Nope. The shooter gameplay brings it down quite a bit.

I can only imagine how good the game could have been if it was built on top of the gameplay and mechanic base of the originals instead of TES and Fallout 3. It had all the potential to compete and fare well with the originals. Shame the gameplay needed to be this way.

Fallout 2 holds the "Best RPG ever" space.

Come on, Skyrim is barely an RPG.

Babies first RPG is what I like to call it.

1. Planescape Torment
2. Fallout
3. Fallout2
4. Knights of the Old Republic
5. Gothic2
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14. Fallout New Vegas

My all time favorite is probably the Suikoden series. Except for the fourth game, which was short and annoying. Probably the Persona series is a close second. While I love Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, I overall tend to prefer the JRPG.

In terms of whole genres, I don't like ranking things as "the best ever." I have enjoyed various RPGs at different times, and I enjoyed them in different ways. New Vegas is definitely in the group of my all time favorite RPGs (including tabletop), and it is also in the group of my all time favorite video games.

Forgot about KOTOR 2.

I wholeheartedly disagree. Skyrim is a role playing game. The character customization is more in depth then any Morrowind or Oblivion so if any thing is MORE of an RPG then those, Turn based fighting isnt what makes an RPG. Role playing mean to assume the role and to have the driving force of the game be story. Skyrim is very much a RPG. That is the only requirement of an RPG. Skyrim is the most in depth RPG I've ever played or even heard of. The only thing that comes close is WoW which is not nearly as awesome. and I'm an old school RPGer from Final Fantasy Legends on the original Gameboy and the nintendo versions to games like Mystic Quest on snes, Super Mario RPG legend of the seven stars, FF7 of course, Secrets of Mana, legend of mana, you name it.

Uh... why?

Have you ever played Fallout 1, Fallout 2, D&D, or Fallout: New Vegas?

While it may be the most engrossing RPG you've played, surely you've heard of the much better RPGs - PS:T, Fallout franchise, Baldur's Gate franchise, Arcanum and many more - out there. Skyrim is a dungeon crawler, like all its predecessors. There is little the game actually facilitates in terms of RPG mechanics.

Trying to convince us or yourself?


Also:
Doesn't that make any game where you play as "someone" a RPG?
I mean, I assume the role of Dr Freeman in Half-Life. :/

An RPG for me needs 5 things, the more of these it has the better chance is has to satisfy me:

* Defining personality - For this I need branching dialogue with a lot of dialogue options to help define what my character is like towards others.
* Defining morals - For this I need more than 2 quest solutions for each quest, if quests are grey then it's even better for defining the characters morals.
* Defining strength's and weaknesses - For this I need a stat and skill system that matters, not just pointless numbers, but numbers that give impact.
* Defining appearance - It's quite simple really.
* Cause And Effect - Choices need to have impact on the gameplay, short-term and long-term effects.

Skyrim, has 1 of these and that is appearance.
I can define my skill set, but it's ultimately only for dungeon crawling.
I can make belive I have a personality, but the actual dialogue is so linear and straightforward it has no soul.
I can define my morals of being evil and good, but there are barely any grey moments, and most of the time I get no choice, I can't do an "evil" quest but do it in a morally grey way, it's evil or nada.
And Skyrim's CAE is measly, I can get tons of bounty in each hold but apart from that there really isn't much of any consequence from doing things.

Now, in Fallout 1/2 I get four of these.
In Fallout New Vegas I get all five.
In Skyrim, I get one.

Skyrim, to me, is not an RPG, it's an adventure game with RPG mechanics haphazzardly stapled onto it .

I have enjoyed new vegas more than any other game to come out since 2000 or so. I'm not a big fan of turn based, isometric games, but i still enjoyed the first two considerably.

Nope. I'm fifteen, I just played Fallout 1 and 2 before the others because I was a clever child and made the excuse of the game being mentally challenging (which it can be at some times).

Fully agree with you on this. I never got the chance to play Fallout 1 or 2 but have played FO3 and FNV and all five of these are found in both of the Fallout games I have played. And only the one or even two in Skyrim if you push the issue.

Please explain.. because this doesn't make an iota of sense.. to me.
Oblivion: Choose class, appearance, race, age, attributes, six, etc..
Skyrim: Choose appearance, race and six and that's it.
I don't buy this "You form your role while you play" as being in depth, why? Well because you don't particularly play a role, whenever I feel like it I can switch roles.. In fact it's the only feasible way to get to the level cap.. SO how is that more in depth than than Morrowind and Oblivion.

Nor did I claim that.. As I mentioned RPG's come in different flavors..

See Gabriels excellent reply to the first part. Skyrim and the words in depth do not compute. Its main story arcs are shallow, badly written and short. If that wasn't bad enough they are artificially lengthened with radiant quests.
Skyrim is a well done sandbox game.. I can do what I want as the toon.. but without consequences or influencing the story or the game world...the addition of the radiant quests make this even more so.. The story(s) will always be the same no matter what my character is.
When radiant quests start to replace fleshed out quests they start to feel like missions or chores.

Yea, the Wastleland is pretty barren.... it's a wasteland. But it sounds like you've played the heck out of it. I wish I could play Fallout 2 but my PC's harddrive is fried.

It's in the between along with Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, Baldur's Gate, icewind dale, Arcanum and such

1st: Fallout

2nd: Fallout 2

3rd: New Vegas

Exactly, I liked that it's a wasteland, a wasteland is supposed to be barren, but I've played New Vegas maybe 600+ hours now so with no dynamic changes to the gameworld or random encounters it becomes very stagnant.
I still love New Vegas, but dragging my ass across the wastes just isn't fun anymore.