Every Dungeons & Dragons Video Game Ranked From WORST To BEST
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ย. 2023
- The Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game has come a long way since its emergence back in 1974, and ever since video games were a thing, intrepid programmers have been inspired by D&D to create expansive adventures in digital form. But which are worth your time, and which should you steer clear of? Here is Every Dungeons & Dragons Video Game Ranked from Worst to Best.
Featured Dungeons & Dragons video games:
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Cloudy Mountain
• Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin
• Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
• Baldur's Gate
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
• Baldurs' Gate III
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
• Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance
• Blood & Magic
• Champions of Krynn
• Curse of the Azure Bonds
• Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
• Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager
• Death Knights of Krynn
• DeathKeep
• Descent to Undermountain
• Dragons of Flame
• DragonStrike
• Dungeon Hack
• Dungeon!
• Dungeons & Dragons Online
• Dungeons & Dragons Tactics
• Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale
• Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance
• Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
• Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder
• Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes
• Dungeons & Dragons: Order of the Griffon
• Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara
• Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom
• Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun
• Eye of the Beholder
• Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
• Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
• Fantasy Empires
• Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
• Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures
• Gateway to the Savage Frontier
• Heroes of the Lance
• Hillsfar
• Icewind Dale
• Icewind Dale II
• Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms
• Iron & Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft
• Menzoberranzan
• Neverwinter
• Neverwinter Nights (2006)
• Neverwinter Nights (1991)
• Neverwinter Nights 2
• Planescape: Torment
• Pool of Radiance
• Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
• Pools of Darkness
• Ravenloft: Stone Prophet
• Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession
• Secret of the Silver Blades
• Shadow Sorcerer
• Slayer
• Spelljammer:Pirates of Realmspace
• Stronghold
• Sword Coast Legends
• Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation
• The Dark Queen of Krynn
• The Temple of Elemental Evil
• Treasures of the Savage Frontier
• War of the Lance
VO: Peter Austin (@ThatPeterAustin) & Ben Potter (@Confused_Dude)
Script: Simon Pike (@Sim198k)
Video Editor: Lean Bacalzo (@LeanBacalzo) & Leonardo Bacalzo
#DungeonsAndDragons #DND #BaldursGate3
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What's your personal favourite D&D video game? Let us know!
I haven't played BG3 yet, so I can't put it on my list, but outside of that, I have to go with Torment.
My friends and I are very fond of Eye of The Beholder for the SNES. And we still play the GBA version on our phones.
What about wizardery or ultimata?
also havent played BG3 yet, but for me neverwinter nights 1 will always be one of my favourite crpg. endless content on a solid foundation and i have a fable for 2000s 3D graphics.
You seem to have forgotten about the Dungeon Siege Series, so you list is unvalid.
I'm very proud to see Neverwinter Nights 2 at #7. I worked on that game. I was originally assigned to DBZ Budokai 2 for PS2 and Battlezone PSP. I worked hard enough to be noticed and was reassigned to NWN 2. Due to the scope of the game we worked two shifts: team 1 from 9am to 9pm, team 2 from 9pm to 9am seven days a week. Yes, we were aware of the pathfinding and graphical bugs. I don't know why they were never addressed before launch. Those bugs were major to us. I have a lot of great memories from my time at Atari.
Even with its issues it was a great game and I have lots of fond memories of playing it for several years alongside dozens of friends. Also the toolset was very fun to play around with :).
Are you still in the video game business?
Also curious if your still in the business
I really enjoyed both of the Neverwinter Nights games.
Congrats my friend! 😊
Its a travesty that this video doesnt have chapters
DESPERATELY NEEDS chapters!! MADNESS trying to get an overview here! But otherwise THANK YOU so MUCH for this loverly videor!
I gave up.
Time stamps? 😕
1 minute : trash
One hr later : Trash
@@demetriuswhite9923
Loooooool
I was a designer on DragonStrike NES, Order of the Griffin and a writer of Eye of the Beholder and Eye of the Beholder II. I am so glad that none of the games I worked on were rated worst. I avoided the 69
Kikoskia did a great Role Play run through all the eye of the beholder series. Sandstar will forever be memorable as a character. The games got me to buy legend of grimrock 1 and 2 as a modern day take on dungeon delving.
EOB was an all time favorite of mine for the time. I really enjoyed them!
Oh man, Eye of the Beholder and Eye of the Beholder II are still some of my favourite games that I go back to once in a while. It's too bad they never made a third game.
@@GenericSupervillain3Im sorry to have to say this but unfortunately they did made a third game, and the unfortunate thing about it is that it's quite bad
@@TheCheeseMovesSideways Hard disagree. There has never been an Eye of the Beholder III. I bet if one was made, it would be amazing though. All they have to do is keep the mechanics nearly the same and change the story. Gold mine. It could take place in a gold mine!
Curse of the Azure Bonds and the Krynn series. Reading the books and playing the games at the same time was just heaven for a 12 year old. Made me think of a friend I haven't seen in 32 years. I hope he's doing well in life. Thanks for the video.
Agreed - I have great memories of those games and books too!
Curse of the Azure Bonds was fantastic
@@David_Gallaher Agreed!! I remember really enjoying the game and thinking the story was very unique. :)
Same! My absolute favourite bit of Azure bonds was randomly finding a secret shop that paid significantly more for items. To this day I still dont know if it was a glitch, but 11 year old me made up such great backstories for its existence
Azure Bonds and Death Knights of Krynn were IMO the best of the gold box titles, and it is no coincidence that both were the 2nd game in their respective series, and covered the most enjoyable character levels (6-12 or so). Very disappointed to see that the best of the Gold Box series didn't rate a spot in the top 10.
