Good Rpgs on pc?

[indrak]

So,Im kinda at a stand still and looking for a good rpg to play. Ive played planescape,Baldurs gate 1&2 ,Dungeon Siege 1&2,Dark souls and Legend of Grimrock, Along with many others...so im kinda at a stand still any suggestions?

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Hmm, how do action RPGs move you? One of the best and, in my experience, most highly praised action RPG on PC is Gothic II. Either vanilla, or with its Night of the Raven expansion. It truly is an exceptional game. The graphics are obviously dated, it being from the early years of the past decade, but by playing Baldurs Gate and Planescape, I'm sure that isn't an issue.

With the correct up-to-date patching, its sequel Gothic 3 is also a charming, fun little (well, actually fucking massive) game. Currently playing through it again, and wow, awesome. The first game in the Gothic trilogy is good as well, though my experience was stunted due to some glitchy stuff and an overabundance of missile enemies in a certain area that frustrated me to a point which is beyond belief. Haha.

Besides the Gothic trilogy, you may want to check out the spiritual successor and what I consider to be a Gothic 4 in all but name. Risen. Angry Joe gave it a thrashing in his review, but that was for the Xbox version, so I have no idea what that's like. PC version is just fine though. You should especially check out Risen if you enjoy Gothic II. I'd stay away from Risen II though. It wasn't terrible, I had fun with it, but it feels definitely lacking for a Piranha Bytes game, and the shady DLC practices are a definite sour note.

Then there's something slightly more obvious, The Witcher games. Much more focused, story-driven games with some great characters, acting and an awesomely authentic setting and lore. Gameplay varies between the two, with the second bearing many improvements, but both are worth checking out if you like action RPGs.

Finally, in a vein more similar to Baldurs Gate, there are the first two Fallouts. I've completed the first one, and am around halfway or so into the second, and I can tell you that they are fantastic games. Bit slow to start off, but once you get into it, it's definite golden goodness. Unlike Baldurs Gate, its combat is pure turn based, which may or may not put you off.

 

[Asclepion]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, if you're any sort of science fiction fan.

 

[BrotherRool]

Knights of the Old Republic 2, fully fan-patched up, if you enjoyed Planescape a lot of the elements spill over into this one. (In fact Chris Avellone talks about one of the characters being a 'branch' of Ravel and a persons name is a very significant anagram of a person in Planescape (which I found out on the Escapist thanks to the ongoing LP here))

And then if you enjoy KOTOR2, Alpha Protocol is then worth checking out in a vaguely similar experience. We're being to drift away from the routes a lot but AP offers the most amazingly flexible reputation system and choice/consequence that you'll ever see inn a game.

Along the same lines, Neverwinter Nights 2:Mask Of The Betrayer is supposed to be Planescape good, and that's another Obsidian project. But I've never personally played it



Switching companies, Dragon Age: Origins is a surprisingly old-school experience that was really refreshing. It runs on my mid-range laptop so it's not that hardware intensive. As a tip though, if a section is ever dragging, turn the difficulty down to easy so you can blow through the combat quicker (only if it's dragging though, because otherwise DA:O has pretty good tactical combat. Exceptional compared to other Bioware games)

 

[indrak]

I've played both of the Kotor's and i loved them along with Nwn 1&2. Dragon age for some reason i couldn't get into not really sure why though i may pick it up again. I'll have to check out Deus Ex.

Hmm, how do action RPGs move you? One of the best and, in my experience, most highly praised action RPG on PC is Gothic II. Either vanilla, or with its Night of the Raven expansion. It truly is an exceptional game. The graphics are obviously dated, it being from the early years of the past decade, but by playing Baldurs Gate and Planescape, I'm sure that isn't an issue.

With the correct up-to-date patching, its sequel Gothic 3 is also a charming, fun little (well, actually fucking massive) game. Currently playing through it again, and wow, awesome. The first game in the Gothic trilogy is good as well, though my experience was stunted due to some glitchy stuff and an overabundance of missile enemies in a certain area that frustrated me to a point which is beyond belief. Haha.

Are the Gothic games stand alone? Thank you all for the suggestions.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Are the Gothic games stand alone? Thank you all for the suggestions.

Completely. There is a story that connects the three (and Risen) together, but you don't need to play them in order, or can skip some, and still get into the gist of things and enjoy it all. I played Gothic II and 3 long before I ever got around to the first game, and it made no hindrance at all.

 

[indrak]

Are the Gothic games stand alone? Thank you all for the suggestions.

Completely. There is a story that connects the three (and Risen) together, but you don't need to play them in order, or can skip some, and still get into the gist of things and enjoy it all. I played Gothic II and 3 long before I ever got around to the first game, and it made no hindrance at all.

I will definitely check them out then,Might wait and see if they drop during the Steam Summer Sale though.

 

[DoPo]

Might wait and see if they drop during the Steam Summer Sale though.

