What RPGs are best at letting you use magic to solve problems in clever ways?

[hunter1899]

What RPGs are best at letting you use magic to solve problems in clever ways instead of just fireball, ice bolt, heal, repeat? Ideally it would be spells with a broad effect that the player applies in unique and clever ways.

 

[CryptRat]

The Quest for glory games and their clones are arguably the best when it comes to solve problems with magic.

 

[hunter1899]

The Quest for glory games and their clones are arguably the best when it comes to solve problems with magic.

So damn true. I can't think of a game that did it better. When you say clones you mean Heroines Quest, Quest for Infamy??

 

[CryptRat]

Yes but the truth is that I played Heroine's Quest but did not play Quest for Infamy. Heroine's Quest is at least as good as actual Quest For Glory games in my opinion.

In Dragon Wars you get to use spells to solve puzzles too, although' I don't remember exactly to what extent because you also often directly use skills instead, and something similar can be said about Realms Of Arkania : Star Trail.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Dark Sun, Arcanum, Underrail

 

[buffalo bill]

Infra Arcana

 

[barghwata]

... Underrail

Really? i haven't tried a psionic build yet.

 

[hunter1899]

Dark Sun, Arcanum, Underrail

Heard good things about Dark Sun. Any examples of how spells can be used in this way?

 

[V_K]

Voidspire Tactics has a lot of abilities that interact with environment DOS-style, but unlike DOS they are actually useful out of combat - to make alternative non-combat paths or reach secret areas.
Otherwise, I think most of the games in immersive sim lineage have fun magic builds - UUW, Arx Fatalis, SS2, Dishonored...

 

[V_K]

... Underrail

Really? i haven't tried a psionic build yet.

I have, and it seemed to me that they're entirely combat abilities, so that mention surprised me quite a bit.
But speaking of combat magic, Solasta seems very promising in that regard - you can do things like cast sleep on a flying enemy and make them fall down to take damage etc.

 

[hunter1899]

Yes but the truth is that I played Heroine's Quest but did not play Quest for Infamy. Heroine's Quest is at least as good as actual Quest For Glory games in my opinion.

In Dragon Wars you get to use spells to solve puzzles too, although' I don't remember exactly to what extent because you also often directly use skills instead, and something similar can be said about Realms Of Arkania : Star Trail.

Might have to try Heroines Quest. Always heard mixed things about Realms of Arkania. Worth a play you think? I'm assuming I should steer clear of the remake huh?

 

[Sinatar]

People around here have a serious hate boner for them, but the Divinity Original Sin games let you do all kinds of crazy shit with magic.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well I heard this one was the bees knees for innovative spell use...

Spoiler

 

[V_K]

Divinity Original Sin games let you do all kinds of crazy shit with magic.

Depends on your definition of crazy shit. Most of it is just reskinned crowd control. Non-combat uses of magic are largely limited to teleportation and fireballing locked doors. And I guess telekinesis qualifies, even though it's a skill.

Always heard mixed things about Realms of Arkania.

The only bad thing about RoA is that they implement all of the skills and spells from the PnP system, but their usefulness for a CRPG varies widely. Some are essential, some are only good for earning a little money here and there, some are used once or twice throughout the whole trilogy, and some are just flavor. Just read a guide before making your party to see what's what. But otherwise they're great games, and have some very creative spells.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Arx Fatalis lets you get away with just about anything if you can pull it off. Same goes for Morrowind, though on absolute steroids. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide has some scripted interactions where you can use spells in dialogue, but they are early and few. Bloodlines: Vampire - the Masquerade lets you use your supernatural abilities in dialogues to great effect. Arcanum has some non-combat spells with some utility, like allowing you to speak with dead NPCs. Baldur's Gate (1 & 2) has an incredible spell list that allows you to pull of impressive tricks, but with a few exceptions, it's pretty exclusive to combat. Divinity Original Sin will let you get away with using Teleport to overcome many different obstacles.

 

[hunter1899]

Well I heard this one was the bees knees for innovative spell use...

