Out of the loop for a while, any recommendations?

Asking here, because I respect some of the opinions here. Don't mind if I get flamed. No, this is not an anti-DOS2 troll.

I've gamed on and off for a while, nothing recently. I finally got a computer with a decent graphics card and decided to try something modern. I bought DOS2 and couldn't last more than 3 hours. I just found it boring and tedious, or really, NOT FUN.

Are there any better gems that I should play instead? Realized I don't need graphics. DOS2 didn't even look that good.

I've included RPG cousins as well as straight up RPG games to give an idea of my tastes over time.

Long time ago
Adventure. Didn't get far. Remember some maze I died in.
Trek. (star trek unix game). Damn I loved this game.
Nethack. Didn't get far either, but lots of fun quaffing potions as a kid.
Legend of Zelda. Probably the only console RPG-ish game I beat. Parents wouldn't let me play video games much.
Tradewars 2002, fun times
Syndicate. Loved this. Tried playing it a couple years ago, had to download some DOS compatibility mods that were a bit finicky.
Beat Final Fantasy 1-6, never finished 7-X, don't think I'd enjoy the grind these days
Played Fire Emblems, Advance Wars, these were fun
sleepless nights on Diablo II, of course
Baldur's Gate 1/2, Icewind Dale all finished
Neverwinter Nights 1 - got bored halfway through

Warcraft 2, Starcraft 1, fun times, but not really into that anymore. Well, maybe Starcraft is alright.

Morrowind, got bored after becoming overpowered
Oblivion, got bored

World of Warcraft, maybe for 6 months. Eh. Never returned.

Guild Wars 1, my favorite PvP ever. Loved the skill-speccing and meta-game. Reinstalled a year ago, but hard to get random groups.
Guild Wars 2, eh okay, but didn't play more than 10 hours or so

Discovered ADOM, maybe my favorite game of all time. Tried playing with modern tiles. Can't stand it. Went back to ASCII.
Crawl, another variant I've played on/off over the years

Arcananum, kept dying, couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Not much effort. Possibly go back and try it properly.

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance on an old PS1 with a friend. Only co-op I've ever finished, other than Diablo 2.

Fallout New Vegas, spent a bunch of time, then got bored. Retried it recently. Bored.

Torchlight 1, beat it, but felt empty/guilty about it afterwards
Torchlight 2, played a bit, then got bored

Dragon Age, recall thinking it was pretty fun, accessible, but for whatever reason stopped after 10 hours or so

ToEE, loved it
Knights of the Chalice, loved it

ToME, okay, stopped playing a game halfway, maybe go back to it at some point

Pixel Dungeon, was alright, played a bunch.

Bought Magic 2014 on Steam for the hell of it. Entertaining, some solid 20 hours or so of casual gaming.
Speaking of card games, have Androminion on my phone. Unfortunately, they got shut down. Pretty much the only game I ever play on my phone. Have that .apk file backed up in 3 places so I don't lose it.

Terraria, lot of hours, but kinda petered out
Binding of Isaac, still love it
FTL, loved it
Don't Starve, loved it, but gets tedious after too much
Darkest Dungeons, okay for a bit, but got bored

DOS2, hated it.

I'm sad. Will I hate most/all modern AAA titles? Has anything worth playing been made recently? Any small indie games I've missed?

I will probably end up going back to ADOM/Crawl or maybe explore ToME a bit more. If I feel like something casual, maybe FTL.

Unless I can get some better recommendations?

Muchos gracias.

 

Game's that I've enjoyed that somewhat fit with your experience. Haven't played DOS2, tried DOS1 and didn't like it, can't stand WL2 and PoE v1.0 never clicked me despite literal 100s of hours of BG1 and BG2.

from http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ine-tm-of-crpgs-imminent.111220/#post-4753881

In the list of upcoming games from that link, forget about Torment (Torment: Tides of NumaNuma, not PST) though, and Battle Brothers is released now and really fun for those of us that haven't put 100s of hours of into it.

