In the last weeks of December 2001, you had the opportunity to vote for the best RPGs released in 2001. Nobody knows better what these are then you the player and as such The RPGDot 2001 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.

Best Sound in an RPG
When not done correctly sound and music in games tend to get annoying, yet when done properly it adds to the gameplay experience while playing and can draw you deeper into the game. It was a close call, yet a winner is known….

The winner: Wizardry 8
After almost 10 years since the release of Wizardry 7 – Crusaders of the Dark Savant, Wizardry 8 marks the twilight of the CRPG Gods Sir Tech. Financial woes and extremely strange fact, that no publisher could be found, delayed a game, that offers all a Computer RPGamer wishes for.

Music is written by Kevin Manthei, who did the score for Vampire – The Masquerade – and who created some very fine tunes for Wizardry 8 as well.

(Garrett)

Runner Up: Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal
It was always said that the Baldur's Gate series would consist of 3 parts. But instead of creating a separate 3th game, Bioware decided to creat an add-on to Shadows of Amn, named Throne of Bhaal. But what and add-on it turned out to be. I've seen games being released smaller of size than this add-on, so even though it's not a completely new game, I don't think anyone minds as it's bringing new areas and expanding exisiting ones.

Like Shadows of Amn, the Throne of Bhaal expansion shows off some great music and sound effects and thus making sure that you experience the game as it really is.

(Myrthos)

Second Runner Up: Everquest Shadows of Luclin
Shadows of Luclin is the 3rd expansion of Everquest. The game now requires DirectX8.1 and the graphics have alot of 3D eyecandy to show for it.
Creatures and players can make facial expressions. Worn equipment is seen distinctly as body pieces. Most of the adventures zones in the old world have been given a terrain texture upgrade. There are 25 new adventure zones for all levels one thru sixty. Walking through the zones you will find a variety of colorful landscapes and dungeons.

Sound is normally not the strongest point of an online game so we were surprised to see one appearing in the top 3, yet this might show that online games have improved on this matter.

(Nadia)

The Numbers
To make it complete we now give you the top 10 (out of 29) as voted by our visitors:

And 19% of those who participated were unable to select one of the games.

We, the RPGDot team also voted to create our own top 3:

With the exception of Wizardry 8, we think Gothic and Arcanum deserve a higher ranking. Maybe that's caused by the fact that these games are very popular within the team :-)

Note that percentages are rounded to the nearest number.