Which of these are the best games of the CRPG revival? [Sep 2021 Edition]

[blessed king of longing]

Sure, was easy to bring out the cringe in you. Let's see if you write something without it

The cringe exists in all of us my friend

 

[AdamReith]

Underrail's deep systems and amazing graphics puts it at the top of this list for me.

It satisfied the biggest hurdle any rpg faces, it felt like it put you into a living complex world you could interact with meaningfully.

And it had one of my first "aw yeah" moment since I was a kid when it let you pilot a Protectorate Dreadnaught. Why are these so rare now?

 

[Trashos]

And it had one of my first "aw yeah" moment since I was a kid when it let you pilot a Protectorate Dreadnaught.

It was a 1-2 punch in that questline.
The Dreadnaught quest: Oh Yeah!
The folowing quest, Gas the Drones: Oh No!

 

[blessed king of longing]

Underrail's deep systems and amazing graphics puts it at the top of this list for me.

It satisfied the biggest hurdle any rpg faces, it felt like it put you into a living complex world you could interact with meaningfully.

Which are these "deep systems" and where are the "amazing graphics"? You do know a lot of the games graphics were made in Paint, don't you?

And which are these "meaningful interactions"?

 

[AdamReith]

Underrail's deep systems and amazing graphics puts it at the top of this list for me.

It satisfied the biggest hurdle any rpg faces, it felt like it put you into a living complex world you could interact with meaningfully.

Which are these "deep systems" and where are the "amazing graphics"? You do know a lot of the games graphics were made in Paint, don't you?

And which are these "meaningful interactions"?

Meaningful interaction for me would include EMPs zeroing out shield energy. Making shields feel more like an in-world "thing" rather than a box on the equipment screen.

In any case, I was impressed.

 

[Popiel]

Gothic.

 

[0wca]

Put Space Wreck on this list. Now.

(for upcoming obviously)

 

[blessed king of longing]

Meaningful interaction for me would include EMPs zeroing out shield energy. Making shields feel more like an in-world "thing" rather than a box on the equipment screen.

In any case, I was impressed.

So thats it, that one single thing makes up the "meaningful interactions"? Shields are basically just another on-use item like any drug, except it gives you temporary hit points instead of increased crit rate.

 

[Trashos]

Dude, play the game. Or don't. But you have no idea what you are talking about.
In Underrail energy shields can be penetrated depending on weapon, can take a limited amount of abuse again depending on weapon, can be eliminated with EMP grenades, can run out of energy, can be exploited and cause damage to the wearer. There, you learnt something today.

 

[Humbaba]

It's a cRPG, char dev and combat is all that matters, if you want roleplaying go play P&P games

Strong contender for most retarded post 2021.

 

[AdamReith]

Dude, play the game. Or don't. But you have no idea what you are talking about.
In Underrail energy shields can be penetrated depending on weapon, can take a limited amount of abuse again depending on weapon, can be eliminated with EMP grenades, can run out of energy, can be exploited and cause damage to the wearer. There, you learnt something today.

Yeah, the shield effectiveness being affected by projectile velocity was straight out of Dune and I love it.

 

[Grauken]

It's a cRPG, char dev and combat is all that matters, if you want roleplaying go play P&P games

Strong contender for most retarded post 2021.

No, that would be everything you posted in your Arcanum is shit thread

 

[Humbaba]

It's a cRPG, char dev and combat is all that matters, if you want roleplaying go play P&P games

Strong contender for most retarded post 2021.

No, that would be everything you posted in your Arcanum is shit thread

Says the tranny faggot who has yet to debunk anything in that thread.

 

[Grauken]

It's a cRPG, char dev and combat is all that matters, if you want roleplaying go play P&P games

Strong contender for most retarded post 2021.

No, that would be everything you posted in your Arcanum is shit thread

Says the tranny faggot who has yet to debunk anything in that thread.

I see you're hard at work to get your first tags, don't let me stop you

 

[Humbaba]

I see you're hard at work to get your first tags, don't let me stop you

About as hard as you're trying to contribute anything of value to the world at large.

 

[blessed king of longing]

Dude, play the game. Or don't. But you have no idea what you are talking about.
In Underrail energy shields can be penetrated depending on weapon, can take a limited amount of abuse again depending on weapon, can be eliminated with EMP grenades, can run out of energy, can be exploited and cause damage to the wearer. There, you learnt something today.

It's really just a glorified health pill. I hope that cleared things up for you.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

And all computer games are 1s and 0s but that shouldn't stop the fantasy in one's mind while playing the games. Even Hydlide (which I despise because it was a stupid buy) can immerse my mind into that world. Vector lines... still immersed. Text adventures like Zork... immersed. Spreadsheets with columns and rows that need sorting.... <drool> MUST SORT! Some games do this more. Its player preference and shitting on a game and another's enjoyment of whatever game just makes the shitter look like a trollish asshole or some sort of autistic brat trying to get the last word in.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

if you don't understand the importance of gameplay and story(world) being intertwined then crpg may not be the genre for you

 

[Morality Games]

Which of these are the best games of the CRPG revival?.

