10 Great Xbox RPGs That Are Fun from the Start

The Xbox era was the one where RPGs would begin to turn into what would soon define the gaming landscape. You could see the elements that would begin to spread to every game here. The massive worlds, the choices, the customization, the graphics. All of it was born from seeds that were planted in the Xbox era of gaming.

RPGs were really experimental here, and most of all, they were incredibly fun from the moment you pressed start. They emphasized fun instead of immersion, which was a big jump from the RPGs of yesteryear. They showed that RPGs could be fun and interesting at the same time.

We're going to check out some of these RPGs that are fun from the get-go.

The X-Men's Best Outing

X-Men: Legends is the best X-Men game ever made in my opinion, and it does this by giving you an incredibly fun and accessible game right from the start. You begin the game immediately with a squad of X-Men and get more unlocked as you go on. The combat is awesome, with multiple abilities per hero that all feel appropriate per character. Ice Man creates ice bridges, Storm can control the weather, and Wolverine is just a menace in the melee space.

It's an awesome game with a surprisingly deep story, and the character progression is pretty impressive too, with tons of items and ways to build the characters to your liking. It's also multiplayer with couch co-op, and as far as those games go, this is easily one of the best ones to play with a friend. It's one of those series that baffles me that there weren't more games of its ilk, but alas, that's the sad truth of it all. Still, if you're looking for a fun RPG that kicks ass from the get-go, X-Men: Legends is a great time.

9 Fable

A Magical Beginning

Fable was the game that, for the console generation, more or less started the concept of every choice having a consequence. It laid the table for the morality systems that we see today for mainstream games. But before it gets into that choice-and-consequence gameplay, it's just a whimsical world to explore. It's so colorful and interesting that even without a clear path, you can find fun to be had everywhere.

With the option to launch magic or be a melee character, attack any NPC you want, and generally just cause chaos if you're feeling the need to, the game has you covered. It made Fable one of the most accessible RPGs of all time and introduced me and an entire generation to what an RPG could be, and while it didn't deliver every promise it made, it laid an incredible foundation.

8 Shenmue 2

A Living City

Shenmue 2 was a groundbreaking game when it came out all the way back in 2001, and while the amazing graphics and maturity of the story were huge standouts, what was the most addictive was the gameplay. It was so fun from the start to just explore the city and see all the things you can do. Training, minigames, exploring, talking to people, and generally just taking in the city and exploring all the weird quirks it has is still an amazing experience in the modern age.

It was a game that changed the landscape in many ways. Shenmue 2 might not have been the deepest game around, but it had so much to offer you right from the start, and those that managed to stick with it were rewarded with one of the more unique RPGs that really took that genre name to heart. You felt like you were playing a character's life, not just their story, and that feeling is something that was unique and made its mark.

7 Deus Ex: Invisible War

The Future is Now

Deus Ex: Invisible War may not be the favorite of the series, but one thing it did was give you an incredibly accessible and interesting world to explore that was fun off the bat. Yes, the tone was much different than the untouchable vibe of the first game, but this much more colorful and lively Cyberpunk world was one that was a blast to exist in.

You could find tons of quests, and get through them in pretty much any way you can imagine. You could turn invisible to sneak by guards, bribe people, increase your strength to find other paths, and so much more that the world really felt like your sandbox to get through. You really felt like a superpowered agent in an intense sci-fi story, and while that seems like old news now, for 2003, there were pretty much no other games like this on the Xbox.

6 Enclave

Battle Hardened

Enclave is one of the forgotten RPGs on the Xbox that really did something unique compared to most games in the genre. It was almost a Diablo-style ARPG done in third person. It feels like you're the star of an action-fantasy movie from the moment you take your first steps in the game. It's got that early 2000s edginess to it in everything from the outfits to the environments, but that's okay because we're here to have fun first and foremost.

And the fun here is plentiful. It's an action-packed game with some weighty combat and a bunch of levels for you to explore. You can go ranged, melee, use magical weapons, and also unlock a bunch of other characters that change the way you play. This game feels a lot like what an early Soulslike game might've been, so if that's the type of fun you're looking for, Enclave is a great way to get it.

