Well, as said on the title.
I'll post one per week, full reviews for you RPG lovers.
And without further waiting, here's the first on what I hope will be a long list.
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/sidenav/bg_header.jpg) (http://www.bioware.com/games/baldurs_gate/)
This was the best Pc Rpg of all times untill it was beaten to dust by it's sequel, wich by the way it's still the King of pc rpg's (I don't care what you say Neverwinter Nights is not better that BG2).
It was the First of 8 games builted using the Infinity Engine (with minor upgrades) Being Ice Wind Dale II the last.
The sound was really good, and the music did a great job at inmersing you into the game.
As for the gameplay, there's not much to say, it's actually quite easy, with a lot of options and menues you can access using the mouse, or the keyboard. And you don't even have to know a damn thing about D&D to play it.
The game presented an outstanding story that got better by the end of the game, and in the same way continued to improve on the sequel till it became one of the most memorable (If not the most) stories ever on a Pc Game.
From Bioware site: Baldur's Gate Story (http://www.bioware.com/games/baldurs_gate/game_info/story/)
A glimpse to the look of the Infinity Engine:
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/bg_screens_1/bgscreens_1_1_small.jpg)
(http://www.bioware.com/gallery/index.html?galleryID=28&screensize=2&screenimage=4)
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/bg_screens_1/bgscreens_1_4_small.jpg)
More pics here. (http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/sidenav/sidenav_screenshots.gif)
Baldur's Gate Reviews
Check out these Baldur's Gate Reviews!
* Gamecenter - 5/5
* Adrenaline Vault - 5/5 (Seal of Excellence)
* Computer Games Online - 5/5
* Next Generation - 5/5
* GamePen - 5/5
* Game Fan - 98/100
* GameSpot UK - 9.5/10
* IGNPC - 9.4/10
* GameSpot - 9.2/10
* Game Revolution - A grade
"Baldur's Gate largely manages to meet, and even surpass, gamers' high expectations for this ambitious game." GameSpot.
Read the awards Baldur's Gate won! (http://www.bioware.com/games/baldurs_gate/awards/)
And that's why this is a Game every Roleplayer Must own.
Well, hope you've enjoyed it.
Fallout is much, much better than BG.
Quote from: SettembriniFallout is much, much better than BG.
I agree that Fallout is a Great game, with capital G, but I'm not sure if I agree with you about it being better than BG.
Maybe I'm being a bit subjective, and let myself carry away by my BG fanatism.
Stickied with the promise that its going to be a regular feature!
RPGPundit
Nice read UmaSama. I never got the chance to play BG, so it was nice to read more about it.
It may be nostalgia coloring my vision, but I have to nominate the first two gold box games for SSI's Forgotten Realms series. Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds were awesome classic-style AD&D games with a fun story attached.
What kind of rig would I need to run Baldur's Gate? The last machine I owned primarily for gaming was a C64. I know nothing about video cards and such.
Personally, I found Ultima IV to be a mind-blowingly awesome experience. I haven't played that many PC games since the 80s, other than the time I nearly hosed my academic career by solving Doom instead of studying for finals.
Quote from: jrientsWhat kind of rig would I need to run Baldur's Gate? The last machine I owned primarily for gaming was a C64. I know nothing about video cards and such.
Personally, I found Ultima IV to be a mind-blowingly awesome experience. I haven't played that many PC games since the 80s, other than the time I nearly hosed my academic career by solving Doom instead of studying for finals.
Baldur's Gate was released on November 30th 1998, so the requirements are Xtremely low:
The system requirements for Baldur's Gate are as follows:
Required RecommendedProcessor Pentium 166 MHz Pentium 200 MHz with MMX
Operating System Windows 95/98
RAM 16 MB* 32 MB
DirectX DirectX 3.0 DirectX 5.0
Video Card DirectX video card with 2 MB DirectX video card with 4 MB
Sound Card DirectX certified sound card
CD-ROM Drive 4X 8X
Hard Disk Installation 320 MB 570 MB
Multiplayer Modem-to-modem, null modem, IPX, TCP/IP
* 32 MB required for multiplayer
As far as I can remember Ultima was an xtremely straighforward hack & slash dungeon crawl, so if you really enjoyed it, you're gonna love BG, because is by no means straighforward. BG did an outstanding work in recreating the fealing of paper & dice RPG's on Video Games.
Actually, Ultima IV had some great puzzle elements, nifty overland exploration, and a pretty cool plot. Even for its time the graphics were a bit crude but the other elements of the game were all top notch.
Quote from: jrientsActually, Ultima IV had some great puzzle elements, nifty overland exploration, and a pretty cool plot. Even for its time the graphics were a bit crude but the other elements of the game were all top notch.
My apologies then. The fact is that on the Ultima golden era I was on primary school and the only games I cared about were Mortal Kombat, and crappy plataformers.
Ultima Underworld and its sequel.
These were the two 3D, first-person, single-character Ultima games released in the early 90s. I had heard a lot about games being "immersive" up until that time, but this was the first time I really felt like I was there when playing a game. It was like *I was really in that huge dungeon* Still incredibly immersive, deep and caprivating to this day, if you can stand Doom-era 3D.
Dude, you can't mention Baldur's Gate without mentioning the best game to use that engine: Planescape Torment.
Quote from: DackeDude, you can't mention Baldur's Gate without mentioning the best game to use that engine: Planescape Torment.
Do not get ahead of yourself buddy, read carefully the first post, I said that BG was the first of
8 games builted using the Infinity Engine, and I also said that I was going to post a game every week. Of course I thought about Planescape Torment, when thinking of games to include in the list, I would never leave one of the greatest games ever outside, so rest assure that you'll get to see Planescape here on the foreseeable future.
Tetris.
If you really need an explanation as to why, then you've never played the game for more than 5 minutes. :p
Quote from: JongWKTetris.
If you really need an explanation as to why, then you've never played the game for more than 5 minutes. :p
I was saving Tetris for the "Games every Obsesive Compulsive must have" thread:D
I love the Game Boy version. It was as close as you can get to monochrome Nirvana.
I remember scoring more than 220,000 points sometimes. :arcade:
Deus Ex, the original PC version.
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising.
Tron 2.0
Homeworld and homeworld Cataclysm, avoid homeworld 2.
Battlezone for the PC.
Quote from: Dominus NoxDeus Ex, the original PC version.
Deus Ex, what an excellent game, one of the best Action/Rpg's ever made for the Pc, do not worry I'll make a review of it on the future, but if you or anyone else is interested here's (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/deusex/player_review.html?id=307968) a short reviw I posted on gamespot.
in its day, Baldur's Gate was demanding of your PC, as well as crucifying your hard drive for a full install.
But these days, a 3 or 4 year old machine could handle it easily
Quote from: Lawbagin its day, Baldur's Gate was demanding of your PC, as well as crucifying your hard drive for a full install.
But these days, a 3 or 4 year old machine could handle it easily
Indeed, the full install demanded 2 to 2.5 gB, wich is a lot considering that in 1998 most HDD had only 10GB capacity.