Well, you just missed them, as they were on sale on GOG just last week, however, you can pick up the complete Gothic bundle (that's 1, 2, the expansion of 2, 3, and the expansion for 3) DRM free from Gamer's Gate, as it's on sale right now - 75% off. It's £5 for me, don't know how much is it in dollars, but I'm guessing not more than $7.50. Risen is not reduced, at least not for now.

spiritual successor and what I consider to be a Gothic 4 in all but name. Risen.

And what about the actual Gothic 4 - ArcaniA? I've not actually played it, since I remember hearing unkind things about it, but I can't remember what or where I heard them. There is another bundle on Gamer's Gate that has both Gothic and ArcaniA in it, it's £10.

finally, in a vein more similar to Baldurs Gate, there are the first two Fallouts. I've completed the first one, and am around halfway or so into the second, and I can tell you that they are fantastic games. Bit slow to start off, but once you get into it, it's definite golden goodness. Unlike Baldurs Gate, its combat is pure turn based, which may or may not put you off.

And if you do like Fallout, then I can recommend Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Actually, I can recommended even without playing Fallout first - it's somewhat similar but you can switch between turn-based and real-time combat. Other than that, it's set in a classic fantasy setting hit by an steampunk industrial revolution - necromancers mingle with automatons, ogres fly planes and so on. If you decide to play it, get the unofficial patch [http://www.shsforums.net/topic/33528-arcanum-unofficial-patch-extras/?s=939c72e7377917b07e022f028f7ead5be], I haven't played it without it. It's made by some of the guys behind Fallout, too - Troika games.

I'd also definitely recommend another game of Troika's - Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines. Probably my favourite game. Modern day urban fantasy setting where vampires and other monsters are real and coexist with humans. So awesome. You'd definitely need to pick up the latest unofficial patch [http://www.patches-scrolls.de/vampire_bloodlines.php] for it, though, it was released in worse shape than most Obsidian games - it's a combination of factors of Activision being...well, Activision, so the studio was pretty much dead at the time, that's why the official support is lacking.

 

[indrak]

Might wait and see if they drop during the Steam Summer Sale though.

Well, you just missed them, as they were on sale on GOG just last week, however, you can pick up the complete Gothic bundle (that's 1, 2, the expansion of 2, 3, and the expansion for 3) DRM free from Gamer's Gate, as it's on sale right now - 75% off. It's £5 for me, don't know how much is it in dollars, but I'm guessing not more than $7.50. Risen is not reduced, at least not for now.

And if you do like Fallout, then I can recommend Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Actually, I can recommended even without playing Fallout first - it's somewhat similar but you can switch between turn-based and real-time combat. Other than that, it's set in a classic fantasy setting hit by an steampunk industrial revolution - necromancers mingle with automatons, ogres fly planes and so on. If you decide to play it, get the unofficial patch [http://www.shsforums.net/topic/33528-arcanum-unofficial-patch-extras/?s=939c72e7377917b07e022f028f7ead5be], I haven't played it without it. It's made by some of the guys behind Fallout, too - Troika games.

I'll have to check out Gamer's Gate, Do you know where I could find Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It sounds like something I would have a lot of fun with.As for Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines, I've not heard a whole lot about it, I will have to read up on it.

 

[DoPo]

Do you know where I could find Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It sounds like something I would have a lot of fun with.

It's on GOG for $6, I believe. Again, you missed the sale last week, when it was half off or so.

As for Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines, I've not heard a whole lot about it, I will have to read up on it.

It's on Steam and GameFly, though I've heard some people having problems with GameFly (which was several years ago, though). I'd definitely wait for it to be on sale to get it - for some reason it's still sold for 20$ which I actually won't recommend for the game. Mostly because 1. if it was less, more people would be playing it 2. all of the money go to Activision (aside from Steam's cut) and I don't really feel they deserve it.

 

[indrak]

Do you know where I could find Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It sounds like something I would have a lot of fun with.

It's on GOG for $6, I believe. Again, you missed the sale last week, when it was half off or so.

Yeah, I saw the sale and grabbed torchlight but I didn't have any real desire to play anything till this afternoon, Just realized other than playing Aion off and on I've not played a whole lot lately, Now I'm really craving something new.

 

[KungFuJazzHands]

As others here have suggested, Arcanum is a fantastic RPG, probably my all-time favorite. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is great too.

Divinity II is an 3rd-person Elder Scrolls knockoff, but it does a good enough job to establish its own mythology to stand out.

If you're looking for more action-oriented RPGs, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is an amazingly atmospheric FPS series that has a ton of mods available to drastically alter the game to suit your taste.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is as big as Skyrim but has a more fleshed-out mythology with some standout background history written by R.A. Salvatore, along with character and environment designs by Todd McFarlane. It's a much better game than a lot of people give it credit for. KoA is my current go-to RPG.

If you have doubts, you could always go with old reliables like Oblivion, Skyrim or Fallout New Vegas (don't bother with Fallout 3, it's a subpar experience). The Witcher series is a great one too, with a huge amount of depth and detail but both games in the series are a little linear IMO.

 

[Abomination]

Some people have probably already mentioned these but just add my voice to theirs.

