Game of the Year 2004 Awards: Best RPG
Myrthos, 2005-02-25

The last couple of weeks you could vote for the best RPGs and MMORPGs that have been released in 2004. Not us but you the player decide who receives the RPGDot 2004 Awards in the various categories. We thank all those who entered their votes and helped us in making it possible to select the best games of 2004.

Best RPG
The biggest award is handed out for the game that is considered to be the best RPG of 2004.

The winner: Vampire - Bloodlines
Perhaps representative of all Troika's games, the brilliant but flawed Vampire: Bloodlines was easily the best RPG of 2004 despite some obvious problems. Based on White Wolf's ‘Vampire the Masquerade' license and built with Valve's Source engine, Bloodlines dripped with a dark, suspenseful atmosphere and featured some of the most memorable characters to appear in an RPG - few players will forget the Twins, Jack and many others. Each of the seven playable clans had a marked effect on gameplay, the dialogue was superb with deft touches of humour and many quests had multiple solutions. That Bloodlines had frustrating bugs, performance issues, was overly linear and the end trailed into repetitive combat is a testament to the quality of the first three Acts.

(Dhruin)

Runner Up: Neverwinter Nights - Hordes of the Underdark
The third instalment of the Neverwinter Nights saga, Hordes of the Underdark, revived what had become a creaking monolith. With new tiles, new monsters, and better still, new levels and Prestige classes, this third expansion breathed new life into this venerable franchise for both players and mod builders.

While still using the old engine, Bioware managed to add a new vibrancy to the game, with new locations that perfectly captured the malevolent atmosphere of the Drow infested Underdark. New, haunting music tracks further enhanced the overall ambience. By far the best story and characterisation of all three campaigns.

(Corwin)

Second Runner Up: Beyond Divinity
Beyond Divinity was greeted with generally strong reviews but a mixed reaction from fans, who were undoubtedly looking for more Divine Divinity. In the end, our readers judged Larian's second entry into the Divinity universe the third best RPG of 2004. With a true sequel to Divine Divinity planned, Larian decided to take a different direction and make some key changes, with Beyond Divinity set primarily in a nightmarish and otherworldly plane rather than Rivellon's green pastures. A second permanent character - a Soul Knight - was bonded to the player to shake up the action combat. Along with a tighter but much more linear plot and a revamped skill system, Beyond Divinity was determined to be its own game.

(Dhruin)

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

With 20% of our voters not selecting a game.

With the exception of the first place, the results of the team votes are different.

List of the awards
Awards on RPGDot:
Best graphics
Best Sound and Music
Biggest Surprise
Biggest Disappointment
Most Anticipated
Dream Game
Best Console RPG
Best Non-RPG
Best RPG

Awards on MMORPGDot:
Best graphics
Best Sound and Music
Biggest Surprise
Biggest Disappointment
Most Anticipated
Dream Game
Best Expansion MMORPG
Best MMORPG

Note that percentages are rounded to the nearest number.