Quote from: jrientsActually, Ultima IV had some great puzzle elements, nifty overland exploration, and a pretty cool plot. Even for its time the graphics were a bit crude but the other elements of the game were all top notch.
I remember how thrilled I was ... just
thrilled ... the first time I stumbled on one of those sliding-open-when-the-moon-is-right gate things.
And of course: Denis Loubet art!
Which is why Uresia has sliding-open-gate thingies and (in the new edition) even a bit of Denis Loubet art. Both are there for Ultima IV.
Ah, man. Now I'm getting misty-eyed with nostalgia. I totally agree that the art was fabulous. Some days I want to run a game set in Britannia just so I can so my players the books and the map.
You know what was almost as cool as the moon-gates? Discovering and using the balloon.
Final Fantasy Legend I-III on the Game Boy. 'Nuff said.
For those old-schooler types, the gaming doesn't get more interesting the Dark Heart of Uukrul. It's mindblowing when you find out that one of the puzzle-mazes you've been navigating is a giant crossword puzzle.
Quote from: jrientsActually, Ultima IV had some great puzzle elements, nifty overland exploration, and a pretty cool plot.
Not to mention its emphasis on the personality mechanics of the Virtues, which was rather groundbreaking at the time: it's a game in which the goal is not so much to "defeat evil" as "achieve goodness".
My nomination for the list?
Darklands.
When Planescape Torment was released on 1999 a lot of people said that it was the best pc rpg ever made, thing said about Baldur's Gate only one year before, and Torment was so excellent that almost nobody could have imagined that only one year later (2000) would be the sequel of the game he had beaten a year before to become the king of pc rpg's that had come to retake the crown, that was how good Baldur's Gate II Shadow of Amn was.
Baldur's Gate II it's an outstanding gaming experience, with an improvement on the Infinity engine that gives a graphic boost from the last installment, with an enhancement on the gameplay, with more spells, more Npc's, more options, a story that got even deeper, and a whole lot of fun.
From Bioware site> "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is the critically acclaimed masterpiece that continues the story told in the original. Featuring improved visuals, over 100 additional spells, brand new monsters, and more, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is one of the most epic roleplaying adventures for the PC. "
I remember playing BG2 for at least 4 or 5 hours a day for months, I started it several times just to experiment with different characters, and it was outstandingly fun every time, the main plot its absolutly magnificent, and the side quests provide a lot of xtra hours of fun.
I trully recommend everyone who hasn's played it yet to do so, for you won't be dissapointed.
The improved looks on the Infinity engine
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/soa_screens_1/soascreens_1_1_small.jpg)
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/soa_screens_1/soascreens_1_2_small.jpg)
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/soa_screens_1/soascreens_1_4_small.jpg)
(http://www.bioware.com/_global/images/gallery/soa_screens_1/soascreens_1_5_small.jpg)
Baldur's Gate 2 Awards> Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was named 2001 Game of the Year by the following publications:
* Game Over Magazine
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was named 2001 Role Playing Game of the Year by the following publications:
* Gamespot
* Gamespot - Readers Choice
* Game Over Magazine
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was named 2000 Game of the Year by the following publications:
* MSNBC
* Electric Playground
* Gamers Pulse
* Desslock
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was named 2000 Role Playing Game of the Year by the following publications:
* USA Today
* GameSpot
* Voodoo Extreme
* CNET Gamecenter
* IGN.com
* Desslocks Best of 2000
* GameSpy
* Gamers Pulse
* Gamepower
Other Awards won by Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn:
* 2002 - G4TV - Inon Zur and his music for BG II was highlighted on G4TV as one of the best game soundtracks ever (as voted by the G4TV viewers).
* 2001 - PC Gamer - Top 100 Games 2001 - BG II at #3
* 2001 - PC Gamer Mag. (UK - Dec. 2001) - Readers Top 100 Picks - BG I & II at #7
* 2001 - PC Gamer Magazine (Dec 2001) - 50 Best Games - BG Series at #13
* 2001 - Game Over Magazine - Best Story of the Year
* 2001 - Adrenaline Vault - Reviewer's Choice
* 2001 - GameSpy - Gold Gaming Excellence Medal
* 2001 - 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Award - Winner for Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development
* 2001 - 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Award - Finalists for PC Game of the Year
* 2001 - 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Award - Finalists for PC RPG of the Year
* 2001 - 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Award - Finalists for Game Play Engineering
* 2000 - PC Gamer - Shadows of Amn - Editor's Choice Award
* 2000 - Electric Playground - Shadows of Amn - PC Game of the Year 2000
* 2000 - Desslock - Best Story of the Year
* 2000 - Desslock - Best Gameplay & Best Interface
* 2000 - IGNPC's - Readers Choice Award
* 2000 - GameSpy - Gamers Choice Award
* 1999 - Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences - PC RPG of the Year
BG2 Reviews
* Adrenaline Vault - 5/5 (Seal of Excellence)
* Computer Games Online - 5/5
* Computer Gaming World - 5/5
* GamePro.com - 5/5
* Next Generation - 5/5
* Gamezilla - 96/100
* Electric Playground - 96/100
* GameSpot UK - 9.5/10
* Voodoo Extreme - 95/100 (Can-O-Whoop Ass)
* Happy Puppy - 9.5/10
* PC Gamer - 91/100
* GameSpy - 92/100
* GameSpot - 9.2/10
* FiringSquad - 93/100 (Editor's Choice)
* Gamecenter - 9/10
The Veredict The truthfull King of Pc Rpg's.
(http://i.i.com.com/cnet.g2/images/2003/all/boxshots2/256222.jpg)
First a little review by me off course:p
The Best RTS of 2002, and still fighting for 1st place.
Wow, where should I begin?
Well graphics are excellent, sound it's awesome, especially the music, highly immersive, mostly at the end of the game in the final battle, gameplay is extraordinarly easy, and when combining mouse and keyboard you'll get to play at an extremely fast and enjoyable pace. The only flaw (little one) I could encounter concerning gameplay is the fact that when you turn the camera you can only do it by 180ยบ, and it doesn't lock there it goes back to original possition, but as I already said it's a minor flaw.
But the best of this extraordinary game are not the graphics, nor the sound, neither the gameplay, it's the STORY, and what a story, better than most RPG games stories, in fact I liked the story of this game so much that after playing it I managed to get all Warcraft RPG books; well continuing with the story matter, one of the best things about the story is that you get to not only to see all the views of it, but you actually live all the different views, I mean you play the Human part of the story, you play the undead part, the Orc part, and the Night Elf part, and by when the game is over you find that you were part of every single part of this magnificent story, even the "evil" ones.
So I say that this is the best Epic RTS to be released in a lot of years, (at least untill the next Blizzard RTS production).
So if you're thinking on buying this game, think no more...BUY IT!!!