A lot of larger (AA+) modern games have this sterile feel that turns me off, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is except that WL2, DOS1 and PoE v1 all shared it, albeit in different aspects of the respective games. Some poster has identified that feeling as being invoked in games that are the product of Taylorist design, and I kinda agree (although said poster might not put those 3 KS games in the same category, I do).

 

Deus Ex - the first one and my top game of all time

STALKER:Shadow of Chernobyl - the first one and my second favourite game of all time. ~some~ codexers will swear by the second or third STALKER but trust me, the first one is the best

Underrail - third on my all time list; any build is viable; kicks your ass early on and a terrible time sink

Grim Dawn - decent single player action rpg from the makers of titan quest about killing zombies and such

Divinity 2 Directors Cut - enjoyable third person fantasy romp

 

What you want need, is Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar

 

The little text field became red when i searched for "Gothic".
What's wrong with you?

 

He prefers party-based RPGs?

 

Since you love ADOM (I also don't like the tiles) and seem to generally like roguelikes, try Caves of Qud. It is great looking and sounding, has a unique setting and lore, and is mechanically interesting (among other virtues).

 

Legend of Grimrock (2012) and its sequel (2014) for excellent exploration.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (2012/2013/2016) for excellent action-based combat.

Age of Decadence (2015) for a Fallout-influenced, CYOA game.

Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (2017) for obvious reasons.

 

When it comes to SNES JRPGs I can suggest Chrono Trigger and Seiken Densetsu 3. For Diablo-like action hack-n-slash, I'd say NoX by Westwood Studios (you missed out on its heyday when everyone was PvPing online though, but there are still a few small servers). The level design is actually decent, the combat's more fast-paced, and there's some actual environmental interaction. None of these games are really RPGs in the Codexian sense, but they're fun anyway.

NWN1: No one plays Neverwinter Nights for the campaign. It's shit. People play it for the user-made custom campaigns, which are much, much better. For example, try The Aielund Saga.

ToEE: There's a Temple+ mod now. Might be worth checking out if you haven't already.

Age of Decadence went overboard on the CYOA style of conflict resolution imo. Too much Fallout influence, perhaps, but I think it would've gone much better if VD had taken a note out of the adventure genre's book and added more puzzle-based problem solving and player investigation and the like. VD swung too hard on the side of character skill so the noncombat routes really feel like a Choose Your Own Adventure book (albeit a very extensive one). Combat is fairly solid on the whole. It's based heavily on the original Fallouts 1 & 2, but it excises the time-wasting shit (like the fast-travel options that remove much of the walking), so it doesn't really get boring. You will end up fucking around a lot with your character builds though, and there is a very large amount of branching in the questlines depending on your skills and decisions. There's a Codex review by Darth Roxor here, and a rather decent video review I'll just embed:



I wouldn't really recommend Grimoire unless you're a fan of blobbers, especially Wizardry. Cleve is still dragging his feet on his manual for Grimoire, so I'm going to have to say it isn't friendly for newbies to the genre (although the Golden Era Games subforum is right here if you feel like asking for help), since this is the kind of game where you want to actually read the manual. If you want to play blobbers you might want to start with Lands of Lore 1 & 2, or perhaps Wizardry 7 if you want to familiarize yourself with Grimoire's style of blobber in particular.

 

Arcanum is definitely worth another try if you gave up on it the first time. It's a little janky but very enjoyable.

Divine Divinity - Predecessor to modern Divinity/DOS games, but this is a single-character RPG with ARPG-style UI/controls. Pretty open-ended world with lots of ways to get yourself killed and tons of little things to discover. The writing/story is arguably better than modern Divinity games (DOS 2 goes into Tumbler territory very often and can get very boring as a result).

