Computer role-playing game

Computer role-playing games (CRPGs), often shortened to simply (RPGs), are a type of computer and video games that use settings and game mechanics found in traditional role-playing games. The term "CRPG" is more often used when referring to titles made for personal computers, as opposed to console role-playing games for video game consoles. RPGs as a video game genre include a wide range of gameplay styles and engines. Gameplay elements strongly associated with RPGs, such as statistical character development, have been widely adapted to other video game genres.

Overview

File:FinalFantasyTacticsAdvanceGBAScreenshot.jpg

An RPG 'status screen' as seen in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

CRPGs, in general, are derived from pen and paper-based role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons & Dragons. Characters in these games are always assigned a variety of attributes such as hit points. These attributes are traditionally displayed as a numeric value to the player instead of a simpler abstract graphical representation, such as bars and meters, favored by video games in general. CRPGs also borrow the narrative structure of pen and paper RPGs. The stories featured usually involve a group of characters (a party) who have joined forces in order to accomplish a mission or quest. Along the way, the adventurers must face a great number of challenges and enemies (usually monsters inspired by science fiction and classic mythology). A sample character from Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is illustrated here. The screen shows the character's name, portrait, level (LV), current/maximum hitpoints (HP), and current/maximum magic points (MP).

Character development

Through the course of a game, players are allowed to choose how they want to improve their character's (or party's) performance in terms of attributes, skills, special abilities, and equipment. These improvements are given as rewards for overcoming challenges and achieving goals. The conditions that need to be met in order to earn these rewards may vary; some games are focused on defeating enemies, while others emphasize completion of the quests. The amount of freedom players are given when choosing what to improve also varies by game; some allow highly detailed and specialized customizations (known as "builds"), while others automate the process almost entirely. In many games, players are allowed to name and create the concept of their characters, as opposed to playing the role of a pre-defined protagonist (like in most Final Fantasy games). When creating a character from scratch, players might be able to choose their race. Players choose a character class or profession (a.k.a. "job") that defines the focus of their training in different aptitudes such as weapons mastery, social skills, spell-casting, and stealth. Some games allow characters to advance in more than one of these professions, but this usually carries some form of disadvantage in order to maintain game balance.

Additionally, two different systems of rewarding the player characters for solving the tasks in the game can be set apart: the experience system and the training system. The former was inherited from traditional role-playing games, most notably, Dungeons & Dragons, and emphasizes receiving "experience points" (by winning battles, performing class-specific activities, and completing quests), which are then "invested" by the player into the necessary skills. The second system was first introduced in Final Fantasy II, and emphasizes developing the character's skills by using them - meaning that if a character wields a sword for some time, he or she will become proficient with it. This system was later used in the The Elder Scrolls series, as well as the Dungeon Siege series.

Both character development systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The experience system allows more flexibility and fairness in rewarding the completed tasks, but is generally unrealistic, since it is, for example, theoretically possible to develop a character's warrior skills without ever actually using them in game. The training system does not imply any reward for the completed quests, except a material one, assuming that the character trained his or her skills while working towards the set goals. However, such systems tend to over-simplification (as seen in Dungeon Siege) and are often considered a step away from classical CRPGs towards the action RPG genre.

Setting and genres

The term "genre" is commonly used to classify a CRPG's story setting. Most CRPGs are set in a fictional high fantasy world. Others feature elements from space opera and pulp science fiction; most merge elements from all those previously mentioned. Very few games take place in historic or modern settings.

Navigation

Characters in CRPGs often travel long distances or navigate through complex and maze-like locations in order to accomplish their goals; thus, many use a system of maps to help the player navigate through the game world. Starting with Akalabeth, these games feature characters moving on more than one two-dimensional (2-D) map. When the player-character in that game entered a dungeon, the viewpoint shifted from a top-down 2-D view of the world to a first-person 3-D view of a maze. Some games feature maps that must be viewed on their own separate screen, while others feature an automap that is always visible during normal gameplay. These maps commonly keep track of a character's current location and important destinations. Although these maps generally make navigation easier for the player, some games limit the visibility of the map intentionally to provide additional challenge.

