Depending on the definition of "Unsung"
Aqua Trenoble said:
Epitome said:
Aqua Trenoble said:
Dunno how popular this game is, but it is probably my favorite game of all time: Baldur's Gate 2. It's essentially a cross between Oblivion and the Fallout series (actually the original Fallout games were made by the same developer, Bioware). I've had it for around six years and I still play it. If you want a slightly silly, unique RPG/RTS game then Baldur's Gate is probably your best choice.
Agreed that BG2 is a masterpiece but i see no more resemblence to oblivion or fallout than to any other title? save it has fallout twos 2d isometric view, cept implemented way better and its moral choice system works and has a very important outcome on the game right from the start?
Well BG2 seems more similar to Bethesda games and Fallout than any other games not made by Bioware. I haven't played F1 or F2 but I've seen screenshots and heard descriptions and all of them seem to be related in my mind. The gameplay, settings, basic interface, stats, etc. are somewhat analogous. Plus all of the mods for these games on PC seem to do approximately the same things or are fairly alike.
Maybe it's just me, I dunno.
Not at all. Baldur's gate pretty much set the game Bioware makes up till Mass Effect (or perhaps Jade Empire). Neverwinter Nights, KoTOR, they're all pretty much 3D Baldur's gate with a differant setting. Fallouts 1+2 are Black Isle studios, who I believe published Baldur's Gate, their name is on the box, though Bioware are the developers, they do indeed have quite alot in common with Baldur's Gate games. It comes from being a well written Isometric game heavily influenced by PnP RPGs, with alot of roaming freedom but an essentially linear structure (with branches)
Bethsoft by contrast have always made first person RPGs, right back to Arena, where the emphasis was less on story and more on exploring the massive open world with lots of interesting things in. It's why alot of old timer TES fans hate oblivion with otherwise baffling vitriol. Oblivion changed the format of the series made the story a much bigger emphasis. In Daggerfall and Morrowind it was perfectly viable to forget the story and go off and explore the world for ages, whereas Oblivion forced you into a railroad plot and undermined the "Otherworld" theme the setting had had up till that point. Cyrodiil in all the TES games before Oblivion was described as "The Roman Empire in the Aztec jungle with more rice."
I'm not sure I'd really describe the game that single handedly save the Western cRPG Genre as Unsung...
As for unsung games, three big ones:
Freelancer - Freeroamer spacefighter game with a half decent, if a little cliched plot to boot.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - An Isometric RPG with insane freedom, from it being entirely classless to being able to explore the world's locations to your heart's content, one of the few games where a true "pacifist run" is possible (along with Planescape Torment and Deus Ex). An intelligent story where the main villain is completely and utterly right (Albeit only proved in a sidequest).
Mount and Blade - A Medieval Third Person RPG Freeroamer with easily the BEST swords and bows combat systems ever. The only game ever to have put in a realistic and fun depiction of mounted combat. Coupled with the insanely good combat system the game, despite not having the graphics of Oblivion or Fallout 3 it steals the Total War schitck of hundreds of little men on screen at once. One of the few RPGs to accuratly and compellingly portray the horrific mob-violence that made up Medieval Warfare. It also only had two main developers, a husband and wife team from turkey. AND it has competant mod scene. AND you can pick it up for under £10.