Recomend me a game!

[Grey_Focks]

So yea, title is self-explanatory. My favorite genres are RPGs, shooters (of both the first and third person perspectives) and RTS. I recently bought and beat a game on steam called "The Witcher" that I had never heard of before, but a friend told me it was on sale and that it was great, and I must admit I liked it a lot.

At the moment I'm looking for an RPG, not too complex, but not too "RPG-lite" if you want to use those words. Something with a good story is always good, as is lots of replayability, but for the love of all that is holy, no grinding. I detest grinding, plain and simple. A game heavy with side-quests is fine, but no "go off into the woods and kill monsters until you get to level X" bullshit. Seriously, no grinding.

I have a PC (Vista 32-bit, fyi) and 360, and I would prefer a game available on Steam or XBLA, but if I need to go out to shop or buy on amazon, that's fine. Here's a list of games I've played that already match that description (That I can think of atm, I know I must be missing some)

Fallout (all)
Elder Scrolls (all)
Baldur's Gate (all)
Diablo (all)
Mass Effect (both)
Fable (both)
Dragon Age
Torchlight
The Witcher
Final Fantasy Tactics (the psp one, but I gave away said PSP)
(edit 1) cannot believe I forgot KotOR
(edit 2) apparently Borderlands counts, too. Wow I suck at this.
probably more, but I can't think of them now..,

And because it's SURE to come up, I am fine with JRPGs as long as there is no to little grinding. Also, games with an anime art style are pretty un-appealing to me, as are games that aren't in English (I don't like subtitles. Sue me.)

Please don't turn into a JRPG vs WRPG thread? Please?

EDIT- and please don't just list a game's title. I would like to know WHY you think I should get it, or atleast tell me something about it.

 

[Continuity]

NWN all
Icewind dale all
Planescape torment
KOTOR all

 

[Grey_Focks]

NWN all
Icewind dale all
Planescape torment

Mind giving me some sort of description for those games? Just being told a game's name doesn't really sell it to me

and I already have KotOR, and I cannot believe I forgot THAT of all games.

 

[Grey_Focks]

EDIT- double post :/

 

[Shemming]

Tetris? no ,fine play your 'modern' games.

OT Borderlands is a sort of RPG not an RPG, but it has cartoony style graphics so you might not likey. but it does have a lack of grinding and a good list of sidequests.

 

[Ricotez]

They're not really RPG's, but I can strongly recommend Bioshock 1 and 2. Although they're shooters, they share some characteristics of RPG's, so it's more like RPG-lite-lite.

The games feature a system of upgrades that you need to buy with a currency. In this case, the upgrades are so-called 'Plasmids' and 'Gene Tonics', which allow you to mutate (or 'splice', as the game calls it) your DNA to receive active and passive special powers, such as (active) the ability to generate electric bolts or fire at will, or (passive) improve your speed, your power, your defence or make you invisible when you stand still. The 'currency' is called ADAM, a substance that allows this splicing to be done, and needs to be spent at special shops to buy new Plasmids and Gene Tonics. You can acquire ADAM from small girls called Little Sisters; however they are protected by Big Daddies, some of the toughest enemies found in the shooter genre. In Bioshock 2 there are more ways to acquire ADAM, but still the best way is through Little Sisters.

The ADAM/Splicing-system adds quite some depth to combat in Bioshock; the second time I played Bioshock 1 I used a different set of Plasmids and Gene Tonics than I did the first time, resulting in a different play-style (although not too different). Still, they're both shooters in heart, so if you're looking for a real RPG, Bioshock 1 and 2 might not be the best choice. If you do want to play them, I STRONGLY recommend starting out with Bioshock 1, otherwise you'll miss out on a lot in part 2 (and might even get spoilered about part 1).

 

[Continuity]

Yeah sorry.

NWN - good and worth a play through though not as gripping as the BG series, the expansions are better particularly HOTU although because you start at a high level the temptation is to keep restarting with a different character build. NWN 2, I have it but I don't remember what its like, I may not have played it (scratch that, I remember it now, its good but I was playing it multiplayer with a friend and he got tired of his character so we stopped about halfway though).

IWD - The first is a bit of a slog to start with, definitely not one you will want to restart so get your party right first time, however if you stick it out its not bad. IWD II, I have it and i'm sure i've played it but I don't remember anything about it.

Planescape torment - everyone raves about it, i've only just got it myself and started playing it so you might want some others to throw in their opinions.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

Breath of Death on XBL Indie games. It's a freking $1 and awesome for a short (about 8-10 hr.) old school NES style RPG not to mention funny as hell.

 

[Grey_Focks]

citizen sniiiiiiips!

I've actually been considering these. I played BioShock 1 briefly on a friend's 360 a year ago, but I only really played the first part of it, but I must admit I didn't really like what I did play. The shooting just felt poor, and I honestly liked the wrench the best out of all the weapons.

Breath of Death on XBL Indie games. It's a freking $1 and awesome for a short (about 8-10 hr.) old school NES style RPG not to mention funny as hell.

