One of the most common questions asked on gaming forums is ‘I just finished such and such (and am now having RPG withdrawals), what is a good RPG I can play now?’

So I thought I’d put together a list of games that I enjoyed and that also took a while to complete (so as to put off another more withdrawals as long as possible). This is a list you should also consider consulting if you are new to the RPG genre and want to experience some originals.

So in no particular order, here are 3 games I would recommend playing to fill all those spare hours you now have:

Fallout 2

The first Fallout game was one of the first RPG’s I played. Although young, I loved it. Cool weapons, armor and bad dudes and plenty of ways to kill them. Fallout 2 builds upon that original greatness in a huge game with heaps and heaps of content.

As well as a large storyline, there are plenty of towns, side quests and interesting characters to meet along the way. Don’t be put off by the graphics, this is a seriously fun game. Make sure you save often as every decision you make has an effect on the game.

Neverwinter Nights

If you have read this blog, you know that this is one of my favourite games of all time. Perhaps it is my background of playing D&D as I was growing up that I always found this game interesting and exciting. This game provided me with 100′s of hours of fun over about 8 years.

Neverwinter Nights is based on 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons rules. The platinum edition consists of the original game, the two expansions and an official module (like a PDLC these days). There is also a boatload of community made modules that are great fun to play. The first expansion has a few tedious boring bits of just hack and slash but is worth playing as the story line for the second expansions continues on from it.

Diablo II

What better way to prepare yourself for next year’s release of Diablo III than play your way through all 5 Acts of Diablo II on normal, hardcore and hell. The online community is still very active too, so after beefing up your character jump online for some extra gameplay.

For those who don’t know, Diablo II is a hack and slash type RPG. There is a great backing story and an excellent skill tier for each class which will allow you to define your specialization.

Friends recommendations:

While writing this post at university, I also whipped around and asked my friends what games they would recommend. Here they are below:

• Oblivion [read reviews]
• World of Warcraft [read reviews]
• Baldur’s Gate I and II [read reviews]
• Morrowind [read reviews]
• Fallout [read reviews]
• Fallout 3 [read reviews]

Recommendations from around the net:

I also made a list of the games recommended from forums around the internet:

• Dungeons and Dragons: Online [read reviews]
• Final Fantasy XI [read reviews]
• Guild Wars [read reviews]
• The Witcher [read reviews]
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic [read reviews]

Those should keep you busy for the next year or so. Add your recommendations for fellow gamers to play in the comments below. Check out my top lists for more ideas.

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