Looking for RPGs

[2fish]

Rules:
Not standard fantasy. Fantasy is allowed if it has something special about it, but since most RPGs are set in fantasy has overloaded in my RPG list.

Games one can buy without having to pray to the dark gods.

Bonus points for sci-fi or cyberpunk games.

Games I have liked:

Mass effect 1
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Witcher
Breath of death VII
Gothic 3
Fallout NV/3
Skyrim
Risen
Mount and Blade

 

[scorptatious]

Darn. You've made it kinda hard for me to pick an RPG. What with no standard fantasy and the fact you've already listed Mass Effect and Fallout New Vegas.

Well there's Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. It's sort of a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi.

 

[Launcelot111]

Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a fun steampunk/fantasy hybrid that plays along the lines of Fallout 1/2.

Anachronox is a scifi themed, western-made JRPG style game that's goofy but pretty nifty.

Both are varying degrees of antiquated in the graphics department, but they play well and are available cheap off GOG

 

[2fish]

Darn. You've made it kinda hard for me to pick an RPG. What with no standard fantasy and the fact you've already listed Mass Effect and Fallout New Vegas.

Well there's Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. It's sort of a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi.

I know this is hard, I mean I ran out of ideas. So I had to ask the internet. Sadly I do not own a wii, but I will write it down should I get one.

Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a fun steampunk/fantasy hybrid that plays along the lines of Fallout 1/2.

Anachronox is a scifi themed, western-made JRPG style game that's goofy but pretty nifty.

Both are varying degrees of antiquated in the graphics department, but they play well and are available cheap off GOG

I do own Arcanum, but I got stuck and forgot about it, I may have to find out where I have that saved, or go back to gog and download it again. I will have to see if I can make a good gunslinger this time around.

I will look into this Anachronox fellow.

 

[Daft Time]

Rules:
Not standard fantasy. Fantasy is allowed if it has something special about it, but since most RPGs are set in fantasy has overloaded in my RPG list.

Skyrim

Heh.

Snobbery aside, I don't see any Deus Ex mentioned on your list - unless my eyes have finally gone from bad to trolling - despite the bonus points for Science fiction and Cyberpunk. You really should check out both the first game (in spite of it's very dated graphics) and the second (despite being no where near as well written). That's all I really have that hasn't been mentioned I'm afraid.

Actually, I don't see any Knight of the Old Republic either. You've got a PC to play on I assume, considering you played Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines, so grab both titles in the series and fire up the restored content patch for The Sith Lords. You wont regret it.

 

[2fish]

Heh.

Snobbery aside, I don't see any Deus Ex mentioned on your list - unless my eyes have finally gone from bad to trolling - despite the bonus points for Science fiction and Cyberpunk. You really should check out both the first game (in spite of it's very dated graphics) and the second (despite being no where near as well written). That's all I really have that hasn't been mentioned I'm afraid.

Actually, I don't see any Knight of the Old Republic either. You've got a PC to play on I assume, considering you played Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines, so grab both titles in the series and fire up the restored content patch for The Sith Lords. You wont regret it.

I have beaten the crap out of Kotor 1 and 2 but they are not games I felt a major RPG attachment to. Mostly they and Battlefront are my Star Wars games. I guess this is just a personal thing as that is how I look at those games.

As to deus ex, I do own it... but when I try to play it I usually get the urge to play thief 2, system shock, or VTMB and stop playing deus ex.

As to why I listed Skyrim, mostly for the build your own adventure aspect of it. Making your own rpg inside a large yet shallow rpg.

 

[Daft Time]

As to why I listed Skyrim, mostly for the build your own adventure aspect of it. Making your own rpg inside a large yet shallow rpg.

Oh look I get it, I got plenty of fun out of Skyrim as well. It's just the combination of the game and your previous comment that made me snicker a bit. Childish? Probably. It doesn't change the fact it has the most generic fantasy world since it's predecessor.

As for Deus Ex; if you're having trouble getting into it grab Human Revolution. It's shallower than the first game but has really enjoyable game play, well written dialogue, an impressive, interesting art-style and some fantastic moments. It's just too eclectic in it's central themes too make a significant impact, but it's more than solid enough to make for an enjoyable hybrid-RPG.

 

[2fish]

Human Revolution was fun but after beating it once I had no drive to play it again. I have only gotten a few levels into the first deus ex but that small amount of playing it has removed Human Revolution from the all-knowing favorite RPG list. I am sorry to keep shooting down your ideas as they are good ideas.

This makes me sad, is it so hard to make/find RPGs that are not orcs and elves in a Tolkien world?

Am I doomed to be a picky gamer forever?

 

[The Madman]

You could always give Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer a try. Has a very 'Planescape: Torment' vibe to it, which isn't all that surprising considering it was made by a lot of the same people, and puts an interesting spin on the well established Forgotten Realms fantasy setting by taking a closer examination of some of the more ridiculous elements of the setting. And I don't mean ridiculous as in funny, but ridiculous as in cruel and violent. Seriously some elements of Forgotten Realms are just messed up and Mask of the Betrayer revels in it!

Spoiler: Even the theme music is distorted to give it a more strange and foreign sound

There are also a ton of fantastic fan modules for NWN1 and 2 alike which definitely stretch the boundaries of easy definition. Excrucio Eternum is all about mental torture. Revenant has you playing as an undead spirit seeking redemption/revenge. The Maimed God's Sage is about dealing with crisis of faith. etc. etc.