Most unrealistic thing in this video, having to ask if someone has darkvision. Don't worry, they'll tell you.
Also, if you’re playing 5e, then yea they probably have darkvision
*perception failed*
Perception failed
Success
Oh now I get it
There is a special place in my heart for Pools of Radiance. Not only was it my first DnD cRPG experience. I love it because it was so damn difficult. You could wander into a Troll at low level and no means to finish it as it kept regen-ing. Or come across Spectres, Wrights and Vampires without magical equipment to dispatch them. You could go to Sokal Keep under leveled and have to face 20 skeletons at once. Positioning was key, and if the frontline fell it was essentially a wipe. Also random encounters were just as deadly as the scripted fights.
What i would give to have a modern day adaption in turn based like BG3.
I would absolutely love that!
I played the Hades out of that gold box series of games on my old Commodore 64. If they ever made a 5e version as a PC game, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.
Pool of radiance was rules 3 one of the first after avd D D was done…I had that game it was insanely hard.
there's a mod on the nwn2 vault that recreates pool of radiance. it's extremely faithful to the original game. 5/5, recommend.
Temple of Elemental Evil is an excellent adaption of the third edition ruleset but, being made by Troika, it's very buggy. With the Circle of Eight mod it's fantastic and far more playable but it was just very broken at release.
I wish I knew about that mod back then 😅
Yes, with the Co8 mod, this game deserves to be much higher on the list.
imo it should be in the top 5, yes it was broken at launch, but it's still one of the best adaptations of d&d out there.
One could say they were way ahead of their time 😂
These days Temple+ is a must use mod (compatible with Co8). It handles modern widescreen monitors much more elegantly.
Appreciate the nostalgic walk through the pixelated history of D&D games. As an over 50 year old gamer (tabletop and digital), I have been lucky enough to experience it from almost the birth of both. It’s been an amazing imagination stimulating ride. Both have and always be my main way to relax, have fun and go off to different worlds.
DND will still be alive in 50 years time. I'm a bit younger than you but i''m glad i lived to see BG3. Imagine though how lucky folks will be in 50 years time with the technology advancements in game design. Imagine a world size DND campaign with BG3 style or better gameplay, multiple choices, political impacts and AI keeping tabs on the scores. It would be awesome to see that through.
@@happyjonn9242 it will be something that’s for sure. AI certainly has a chance to make games so much more realistic and immersive. Don’t think I will make it that far. ;)
Glad to see Torment wayyy up there on the list.
Planescape Torment is my all time favorite.
I am *SO* hoping that Larian gets to make a"Planescape sequel.
It's not unlikely, now that WotC have officially released the "Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse" campaign setting for 5E last year…
@@Terr-EWould make sense that with BG3s success, WOTC would love to boost one of their other settings, such as Ravenloft, Planescape, Spelljammer, Eberron or Ravnica, or possibly launch a different setting together with a new game (Dark Sun, maybe?)
@@Terr-E have you played Tides of Numenera? I backed the game back in its crowdfunding campaign, but never got the time to actually play it. I get the feeling that it ended up being a nostalgia-driven game with lots of stuff thrown into it for the sake of looking exotic.
What can change the nature of a man?
@@dianabialaskahansen2972 I would love to see more Darksun & Planescape stuff. I always thought it was such a shame we didn't get to see more of these settings.
What a great retrospective. Thanks for putting it together. I left a senior position in the defense biz to become the lead programmer on Pools of Radiance PC and never looked back. SSI was a great outfit in those days and I'll always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me.
it was a terrible retrospective frankly. Why would you say that having worked for SSI, who they trash the entire time?
Pools of Radiance was so damn addictive. I spent countless hours replaying that game. Most of which involved killing the hired sword, animating him back to life and taking his +1 great sword…
Pool of Radiance, Bonds, Blades and Pool of Darkness...this was an epic saga during my 12-15 phase:)
The two Pools games and Silver Blades was so much fun back then. Thank you for the memories!
Thank you for such amazing work. POR brought me so many enjoyable hours when I was a teen.
Shadow Over Mystara is *SO DAMN GOOD.* ❤ It was extremely forward thinking with how deep a beat-em-up could be, and still stands up against the finest belt action games being made today.
Even though it has more complex features than TOD I always preferred Tower of Doom because the art style was closer to Elmore where as SOM drifted further away from that into an anime-esque interpretation of him.
Agreed
Well, Castle Crashers is the best 2D best em up ever imo, tho it def had some level of influence or at least predicent from the Capcom DnD games.
Neeeeeerrrrrrd!
Is what I yell at the mirror!
::Tobey McGuire ugly crying::
The only comment I was looking for
DDO: Stormreach. . .haven't thought of that game in years. Two friends and I played from day 1, it was a mess, but it was a fun mess. The community was pretty great and you could do some pretty dumb things for fun, like using the Feather Fall accessory to parkour out of bounds, kill enemies on stairs by dying on top of them(yes it worked on bosses), turning trolls with odd pathing into a game of Duck Hunt, and make gold running a tour service through particularly tricky quests(kobold sewers and Prison of the Mind, I'm looking at you).
The nostalgia is real.
The only online game I really enjoyed and it was very diverse, not locking you in a few "killer" builds, but allowing very interesting variations.
