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RPGDot Forums > CRPGs General

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DevilsBane
Eager Tradesman
Eager Tradesman




Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Posts: 39
Need RPG guidance
   

Ok I am not a regular RPG player, before this year the closest thing I got to RPG was Deus EX which was more action?FPS with some nice RPG elements

But I have now played NWN which was ok, and MOrrowind which was nice, but very buggy, nad I have just bought Arx Fatalis which is EXTRA buggy and probably the bugs will kill my interest completely coupled with the lack of tech support


Anyway I would like to play an RPG with some depth and lots of hours of gameplay, preferebly not so linear, I like the idea of wandering about talking to people doing what i please much of the time and getting quests for myself and things.

I dont want to go back and play the really old ones like Baldurs Gate though, preferably something which isn't just hack and slash too

Could you post your recommendations and the pros and cons of the RPGs out just nows. Also the perspective you play from. I like the First person perspective, but I guess its not common in RPG games.

I really want something deep and long and non linear with a diverse environment, good depth of characters and lots of plots and sub plots to wander around in. Is there such a thing out just now?

Well post away with your experiences. Remeber I am NOT a hardcore RPG gamer, just beginner so I dont want things that will put me of the genre LOL

Thanks
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 7:20 am
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stanthony
One Smart Dog
One Smart Dog




Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 556
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
   

It's really hard to tell. My first suggestion would be Baldur's Gate, but as you told that you don't want to play it... Well, if you can afford it try Baldur's Gate II - graphics there is better, so maybe you won't be pissed off.

First person... Wizardry 8 is the one that will come to mind, but you certainly will not get more freedom and non-linearity than in Morrowind anywhere else. Sorry, but you've started with the best non-linear possible Wizardry is really good, but after Morrowind you probably will hate graphics there.

BTW why would you say that Morrowind is buggy? What about some patches? I have a localized version right now (Russian) and a nice little patch to it. Game runs perfectly. In original English version that I used to play before there were very few bugs, and I had a patch anyway. Try looking on the official site and elsewhere.
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 7:43 am
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land




Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia
   

It's hard to find a product that will meet *all* those needs, but here goes...

- Gothic: 3rd person RPG with the best example of a dynamic world you'll find. NPCs have (relatively) complex schedules and behaviours, interesting world and precept, excellent landscape design. Everyone talks about Morrowind graphics but the mountains, forests and waterfalls of Gothic are brilliant. Gets quite linear from about halfway but it's a small price to pay.

- Wiz8 as mentioned. The graphics are dated compared to the others and some people don't like the party system (you don't actually see your other party members) but it's a classic series and very open.

- Fallout /2: yes, I know you said not old stuff but this is the ultimate non-linear 2D isometric RPG.

I haven't played the full retail Arx Fatalis yet but I thought the demo was brilliant so consider sticking with it. Haven't seen any serious bugs in Morrowind since the last patch.

Finally, try some NWN modules. The best ones are *way* better than the official campaign (not as long though) and new ones are coming all the time, including the new official Witchwork campaign due soon.

I've ignored Divine Divinity (worth considering but didn't sound like your type) and older classics (except Fallout) but I'm sure some of them will get raised.

Good luck.
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 8:59 am
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DevilsBane
Eager Tradesman
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Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Posts: 39
   

OK Thanks for the replies so far. The bugs in Morrowind are primarily one MAJOR thing which destroys the game for me and thats the AI pathing. Its appalling.

I really like immersive games, theres nothing better than games you can get lost into for a few hours. In Morrowind that never gets a chance to develop because everywhere you look theres NPCS stuck agains walls, and under bridges and in stupid place. In the end I just get snapped out of the atmosphere and turn off. I bought Tribunal because I hoped they had fixed it, sadly its unchanged and I cant get into the feel of the game at all

Arx again is ruined by the bugs, whats worse is the technical support people don't answer and I cant even get into the forums there to ask for help, so at the moment I am just frustrated by the Arx experience which has just been bad since I took it out of the box

NWN now there was nice sweet bug free game, why cant games designers do things as efficiently as that company, Bioware is it? Anyway on the subject of NWN could you recommend me some Modules to play then? And what HAK PAks to use? Are HAk paks still problematic?