Encounters

In most CRPGs, a system of "random encounters" is employed whenever the player characters wander around in dangerous places, such as enemy strongholds or the savage wilderness. At random intervals, usually when the characters are moving, an encounter occurs spontaneously. An encounter may be benign in nature, such as finding a friendly non-player character or a wandering merchant, or it may be hostile, such as being spotted by a group of enemies or walking into a trap. Encounters are more often hostile than benign. By encountering and defeating enemies, the group of characters may be rewarded with loot and experience points, just as in many of the simpler traditional fantasy RPGs. Participating in random encounters repeatedly for the sake of amassing these rewards is referred to as grinding. Enemy characters featured in random encounters rarely have any impact on the story. Some games, instead of using a traditional random encounter system, generate the characters from a random encounter on the screen before the player is forced to interact with them. This way, the player is able to better prepare for the encounter or avoid it altogether (if possible).

Some encounters in CRPGs are not random; they happen automatically when the player reaches a certain point in the story. These encounters are usually important events and may be foreshadowed in some way. The vast majority of these non-random encounters are "bosses", enemy characters of importance who are always more difficult to defeat than any common random encounter. Other scripted encounters may include unavoidable guards, characters seeking the player's attention, or incidents that are critical to the story. Like most video games, CRPGs feature a climactic final encounter, after which the game soon reaches its conclusion.

Combat

Almost every CRPG features combat as one of the main challenges to the player. A good portion of these games are spent avoiding, preparing for, or carrying out fights. Combat is carried out in either turn-based or real-time modes. In a turn-based system, only one character may act at a time; all other characters remain still, with a few exceptions that involve the use of special abilities. The order in which the characters act is usually based on a system that depends on the characters' attributes. Active Time Battle and Conditional Turn-Based Battle System are examples of popular turn-based systems. In real-time mode, there are no turn restrictions and characters may act at any time. A variant of this mode called real-time with pause allows the player to pause the game and issue orders to all characters under his/her control; when the game is un-paused, all characters follow the orders they were given.

History

File:Akalabeth dungeon.png

Richard Garriott's Akalabeth from 1980 is considered to be one of the first graphical CRPGs not hosted on PLATO.

Main article: History of computer role-playing games

Role-playing video games began in 1975 as an offshoot of early university mainframe computer text RPGs on PDP-10 and Unix-based computers, starting with Dungeon and graphical RPGs on the PLATO System, pedit5 and dnd, themselves inspired by traditional role-playing games. Other influences during this period were text adventures, Multiple-User Dungeons (MUDs) and roguelike games. Some of the first graphical CRPGs after pedit5 and dnd, were orthanc, avathar (later renamed avatar), oubliette, baradur, emprise, bnd, sorcery, moria, and dndworld, all of which were developed and became widely popular on PLATO during the latter 1970s, in large part due to PLATO's speed, fast graphics, nationwide network of terminals, and large number of players with access to those terminals. These were followed by (but did not always lead directly to) games on other platforms, such as Akalabeth (1980) (which gave rise to the well-known Ultima series), and Wizardry.

These early Ultima and Wizardry games are perhaps the largest influence on the later console RPG games that are now popular. Many innovations of Ultima III: Exodus (1983) eventually became standards of almost all RPGs in both the console market (if somewhat simplified to fit the gamepad) and the personal computer market. Later Dungeon Master (1987) introduced realtime gameplay and several user-interface innovations, such as direct manipulation of objects and the environment with the mouse, to first-person CRPGs.

The earliest console RPG was the Intellivision title AD&D Treasure of Tarmin (1982). Much later, in 1986, Enix made the NES title Dragon Quest (called Dragon Warrior in North America and would remain that way until the 8th game in the series). This was followed shortly by ports of the computer RPGs Wizardry and Ultima III, and a number of Japanese RPGs, including The Legend of Zelda (1986) from Nintendo, Phantasy Star (1987) from Sega, and Final Fantasy (1987) from Squaresoft. These games proved popular and spawned their own series of sequels. The Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series remain popular today, Final Fantasy more so in the West, and Dragon Quest in Japan.

Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy both borrowed heavily from Ultima. For example, leveling up and saving must be done by speaking to the king in Dragon Quest, and in order to rest and get healed, the characters must visit the king (Dragon Quest) or stay the night at an inn (both games). The games are played in a top-down perspective, much like the Ultima games, as well. The combat style in Dragon Quest was borrowed from another series from the personal computer market, the Wizardry games.

Modern games

File:Warcraft 3 Humans fight Orcs screenshot.jpg

Warcraft III blends CRPG and real-time strategy elements.

The first CRPGs offered a single player experience. The popularity of multiplayer modes in these games rose sharply during the mid-1990s. Diablo (1996) was one of the games that heavily influenced this boost in popularity. It combined CRPG and action game elements, and featured an Internet multiplayer mode that allowed up to four players to enter the same world and fight monsters, trade items, or fight against each other. MMORPGs introduced huge worlds with open-ended gameplay and thousands of interactive characters (both player and computer-controlled).

In 1997, a new Internet fad began. Influenced by console RPGs, a large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating and sharing independent CRPG games, based mostly on the gameplay and style of the older SNES and Sega Genesis games. The majority of such games owe to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series.

A steadily increasing number of non-RPG video games have adopted aspects traditionally seen in RPGs, such as experience point systems, equipment management, and choices in dialogue. The blending of these elements with a number of different game engines and gameplay styles have created a myriad of hybrid game categories. These hybrid games are commonly formed by mixing popular gameplay elements featured in other genres, such as first-person shooters, platformers, and real-time strategy games.

The best-selling CRPG series worldwide is Pokémon. It has sold over 91 million units across 11 different titles as of 2004. The second and third best-selling series worldwide are Square Enix's Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, respectively. As of 2006, Final Fantasy has sold 63 million units, while Dragon Warrior has sold over 40 million units (as announced by the company during its E3 conference]].

Cultural differences

Due to cultural differences between developer companies based on their country of origin, two main trends or "families" of digital RPGs exist. Each follows a certain pattern in terms of art style, storyline, and game mechanics.

Western (American/European)

File:Fallout 01.jpg

Fallout, one of the most highly acclaimed Western RPGs

One family of digital RPGs is the Western (American/European) family, with Baldur's Gate, Fallout, Planescape: Torment, The Elder Scrolls and Neverwinter Nights as good examples, but also including older games like the Gold Box series, Ultima, Might and Magic, Abandoned Places and Wizardry. The vast majority of CRPGs made for personal computers belong to this family. These games frequently employ dark and serious fantasy settings. The personalities of the characters are usually more subdued than those of their Japanese counterparts, with fewer "pure" cackling villains, comic relief characters, and so on. The stories featured often deal with ancient struggles for power that rarely end with a total victory for any given faction. The races featured in most of western-style fantasy CRPGs are based on the many characters that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote about, such as dwarves, orcs, and elves. These CRPGs are often based directly on the rules and settings of pen and paper game systems (Dungeons and Dragons being the most common), sometimes even displaying die rolls and other game mechanics normally hidden from players' eyes.

Level advancement systems in western RPGs tend to feature lower level limits and slower progression rates than in eastern RPGs. Many western games also incorporate skill-based character progression on top of a level-based system. Within a skill-based progression system, players invest experience or some other progression points into specific skills and abilities in order to specialize their characters for a particular style of play.

Fantasy/Sci-Fi hybrid settings (such as swords and sorcery elements coexisting with modern or futuristic technology) are rarely featured in western CRPGs.

Japanese (East Asian)

File:Lunar sssc screenshot.jpg

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete screenshot, a typical Japanese cRPG

The other family is the Japanese family of graphical RPGs with the Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Phantasy Star, Suikoden, Grandia and the Lunar series as clear examples. These games are commonly colorful and bright. These games often employ settings that are a fusion of Eastern history and mythology, European folklore and traditions, and modern Japanese comics (Manga) and animation (Anime). Fantasy/science-fiction hybrid settings are very common, such as the popular Star Ocean and Final Fantasy series. The characters in these games are often designed in the same style as in Anime and often carry light-hearted tones. The storyline in these games usually involves an epic, ultimate battle between the forces of good and evil, with the player's characters fighting for the good cause. Character races tend to be limited to humans. In those cases when the player is given a choice, traditional Tolkien races such as elves, dwarves, and halflings are usually not included, in favor of races specific to the game's setting. Pen and paper-derived rules systems, such as Dungeons & Dragons d20, have never been directly implemented into these games. Japanese developers tend to create new (but similar) systems for every single game.

