Need new singleplayer game

[Samy_Merchi]

Good evening.

I am requesting recommendations for a new singleplayer game to play. I am mostly interested in adventure/RPG games with heavy focus on story and characters.

Games I have enjoyed in the past include:

Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Baldur's Gate 2
Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal
Planescape: Torment
Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Icewind Dale 2
Neverwinter Nights
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark
Neverwinter Nights 2
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
*NOT* Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (too little story, too solely hack'n'slash)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
Freedom Force
Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich

I highly value cinematic cutscenes, dialogue choices, AI-initiated party conversations, the ability to make a difference in how NPCs develop, quality voice acting and the ability to build your own character rather than play a prebuilt one. I also prefer to be "run on rails" a little bit, to give me a little bit of guidance what to do next, rather than complete open-endedness (the complete freedom of games like Morrowind or Fallout 3 has been a significant turnoff).

Absolutely essential is that the game is turn-based or pauseable. I like to take my time planning my strategies in a leisurely, relaxed manner; real-time without pause (like in MMOs) stresses me out with having to be constantly on the ball.

I would appreciate any recommendations of games in a similar vein as the above.

 

[Guest]

Mass Effect

 

[pr2thej]

Titan Quest lacks the turn based business but its still a hoot.
Final Fantasy series isnt listed so deserves a mention.
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is a good shout, again no turn based though and the combat is a bit finiky at first. Stick with it though it gets much better.
Fallout 1 and 2 were turn based, dated but still good.
Think that Heroes of Might and Magic may suit you as well but i have no experience playing that series (though im keen to try and find some time to)

 

[bhowell]

There is the Elder Scrolls series with the most recent being Oblivion. Oblivion requires a pretty robust machine to run everything on high and it look good. Prior to that was Morrowind. That runs very nicely on a mid range machine. The world in which you are in is huge! Expect to do a lot of time running around.

 

[purplerat]

I was (and still may) create a new post about this game I found on Steam this weekend Mount and Blade, which you may find enjoyable. I'd first heard of it when it released on Steam a couple months ago, but have since found out it's been in development and available for beta play for several years. The graphics are less than stellar (they look like 2005 graphics) but they are really not that bad and allow for nice smooth gameplay no matter what is happening in the game.

I was able to snag it for 7.50 this weekend on steam, but there is a demo worth looking at. For an RPG it offers what I felt was a nice blend of action, but still plenty of paced gameplay.

 

[runmymouth]

Have you thought about trying RTS? Pick up Sins of A Solar Empire (PC).
Final Fantasy Series (PS,PS2), Lost Odyssey (360)

 

[pr2thej]

Tried, didnt like. its on offer at the mo though on Steam, tad shy of £7 so get it now if you fancy it. Its labelled as a weekend deal so will come down imminently.
Was a graphics / control thing for me but to be fair i didnt give it much chance.

 

[pr2thej]

£6.25 still there, just checked.

"Buy Mount and Blade
Weekend Deal! Save 75% off this weekend only."

 

[purplerat]

Tried, didnt like. its on offer at the mo though on Steam, tad shy of £7 so get it now if you fancy it. Its labelled as a weekend deal so will come down imminently.
Was a graphics / control thing for me but to be fair i didnt give it much chance.

I first checked out the demo very briefly in September when it was $30 and I felt the same way about the graphics and controls. But my kid really liked it so when it was 75% off I grabbed it. But now I'm strangely become somewhat addicted.

First off the graphics are dated, not crappy. There are actually very few graphical flaws in the game other than it looking like it was made 4 years ago, which it was. And it plays very smooth, which is important to the combat mechanics of the game.

The controls do seem just awful when you first start playing. But it's really more that the combat is heavily skill based rather than simple point and click that you see in so many other RPGs. Where you are positioned relative to your target, how you aim, which direction you swing in, the reach of your weapon and how fast it can be swung all play a role in combat. What's frustrating as you start out is that poorly executed attacks do very little damage and it takes for ever to finish off an enemy, where as a single well placed blow will end a fight. So just jumping in an playing will end up in you getting your ass kicked repeatedly without learning much about combat.

One thing I think you'd have to get over to enjoy this game is to make sure you're not trying to compare it to something like Oblivion. The parallels are obvious but each game has different objectives and gameplay styles so you can't get hung up on how it looks compared to a game like Oblivion or how the controls vary.