Now some pics for you to remember greatness:
(http://www.blizzard.com/images/war3/screens/s13-large.jpg)
(http://www.blizzard.com/images/war3/screens/s15-large.jpg)
(http://www.blizzard.com/images/war3/screens/s20-large.jpg)
And lastly the award account (carefull it's long:D )
* Computer Strategy Game of the Year - Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences
* Game of the Year - Gamespot
* Game of the Year - Macworld
* Game of the Year - XSages
* Game of the Year - Fragland
* Game of the Year - Cinescape
* Game of the Year - Gaming Illustrated
* Best PC Game of the Year - GameNOW
* Best Real-Time Strategy Game of the Year - PC Gamer
* Best Multiplayer Strategy Game of the Year - Gamespot
* Best PC Strategy Game of the Year - GameNOW
* Best PC Strategy Game of the Year - Game Revolution
* Best PC Strategy Game of the Year - Telefragged
* Best PC Strategy Game of the Year - OCAddiction
* Best PC Strategy Game of the Year (Reader's Choice) - GameSpot
* Readers’ Choice 2002: Best PC Game of the Year - GamePro
* Strategy Game of the Year - Gamer's Pulse
* Gamer's Choice: Overall PC Game of the Year - Gamespy
* Gamer's Choice: PC Strategy Game of the Year - Gamespy
* Best Non-Interactive 3D Game Cinematics - International 3D Awards
* Best Cinematic - IGN
* Best CG Cinematics (tie) - Gamespy's Best of E3 2002 Awards
* Best Opening Movie - Game Chronicles
* Editor's Choice (10 out of 10 rating) - Game Chronicles
* Editor's Choice (9.6 out of 10 rating) - Gaming Illustrated
* Editor's Choice (9.5 out of 10 rating) - SLCCentral
* Editor's Choice (9.5 out of 10 rating) - The Entertainment Depot
* Editor's Choice (95 out of 100 rating) - Action Trip
* Editor's Choice (94 out of 100 rating) - PC Gamer
* Editor's Choice (93 out of 100 rating) - Gaming Excellence
* Editor's Choice (93 out of 100 rating) - Invisible Dream
* Editor's Choice (9.3 out of 10 rating) - IGN
* Editor's Choice (92 out of 100 rating) - Gamitopia
* Editor's Choice (9.1 out of 10 rating) - Firing Squad
* Editor's Choice (8.7 out of 10 rating) - Strategy Gaming Online
* 5 out of 5 rating - Games First
* 5 out of 5 rating (Award for Excellence) - Wargamer.com
* 5 out of 5 rating (Seal of Excellence) - The Adrenaline Vault
* 6 out of 6 rating (Drool Award) - Gamers Depot.com
* 9.7 out of 10 rating (Outstanding Game Award) - GameZone.com
* 97 out of 100 rating - Wired Play
* 96 out of 100 rating (Award of Excellence) - The Gamers Temple
* 95 out of 100 rating (GG Platinum Award) - Gone Gold
* 93 out of 100 rating - Game Rankings
* 9.3 out of 10 rating - Geek Haven
* 9.3 out of 10 rating (Game of the Month July 2002) - GameSpot
* 92 out of 100 rating (AOG Approved) - All Out Games
* 9 out of 10 rating (Mindless Choice Award) - Mindless Games
* 90 out of 100 rating (Gamers' Choice Award) - Game Over
* 8.9 out of 10 rating (Silver Hell Award) - Gamer's Hell
* 4 out of 5 rating (Top Game) - Games Domain
* Best Animation 2003 - Digital Media World
* Best Cut Scenes 2002 - XSages
* Best Cinematic/Cut-Scene Audio - Music4Games.net
Every gamer with at least 15 years old will recognize the next game, and most of them I'm sure will tell you it's one of the best games ever.
Might & Magic VII: For Blood & Honor
First of all I already know that it was M&M VI the one that made this amazing saga Reborn, it marked the end of the old M&M, and the beginnning of the new M&M saga, but I decided to point M&M 7 as the best in series because it took everything M&M 6 had and improved it.
To tell you how great this game was I would only have to say that it was with this game that I broke my record of straight hours playing a single game, you may not believe it but I played it for 18 straight hours!! I kid you not, I ate while playing, and only stopped to go to the bathroom, needless to say I fell unconciouss when done playing.
Anyone remember this??:
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/9/143119/mightan7_screen001.jpg)
or this??:
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/9/143119/mightan7_screen002.jpg)
meteor shower over the undead, that's what I call roleplaying :D
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/9/143119/mightan7_screen004.jpg)
M&M 7 was huge, it had a vast world to explore, over a hundred quests, and a good story, that depending on your actions turned into diferent directions.
It had all the hack & slash, and dungeon crawl you could ever want on a pc rpg, blended with lots of puzzles (good ones, that demanded thinking) unlike most other games out there.
Sadly after that the saga began dying, with an uninspired M&M 8 that went out to the market looking and feeling old, repetitive and often frustrating, but that was not the end, the coup de grace came 2 years later when 3DO finally released M&M 9, a game that every M&M fanboy was waiting, it was meant to be a revolution, just like M&M 6, it was going to revitalize the series, but instead it killed it. :bawling:
Next we heard 3DO went out of business, a dinasty had ended, and in top of that last year when I heard that UBISOFT (one of the major Gaming companies today) was buying the M&M license, I thought "well this could be good", but instead they just took the name and made a medieval FPS that tries to be a poor example of an RPG.
For all of this reasons I say that those were the days, the day of M&M VII, a must in every gamer collection.
You might want to look at some none fantasy titles, and even some none RPG like Half-life, Deus Ex, System Shock, Resident Evil, UFO, etc.
Quote from: BagpussYou might want to look at some none fantasy titles, and even some none RPG like Half-life, Deus Ex, System Shock, Resident Evil, UFO, etc.
And so I shall.
Funny thing I've already thought on those titles.:p
I feel dreadfully out of touch, as I've only played one of the games (Planescape: Torment) mentioned so far.
That's all to do with me, than the choices though. I think I could tick off all of the PC games I've played with both hands, and have enough fingers left over to count the platform games I've played. Well, only if you discount Atari 2600 and NES games. I played a bunch of those in my youth.
While I agree more fantasy games are needed (especially half-life), you can't avoid mentioning World of Warcraft. The number of people that play are staggering, and it is a very fun and well designed game.
The truth is that I've barely played WoW at all, so I feel Im in no position to make a review of it.
Anyway this week I'm overly busy with school, I got to deliver a Shell Script for next week, and the next monday after that I got to deliver the database for the library, and a program compiled in C, so dont expect to see a new review for the next few days.
One of my all time favourites, I loved the skill advancement system wich allowed me to personalize JC (nanoenhanced super-agent protagonist of the game)the way I wanted, meaning that despise having to use the same protagonist every time I played the game I was able to use several different characters based on their skills.
Good Story, great environment, great graphics, good sound.
Not to short nor long, just the right lenght for this game, when I finished it I didn't felt like the game needed to be shorter nor longer.
I really loved the option of changing the course of the game based on the descitions I made in some points of the game such as the final when based upon my choice I was able to see three different finals for the game.