Spoiler

What a damn shame.

 

[hunter1899]

Arx Fatalis lets you get away with just about anything if you can pull it off. Same goes for Morrowind, though on absolute steroids. Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide has some scripted interactions where you can use spells in dialogue, but they are early and few. Bloodlines: Vampire - the Masquerade lets you use your supernatural abilities in dialogues to great effect. Arcanum has some non-combat spells with some utility, like allowing you to speak with dead NPCs. Baldur's Gate (1 & 2) has an incredible spell list that allows you to pull of impressive tricks, but with a few exceptions, it's pretty exclusive to combat. Divinity Original Sin will let you get away with using Teleport to overcome many different obstacles.

Yeah Arx was great. Looking for more like it. Morrowind had fun spells too, but I never felt like the world was built with obstacles to really encourage their use if that makes sense. Not like Arx anyway. Haven't gotten too deep into Arcanum since the combat always turned me off. I'll have to look up some of the spells it offers.

 

[flabbyjack]

 

[V_K]

Morrowind had fun spells too, but I never felt like the world was built with obstacles to really encourage their use if that makes sense.

Couldn't agree more.

Haven't gotten too deep into Arcanum since the combat always turned me off. I'll have to look up some of the spells it offers.

It's kinda similar to Morrowind situation - many cool spells but not many occasions to use them. Some things don't even make sense - like, for example, an NPC under domination spell will fight and die for you, but you can't get any information from them. Talking to the dead is the only one relatively widely useful - that is to say, it works in like 3 or 4 quests.

Speaking of missed opportunities, Noita - while not quite an RPG - has a pretty crazy arsenal of spells and potions that can interact with environment in a ton of ways since every pixel is physically simulated. The problem? Levels are randomly generated for the most part, so 90% of all these interactions are just random chaotic disasters. Only very rarely you can do something purposeful with the environment (beyond digging new tunnels with some kind of explosives).

 

[deama]

Dark messiah of might and magic I thought had some fun interactions, e.g. using telekensis and throwing objects at enemies, or using ice on the ground so enemies slip when they walk on it.

 

[Serus]

The Quest for glory games and their clones are arguably the best when it comes to solve problems with magic.

Yes but Quest for Glory series was as much adventure games as CRPGs. In fact, in my opinion, more like a typical point & click adventure with some CRPG bits added. Not the other ways around. The use of magic, despite being sometimes very creative, always felt not very CRPG-y but straight from point and click adventure game. If it make any sense.
Great series overall, tough I only finished parts 1 and 4.

 

[Desiderius]

What RPGs are best at letting you use magic to solve problems in clever ways instead of just fireball, ice bolt, heal, repeat? Ideally it would be spells with a broad effect that the player applies in unique and clever ways.

There's a certain dog where he shouldn't be in P:K and, yes, it works. Spectacularly.

 

[oasis789]

Superhero League of Hoboken. Seriously. You use your funky superpowers in the usual adventure game style to solve puzzles, but its the exact same superpowers used in combat to mess with enemies.

 

[eli]

Just play the first two fallouts, they have shit ton of ways to solve most problems you encounter. This ain't magic but skills you use cleverly, but why you need magic specifically.
Khans from the first fallout give you some ways to free the girl:
- Kill everyone
- Kill everyone but use stealth skill to put an explosive inside a crate near the boss of the khans, effectively making the battle much easier
- use explosives to free the girl and sneak out
- talk the boss out (if i remember correctly)

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Ultima IV and V, Dragon Wars, Darklands (if I remember correctly), and Realms of Arkania 1 and 2.

Unfortunately modern gaymers and developers can no longer think of RPGs as holistic experiences, and tend to divide them into combat encounters (muh tacticool encounters, muh popamole) and plot segments (muh emotional engagement, muh dialogue choices) only, forgetting about exploration, simulationism, fun and immersive mechanics outside combat, and so on. Explorationfag games are the exception, but funnily enough I can't think of modern explorationfag games with spellcasters.