In need of an RPG

For any of you out there who enjoy RPGs, I imagine that you're in the same holding pattern that I'm in - waiting for a decent RPG to come out. It seems like the days of Baldur's Gate, Knights of the Old Republic, etc have come and gone. Now it seems we're stuck with fairly linear, mindless shooters and what RPGs are out are crap (Hellgate London anyone?).

I'm very up to date with my PC games but am hoping that someone out there knows of a great RPG that I've overlooked.

Games I've played (so you don't need to recommend): Bioshock, Crysis, the Orange Box collection, Oblivion, any of the 'great' RPGs that are 3+ years old (KOTOR 1/2, NWN 1/2, Vampires the Masquarade, etc). I've also demoed and decided not to play: Hellgate London, Witcher.

Can anyone help me out?

Message quoted 1 times

Gothic 3?

Haven't played it, looks similar to Oblivion.

------------------------------ Yep, I was here before Al Gore invented the internets.
Reply to stemnin

I did not like hellgate london, its really buggy after about 45 minutes into it crashes every time on my pc. All of the levels look the same its not that really good of a game.

Reply to crazywheels

Breath of Fire 4 for the Pc is quite good, it's a console port but it still plays ok.

Reply to spanner_razor

A PS port? Sigh. Has the PC RPG market really gotten this pathetic? And Gothic 3 sounds great but all the reviews (and user comments) point to unwieldy controls and poor combat AI. I miss the days of dice rolls

Well in all fairness you've played a lot of the best rpgs on your own admission so why not try the console rpgs for a bit of variety.

Reply to spanner_razor

I have been enjoying City of Heroes quite a bit. It has a 2004 release date; however, the game has expanded at regular intervals since then. If you have already checked it out, I encourage you to revisit the game. I have found that I have never been in want for variety. You'll just have to research and decide for yourself of course.
http://cityofheroes.com

Reply to parabola

Looking for Baldur's Gate 3 like I am?

Too bad, because it probably won't happen Bioware is working on Dragon Age 3, but because of their new emphasis on console games, it will probably never come out. The lead designer even said that looking back at the scope and longevity of BG2, it was too long and too much work to ever do again. Is it a coincidence that they mainly do console games now? Deep, enjoyable games are too much work.

I would recommend Titan quest. Yes, its more like diablo than BG2, but the diablo clones are the best way to satisfy an RPG fix, due to the lack of releases.

I tried a different track and bought Fantasy Wars. It is a turn based Hex stradegy game with RPG elements. It is definetly a little light on RPG, but units level and improve. I am enjoying it a lot, despite its seriously rough edges. I can see how much better the gaming landscape would be if the RTS fad never came about.

Reply to snyderm

I've heard some good things about "The Witcher".

------------------------------ GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 v2.0
Intel Core2 Q6600 @ 3.3Ghz
4GB OCZ Reaper DDR2 800 @ 915Mhz
EVGA 8800GTS 512MB G92
Reply to purplerat

Egosoft's X3 Reunion has a lot in common with RPG's. I've played a lot of them. X3 is set in space, in a multitude of ships and has a main quest and a tonne of side quests, character progression, races, stations, combat, amazing graphics, a lovely score and many other things you might be looking for in an RPG.

I highly recommend it.

Your system should murder it into sweet, squishy eye candy, too .

Reply to badnob

Currently finishing up Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (2004??).

Pretty good RPG game using the HL2 engine, but it is not open ended like Morrowind.

Hey Shez, I hear ya man. The PC RPG market has been pretty dim since BGII. But, not to worry, have a good one for you that just got released a few weeks ago.

Eschalon Book 1.
Its an indi made cRPG in the style of Baldur's. I bought it last week and havn't been able to stop playing. Takes me back to my old school gaming days. Love it. Plus, its only $28, so you can't go wrong there.

here's the link - http://www.basiliskgames.com/book1.htm

Reply to Starkz

why did you decide not to play the witcher?
it's really a great game!

I've also been waiting for a good RPG since the Baldur's Gate games!

I have a 360 too but I didn't think Mass Effect was very good. Not even as good as KOTOR. At the moment I'm looking forward to Fallout 3, for which the 360 is the lead platform.