Really one of the best games I've played so far, remember the days when I played it makes me wish there were a new version of this classic besides Deus ex Invisible War.
Some pics:
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/2569318/2569318_screen002.jpg)
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/2569318/2569318_screen005.jpg)
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/2569318/2569318_screen008.jpg)
(http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/screenshots/gs/rpg/deusex/deusex_screen016.jpg)
Here's the site (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/games/info.html?gmid=50) of the game if any of you want to know more.
Was I the only one who thought that Planescape: Torment was utter crap?
Quote from: ScoundrelWas I the only one who thought that Planescape: Torment was utter crap?
I was never able to get interested in P:T.
Deus Ex, on the other hand, I found addictive even when I couldn't master it.
The original Fallout was IMHO much better than Fallout 2.
Deus Ex is one of the best games ever made, hands down. I still play it to this day and still discover new crap in the plot or in the world itself. It's a cyberpunk fan's wet dream. And the plot is amazing.
[/gush mode]
Deus Ex 2 sucked rooster testes. I haven't been that disappointed since the 2004 POTUS election results came in.
I wonder when Arcanum is going to make the list, eh?
-=Grim=-
Europa Universalis 3.. utterly addictive.
Quote from: ScoundrelWas I the only one who thought that Planescape: Torment was utter crap?
Probably not. It was an utter flop in terms of sales.
Which was a shame really... it was the most rockin' game EVAH!
Quote from: Tyberious FunkProbably not. It was an utter flop in terms of sales.
Which was a shame really... it was the most rockin' game EVAH!
It was an utter flop not because people didn't like it.. Rather, it was marketed so poorly that it didn't have a chance.
Quote from: LancerIt was an utter flop not because people didn't like it.. Rather, it was marketed so poorly that it didn't have a chance.
OR maybe because the US isn't a good target market for a visual novel . . .
I disagree with the opening post. I have a very low opinion on Baldur's Gate, and would never consider it the king of PC RPGs. I will concede that the world of the Forgotten Realms isn't a turnoff for other people, so I will leave that angle alone... only noting that the story is pretty weak with nothing particularly outstanding. My bigger criticism is that BG doesn't play all that well.
The real time but pausable combat lacked the interesting tactical possibilities of D&D that we got in pure, distilled form in the Gold Box games like Secret of the Silver Blades or Curse of the Azure Bonds. You never had enough control over your dudes or the battle situation. I don't mean that they occasionally got scared and ran (I loved that kind of thing in Jagged Alliance 2), it is that the interface was clumsy and awkward and there weren't enough interesting things to do.
The game process was remarkably dull. The exploration of world areas strip by strip made the experience rather monotonous. Older CRPGs had the challenge of mapping a convoluted wilderness and dungeons on graph paper (a bit of a lost art today); in Ultima VII, you faced navigation challenges and the space of the overland was filled with interesting little details, unique locations, hidden dungeons and NPCs. In comparison, Baldur's Gate gives us wide open areas, but they don't have so much of interest, and again, you just "strip them". The gnoll fortress was the only area I remember as entertaining (and I think some good stuff was also found in Cloakwood).
Baldur's Gate was also full of dull fetch quests. I am not totally against them if they are done smartly, but here, they were very repetitive. Again, Ultima VII. had tasks ranging from fetch through investigation to discovering some mundane, plot-irrelevant but interesting details (like how the high and mighty Lord British is screwing the chambermaid ;) ). Fallout also had involving, not over-complicated but complex quests. BG, in comparison, is as complex as a lump of coal.
Annoying sound acting. "You must gather your party before venturing forth." <Shudder> Professional but soulless graphics.
All in all, I consider BG firmly mediocre. It is not a bad game (the multi-CD interactive movies of the mid 1990s are much more offensive); rather, it is the triumph of average design. I was entertained for a short while, and slogged through the rest of it because if I had already spent (a lot of) money on it, I might as well get something back. I didn't get much, and sold it soon afterwards. :what:
Quote from: JongWKEuropa Universalis 3.. utterly addictive.
I played one of the EU games and while it seemed a well made strategy game...
I was absolutely swamped trying to learn it (no fucking manual!)
Quote from: MelanI disagree with the opening post. I have a very low opinion on Baldur's Gate, and would never consider it the king of PC RPGs. I will concede that the world of the Forgotten Realms isn't a turnoff for other people, so I will leave that angle alone... only noting that the story is pretty weak with nothing particularly outstanding. My bigger criticism is that BG doesn't play all that well.
The real time but pausable combat lacked the interesting tactical possibilities of D&D that we got in pure, distilled form in the Gold Box games like Secret of the Silver Blades or Curse of the Azure Bonds. You never had enough control over your dudes or the battle situation. I don't mean that they occasionally got scared and ran (I loved that kind of thing in Jagged Alliance 2), it is that the interface was clumsy and awkward and there weren't enough interesting things to do.
The game process was remarkably dull. The exploration of world areas strip by strip made the experience rather monotonous. Older CRPGs had the challenge of mapping a convoluted wilderness and dungeons on graph paper (a bit of a lost art today); in Ultima VII, you faced navigation challenges and the space of the overland was filled with interesting little details, unique locations, hidden dungeons and NPCs. In comparison, Baldur's Gate gives us wide open areas, but they don't have so much of interest, and again, you just "strip them". The gnoll fortress was the only area I remember as entertaining (and I think some good stuff was also found in Cloakwood).
Baldur's Gate was also full of dull fetch quests. I am not totally against them if they are done smartly, but here, they were very repetitive. Again, Ultima VII. had tasks ranging from fetch through investigation to discovering some mundane, plot-irrelevant but interesting details (like how the high and mighty Lord British is screwing the chambermaid ;) ). Fallout also had involving, not over-complicated but complex quests. BG, in comparison, is as complex as a lump of coal.
Annoying sound acting. "You must gather your party before venturing forth." <Shudder> Professional but soulless graphics.
All in all, I consider BG firmly mediocre. It is not a bad game (the multi-CD interactive movies of the mid 1990s are much more offensive); rather, it is the triumph of average design. I was entertained for a short while, and slogged through the rest of it because if I had already spent (a lot of) money on it, I might as well get something back. I didn't get much, and sold it soon afterwards. :what:
I've known of someone who played Ultima VII first before playing BG1 and had a similar assessment to you regarding BG1.
Oddly, I enjoy both games tremendously.. Even though I played BG1 first.
Quote from: signoftheserpentI played one of the EU games and while it seemed a well made strategy game...
I was absolutely swamped trying to learn it (no fucking manual!)
Paradoxian.org (http://www.paradoxian.org/) is your friend. :cool:
...Five pages and no-one's mentioned Daggerfall or Morrowind??
Quote from: Narf the Mouse;258939...Five pages and no-one's mentioned Daggerfall or Morrowind??
You should up your posts per page. Not even half a page for me. ;)
Arena was the genesis of that series, of course, and loads of fun. The lesser known Redguard was fun, in a Tomb Raider way.
