Looking for RPG suggestions

[Beans00]

So for a long time from like 2009 till 2019 I only played like 3 RPGs and not many other games either. Fallout 3 which I knew I was gonna hate(and I did). New vegas which I played on release and surprisingly liked alot. Then I played like half of wasteland 2 on release(before DC so it was much worse). I might be forgetting some. Anyways to cut to the chase like 2 years ago I started playing a bunch of these newer RPGs from the last 7 or so years and I've been pretty surprised by some.


Anyways I'm not trying to bore anyone, I'm going to list the games I liked and the games I disliked and based on that if anyone has any suggestions feel free to post them. My all time favorite games are Fallout 1-2 and Arcanum. I generally don't care for trash mobs and busywork although I can enjoy heavy combat games if the combat is good(ala JA2). I generally prefer TB but can real with RT/RTWP if the game makes up for it in encounter design.

I'm also going to include a few total conversions I've played, so if you know any good ones feel free as well. Not all these games are new but most are.

Games I've enjoyed;
-Fallout 1.5 (great)
-Fallout Nevada (great)
-Atom RPG (Really liked this one)
-New vegas(replayed, still hods up to me)
-Dead state (a lot of people hated this game but I had fun on it, although it dragged on and at times could be monotonous)
-Dungeon Rats (I generally don't like dungeon crawlers but I liked the encounter design)

Games I have mixed feelings(but still generally enjoyed)
-Wasteland 2 (I liked the combat and setting. I can't really put my finger on it but the game just didn't seem to have a personality. There was a 10 hour segment in the middle they could have trimmed out and made the game better imo. I also hated the way skills worked and how they encouraged skill hoarding. DC did fix a lot of interface problems though.)
-Age of decadence ( Liked the setting, combat and mortality of characters. I disliked the CYOA adventures and found the game railroaded you down too many choices/quest lines without options to get out. If anything I felt like the game has too many meaningful choices to the point where you need to min max and it detracts from the games overall experience).
-Shadowrun Returns( It was ok but not much of an RPG, very linear. I like the setting. It didn't drag on too much or I'd probably put it in the dislike column. I've heard the sequels are better so I might check them out.

-Tyranny (sort of in it's own section, overall I thought the choices/reactivity and setting were cool. The dialogue was pretty cringe but I could deal with it. What I couldn't deal with were the constant trash mobs and bad encounter design. The game is pretty short or else there's no way I would have finished it.


Games I generally disliked(but may have some redeeming qualities)
Oblivion(I'm aware it's a 2006 games but I played it for the first time a few months ago. It was about what I expected it to be but frankly I enjoyed it much more then the outer worlds.)
The bards tale(The crappy 2004 game, I got it for free with wasteland 2)
Eschalon book 1(Played it for like 3-4 hours, couldn't stand this one)
Two worlds( 2007 game, played it for the first time last year. Wasn't good.)
Fallout new California( NV total conversion, really bad imo)
The outer worlds( I can't really articulate how much I disliked this game. Everything about it was bad to me. Shit writing, shit setting, shit story, shit characters, shit gunplay, shit combat, shit items, shit npcs.)


Anyways if you don't care about this thread that's ok. The main RPG I'm considering getting at this moment is Disco Elysium so if you have anything to say about that game please do so.

Also feel free to post lists of games you either enjoyed or didn't enjoy that you've played in the last few years.

 

[Butter]

Play Underrail and Kingmaker with TB mode.

 

[Red Hexapus]

I can strongly recommend Disco Elysium, as the story, world and dialogues are amazing (and amazingly insane at times) although you should be aware it's less of an RPG and more of a CYOA. What I really love about it though is that failures don't stop you from continuing and sometimes results you get are better than if you succeeded.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall is much better than the base game, with interesting plot and characters and some reactivity to the story. Hong Kong is good too, but I prefer it less as they've filled it with unnecessary "wall-of-text" expositions an stupid real-time overhaul to hacking.

 

[Atlet]

Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2, Pathfinder Kingmaker, Bladurs Gate 1 and 2 with SCS mods, Icewind Dale - best of the best isometric party based rpgs

The Witcher 3 and Dark Souls series - awesome action oriented rpgs

And the classics in the https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=11193 101 best of list

 

[d1r]

B-Baldur's Gate? Or at least Icewind Dale for the great encounter design.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The Fall: Last Days of Gaia -- trashy RTWP combat, but the quest design and atmosphere make up for that. Think German Fallout 3 (with two former Van Buren designers on board) that happens to be better than the one we've got.