I missed Planescape Torment on the PC so maybe it would be worth playing that?

How about MMORPG ?

Reply to b3n

I played through The Witcher as well and can't understand why you would shun it, for me it's been a great gaming experience. Certainly you can't put it on the same level as Hellgate London which is just a hack'n'slash and has nothing of an RPG.

@b3n
Planescapte Torment, though it uses the same game engine as Baldur's Gate is a fantastic RPG with an excellent storyline and quite some work put into the dialogues and what you can do through them which makes it stand out when comparde to games like NWN or Oblivion / Morrowind who had quite weak dialogues imo.

If you don't mind playing some really old games, Ultima VII part 1&2 still remain for me among the best rpg ever produced on PC (I'll admit there is a part of nostalgia in that).

Reply to baba264

Aww Baldur's Gate 2 was awesome - took me over 100 hours to complete. But Baldur's Gate 1 felt more open. D&D is good but I think it's flawed now - get too powerful too quickly.

I'm going to make my own web-based RPG, if I ever have time...

Heh there's always Nethack

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to b3n

Fallout 1 & 2, the best RPG games ever!

I could play those anytime, never gets boring.

Ah, that faithfull plasma rifle... I could take out a mosquito from over a mile...

Reply to Zeka

b3n wrote :

Aww Baldur's Gate 2 was awesome - took me over 100 hours to complete. But Baldur's Gate 1 felt more open. D&D is good but I think it's flawed now - get too powerful too quickly.

I'm going to make my own web-based RPG, if I ever have time...

Heh there's always Nethack

Well, to be honest, as a paper and pen rpg gamer, I've never liked the Forgotten Realm world and so by extension any game set in it has a slight disadvantage. I also happen to dislike the D&D D20 system as a rulesystem (limitative, irrealistic, an open way to powerplaying.....), and for the life of me, I fail to understand why it seems to be the rule system of choice for most PC RPG.
Honestly, ICE' system (Rollmaster/Spacemaster) might have been hell to play as a table game, but in my mind, it was absolutely perfect for a computer based RPG, alas it has never been used. Lots of other better balanced system than the D20 exists, but for some reason they seem to be out of fashion.

Reply to baba264

I used to be a pen & paper RPG gamer. I used to make my RPGs and play them with friends.
I agree with you about D20 and I've had some ideas for a D100 system in my head for years that I think would be a very realistic and fun - but it's complicated when trying to work out the details. I think the reason for D20s prevalence is it's relative simplicity.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to b3n

fallout 1 and 2 in preparation for fallout 3 (I'm with Zeka on that).
I liked Mass Effect- but hey, you know what they say about opinions.
I'm not seeing a huge influx of rpg's right now. The rpg's I do see coming in that look like they may be good are going straight to console's (mainly xbox).

My best advice if you want new pc rpg content right now would be to start downloading the good mods for old games. NWN has a crapton of good modules for download. I understand there's quite a few for Oblivion but I haven't checked those out.

Reply to MrIcky

b3n wrote :

Aww Baldur's Gate 2 was awesome - took me over 100 hours to complete. But Baldur's Gate 1 felt more open.

I agree with that.

Baldur's Gate 2 was a great game and gets all of the accolades, but I enjoyed BG 1 much more.

It was the first truly open ended game I ever played. You could go anywhere and do anything you wanted. Of course, you would get your butt kicked if you weren't powerful enough but that's life.
BG is also exquisitely balanced. I finished BG 3 (maybe 4 times) and every single time I fought the last battle I was down to may last few characters, spells, potions, and HP. It always felt like a great achievment to win that. I got too powerful too fast in BG 2. I was on auto pilot for at least the last 1/2 of the game.

I like to expore on my own; there wasn't any of that in BG 2.

I remember stumbling across that cabal of Red wizards in BG 1 way before I was ready and lasting about 7 seconds.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to ananan

actually, stemnin's idea is interesting, because the reason that game was shunned when it came out was because it was basically not finished, so by now there must have been plenty of patches.....? I wonder.....

