In the last weeks of December 2002, you had the opportunity to vote for the best RPGs released in 2002. Nobody knows better what these are then you the player and as such The RPGDot 2002 Awards will look good on any game receiving one.
We thank all those who entered their votes and helped us in making it possible to select the best games.

The Dream Game
We all have them, the game which we think developers should be developing, but they aren't. The game we dream about and would instantly buy when it would be developped. Maybe this is an incentive to hem.......

The winner: Fallout 3
Fallout 3... just saying the words aloud often provokes massive multi-page discussions on what would be the perfect Fallout 3. I'm not even going to go there, but one thing is sure: People want to see it.

For me, it was the atmosphere of Fallout. The post apocalyptic retro-nuclear holocaust was unlike anything I'd played before. It was as if all the bomb scare movies shown in classrooms back in the 50s and 60s had come to life and your character was walking through the ... well... fallout.

Instead of a generic hero, your character in Fallout was presented as a human. Combat was dangerous, no matter what level you were... critical hits were deadly even in powered armor. A human doing a dangerous job because nobody else could (or would) do it.

No matter what else, I think Fallout 3 would have to stick to that basic formula. Your character is tough, but unlike other CRPGs... they're not godlike. It's a sense of realism in the fantastic that hooked me through Fallout, carried me through Fallout 2, and would have me snapping up Fallout 3 the second it hit the shelves.

(EverythingXen)

Runner Up: Elder Scrolls 4
I have a dream: The Elder Scrolls Universe, inhabited by the NPCs of Gothic 2, with the dungeons from Arx Fatalis and with the humor from Divine Divinity - spiced up with optional turn based combat. This would be my dream of TES 4. I even wouldn't mind some randomness in the quests - and I wouldn't mind an editor that auto-generates additional landmasses or dungeons you then can alter to your liking. And if you add in some more trade skills to sastisfy the peaceful gamers, if you make a lot of items craftable and let me run my own shop, I would be one happy monkey...

(Rendelius)

Second Runner Up: Planescape: Torment 2
For those who followed the plight of the Nameless One through the first game, you know how wonderful the story was and how interesting the setting was. Each character had a life and personality that, in my opinion, has never been rivalled before or since. Oh, Baldur's Gate 2 does a pretty good job... you can feel that you know each NPC or how they'll act... but it just doesn't compare to the NPCs of Planescape: Torment?

The shy and abused Aerie? The heart-broken Jaheira? Give me the primly reserved affection (with some not so prim innuendo) of Falls-From-Grace or the streetsmart awkward love of Annah.

To me, the largest flaw with Planescape Torment... was that it ended. I'm not going to spoil anything for those who haven't played the game... but anyone who sits through the end sequence of the game that I've talked to wants a sequel. There's so much left unsaid and undone... so many promises made between characters that could easily spin into a second game. The graphics were good for an infinity engine game (they were twice the size of the graphics in any other infinity, which allowed for detailed modelling). With a stronger graphical engine and the same story writers a second Planescape would be another instant purchase for me.

(EverythingXen)

The Numbers
To make it complete we now give you the top 10 as voted by our visitors:

And 8,7% of those who participated were unable to select one of the games.

We, the RPGDot team also voted to create our own top 5:

A slightly different outcome here. Planescape 2 and Fallout 3 swapped places and Divinity 2 ranks a lot higher. And then there is Realms of Arkania 4 from out of nowhere ;-)

Note that percentages are rounded to the nearest number.