Of the games listed, these are the ones I played, minus a couple I just barely booted up and then refunded. * means I haven’t finished my playthrough (and probably won’t) but gave it a good try.


Legend of Grimrock*
Expeditions: Conquistador
Expeditions: Viking
Shadowrun Returns
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Shadowrun: Hong Kong*
The Banner Saga 1-3
Divinity Original Sin 1* (very close to the end, like final boss fight, but my co-op partner stopped playing and he had the save files)
Divinity Original Sin 2
Wasteland 2* (approaching the end game but then the Director’s cut released and I decided to switch to that but didn’t finish that and didn’t go back the original playthrough either. Eh.)
Wasteland 3*
Pillars of Eternity
Pillars of Eternity II*
Tyranny
Torment: Tides of Numenera
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous* (I’m still actively playing this one)


Of those, I would say these were of notable or outstanding quality:

Expeditions: Conquistador
Expeditions: Viking
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
The Age of Decadence
Pathfinder: Kingmaker

I’d say these ones were at least somewhat fun, but with serious flaws:


Shadowrun Returns
The Banner Saga 1-3
Tyranny
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (but I haven’t made my final verdict)
Divinity Original Sin 1
Divinity Original Sin 2
Wasteland 2
Wasteland 3


I’d say these got a resounding meh :


Legend of Grimrock (I never really played this genre, so I’m not sure if this is because I dislike the genre or because I dislike this take on the genre)
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
Torment Tides of Numenera
Pillars of Eternity (although the White March expansion is notably fun, I would include it with Shadowrun: Dragonfall and other entries -- if only the critical path had maintained the level of quality)
Pillars of Eternity II (I never played the expansions, but I hear Beast of Winter was at least somewhat fun)

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

if you don't understand the importance of gameplay and story(world) being intertwined then crpg may not be the genre for you

Not sure who that is toward but back in the day we'd create our own narrative, goals, rules, limitations, and suffer with whatever mechanics the game offered be they good or bad. People of today are spoiled bitches who cry over shit.

And these days you don't have to buy blind. Games have more reviews, videos, and footage than we could ever have dreamed of back in the 70s, 80s, 90s.

I'd contest that the bitchers and whiners are barely gamers at all. Even games exclusively in another language can possible garner a playerthtough if you are persistent enough. I remember when I barely saw some play of Temple of Apshai or ACS. I created my own rpg on a checkerboard with rocks and sticks and scribbled notes based on what mechanics i only had a few hours of access to (i didn't own the computer but visited soneone once a month who had one). Yeah, board games and playing cards also played a role so its doable to immerse yourself. Today.... spoiled bitches.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Not sure who that is toward

It's really just a glorified health pill.

most mechanics that make a crpg good could be simplified, but it ends up making a worse crpg
gamification -- for lack of a better word -- kills crpgs

 

[Humbaba]

if you don't understand the importance of gameplay and story(world) being intertwined then crpg may not be the genre for you

Not sure who that is toward but back in the day we'd create our own narrative, goals, rules, limitations, and suffer with whatever mechanics the game offered be they good or bad. People of today are spoiled bitches who cry over shit.

And these days you don't have to buy blind. Games have more reviews, videos, and footage than we could ever have dreamed of back in the 70s, 80s, 90s.

I'd contest that the bitchers and whiners are barely gamers at all. Even games exclusively in another language can possible garner a playerthtough if you are persistent enough. I remember when I barely saw some play of Temple of Apshai or ACS. I created my own rpg on a checkerboard with rocks and sticks and scribbled notes based on what mechanics i only had a few hours of access to (i didn't own the computer but visited soneone once a month who had one). Yeah, board games and playing cards also played a role so its doable to immerse yourself. Today.... spoiled bitches.

I don't understand this line of reasoning: "Things were shit back then and we liked it!". I mean that's cool but I'm not gonna feel bad about not liking shit.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Not sure who that is toward but back in the day we'd create our own narrative, goals, rules, limitations, and suffer with whatever mechanics the game offered be they good or bad. People of today are spoiled bitches who cry over shit.

I'm not sure I get what you're saying here. People who complain about bad stories in today's games are spoiled? In modern games you don't even have the option of "creating your own narrative and limitations" because the game itself will contradict you at every turn. It'd be preferable if games with shitty stories didn't have stories at all and let you make shit up, even if that is bordering on LARPing.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Oh, i agree on making my own characters. Most games have some sort of narrative even if only in the manual. A lot of JRPGs don't allow character creation and you get stuck with McNugget Sam with maybe an option for name change only. Rest of game is scripted like a book.

I just wait for reviews. I do wish developers would agree on labelling their games correctly. Sucks when they say it is x but it surely isn't.

 

[Gradenmayer]

D:OS, Kenshi (which was in dev for 12 years, so it is not even a game of the current era) and Disco are not products of CRPG revival. They are their own thing and are very different from games of the old. Stop being retards, folks.

Banner Saga is iffy too, it's closer to Oregon Trail than classic RPGs.