Reply to spuddyt

I really like "The Witcher" I downloaded it from the U.K. And i have to say it's a breath of fresh air. Lots of adult content combined with drug and alcohol consumption it's almost like playing my real life minus the dungeon crawling. It's up to you though dude.

Reply to rogerdandy

ananan wrote :

Baldur's Gate 2 was a great game and gets all of the accolades, but I enjoyed BG 1 much more.

I like to expore on my own; there wasn't any of that in BG 2.

Yup, I know what you mean. Kinda feel the same. Though played both versions a couple of times each, I still favout BG2 a little more, some other aspecs overtook the "free roaming" experience.

But seriously, without wanting to come across as a pusher, Eschalon Book 1 is the best rpg I've played since the Baldurs series. Exactly the same kind of game - free roaming, non scaling monsters!! this is a big one, you can walk into an area that is way to hard for you and die instantly, but gives you something to aim for, lots of loot/ item management, heaps of quests, and probably the best part - the old "dice roll for character creation stats" at the beginning. I ended up sitting there for ages clicking that button again and again...and again...

Reply to Starkz

If you like or have played the fallout series, try Arcanum, if you can get past the dated engines, they are pretty fun..

Reply to saintones

Another vote for the Witcher.
Only downside to it is the damn load times (you may find yourself looking at the loading screen much more than actually playing), and some really awkward animation during conversations. Anyone who played it knows what I'm talking about.
Regardless, it's still a fun game.

Reply to bash007

I know a RPG game that was really good - but sadly it was ruined by bugs - Temple of Elemental Evil. It always locked up in the same place (after about 10 hours of gameplay), thus it was unplayable for me. Frustrating!

It was good though, and was rare in that it was better to play as an evil character/party.

Some of the devs were trying to fix it in their free time, long after it was released but I expect they gave up on it by now.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to b3n

If MMO's are under consideration you might want to take a look at Tabula Rasa (NCSoft).

I personally enjoy the SF theme, and what I like even better is that you can play this game solo as well as in parties, it just takes a longer time.

On the down side, if you are a primarily a solo player then why hook up to a MMO with a monthly subscription fee?

I'm still in my first month and I'm still enjoying it. Depending on how fast the leveling up will continue to be I might be playing it for a few months. Don't see myself doing this for a year or longer though.

Reply to BigMac

Try Guild Wars.... you can play solo and it doesn't require a monthly service fee.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by exfileme on 01-07-2008 at 06:05:44 PM

------------------------------ Kevin Parrish
Contributing Editor / Official Chicken Clucker Tester
Tom's Hardware / Tom's Guide

http://card.mygamercard.net/gbar/abyss/magikahn.gif

Reply to exfileme

Honestly, I think people are much too nostalgic about the RPGs of yesteryear such as BG2, Fallout and KOTOR. I mean I played and loved all these games but there are plenty of great ones out right now that are terrific.

RPGs I'm playing...

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
The Witcher (can't imagine why you would decide not to play this one)
The Shivering Isles
Hellgate: London

I would recommend any one of these, with the exception of HG:L (which I understand is not everyone's cup of tea) but I find it very entertaining and good spiritual sequel to D2 (although they really could of done a better story and presented it a lot better with more dialogue and voice acting).

Reply to gooeykat

I thought that Gothic 3 was a very good RPG, it's pretty cheap now too.

Also, try the expansion packs for Oblivion. I have only played Shivering Isles, but I heard the other one is good too.

Reply to wolf18

b3n wrote :

I used to be a pen & paper RPG gamer. I used to make my RPGs and play them with friends.
I agree with you about D20 and I've had some ideas for a D100 system in my head for years that I think would be a very realistic and fun - but it's complicated when trying to work out the details. I think the reason for D20s prevalence is it's relative simplicity.

Ahh those were the days. Dungeons and Dragons and Boot Hill were great but my favorite was Champions. I think that is why I like City of Heroes so much. The commodore 64 had a cool RPG game (Wizards Crown).

Any one ever play "Tunnels of Doom" on a Ti-99-4A :lol:

Or ever better was the Atari 2600 "Adventure"

Go back even further to text games and "Pirates Cove" was on on my favorites.

