I've played rpgs since I was a kid starting with Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord on my IBM AT. I was going to list the RPG's I've played but I've at least tried just about every rpg that was ever commercially released and many shareware/freeware ones also. The earlier ones I completed but the quality over the years declined imo abeit with some gems in between.
The ones that hold particular interest or had some significant effect probably are (in no particular order, 'cuz I'm too lazy to rank. :p)
Wizardry I: I'll always remember this one as it was the first one that opened minds and doors.
Bard's Tale I-III: Again high quality, though this was in the era that IBM and compatibles were not the preferred platform of new/best games so I was delayed in exposure to these.
Might and Magic III: I played the earlier ones, but this one I remember with a particular fondness because of the size and breadth of the game
Dragonware: Fun game with some innovative schemes
Pools of Radiance: Since I played AD&D in junior hs and hs, this was enjoyable and realyl eye opening. This is the first game that made me realize the P&P rpgs were eventually going to the roadside compared to CRPGs.
Baldur's Gate: Preferred the second installment.
Of the more recent era, the list is much smaller.
Wizardry 8: I still pop this in once in a while. A real classic and imo the last great RPG. I was very sad to see Sir-Tech go to the wayside. You really dont' get RPG's like this anymore. Not just character options, party combinations, and very interesting development and play. No, it included a very well fleshed out story and world. It's hard to say whether Wiz6 or Wiz7 was better than this one. But still sad to see this franchise end.
Umm...I've tried many others but nothing honestly really pops out. True there are some that were decent and playable enough to finish them, but I won't ramble on much more (the DL is almost done. :p)
On Devil's Whiskey - I am surprised at the very low key exposure of this game. Freeware games with very low quality and shareware games that are obviously marginal have much more hype than this. People simply don't know this game exists. It's not on any shareware lists. It's not on any RPG list. It's not anywhere. I only randomly and accidentily found about Devil's Whiskey on cheek.org when I was searching for something else (actually an item list for Bard's Tale III as I was replaying it. I have the legit copy from RPG archives thingie.) Really I'm surprised. There are console-type games that charge the same as DW (~the 20-25$ range), games that are made just by using RPGMaker. And they have more exposure/advertisement. Oh well.
DL is at about 80% done so time to enjoy this game. Yes, I'll powergame. Not because I'm a uber lewt gamer, but I was forced from early days to do so to survive in many games because they were so difficult and involved lots and lots of dying. I've noticed in recent games that I have such an easy time because my "do every little thing possible to make the characters as powerful as possible so that I don't die every 5 minutes" method makes games such cake. We'll see about DW.
Cheers!
