Sony’s PlayStation 2 is still the highest-selling console of all time. One of the many reasons for its outstanding sales was its iconic line-up of games, and memorable titles included GTA: San Andreas, God of War, and Shadow of the Colossus. However, the PS2 was substandard from its Xbox and PC counterparts in one department: role-playing games.
Classic games like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Fable, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic didn’t feature on Sony’s console. Sony put worries about a lack of RPG’s on the PS3 to bed, however, with an incredible collection of role-playing titles throughout the console’s lifespan. In fact, the PS3 and Xbox 360 were instrumental in taking RPG games out of their PC niche into the forefront of AAA gaming.
The genre’s success led to many companies trying to emulate the top RPG titles. Considering RPG games are known for their large and densely populated open worlds, their development can be grueling and expensive. Companies trying to make their own open-world games without the budget or development time required led to some of the console’s worst games.
10 Worst: Venetica
Venetica only just makes it onto the list, as it did tick one box that is fundamental in RPGs. Developer Deck13 Interactive created an interesting story that required players to make numerous important decisions that would greatly affect it.
Unfortunately, the game’s story was let down by many other fundamental issues. Venetica suffered from lackluster gameplay, outdated graphics, and enough bugs to make Bethesda games look flawless in comparison.
9 Best: Dragon Age: Origins
EA and BioWare excited RPG fans when they announced the first entry into a new series of RPG games in 2008. The aptly titled Dragon Age: Origins hit shelves in late 2009. The game was highly praised upon released by both fans and critics, with the game’s PC iteration receiving a 91 Metacritic score.
At the forefront of the game’s many impressive features was its setting; the fictional Ferelden is a joy to explore with a detailed, immersive design that is filled with fleshed-out characters and quests.
8 Worst: Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale
If it wasn’t for the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the RPG genre of video gaming would be nowhere near as big today. Unfortunately, developer Bedlam Games couldn’t do the game justice with Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale.
Daggerdale implemented the key features of Dungeons & Dragons into the game, with the iconic races and character classes appearing. However, the game felt uninspired with lackluster quests, dull visuals, and a lack of innovation, meaning that even die-hard D&D fans would struggle to find enjoyment from it.
7 Best: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The first—but definitely not the last—Bethesda game to appear on this list, Bethesda was the driving force behind pushing the RPG genre into the mainstream during the PS3 era with its plethora of excellent open-world titles.
Oblivion is not just one of Bethesda’s best PS3 games, it’s one of their best ever. The PS3 and Xbox 360’s capabilities meant that Oblivion could offer players a far more densely populated world than the PC and original Xbox exclusive Morrowind. Like many of Bethesda’s games, Oblivion is held back by numerous bugs and some poor character models that have dated the game considerably, but it is still a joy to revisit even today.
6 Worst: Time and Eternity
Time and Eternity is an odd case in that it doesn’t do anything particularly awful, it just doesn’t do anything well, either. The game looks impressive, with each environment bursting with life and color as is commonplace in Japanese role-playing games.
However, the aesthetics are supplemented by an uninteresting story, overall lack of innovation, and poor combat mechanics. Thankfully, the Japanese role-playing genre is full of other fantastic titles to play, instead.
5 Best: Fallout: New Vegas
Before its release, many gamers were skeptical of Fallout: New Vegas. They suspected that it may have just been a way for Bethesda to cash-in on the success of Fallout 3.
Those fears were soon put to bed, though, as New Vegas had an excellent story, brought back the excellent reputation mechanic from Fallout 2, and tweaked the key elements of Fallout 3 while improving upon them in many ways. Fallout 3 was still considered the better game at the time, as New Vegas didn’t offer anywhere near the same amount of innovation when compared to the very first 3D Fallout title. However, New Vegas makes this list ahead of Fallout 3, as it is the better game to re-visit retrospectively.
4 Worst: Last Rebellion
Haru Akenaga, the president of Last Rebellion‘s developer Nippon Ichi Software, said the following about Last Rebellion‘s US release.
“Once we got Last Rebellion we realized it was not the kind of title we should release in the United States because of its quality. I feel really sorry for our customers because we released that title.” He went on to say that “we cannot say it’s a really great title. We felt really sorry, but we had no choice to release that.”
Haru’s words should be enough of an indication as to why Last Rebellion is on this list. Essentially, the game was far too easy and short for an RPG, the combat was poor, and the story lacked intrigue.
3 Best: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim‘s many ports almost make it difficult to remember where Bethesda’s modern classic started. The game was released on console and PC in 2011 and was met with widespread praise and acclaim. Skyrim‘s initial world disappointing wasn’t larger than Oblivion‘s. However, it was filled to the brim with amazing characters, stories, environments, and an incredible amount of quests.
The game won numerous awards upon release, most notably Overall Game of the Year by GameSpot, GameSpy, and Interactive Achievement Awards. With Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Zenimax Media, the parent company of Bethesda, Skyrim may be the last mainline Elder Scrolls game to appear on a PlayStation console. If that is the case, then Skyrim is a fantastic send-off.
2 Worst: Magus
In a golden age of RPG’s, Magus became infamous for its awful critical reception. The game was criticized for its poorly written dialog, weak gameplay, and outdated graphics, especially considering that it released in 2014.
The game was released as a PS3 exclusive despite the PS4 hitting shelves three months before its release. Consequently, the game initially sold poorly. However, it did see a small spike in sales sometime after its release. The game amassed a small cult following of players who enjoyed the game in a “so bad it’s good” way. The voice acting and bad dialog, in particular, made the game unintentionally enjoyable to play.
1 Best: Dark Souls
Bethesda’s dominance of the best entries on this list is ended by FromSoftware’s Dark Souls. Though we’re all acutely aware of the title at this point, it would have been an out-of-the-blue pick for this list at the time of its release. The game went under the radar initially, as it had minimal marketing. However, critical praise and word of mouth soon spread. Today, Dark Souls is considered one of the best and most influential games of its generation.
The game revolutionized storytelling in video games recaptured player’s love for boss fights and bought tough challenges back to mainstream gaming. This difficulty doesn’t just come from the enemies though. A lack of mini-map and quest markers meant that players had to understand the world around them to learn how to progress. One of the many games that Dark Souls influenced was The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Nintendo’s legendary series being inspired by FromSoftware’s game was a big compliment to the company, especially as Breath of the Wild, along with the original Dark Souls, is considered to be one of the best games of all time.
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