It's still going. Leveling a weird sorcerer ranger fighter multi-class just this last evening through Gianthold before I head to Sharn
You should check it out again... It has had 18 years of development since day 1! Also 18 years of expansions and new quests means it is huge now!
When you are talking about D&D: Dark Alliance, you have shown the cover and the score of BG: Dark Alliance.
The fact that there are games worse than D&D: Dark Alliance was impressive. Though I kind of knew Iron and Blood: Warriors of Ravenloft would be worse then D&D: Dark Alliance I mean it sits atop it's throne made of crap as "The Worst Fighting Game Ever".
Eye of the Beholder, and Secret of the Silver Blades were 2 of my favorite games back in the day (SSB being my first crpg). Westwood Studios got a lot of my money… I really enjoyed their games.
100% agree. this compilation must have been made by idiots who never even played those games, or weren't even alive when they were made.
EotB is also a fav of mine. It came out around the same time as the first stereo sound cards were sold like the SoundBlaster(optional CMS chips required for stereo). For the first time we had audio directional input, hear spiders crawling in the mazes before we could see them, get a general idea where creatures were coming from. It made the game far more immersive than previous titles where sound came out of the PC speaker in mono.
I prefer Pools of Darkness because of higher levels just like i preferred BG2 over BG1 and 3
All the user-made content for Neverwinter Nights (2002) 8s still available and most of it works with the Enhanced Edition.
As someone much more famous than myself once said, "Thanks, for the memories". I played a lot of the games on this list, particularly the main Gold Box games and the Intellivision ones. Lots and lots of good times were had. One thing though is that the work that the Circle of 8 did to make Temple of Elemental Evil not only playable but including new content, raising the character level to 20 as well as many major bug fixes should not go unmentioned. Indeed, if you buy the game these days it's highly encouraged to download their mods to make the game playable.
I played the SSI games on the Apple II. The dragonlance and the pool series from pool of ratings to pool of darkness. I also played Gateway and Treasures of the Savage Frontiers.
I still play the NES version of Pool of Radiance every day. I literally got a bigger tablet so I can do good emulation on it. PoR is my go-to for NES games.
Always super excited to see any Triple Jump video pop up but the long form list vids are just so so good.
Ruins of Myth Drannor has a special place in my heart, maybe you need a good bit of nostalgia to like certain titles.
That game was part of my childhood! My dad was a huge CRPG lover and played almost all of them and he would let me as a young kid sit with him and watch
Torment no doubt, other greats include BG 2, Eye of the beholder series, and Dead knights of Krynn, Neverwinter nights 2 was also pretty sweet.
Absolutely loved BG Dark Alliance 1&2. Wish we could have seen a third entry
For sure!!
And not the abomination released lately 😅
@@TBoding agreed lol
The Champions of Norrath games were so great too, I'd love to see a modern re-release of those games. Still has some of the most satisfying combat in that genre
Oh my favorite D&D game was always Dungeons and Dragons: Shadows over Mystara. I loved how instead of just trying to do a tabletop campaign in a video game, usually leaving some awkward clunkiness, they did their own thing.
After all, as old school D&D players all knew: "Multiclassing: All of the drawbacks, none of the benefits". Trying to make a tabletop campaign into a video game just hit the limits of both.
Spent a lot of days back then playing Shadows over Mystara (and Tower of Doom) at my local Arcade. Which took what was already a well established side scroller beat 'em up formula... and then improved on it with things like weapon wheel items/spells, blocking, dodges, counters, etc that were just not done at then. Used its D&D flavoring to its benefit instead of as a harsh limit it was always struggling with.
I remember renting Warriors of the Eternal Sun from Blockbuster and playing it almost non stop over the weekend before having to return it and go back to school. I was quite proud I was able to beat it.
Tell me you're in your 40's without telling me you're in your 40's. I did this with King's Bounty on the Sega Genesis...ended up buying it from the local Blockbuster when they sold off some titles. My cartridge still has a remnant of the stickers they used to mark their games with.
I got it for Christmas. I remember I was disappointing in it at first, but once I got going I really enjoyed it and then proceeded to go through it pretty quick, but I can't remember if that transition happened over a couple days, a week or a month.
@@0num4 - Kings Bounty was an awesome game. I rented it on more than one occasion (I can't remember if I beat it, but I remember it being relatively difficult). I just looked it up online and the music is very reminiscent especially the battle music.... it's actually pretty hilarious with the gyrating characters. It's like the game has parkinsons, the characters never stop moving.
Treasure Of Tarmin still slaps. The fact that it is turn based means I can leave it running even in the middle of battle and come back without a hitch. I have it emulated on my phone so I can play when I'm bored at work. All of the levels are randomly generated, so while sections remain similar, the whole gameplay is different every time.
A game way ahead of its time... and definitely one of the coolest games on the system.
I'm jealous of the amount of drugs these guys must've been on to put temple of elemental evil below the intellivision games
I just watched this wonderful video in its entirety. It was a pleasure to see the games I have played as well as the plethora of those I had either never played or heard of. Being strictly a PC gamer there are some which I will most certainly never play. Thank you for the time and effort put into this video. GREAT JOB!