Fallout
(1, 2, 3 & New Vegas. Even Tactics if you want a better combat engine at the cost of actual character interaction)

Mass Effect
(1, 2 & 3 - yes 3's ending was considered to be objectively bad but the entire series is still worth playing)

Dragon Age
(Origins & 2 - sure 2 was obviously rushed but it should be cheap and it's still a decent romp at times)

The Witcher
(1 & 2 - 2 is incredibly strong, especially after the free DLC CD Projekt Red have released for it. It's not so much gameplay focused as being story focused.)

Vampire Masquerade
(Very dated but great "talking heads" first person dialogue and has a fun setting. Bloodlines is the earlier third person version that does a really neat transfer from medieval to modern character hop)

Arcanum
(A diamond in the rough. Steampunk meets magic. Great dialogue with a few bugs still that the community has mostly fixed)

Mount & Blade: Warband
(Start as a mercenary for hire eventually forming your own band working for a kingdom or playing any sides, maybe you want to become a bandit or even perhaps becoming a lord... a warlord or a king)

Something out of left field here, not really an RPG but great story...
Homeworld & Homeworld Cataclysm. Cataclysm is especially good with some of the best voice acting in the business "At least the Beast doesn't pretend to be righteous!" still causes my hairs to stand up on end.

 

[LetalisK]

The first game in the Gothic trilogy is good as well, though my experience was stunted due to some glitchy stuff and an overabundance of missile enemies in a certain area that frustrated me to a point which is beyond belief. Haha.

Bleeeeh, really? I found the controls in Gothic 1 made that game unplayable for me, which soured me on the rest of the series as they sit in my Steam library. Do those get any better in the sequels + Risen?

Off topic: Fuck The Sub.

 

[LetalisK]

Vampire Masquerade
(Very dated but great "talking heads" first person dialogue and has a fun setting. Bloodlines is the earlier third person version that does a really neat transfer from medieval to modern character hop)

Erm, I'm confused, did you mix up the names? Looking up those games, Masquerade came out before Bloodlines and is a separate story(same universe, just saying you made it sound like a remake or something). Also Bloodlines had third and first person perspective.

 

[Abomination]

Vampire Masquerade
(Very dated but great "talking heads" first person dialogue and has a fun setting. Bloodlines is the earlier third person version that does a really neat transfer from medieval to modern character hop)

Erm, I'm confused, did you mix up the names? Looking up those games, Masquerade came out before Bloodlines and is a separate story(same universe, just saying you made it sound like a remake or something). Also Bloodlines had third and first person perspective.

Yeah, I'm at work so I couldn't look over to my collection and make the correction.

Is there a term for the difference in 3rd person in Masquerade and 3rd person in Bloodlines? "Over the shoulder 3rd person" vs "Top down 3rd person" because Bloodlines was all about party combat like Baldur's Gate whereas Masquerade was more action oriented like Skyrim or Fallout.

The point is both are pretty damn fun and also get overlooked.

 

[Scars Unseen]

The Temple of Elemental Evil is an excellent turn based RPG using the D&D 3E ruleset. It had some fairly serious problems when it was released, but these have have been fixed in the Circle of Eight Modpack [http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7737], so no worries there. It's pretty much the closest game out there to actually playing D&D in a video game, so I'd recommend it on that basis alone. On sale DRM free at GoG.

 

[DoPo]

Vampire Masquerade
(Very dated but great "talking heads" first person dialogue and has a fun setting. Bloodlines is the earlier third person version that does a really neat transfer from medieval to modern character hop)

Erm, I'm confused, did you mix up the names? Looking up those games, Masquerade came out before Bloodlines and is a separate story(same universe, just saying you made it sound like a remake or something). Also Bloodlines had third and first person perspective.

OK, I loled - you also mixed up the names - both games are Vampire the Masquerade, one is (sub-)subtitled Redemption, the older, top-down view one, the other one is Bloodlines, which came out in 2004 and is running on the Source engine. VtM is the name of the tabletop gameline the games are set in. Redemption does a good job representing it mechanically (for what it's worth), while Bloodlines captures the feel of it better. Bloodlines is way better, though, Redemption does have its moments. Only, none of those moments feature your teammate AI...

 

[indrak]

Mass Effect
(1, 2 & 3 - yes 3's ending was considered to be objectively bad but the entire series is still worth playing)

Started Mass Effect and I hated it, I have no idea why but i just could not get into it...I know I'm like one of
the three people who feel like that.

I found the controls in Gothic 1 made that game unplayable for me, which soured me on the rest of the series as they sit in my Steam library.

That happened to me with the PC version of Assassins Creed 1 the controls for the pc were horrible and now the whole series is unplayable to me.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is as big as Skyrim but has a more fleshed-out mythology with some standout background history written by R.A. Salvatore, along with character and environment designs by Todd McFarlane. It's a much better game than a lot of people give it credit for. KoA is my current go-to RPG.

I forgot all about KoA, I picked it up and I loved what I had played of it but for some reason I put it down and didn't go back, I will have to go back to it.