Author Topic: What's the Best RPG out now?  (Read 19988 times)

Offline Conjurus Rex

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What's the Best RPG out now?
« on: March 25, 2007, 04:57:45 PM »
Hello all,

I am an old timer, I still have my original AD&D (NOT 2nd edition) hard cover books from when I was a kid. I have always loved the original PnP form of the game. Years ago I discovered Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn and to say the least I was astounded at how close to the original rulebooks the designers at Bioware had come when creating the game. At the time my job was very demanding, and I had little to no time to play the game, however I did manage to complete it without cheating. Now that I have some free time on my hands I find myself replaying the game. Granted, this masterpiece is almost infinitely replayable, especially with all the mods out there today, but my question to this community of gamers is what is the best RPG video game out there today? I've heard of Neverwinter Nights, Diablo 2, and some others, but I figured before I go and spend the cash and invest countless hours sitting behind my pc I'd ask you guys. I want something if possible that not only has killer game play and great graphics, but I'd love to design and populate my own dungeons. Anything you could reccomend?

Offline jcompton

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2007, 05:17:28 PM »
If you're looking both for gameplay and content creation, the Neverwinter games and the Elder Scrolls games are probably your best bets. (Until Broken Hourglass etc.)
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Offline Kulyok

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2007, 01:33:31 AM »
Don't install Diablo 2 if you have a full-time job or exams coming, that's all I can say. :)

Offline Elfen Lied

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2007, 06:09:44 AM »
ll thats so true, everytime i start that game up i dont want to stop, no matter how many times ive finished it, kinda like BG2
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Offline Rabain

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #4 on: March 26, 2007, 01:23:40 PM »
And on the other hand I've always found the Diablo series extremely unplayable.  I get bored after 2 minutes of play.
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Offline berelinde

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #5 on: March 26, 2007, 01:28:00 PM »
My cat can watch Diablo 2 for hours on end. He likes it when boyfriend summons skeletons.

I myself have never tried it, although I might, someday.

Offline Elfen Lied

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #6 on: March 26, 2007, 02:49:10 PM »
Quote
And on the other hand I've always found the Diablo series extremely unplayable.  I get bored after 2 minutes of play.

it does get mind numbingly repeditive, it is a potion/click fest. ive burnt out a few mice playing the diablo series over the years.

Diablo
Diablo: Hellfire
Diablo II
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction


but its the interesting story and setting, christianity/judaism undertones, cool classes, massive world, cool spells, cool monsters, replayibility that interests me.

Quote
My cat can watch Diablo 2 for hours on end. He likes it when boyfriend summons skeletons.

I myself have never tried it, although I might, someday.

lol thats pretty funny

i think its worth a look, some like it some dont.


its a great game, but i think BGII, is a little more superior, pretty much everything diablo does BGII does better. you can actually customise your char in BGII, you cant in DII, although the randominess of Diablo II is great.
« Last Edit: March 26, 2007, 02:52:38 PM by Elfen Lied »
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Offline Conjurus Rex

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2007, 03:41:01 PM »
Thanks for all your input gang! I have played the original Diablo, and while I found it entertaining I remember it as being more of a hack and slash type of game with little to no role playing involved. One of the most endearing qualities of BG2 was the character interactions, that is kind of what I'm getting at here. Role playing, along with some hack and slash, and some good brain teasers. Also, I have played Warcraft 3 online and loved it even though it's not really an RPG. I've heard mixed reviews about World of Warcraft what do you guys/gals think? Also the South Park episode "Make Love Not Warcraft" wich can be found here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgsff_makelovenotwarcraft

was hysterical!!!

Offline Evaine Dian

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2007, 03:48:24 PM »
WoW is not a CRPG. Even on RP-servers, there is almost no roleplaying left, at least that's what I experienced. Nowadays, the game is mainly about PvP and collecting powerful items to do even more PvP. If you like that, it's a nice game, otherwise you'll get bored pretty soon, because all the quests are very similar ("kill 20 beasts, collect 10 items and return to NPC X").
« Last Edit: March 26, 2007, 03:52:20 PM by Evaine Dian »
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Offline Elfen Lied

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2007, 01:49:08 AM »
yeh WOW is just a PvP game, you want RPG get diablo. in regards to Blizzard games anyway,

there are obviously games like BGII that are more RPG than Diablo.
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Offline Lord Doomhammer

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2007, 04:06:46 AM »
I've always liked the Divinity games (Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity) much more than the Diablo games as at least Divinity has some role-playing involved even if it is not that much. I think they're kinda obscure though.
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Offline Echon

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2007, 04:44:34 AM »
yeh WOW is just a PvP game, you want RPG get diablo. in regards to Blizzard games anyway,

Diablo is no different than WoW. How do you like to roleplay in Diablo? In choosing which item Charsi should imbue for you or how you like to kill the Minions of Destruction?

