The Witcher was outstanding. Definitely worth checking out. If you haven't bought The Witcher yet, go look for the Enhanced Edition. If you have The Witcher already, just upgrade it to Enhanced Edition on CD Projekt's site (as long as you got a fast Internet Connection).
All those Infinity Engine games from BIS were great. Planescape: Torment was a great RPG. Just make sure you turn off graphics acceleration in your DX settings, to get those games running on Win XP (b/c that Engine doesn't support modern video cards).
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 from Bioware were great. And BG2: TOB has to be one of the best expansions ever.
NWN: Hordes was a great expansion, as well.
Morrowind and Oblivion (+ their expansions and DLC) were pretty good.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was excellent -- especially after Troika put out their final patch to fix all kinds of issues.
Fallout 1 and 2 are great turn-based RPG's. Classics.
Arcanum was severely underrated. Must install the final official patch, to fix all them issues. Better yet, go find Drog Black Tooth's latest set of Unofficial Patch which fix TONS of issues from that game.
Because I think this is worth pointing out, you can get both of these from GOG.com (Good Old Games) for $5 or $6. They ran a promo in Sept where you could buy one Interplay game and get one free, so you could have picked both those up for $6.
GOG also has forums for them and actually link to a bunch of very good mods and unofficial patches for the games.
Most notably, there's a patch that makes these run in higher resolutions! The colors are still 8bit, but when I tried Fallout 2 in 1280x1024, let me tell ya, it doesn't look that bad at all. It's definitely pretty playable without making your eyes bleed.
Definitely worth checking out if anyone missed out on these awesome games (the patch is available for both Fallouts). Great game for $6 and you can play in pretty high resolution..
ADOM
Crawl: Stone Soup
I post these knowing very few will tolerate playing them.
I think the BEST computer RPG made in years was Dragon Age. I played it (and it's expansion AWAKENINGS) all the way through three times with different characters. The story and characters are involving, touching and funny. I recommend it to anyone interested in RPGs.
Dragon Age: Origins - a spiritual successor to the baldurs gate series with good graphics and storyline - if you want a good rpg that's also not very old (DA is 1-2 years old I think now) then I'd go with DA:O.
Old thread, What the hell.
Dragon Age IMO is no where near as good as Baldur`s gate 1 & 2. The combat system, Magic in paticular is "dumbed" down to MMO levels. I guess the D&D rules are really that important. The battle`s in BG 1 & 2 were very tactical and needed to be planned out for success. Mage`s in the BG series needed to be very careful about their spell use. Not so in DA. DA is a good RPG, It`s not Baldur`s Gate. Not even close.
I would recommend Baldur`s Gate 1 & 2 to anyone who hasn`t played them. They are old, The graphic`s hold up extremely well. IceWind Dale is also a very good D&D series of game`s. I would highly recommend them as well.
They don`t make RPG`s like Interplay\Black Isle\Bioware used too.
I really like Mass Effect 1 & 2 so there is hope.
Dragon Age fun game!
I like the witcher it takes a while to get into it though, surprise you did not like it!
Both are great games, I really wish ADOM was still being developed.
Regarding Dragon Age and Baldurs Gate, one things about DA I did like better then baldur's gate is that the fights are consistenly challenging. In BG 1 and 2, most of the fights were kind of pointless and were just about waiting while your fighter types finished hunting down and slaughtering all the enemies. There were of course some incredibly great and challenging fights as well, but you had to slog through a lot of filler to get there. In DA, at least at hard difficulty, this was not the case and there were more just normal fights that felt challenging.
I have to agree with this. The battle`s were challenging but with way fewer number`s then BG. As in, BG(IceWind Dale mostly)you were fighting large swarm`s of enemy`s. I found some of the warrior`s and mage`s incredibley difficult to beat. Dragon Age is a very good RPG. Maybe I`m looking thru rose coloured glases. That BG2 is better then I remember. I still have it installed right now, I don`t think so.
Either way you can`t go wrong. I would recommend the Baldur`s Gate series for a history lesson alone. It is the Epic RPG of old school gaming. No one would regret playing it.