Soulbringer -- unusual combat system that you'll either enjoy or hate, but the exploration in this game is done very nicely. Walking through dark snowy fields for hours while enjoying the ambience and fighting brigands is pure comfort food.

Gorky 17 -- nice combat system and encounters, not very complex and doesn't take too long to finish. Good if you want ~9 hours of solid entertainment.

Droiyan (Icarus: Sanctuary of the Gods in the West) is fun if a small team of characters (1-5) fighting TB battles against hordes of enemies sounds like something you'd enjoy.

 

[V_K]

There can be one answer and one answer only: Realms of Arkania HD

 

[CryptRat]

For all its flaws, and trash mobs may be among them, I think Stygian is among the games whose gameplay reminds Fallout the best.

Blackguards and Dungeon Rats gave me a similar vibe with a focus on carefully crafted encounters and some overall low keyness, trading blows and such. Unfortunately there's no proper exploration between two encounter maps, only a world map with encounter points and town screens, but I liked it anyway and if you liked Dungeon Rats you may enjoy it too.

 

[agris]

Blackguards 1 is a great recommendation since the OP likes dungeon rats.

Underrail is a great suggestion as well.

OP - if you liked Jagged Alliance, check out Silent Storm. No story to speak of, but one of the best combat and destructive environment games I’ve ever played. It has a better combat system than JA2, with more intricate options that paradoxically is presented in an easier and more intuitive manner than JA2’s.

edit: forgot to mention expedition: conquistador. It’s the historical fiction version of blackguards, so think of it as a recommendation borne from your enjoyment of dungeon rats.

 

[flushfire]

OP - if you liked Jagged Alliance, check out Silent Storm.

This is still part of the series afaik but from what I remember Hammer & Sickle had more writing, and it was pretty decent too. I remember enjoying it a lot. I guess it's time I replayed it myself.

 

[lukaszek]

The bards tale(The crappy 2004 game, I got it for free with wasteland 2)

its a bad luck to be you

 

[Beans00]

B-Baldur's Gate? Or at least Icewind Dale for the great encounter design.

I played BG1-2 and IWD 1-2 back in the day.

IWD 1 I dont really remember but IWD 2 has super garbage encounter design at the beginning anyways, I dropped it in the first chapter.


I liked the BG games enough for 1 playthrough each when I was a kid but every time I tried to go back to either of them I dropped them within a few hours.

The Fall: Last Days of Gaia -- trashy RTWP combat, but the quest design and atmosphere make up for that. Think German Fallout 3 (with two former Van Buren designers on board) that happens to be better than the one we've got.

Soulbringer -- unusual combat system that you'll either enjoy or hate, but the exploration in this game is done very nicely. Walking through dark snowy fields for hours while enjoying the ambience and fighting brigands is pure comfort food.

Gorky 17 -- nice combat system and encounters, not very complex and doesn't take too long to finish. Good if you want ~9 hours of solid entertainment.

Droiyan (Icarus: Sanctuary of the Gods in the West) is fun if a small team of characters (1-5) fighting TB battles against hordes of enemies sounds like something you'd enjoy.

I've played soulbringer(came with pst and didn't like it).


Is there an easy English translation of the fall? I always wanted to play that game years ago

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Is there an easy English translation of the fall? I always wanted to play that game years ago

There is a fan translation: https://archive.org/details/the-fall-last-days-of-gaia-fan-translation

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The following list is brought to you by Porky Enterprises™, purveyor of the finest tastes on Earth:

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - best iso RPG in the last 15 years or so, great combination of tight tactical combat and good writing
Expeditions: Viking - excellent RPG for history fans
Kingdom Come: Deliverance - mod it as per the review, amazing historical RPG
Zelda: Breath of the Wild - lite RPG or action-adventure game? who cares, play it on Switch/Wii or emulate on PC, the best open world game in the last 15 years for sure
ELEX - pretty solid offering from masters of open world RPGs
Witcher 3 - writing/cutscenes/production values/lore are better than the gameplay in this one, but with some mods for combat, still a masterpiece
Dark Souls 1 - great action RPG
Vulture (graphical NetHack) - years of fun
Battle Brothers - get an insurance plan for your hair first, but other than that, very fun mercenary RPG

Ignore the tards in this thread that suggest shit like Poopfinder: Pissmaker, or jRPGs or Pooplards of Eternity.

