. every nook of the game world felt like someone actually took time to make it by hand. now the fidelity is off the charts but somehow the artistry and design has gone down the drain. everything feels so generic.

IVE BEEN FEELING THIS EXACT WAY AND I WONDERED IF ANYONE ELSE DID THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Ahhh ..... the Gothic 3 music. So nice. :)

kinda reminds me ... RTS games from late 90s till the early 2000s Starcraft 2 is the Anomaly here (2010)

Dark messiah is a gem that just did not get enough love. It had a meh ending, but we really needed more games like it, after its release. Can you imagine a skyrim like game, with dark messiah style gameplay and physics. Kingdom come came the closest, but its its own thing and not quite the same.

Gothic 3 was great, thank god for the modding community because i remember those days back when it first came out and woo boy those stutters, crashes, bugs, glitches, and just straight up headache inducing moments/parts of the game ... i will never forget lol ... Gothic as a series is just overall great and something i always come back to at least once or twice a year. Its like Minecraft and that 2 week phrase you get randomly?

While I get joy from watching you play the obscure and underrated pc western rpgs(I used to search and dig like crazy on internet and gog).....I get sad since I no longer have an pc anymore...I have moved twice and its too hard to carry around an full desktop ☹️. I have an anniversary edition of titan quest with players 6 mod halfway and an temple of elemental evil half playthrough with circle of the eight mod....I backup the save files on an external HD and steam got my titan quest save on cloud but again no place to play them.

I just love this low- to mid-poly art style from the mid 2000's.