Whenever the question “what is the greatest RPG of all time?” is asked, the usual answers are: one of the following: Final Fantasy Games, Skyrim, Chrono Trigger, World of Warcraft and The Witcher 3. All great games in their own right, but sadly none take the-greatest-RPG-of-all-time mantle, nope, not by a long shot. When I think of the greatest RPG, there is only one game I think of: Dungeons and Dragons.
Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D as it is commonly abbreviated to, was created in 1974 as a Tabletop RPG. D&D is recognised as one of the first RPGs to exist and was the beginning of video game RPGs.
This doesn’t mean D&D is the greatest RPG because it was the first of its kind; That would be like saying Donkey Kong is the greatest platformer to exist, when we all know that title belongs to Mario (this could be open for debate). What makes D&D the greatest RPG is the fact that after almost 50 years, it is still one of the most popular RPGs in the world and is still talked about and/or referenced in popular culture today. Name one RPG that has the same impact as D&D and that RPG has probably used the D&D formular or was inspired by it.
Think about your favourite RPG, think about what it does great. Does this RPG have an experience point-based system? Does this RPG include the following classes: Warrior, Rogue, Mage or a variant of the three? Does it include grand adventure that needs to be taken with party and may include dungeons/caves and possibly dragons or dragon-like creatures?
To those that are still not convinced; there’s a high chance the RPG you love is based on the D&D formula? For this example I will use the game Dragon Age. Dragon Age is probably one of my favourite RPGs in the world, but it may come to a shock for the three people that don’t know, but Bioware started life creating games based on D&D and Dragon Age was created as swansong to their beginnings. Just for the sake of it, and to cement D&D’s victory, let’s do another example: Final Fantasy. In the original Final Fantasy there is a job system which is all too similar to the classic arch type of… you guessed it, class system popularised by D&D.
I’ve just used a few examples as to why the greatest RPG is D&D. You don’t have to agree with this, but it is fact, and you can’t argue with fact.
What does everyone else think, is D&D in fact the greatest RPG or does that crown go to something else? Let us know in the comments below or on our Discord!
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