A slight variation of this family exists in China, Taiwan, Korea, and other neighboring areas. The mechanics (i.e. combat and class/job selection) of this family of games is largely the same as the Japanese one. Differences lie in the graphics and plot. These games use a different, Chinese-influenced art style and the storyline is told with a Wuxia style inspired by novels. One famous example is Sword of Xuan Yuan.

Comparisons

A fundamental difference between Western RPGs and Japanese RPGs is the way the games' stories are structured. Western style RPGs often allow the player to make moral and/or strategic choices when solving many problems relevant to the whole story, thus making them less linear. This often means that player-created characters start with unknown motivations and vague background stories; these are usually left for the player to decide, which can be considered either an advantage or drawback. Japanese style RPGs are usually more tightly scripted, which allows for more detailed characterization and highly dramatic events to unfold like in a book or a movie. However, since the progress of the plot has been pre-determined, the player's choices usually have little or no effect on the direction of the game. A fair number of exceptions exist on both sides; for instance, Romancing SaGa is an example of a Japanese RPG with a fairly open and non-linear storyline, and Nox is an American RPG featuring a stictly linear story and no dialogue choices.

Other comparisons:

• In some games, the protagonist (only the protagonist) never speaks, although it is implied that he/she somehow communicates with the rest of the cast. One reason for this could be so that the player (who most likely chose a name for the character at the beginning) can have a greater sense of immersion in the role. Some older RPGs (both Western and Eastern) would have none of the player-controlled characters speak at all.
• While female characters in fighting games are notorious for being faster than males but less powerful, women in RPGs of both families regularly have the potential to become just as capable at offense as their counterparts; limitations regarding a character's performance are usually determined by their class/profession and race. That being said, female characters in RPGs are commonly typecast as healers and magicians while male characters play the roles of front line warriors and martial artists. Games that feature character creation (the vast majority being western) tend to move away from these stereotypes and often reverse them. For example, in Dungeons and Dragons games males and females usually have no difference beyond appearance and gender-specific interactives, with all abilities and skills equal.
• In most Japanese RPGs, the four classical elements of fire, earth, air and water are incorporated into the game's setting. Any spell, item, or creature may be associated with one or more of these elements. Fire may be considered strong or weak against Water, depending on the situation; the same relation applies to Air and Earth. Additional "elements" (energy types in most cases) are often introduced as well, such as electricity (lightning), light and darkness, and aether, as well as more radical "para-elements" such as acid and poison. Finding and exploiting an enemy's weakness against a certain element is often crucial (and sometimes the only way) to defeat an opponent in battle. Western RPGs rarely incorporate these elemental systems as an important part of their setting. Instead, they include systems that classify weapons by damage type, such as "piercing", "slashing", "bludgeoning", and "magical". In these games, enemies may be more or less vulnerable against specific non-elemental damage types.
• Both families commonly feature a variety of "status effects" that may affect characters during battles. These usually come into play when special powers and abilities (such as spells) are used. Some of these provide a character an advantage (boosted attributes, defensive barriers, regeneration) and are commonly referred to as buffs. Others hinder the character (decreased attributes, incapacitation, disease, loss of control) and are called debuffs.
• In Japanese RPGs, it is common for lead characters of opposite sex who are seen interacting early on to end up romantically involved or implied to be so in the future. The first game to feature this was Final Fantasy IV (1991). The first game to make the characters fall in love or drift apart based on the play style of the user was Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992). Western RPGs rarely feature such dramatic relationships between main characters, although there are some notable recent exceptions such as Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
• The main heroes of Japanese CRPGs are most often warriors (i.e. not healers or wizards) wielding swords (i.e. not spears or staves), though there are exceptions such as Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy IX. In most Western CRPGs, and a number of earlier Japanese CRPGs (such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest III), character creation allows players to choose their main hero's class and weapons, resulting in more variety. It should be noted, however, that if a western CRPG has a sequel and must have an "official ending", a male warrior is typically said to be the hero of that story for canon purposes.