 

[Falksi]

I echo the following suggestions:

• Shadowrun Dragonfall - Way less linear, way more fleshed out
• Underrail
• Blackguards
  

I's also suggest

• Dragon Age: Origins - Flawed & generic, but still a fantastic game with great C&C, and fun combat. Just play as a mage or duel wield rogue, the other classes are far duller.
• Avernum 3 - Very old-school, but I like that
• Witcher 2 - Action orientated, but the best C&C in any game ever IMHO
• Hard West - Not an RPG, way more a tactics game, but it's still dripping with a great atmosphere, set of stories & great turn based combat

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

It's my responsibility as someone with more refined tastes to suggest to him the good games he ought to be playing instead of the trash he thinks he will enjoy.

 

[Lord of Riva]

For all its flaws, and trash mobs may be among them, I think Stygian is among the games whose gameplay reminds Fallout the best.

Stygian is pretty cool, i really liked it, but is not really finished and ends on a cliffhanger and at this point in time there is no reason to assume the story will ever be finished. Just to point that out, if OP wants to give it a chance

 

[smaug]

Arcanum or Wizardry 8

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

...
Games I've enjoyed;
...
-Dungeon Rats (I generally don't like dungeon crawlers but I liked the encounter design)

Games I have mixed feelings(but still generally enjoyed)
-Wasteland 2 (I liked the combat and setting. I can't really put my finger on it but the game just didn't seem to have a personality. There was a 10 hour segment in the middle they could have trimmed out and made the game better imo. I also hated the way skills worked and how they encouraged skill hoarding. DC did fix a lot of interface problems though.)
-Age of decadence ( Liked the setting, combat and mortality of characters. I disliked the CYOA adventures and found the game railroaded you down too many choices/quest lines without options to get out. If anything I felt like the game has too many meaningful choices to the point where you need to min max and it detracts from the games overall experience).

Since you seem to enjoy turn-based tactical combat, perhaps you should follow up with recent games that are strong in this regard, even if they lack C&C aspects you enjoy in your favorite games (iFallout and Arcanum) and perhaps even if they are "SRPGs" (i.e. squad-based tactics games with character progression/customization). Dungeon of Naheulbeuk was released last year and finished 4th in the Codex's GotY 2020 voting, due to its strong combat and decent character customization, while Troubleshooter finished 3rd in the same GotY 2020 voting despite not being an RPG (zero exploration) and despite anime influences, due to its strong encounter design and customization. Solasta just released in May and is similar in being focused on tactical battles with limited exploration (even less than Naheulbeuk). Also Wasteland 3 finished first in the same poll and seems to be generally regarded more favorably than its immediate predecessor.

Since you enjoyed Fallout: New Vegas, you might also appreciate another Open World game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which is a strictly historical RPG set in Bohemia c. 1400 and released in 2018.

Also, if you're willing to explore other subgenres, you could try Legend of Grimrock (2012) and its sequel (2014) which are real-time blobbers modeled after Dungeon Master, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (2012/2013/2016) which is a real-time action-based combat-focused RPG, and Grimoire: Heralds of the Winged Exemplar which is a turn-based blobber by the Codex's own Cleve Blakemore.

 

[Ysaye]

Based onlikes/dislikes, from a setting perspective and graphics maybe Septerra Core? And maybe from a lots of choices and freedom perspective Arcanum?

 

[Beans00]

Since you enjoyed Fallout: New Vegas, you might also appreciate another Open World game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which is a strictly historical RPG set in Bohemia c. 1400 and released in 2018.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance - mod it as per the review, amazing historical RPG

KCD caught my eye, I tried it earlier this year on a friends steam account but it literally melted my PC. It ran at maybe 5-10 FPS at the most. I was surprised I could run outer worlds, which I think is the upper tier of games my PC can handle( I may upgrade eventually but not for the time being).

As for the other games I'll look into everything suggested.

 

[Salvo]

Gothic / Risen / Elex

 

[Catacombs]

I echo Baldur's Gate I/II, Icewind Dale, Underrail, Shadowrun and Pathfinder: Kingmaker for isometric RPGs.

I'd also throw in Grim Dawn, if you want something like Diablo.

Disco Elysium is in its own league and worth playing to see what the hype is about.

I generally prefer TB

Divinity: Original Sin I and II. Both are turn-based games. They're not fantastic games, but they scratch the itch, despite their flaws. There's enough content to last you a while.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

What itch do Derpinity Original Shits scratch exactly? Endless horrible humor? Cat and imp jokes up the ass? Plotlines so terrible, the terrible humor outlined before serves to hide them?

 

[0wca]

So for a long time from like 2009 till 2019 I only played like 3 RPGs and not many other games either. Fallout 3 which I knew I was gonna hate(and I did). New vegas which I played on release and surprisingly liked alot. Then I played like half of wasteland 2 on release(before DC so it was much worse). I might be forgetting some. Anyways to cut to the chase like 2 years ago I started playing a bunch of these newer RPGs from the last 7 or so years and I've been pretty surprised by some.