EDIT: And don't forget to install DOSBox and play your old classics: Planet's Edge and Mechwarrior: Crescent Hawks' Inception!
Wow, no mention of the Wizardry series....
I've just re-installed Wizardry 8 (I had the first seven games in a shovelware pack, but can't find them...argh!) and am having a blast and a half. Great system, and good, clean graphic presentation (if not technically awesome).
I miss party-based games like that. It's the reason my favorite of the old Black Isle AD&D games was Icewind Dale. The ultimate for me would be a party-based Roguelike....
Quote from: KenHR;260870I miss party-based games like that. It's the reason my favorite of the old Black Isle AD&D games was Icewind Dale. The ultimate for me would be a party-based Rogelike....
You've given me a wonderful, Grinchy idea!
I knew if I said it enough, someone would do it... :)
This feature absolutely must include a review of the Thief games, especially the first two.
Also, there need to be some Gold Box titles there, including the two Buck Rogers ones.
Master of Magic, the strategy game.
Quote from: Narf the Mouse;260950Master of Magic, the strategy game.
I'm playing this every once in a while. (abandonware and dosbox anyone ?)
I bought it. Saw it, snapped it up.
I'm adding Jagged Alliance 2 to the list.
Excellent modern, squad-level turn-based strategy game with a huge cast of characters, a functioning stat/ability PC system and realistic terrain/cover rules.
+1 on Jagged Alliance. I love when my mercenaries behave like prima donnas : "No, I won't work with Joe Joesky. He's a fascist misogynistic pig and he snores".
Quote from: boulet;304620+1 on Jagged Alliance. I love when my mercenaries behave like prima donnas : "No, I won't work with Joe Joesky. He's a fascist misogynistic pig and he snores".
Google found some translations of Ivan's Russian.
When he kills someone gruesomely he says, "and this is why my nephew is an alcoholic!"
I laugh even harder now.
Thank you very much.....
I'm surprised no one has mentioned The Witcher, which was really fun, and one that should be on any computer rpg list. A sequel is due out next year, hopefully that will actually happen.
Might and magic 6 and The Witcher (http://bestpcrpg.net) is my favorite. I wonder how it will be The Witcher 2 by the way...
Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Might & Magic 2
Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder 2: Legend of Darkmoon
Wizardry 1
Ravenloft: Strad's Possession
My favorite CRPGs
PC RPG's i've played (for more than just a few minutes):
Gothic
Everquest 2
Guild Wars
Guild Wars 2
Dungeons & Dragons Online
NEStalgia
Diablo
Surprised no-one's mentioned Arx Fatalis. It's illogical and railroaded to hell, but it does the exploring dungeons thing pretty well--atmosphere is almost as good as the Thief series (just don't expect much gameplay).
Quote from: Dacke;20187Dude, you can't mention Baldur's Gate without mentioning the best game to use that engine: Planescape Torment.
There is a sequel to Torment in the works. They don't have the rights to the name, but it's essentially a sequel by the same people that made Torment.
Quote from: Bill;617030There is a sequel to Torment in the works. They don't have the rights to the name, but it's essentially a sequel by the same people that made Torment.
...puts on flame suit....
I didn't like Torment. At all. Granted, I didn't play it until years after it came out, but I did not like that game.
In 97 it was all about Half-Life. It's the only FPS I have ever liked, because it had such a great story.
1999 was a great year for PC games. I rather liked Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, didn't care much for the rest of it.
Wasteland was full of awesome... and Fallout was really good as well!
Civilization & Civ 2 - Call to Power
Age of Wonders
Earlier games I liked...
Rogue, which later became Nethack.
Starflight
Tomb Raider
Empire Deluxe
F-117 Stealth Fighter
I played Keef the Thief, but didn't like it much. I died... a lot!
I did like Bard's Tale though, that was pretty awesome. Straight dungeon crawl with up to 6 in the party. Lots of traps and puzzles.
Never did play the SSI D&D games.
Quote from: Sacrosanct;617032...puts on flame suit....
I didn't like Torment. At all. Granted, I didn't play it until years after it came out, but I did not like that game.
I didn't care for it either.
Too wanky.
You might check out Divinity: Original Sin (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=26286).
IMHO the best looking RPG scheduled for this year.
Fallout New Vegas. They've taken the world into the direction I've always loved about good PA stories (the problem that it's the humans that are the biggest enemy of rebuilding the world, etc. etc), and just allow you to explore it and shift it.
Quote from: Sacrosanct;617032...puts on flame suit....
I didn't like Torment. At all. Granted, I didn't play it until years after it came out, but I did not like that game.
I tried to play it out of the Anthology with Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale et al and never got really far.
It fails to really grab me the way BG and IWD did and still do, for me.
Quote from: Benoist;647098I tried to play it out of the Anthology with Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale et al and never got really far.
It fails to really grab me the way BG and IWD did and still do, for me.
I am overly hopeful that the baldurs/icewind style new game in the works from Obsidian will kick ass.
The first fantasy game I fell in love with: Rogue.
For a somewhat* modernized take: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
*=meaning with skills, classes, spells etc.
Dota 2.
It's not just amazing, but its business model is excellent.
Man, so many games, so little time.
Titans of Steel:Warring Suns. It's battletech with the serial numbers filed off, freeware, and freakin' awesome in its detail. There's nothing like hitting center torso on a recon mech with an AC 20, causing a reactor meltown, leading to an explosion chain reacting to other big robots. It only happened once, but there are lots of "only happened once" events. After many hundreds of hours of play, I just got back to back AC 20 headshots taking down an otherwise perfect mech.
It is an RPG, by the way, as you recruit pilots (humans, clones, androids, cyborgs), and train their skills and abilities.
Too many others, but that's a game I keep coming back to.
Best RPG ever in my view has got to Planescape Torment. Amazing game with incredibly deep storyline and characters.
Quote from: WaveLightGames;849434Best RPG ever in my view has got to Planescape Torment. Amazing game with incredibly deep storyline and characters.
I still have the signed poster/pic on my wall.
Darkest Dungeon.It's a dungeon-crawl, taking place in what I think is a setting based on XIV-XV Europe with Lovecraftian scent all over it. It tells the story of a band of ruffians/adventurers of various professions (ranging from common ruffian, through crusaders and witch hunters to lepers), who descend to various dungeons in hope to find treasures, artifacts, and so on, and so forth.
The game is unforgiving, player characters often die, go mad, give in to fear, catch diseases, starve.... Let's just say that they suffer a lot and return (or flee) to the ground only to heal their bodies and minds and face the dungeons again. Yet, in spite of being cruel, it's not frustrating. Yes, losing all your group of die-hard veterans to fear, once lights go dark isn't easy, but there's no feeling of inferiority about that.
I think it's great game, one of those "easy to learn, hard to master", immersive enough to feature "just one turn more" syndrome. One of its strongest selling points is vague, but interesting setting, one that might serve as good introduction to dark fantasy/horror tabletop role-playing games similar to Warhammer, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, or even Call of Cthulhu (providing the scenario takes place in Dark Ages and PCs' survival is an option).
