Which RPGs are the best for beginners?

[Iznaliu]

I can't wait for an actual new player (you know, one that only knows Skyrim, thinks Fallout 4 is great and played Dragon Age 2 "back in the day") to read this thread and install PS:T or Wizardry.

I don't think many of them come here that often; the Codex has a pretty bad reputation in the rest of the net, which tends to discourage new users.

 

[Cael]

PS - is there any ethical norm applicable in this place that somewhat forbid the use of other memes/gifs that are not on the codexian smiles?

The only "norm" about this place is that is allows freedom of expression, although that is less and less the norm these days :D

 

[Cosmic Bane]

Tks, I will start with 7, then.



PS - is there any ethical norm applicable in this place that somewhat forbid the use of other memes/gifs that are not on the codexian smiles?

If you are going to pay wizardry I would actually start with the earlier once because they are less complicated and confusing and more of pure dungeon crawl.

1-3 are pretty easy and a lot of fun and will give you a good taste for the series. 4 is punishingly hard but very interesting. 6+7 are the best ones. 8 is basically garbage because it punishes "powergaming" with level scaling BS.

 

[octavius]

Is The Four Crystals of Trazere (aka Legend) any good?

FWIW, I skipped it on my chronological playthrough because "Real Time".

BTW, some CRPGs that seems to have been designed for newbies are Prophecy of the Shadow and Gateway to the Savage Frontier.

 

[Atlet]

What is the best way to play wizardry 1-3? Should I play the SNES jap version with the translation patch?

And what do you think about Lords of Xulima? It seems to be a very good game.

 

[T. Reich]

Xulima is not really a beginner's game, unless you're fine with playing on the easiest difficulty setting.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I may be echoing and repeating others on this thread (and myself); but for a good beginner RPG play:
Fallout 1.

if you insist on playing blobbers play:
Paper Sorcerer (if you can stomach the high contrast monochromatic art style)
Play Wizardry 6.

 

[V_K]

Is The Four Crystals of Trazere (aka Legend) any good?

Yes, and/but it's very unorthodox. The magic system is particularly one of the best and most original in RPGs. It also has some (minor) grand strategy elements in the worldmap movement.

 

[Lacrymas]

This whole thread is weird, including the OP. If you've already played and liked Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape Torment, you aren't a beginner in the genre. Then people start recommending the Wizardries, which are old blobbers and very hostile to beginners. I'm interested in this issue, however, because I have a new gamer friend (has mostly played Call of Duty and its myriad of aborted, malformed children) who I'd like to introduce to RPGs and I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out how best to do it without scaring him away from them. Wizardries, the IE games, the original Fallouts, etc. are out of the question entirely. I've recommended Deus Ex to him at first and then I'll probably tell him to try System Shock 2, after that I'm thinking DA:O. It has this "baby's first RPG" quality to it. After that I'm not sure, maybe Neverwinter Nights so he gets the hang of D&D without being overwhelmed by party control at the same time. If he doesn't puke from the "old graphics".

This is what beginner in this genre means, someone who will be repulsed by the very sight of Baldur's Gate, not someone who already played the IE games and likes them. I feel like I'm balancing on a knife's edge, trying to recommend good games that will spark his interest for how deep the rabbit hole goes, but not swear him off from RPGs forever.

 

[Sentinel]

I'd recommend KOTOR over NWN. You don't really need to micro manage party members, and the UI isn't complete aids like NWN.

 

[Lacrymas]

Yeah, KotOR might be not be a bad choice. I forgot to mention that he isn't a completely lost cause, as he says that Mass Effect is his favorite game, so there's room for improvement there. I wouldn't be trying to steer him to the right path if the only thing he knows is the CoDs and Battlefields.

 

[Geckabor]

I agree with with Lacrymas and going with Lacrymas' definition of a beginner I strongly believe Fallout: New Vegas to be one of the best games to start with.
The graphics are decent, system is simple, understandable and you get introduced to it quite nicely. Not only that, it also retains some form of "player skill" I guess, which would be what people who haven't yet played RPGs are accustomed to. Every skill you pick also honestly has some use to it so there aren't really any unviable builds and if I can remember, the difficulty (especially without JSawyer mod or anything) is fairly easy. A good mix of action and dialogue aswell, in my eyes it is Obsidian's masterpiece.

 

[Tigranes]

Lacrymas I've often found it beneficial to tease out exactly what kinds of things they appreciate in a game, rather than which games they enjoy, and/or observing how they play RPGs if they've played any. Asking him to tell some cool stories about what he found memorable in Mass Effect can lead you to recommend games that do it better.

