Best Magic System in a CRPG

[Andhaira]

IMO Ultima 7!

Runners up include the Realms of Arkania series, Ultima 8. Baldurs Gate 2 was also good in the sheer vareity of spells, though the magic system itself was weak. (stupid vancian system. Thankfully they did away with it in D&D4e) Arcanum to had some very varied spells (teleportation school especialy was sweet) but again, the system itself was boring (straight mana...yawn)

What about YOU?

Discuss!!

 

[Volourn]

Any D&D game.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

halo.

 

[Seboss]

Harry Potter.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Betrayal At Fucking Krondor.

 

[inwoker]

Any D&D game.

Sometimes I doubt Volourn is > 30 years.

 

[Volourn]

Doubt is for pathetic fools.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

 

[Haba]

Aleshar: World of Ice

You can’t buy spells, learn them from scrolls, you don’t have mana... none of that crap.

The first time you try magic will probably cause your heart to explode. As will the second and third time. With nobody to teach you magic, you need to learn how to manage it yourself.

Aleshar is one of the few games where you really have to consider whether to use magic or not – even on the very highest levels, you can overexert yourself, causing instant (or slightly delayed) death.

If I ever get to the position where I can make That Game I’ve Alwys Wanted To Make, I’ll totally steal the magic system from this game.

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=3004
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/391/A ... f+Ice.html

(The game is freeware nowadays)

 

[Worm King]

Maybe PS:T because you have to study magic. The part where you ask Ravel to teach you something of her magic is pure win("gather to me").

 

[Serus]

Games based on d&d have a lot of spells usually. Problem is quantity is not always quality and a lot of spells in crpg based on d&d are useless.
I like Darklands - maybe because magic is not called magic there.
Betrayal at Krondor had a limited selection of spells but the use of a spell in battle was always a real choice, you can kil or weaken the enemy but at a cost.
Quest for Glory series is great in spell departament, not many of them but most are used outside battles - it is not a rpg but adventure game tough.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Kotors.

FORCE STORM SPAM GOGOGO

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

I'm not so sure if the system itself in Morrowind was even halfway decent, but it was interesting to be able to use magic for other purposes than combat. Namely, exploration. Breathe underwater, walk on water, levitate and so on. I'd like to see more of that in games.

 

[Worm King]

I'm not so sure if the system itself in Morrowind was even halfway decent, but it was interesting to be able to use magic for other purposes than combat. Namely, exploration. Breathe underwater, walk on water, levitate and so on. I'd like to see more of that in games.

Arcanum. And you didn't have to be a specific character to use magic that has to rest after every enemy.

 

[Liberal]

PS:T
Every spell feels unique and engaging.
Compare to BG2 where every spell feels boring and utilitary.
To have a great magic system, you need great writers. Nothing else. The actual rules are not that relevant. After all, any magic system is merely a set of powers together with a cooldown mechanism and optional features like customising, mashed with in-setting logic to make it believable.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Arcanum. And you didn't have to be a specific character to use magic that has to rest after every enemy.

I haven't yet played it with a character who uses magic, because I love flintlock pistols and such a lot more than over-used magic. And now it tends to go on an infinite loop half the time in combat, so I have some difficulty playing it.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Betrayal at Krondor had a limited selection of spells but the use of a spell in battle was always a real choice, you can kil or weaken the enemy but at a cost.

Dude, the game had around 10 spells for EACH category. It had loads of spells, but you had to actually FIND them.

Rare spells like Bane Of Black Slayers, Unfortunate Flux,.etc could only be found from a magic shop in the wilderness surrounding the ruins of Cavall Keep.

Some spells could only be found in chests. Evil Seek, for example, could only be found in the dungeon of Sar-Sargaroth. Firestorm could only be found on a witch deep inside the forest outside Elvandar and one trapped chest in Sethanon. The said trapped chest would kill the whole party if it did not have a near perfect lockpicking ability.

Sometimes, a spell would only be found through special means. Thy Master's Will can only be taught by an elven ranger in the forest surrounding Elvandar.

I can attest to this after having played the game thoroughly three times over.

 

[Worm King]

Arcanum. And you didn't have to be a specific character to use magic that has to rest after every enemy.

I haven't yet played it with a character who uses magic, because I love flintlock pistols and such a lot more than over-used magic. And now it tends to go on an infinite loop half the time in combat, so I have some difficulty playing it.

Press space and then space again. The combat will temporarily become RT and resume working TB.

 

[Captain Obvious]

What D&D and the Ultimas have going for them is that magic is a complex, limited resource and you need to plan ahead if you go, say, dungeon diving. Added strategical depth is always good, but it can also easily degenerate into pointless overhead. Case in point: In the NWN2 OC you could at almost any time rest and change your spells, while in MOTB and SoZ you had to plan ahead.

Dragon Wars used magic for puzzle solving, which I have yet to see again.

 

[fastpunk]

I'd go with Wizardry 8. It has plenty of spells, six different spell realms, you can choose a power level, plus it's point based, not rest based like D&D. It's nicely balanced as well, at least from what I've seen of it so far.

But I'll also mention the warlock's casting system from D&D 3.5, because I just love how you can combine essences and shapes into new spells. There aren't that many essences but it's a great idea nonetheless.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Arcanum. And you didn't have to be a specific character to use magic that has to rest after every enemy.

I haven't yet played it with a character who uses magic, because I love flintlock pistols and such a lot more than over-used magic. And now it tends to go on an infinite loop half the time in combat, so I have some difficulty playing it.

Press space and then space again. The combat will temporarily become RT and resume working TB.

Hey, thanks a bunch!

 

[mondblut]

Ultima 8.

A good magic system for an RPG with a variety of spellcasting types (as is with the most of them) is several distinct magic systems. Make clerics pray for spells in advance, wizards to spend "mana" (better yet, stamina and health), druids to gather reagents, sages to combine runes, etc. In U8, magic was extremely unwieldy, but it actually had 4 completely different kinds of magic, not one-size-fit-all schematic like most games.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

I really enjoyed Arx Fatalis' spell design system, where you had to draw runes in the air. It could have been improved if they'd allowed you to hotkey spells for instant-casting more than once, but it was always fun to discover my own spells.

I'm betting Diablo 3 will have the best magic system of any (action) CRPG, though, what with the rune crafting system that allows you to tweak and modify your spells! I am SOOOOO excited to start experimenting with that!!!

 

[phanboy_iv]

I'm not so sure if the system itself in Morrowind was even halfway decent, but it was interesting to be able to use magic for other purposes than combat. Namely, exploration. Breathe underwater, walk on water, levitate and so on. I'd like to see more of that in games.

That was a holdover from Daggerfall, though perhaps the overworld in Morrowind lent itself to that type of magic more readily. But yeah, environmental, non-combat magic is always nifty.

 

[Andhaira]

Wyrmlord: Regarding Betrayal at krondor don't forget that when you get Pug and you can stimulate his memory to get nearly every spell in the game! (plus there are a few spells that only Pug knows that you can learn this way)