Beardy PC RPGs

[DocDaneeka]

I recently got a new PC so I've been looking some of games I can actually run now. I'm tempted by all the RPGs I haven't played, as I do like to twat loads of goblins with an axe of wounding+4 and then craft a magic hat with their bones.

Im quite tempted by The Witcher and I'm intrigued about the Gothic games and their various offshoots as well, but any recommendation or discussion about your favourite beardy PC RPGs is welcome.

[Buchstansangur]

Make a mockery of your expensive new machine by playing Nethack.

[jutl]

Run Trader on a Spectrum emulator on an Amiga emulator.

[DocDaneeka]

I thought you guys were cool. I thought CaB was down with Dwarves ands Orcs. Turns out your just a bunch of hunks playing Fifa and Pro Evo.

Anyway.. is there anything new around like Baldurs Gate any more? I liked Oblivion and Dragon Age but I've already played the console versions.

[Slaaaaabs]

Oblivion on PC has a huuuuuge amount of mods that make it into a much better and very different game.

Dungeons & Dragons Online is free to play if you're into MMO games (although DDO is instanced so you can play it all on your lonesome if you so desire)

Guild Wars is similar, although you pay an initial fee for the game itself, I'd recommend the Guild Wars Trilogy pack which can be had for cheap. A sequel to that is coming soon as well, looks very pretty.

[Ignatius_S]

It's an oldie (11 years old), but Good Old Games has just (yesterday, in fact) started to offer Planescape: Torment as a download for $9.95. I haven't played it myself but, funnily enough Mister Six has very recently said the following on the Fallout: Las Vegas thread:

...I was playing Planescape again recently and it was kind of heartbreaking realising that there was no way any mainstream game could ever have this level of depth, characterisation and worldbuilding ever again.

It features some cracking vocal talent including Dan Castellaneta, Keith David, Jennifer Hale and someone called Sheena Easton. Here's what Escapist Magazine said in 2005.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Planescape: Torment is the best RPG I've played - similar in looks to Baldur's Gate - but with a MUCH better story, atmosphere and characters you might give a shit about!

There's also a review in the Top 1000 games thread.

[Ignatius_S]

...Im quite tempted by The Witcher ...

I've actually just started getting this going (although there's a couple of other games I should get out of the way) - one of my friends described it as "highly enjoyable" and I think he's hit the nail on the head.

The control system I didn't take to straight away (partly because of the camera control) and I feel the loading times are fairly slow (I believe, a common complaint) and I wouldn't say the character customisation/building offers massive variation - but those are my only niggles,really. Overall, I like the feel of the game and I'd say the morality of characters are less black and white than quite a few RPGs.

The Enhanced Version can easily be had for under £15 and I'd say it's worth punt.

Planescape: Torment is the best RPG I've played - similar in looks to Baldur's Gate - but with a MUCH better story, atmosphere and characters you might give a shit about!

There's also a review in the Top 1000 games thread.

Ah, I didn't see that in t'other thread,

As I said, it's not one I've played but over the years I've heard more and more good stuff, so I reckon I'm going to have to take a punt.

Never used Good Old Games myself, but have read lots of nice things like its offerings are DRM free and have good support.

[Mister Six]

A bit of a warning about Planescape: it is a very dialogue-heavy game. In fact, you get the vast majority of your experience points through dialogue and discussion rather than bashing monsters. For that reason, make sure you give yourself high intelligence and (more importantly) wisdom stats. The combat system is also horrendous. I never played Baldur's Gate, so I don't know whether it's similar to that one, but it's cumbersome and ugly. Don't be put off, as I was the first time I played it - you shouldn't be getting in too many battles anyway.

An excellent GameFAQs walkthrough suggests the following base stats, and they worked out fine for me:

  Here are your stats:        Here's where I'd add:       Here's your new Stat:

    STR      9                                                                            9

    DEX      9            +            2                                               11

    CON      9                                                                           9

    INT      9            +            6                                               15

    WIS      9            +            9                                              18

    CHA      9            +            4                                              13
          -------                      -------                                            -------
            54                            21                                              75

Bump your DEX up to 13 as soon as possible and get your INT up to 18 or so. After that, go for Strength and whatever else you need.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

It's £32 on Amazon!