I say go for a MMORGP. Try Guild Wars. No monthly fee.

------------------------------ Don't know something?.....Google is your friend!
Reply to caamsa

Erm... has anyone heard of World of Warcraft?

Reply to mman74

............do not speak of it.

------------------------------ Yep, I was here before Al Gore invented the internets.
Reply to stemnin

Hellgate London is a good game. I been playing it for a month, and it has not crashed 1 time, graphics are great, and gameplay is variable and challenging because of all the different weapons and classes.

All the major complaints about the game would be like:

1) buggy
2) a let down

The buggy issue I don;t get, because I have no crashes, etc, maybe they patched it up so its good after I bought it. So thats not an issue.

The let down issue comes from the legions of Diablo fans out there.

To me, this game kills diablo games because its got first person shooter mode, that adds a totally new dimension to the game.

If you liked single player versions of games like DOOM, or something like that, you will like this game. Its the only quality game out that combines first person shooter with a little RPG in it as well.

WOW players are coming over to Hellgate in droves because Hellgate is a fast paced gameplay where you can reach your goals in a week, unlike WOW where you have to quit your job, ruin your life, and dedicate 16 hours a day for a month to get your guy high level with the good items. In hellgate london, you can get alot of good items, level your guy way up in just a few days, which makes it much more fun.

And its free to play only, another bonus. I rate Hellgate London a 85/100 I would say, the only part that lacks is alot of the areas in the game look too similar. Other than that, its a very smart design, done well.

LAAkuma

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to LAAkuma

Quote :

Erm... has anyone heard of World of Warcraft?

:non:

Reply to khaz

exfileme wrote :

Try Guild Wars.... you can play solo and it doesn't require a monthly service fee.

I've never acquired a taste for the fantasy settings of most MMO's. The Sci-Fi theme of Tabula Rasa however is more to my liking. That, and the fact that I got the game with one month of free play as a birthday present I'm pretty sure TR is not going be part of my entertainment life for all that long, although I will probably put in one or two months worth of my own money, as long as leveling up is a regular event.

Reply to BigMac

The Witcher isn't too bad. Certainly far better than Hellgate....and more of an RPG than Hellgate.

Reply to immagikman

I have Hellgate and I really regret buying it without trying or reading reviews about it. I really didn't expect it to be like that, it feels and plays like an average MMO with all the quests and graphics. Why would I want to play an MMO in a single player game. Oh boy I'm so disappointed.

I'm still hoping for an RPG game that has the same interesting characters, story, feel and graphics of Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Which also has the same complex RPG combat elements as Fall Out 2. And the same character costumization as City of Heroes. With the "option" to have interesting companions in your group with a story and a twist like Baldur's gate.

Reply to yabyab

try Two Worlds....smting like oblivion buat a little buggy...and yes i am also in your situation...stiil looking for some good rpg's...

Reply to teoo13

the witcher, hands down the most original (and bad ass) rpg i've played since planescape

this link may spark some interest.. is a short story and takes place before the events of the game

http://www.sme.sk/datahry/683/shortstoryLesserEvil.pdf

I'm waiting for Fallout 3; Q4 2008. Unless it will be delayed.

The bottom line is, as I see it at least, that there hasn't been a truly great RPG that lives up to the standards of BG/BG2/Fallout/Planescape in a long long time. And I'm really depressed now that I think about it, I hope we get to see one in the future....

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to darktravesty

darktravesty wrote :

The bottom line is, as I see it at least, that there hasn't been a truly great RPG that lives up to the standards of BG/BG2/Fallout/Planescape in a long long time. And I'm really depressed now that I think about it, I hope we get to see one in the future....

Exactly. I really thought there would be something by now but I was wrong.

I really looked forward to Oblivion and did most things possible (all the Guilds etc) - it's fun at first but then it felt like a chore. To be honest I enjoyed Elder Scrolls 1: Arena more! Maybe because it requires your own imagination.

Damn I just remembered Eye of The Beholder 2 - that was good.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to b3n

I'm gonna have to throw in my support for The Witcher. Why didn't you like it?? It's one of the best RPG's I've played in a long time!