48:58 As an interesting side note, Warriors of the Eternal Sun takes place in the 1st Edition D&D Hollow World Campaign Setting. Basically, the entire world of Mystara is hollow on the inside, with a red sun orb at the center and a concave land mass all created by a conclave of deities who either move directly or indirectly (at the world's poles) certain races or species from the land of Mystara if said races or species were to become extinct. The Hollow World is thus a refuge for various forgotten races that sometimes is visited by those outside unintentionally, either by discovering the polar entrances or by some mysterious forces (as is the case in Warriors of the Eternal Sun). If you get a chance, look into the Hollow World setting - it's perhaps one of the most unique D&D settings conceived.
2h video with no timecodes? Are you serious?
FR like we need time codes with names of the games
Great video! 😊
Brought back lots of memories for me, playing some of these classic games!
I gotta go old school and chose the Gold Box game series. I have to say that because at the time, on my C64 it had the greatest impression on me. To be able to create, outfit and develop your own characters and engage in combat was an achievement at that time. BG I/II/III May have a much improved engine and story it was past the time of my first impression and just doesn’t impress me as much as those first few D&D games.
Same. Those first Gold Box games were the best. The impact of them on me was heavy too. I did skip Hillsfar, though, as it wasn't a proper RPG adventure... and maybe that was for the best that I skipped it. lol ;-)
Something you missed about Daggerdale is that it was buggy as hell. In fact, it had a game breaking glitch that took away all your skills.
Fun fact. Hillsfar was made as a way to level up a character and port it over to Curse of the Azure Bonds. Or you could port games from there, or from Pools of Radiance(the original not the remake) to Hillsfar. So you could theoretically port a character from Pools, to Hillsfar, then to Curse using it. So the game was pretty bad but was useful for moving assets around if you wanted to 'keep a character's legacy' going, allegedly at any rate I never got around to giving it a try myself.
My favourite will always be Baldur's Gate II. My friend and I would play it for hours, with tons of mods of our favourite added material. Some of my fondest memories with my now departed friend are us beating that game together.
I remember that being a selling point for Hillsfar, as well... importing your characters and buffing them up. That aspect definitely makes the NES version seem extra useless. heh
A real trip down memory lane, great vid!
Something you didnt touch on was Icewind Dale had Co-Op. So while they stripped back the story content it was more appropriate for multiplayer. Played 1&2 with the wife over LAN.
Baldur's Gate 2 : Shadow of Amn, hands down one of the best game ive ever played. Funny enough, I found it in the Android version. It was love at first sight
enhanced edition can now be played on PS4
1:09:53 Dude, this is the first game I ever beat! We were on vacation down in Southern California and we had stopped by to visit some family in the area. My cousins had an intelevision and this game and I instantly took to it and beat the whole damn thing that day.
Got this game when I was 8. Played it religiously back in 1982. Great game for it's time!!! So glad to it ranked #26!
@@CatholicIrish Nice!! Also I'm glad to see I'm not the only old timer here😂😂
Another outstanding effort, well done everyone!
Fantastic video! What a trip down memory lane. I agree that BGIII has surpassed all expectations, at a time where I did not think that could be possible, and is an instant classic mere months after its release. Larian and OwlCat Studios are taking this proven formula to higher levels with their expert world building, party dynamics, and AAA storytelling.
My first titles were Pool of Radiance, Hillsfar, and Azure Bonds. The two Ravenloft Titles are some of my favorites and led me to play Birthright WAY too much in college, searching in vain for the same experience. It is a great time to be a D&D fan whether a 30 year veteran or rolling up your first character. Cheers boys!
Eye of the Beholder is incredibly low on this list, lower than a host of identikit SSI games. It's top 10 on mine.
There are few games that ARE D&D but didn't have D&D license.
For example - one of such games is Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Without official D&D license, this game uses freeware version of the D&D rules, called SRD 5.1 as basis of game ruleset, creating its own subclasses, spells, adventures and whatnot. Solasta is the closest to RAW (Rules As Written) D&D 5 we could ever get and it deviates from core rules only by usage of specific subclasses for party members who are deputies for local government in the world of Solasta. There is varied selection of classes (especially with all DLCs in place) and funny enough, characters actually talk between one another from time to time. Writing isn't strongest on the market - any Baldur's Gate game would leave Solasta far behind, but there was a clear effort.
Another game that could be said as example of same usage of OGL (Open Gaming License) would be Knights of the Chalice series.
However, despite largely positive reviews of players stating that this series was very close to the official D&D 3.5 ruleset, I must admit that I couldn't enjoy this game at all. First issue was the combat difficulty - everything is based on D20 results and, as result, without help of living person in the role of Dungeon Master, game feels more "Make one step forward, 20 steps back" because each round of combat in the game is completely randomised and creator's idea of difficulty is - throw 10 orcs at level 1 party as first encounter and make that orcs target characters who have least amount of HP. Is it hard? Yes. Is it fun? I don't think so.
Still - these two games are examples of the D&D games that did not have D&D license and still managed to become commercial products.
And a little bit of trivia. Did you know that Neverwinter Nights Aurora set was licensed by a third party company, who modified engine heavily in order to create their own game series, with first game being well received for a first time attempt by relatively unknown company at the time, while second game was one of the most expensive videogames made in that country at the time and third one was rightfully considered not only one of the best games of the year of its release but as one of the best RPGs of all time, featuring nowadays very popular monster hunter with two swords, white hair, some meager magic and horny attitude towards women, especially sorceresses. Yeah, If you didn't understand it until now - I was talking about Witcher. First game was made on heavily modified Aurora Engine and only by second game CD Project Red have created their own proprietory Red Engine.