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Offline Elfen Lied

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #12 on: March 27, 2007, 06:22:13 AM »
{quote]Diablo is no different than WoW. How do you like to roleplay in Diablo? In choosing which item Charsi should imbue for you or how you like to kill the Minions of Destruction?[/quote]

diablo revloves around the epic struggle between Heaven and Hell and its influence on mankind, just about every quest in the game is influenced in some way by this, much how like BGII revolves around the events relating to the time of troubles

WOW seems to just be about running around killing people
Gods in His Heaven, Alls right with the World.
The bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame
Vi Veri Venivursum Vivus Vici - By the power of truth, i while living have conquered the Universe

Offline Echon

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2007, 07:37:20 AM »
There is absolutely no way you can play a role in Diablo. You can choose a class, but that is something entirely different. It is not possible to make any choices related to the setting or the story of the game. Your only option is to kill all the monsters you meet.

Now, if they had designed it as a game where you began as a neutral character in this world, the field of the war between Heaven and Hell, and allowed you to choose with which side to ally, the game would have had different endings since your choices would affect the outcome, and then it would have been a roleplaying game since your actions would have consequences. As it stands, Diablo is a game where you are told what to do from the very beginning.

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Offline Conjurus Rex

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #14 on: March 27, 2007, 12:36:34 PM »
So, it would seem that the general consensus here is, the Diablo series is good, but if you are looking for an RPG it's probably not for you. WoW isn't really much more than a hack and slash fest with no role playing whatsoever, and it still leaves much to be desired. That leaves me with the choices of the Neverwinter Nights series and the Icewind Dale series. (If I'm leaving anything out here please chime in!) This leaves me with a few more questions...
Do these games contain the character interactions that I loved so much in BG2?
When I go and pick these games up, should I be buying them in package format with all their expansion packs? If so, could one of you please list them! I want to pick these games up all in one shot if possible and then lock myself in my apt. playing all next week while my gf is out of town LOL!

Offline Kulyok

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #15 on: March 27, 2007, 12:52:26 PM »
NWN 2 has some interaction. NWN 1 has very little interaction(only one henchman generally, very poor control), and IWD/IWD2 - none at all for now, though there's an NPC mod for IWD2 in development.

Diablo 2 is good, and I think I didn't miss the interaction, even - it was just that gripping.

Oh, and if you don't mind poor screen resolution - try Planescape:Torment. It has everything.

Offline Evaine Dian

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #16 on: March 27, 2007, 02:16:54 PM »
When I go and pick these games up, should I be buying them in package format with all their expansion packs? If so, could one of you please list them!

Icewind Dale + Addon Heart of Winter (And Heart of Winter: Trials of the Luremaster)
Icewind Dale 2

Neverwinter Nights + Addon 1 Shadows of Undrentide + Addon 2 Hordes of the Underdark
Neverwinter Nights 2



If you like the Star Wars setting, you could try Knights of the Old Republic. The first part is nice, characters have quite a few banters with you and among each other, if I remember correctly, and the plot is fairly interesting. The second part (KotOR II: The Sith Lords) is not as good, though, apparently a lot of content was cut.

I'm not sure, because I haven't played KotOR1 for a very long time, but I think KotOR 1 is one of the rather profound CRPGs. The characters of KotOR1 had far more to say than the ones of any other recent games and they seemed to react quite a lot to certain events throughout the games.


IWD is mostly hack'n'slash, I'd say, at least the first part, I haven't played the second one.
I got bored of the main campaign of NWN1 quickly. HotU was a bit more interesting. There seem to be many modules for NWN1. Bioware sells some online, but there's also fanmade material.
NWN2 felt like yet another imitation of KotOR1, just with a "medieval" instead of "futuristic" look. It's okay, but not really good, I think.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2007, 02:56:57 PM by Evaine Dian »
"Show me how you do that trick! The one that makes me scream", she said,
"the one that makes me laugh!" she said and threw her arms around my neck.
"Show me how you do it and I promise you, I promise that
I'll run away with you, I'll run away with you..."