- Trailer on YT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mXN3akTPU)
- Homepage (http://www.darkestdungeon.com/)
(http://www.destroythecyb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DD-Line.jpg)
The Age of Decadence (https://www.gog.com/game/the_age_of_decadence) is probably my favorite CRPG of all time.
Also highly recommend
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (https://www.gog.com/game/dungeons_dragons_dark_sun_series)
HBS' Shadowrun games, particularly Shadowrun: Dragonfall (https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_dragonfall_directors_cut).
Criteria:
1) Nothing before 2005, because if you're doing PC gaming and still stuck on those older games, you're probably not really playing on a rig that supports the latest and greatest. And if you are, you'd probably have to run third-party emulators or other tricks to get older games to work. Not snobbery, just probability.
2) Genre matters. Gaming is tribal and not everyone likes all types of PC games. So the only games that matter are the ones in the genre you care about. That may be only a few, it may be all of them.
3) Assume all expansions are part of the title.
4) Game must be currently published in its final form.
FPS Multiplayer - Battlefield 4/Bad Co. 2, Overwatch OR Team Fortress 2
Single Player Action/adventure - Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption, Assassins Creed 2, Arkham City, Dishonored
RPG's - Witcher III, Mass Effect (whole series), Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Dragon Age (whole series), Fallout 3 and 4,
A/RTS - Starcraft 2, Marvel Heroes 2016, Diablo 3, Torchlight 2
MMORTS - DoTA 2, LoL
Tactical Strategy - XCOM 2, Total War: Warhammer
4X Strategy - Civilization IV, Endless Legend, Galactic Civilization III
MMO - /crickets
Casual - Slither.io (it's free!!!!!!)
FPS Multiplayer - PayDay 2. It's probably the best co-op FPS I've ever seen. Yes, better than Borderlands.
4X Strategy - Extremely old, but the Space Empires IV/V series for its massive hackability - every aspect of the game is exposed via text config files. If you want to see how messing with the ground rules of your space setting works, it's a phenomenal tool
Sim - It's a niche, but I've used SimCity and Cities XL to build a natural-seeming city for my super hero campaigns.
This is a REALLY old thread, but hey, it's a sticky, so some might still be reading it.
Divinity Original sin 2
This is a very pretty, very immersive, very detailed Fantasy RPG in the style of Baldur's gate, but better.
I'm really into this and enjoying taking it nice and slow and exploring everywhere.
The environment is really immersive as you can interact with lots of the npcs and just "Stuff" around the place and the environment can be used to your advantage in combat. (oil, water, buildings etc).
Divinity Original Sin, Enhanced edition
The predecessor to Divinity Original sin 2, I didn't enjoy the version of this previous to "Enhanced edition", it seemed clunky, kinda vague and a pain to play.
Since I've been playing DOS2, I've got back into DOSEE and it's great fun.
Grim Dawn
Good fun, Action Dark Fantasy RPG. You don't need to think much to play and enjoy this. It moves fast, is quite pretty and good violent fun. Nuff said.
Elder Scrolls Online
A fantasy MMORPG. It feels like an offline RPG, but online. You don't need to play with anyone, but it's nice to see people running about doing stuff.
It's very pretty for a MMORPG and is generally a lot of fun. I tend to play it if I only have a 30 minutes or an hour to spare.
Everspace
Space combat Roguelike. Imagine Elite Dangerous if it was a fast paced Space roguelike and that's pretty much it.
Good fun for a short space combat romp.
Civilization 6
I don't play this as much as I'd like to as I'm pretty busy these days. But if I'm doing an all nighter gaming session, then I'll be playing this.
Resource management and empire building game.
Quote from: JesterRaiin;877307Darkest Dungeon.
It's a dungeon-crawl, taking place in what I think is a setting based on XIV-XV Europe with Lovecraftian scent all over it. It tells the story of a band of ruffians/adventurers of various professions (ranging from common ruffian, through crusaders and witch hunters to lepers), who descend to various dungeons in hope to find treasures, artifacts, and so on, and so forth.
The game is unforgiving, player characters often die, go mad, give in to fear, catch diseases, starve.... Let's just say that they suffer a lot and return (or flee) to the ground only to heal their bodies and minds and face the dungeons again. Yet, in spite of being cruel, it's not frustrating. Yes, losing all your group of die-hard veterans to fear, once lights go dark isn't easy, but there's no feeling of inferiority about that.
I think it's great game, one of those "easy to learn, hard to master", immersive enough to feature "just one turn more" syndrome. One of its strongest selling points is vague, but interesting setting, one that might serve as good introduction to dark fantasy/horror tabletop role-playing games similar to Warhammer, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, or even Call of Cthulhu (providing the scenario takes place in Dark Ages and PCs' survival is an option).
- Trailer on YT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mXN3akTPU)
- Homepage (http://www.darkestdungeon.com/)
Is on sale on Steam if folks are interested. Ends Friday.
I don't think I've ever played a game on my personal computer. Oh wait, there was a pirate one I got on sale years ago that was kind of fun for a while before it got repetitive and boring. Too many dance parties at the colonial governor's mansion and not enough variation in treasures to find and obstacles to overcome. Not sure what it was called, does anyone know?
There were a couple of others that tempted me at Best Buy way back when but then I saw you had to be online and pay to play and it was "interactive" with other players out in cyberspace and I lost interest.
Quote from: daniel_ream;911427Sim - It's a niche, but I've used SimCity and Cities XL to build a natural-seeming city for my super hero campaigns.
I didn't mind Cities XL but the game to play these days in my opinion is
Cities Skylines. It's a very pretty game and you can get some nice screenshots. Plus it has Steam Workshop integration.
The original Deus Ex. The revised version is good.
So I fired up DOSBox and have been playing Starflight again. Despite the game being older than some of the forum posters (1986), it still holds up as a well-done open world space sim.
The initial grind of getting your ship upgraded really isn't that bad. Once you're equipped with better engines and systems, you'll be set to leap out into the trackless wastes of space, encountering wormhole fluxes (which speed you along from one point to another), unknown aliens, the lost homeworld of humanity, etc. Hard to believe this was all packed into two 360k diskettes.
My list of RPGs which are in my "all time" list
Planescape: Torment - probably the best
Baldur's Gate I and II - Loved the characters and interaction, good story
Fallout I and II
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Pillars of Eternity II
Wasteland - my old school favorite from childhood
So far the best RPG series is the Witcher trilogy, imo. Well-written characters, engaging storyline with perfectly balanced grey morality
Quote from: Ghostmaker on June 30, 2020, 08:22:13 AM
So I fired up DOSBox and have been playing Starflight again. Despite the game being older than some of the forum posters (1986), it still holds up as a well-done open world space sim.
The initial grind of getting your ship upgraded really isn't that bad. Once you're equipped with better engines and systems, you'll be set to leap out into the trackless wastes of space, encountering wormhole fluxes (which speed you along from one point to another), unknown aliens, the lost homeworld of humanity, etc. Hard to believe this was all packed into two 360k diskettes.