[Ignatius_S]

One thing I meant to say is that I enjoyed Fallout 3 sooooo much and think that's got to be one of my most recentish favourite RPGs - and actually, it's probably one of my all-time favourites.

I haven't played one or two, but I think I'll give those a punt.

A bit of a warning about Planescape: it is a very dialogue-heavy game. In fact, you get the vast majority of your experience points through dialogue and discussion rather than bashing monsters...

I had read a few things along those lines, so it's nice to get it confirmed - and it sounds great. One thing I find a little frustrating with more than a few RPGs is that you tend to to do better using the 'kill as much as you can' route, than taking alternative routes around problems.

Oh, and cheers for the tip!

[Mister Six]

Oh, and if you want to play something a bit more recent, get Dragon Age: Origins. It's a proper, stat-heavy, branching RPG with absolutely loads to do and some of the best-realised NPCs I've ever seen. The world looks very trad fantasy at first, but as you play you find more and more unique flourishes. It also has some brilliant DLC.

Other than that, Fallouts 1 and 2 are classics - rich, varied, imaginative post-apocalyptic RPGs with memorable characters, moral ambiguity and an incredible amount of nonlinear gameplay. Definitely play them in that order, though - Fallout 2 adds so much to the world (more special abilities, more characters, more weapons, more NPCs, more variety) that going back to the original game feels incredibly restrictive - this despite it being a massive, brilliantly complex game in its own right. And remember to get the fan-patches, especially for F2, which is one of the buggiest games I've ever seen when unpatched.

Fallout 3 is brilliant in its own way, but a very different beast in terms of gameplay.

[Ignatius_S]

It's £32 on Amazon!

A bargain!

Looking at one of the reviews, someone needed a patch - I know that GOG tweaked the earlier Fallout games for compatibility with XP and Vista (there are some issues with Windows 7, but there are workarounds).

Looking at the GOG forums, it looks as if they've done the same for Planescape - and here's a mod thread.

[Mister Six]

Planescape runs fine on XP anyway, but if you can be arsed downloading them, people have put widescreen patches online - see here.

[Ignatius_S]

Oh, and if you want to play something a bit more recent, get Dragon Age: Origins. It's a proper, stat-heavy, branching RPG with absolutely loads to do and some of the best-realised NPCs I've ever seen. The world looks very trad fantasy at first, but as you play you find more and more unique flourishes. It also has some brilliant DLC.

Other than that, Fallouts 1 and 2 are classics - rich, varied, imaginative post-apocalyptic RPGs with memorable characters, moral ambiguity and an incredible amount of nonlinear gameplay. Definitely play them in that order, though - Fallout 2 adds so much to the world (more special abilities, more characters, more weapons, more NPCs, more variety) that going back to the original game feels incredibly restrictive - this despite it being a massive, brilliantly complex game in its own right. And remember to get the fan-patches, especially for F2, which is one of the buggiest games I've ever seen when unpatched.

Fallout 3 is brilliant in its own way, but a very different beast in terms of gameplay.

I've very recently finished Dragon Age: Origins - although I did enjoy it, my own preference is with Fallout 3, but as you say, it's got some amazing touches. Have you played the most recent DLC? I've read mixed things but enjoyed other DLCs.

One thing that niggled me slightly was:

Spoiler alert

With the elf slaver, I was a bit narked when Morrigan disproved of my 'show no mercy' choice. Although I would say it was roughly true to form for her, as she was in a romance with me and I was a City Elf, I think she could have shown a bit more understanding that I didn't want several of my neighbours and my own father (although I guess she did have parent issues) slaughtered for a  minor bump.

[close]

Ta for the Fallout tips - I'd been looking about compatibility patches as was worried about a more modern OS. I've been meaning to play them for ages, but kind of put them off because of F3 - just because I figured I may as well get that out of the way first (that said I want to play through it again!) and as it looked different, thought it wouldn't matter dipping my toe in there first.

[Mister Six]

I've very recently finished Dragon Age: Origins - although I did enjoy it, my own preference is with Fallout 3, but as you say, it's got some amazing touches. Have you played the most recent DLC? I've read mixed things but enjoyed other DLCs.

I've played all of them except Golems of Amgarrak and Witch Hunt - they were released after I'd left Dubai and moved back to the UK, and until I get a regular source of income I'm not going to fork out for DLC (hence the return to Planescape).