This often leads to counterintuitive results. E.g. FNV I think is a good recommendation due to how it is technically built; while we may shit rightly on Bethesda-tech, non-RPG players will often find it easier to feel comfortable with the controls, camera, and world layout compared to an isometric or UI-heavy game. The caveat is that for people who have no tolerance for nonstandard shooting mechanics, FNV can feel shovelware (in the same way they might struggle with Deus Ex, AP, etc).

If FNV can instill in them the idea that the modicum of storyteling and C&C they saw in ME is child's play and now they want more, it becomes a good segway for FO1/2, and then, having cut their teeth in older isometric less hand-holdy games, the door's wide open.

 

[Lacrymas]

That's also not a bad idea, trying to find out what he likes about Mass Effect and going from there. I'm wary of recommending FNV to anyone, though, as I personally can't get into it and it's really not an RPG in any meaningful sense of the word. At least Deus Ex has stats that govern the shooting capabilities, but also sneakily introduces the concept of character builds because you can go through the game in a lot of ways. I also want to steer him away from only appreciating the story, but also get into mechanics and gameplay as a whole, which the MEs aren't a pinnacle example of. I have a suspicion that the "story" is what drew him in to it in the first place.

 

[V_K]

I've just finished West of Loathing and it seems like a perfect beginner RPG. It's funny, combat is quite easy (maybe even too easy) and it's choke-full of roleplaying options, both alternative solutions and C&Cs (and neither boils down to picking dialog options, whic is a big plus in my book).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I'm wary of recommending FNV to anyone, though, as I personally can't get into it and it's really not an RPG in any meaningful sense of the word

And meaningful sense of the word, in this instance, refers to what exactly?

 

[Mortmal]

Is The Four Crystals of Trazere (aka Legend) any good?

Yes it is, its just completely forgotten by everyone . Quite an unique one , turn based with rune magic, overland and roaming armies, garnisons you can finance .The superior version is the amiga one as its a game published in 1992.

 

[Lacrymas]

And meaningful sense of the word, in this instance, refers to what exactly?

The fact that it's an FPS?

 

[circ]

LOOOL but you can talk in it and play a role? Isn't that RPG?

I should say that the above is pure sarcasm and storyfags need to die.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

And meaningful sense of the word, in this instance, refers to what exactly?

The fact that it's an FPS?

Okay. You might as well recommend Divinity 2 to your friend then.

 

[Red Rogue]

I'm working through Fallout 2 right now and I'm really enjoying myself.

Thing is, I'm only 23 and grew up with a lot of decline RPGs like Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins. So, some of the intricacies of older CRPGs are unfamiliar to me. The reason I'm doing so well with Fallout 2 is because 400 hours of New Vegas served as a great entry point.

What would be good to play next? I'm interested in some of the D&D games like Baldurs Gate, or Neverwinter Nights, but I have no prior D&D experience. Are they easy to learn? Would something like NWN be easier?

Planescape Torment also interests me because I really like Avellone's work.

 

[mogwaimon]

I wouldn't really recommend KotoR as a beginner option on PC just because of how fucked it can be on modern PCs. Resolution patcher takes a bit to get running and even when it's working the UI when in menus is tiny as fuck, and alt-tab tends to result in half of a black screen after the second alt-tab, at least for me.

I'm doing a replay of it now so I can do KotoR2 without missing out on anything since it's been at least 14 years since I last played the game, but christ the writing is actually pretty shit and there are some fucked up design choices, like having Jawas milling around ten feet from groups of sand people who want to enslave them or having people exhibit no reaction to you stealing from them, or admitting to trying to help the sand people while buying the vaporators from the guy in the very same room as the woman who just told you quite firmly that the big bad mega corp has no interest in a peaceful solution also provoking absolutely no reaction.

I mean older RPGs definitely have some level of jank but this is all shit that might bug the hell out of this friend of yours. And depending on how much tweaking he's had to do to get his previous games up and running, he might not enjoy having to set it all up for KotoR either. But then again depending on how much of a Star Wars fan he is, maybe he'd be willing to look past it. KotoR1 is basically a proto-Mass Effect anyways if you look at it in a certain light.

I would go with DA:O over KotoR1, personally, though it's not the greatest option. More suited for modern systems, though as I recall there was still a crashing bug in the PC version during that Fade quest in the mage tower or whatever. New Vegas is a better option, but if you are dead-set against it because FPS or whatever...

Ah, right, it took a minute to think of it, but Alpha Protocol is also a pretty good option. Plays like Mass Effect but with significantly more C&C, and I don't recall any gamebreaking bugs in my playthrough other than the occasional load despawning enemies.

This'll get me a few Shit ratings too, but Dragon's Dogma or Dark Souls. They're more action than RPG, true, but if your friend is more used to action and sci-fi environments rather than fantasy, they might be good starters for that genre. Besides, they both easily beat Skyrim!

Oh, one last thing. It's hardly mentioned here, likely because it's more of a JRPG, but what about Septerra Core?