Criticisms

CRPGs often face criticism from players of traditional RPGs. A common reason for this is the fact that most Western CRPGs focus on combat and statistical character management instead of storytelling and deep character development. This trend is called powergaming. Players also criticise the fact that the player has limited, pre-programmed control over their digital avatar, rather than unlimited control of a character who may interact with any aspect of the game's world.

These are common criticisms of simulated realities in general; indeed, these criticisms are also directed at gamist and simulationist players of traditional role-playing games. A virtual world might create the illusion of freedom in terms of choice and motion, but even in the most free-form CRPGs, a player's actions are limited by the amount of content that a game's designers are able to program. Narrativist RPG players, being used to having no such pre-defined limitations, find themselves unsatisfied with the experience provided in CRPGs.

Many gamers feel that it is inaccurate to use the term "role-playing game" to describe games in which the characterization of the game characters is determined by the game designer rather than the players' portrayal of their roles. However, this is a criticism of the term rather than of the games themselves.

Although current technical limitations may not allow CRPGs to be as open-ended and free as traditional RPGs, numerous games allow for considerable variation in their content delivery. Many games also feature graphic engines designed to be easily modified by enthusiasts, who with their own variations and ideas may add new graphical content and build their own home-grown setting and stories. Some games such as Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption and Neverwinter Nights also feature built-in "storytelling" multiplayer modes which provide one player all the functions of a gamemaster. Future developments in artificial intelligence might lead to the development of CRPGs which answer all the traditionalists' criticisms.

Variant terminology

Because traditional role-playing games predate them, computer RPGs were given the abbreviation CRPG as they increased in popularity to avoid confusing the two. In Japan, however, video game RPGs became widely popular first, so the term "RPG" (in the Latin alphabet) is used for them primarily, while the original versions have been cited under the retronym "PRPG". Outside Japan, console RPGs are frequently referred to as "JRPG".

Occasionally, a distinction is made between console RPGs and those played on a personal computer (PC). In these cases, the abbreviation "CRPG" is used to refer solely to the console role-playing games. This distinction is made in part because most console RPGs are made by or follow asian RPG trends and most computer RPGs are made by or follow western RPG trends. Differences regarding interface and hardware capabilities are also important because of their impact on the way a game is experienced. In RPGs that have been made for both consoles and PCs (or ported later from one to the other), it is common to observe significant differences between both versions.

CRPGs that feature complex, squad-based, and usually Turn-Based combat systems are known as Tactical RPGs, and may be abbreviated as "TRPGs". Some prefer to call them "Strategic RPGs", thus they may also be referred to as "SRPGs" instead. They are often considered to be Real-time tactics or Turn-based tactics rather than CRPGs, or a hybrid between them.

Chronology of CRPGs

Note: These are not complete lists of all computer or console RPGs, but a list of some of the most significant, influential or well-regarded CRPGs of all time. A number of titles which were initially released for Windows were later ported to the Macintosh or to console platforms. Likewise, a number of console-specific RPGs were later ported to other consoles or to the IBM PC.

Chronology of computer RPGs

File:Wizardry1.png

Wizardry was one of the earliest graphical computer role-playing games, debuting on the Apple II in 1981.

