For those who played computer Role Playing Games back in the early 90s, you’ve had your hands filled and time spent on one of these non-linear, multiple endings, and dialogue/story-driven wonders. Lord knows I have. With the return to form thanks to how awesome Dragon Age: Origins is (it really is, even with the generic fantasy background), it also got me wondering whether the timeless genre can make a mainstream-level comeback in a form of a new iteration or even a direct sequel.

Then again, I shouldn’t be too hopeful: this is a generation which profits from FPSs, music rhythm games and bald space marines. But I digress: here are the top five CRPG franchises that should make a comeback. The only criteria here is that it’s got to be on the PC (duh).

5) Might & Magic (1986-2002)

Technically, Might & Magic did make a comeback last year, but in a form of an FPS with stats. You can imagine how pissed off some hardcore M&M fans are upon hearing Ubisoft & co. not sticking true to form. The last good M&M game that stuck true to its real-time-like, non-linear and detailed setting, and difficulty curve is Might & Magic VII. Yes, I’m aware that the graphics haven’t aged well (as with the case of pre-rendered 3D graphics), but like Elder Scrolls, you were thrown in a huge world with multiple quests for the taking filled with loot and treasure. What more do you need?

How Should It Come Back: Keep the first-person perspective and ditch the action game mentality established by Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. Include the same four-player party system with their own set of tweakable A.I and tactics. Keep the Grand Master expertise system to give players the incentive to participate in more sidequests and power up their characters to obscene numbers.

4) Lands of Lore (1993 – 1999)

Believe it or not, the company that was known as Westwood weren’t confined to just making Command & Conquer games back then: they also made adventure games (Legend of Kyrandia series) and CRPGs. The Lands of Lore trilogy was known for being expansive and well-written, with the added benefit of being user-friendly thanks to how easy it is to scroll through spells and the game’s point-and-click interface (back then, anyway). Personally, Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny stood out since you’re controlling the son of the big bad and can morph into all different sorts of things, with the possibilities of seven different endings to ensue multiple playthroughs.

How Should It Come Back: Keep the first-person perspective, but add in a V.A.T.S-like system ala Fallout 3 to keep the combat strategic and turn-based. Make the protagonist a shape-shifting neutral son/daughter of a renown overlord in the Lands of Lore chronology and give players the opportunity to either be a badass or a kind saint. Make sure each of these morality paths give specific benefits to your main character. For instance, being bad powers up your accursed shape-shifting powers, while being good removes its potency, but bolsters your holy-aligned spells and weapons.

3) Ultima (1980 – 1999)

The Ultima Online series help shape the likes of Everquest and WoW, but it wasn’t always like this. The Ultima series (specifically part IV) introduced a different kind of way to finish the game: not by killing the big bad, but by preaching good values to a nation under conflict. You play as the Avatar who had to uphold the Eight Virtues of the world of Britannia and protect it from corruption (Ultima V and Blackthorne), from another race of beings whom you ended up parlaying with and not needlessly slaughtering them (Ultima VI and the gargoyles), and from an evil god that uses his power to influence the people of Britannia to form a cult (Ultima VII and so forth with The Guardian). It also didn’t come off as too preachy with its messages of racism, genocide, and religion. Plus, you had an expansive world to explore and dungeon-trek as well, with Ultima VII being the pinnacle of interactivity and non-linearity.

How Should It Come Back: Just don’t pull of an Ultima IX. Please.

Ultima IV felt unique in its approach to completing the game: perhaps the writers can pull off some cataclysm where Britannia is in array again and the Eight Virtues needed to be restored by a new Avatar. Or how about a twist where the original Avatar from I-IX turns power-mad and you had to face him/her off near the end after restoring said Virtues?

2) Albion (1995)

Give yourself a pat on the back if you actually heard AND played this hidden German gem. Albion places you in the shoes of a space pilot of a huge mining corporation who develops a conscience and tries to stop his corporation from mining and destroying the world of Albion he was set out to explore. Battles are grid-and-turn-based, and the navigation system comes in either an overhead view or a first-person view. The setting itself is unique; you’re on a weird alien planet filled with anorexic cat-people, spellcasting humans, and a s***-ton of weird monsters to fight against that don’t resemble the conventional fantasy/space monsters one would usually deal with.

How Should It Come Back: The general idea for Albion would actually work in this day and age; it just needs better graphics.

1)  Planescape: Torment (1999)

How this game got high praises and came out with less-than-mediocre sales and no word of a sequel is beyond understanding. Not only does Planescape: Torment’s universe defies standard convention of how a fantasy world works, but its story of redemption and conflicting philosophies is second to none. What other game lets you kill off your main character multiple times to solve a puzzle, let you have a talking floating skull for a party member who happens to be one of the better fighters in the game, and a non-violent way to resolve the climatic final battle? It’s also rather ironic that a game plot that starts off with amnesia turns out to be an adventure many PC gamers will never forget.

How Should It Come Back: While Planescape: Torment is pretty, the chances of it using the same brown-grey-lighter brown color palette used in most next-gen games are high and could soil what could have been an inventive take on a fantasy multiverse. Would using concept-art style ala Borderlands make things livelier? I would not change the core concept of the game though; it’s perfect enough as it is.

I am aware that I’m missing quite a few from this list (Bard’s Tale, Quest For Glory, etc.), but it’s called Friday Fives, not Friday Ten. Which CRPGs do YOU wish would come back from the past?