Anyways I'm not trying to bore anyone, I'm going to list the games I liked and the games I disliked and based on that if anyone has any suggestions feel free to post them. My all time favorite games are Fallout 1-2 and Arcanum. I generally don't care for trash mobs and busywork although I can enjoy heavy combat games if the combat is good(ala JA2). I generally prefer TB but can real with RT/RTWP if the game makes up for it in encounter design.

I'm also going to include a few total conversions I've played, so if you know any good ones feel free as well. Not all these games are new but most are.

Games I've enjoyed;
-Fallout 1.5 (great)
-Fallout Nevada (great)
-Atom RPG (Really liked this one)
-New vegas(replayed, still hods up to me)
-Dead state (a lot of people hated this game but I had fun on it, although it dragged on and at times could be monotonous)
-Dungeon Rats (I generally don't like dungeon crawlers but I liked the encounter design)

Games I have mixed feelings(but still generally enjoyed)
-Wasteland 2 (I liked the combat and setting. I can't really put my finger on it but the game just didn't seem to have a personality. There was a 10 hour segment in the middle they could have trimmed out and made the game better imo. I also hated the way skills worked and how they encouraged skill hoarding. DC did fix a lot of interface problems though.)
-Age of decadence ( Liked the setting, combat and mortality of characters. I disliked the CYOA adventures and found the game railroaded you down too many choices/quest lines without options to get out. If anything I felt like the game has too many meaningful choices to the point where you need to min max and it detracts from the games overall experience).
-Shadowrun Returns( It was ok but not much of an RPG, very linear. I like the setting. It didn't drag on too much or I'd probably put it in the dislike column. I've heard the sequels are better so I might check them out.

-Tyranny (sort of in it's own section, overall I thought the choices/reactivity and setting were cool. The dialogue was pretty cringe but I could deal with it. What I couldn't deal with were the constant trash mobs and bad encounter design. The game is pretty short or else there's no way I would have finished it.


Games I generally disliked(but may have some redeeming qualities)
Oblivion(I'm aware it's a 2006 games but I played it for the first time a few months ago. It was about what I expected it to be but frankly I enjoyed it much more then the outer worlds.)
The bards tale(The crappy 2004 game, I got it for free with wasteland 2)
Eschalon book 1(Played it for like 3-4 hours, couldn't stand this one)
Two worlds( 2007 game, played it for the first time last year. Wasn't good.)
Fallout new California( NV total conversion, really bad imo)
The outer worlds( I can't really articulate how much I disliked this game. Everything about it was bad to me. Shit writing, shit setting, shit story, shit characters, shit gunplay, shit combat, shit items, shit npcs.)


Anyways if you don't care about this thread that's ok. The main RPG I'm considering getting at this moment is Disco Elysium so if you have anything to say about that game please do so.

Also feel free to post lists of games you either enjoyed or didn't enjoy that you've played in the last few years.

You already posted some of my favorites, let me give you the rest:

• Planescape: Torment - My all time favorite RPG, not so much because of C&C (though it still has a good amount), but due to a fantastic story with awesome characters and setting. You might need some time to get used to the combat as it's based on D&D 2E.

• Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - Played through this one countless times, it's one of the best RPG experiences ever - the dialogue is fantastic. The combat is clunky, as is the engine, but with the right patches, it can be mostly played without issues. I suggest you download the Clan Quest Mod, which also includes patches and adds a bunch of new content which could easily have been in the base game (and features yours truly as an NPC lol).

• Shadowrun: Dragonfall & Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Like you, I also didn't like the original Shadowrun: Returns as it was too linear. Dragonfall and Hong Kong drastically improve on this aspect. I'd say the later is one of my all time favorite games of all time, were it not for some dumb matrix changes that they made.

• Neverwinter Nights - This one is a classic D&D RPG that has a bunch of player-made modules as well. I suggest getting the Diamond Edition and skipping the base campaign completely and start with Shadows of Undertide then go to Hordes of the Underdark. If you run out of campaigns, you can always download player-made modules (I particularly recommend The Prophet series).

• Underrail - This one has a cool setting a lot of different character builds and interesting factions and locations. Haven't yet played Expedition so I can't really rate it. Overall I'd say it's a fun RPG, although it is pretty combat heavy and you need to make a good build otherwise you're gonna have a pretty bad time. Quite a few quests are awesome, though the early quests are a little railroady which I didn't care for.

• Wasteland 3 - Not the best RPG and a little sparse on content, but it does have pretty cool C&C and some interesting quests. Combat is a little broken though.