• 1974: dnd (PLATO System)
• 1975: Dungeon (PDP-10)
• 1980: Akalabeth
  • Rogue (UNIX, ported to many other OSes later)
  • Temple of Apshai
  • Tunnels and Trolls
• 1981: The Ultima series debuts (Apple II)
  • Wizardry (Apple II)
• 1982: Tunnels of Doom (TI-99/4A)
• 1983: Ultima III is released, pioneering many innovations that would become standard on many CRPGs that followed (DOS, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Macintosh)
  • Moria
  • Questron
• 1984: Tyrann (Oric, Amstrad, Thomson)
• 1985: Bard's Tale (Apple II, later Commodore 64, Amiga, Apple IIgs, Atari 8-bit family, DOS, Macintosh)
  • Alternate Reality
  • Phantasie series debuts (Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS)
• 1986: Starflight (Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, Macintosh)
• 1987: Deathlord
  • Dungeon Master (DOS, Atari ST, Amiga, Apple IIGS, others)
  • Might and Magic series debuts (DOS, Commodore 64, Macintosh)
• 1988: Pool of Radiance, first game in the Gold Box series, uses AD&D rules and Forgotten Realms campaign world
  • Wasteland (Apple II, Commodore 64, DOS)
• 1989: Curse of the Azure Bonds Gold Box D&D RPG
  • Dragon Wars
  • Hillsfar
  • Starflight 2 (DOS)
  • Sentinel Worlds I: Future Magic (DOS, Commodore 64)
• 1990: Angband
  • Countdown to Doomsday Gold Box - Buck Rogers
  • Champions of Krynn, Gold Box D&D RPG , uses Dragonlance campaign world
  • Eye of the Beholder (DOS, Amiga, Sega CD, Super Nintendo)
  • Hard Nova (DOS, Amiga)
  • Secret of the Silver Blades Gold Box D&D RPG (Amiga, C64, MS-DOS)
  • Ultima VI (DOS)
• 1991: Neverwinter Nights, the first graphical MMORPG debuts; ran on AOL 1991-1997.
  • Gateway to the Savage Frontier Gold Box D&D RPG
  • Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
  • Pools of Darkness Gold Box D&D RPG
• 1992: Matrix Cubed (1992), Gold Box - Buck Rogers
  • Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (DOS, a PlayStation version was released in 1997)
  • Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (DOS)
  • Treasures of the Savage Frontier Gold Box D&D RPG, perhaps the first game where an NPC can fall in love with a player character if their conduct earns it
  • Darklands (DOS)
• 1993: Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures (DOS, Macintosh)
  • Lands of Lore series debuts (DOS)
  • Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
  • Dungeon Hack (DOS)
  • Betrayal at Krondor (DOS)
• 1994: The Elder Scrolls series debuts with The Elder Scrolls: Arena (DOS)
• 1995: Ravenloft; The Stone Prophet (DOS)
• 1996: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (DOS)
  • Diablo (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Albion (game) (DOS)
• 1997: Fallout series debuts (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Ultima Online (Windows)
• 1998: Baldur's Gate series debuts (Windows, Macintosh)
• 1999: Planescape: Torment (Windows)
  • EverQuest (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Septerra Core (Windows)
  • System Shock 2 (Windows)
  • Asheron's Call (Windows)
• 2000: Icewind Dale (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Diablo II (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Nox (Windows)
  • Deus Ex (Windows, Macintosh)
• 2001: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura (Windows)
  • Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Expansion Pack (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Gothic (Windows)
  • Anachronox (Windows)

    

    Neverwinter Nights showcasing its powerful 3D graphics engine.

• 2002: Final Fantasy XI (Windows)
  • Dungeon Siege (Windows, Macintosh)
  • Icewind Dale II released, uses D&D 3rd edition rules (Windows)
  • Neverwinter Nights (Windows, Macintosh, Linux version in 2003)
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Windows)
  • Arx Fatalis (Windows)
  • Divine Divinity (Windows)
  • AdventureQuest (Macromedia Flash)
  • Asheron's Call 2: Fallen Kings (Windows)
• 2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series debuts (Windows, Macintosh)
  • The Temple of Elemental Evil released, uses D&D 3.5 rules, Greyhawk campaign world (Windows)
• 2004: City of Heroes (Windows)
  • EverQuest II (Windows)
  • World of Warcraft (Macintosh, Windows)
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Windows)

Oblivion Gate in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

• 2005: The Matrix Online
  • Dungeon Siege II (Windows)
  • Guild Wars (Windows)
  • Fable: The Lost Chapters (Windows)
• 2006: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Windows)
  • "Guild Wars: Factions" (Windows)

Chronology of console RPGs

See Chronology of console role-playing games for a more comprehensive list.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

• 1982: AD&D Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision)
  • Dragonstomper (ATR)

File:DragonQuestIBox.jpg

Dragon Quest was the earliest Japanese RPG.