Solasta was abysmal, I've not seen a worse adaptation of d&d, the fact that it was based on 5e made it even worse.
I recently picked up Solasta on sale, at a good deal. I'm loving it so far. I've had BG3 on my wish list but decided against it for a few reasons, but mostly because sadly I know I don't have the time for such a massive game. I'm sure I would like to play it, but I know I won't finish it.
I love Solasta, and put it far ahead of BG3 (even with BG3's much greater production values). Unlike BG3, Solasta comes with a "Dungeon Maker"; a tool for user-created dungeons and campaigns. They've given me many hundreds of hours of fun, far beyond what the core game has.
If we included games that were spiritually D&D without being licensed D&D, Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous would both be in the top 10.
@@JoeyPsych your opinion fortunately, is in the minority.
This must have taken forever to put together. Excellent work!
1:30:50 "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance" (2001) co-op campaign with my brothers remains a fond memory of light role-playing and satisfying hack-n-slash gameplay for several playthroughs!
Oh yeah, D&D time. Now what alignments would the TripleJump crew have (individually)?
Ben Lawful Neutral, Peter and Ashton Chaotic Good, James Jenkins Neutral Good.
@@Banquet42 Yeah, seems about right. Especially Ben.
Peter: Neutral Good
Ashton: Chaotic Good
Ben: Chaotic Evil (I have watched the live streams, do not try to dissuade me)
James Jenkins: True Neutral
@@Alucard-A-La-Carte not seen enough livestreams to dispute that tbh!
Chaotic Evil
The story of Bioware is one of the biggest tragedies in gaming
Thanks to Elizabeth & Abraham...
The story of BioWare is one of the most common stories in gaming. Studio starts small, hits gold with a great, passion-made, innovative instant classic, builds and improves on the formula, then grows and starts experimenting with other great releases. And then it gets big and successful enough that it turns into a regular company, no longer prioritises art over profit, merges with an even bigger corp, and loses all of the talent that made it special. All that's left is the name and the license rights.
Immediately, there are like 5 or 6 other studios that come to mind and fit this description. The cycle of media companies... don't grow attached to them. Keep your eyes open for the next ones.
@@Darkprosper You had the order wrong at "And then it gets big and successful enough that it turns into a regular company, no longer prioritises art over profit, merges with an even bigger corp". They get eaten first and then the $#!+ (in a nutshell: share holders becoming the primary customers) happens. And that unironically goes for all the studios that Elizabeth and Abraham took, most remarkably Westwood, Origin and Bullfrog. Bioware was late to the party, but had to go though the same fate... but the thing is: It always needs two parties to sign the contract. And especially Bioware could and should have known what would happen, based on the previous examples.
@@CakePrincessCelestia Eh, I would say that Bioware had started to turn bad a bit before they were bought, though nowhere near what came after.
Indie companies turning corporate is the issue. It turns ribeye into McDonalds burgers for the masses. It's only a matter of time, and the only shocking result is the brand name addicts being surprised by this.
This is why I'm subscribed. Thank you.
Great video! I learned a lot.
I was surprised Solasta didn't make the list.
I'm a bit confused on that also. I haven't played but I have that it is a solid game. Wonder if anyone can shed light on why it isn't on this list?
@@nikk345 I own it, and have only played it long enough to see what it looked like (less than an hour) I am waiting to have completed BG3, at least once before I get into Solasta. I am looking forward to it. From every thing I've heard, I would think, Solasta is within the top 5 CRPGs.
Probably because it's not an official D&D game. Solasta is based off the freely-available SRD rules, but is not licensed by Wizards of the Coast. Leaving that aside, it's a very good implementation of the rule set that anyone interested in CRPGs should play.
@@flow221 True, but there are some games on this list that were not licensed D&D games either. And Solasta is probably the most faithful representation of D&D mechanics of any game ever. Even the Pathfinder games are closer to actual D&D than a lot of the games listed here.
@@johncarey375 Which games in the video were not licensed?
The SSI Pool of Radiance series was huge for me -- top ten favorite games of mine collectively. I still have my first party of six's stats written down in a notebook.
the original PoR will always go down as one of the most enjoyable computer game experiences of my entire life. It might be a little more awkward to play now with modern expectations, but my god I had fun playing through that multiple times
I still play Pool of Radience for NES emulated on my tablet practically daily.
great time stamps!
You guys are so brilliant at these longform video. Thanks for providing background entertainment of the highest quality
For Shattered Lands Vs. Wake of The Ravager there are a couple other points:
- First in Shattered Lands the set up is fairly simple and the quests are easy enough to figure out.
There are things you can miss, but likely won't on a 2nd playthrough; however in Ravager the beginning of the game is fairly unclear as to what the hell to do to progress.
- The campfires were a source of resting and getting back abilities in SL, but in Ravager they're harder to find
and I believe not infinite use.
- In SL if you can find/know where and how to obtain said magic item: It DOES NOT BREAK.
In Ravager I believe it gets 10 durability = you can use the item 10 times before it DOES break.
(This includes any high level PITA to get magic items/End game items like the +4 or +5 SWORD...)
* It also includes "duped" items - which are easy enough to make if you're patient and careful.
El's Drinker is a REALLY good way to save on campfire visits in SL.
* Thrikreen sucks as anything but a druid: Massive detriments to wearable armor because GIANT BUG.
= They are meant to get extra attacks UNARMED; but you WILL NOT hit anything that requires even a +1 to hit.