I absolutely loved Starflight! I liked Elite, but Starflight I played for years! Played them on the C~64 back in the day, along with the PSI 5 TRADING COMPANY! Good times, those ancient games!
-----------------
My picks for BEST RPG EVAR:
1980s Phantasie (SSI Pre-Gold Box Series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasie
1990s Fallout (Gotta love the LOW INT conversations!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CPijQ_LLGQ
2000s Mass Effect (Just the first one, however don't let the elevators get you down!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect
201Xs Nier: Automata & Code Vein (I usually don't go for Action JRPGs, but these two hit that sweet spot for me! Loved them both! Nier was a breath of fresh air, and Code Vein's make-ur-own-Wifu was... inmyinterests *cough* I did not just say that!) ;D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata
https://youtu.be/CGKY8ApfCxQ
But the best? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_%28video_game_series%29
Just to add to the topic, not sure if it counts as one of the best as it is so new but the recently released Solasta: Crown of the Magister is looking pretty good: D&D 5e rules, single player (which seems rare these days) and not a subscription service, rather an actual one time purchase on GOG as well as Steam if people aren't a big fan of the platform.
So far, the reviews on Steam look very positive and it looks pretty close to the tabletop counterpart in mechanics.
Early access but looks pretty polished.
I'll stick with the Gold Box stuff but for players with decent computers, it might be quite fun to enjoy modern graphics.
One of my old favorites: SSI's Wizard's Crown. It would make such a nice tabletop counterpart for the combat.
<edit sp>
Ultima V was better than Ultima IV. The simple idea that every virtue taken to the extreme became a vice made it (the concept, BTW, came from the philosophy of St. Augustine).
Planescape: Torment is my all-time great. After finishing it I went to my FLGS and bought everything Planescape for AD&D 2E. No one wanted the stuff so I bought the four base boxes for a bunch of peanuts. I used the setting heavily in my next campaign.
Ultima Online remains, AFAIK, the only MMORPG where you role-played. It was an addictive alternate life in a fantasy world, with friendships, love stories, raids and even, once, a bank robbery. The creation of instances ruined the original MMORPG concept forever.
Skyrim heavy modded is the best open world out there.
Guild Wars 1 & 2 were not RPGs in a strict sense but they were a ton of fun and excitement. GW1 also introduced the "Buy the game, pay once" model in mainstream MMORPGS.
Fallout: New Vegas: No surprises here - they took Fallout 3 and gave it to the original creators of F1&2.
I would absolutely suggest ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery) to anyone who likes Dungeons and Dragons as well as Caves of Qud to anyone who likes Gamma World. They're both amazing Roguelikes where you can really feel yourself get into the spirit of your character.
Quest for Glory (particularly the first one originally called Hero's Quest). It's Sierra's fantasy RPG series, and I think the first one or two were pretty darn decent and entertaining. I have even borrowed a thing or two for my tabletop RPGs
I'm an old fellow...
Spent most of the 1980's playing the Ultima Series... IV being the first one i played, followed by III,II,I,V,VI,VII in that order... the less said about VIII and IX the better i suppose (IV and VII are my favorites of the series), they still run in DOSbox and i still play them from time to time. And i'd even
still recommend them!!
Plenty of agonizing fun with the old Gold Box games... but they're a mess to play without the materials the games themselves used to come with.
Also liked the Zork and Enchanter series (as well as Planetfall and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), the Wizardry series, and wasted all too much time
playing around with EA's Adventure Construction Set (Back when EA was an excellent software company... hard to remember that these days.) Along
with a HOST of old C64 RPG games, Bard's Tale and Phantasie being the few whose names i still remember (or still own)
A few computers later... Baldur's Gate I and II, Icewind Dale (The first, in particular i really liked)... and i played the lot of 'em to death over the years.
Planescape: Torment, and the Fallout games as well (I liked all of them up to and including New Vegas) all of 'em are worth playing.
I've spent the requisite time on the Elder Scrolls series, from Daggerfall on up, i'm sure they've been mentioned but they're worth a play as well.
If you have an old playstation console... The Suikoden series (if i remember right) used to be on the store there and it's one of my favorite old games
that never gets much attention. And one of the only games i really miss playing. One of these days i hope to see it on PC... Hope springs eternal.
Even though they're not really RPGs, I think Freedom Force (and its excellent sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich) have enough good characterization in them that they would appeal to most roleplayers, if those players have an interest in Silver and Bronze Age comic book superheroes. To this day I have a deep and abiding love for those characters, to the point where my affection for old childhood heroes like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four is no greater than it became for the Freedom Force. Years after it came out, a real comic book miniseries featuring the characters was published, and I bought every one of them.
Deus ex, original. You can get patches, grsaphic updates, etc, hut the original deus ex despite being 22 years old is still a game for people with brains, not just reflexes.
Quote from: Sanson on December 12, 2021, 11:06:49 PM
I'm an old fellow...
Spent most of the 1980's playing the Ultima Series... IV being the first one i played, followed by III,II,I,V,VI,VII in that order... the less said about VIII and IX the better i suppose (IV and VII are my favorites of the series), they still run in DOSbox and i still play them from time to time. And i'd even
still recommend them!!
You forget "Martian Dreams" (steampunk) and "The Savage Empire" (the lost valley with dinosaurs) based on Ultima VI engine. I still have them in the original boxes. Savage Empire inspired a whole GURPS campaign.
If you like rogue-likes and sci-fi, Approaching Infinity is a good one. The developer is very active and is always producing new content. Since it is low tech and turn based, it will even run on my potato of a laptop that I use when I'm babysitting or taking the lovely wife to the casino.
The best PC RPG ever has to be Planescape: Torment.
Honorable Mentions:
Baldur's Gate I/II
Fallout I/II
Ultima VII
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
KOTOR1
Quote from: Lancer on September 07, 2022, 02:17:24 PM
The best PC RPG ever has to be Planescape: Torment.
Honorable Mentions:
Baldur's Gate I/II
Fallout I/II
Ultima VII
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
KOTOR1
Also, if you can get over the graphics, the games by indie developer, Spiderweb Software, are quite amazing.
I'm old-school, but I love Sega's Phantasy Star series, especially PS 2.
I think it's a stalker ;D ;D
I'll contribute.
Final Fantasy VI to X.
Shin Megami Tensei III to V.
Persona 1 to 5.
Xenogears.
Xenosaga.
Xenoblade.
Final Fantasy Tactics.
Just because they don't seem to have already come up, From Software's entire output of fantasy games over the last decade-and-a-half are all worthwhile for the tabletop role-player. The King's Field series and Demon's Souls are a bit difficult to get a hold of these days (unless you have a PS5 for Demon's Souls), but those and the more easily accessible Dark Souls games, Bloodborne, and (to a lesser extent) Elden Ring, are gold mines for monster, environment and item ideas. And also absolute masterclasses in worldbuilding and dungeon design. They're also extremely good action-RPGs, of course.