Of the stuff that I have played, Awakenings is a must-have; it's 25-ish hours - basically a game in its own right - and full of great ideas. It's notably smaller than Origins, but still marvellous, and if you go in knowing that (and read ahead so you don't run into some of the more egregious bugs) you'll be very happy indeed. The other campaigns, Leilana's Song and The Darkspawn Chronicles, are entirely dispensible - especially the latter, which is all combat and almost no story. Leilana's Song doesn't tell you anything you don't know if you've completed her side quests in DA:O, though it's a bit of a sneak-preview of how DA2 will be, with its talking player character.

The rest of the DLC really ought to be installed prior to a playthrough rather than played after you've completed the game. The Stone Prisoner is the only must-have; Shale is probably my favourite NPC (certainly the funniest) and his interactions with other characters are excellent. Make sure he's in your party when you leave his home town to enjoy a cute cutscene. Return to Ostagar and Warden's Keep are worth picking up if there's a promotion on or you're just not bothered about the money. They're both entertaining (and Ostagar has some absolutely fantastic dialogue if you take Wynne and Alistair - or the secret character who replaces Alistair - along with you) but very short. I'd probably give Ostagar the tip, but Warden's Keep does have some ace loot if you're a fighter.

One thing that niggled me slightly was:

Spoiler alert

With the elf slaver, I was a bit narked when Morrigan disproved of my 'show no mercy' choice. Although I would say it was roughly true to form for her, as she was in a romance with me and I was a City Elf, I think she could have shown a bit more understanding that I didn't want several of my neighbours and my own father (although I guess she did have parent issues) slaughtered for a  minor bump.

[close]

The constant disapproval for doing anything remotely decent did get on my tits, but I kept Morrigan around because she's excellent for crowd control and she slowly grew on me.

Ta for the Fallout tips - I'd been looking about compatibility patches as was worried about a more modern OS. I've been meaning to play them for ages, but kind of put them off because of F3 - just because I figured I may as well get that out of the way first (that said I want to play through it again!) and as it looked different, thought it wouldn't matter dipping my toe in there first.

Yeah, you absolutely don't have to play F1 and F2 before F3 because they're so different (and getting them from GOG means they're tweaked for XP compatibility anyway). But do play F1 before F2. Be warned that both games start off with tedious sequences where you have to melee fight vermin - it's a terrible introduction to the game, but it gets a lot more fun pretty quickly afterwards. It's turn-based combat, too, which seems archaic now. So do be prepared for that.

[VegaLA]

I've always wanted to give Guld Wars or WoW a run in but never took the leap.
I did give Final Fantasy on the 360 a go, and just spent time walking around not really knowing what to do or where to go.

Any advice for dipping your toes in either Guild Wars or WoW?

[paint]

I've always wanted to give Guld Wars or WoW a run in but never took the leap.
I did give Final Fantasy on the 360 a go, and just spent time walking around not really knowing what to do or where to go.

Any advice for dipping your toes in either Guild Wars or WoW?

I did play Guild Wars a lot a few years ago.  Guild wars is not really an RPG.  It has an RPG but it is not the point of the game and is pretty crappy (fun on one playthrough to learn how to play the game, but not worth investing time into).  It does have amazing PvP though, most people opt to play PvP only where you don't level up characters at all, or find items etc.  I don't know much about WoW, but if you want more a more traditional RPG I would probably go with that.

[Riptide McDeath]

If you want to play a platform game that gets as close as possible to D&D 3rd gen rule set... then your best bet is Neverwinter Nights... The original game itself is completely immersing and one which i spent many a long night playing... finally completed (whilst receiving medical attention for the rickets) only to find out there were an additional 3 expansion packs!... I'm out of touch with the game and it's following now... but there is also a second one (maybe a 3rd for all i know). Money's worth? Hell yes!!!

[Still Not George]

If you want to play a platform game that gets as close as possible to D&D 3rd gen rule set... then your best bet is Neverwinter Nights...

Actually, if you want a game that is actually a faithful rendition of D&D3, you'll be wanting the bug-tastic Temple of Elemental Evil.

[Geraint]

if you get Planescape: Torment, Mister Six's stat advice is sound. You start as a fighter but can retrain fairly early in the game to a thief or mage and (if you've played BG you're ahead of me) there's basically no reason to play as anything other than a mage. High INT benefits both your combat ability and your dialogue choices, and while the combat on the whole is the weakest part of the game you get loads of good fighters in your party and only one good mage, plus some of the high level spells are ridiculously OTT on a scale the BG trilogy never managed.