* Half Giant is decent for HP and hits pretty hard: Recommend either cleric fighter/Psionist Fighter
* Mul is a decent cross between Human and Half Giant for overall survivability. Recommend Druid Fighter.
[Druids actually get better healing spells in SL because Cleric does not get a specific domain needed.
Turn undead is REALLY not that useful outside of maybe 2 sections in the game]
** Psionic abilities are rather hit and miss: Wild affinity is SUPPOSED to grant better unarmed, but does not grant above a +1 and nothing stacks with it. So you still will not hit anything that requires a +2 - and many monsters have a specific +number needed to hit them in this game. certain abilities will not be needed depending on the make up of your party IE: There is one that shares strength for HP if your party member is below 24, but strength only goes to 24, so if the ability would put them above 24 the rest of it is wasted, and the detrimental affect to the caster STILL applies.
Ravager did add new abilities but I never got far enough into it to see how they stacked up against Shattered Lands.
Wake of the Ravager definitely feels more non-linear, it had a ton of optional side content and dungeons to stumble into. When you mention items breaking, do you mean charged items like staffs or something? I don't remember ever having a magic weapon break on a full playthrough of WotR, though I think the mundane bone/obsidian stuff could break. Hearing the name El's Drinker brings back memories. What a great sword.
I did have a bug that made the final boss invisible/untargetable, so I had to get creative to beat that fight 😅 Overall I loved both games, aside from that one major bug I was lucky not to run into any bugs I couldn't load-game my way out of.
I discovered triple jump last year about this time. Triple jump is now and will ever be holiday entertainment for me. Happy holidays y'all!
I started D&D gaming back with bauldurs gate dark alliance, I’m so disappointed that I never really had the chance to play bauldurs gate 1 & 2 before I played 3. The 2013 neverwinter game got a critical hit when elders scrolls online came out, but it was also very insightful. I was always curious about the spell plague
Also, I’ve read nearly all the dragonlance chronicles, I completely forgot they had games based in Krynn
Honestly DDO should have been rated higher. It’s done very well for a long time competing with many other online games including LOTR ones.
It's the only MMO I consistently come back to. The engine is creaky, but name another quest like Partycrashers or I Dream of Jeets, or Order in the Court in any other MMO _or_ D&D game.
I totally agree. DDO should atleast be in the top 10. You can tell these guys probably never played it because he mispronounced EBERRON.
I was wondering if anyone here played ddo. I have many fond memories of running with my guild, all the events, raids, all my toons, etc. Cheers!
@@ucantuse7 It's still going. Over the last few years they've gotten much more into Eberron, with stuff in Sharn, the Mournlands, Morgrave University, etc.
I love the arcade beat n ups, well deserved places in top ten, as they are so fun to play
Amazing video, love it!
Awesome list I have played a lot of these and love the Icewind Dale games, Temple of Elemental Evil, Baldurs Gate games, Neverwinter Nights games, and so many others. The retrospective was great to relive time to get back to rolling some dice.
The top is absurd in some places, but I gave it a like for the amount of work.
One of the few games I have real nostalgia for is Pools of Radiance:ROMD. It was so hyped, but they ran out of time to build out the features like destroyable environments, and the bugs, and the release of Neverwinter Nights all coincieded to kill it. Plus i got it but my PC couldnt run it higher than 1-3fps lol. So it remained mysterious and held it on a pedestal. Still love the box art and the in game art design tho.
It sucked. Archers had to walk up into melee range to start a combat. You could not flank your enemies, but they would always flank you. Characters would take meandering paths giving every enemy attacks of opportunity. You couldn't choose what feats you wanted your character to have at level ups. I could go on...
Now that's what I call great content!
Suscribed.
Holy sheet, this is a beautifully comprehensive upload!
Neverwinter Nights all the way. I have yet to find a Baldur's Gate game I can get into. What makes it impossible for me now, is as time has gone on, the rulesets have become so convoluted I am banging my head against the wall every few mins. After an hour I give up and go back to NWN EE. 2721 hours on EE and I have barely scratched the hours I spent on my original discs.
Crazy how opinions differ. To me NWN has absolutely nothing on BG2
Facts are facts. For character creation and progression, it makes BG3 look like it's in still in alpha.
Haven't played BG3 yet, but from what I've heard, it is amazing. Also the non arcade games in the top 10 I have all these and you are spot on with the rankings. BG2 (and 1) are still a blast. Must try IWD 2 again sometime too. Top video! Thank you!
I would *like* to try BG3 but I know I wouldn't have time to get very far. I've also heard it's still pretty buggy on full release, not that it's any less good... Instead, I recently bought Solasta for a very good price on sale and am really enjoying it.
Definitely give BG3 a try when you can!! I LOVED BG1 and BG2, so I was hoping this would be a worthy successor and I can definitely tell you it did NOT disappoint!! The ONLY reason I haven't done a second playthrough already is due to not having time and not knowing which race/class I want to try next, LOL.
BG3 is phenomenal. Truly a once-in-a-generation title. And I come into this as someone who loved BG 1 and BG2. I played through Act 1 over a dozen times in pre-release and knew Larian was onto something special. Acts 2 and 3 didn't disappoint.
Bg3 crapped all over the saga of bg1-2. Ruined cannon. Ruined bg2 epilogue and destroyed established characters. Bg3 is a good rpg game but an absolutely awful baldurs gate game. It shouldn’t have had anything to do with bg and just be some random forgotten realm city.