Lol, since when was GTA an RPG?
Divinity 2 would be my favourite RPG released recently, expansion and gold edition coming this November.
I doubt any of you young wipper snappers will appreciate it because of the dated graphics and animations, and because it involves so damn much reading and thinking, but Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of the best RPG games I've ever played.
By my standards Divinity 2 isn't even an RPG, it's an adventure game!
[
quote]Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura[/quote]
Where can I get it? It look`s interesting, I`ll take the word of an old school guy. Any download services do you know that provide it? Do I have to buy it on disc from Amazon? If you could point me in the direction, It would be appreciated.
Since they gave you a name and a role to play and inserted strong story elements into the gameplay.
GTA 1-3 I would not claim to be RPGs, but rather just sand-box action games. However, I would agree that GTA: Vice city and up are undeniably role-playing games. I would say its more of a role-playing game than a lot of other games that get thrown into the RPG catigory just because they hold a 'level up' mechanic or something similar that has NOTHING to do with role-playing. Its a story-driven game where you get to make choices to effect the development of the plot (though you'll always end up selecting from the same batch of missions and the story does not change significantly based on your choices other than order of events... with a few exceptions where you can choose to kill somebody or not)
I haven't played it yet (it's on the list), but what about Divinity 2 makes it not an RPG?
On a side note, I've had major trouble getting back into party-based RPGs ever since the later games of the Ultima series, and especially Ultima Online. Yes, I know, it's been well over a decade, but somehow party-based RPGs just don't work for me anymore.
The released version of Arcanum was almost a great game, but was buggy and poorly balanced. Even still it managed to be quite fun and interesting and had a solid game behind it. But it was one of those things where you can't help seeing how much more it could have been with some more polish. If there's a fan mod that fixes all that then it's definitely something you should check out if you can deal with a dated engine. Even without the fan mod it's still quite possible to enjoy especially if you can focus on the story and all the options available more then the mechanics of combat, etc. It's kind of like a deeper (and fantasy) version of fallout 1 and 2 (which were themselves buggy and poorly balanced, though perhaps not as bad as Arcanum).
I'd say GTA San Andreas was an RPG, or at least that it had RPG elements. The others not so much. There is no stat based character development, how your character performs is purely based on your own skill. I kind of missed the San Andreas RPG elements in Liberty City, I hope they bring them back in the next game, although they suspect that they will not.
I love Linley's Dungeon Crawl, especially if you love an agonizing grueling ordeal as I do. I'm having a lot of fun with Eschalon II, and I just installed the Witcher but have not played it yet. You might also want to check out spidweb games.
Arcanum - Possibly the best RPG ever. Amazing world design, setting, story, and atmosphere, and unparalleled depth. Just look at the day-night cycles and how they affect the game world, and compare that to Morrowind where the time of day has little to no effect on the game world at all. You can an electronic version of this game $6 USD at GOG.com.
Baldur's Gate - Not as deep as Arcanum, but higher production value and great atmsophere. It still has the best graphics, imo. They were beautiful back then and they still are. The crappy pathfinding becomes more annoying over time though. Still relatively easy to find online, bundled with the sequel.
Wizardry 8 - First person party-based RPG. Feels very old-school and yet very modern and advanced at the same time. The entire party is created by the player, but they have a lot more personality than the typical custom character (this is only I game I know where you can customise character personalities, each with its own voice set). Some of the personalities are hilarious. This game is very difficult to find now though and very expensive. Get it while you still can.
Might and Magic VI - First person party-based RPG like Wizardry, but far less depth. The charm of this game is in its huge sprawling, open game world and dungeons. This is more akin to Diablo really, with the same emphasis on combat, leveling up and treasure hunting. The next game in the series focused more on plot.
Fallout - Surpassed by Arcanum in every way (except most notably the combat). It is still worth playing though. Pretty easy to find a new copy of this.
