Thinking about the games of a bygone video gaming era, and how some of these games have gotten sequels or "spiritual successors" in the last few years, and how they've not really managed to capture the greatness of those early games.

Reading the Diablo III review really brought that feeling home. Yes it's an objectively good game, but it seems to many that it's failed to live up to its predecessors.

The Dragon Age series was meant to be the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Also while it was good (I even liked DAII) it didn't have that feel to me.

I suppose Elder Scrolls fans are stoill ecstatic with their series, but unfortunately for me I don't, so I personally am not all that well served by having that one series be the shining light of fantasy WRPGness.

What's gone wrong? Are these sequels and spiritual sequels suffering from being seen primarily as an economic product and less a labour of love? Is it only a coincidence that Dragon Age and Diablo III Are made by once independant companies that have been swallowed up by a big conglomerate, whereas Bethesda is still the master of its own destiny? Or is it that even taking Skyrim into account there's nothing new under the sun with fantasy WRPGs so the glory days are gone forever?

It might, i hope not.

*cough* Witcher 2

I think it's you.

If we look at Baldur's Gate vs Dragon Age: Origins from a sales perspective, the former "only" sold 2 mil while the later has sold more than 2 milion copies only on the Xbox360, so sales are higher, albeit not by much.

And the problem with Diablo 3 seems to be more relatedf with the fact that it has been overhyped and delayed too many times, and the final game, while good, it's mind blowing. Also Torchlight has stolen some of its space.

I would say WRPGs are doing pretty well this generation. Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Mass Effect 1-3, The Witcher 1-2, Dark Souls, Diablo III, Risen 1-2, Gothic 4, Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, Fable 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Alpha Protocol, Torchlight, and Two Worlds 2 are all good games.

The one thing really lacking this generation though is that there really haven't been any major AD&D single player games like the ones in the past (Baldur's Gate 2, Icewind Dale, etc). I think that's probably what a lot of WRPG gamers including myself really miss but otherwise this generation has been good.

The fantasy WRPG took a huge dip in quality this generation.

Dragon Age: Origins + the Elder Scrolls and Witcher franchises stand out from the crowd. I guess you could look at MMORPGs too. World of Warcraft is still huge, it's a perfect example. Guild Wars 2 is looking to be another huge game.

Hopefully, although unlikely... Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition will bring things back. That sells well, we get BG2. BG2 sells well... Then who knows...

Baldur's Gate 3 could be massive.

They seem fine to me this gen. Oblivion, Skyrim, Dragon Age Origins, Witcher 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Risen 1 & 2. There are plenty of decent games out there.

I blame kingdom of amalur :D
But seriously it's just you, and the world doesn't revolve around you.

Nope. Fallout 4 still to come :)

I'd go the other way. I'd say the WRPG is likely to be the next "fad genre" as the epoch of FPS oversaturation dies down, standing in the long line of fads from 8-bit platformers, 16-bit fighters, early 3D racers, sandbox games, and FPSes