For WoW i'd hold off til December when the new expansion comes out. The reason is it's reworking the entire game world - at present you have to level up to 58-60 in zones designed in 2004/5 when the game was very different and far inferior, which is quite a tedious process and means that little of what you do has any relevance when you reach the higher levels. They're both reworking the maps and the quests on them, and the character classes so you learn the key skills to getting good at them from a very early stage (instead of getting a crucial spell at L75 or 80 out of 80, you'll get them as early as L10)

[Cohaagen]

Seconding Mister Six on Fallout 1 and 2. The latter improves upon the original in just about every way possible, from getting rid of nigglingly bad features (NPCs constantly standing in fucking doorways leaving you trapped) to its expanded, expansive selection of preposterous weaponry. I'm playing through it again with Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project which adds even more to it, and sorts out the remaining bugs (armour-piercing ammo actually works as such, now). Definitely worth considering if you're going down the Fallout route.

[Mister Six]

I'm playing through it again with Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project

Coo, I'm half-tempted to reinstall Fallout 2 now. Shame the disc's in Leeds...

Are Daggerfall or Morrowind worth picking up? I was looking at the wiki page for the former and it looks impossibly large. I enjoyed Oblivion for many hours, but the shitty fighting system (as an archer thief I spent all my time running backwards while firing arrows off) and repeated interiors (particularly the Oblivion gates) really put me off.

[Still Not George]

Daggerfall is one of those marmite games, most people seem to either love or hate it. I was mostly on the latter side, I thought it was just a little too big and empty.

Morrowind on the other hand is about perfect, much less broken than Oblivion in many many ways and with a much bigger creative streak running through it. The silt striders alone put it head and shoulders over Oblivion in terms of new ideas.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

It was great to be able to fly in Morrowind too; and hit those bastard ridge racers from above.

[quadraspazzed]

I'm not much of an RPG player - but I did really enjoy Knights of the Old Republic (just stay away from the buggy unfinished piece of shite that is KOTOR 2) and Jade Empire. They are the only two RPGs I've ever bothered to replay. I also shamefully enjoyed Dungeon Siege - which was pretty crappy but I still got a kick out of it in an "I like killing things a lot" kinda way.

Does Deus Ex count as an RPG? If so, that's fucking great too.

[DocDaneeka]

Well I've ordered The Witcher enhanced edition for 13 quid. I also enjoyed the Gothic 4 Demo even if gothic fans think it's not quite beardy enough, think I'll keep an eye on it and maybe get it when it's cheaper.

[Still Not George]

I'm not much of an RPG player - but I did really enjoy Knights of the Old Republic (just stay away from the buggy unfinished piece of shite that is KOTOR 2) and Jade Empire. They are the only two RPGs I've ever bothered to replay. I also shamefully enjoyed Dungeon Siege - which was pretty crappy but I still got a kick out of it in an "I like killing things a lot" kinda way.

Jade Empire is distilled awesome, and I tend to suggest Dungeon Siege to people who enjoy Diablo - shorn of the collection fetish it's a very similar game.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Oh just get Morrowind and start playing it this instant for God[nb]Vivec[/nb]'s sake.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Daggerfall is one of those marmite games, most people seem to either love or hate it. I was mostly on the latter side, I thought it was just a little too big and empty.

Morrowind on the other hand is about perfect, much less broken than Oblivion in many many ways and with a much bigger creative streak running through it. The silt striders alone put it head and shoulders over Oblivion in terms of new ideas.

Ulimately, though Morrowind and Oblivion (and possibly Daggerfall although I've only played that for about 10 minutes) were all hollow gaming experiences.  I enjoyed the exploration and the scenery; but none of the stories were really that gripping.

I can't even recall a Morrowind quest that was particularly great - and the main story was the usual ho-hum, young no-mark turns into a God scenario.

Oblivion did have a couple of enjoyable/unique quests - the one where you go into the painting and the one where you go off into some weird dream; but at the end of it, I didn't give a toss about any of the "characters".

Planescape had lots of those moments - and had a proper "party dynamic" - just what the Bethesda games lack.