------------------------------ MSI P6N SLI Platinum || Q6600 B3 @ 3.0Ghz || EVGA 8800 GTX (625/1550/2020) || 4 gigs Mushkin Enhanced DDR2 800 (5-5-5-18) || 2xWD Raptors (200 gigs) 1x Seagate Barracuda (300 gigs) || HT Omega Striker Sound Card || Coolmax 700W Modular Power Supply
Reply to rayzor

I think Ultima 5, 6, 7, and 8 were the best RPG's ever made for the PC.

Baldur's gate, Planescape and Icewind dale were very good too.

Oblivion was OK.

Neverwinter Nights 1 was absolutely outstanding.

Couldn't stand NWN's 2 constant crashing and poor game design decisions that made for a game that was LESS advanced in interface as NWN's1

Haven't tried the NWN's 2 expansion yet...I hear the expansion is good.

Reply to ScottUT

Oblivion! When that game came out I bought it and played for less than a month. I quit simply because my pc couldn't handle the graphics, I had to tune the settings so low I felt like I was missing a lot (I was). Well I finally got a new computer a month ago and Oblivion was worth the wait! So for me I'm kinda just starting Oblivion, and I haven't seen the shivering isees expansion yet.

So enough nonsense on my part. There isn't much for rpg's of late and nothing on the horizon looks appetizing. Fallout 3 is the best one to hope for but it's too far out to start thinking about.

Reply to partialsum

LAAkuma wrote :

Hellgate London is a good game. I been playing it for a month, and it has not crashed 1 time, graphics are great, and gameplay is variable and challenging because of all the different weapons and classes.

All the major complaints about the game would be like:

1) buggy
2) a let down

The buggy issue I don;t get, because I have no crashes, etc, maybe they patched it up so its good after I bought it. So thats not an issue.

The let down issue comes from the legions of Diablo fans out there.

To me, this game kills diablo games because its got first person shooter mode, that adds a totally new dimension to the game.

If you liked single player versions of games like DOOM, or something like that, you will like this game. Its the only quality game out that combines first person shooter with a little RPG in it as well.

WOW players are coming over to Hellgate in droves because Hellgate is a fast paced gameplay where you can reach your goals in a week, unlike WOW where you have to quit your job, ruin your life, and dedicate 16 hours a day for a month to get your guy high level with the good items. In hellgate london, you can get alot of good items, level your guy way up in just a few days, which makes it much more fun.

And its free to play only, another bonus. I rate Hellgate London a 85/100 I would say, the only part that lacks is alot of the areas in the game look too similar. Other than that, its a very smart design, done well.

LAAkuma

I am totally with you on this. I enjoy HG:L immensely. Didn't crash a single time for me (even when I started from pre-patch 0 era at the Asia server). I love its pace. Imagine, I come from the WoW camp and HG:L provides me all the fun I need (the loots I need!) in a fraction of time. And there is multiplayer element to it that I tried and enjoyed.

I also don't mind the grey-ish feeling of HG:L throughout most of the game. Heck, if I can stand Scholomance or Stratholme hundreds of times night after night prior to the very first expansion, HG:L is actually quite pretty.

Reply to imnotageek

if fan of bioware (and what rpg fan isn't), try out jade empire. not as good as kotor but still fun and great story.

i know you said pc games, but i just finished mass effect on xbox and it was really cool. similar to kotor but 3rd person shooter instead of turned-based. story and cinematic feel is top notch. like kotor and jade empire, i image it will make its way to pc in a year or so.

------------------------------ AMD Phenom II X4 940 BE @3.5
Gigabyte 780g matx
G.Skill 4x2gig DDR2 800
ati 5970 & corsair 850psu
Reply to MayDay94

I like playing doctor.

------------------------------ Kevin Parrish
Contributing Editor / Official Chicken Clucker Tester
Tom's Hardware / Tom's Guide

Reply to exfileme

Forum Video Games : PC Gaming In need of an RPG

General Discussion

Console Gaming

PC Gaming

Handheld Gaming

Please mind