Without any doubt the Baldur's Gate series (I see it as one big game). Probably the best RPG ever, and best PC game ever.

Ultima 7 , its something that surpass most of rpg games with massive amount of content. And all it took was 17MB. ;)

Ultima7 was awesome, all the people in Britannica would be doing different things in the day (sleeping, working, being in the bar ...) You could bake bread, every NPC had a meaningful storyline and was different. No Oblivion clones (or at least not many) real talk.

I just cannot say if 7a or 7b was better. I hate EA with a blazing fire for destroying Origin.

Diablo 2, Fallout 2, or KoToR.

I would agree with the sentiment that Baulder's Gate II biggest downfall was its expansiveness. There is virtually little or no user-friendliness in the game. While this definitely adds a wide variety of gameplay to the mix, it also won't hold up with a lot of gamers who like to feel secure in their gameplay.

For instance, a remade Baulder's Gate II would be much easier to navigate and determine where quests end up, with much more obvious rewards.

Again, the difficulty and tediousness of crossing the gaming environments is also hard to overcome at first, with party memebers getting stuck or hidden beyind bookcases.

Also, the first dungeon is overly difficult and overly long.

Another issue is the game expects that you'd play BG in order to pick up on the story immediately.

That said, the game had a huge number of positives, that make it considerable for best game of all time, period.

However, those flaws, and the fact that it is so daunting to new players of the game, make me not be able to put it in my upper eschelon of WRPGs.

Simplicity without sacraficing narrative is largely what KoToR brought to the table, which changed the genre. Fallout 2 was just so well done that it's almost impossible to go into here. Anything was possible, yet your decisions never felt like they were pointless. Finally, Diablo 2 just presented what Blizzard does best, a breathtaking gameplay/leveling system with an excellent and very intricately designed, though sparse narrative, and an expansion pack that created an entirely new and better game, that was already littered with millions of small, and excellent design choices that make the game far more than the sum of its parts.

Each of those games changed the genre for the better...however, so did BG. So, leaving it off it more akin to personal taste. Just recalling, I think BGII is the only game that I wouldn't wanna go back and play again, thus, I left if off the list.

Personally Morrowind. I think it has one of the most convincing and involving atmospheres I have ever found in a game, apart from the ridiculous fighting and the poor levelling system I would have to say the game felt almost believable.

Its a shame that Oblivion was one of the less convincing and involving games I have ever played. They really did decide to go to the shallow end of the pool with that one.

in no particular order:

Fallout 1 & 2
Baldour's Gate II
KOTOR 1 & 2
Ultima VII (both black gate & Serpent Isle)

haven't played Mass effect yet (probably i'll buy the PC version)...but judging from the only reviewers i really trust (italian magazine "the Games Machines") i bet it could enter the list.

Fallout 1 & 2
The Elder Scrolls Daggerfall

Fable or Mass Effect.