• 1986: Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) series debuts (NES)
• 1987: Megami Tensei series debuts (NES)
  • Phantasy Star series debuts (SMS)
  • Dragon Quest II (NES)
  • Final Fantasy series debuts (NES)
  • Ys series debuts (NES, SMS)
• 1988: Dragon Quest III (NES)
• 1989: Mother (NES)
• 1990: Crystalis (NES)
  • Dragon Quest IV (NES)
  • StarTropics (NES) (USA and Europe Only)
• 1991: Final Fantasy IV (II in North America) (SNES)
  • Lagrange Point (NES)
• 1992: Lunar series debuts (Sega Mega-CD)
  • Dragon Quest V (SNES)
• 1993: Secret of Mana (Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
• 1994: Final Fantasy VI (III in North America) (SNES)
  • Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II (NES) (USA and Europe Only)
• 1995: Chrono Trigger (SNES)
  • Dragon Quest VI (SNES)
  • Mother 2 (EarthBound)(SNES)
  • Suikoden (PlayStation (PS1))
  • Tales of Phantasia (SNES)
  • Terranigma (SNES)
• 1996: Rudora no Hihou (SNES)
  • Star Ocean series debuts (SNES)
  • Super Mario RPG (SNES)

File:FinalFantasyVII-Combat.jpg

Final Fantasy VII is the biggest selling RPG to date and remains very popular among RPG fans.

• 1997: Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
  • Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1)
  • Grandia series debuts (Sega Saturn (SAT))
• 1998: Brave Fencer Musashi (PS1)
  • Parasite Eve (PS1)
  • Suikoden II (PS1)
  • Xenogears (PS1)
• 1999: Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
  • Chrono Cross (PS1)
• 2000: Dragon Quest VII (PS1)
  • Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
  • Legend of Dragoon (PS1)
  • Eternal Arcadia (Skies Of Arcadia) (DC)
  • Vagrant Story (PS1)
• 2001: Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2 (PS2)
  • Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2)
  • Golden Sun (GBA)
  • Shadow Hearts (PS2)
• 2002: Suikoden III (PS2)
  • Tomato Adventure (GBA)
  • Animal Crossing (GCN)
  • Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
  • Lost Kingdoms (GCN)
  • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox)
  • Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (PS2)
• 2003: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)
  • Sword of Mana (GBA)
  • Tales of Symphonia (GCN)
• 2004: Dragon Quest VIII (PS2)
  • Champions of Norrath (PS2)
  • Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2)
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (PS2)
  • Suikoden IV (PS2)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2/Xbox/GCN)
• 2005: Champions: Return to Arms (PS2)
  • Digital Devil Saga (PS2)
  • Kingdom Hearts II (PS2)
  • Jade Empire (Xbox)
  • Suikoden Tactics (PS2)
  • Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (PS2)
• 2006: Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
  • Shadow Hearts: From The New World (PS2)
  • Suikoden V (PS2)
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360)

List of companies

Below is a list of game developers who specialize in or have created notable digital role-playing games.

• Activision
• Akella
• Artix Entertainment
• Atlus
• Bethesda Softworks
• BioWare
• Black Isle Studios
• Blizzard North
• Camelot
• Capcom
• Disney
• Enix
• FTL Games
• Funcom
• Game Arts
• Game Freak
• Gas Powered Games
• Konami
• Intelligent Systems
• Interplay
• Looking Glass Studios
• Namco
• New World Computing
• Nintendo
• Nippon Ichi Software
• Obsidian Entertainment
• Origin Systems
• Piranha Bytes
• Sir-Tech
• Spiderweb Software
• Square Enix (a result of the business merger of Enix and SquareSoft Co., Ltd.)
• Square
• Stormfront Studios
• Strategic Simulations, Inc.
• tri-Ace
• Troika Games
• Turbine Inc
• Westwood Studios

Related genres

• Adventure games
• MMORPGs
• MUDs
• Real-time strategy
• Roguelike
• Tactical RPG
• Console role-playing game
• RPG Maker

See also

• List of computer and video games by category

External links

Independent CRPG websites

• AllRPG
• RPG Codex
• RPGDot
• Sorcerer's Place
• Role Players Gaming Network - An online games-server and forums community for role players.