Some non-RPG games, since you liked FTL:

Rimworld - Rimworld is colony management on a hostile planet. Keep your people fed and clothed, fend off raids, capture/recruit new colonists, research your way to freedom. It's early access, but it's one of those games that thrives in that format. It's not an RPG, so there's no story outside of the one that evolves, ala Dwarf Fortress.

Factorio - Like Rimworld, you crashed on a hostile planet. But instead of managing colonists, you build a factory to survive. Research new technology to expand your factory until you find a way off planet.

Oxygen Not Included - Same devs as Don't Starve, but it's an antfarm-style colony sim game. Early Access and probably has a long way to go to release.

I find a lot of modern AAA titles to be a little soulless, especially titles that are heavily covered by modern games journalists (including certain indies). Some are fun, but even the best are usually forgettable within a few days to a week. The industry in general is highly politicized right now (and therefore less driven by creative inspiration/talent), but there are the occasional gems.

 

Cool, I have seen Factorio and Rimworld, was possibly thinking of trying them. Had not heard of Oxygen Not Included. Klei has great style but their endgame is a bit lacking.

I guess this is true with any medium - movies, music, etc., it all goes to hell once mainstream. (Also true for some sad things too like charity, science, etc.)

Yeah! Completely forgot about Chrono Trigger. Except for the combo thing, the gameplay is almost identical to a 100 other games like it, but for some reason Chrono Trigger was super fun. Not sure why. Maybe it has to do with the "missing element" nullbag and agris were talking about.

I heard about this game. Wasn't sure if it was too gimmicky or if they pulled off something that's actually fun. Was definitely intrigued when looking for something fresh.

Never heard of it before. Looked it up on Steam... HELL YES!!! This is why I posted here. Right up my alley.
THANK YOU!

Yeah, for some reason I haven't had much luck with first person (or over the shoulder) style RPGs. There's a whole bunch of highly rated ones like Gothic, Vampire: The Masquerades, Deus Ex, etc that I never tried. Not sure why I don't like them. Maybe because they remind me of FPS mechanics, and I kinda don't like FPS. Only ever played a bit of Halo 1 and Unreal Tournament, not much. I hate mouse-based twitch combat of any sort. Maybe I just need to try the right one. But yeah, I really grew bored with Elder Scroll games + New Vegas so that doesn't give me much hope.

Hm, didn't realize that I tend to avoid first person RPGs until now. I think I prefer turn-based mechanics in general.

Grimoire looks intriguing. I've been meaning to try a blobber for a long time and never got around to it. In this last round, I was looking into Wizardry or MM, possibly thinking about Wizardry 8, but then I saw the flame wars on the threads here about Wiz vs MM and abandoned that plan.

I need to try a blobber one of these days, bet I like it.

Good to know... WL2 and PoE had tons of good mainstream reviews, so I was tempted to try one this last round. I probably won't like them either.

Some new ones I haven't heard. Going through them.

Yeah, I heard about the new Torment. I have to admit I never played the first one even thought it's #1 on all these greatest games lists. Didn't know if it's more story-based, as I'm not into that at the moment. I should probably play the first Planescape someday. That and Arcananum... although I feel like I'm doing it because I am supposed to, lol.

THANKS ALL!

Really awesome replies that gave me a tons of ideas.

Will definitely check out Caves of Qud.
Need to check out a blobber at some point, sooner rather than later. Maybe try Grimoire.

For something more modern, I'll probably try Factorio and/or Rimworld at some point.

 

Why?!

p.s. Blackguards is a must play. And Blackguards 2 more or less. And Aarklash Legacy. Also get Legend of Grimrock 2 and install the Magic of Grimrock mod. Also NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer. Betrayal At Krondor if you don't mind very old games and your screen resolution isn't too big. Baldur's Gate 2, you played that right? System Shock 1 and 2.

 

If you are into Rogue-likes and are good with perma-death, there isn't much that will compare to those. I am a big fan of Angband and variants. NEO Scavenger is a really unique and excellently crafted post-apocalyptic survival RL with unique mechanics and very interesting combat.