Offline melora

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #17 on: March 27, 2007, 06:54:38 PM »
i'll second the motion on Planescape :torment.... it really has an awesome story.    of the 2 KOTOR games, i thought the first was much better.
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Offline Dark Raven

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2007, 07:56:58 PM »
Diablo 2 is awesome, especially on Battlenet. PK  :P

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a great RPG. It has a great story, good character creation, interesting npcs you meet and do quests for. Just make sure you have a Gig of memory and the latest official patch installed. It's buggy without the patch and a memory leak causes it to play slow unless you have a lot of RAM.
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Offline Bodac

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2007, 09:51:47 PM »
What are the chances of BGIII ?
Is there a hope or is it all locked up by lawers and copyright crap.

Talking of crap, steer clear of NWN's.
I have tried to play NWN's but it so SO inferior to BG that I gave my copy away to a guy at work.

Offline Elfen Lied

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2007, 10:47:35 PM »
Quote
Diablo 2 is awesome, especially on Battlenet. PK 

Diablo isnt really all that RPG, you cant be bot hgood and evil or even neutral. you are good by default. but yeh it is pretty awesome.

Quote
What are the chances of BGIII ?
Is there a hope or is it all locked up by lawers and copyright crap.

not very likely i would say, TOB had a real final of an ending to it. so unless BGIII is the son of [Charname] or something like that. i dont really see it being a sequel (assuming it gets made) a more likely possibility id for BGIII to be a prequel, something set during the time of Balduran or something.


technically IWD is the prequel to BG, it happens 30 or so years before Drizzt comes to Amn right? and IWD  II is after BG, if you have that mod that puts in items from BGII is say X item was once used by [Charname] and some of the NPCs, therefore it must be after TOB. but that is unofficial
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Offline Suspiria

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2007, 11:04:32 PM »
If you are still looking at this thread you created, I would have to agree with the person who recommended the Elderscrolls games, particularly Morrowind.  With the Construction Set, you can do almost ANYTHING, including creating those dungeons you mentioned.  You can create whole new landmasses and villages and much more, if you want.   Plus, like BG2, it has tons and tons of excellent mods.  Clothing mods, race mods, quest mods, NPC mods, creature mods, land mass mods, armor and weapon mods, dungeon mods, spell and potion mods and so on and so forth.

 The game itself has a LOT of interaction and there are mods that add wonderful joinable NPCs, some of them romanceable, if you like that kind of thing (which I sure do).   If you do get Morrowind (get the Game of the Year edition, as it comes with both expansion packs), I highly recommend you get the Better Bodies mod and a good NPC head replacement pack as well as some head packs for your own PCs.  You can find those mods and more at Planet Elderscrolls.  Without Better Bodies and a replacement headpack, the characters will look like He-Man and She-Ra segmented action figures, but with the mods I recommend, they become very nice looking indeed.   You won't believe how many great mods there are for that game.

 I find the storyline very engrossing, however, you can ignore the main storyline if you want.  I spent months playing Morrowind without touching the main story and had blast.   For me, Morrowind and the BG Series tie for best RPG. 

As for Neverwinter Nights, I hated it at first, but came to enjoy it thanks to both the expansion packs and the player created modules available at Neverwinter Vault.  For me, Hordes of the Underdark made the whole game worth it.  THAT has the interaction (and romance) that we love from BGII.   And many of the modules are brilliant.   

Offline Bodac

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #22 on: May 27, 2007, 06:39:18 PM »
I know that I bagged NWN in my last post , but will have to admitt that I did enjoyed building my own campaign ( or learning to at least ).
The fundamental flaw with NWN that cannot be excused away is the lack of a PARTY and the PARTY dynamics involved therein.

Offline Tamrhind

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #23 on: August 26, 2008, 09:22:24 PM »
And on the other hand I've always found the Diablo series extremely unplayable.  I get bored after 2 minutes of play.

Yeah, I can empathise with that! Never saw what people raved about  ???, play it once in a particularly azureus moon.
The Elder Scrolls series, however,  is superb RPGing; I bought ES III:Morrowind yonks ago and have yet to skim its creamy surface. ES I:Arena , as open & unlinear as MW but with earlier (read:crappier) graphics, is now a free (albeit large) download from Bethesda and ES II:Daggerfall can be gotten after some hutning (although the only review I've read of it basically disses it).
I've also heard very good things about the Witcher.

Some consider it RPG, some adventure, some FPS; check out System Shock 2 or, if you're a REAL treasure hunter, the original.   8)The latest Bioshock avatar i said to be a sort of Sys Shock 3.

Offline strayshift

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Re: What's the Best RPG out now?
« Reply #24 on: August 27, 2008, 03:27:30 AM »
You will never beat the Original AD&D (for nostalgia), Runequest (for the believability and completeness of the world) and very early Rolemaster (before it became too 'power gamer') - yes I am also THAT old.
G

 

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