Dragon Age: Origins - Not many RPGs have been released in recent times, so if you want a newer game, there is not much choice. I enjoyed it but it does some major flaws: ugly character models (gross oversized hands and forearms), small environments, shameless advertising, just to name a few.
Neverwinter Nights - The epitome of blandness.
Planescape: Torment - Never played this, but I hear it's great.
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Extremely bland and ugly game world. Why are all windows covered up? Why are doors always closed? You'll never see an open doorway or window letting in natural light when you are inside a building. Hell, even the cave entrances have doors in this game. Maybe they did that to make it less obvious that day and night has no effect on NPCs or business hours. People never go sleep. I would kill them all to relieve their torment, but the combat sucks too.
I think there are a lot of good RPG's out there depending on what your after. The more modern RPGs tend to lack depth but there is some value to buying them.
Baldurs Gate - This was a fantastic party based game with a rich story and very deep character customisation based on DnD rules.
Baldurs gate 2 - This was superior to the 1st in every way. Graphically it is old but the game can keep you occupied for hours, days and months. Its party based character customisation has never been topped and IMO this game is one of the best RPGs to date.
Fallout - A very good story and great character customisation. You can have a party but the customisation is very limited. The ending style is better than any other RPG and the turn based combat is exciting and well executed.
Fallout 2 - More of the same, another contender for top RPG. The ending is second to none and the character customisation is superb. If you havent played it, you should.
Icewind dale 1 & 2 - I didnt really get on with them. The customization was still good but the party had no character and the story wasnt as good. That said, the game probably still tops more modern RPGs
Torment - Similar customization (with slightly less options) as Baldurs gate. The story however is better than pretty much any other RPG out there. Yet another contender for top RPG.
Arcanum - Great character customization and the story is rich. The games atmosphere, IMO, isnt as involved as some of its peers but it was still a great game with plenty of replayability.
Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 - A highly praised game that i personally didnt really get on with. The customization is still great though it focuses on a single character. The story was pretty abysmal and generic if you ask me. This game you played for the multiplayer which i understand is still pretty strong.
A Farewell to Dragons - A modern take on the old party based games. Not a bad attempt either. The party based customization is quite good. You dont get to choose your protagonist and in my opinion its hard to resist the urge to purposefully die just to watch him get killed he is that annoying. The effects are also somehow worse than the older games and the dynamics of the game less thought provoking. Its still worth a play though.
Vampire the Masquerade 2 - Bloodlines (the second one) - This game has one of the best atmospheres of any modern game. The character customization is lacking a bit and there are still a few glitches. But the game is fun and the characters memorable. I really enjoyed this game.
The ElderScrolls Morrowind. - This game offers a very rich sin gle character experience which is well worth playing. The customization is the best of any open world games and the amount of things you can do is exceptional. The story can be a bit confusing but if you take the time to let it tell its story it is well worth it. I would say this is the only modern game woth considering for best RPG if not for the game for the sheer amount of effort that evidentally went into the game.
The Elderscrolls Oblivion - Fantastic graphics but heavily dumbed down from Morrowind. The locations are less interesting, the scenery generic and the character customization is, althought still relatively deep, very much simplified. This one is worth it due to the lack of competition but it isnt nearly as good as its predecesor.
Jade Empire - The start of the decline in RPG's this game is good, offering a great atmosphere but the story is generic, the customization vurtually non existant and the compbat purely action based offering no strategic depth.
Fallout 3 - A boring open world but populated with a few memorable characters. The story is terrible, the character customization is on first glance quite complicated but under scrutinization is almost pointless and the atmospehere is average. Buy only if you have run out of RPGs in my opinion.
Dragon Age - An attempt to get back to their roots they bottled it half way through and quickly made it flashier and simpler. A part of four which is nice but the character customization belongs to a MMO for kids and the story is generic. Some nice cinematics and a few decent moments are what makes the game. Worth a play, but dont expect genius.
Mass effect - Only just an RPG (The genre not the definition, i know you play a role) it lends a very engulfing story with great graphics, action packed combat and character customization which, although simple, does work.