Might be worth looking into. Even if the games original campaigns aren't always so great (Hordes of the Underdark for NWN1 is pretty good, and as mentioned above Mask of the Betrayer for NWN2 is probably the high point for the series in terms of developer singleplayer) there's just this massive library of fan modules out there which always keep me coming back.

 

[2fish]

You could always give Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer a try.

snip

Might be worth looking into. Even if the games original campaigns aren't always so great (Hordes of the Underdark for NWN1 is pretty good, and as mentioned above Mask of the Betrayer for NWN2 is probably the high point for the series in terms of developer singleplayer) there's just this massive library of fan modules out there which always keep me coming back.

Very scary as those two games are on my gog wishlist since so many people talk about them. I have heard that I should just skip to NWN2 as it does some things better than 1 and if I love 2 then look back at 1. Well I will keep an eye on the price of those games.

Thank you for your help!

 

[FalloutJack]

It'd be nice to know if you said what system(s) you had, but off the top of my head...

Most cases of an Atlus RPG (Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Digital Devil Saga, etc.) are good examples of non-standard RPGs.

Skies of Arcadia should be played by everyone at least once, what with piracy on the high...sky and all.

Shadow Madness was a fun one, whose main characters are...a pirate, a nature-lover, a robot gardener, a head, a frigging MORLOCK, and an engineer...with the plot being essentially that everybody in the world is slowly going MAD.

Xenogears should also be played, what with the magic, the deathblows, and the giant mechs involved. (Xenosaga is optional, but it's even more cyberpunk than Xenogears.)

I also have to recommend .hack games, pretty much on the basis that it's a series of games where you play a character playing an MMORPG who's dealing with real threats to people's lives found in the game.

Oh, and also Dark Cloud 1 and 2. Rather unique in of themselves.

 

[The Madman]

Very scary as those two games are on my gog wishlist since so many people talk about them. I have heard that I should just skip to NWN2 as it does some things better than 1 and if I love 2 then look back at 1. Well I will keep an eye on the price of those games.

Thank you for your help!

NWN1 does multiplayer a lot better than NWN2 did and has a simpler editing tool which means there are absolutely tons of fan modules out there for it, some better than others. In terms of singleplayer content the OC is bad, skip it, and Urentide can easily be skipped as well although it's still better than the OC. Hordes of the Underdark however is to its credit quite good and might be worth playing.

But mainly NWN1's strengths is its multiplayer and the volume of player created modules (Think player made campaign) available for it.

NWN2 is better in terms of singleplayer since it provides a full group to control as opposed to just one character like in NWN1, and while the OC is... alright. It's got its high points but also tends to be a bit of a boring slog at times as well. Mask of the Betrayer, the games first expansion, was brilliantly done. Like NWN1 it also had editing tools but its are much more complicated, which means less mods are available for NWN2 but that many of them are of higher quality since the fans had more complex tools to work with.

NWN2's main strengths are singleplayer and the quality of the player created modules available for it.

Personally I'd recommend both game since both NWN1 and 2 can be picked up pretty cheaply and both have hundreds of hours worth of entertainment to them (Even without multiplayer) should you delve into the player created modules. If you do end up buying them and are looking for suggestions for singleplayer fan modules I'd be happy to suggest a few as well.

Also Jeremy Soule did an amazing job on the Neverwinter Nights soundtrack. Considering how many modules I've played for NWN1 you'd think I'd be sick of that games soundtrack by now, but I still love hearing some of its tracks and the boss themes from Hordes of the Underdark still give me shivers.

 

[Tyelcapilu]

Try Might & Magic 6-8. They're d&d-like rpgs that dont take themselves too seriously and transition from fantasy to sci-fi through the story. I also hear World of Xeen is really good (turn based), but I haven't played it.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I know you are getting sick of fantasy RPGs, but have you tried Planescape Torment?

 

[deserteagleeye]

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
It does have some fantasy but not in the way you may think. You're part of an elite special forces group in modern times sent to investigate an anomalous void in Antarctica that grows faster by the minute. You're fitted with state of the art equipment to battle demons and capture them to use in further battles. It's probably the most tech-savvy entry in the SMT series.

 

[Zeldias]

If you liked Breath of Death VII, how about Breath of Fire 3 and 4? I think 4 plays better, but 3 is more interesting. Or the Wild Arms series, but if you try those, I'd say go Wild Arms: XF (I think that's it; the remake of 1), WA2, WA3, and maybe WA5.

Open to SRPGs? I'd recommend the obvious, though, with Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and Final Fantasy: Tactics. I think Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis is pretty amazing, too.

I like Dragon Age 2, but your mileage may vary, I guess. You might also want to try DA:O, but I always find that once I get to about level 15 or so, the game becomes tragically boring.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It's probably the most tech-savvy entry in the SMT series.

Except for Soul Hackers. If you don't mind playing a port of a port and game breaking glitches.

 

[Sir Christopher McFarlane]

Shadowrun on SNES. If you don't mind lack of directions and playing a console game that wanted to be a PC game.

Final Fantasy VII. What?

Parasite Eve series. They are science fiction horror RPGs with gun play based combat set in contemporary US.

 

[Mister K]

Would you like to play JRPG's?
Because I can certainly recommend Chrono Trigger and Persona 4/Persona 4 Golden.