For tactical combat games, if you can stand older interfaces I would recommend playing Pool of Radiance on Forgotten Realms Unlimited Advantures (FRUA). The Blackguards suggestion is a good one if you enjoyed Knight of the Chalice. The combat and character system is very good. Underrail is also excellent for tactical SP combat and I liked the setting quite a bit. Battle Brothers is a good spin on a tactical board game that I found really charming and satisfying. I would also recommend Dark Heart of Uukrul. It is wholly unique and excellent.

For blobbers, you can't go wrong with Wizardry8 and Grimoire is excellent as well.

For something out of left field and by some people's definition not an RPG at all, try the excellent King of Dragon Pass. A really riveting mixture of Create Your Own Adventure, RPG and player authored story that I haven't find much to compare to.

You mentioned that you aren't into first person RPGs. If you haven't tried Ultima Underworld I would recommend you give it a try. It is easily the game that has most impressed me to date and is IMO the unparalleled king of first person dungeon crawlers.

 

You have returned at the right time.


Elex cometh.

 

Little annoying bits, but overall, just not fun. Missing that "it" factor for me.

Awesome suggestions. A lot of these look really intriguing. Thanks for the thoughtful and informed reply! Going to try NEO right after Qud, but some of the other ones like Dragon Pass and Ultima too.

I started this thread with zero games on my to-play list. Now I have like 5 or more. Sweet.

 

Jagged Alliance 2 is the answer.
I won.

 

I tried Dragon Pass and Ultima VII from recommendations from these boards and loathed both. Dragon Pass is a strategy game that uses random rather than strategy and Ultima VII is a talking/cake baking simulation/adventure game. If you're a big fan of roguelikes then you'd be best off trying the two you mentioned first, starting with QUD; Neo is good mechanically, but do you really want to be fantasising yourself as a literal hobo for hours on end? Isn't that the reverse of why most people play fantasy games...

 

Give King of Dragon Pass (KoDP) another chance.

My recommendations:
Underrail
The Witcher 3 is 5/5
You might enjoy Drakensang or Drakensang: River of Time, the former can be a bit unpolished and it feels grindy.
Stardew Valley (mega popular)
Undertale was also really popular, kids like it. Teh codex hates it.
You could try Serpent in the Staglands, but it's kinda clunky.
Quest for Infamy, the company's prior adventure game is free to play but I can't remember the name for the life of me.

 

Oh for God's sake. What the fuck is so good about it? Apart from "muh obscure culture" what the fuck is there to like? It's dull, repetitive, abstract and just another paint the regions your colour strategy game, but without any of the pleasures of a regular strategy game, a hamster wheel of random chewing away your life in a dream/nightmare illusion of originality.

 

I would second Deus Ex and for other ones I don't see Shadowrun series mentioned.

If you're to party based games this is useless, but I liked the first Witcher game. I never got very far in sequel, it was like very different game.

 

You joyless curmudgeon.

 

For casual fun try Neo Scavenger, it's rather gud. There is also a little tower defence game with rpg elements Defender Quest - not over the top challenging, but the writing is great humor-wise.

Also, listen to prestigious gentlemen who suggested Jagged Alliance 2 +1.13 and all Shadowruns.

I guess you could add Wasteland 2 to the list, if you're into RPGs with scarce resources (ammo, meds, etc) - it does provide a certian challenge in the first half of the game. Might get boring, tho.

Mount & Blade: Warband with Brytenwalda overhaul mod. It's great. It's fun. It's much less micro-management than it looks on pics.

Sunless Sea is great if you're into Lovecraftean read. It really hooked me up for a certain period.

Bottle Brothers, because just play it.

And yeah, since Rimworld was mentioned, you might as well drop rpgs and enjoy the ride. Play on extreme+permadeath, it the only Codex way. Got some screenies for you from my LP:

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

Finally, if you're done with real life - can't go wrong with Dominions 4.

 

Try Swordflight.