Mass effect 2 - Not really an RPG at all. Boring and pointless character customization. An almost non-existant storyline. Boring and repetative combat. It does look pretty though. Personally i would avoid.
Divinity 2 Ego Draconis - Far too short with a dissapointing ending but the game is fun and flying as a dragon looks and playes well(ish) the character customisation works though wont win any awards. Th story is average (some great some terrible bits) and the characters pretty much forgetable.
The Witcher - As long as you get the patch for the speech this game is fantastic. The atmospehere is probably better than all of its peers and the story is genius. You have real difficult desiciouns which have real effects in the story. The biggest downside is the compbat which is crap. Better than any similar modern RPG by a long long way.
Thats all i can recall off the top of my head.
On a side note, Almost all games like GTA are games in which you play a role. Fact. But they are not part of the RPG genre.
Every style of game falls into a Genre and some then fall into a sub Genre. The fact that a style of game has been named Role playing game does not instantly mean that every game in which you play a role falls under that genre. The genre could have been called stat based, deep, story driven character customization genre but it wouldnt have the same ring to it. So no, none of the GTA's are RPGs despite the fact that you play a role in them. They are all action based open worlds.
Dariune
NWN1 really shone with the user-made modules and the persistent online worlds that offered great, MMO-like experience (minus the negative aspects that WoW introduced). The official campaign was pretty bland and unremarkable, but the second expansion featured a fairly exciting and well-done campaign (Hordes of the Underdark).
I finally picked this up, together with the four novels that the game is based on. Haven't had a chance to play yet, though, but the books are quite book. (Which probably accounts for the game's story quality.)
Oldschool RPG with a party based, decent combat system - Knights of the Chalice - The gfx is bad, but the gameplay is awesome.
You will not be dissapointed. The story is well implemented (though i havent read the books) and the gameplay itself is deeply involving. Of course, its not perfect but the flaws are forgivable.
Looks good, i might try it. Though i dont particularly like that style of graphic.
Well King, just my contrarian opinion, but Role Play is where you find it. So there are games classified as RPG and those that become RPG in your own imagination when you become really identified with a character and what is going on with the character. That's nothing that developers can guarantee will happen, nor anyone else.
World of WarCraft was my first really intense experience with this. Now, I don't mean WoW played as part of a deranged pack of imbeciles, but rather WoW played solo mostly. Perhaps also in a guild on a Role Play Server, but for me it was solo that really did it. My first character through WoW was Oakwine the Druid. After ten minutes I was no longer sitting in a chair in front of the screen, I was there. Oakwine took on a distinct personality of his own. He became in some sense real. He has long since retired, rich and famous, to Feather Moon. But I still think of him and will never ever forget him.
In Guild Wars, my primary character is a Ranger whose adventures across Tyria were my own as well. He too seems to really exist somehow. And although there was no elaborate attempt to make the henchmen and heroes into RPG characters, over a period of 5 years and a tad those robot AI characters have come to mean a lot to me.
Speaking of Guild Wars ... Guild Wars 2 will not be out for probably another year and a half, but it combines RPG with mmo in a brilliantly seamless fashion. Drop by guildwars2guru now and then and see what is going on.
Probably this sounds strange and probably it is. But you know, I played all the way through Dragon Age Origins and halfway through again and it never grabbed me. It always just seemed contrived and to me anyway, just more than a tad tedious.
There's never been a universal agreement about what exactly it means to call a game a RPG. The general consensus though is that any game in which your character's abilities (ie dexterity, weapon skill, level, etc) are used to determine success rather then your own is a RPG. Obviously though this is not a perfect definition by far, and some disagree with it. But it's the closest thing to a universal definition you will find.
This does mean a game like GTA San Andreas has roleplaying elements, not because you play a role but because you have stats and skills that level up. How good you are at shooting a gun or driving a car is not based purely on the skill of the person behind the controller, but also on the skill of the character. Most would not truely describe it as a roleplaying game though, simply an action game with some RPG elements. Other GTA games did not have any stats or skills so they would not be called a RPG under this definition.
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