I don't really know what qualifies as an old school NES style RPG. I don't really care about humor (I prefer a serious story, but with bits of humor thrown in here and there). Care to elaborate a bit more?

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Persona 4

 

[DeathSnake]

All points Bulletin, It's an MMORPG in the style of GTA comes out tomorrow and works through Steam.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Persona 4

A friend of mine who loves JRPGs told me that those shin megami tensei games are the greatest games on earth. he never really went into detail "why". Care to elaborate for me?

 

[Weaver]

Persona 4

How exactly is he going to play Persona 4 on his PC or his Xbox 360?
I guess you could emulate it, but the PS2 emulator I tried was pretty bad.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Borderlands. It?s kind of like Fallout 3 but it?s more FPS than RPG rather than the other way around.

 

[MisterShine]

Yeah sorry.

Planescape torment - everyone raves about it, i've only just got it myself and started playing it so you might want some others to throw in their opinions.

OP, you said you've played all the Baldur's Gate series, so to help describe Planescape it's sort of like BG, except all of that awesome is rolled into 1 game instead of 3. The game is...unique, and incredible. Characters, story, gameplay (assuming you like the Infinity Engine style) setting, atmosphere... etc, they can all be described that way. To our great sorrow it is not on Steam so you probably can't get it today, but you should write in permanent black marker on your arm to grab it eventually, ever RPG'er should play this game.

You said you like shooters and rpgs, so I assume you like mixtures of them, which happen to be my favorite kind of game. I'll throw in a few suggestions:

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - An RPG-FPS in the vein of Deus Ex, System Shock and Bioshock. To put it simply, you play a newly Embraced badass, asskicking vampire with super powers. And no, not shining in the sun super powers, making people's blood explode from the inside kind of powers. There are several different clans (classes, essentially) in the game, all of which differ in the way that you tackle the game. Want to be a smooth-talkin' guy who barely ever fights? A feral, shapeshifting maniac who rips off everyones heads? A voice-hearing hallucination-having crazy guy who can force other people to see his insanity? Something in the middle? You can do all that! There are fan-mods which help clear out the bugs, which I highly recommend.

Deus Ex - This guy needs no introduction. I'm sure you've heard of this as the grand-pappy of "thinking shooters", and they weren't kidding. It hasn't aged terribly well in my opinion, but if you revert back to a good-ol-days mentality, I think you'll enjoy it. Also it's like 5 bucks on steam.

Castle Crashers - XBLA game, it's a 2-sort of 3-D beat em up, which oozes out creativity in every level and enemy, has like 20 playable characters, many of whom play very differently from each other. Also has some leveling up, so you can specialize how your characters grow.

That's aobut all I got right now. I think they're priced at 20-10-15 respectively.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I'm surprised you played Borderlands already, considering you hate grinding (though I loved that game regardless of how you define it).

Still, I would suggest Lost Odyssey. Yes, it's an JRPG and it is turn-based, but the story is great, the characters and story-telling are excellent, and the gameplay is straightforward (no grinding, nothing overly complex, though you can create some crazy attack chains like in any RPG, etc.).

For my money it's prob. the best JRPG available on the 360, and you should be able to score it cheap.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Wesley Snips

Now THAT is what I was hoping to see! All those games look interesting. I did play Deus Ex before, but it was a long time ago, and I honestly remember not even being able to get past the first part of the first level. Then again, I don't think I had the right mentality for it at the time.

Shame about Planescape not being available...anywhere. Why is it not on steam? It would sell like crazy.

 

[Nickisimo]

Defense Grid on Steam is the best Tower defense game I've ever played. It introduces new towers with virtually every level, takes height and LoS into account and there are tons of added challenges when the first run-through is over. Also, they're adding $1 map packs for it about every week.

Symphony of the Night is great for XBLA. Combines Metroid with Castlevania and has some solid RPG elements. You can also replay that one as well, as the castle flips on the 2nd playthrough.

If you can find a copy of Culdcept Saga for the 360 and you like deep turn-based strategy, you might like that. You collect cards and then use them on a board as you try and complete laps, conquer territory and boost your total holdings. The story is shit, but the gameplay is really good.

 

[Grey_Focks]

I'm surprised you played Borderlands already, considering you hate grinding (though I loved that game regardless of how you define it).

Funny, I honestly never did any grinding in it. I just kept doing missions :/ The missions were pretty "meh", though. It having 4-player co-op was what sold it to me, tbh.

Played Lost Odyssey before, thought it was decent, until I got to that Electric worm boss. I got the feeling that the game wanted me to go level for this fight, so I just said "fuck it" and gave it to a friend. I thought the plot itself was pretty "meh", but I will agree it had some good characters. Also downright hated some of the costume design choices. Just watch the Unskippable for the game to see what I mean.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Persona 4

A friend of mine who loves JRPGs told me that those shin megami tensei games are the greatest games on earth. he never really went into detail "why". Care to elaborate for me?

basically there the best jrpg games on the market. mor for matuere audiences