Top 10 RPGs for Genre Newcomers

Role playing games can be a pretty difficult genre to get into, and for many good reasons. Many games of the genre require you to fight the same few enemies over and over again, struggling to get a few more experience points to hopefully defeat a difficult boss. Others throw mechanics layered with seemingly meaningless numbers on top of other mechanics, making a bloated mess of a battle system. Some simply talk too much, throwing you into hour-long cutscenes that explain little and can make the player more confused than when they started.

But just because some RPGs have bad habits doesn't mean you should completely discount the genre! Here's 10 RPGs that throw genre tropes to the curb… or better yet, embrace them in a refreshing new way.

10. Guild Wars 2

Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs are typically prohibitive to those that don't like grinding or obtaining the 'best gear', which could take hours upon hours of tedious busywork to get a slight boost in your damage output. There's also other inherent problems with many games of the genre taking cues from the ultra-popular World of Warcraft, including prohibitive subscription fees and uninspired quests that offer only a percentage of experience needed to level up.

Guild Wars 2 takes all these genre conventions and throws them out the window, making it very welcoming to new players. After buying the base game, you won't have to put another cent into it, although a cash shop is available if you want to get some extra goodies in. In addition, Guild Wars 2 offers a wide variety of quests and events to keep gameplay fresh, including jumping puzzles, large battles that require the cooperation of many players, and even siege-like maps that put entire servers of players against one another for supremacy.

Of course, all of these different ways to play also offer plenty of experience, allowing players to choose their way to play in between main story missions. Guild Wars 2 offers a variety of races and classes to choose from, and your decisions in the character creation process and throughout the game will give you an interesting branching storyline to keep you engaged all the way to max level.

Finally, Guild Wars 2 doesn't bother too much with keeping your characters optimized; aside from Player Vs Player battles and the later levels of an optional dungeon for hardcore players, there's little need to go for the 'best' possible gear, even when going into dungeons with other players. There are also skill trees for each class, but it's fairly easy to reset your skills and reassign your points at any time, making it so you'll never get stuck with a 'bad build' for too long. Guild Wars 2 is the one of the most accessible MMOs in years, and for that reason alone it's worth delving into its world and mechanics.