I would like to play NWN , nice, a shame it was so short because I really enjoyed playing the Singlke Player campaign I just thought it could have been longer and less Wood-City-Wood in scenery, maybe some mountains or Deserts of something to break the monotony would have been nice

Keep the info coming, I am absorbing all

Thanks
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 9:17 am
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stanthony
One Smart Dog
One Smart Dog




Joined: 28 Oct 2002
Posts: 556
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
   

Try visiting Neverwinter Vault. There are many modules to download and they provide nice informative reviews.

Hope it will help

And I wanted to say that YES - Bioware engines absolutely rule! There are very few bugs in Infinity-based games and in NWN, too. (Nevermind pathfinding in original BG ) I'm looking forward to see the new Odyssey engine (in upcoming Knights of the Old Republic). But gosh I like Infinity - even more than NWN engine in fact. IceWind Dale II is the last Infinty game, sure you cannot rotate camera, but who cares?! It is all so... charming
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 9:46 am
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Hexmaster
Noble Knight
Noble Knight




Joined: 17 Jan 2002
Posts: 206
Location: Bristol, England
   

Here goes with my suggestions some of which have been covered, but hopefully the more people that mention them, the better idea you will get.

Fallout & Fallout 2...dated graphics but very absorbing gameplay
Arcanum...VERY absorbing with a nice balance of magic
Baldurs Gate 1 & 2...as said before, anything by BlackIsle/Bioware really
Icewind Dale 1 & 2...more of a hackfest than the BG series.

I havent tried the Wizrdry series so I cannot comment, but I had Might & Magic 9 for a while until Gothic & Morrowind arrived...

I have just finished a single player demo of NEOCRON and thoroughly enjoyed it...I believe however, that it is primarily an online game.

I am playing and really enjoying Divine Divinity which is worth a look..try and get the demo.

Regards,

Hexmaster
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Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 3:10 pm
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Korzen
Forsaken
Forsaken




Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Posts: 3673
Location: The User Groups Section.
   

You could try playing morowind again i bet that you didn't finish all the quests yet, even if you finished the game.
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 3:41 pm
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ButtOfMalmsey
Village Idiot
Village Idiot




Joined: 07 May 2002
Posts: 785
Location: Mississippi
   

Go to Neverwinter Vault, and the Hall of Fame in the modules section. All of those modules are excellent places to start. I particularly like the Lone Wolf module (although it is quite linear; it's probably the most complete end-user produced product I've ever used outside of the Aliens TC for Doom).
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Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 4:00 pm
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
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Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany
   

DevilsBane, you´re misunderstanding something. If you survived Morrowind you are definitely a hardcore RPGer!


If you didn´t receive the activation mail for the JoWooD forums mail the admin (Plex). He also activated my account.
Arkane Studios is very active in the forums. You can also post your problems here on RPGDot. At least two people from Arkane read it regularly.
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Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 8:48 pm
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dteowner
Shoegazer
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Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia
   

I'd toss in another vote for Wiz8. The graphics are dated (compared to MW) and combat can get a bit tedious at times, but I think, overall, that's about as close to your requirements as you can get.
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Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 9:32 pm
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Ammon777
Warrior for Heaven
Warrior for Heaven




Joined: 20 Apr 2002
Posts: 2011
Location: United States
   

I dont see why you people dont like the upcoming online games, since they are the future and eventually you will be forced to deal with it; dont misunderstand, i DO NOT like the current MMORPGs, but there are some coming that meet MY requirements of sophisticated gameplay and incredible depth. Anyway, there are some upcoming MMORPGs that meet your requirements you gave. I can think of two coming within four months that should be excellent. The first choice is the grand-daddy, the holy grail of online RPGs: Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided. Check out there website. The other one I plan on playing is EVE: The Second Genesis. It is a spaceship type game.

