Essential List: Pre-Modern RPGs
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Somewhere between Arcanum, Baldur's Gate II, and Quake III resides Westwood Studios' sleeper role-playing single Nox. Although it was received well by press and players alike, the game has gone mostly forgotten since its release in the early parts of 2000. It's unique perspective might be drawn from Ultima VII and its gameplay a mish-mash of Infinity games and Diablo (with a dash of id's classics for good measure), but its unmistakable charm fueled Nox as an RPG not to be missed.
Westwood Studios was best known for its mega-hit Command & Conquer which, pre-World of Warcraft and MMO boom, annually sat in the top-25 most sold games of all time -any console, any genre, any locale. However, the famed and bygone studio also released the Lands of Lore trilogy and a duo of real time strategy titles founded in Frank Herbert's (Dune) universe; Nox was an ill-fated foray into the action-RPG subgenre which might have contributed to the eventual Electronic Arts buyout and transformation of the studio.
Speculation aside, Nox was a gorgeous and frenetic role-player which presented a startlingly-diverse range of options for any style of play. Westwood Studios poured mountains of TLC into the title, and while the story and intense Dungeons and Dragons-based elements might have been sorely lacking, overt style and heaps of entertainment made for a winner. Three entirely separate and original campaigns -depending on class selection- also gave Nox incredible replay value.
