ok but the real answer here is Dragon's Dogma :D

and neverwinter nights 2

Slow Tuesday then?

Controlled you say? Where's the control? I remember most battles were completely out of control... Oh boy, good luck with this AI and its party members; It can and *will* drive you mad at times!

That said, U7 is still one of the best cRPGs - the interactivity is nuts and the game is a must-play for every cRPG fan out there. Speaking of interactivity, the excellent Divinity: Original Sin showed us how it's done in modern gaming. It's no pre-requisite for a cRPG to be good, but when it does elevate the gameworld when it's done right.

Honestly, I would have to anti-recommend Ultima 7, as the game has many annoyances and the combat is garbage.

Instead, I would recommend Ultima 4-6, which, while still having their annoyances (the need for reagents for even the most basic of spells, for example), at least have functional combat systems.

Also, the last game on the list, "The Caligula Effect: Overdose", contains transphobia and fatphobia. In particular, there's at least one point in a social link where you have to choose between one of two terrible options. Therefore, I can't recommend the game to anyone (and it was even on my wishlist before I heard about this aspect of the game).

what the???

Actually, I would say that the battle system is crucial to a CRPG, and having that be completely botched is enough to say that not only is Ultima 7 not one of the best CRPGs, it's actually one of the worst. (At least it isn't as bad as the garbage that is Ultima 5 NES.)

It also doesn't help that the game has some other issues, including:
* The inventory system is atrocious, and in particular is significantly worse than in past Ultima games.
* You must manually feed your characters when they get hungry. It's not enough to just have the food in your inventory; you need to actually go into it, find a food item, and use it on the hungry character. This forces you to interact with the atrocious inventory more than should be necessary.

The thing is, while having the interactivity might improve an already decent game, you at least need to have the basics down first, and Ultima 7 fails in that regard.

In any case, I would say that Ultima 4-6 are more deserving of the list than the Ultima games that made it on.

(I happen to like Ultima 1-3, but they might be a bit archaic for some, and the mechanics of the early games may seem rather strange.)

So what you are saying is that everyone should play Caligula Effect. Thanks man.

DD is an answer if you are seeking awesome combat system (it's the only game I played where you have the option to climb some monsters to get to the point where it really hurts!). The RPG aspect is it's main weakness - all characters I remember act like a wooden puppets in a show where the writer is either mad or on something very illegal.

the real answer would be to release a patch that puts gog's version of dragons dogma on par with steam's and allows sharing pawns with steam. it makes no sense to have two separate pools for your pawns given that most of the playerbase is on steam.

Remember the Commodore Colt? I had one of those; performed surgery on it and it became a shining example of an IBM XT machine. With that machine I got into the Ultima series, and one of the best RPG experiences of the early gaming experience. Then, I went into the massive SSI Gold Box series where I upgraded to my first IBM machine. I must admit, besides the Witcher series, there has not been made a better RPG series, since the afore mentioned. I remember having to upgrade my video card to play Hills Far. Games are like songs in my humble opinion, and they don't write 'em like that anymore. Remember, Revenant, and Genie's Curse?

I remember arguing with my girlfriend about buying a game, or buying food, and my comment, "Eating is good, but have you ever experienced a game?"

Shortly after, I was single, and spending all nights on the weekends getting my fill of some of the best games ever made!

Games, they have kept me from debauchery, and various other non-essential wasting away misfortunes. Of course my light bill may have suffered a bit, but in the end:

That's why I became a GAMER.

The point of RPGs is playing a character. This character does not need to have the same personallity, behaviour or thoughts as the player. You can play an a***ole and enjoy the experience. Being a different person is fun.
So, no wrong in that point unless the whole game itself has a clear message supporting such ideas.

DT's negative review makes me want to play The Caligula Effect now!

Not to mention Carrion here...

From what I can tell, it's not just the character you play as; other characters are transphobic, to the point of deadnaming the character in question.

Also, even if the game doesn't support such ideas, they still should at least provide a trigger warning, so that the possible players can decide if they are prepared to handle such issues mentally. Even a game like Secret Little Haven (which is about a trans woman and was written by a trans woman) has, right on the game's itch.io page, "[CONTENT WARNINGS: Parental conflict, gaslighting, flashing visuals]". (Note that the game I am referencing here is not an RPG.)

Edit: Why the low rating? Could you please explain what was inappropriate about what I said?