In my opinion, MMORPGs to AVOID ENTIRELY are Ultima Online (outdated), Asherons Call (outdated); BEWARE Everquest; be careful around Dark Age of Camelot it gets dull and repetitive after a while; AVOID Funcom's Anarchy Online for your sanity; avoid Shadowbane unless you want to get into PvP; in a nutshell, try to avoid all of the first generation MMORPGs, because they suck and are garbage.

Just my two cents!
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 10:00 pm
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Stranger In A Strange Land




Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia
   

As mentioned, you can't go wrong with the Hall of Fame at the 'vault for NWN modules. Many Hak Paks need to be referenced by the module to work, so don't worry too much about those; most modules will include the Hak Paks they need (although camera hack F is well worth it).

Just a point on bugs, NWN really has/had it's share of bugs particularly in MP (Ekim from RPGDot wrote a column on the subject). Some new patches broke things from the previous patch and this happened more than once which is pretty poor. When you consider the size of Bioware and their publisher Infogrammes compared to Arx' first-time effort, Bioware aren't so perfect and I'm prepared to give Arx some leeway. Sorry to wander off the game-advice topic!
Post Wed Nov 13, 2002 11:39 pm
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DevilsBane
Eager Tradesman
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Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Posts: 39
   

Thanks for all the replies. I will probably try out some demos of the ones suggested, at the moment I am playing some NWN modules which is great.

As for Arx, I have no excuses to use for that company! I wouldn't mind the bugs, but its almost a week now, and I have sent 6 emails of to Jowwod including two to the forum admin to try and get one of my two accounts activated to get support. And it seems ALL of them have been ignored.

I doubt I will EVER buy another game from them after this. It took me days to get the damn game working at all because it didnt ship wirth the required Indeo codecs which are not in Windows XP (SP1) and Intel are charging money for them now. The fact that Jowood have not even bothered to answer my mails is just plain BAD. And not even being able to get into the forums for help just made it worse

I mailed the CEO guy of Arkane tonight, but if whats happened so far is anything to go by I imagine that email will go with a response as well, and I will take Arx Fatalis back to the shop on saturday morning.

And you thought Microsoft technical support was bad???
Post Fri Nov 15, 2002 2:27 am
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hoyp
High Emperor
High Emperor




Joined: 02 Oct 2002
Posts: 501
   

quote:
Originally posted by DevilsBane

I doubt I will EVER buy another game from them after this. It took me days to get the damn game working at all because it didnt ship wirth the required Indeo codecs which are not in Windows XP (SP1) and Intel are charging money for them now. The fact that Jowood have not even bothered to answer my mails is just plain BAD. And not even being able to get into the forums for help just made it worse





well, jowood sucks but arx rocks.

but i HIGHLY reccomend gothic.
Post Fri Nov 15, 2002 3:03 am
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DevilsBane
Eager Tradesman
Eager Tradesman




Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Posts: 39
   

Ok I have had another suggestion given to me, and now I am torn.....

Fallout 2... or Planescape Torment?

These two seem to be coming out a pretty great RPG games of recent times, the reviews I have read seem all good?

Anyone played Planescape Torment? How does it rate up to Fallout 2?

Is it long, openended with lots of good NPCs and freedom of choices?

It seems to have scored some pretty impressive reviews I didnt see one score under 9/10 across all the big gaming review site, so thats got to be good right?

Ehhh in the meantime I am going to try and find a Wizadry 8 demo or maybe Gothic..ehh :p

Almost there, just need a little more persuading I want to make sure I get the right game so i can settle down to hours and hours and hours of gaming fun
Post Fri Nov 15, 2002 3:21 am
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