BEST RPG games you ever played?

Gothic series and Risen series.
You can also try Two Worlds and Two Worlds II (both are a bit buggy).

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Amberstar / Albion, Eye of the Beholder, Dark Sun (last three are on GOG), but maybe they got a little dated.

Judging by your comments in this thread, I highly doubt I know an RPG you haven't played (except maybe for some obscure Russian ones like Zlatogorye/Goldenland, which isn't that good anyway), so I'll just give you a thumbs up as a fellow RPG player. :)

Since I imagine you already played a lot of RPG's over the years and a lot of good recommendations were already made, I've tried to come up with some more obscure/hidden ones that might pique your interest:

• Avernum Saga - A bit old-school, but solid one man-indie RPG series, he also did one or two other series - one is called Avadon or so, I think.
• Gothic Trilogy - Awesome atmosphere, another classic you might have missed if you're not from Germany, the same devs that are behind the Risen series (hence the similarity ;>)
• Age of Decadence - a more challenging RPG in a much underused setting, very narrative-driven
• Ember - something more simple, but inexepensive and solid nonetheless
• Krai Mira - another attempt at a post-apocalyptic RPG, despite its bugs and faults still enjoyable IMO.
• Legend of Grimrock - old-school dungeon crawler, very reminiscent of classics like Ultima Underworld.
• Massive Chalice - Weird, but interesting mix of RPG and kinda 4X, if you don't encounter any bugs during your playthrough it's quite nice.
• Realms of Arkania Trilogy - One of the 90's classics, though there's also a remake of the series for people that get scared off by its outdated concepts.
• Underrail - If you enjoyed Fallout 1/2, you definitely should take a look at this.
• Sacred Trilogy - The first two are enjoyable, the third entry in the series I never warmed up with.
• Earthlock - Just to spice it up genre-wise, and I really liked the characters in it ;>.

There's a lot more I can't remember right now, and I apologize for the lack of links and if I have some repeats here, but I'm currently at work and thus have limited access to Steam ;>.

The Witcher - Fallout: New Vegas - tales of berseria - skyrim

Arcanum.

Baldur's Gate (both 1 and 2) and Fallout (1-2, not the Bethesda monstrosities).

Hmm, it was a custom ravenloft campaign run by a sadistic DM with a few people from the local university theater playing. I've yet to play a CRPG that was better then that tabletop game.

JPRG - Dragon Quest 8 - by a mile. I have DQ XI but haven't played it yet.
ARPG - 1st Person - Dragon Knight Saga.
3rd Person - Dungeon Siege

You can try Jade Empire, Star Ocean series, "Tales of" series and Child of Light

Lots of good ones already mentioned, but I'll just add that one of my favourite games of all time is Paper Mario: the thousand year door. So damn charming.

Also didn't see it mentioned, but Citizens of earth was a decent enough earthbound type RPG.

SSI gold box stuff.
not being mentioned anywhere else in the thread is just a matter of people's age.

I like a lot of different titles, but I always looks for titles by companies like Bioware, Bethesda, Larian, Obsidian, Inxile, Piranha Bytes and CD Projekt Red, basically any RPGs from those are automatic purchases for me, except for MMOs and titles like South Park: The Stick of Truth (don't like the franchise), also like action-RPGs like Diablo and Titan Quest. I guess the only type I don't play are JRPGs

If I have to put the ones that makes me come back again and again, never bored with it and keeps exploring, Two Worlds: Epic Edition.
I think that is the best for me even though I know a few better ones storywise.

1. Witcher 3
2. Skyrim
3. Dragon Age: Origins

Can't remember some of the games but over the years been plenty good ones, these are off top of my head.

Older (Consoles)
Final Fantasy VII
Suikoden and Suikoden II (I'd love to have these on PC)
Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole

Newer (Steam)
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Cosmic Star Heroine
Grim Dawn
Eartlock

If i must pick only one i would go with final fantasy 7. But i like almost all ff entries and played them all, then some of my favorite rpgs are:
Diablo series
Grandia 2
breath of fire 3 and 4
Baldurs gate
Dragon age
Dragon quest 8
South park series
Xcom
Dark souls
Deus ex human revolution
Elder scrolls Skyrim
Fallout 3
Vampire the masquerade
Kings Bounty
shadow hearts 1 and 2
Pokemon
legend of dragoon
Parasite eve
World of warcraft
Zelda breath of the wild

And prob many more i forget atm

Most of what I'd list has already been listed, so I'll just go with a couple that aren't in this thread yet.

Infinite Space on 3DS. VERY hard to find a copy, and a lot of people don't like it for various reasons but there really is nothing else like it out there, at least not when it was released. The ONLY thing I did not like about it was the rock-paper-scissors mechanic for crew battles, and it is easily my most played console game.

Black Sigil:Blade of the Exiled on DS. It has the Chrono Trigger vibe (they basically copied CT's battle system including dual+triple techs) and is a lot of fun but BE WARNED, it is a bit glitchy and even has the occasional crash. It was not very well received because of that but it's still one of my favorites.

The Buck Rogers RPGs, Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed. in the same vein as the AD&D gold box games but a sci-fi setting, and includes ship combat as well as character combat. Both are on PC but Countdown to Doomsday is older and was also on C64, Amiga, and Sega Genesis.

I quite miss the golden age of Avatar games - Ultima VI, VII, Serpent Isle, Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams. Those were some fantastic games that I will always remember. I really wish someone would remaster that game engine and re-release them.

Planescape: Torment. Baldur´s Gate 2 and Fallout 2 were also amazing and I loved Divinity Original Sin, but I have yet to play part 2. Arcanum and Wizardy 8 were great too.

M&M and Wizardry series. Da best! (IMHO of course) And "Vampires: The Masquarade. Redemption."

I'll add Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen to the list.

Since most traditional examples have already been mentioned, i'm gonna add up the Deus Ex saga and System Shock saga. Both are timeless classics in the first person RPG genre.

I think you might like Stranger of Sword City. It is a very unforgiving dungeon-crawler rpg.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/409890/Stranger_of_Sword_City/
Tips if you do play

1. Create both a full roster of your fighting team as well as all your backup characters in your stay-behind team. They'll be able to earn gold and experience on the side while you are level-grinding. Both of those are super hard to come by early on.
2. Don't get in over your head. Retreat as soon as things look bad. When your characters die they not only take a super long time to recover but you have to pay more than half of all your gold to restore one character some times (depending on their level).
3. Take advantage of the ambush system to get free equipment. That's how you'll get the rarest equipment from monsters carrying chests. But just like the 2nd point, know when you're outgunned.