@@Jimmys_TheBestCop that's a shame.
I never realized just how many of my childhood favorites, beyond the obvious ones like Eye of the Beholder, were in fact set in some DnD universe. Wild. Thanks for this awesome video.
Great job on this video
Video inspired me to give the baldurs gate 1+2 collection and Neverwinter nights a redownload Have tried to start these games a couple times but thrid times the charm
I wouldn't say that "Icewind Dale I + II" not having much party interaction is a disadvantage, rather the opposite: For a party that interacts with each other and where every character has his or her own background there the "Baldur's Gate" PC ganes already exist, I always saw the "Icewind Dale" games just as waaaaay more heavily focussed on role playing, making up party dialogues and / or interactions up in your head, as in a true role playing experience, so I'd say that both of these rightfully so beloved franchises co-exist in perfect harmony.
I agree. I love both BG and IWD, but the latter games always held a special place in my gaming library. I still have all of the original discs, in addition to owning the respective Enhanced Editions released more recently. The fact that I could make my entire party of 6, or fewer if I so chose, was part of the allure to me--it was also a bonus for multiplayer, where each of us could have a customized character, rather than filling by controlling the main PC or their companions.
Still, I can't argue with TJ's ruling that the original BG titles were better. After all, there were no miniature giant space hamsters in Icewind Dale.
Great list! Really brought back some memories!
I really really didn't expect to find some arcade beat em ups on this list. Hidden gems is an understatement
Both Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds had novels (Azure Bonds the novel came out before the game IIRC?) as well as AD&D modules
Glad I'm not the only one who felt like Baldur's Gate 3 ACTUALLY FELT LIKE a sequel to Baldur's Gate 2, which seemed like a truly impossible task. Warts and all: every crash to desktop felt so wonderfully nostalgic.
There's plot twists for people ho played the OG's but it's very much it's own thing. The perfect sequel 20+ years later.
"somehow, bhaalspawn returned"
Agreed!! When I first heard about BG3 coming out, I remember hoping that it would be a worthy successor to the first 2, which are still amongst my favorite games. It DEFINITELY delivered!!!!
Honestly.. how? BG3 feels more like Divinity or Dragon age than a Baldur’s Gate game. Only 4 party members, no formation options, no real time with pause. Casual 5e system which is dumbed down and streamlined beyond belief. It’s legitimately not like Baldur’s Gate at all actually
Always enjoy these, either gives me nostalgia or maybe look at some ganes i've never heard of
Would love an Asterix videogame ranking
It’s odd that you say all SSI D&D games used the same engine while discussing one of the few that didn’t use the Goldbox engine, Hillsfar
I might have just blinked but some seem to be missing:
- Buck Rogers 1-2 (SSI Goldbox style, ADnD2nd ed rules, but sci-fi)
- Menzoberranzan (probably blinked as the very similar 2 ravenloft games were in there)
-
Menzoberranzan was on the list, albeit quite low. The Back Rodgers games, though they used the goldbox engine & rules etc, aren't technically D&D so I assume that's why they aren't on the list.
@@nikk345 sadly they are not on Gog either I loved the Buck Rodgers games and will buy them as soon as they are.
Eye of the Beholder should be much higher than 45 on this list. I played many of the games in this video when they were originally released, including those from late 80's like Pool of Radiance. EOB was a breath of fresh air compared to the gold box game series which was already feeling repetitive by the time EOB was released.
How did you find footage of Daggerdale with working textures? In my experience the textures on anything past the starting gear were just missing.
1:34:42 and most games that I have that are D&D related haven't been featured. Kudos to you Sir, this is getting exciting.................
I love this. Let's see if I can guess the final three...
#3: Planescape: Torment
#2: Baldur's Gate 3
#*1* Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhaal, perhaps the greatest Expansion Pack ever released. Wow, what an expansion. As much as I loved _"Blood and Wine"_ for The Witcher 3, Throne of Bhaal, in the era that it was released is simply unparalleled.
Fun note. My mom and I were pretty broke growing up, and in the early 1990's my mother actually bought me an _"Aquarius."_ It came with that Dungeons and Dragons game. It's funny, this is the first time I have ever heard the system so much as mentioned, like anywhere.
Back to the ranking, my personal favorite is still _"Pool of Radiance."_ Obviously a ton of that is due to the time it was released, when I played it and what was going on in my early middle school life at the time. My mother put off buying a car for 3 months to afford a C64 and Disk Drive for me. It didn't mean much then save I was getting an incredible gift, but as an adult, the true value of it really hits home. Baldur's Gate 2 was probably the best considering the technology when it was released and the incredible story it told, with Planescape: Torment having the most intricate story telling. Baldur's Gate 3 is the truest representation of *ANY* version of D&D ever to grace the digital screen, and has me feeling pretty darn optimistic about where Dungeons and Dragons along with role-playing games as a whole look like they will end up moving forward. Love this video!
agree thats the correct list with BG1 at no 4
For me, Dragonshard and Neverwinter Nights are some that are close to my heart. They were a big part of my childhood.
It was nice to see some of Sinatar's footage sourced in this video (and given credit). I've noticed Descent to Undermountain and Dark Queen of Krynn so far, and he's probably in others as well. He loved old CRPGs and streamed a lot of them.
