Searching for RPGs

UniversalWolf said:
I like ToEE, but it definitely requires a ton of effort from the player to get going. You have to search out the user-made patches, and then the story starts out really slow. On the other hand, the combat is excellent, and the story picks up once you get past the early parts. If you remain determined and don't give up, you'll be rewarded.
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Any hints on a good site to find those on? I'm sure I can find them via googling but asking is so much lazier :P.

Kyuu said:
Apologies, I didn't mean to imply you were. But there is something of a stigma regarding JRPGs in general around these parts.
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Wasn't offended in the least, especially considering that I know where you're coming from. I really don't know where the trend started but I know that Yatzhee's helped to popularize the hatred because he has fans who revere him (it's been on these boards and others since before him).

Kyuu said:
All quite true. I still enjoyed it for the music, world/environments, and Kidd (probably the only character with any real development).
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Oh it certainly shined in parts. The music, particularly during the intro, was extremely captivating (I was extremely excited to play it after watching the intro scene for the first time and enjoyed the beginning of the game greatly). The world/environments are quite good but I thought that Viper Mansion clearly stood above the rest of the game, which I'm pretty sure is at least partly due to Radical Dreamers. I agree that Kidd was a well designed and explored character and thought that Serge was fine, I just wish that they would have put that effort into a few other characters and trashed the rest.

Kyuu said:
I assume you are referring to the PS2 port, as the original Dreamcast didn't have those issues (unless my memory is completely faulty). But yes, you're right, the slow-down in the PS2 version is a bit worse than my use of the word "occasional" probably implied.
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Indeed and I enjoyed what I've played, other than the slow downs (which I really only noticed in towns, though I'm sure it happened during some of the cut scenes as well). The pains of crappy ports.

Kyuu said:
I'm wondering if you're thinking of a different game or if maybe you just got something from another game mixed in, as there's really no parallels between Skies of Arcadia and Fable at all that I can think of, other than some basic RPG mechanics. But yes, you really should try it out. One of my all time favs.
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I need to dig up an old article in a gaming mag that I have, I swear that it said something about your choices determining how the main character looks later in the game, though it wouldn't surprise me if I'm completely wrong. I wasn't suggesting that the gameplay had anything to do with Fable.
 
Eyenixon said:
The outdoor environments in Daggerfall could just be considered one big dungeon hub that allowed you to travel into other dungeons, there was nothing of interest beyond that.
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A screenshot of nothing:

daggerfallmap1jg.jpg
 
Here's my suggestions:

Temple of Elemental Evil
Neverwinter Nights 1+expansions
Neverwinter Nights 2+ expansions

Drakensang
Eschalon: book 1
The Witcher

Baldur's Gate 2+expansion

Icewind Dale 1+ expansions
 
Yeah, they're also in progress of making a total conversion mod, even *more* hardcore-ly D&D. They released a demo a while back, I looked around and it was fun, and very different, but I think I'll wait until/if they manage to finish it up.
 
Jagged Alliance 2. The best tactical squad level game, featuring superb combat system, encounter design and AI, character advancement, different mercenary personalities, even choices and consequences.
 
Prelude to Darkness is pretty good and free. Sure it crashes frequently and has a crappy camera, but if you can get past that then it's a fantastic RPG (I couldn't though; the camera was too much for me).
 
If you like dungeon crawlers but don't want to go way back to bard's tale / dragon wars/ early M&M, Wizardry 8 has aged pretty well. I found a copy not to long ago and enjoyed it quite a bit, kind of the swan song of the crawler genre.

It's been over a decade since I've played it but I remember liking Might & Magic 6 as well.

And I'll toss in another recommendation for Wasteland if you never played it. You can get a legit copy in Interplay's 10 Year Anthology, I still see them on ebay and amazon pretty frequently.
 
Perhaps someone could write a "How to play Wasteland..." guide for those who want to play the game but are confused about the gameplay and such.
 
It may sound like a dirty lie, but Wasteland's keyboard interface is actually extremely slick and intuitive once you get going, and the ability to make macros doesn't hurt none.
 
Somehow it's rather hard to find relatively NEW RPG's for the PC.

It seems the genre is dying. :( I weep for thou, o' lost ages of dragon, dwarvenkin, elves and most virtuous female companions (with unnaturally HUGE boobs and a sex appeal which compares only with an alcohol promille of 7.0 and a romantic storyline which goes to the sactisfactory point of a slight "hint" of flirting in the otherwise so straight around the point and mazed storyline-filled dialogue)
 
Waiting for the Dragon Age i guess. There aren't many new titles that are drawing my attention tbh. Recycling same old stories for another game does get boring but the stuffed shirts cant understand this as long as there are boobs in games I guess...
 
Grin said:
Somehow it's rather hard to find relatively NEW RPG's for the PC.

It seems the genre is dying. :( I weep for thou, o' lost ages of dragon, dwarvenkin, elves and most virtuous female companions (with unnaturally HUGE boobs and a sex appeal which compares only with an alcohol promille of 7.0 and a romantic storyline which goes to the sactisfactory point of a slight "hint" of flirting in the otherwise so straight around the point and mazed storyline-filled dialogue)
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:lol:

Hey come on now. As far as quantity and quality go our current situation is about halfway between the "golden age" of the late 90's and the "dark age" of the mid 2000's.

Most RPG's out now are a bit too tainted by other genres, but are otherwise great games. STALKER, The Witcher, Bioshock, etc.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
Wooz: Well TVD is actually right to a point. Those 2 games were/had more rpg elements than some of the so called "new" "nextgen" crpgs. (Based on the criteria that I could "lose" myself in their worlds)
 
My short Drakensang review.

It has a very interesting character creation system, with several jobs and cultures. There is no character customization, however.

The graphics are very good. I consider them better than Oblivion's because characters don't look like they have Klinefelter's or Down's syndrome. You'll get the standard fare of effects, fog, reflections, dynamic lighting, shadows, etc.

Sounds are good too. With one exception (the only one I have met so far), voice actors don't sound cliche or annoying. Its lacking a bit in ambient sounds.

The gameplay is simple. Combat is real time with pause. Not too easy, not too hard. I haven't found a way to cheat or abuse the system. Using skills is simple and you get several quickbars for fast access to skills. You can craft a lot and you get to harvest for components. NPCs only have two combat settings.

Regarding balance, the game suffers from some flaws that are now considered common. At several points you'll experience the useless reward syndrome, where you get a reward that you needed in order to complete the quest to get the reward. Either that or you'll get Ale from chests which is annoying. Combat balance leans towards the easy side, as your characters and even you will resurrect if you manage to win the battle or escape the enemy. far consists of sparks and flames and not much else.

I'll finish it once my video card is repaired because playing this on a P4 with a 7800 GTX with 2 GB of RAM is really, really slow at times.
 
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