Before the turn of the millennium, 'RPG' was still a word mostly associated with geek-groups gathering around candlelit tables, a self-appointed Dungeon Master putting on a growly voice and evoking the world through the power of his speech alone. It was only after the turn of the millennium that the genre really started becoming a powerhouse in video games, with consoles and PCs suddenly having the technical capabilities to create convincing 3D fantasy worlds for us to escape to. The RPG was no longer thought of as tabletop Dungeons & Dragons, or a niche video game genre for super-geeks, but a genre that was taking its first steps to become a dominant force of the medium. In a way, you can't replace the magical feeling of taking your first steps in an RPG world in the early 2000s. The jump from 2D or rudimentary polygonal graphics to relatively realistic 3D worlds is among the greatest technological jumps ever made in games, and few modern RPGs can emulate that feeling of experiencing a rich 3D world filled with quests, lore and places to explore (though The Witcher 3 comes close). The 2000s were a monumental era for video game RPGs, marking the genre's meteoric rise to dominate the games industry, and laying the foundations for the legendary games in the genre that exist today.