Unfortunately he took his own life 2 years ago. But it is good to see his video being recognized as the trove of classic gaming information they are, and still helping others to make content about them. I'm not sure if you saw him was he was still streaming or just researching for the video @TripleJump but I think he would have been happy to be recognized.
RIP Sinatar, we will miss you
Ruins of Mythdrannor needed an update in order to run properly.
I love the Dragonlance series. But you guys are right, the games have been poor. Maybe Larian could make a good one some day :)
Hang on, admitting a thing you love from your past is flawed? In TH-cam comment sections? What civility is this?!
Hahah! Well, truth is truth. @@Alucard-A-La-Carte
Dragonlance has always been my favorite D&D setting, and I have wanted for so long a decent video game adaptation of it. One can dream, right?
The side-scrollers were such a huge disappointment.
Baldurs gate is still the best dnd game we have honestly
Glad you've put Eye of the Beholder in this. It was my first steps into DND. 😀
amazing video, thank you
What I really loved about the Infinity Engine games and Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2 is that they get truly epic. They let you go beyond level 20. The BG2 expansion created special rules for epic level abilities and had you fight demigods. NWN1's expansion increased the level cap to 40 and let you fight an arch devil, although you'll only reach around lvl 30 in the campaign. NWN2's expansion increased the level cap to 30 and let you assault the City of the Dead and try to lift a curse created by a god.
In the BG2 expansion you also get the option to fight a demon prince and not just any demon prince, Demogorgon himself. Ah, I loved Watcher's Keep so much.
Ironically, this is the main reason why I prefer BG1 over BG2. I don't love big stories with universal stakes. It's easily overblown and not relatable. The story in BG1 felt more grounded, more personal. I cared more about the characters, because they weren't near-gods (or not yet, I suppose). It's also why I love Planescape : Torment so much, while the scope is bigger than BG1, the stakes are still so personal and the focus is so much more on characters than plot.
Wake of the Ravager is a wild pick for number 32, given that it was released with a bug that meant that the main quest could not be completed without getting a disk with a patch on it from the publisher in the post!
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is one of my all-time favorite games. I've played it since it came out and return to it every few years.
Do you use DOSBox or was it included in some collection? I played that game for sooo many hours in my early teens :)
I used DOSBox for awhile, but a few years ago GOG released a version that works on modern windows@@Morboeatspeople
Mask of the Betrayer, an expansion pack sequel to NWN2, was one of the best D&D experiences I’ve had in the digital world.
The other expansions… they were OK, but MotB was amazing.
Yup, MotB is probably my favorite writing in any CRPG.
I'm kind of sad that Solasta isn't on here, given that it uses the 5e D&D rules set.
It doesnt... it uses the Pathfinder rules set.
@@dalehammers4425Solasta is 5th edition ruleset.
@@dalehammers4425 No, it's 5th Edition DnD, they just have their own core setting instead of using the one from WotC.
Pathfinder games were made by Owlcat, and have "Pathfinder" in the title.
@@noway8662 Sort of. It uses the SRD rules, which is basically a free version of 5e.
Just not good enough... but to each their own ofc 😊
When I was a kid. Pools of Radiance and Pools of Darkness was my jam!
56:36 - 57:24 Hey, that is a clip of my channel! This is awesome! Feels like this is my contribution to the D&D world. :D
I've played many of these, some having a special place in my heart like the original Pool of Radiance, but BG1/2, especially BG2 is exceptional. It's the template for which all RPGs should be judged, the fact that it's over 20 years old is in fact quite sad considering we've had to hope and wait for something better. Taking your character from level 1 to diety level power, first rpg with true romance options, deep npc storylines...it really can't be beat. I've played it multiple times on PC and have enjoyed it all over again after they made the updated version on PS4 with new content and npcs. Don't let the flashiness of the new BG3 fool you, choose BG3 if you prefer to drive a brand new Tesla...pick BG2 if you'd rather drive a mint '66 Corvette.
...on a side note...the Pathfinder Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous use the same game engine as BG2 and would be rated as 1 and 2 respectfully...but obviously aren't officially licensed D&D, but Pathfinder uses a slightly modified D&D 3.5 ruleset, and they improve everything over BG2.
Sorry?? The Pathfinder games definitely don't use the same engine as BG2. Pathfinder uses Unity. The old BG games used Bioware's now quite ancient Infinity Engine. No one has used that in years. Maybe you meant they present a similar isometric perspective, but even that is only kind of accurate since the Pathfinders are fully 3D with a rotating camera while the old BG games were 2D.
To have Pool of Radiance (2001) at 66 is outrageous.
It had it's flaws, but definitely gave some good memories, at some low pace combat, close to how it felt at the real table!
Especially after they fixed the bug that wiped your pc😅
Baldur’s Gate is without a doubt THE best DnD game ever, but I still absolutely love Tower of Doom and its sequel Shadow Over Mystara. Those two were my first ever experiences with DnD in general. And it all just went uphill from there. Thanks for inspiring me to replay them.
LOL!
War Of The Lance was surprisingly good. Played the hell out of that game with my buds.
Man, some nostalgia here.
For the older games I felt then (and now) that the non-d&d games were always better: Dungeon Master, Bards Tale, Ultima (3,4 and 5), and so on. While they are all clearly inspired by AD&D, they are also unconstrained by it.
Torment is still the best game of all time. BG3 came close but the story of PST is simply put, life changing.
I can trace some of my current political views back to soul-searching philosophical questions I started considering as a child as a result of Ravel's riddle.
No other video game can say they have influened me in that way.