As a more outside-the-box recommendation, I want to mention OgreBattle 64: A Person of Lordly Caliber. A pretty solid fantasy politics story, and to my mind the gold standard for the criminally underrepresented Strategy-RPG genre. N64 cartridges are hard to get these days, but you can emulate it pretty easily.
Quote from: MeganovaStella on November 04, 2022, 03:34:26 PM
I'll contribute.
Final Fantasy VI to X.
Shin Megami Tensei III to V.
Persona 1 to 5.
Xenogears.
Xenosaga.
Xenoblade.
Final Fantasy Tactics.
I would like to add Final Fantasy XIV to the list as well. It is an MMO, but it is extremely solo friendly and the story is really really good. Unfortunately the first part of it is probably the worst, even if it is still good.
Also, there's an extremely generous free trial letting you play to level 60 with some restrictions.
to contribute to this thread (which is awesome, btw)
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
the swan song of Troika games. released in a horrible state, but was excellent nonetheless, imo
Anachronox
kinda the same story as with arcanum. loved the humour in that one
Hopefully nothing from UbiSoft...
https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591 (https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591)
"We Want To Be On The Right Side Of History": Ubisoft Partners With Police to Jail Gamers For Their In-Game Speech
Ubisoft, the company behind the Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six franchises, has not only partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to fight "hate" in gaming but is also now working with British police to jail gamers for their speech.
Quote from: squirewaldo on February 13, 2023, 02:05:54 PM
Hopefully nothing from UbiSoft...
https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591 (https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591)
"We Want To Be On The Right Side Of History": Ubisoft Partners With Police to Jail Gamers For Their In-Game Speech
Ubisoft, the company behind the Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six franchises, has not only partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to fight "hate" in gaming but is also now working with British police to jail gamers for their speech.
Their older stuff is pretty good. These days, they're gone full Unicorn farts.
For example, the last AC game that IMHO was any good plot wise was syndicate. Which mind you also is the last one that actually PLAYS like a proper AC game.
While Far Cry 5 and back are all pretty good. You might dislike some of the politics of FC5 due to being about a fringe religious cult in the US but it's actually a pretty well done breakdown about how groups like that work and if you ever want to have a lunatic cult, it's good playing. FC6 on the other hand is skittles and diarrhea in both plot and game play and can be comfortably ignored.
I'll add
Terminator Resistance to the List.
Oh... and just because...
Rimworld.
Quote from: daft on December 30, 2022, 04:58:18 AMI would like to add Final Fantasy XIV to the list as well. It is an MMO, but it is extremely solo friendly and the story is really really good. Unfortunately the first part of it is probably the worst, even if it is still good.
Also, there's an extremely generous free trial letting you play to level 60 with some restrictions.
It's fairly solo friendly but there is a fair amount of group content like dungeons, trails and a few raids that you have to do in order to progress the main story quest. Some of them can be done solo with NPCs but quite a few can't.
There's a stretch in between when you defeat the Ultima Weapon and the end of A Realm Reborn that's just a slog to get through. The rest of ARR is fairly good though not as good as later expansions.
I don't know if there is a maintained list, but Phantasy Star II should be on it.
Quote from: Dumarest on October 05, 2017, 11:24:15 PMI don't think I've ever played a game on my personal computer. Oh wait, there was a pirate one I got on sale years ago that was kind of fun for a while before it got repetitive and boring. Too many dance parties at the colonial governor's mansion and not enough variation in treasures to find and obstacles to overcome. Not sure what it was called, does anyone know?
There were a couple of others that tempted me at Best Buy way back when but then I saw you had to be online and pay to play and it was "interactive" with other players out in cyberspace and I lost interest.
Sid Meier's Pirates. There have been several different versions over the years. I'm kinda partial to the NES version.
So almost 14 years later and do you know what games are on my list?
Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Might & Magic 2
Eye of the Beholder
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday (Master Drive/Genesis)
And finally, Final Fantasy 1: Dawn of Souls (GBA). I have seriously bought crappy handhelds and a PSP to play this game on every possible system. I even hacked the game so the Ninja was grey not green.
Quote from: Cathode Ray on December 01, 2024, 04:35:32 PMI don't know if there is a maintained list, but Phantasy Star II should be on it.
Yes.
X com defense (aka Ufo : enemy unknown)
best video game ever
After almost 5 years:
202x ~ Elden Ring! It's long, arduous at times, but still one of the best of the open world JRPGs!
Heh. Old thread is old.
Solid list, gentlemen ! Even Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup got a mention.
I would like to add :
-Tactics Ogre
-Gears Tactics
-Commandos : Behind Ennemy Lines
I'm adding Fire Emblem and Dragon quest.
Fire Emblem Awakening or Fates. This two games is brilliant in the series. Both have very bright characters that are described in a few strokes. In Fates three huge storylines that highlight different aspects of the same heroes
Dragon Quest is gorgeous. I would recommend IV for the first meeting. It has an interesting flowing story that opens like petals. Many groups of player characters with their own problems and different stories meet in the final chapters. It's not too long game and great introduction series
Hey just wanted to add Oblivion to the list. Didn't see it and thought it deserved a spot.
My taste in games leans away from anything needing manual dexterity because I have none. It can be challenging to find games with cool, interesting stories that don't require the ability to mash buttons in very precisely timed ways. Disco Elysium (https://zaumstudio.com/#disco-elysium) was fantastic - dark, weird, aesthetically appealing, and engaging. If anyone has suggestions for more of that sort of goodness, I'm all ears.
In regards to PC games for someone into role playing, Disco Elysium is such an amazing experience! Check it out if you can!
The Legend of Grimrock games are pretty perfect analogue to the dungeon crawling experience. I also recommend Pathologic 2, although it's pretty punishing and probably an acquired taste - but it's given me a lot of ideas for sort of complex social village/town play.
Quote from: squirewaldo on February 13, 2023, 02:05:54 PMHopefully nothing from UbiSoft...
https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591 (https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63591)
"We Want To Be On The Right Side Of History": Ubisoft Partners With Police to Jail Gamers For Their In-Game Speech
Ubisoft, the company behind the Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six franchises, has not only partnered with the Anti-Defamation League to fight "hate" in gaming but is also now working with British police to jail gamers for their speech.
The sheer number of times I've had to rant about Ubisoft being horrible is way too high. They even have EA to be compared to and still end up looking awful so frequently!
Quote from: mekhawretch on January 02, 2025, 08:06:11 PMThe Legend of Grimrock
Damn it! I thought for a minute you said Legend of Grimlock and I was going to be happy to be playing a big stompy Dinobot.
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 06, 2025, 07:43:41 PMQuote from: mekhawretch on January 02, 2025, 08:06:11 PMThe Legend of Grimrock
Damn it! I thought for a minute you said Legend of Grimlock and I was going to be happy to be playing a big stompy Dinobot.
Someone should contact the designers, a Dinobot based dungeon crawler could sell...right?