5 Arx Fatalis

The Underground World

Arx Fatalis is one of those games that felt like the foundation of what would become the biggest genre in gaming, the RPG. It's a massive, interconnected underground world that's dark and ugly and nails the tone it's going for in an incredible way. This underground kingdom has so much to explore, and the fun starts immediately as it feels like you're dungeon crawling from the first moments of the game. The combat is a bit primitive, but the spell casting is amazing, and the ability to create your own spells immediately makes this one feel different from the rest on the Xbox.

It's one of the standout RPGs on the Xbox that might've leaned a bit too far into the PC realm to be the hit it should've been, but it's still an awesome game. It's so consistently rewarding, with secrets, items, weapons, and spell runes around every corner, so you rarely go more than a few minutes without getting something that spruces up the gameplay in some way, shape, or form. It's a dark world, but a fantastic one to dive into if you're looking for a damn good time on Microsoft's first foray into the console world.

4 Jade Empire

The Only Game of Its Kind

Jade Empire is one of the most unique RPGs ever made, and it's one of Bioware's best. The game had a strong argument for years as being the RPG that was the most fun to play. It's an awesome martial arts journey that starts with a bang and does not let up. The combat is fully real-time, and the flexibility is fantastic as well. It's immediately engaging with a compelling story setup and combat that makes you feel as powerful as RPGs were always supposed to feel.

It's got an amazing and weird atmosphere and some genuinely unique lore and mythology to it that is completely unique to the RPG genre. It's an amazing game that has you feeling like Jet Li in the opening moments and like Luke Skywalker by the end. It's epic as can be and one that desperately needs a remake or remaster for this generation of gaming.

3 Phantom Dust

The Arena Beckons

Phantom Dust is one of the weirdest games in the Xbox library, and it was one I was absolutely glued to when I first played it. It's got a striking art style, and the concept is simple: Fight people in an arena using a growing array of powers to customize your character with. It's immediately compelling, and the customization within these powers is something that should've shot the game to superstar status, especially since it was multiplayer. But it wasn't to be.

Regardless of that fact, the game is a blast to play from the moment you hit start, even to this day. There is so much fun to be had with destructible environments, and it's also incredibly challenging as well. Figuring out the perfect loadout for each enemy is a puzzle that gets more and more interesting the more your arsenal increases. It's such a cool idea for an RPG and one that was representative of how creative games got back in the day.

Our Welcome to Tamriel

Morrowind is one of the all-time greats and a direct inspiration to many of today's biggest hits, such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It's an incredible achievement for its time, and as soon as you get off the boat after creating your character, the world is yours. That is, if you can survive out there. While it's a really fun game from the start because of how much you can do and explore, you still need to be wary about fighting early on in the game, as just about anything can and will kill you.

But that's part of the fun. The danger is so real, but so is the temptation to go anywhere you want to go. It's the ultimate double-edged sword and, for the time, it was one of the only games that gave you this feeling. This was so many gamers' introduction to the Elder Scrolls world, and for it to happen with a game as good as Morrowind was just a blessing for the series' outlook going forward. If you can stomach the tough opening, you'll be having a ton of fun with this one as the exploration and writing is top of its class.

1 Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords

A Dark World

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords has an almost horror-like beginning to it, and from there, the tone doesn't let up. I found this game fascinating from the start, with combat that was snappy and responsive and a consistently rewarding leveling-up mechanism that constantly made you feel stronger and more varied in your combat abilities. It's also the best Star Wars story for my money, leaning on the darker side of things and really taking a look at what the Dark and Light side are.

I thought the gameplay was great, but the real fun for me was exploring the world. It's so alive with so many interesting NPCs to talk to who either flesh out the lore of the setting or send you on unique side quests that give you constant moral quandaries. This is not your typical Star Wars game, as the constant feeling of the Light and Dark side being incredibly flawed is pervasive throughout. It's a game that is fun from the first moment for the player that wants to explore the gray side of the Star Wars universe.