For me the overall atmosphere in Fallout 2 feels better and the game somehow feels more complete.

Lol, funny thing is: The first game is complete while the second actually is incomplete.
That's why this fanmade patch was made:
http://www.nma-fallout.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=704
and that's why there is the Fallout 2 Restoration Project from the same guy:
http://www.nma-fallout.com/showthread.php?201223-Fallout-2-Restoration-Project-2-3-2-%28Unofficial-Expansion%29

I only finished FA2 once back then because I got stuck from bugs, this never happened with FA1.

Be sure to get the current version of the Hi-Res-Patch as well:
http://www.nma-fallout.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1444

Fallout 2 has many improvements, but I loved Fallout 1 more because the unknown. Fallout 2 is like coming back to a nice place, but Fallout 1, all was unknown.

Besides classic staples (BG series, Morrowind, Planescape, Neverwinternights 2) I might recommend:

- Two Worlds I & II - the original has just the most charmingly unpolished voice acting, yet the humorous touches are carried forward with a lot of panache unto the polished squeal

- Divine Divinity - diablo style action oriented gameplay, but with touches of story driven writing and humour I think only the Flemish can manage! :-D

- Dragon Age franchise mentioned yet? I would not accept this as the spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate by any means, but it is quite a playable on its own right, even DA:II.

This is not intended as a necro of an old thread of mine, but it's been a little over a year so I thought maybe I'd get down what I think since then.

My favorites are still:
Mount & Blade
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean (Origins having better battles, but still)
Xenoblade
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 1 & 2.

However, I've played a lot of Bravely Default in that time and I find it is a pretty strong contender for a favorite spot. It's pretty much like all of those old 16/32 bit RPGs, but with a certain amount of update which works nicely. The summons are awesome, the graphics are great, the writing is good and clever, and the battles are not chores. Now, they will tire one out after a while, nothing that a brief break does not cure. In general the game kinda reminds me of FFIII mixed with a Tales game.

Dragon's Dogma is a bunch of great and a good bit of bad if I'm honest. I like it a ton, but I would have enjoyed a stronger narrative throughout the plot. The combat is great and a lot of fun, this game also has provided me the best party building experience so far. I designed my main pawn pretty much how I liked it and that was great and the other pawns were among the other pre-designed pawns the game provides, or maybe they're randomly generated. Either way, I always liked my party and was always able to work well with them, and if a new need arose I would replace them (although, I got so attached to one that I kept her well past when her level was current). Among the bad in the game would include the fact that the world felt really big for how small it was, but I enjoyed it more than I have say Oblivion's or Assassin's Creed. Overall, I really liked this game, more than I thought I would even, but the lack of real characters is disappointing. However... the ending... SPOILER, It reminds me of the end of the late 80s/early 90s Mahabarata mini series. It left me... frustrated.

Last game I wanna talk about is SRT:OG Saga Endless. One f my favorite DS games and one of the best RPGs that I have played over the years. I love the design, battle system, writing, and style of the game. It's just awesome. I could go on and on about this, but that would mean making this a longer post than it already is.

So, those were the games that I wanted to discuss. Top five wouldn't change, but here is the top ten or so, no particular order:
Mount & Blade
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean.
Xenoblade
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Super Robot Taisen: The Original Generation 1 & 2.
Baten Kaitos Origins.
The Witcher 2.
The Witcher.
SRT:OG Saga Endless Frontier.
Project X Zone.

Too many good ones to name and order, but here are a few random ones to me that come to mind.

Baldur's Gate 1, and 2
Daggerfall
Might and Magic 1-8 ;)
Earthbound

Ultima 7 !
... and the remakes of Ultima 5 and 6 in the Dungeon Siege engine.

Baldur's Gate series
Fallout series
The Witcher series
Might & Magic series

I always prefer sci-fi RPGs, as well as mixed-genre RPGs, thusly:

* State of Decay * Dead State

* Alpha Protocol * Salvation Prophecy

* Shadowrun Returns * Planet Alcatraz * Anachronox

* Star Wolves * Starpoint Gemini * Smugglers V

* Consortium * the Guild games * and of-course KOTOR, KOTOR, KOTOR

For me it was The Baldur's Gate and Knights Of The Old Republic series. Played them all the time.

Dia... No, sorry, not on this site, this one. Mine then, here, are:

1) The Witcher (as series)
2) Blade of Darkness
3) Vampire the Masquerade
4) Arx Fatalis
5) Baldur's Gate series

X is the most recent - personally I quite liked it and thought it was a very good blend of new UI and class-based progression with a reversion to some features of older series that actually improved the tactical aspects of play. The balance for the expansion is borked, however, unless you're party is magic heavy - melee really suffers early on and progression can be impossible. Which seems like it would be easy to fix but Ubisoft doesn't seem to be supporting it at all any more.

Doubtful it shows up here any time soon - it's on Ubiplay (DRM) and while I don't have inside info I don't see Ubisoft releasing that chain.

Hard to just pick 5, and also there's the question are we talking about the best 5 today, or the 5 that were best when I played them? If the latter it would be:

Bard's Tale 1-3
Might and Magic 1, Xeen, 6
BG
Deus Ex

Though there were a ton of RPGs I've loved over the years.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
Morrowind.
Vampire Bloodlines.
Mass Effect.
Knights of the Old Republic.

Honorable mention goes to Vagrant Story for the epic sphere battle system and the Riskbreakers.

Arcanum
Fallout
VTMB
Torment
?? Pillars of Eternity maybe, maybe DA:O, I haven't played anything new-ish anywhere near as long as I played the top four. I reserve judgement.