Best RPG engine

[Klaz]

ToEE probably, I'm still waiting for some hacker to release a ToEE editor.

 

[Andhaira]

So we can have more mods with Clouds sword? Or what about those cohocboZ? Or maybe Summon Natures Ally will start summoning pokemon?

Seriously though, I hope someone gets the rights to the ToEE engine, wipes it clean of bugs, adds in more content (such as PrC's) and makes a branmd spankin new game for actual retail purchase.

Small chance of that ofcourse, with 4e coming out this summer.

 

[Squeek]

How can you recognize a lousy game engine? This subject reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy's "you might be a redneck" routine.

If the game you're playing grinds to a complete halt....
If you suddenly find yourself staring at your Windows desktop....
If its official forum is chock-full of "it's your computer...it's your computer"....

 

[Raapys]

I prefer the Infinity engine.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I think Ratty forgot to mention how fucked up the requirements were for Ultima RPG, I know my cousin who showed my first Ultima6 said he spent a few days making a boot disk just to get the damn thing running.

I was thinking exactly the same thing when I read the comments. Remembering how I installed U7 on a 386/40 .. juggling seven 5.25" discs and hoping to see no I/O error .. make a boot disc that got the damn 4GW DOS Extender running .. and the engine crashed a lot!! And yet there are people saying that Morrowind was resource intensive .. I am actually wondering what kind of computers these people are using?

 

[caliban]

Tell me more about the ToEE engine.

I tried to play that game some time ago, but just couldn't get into it. I remember it had great turnbased combat, and was a rather faithful recreation of D&D rules.

Did ToEE's engine have any notable flaws?

 

[mjorkerina]

none.
every rpg engine is flawed to death

Yeah, all my favorite RPGs make up warts of their own.
I wish I could have an engine with the stability and superb user interface model of the infinity engine, combined with the d&d implementation of ToEE. Infinity engine combat sucks so many balls. I want my turn based fix.

 

[Crichton]

Tell me more about the ToEE engine.

I tried to play that game some time ago, but just couldn't get into it. I remember it had great turnbased combat, and was a rather faithful recreation of D&D rules.

Did ToEE's engine have any notable flaws?

It has a very nice rules-implementation and the best combat-engine in an rpg to date, but the engine overall is pretty crummy.

Flaws?

-2D engine (so the camera is really constrained)
-Hand-drawn maps (makes it hard to make your own maps)
-Really scuzzy performance at the time it was released
-All friendly creatures can freely interpenetrate
-Jarring juxtaposition of really detailed jpeg maps and really low-poly 3D models
-Not many models (hard to create that many different monsters)

I'd cast my vote for the NWN2 engine. Performance isn't wonderful, but it's fine (if you don't go nuts with the shadow options), the only crashes are easily avoidable (they claim to have fixed the last of them in the latest patch), the RTwP combat engine isn't as good as ToEE's (doesn't have all the 5' step and reach games), but it does a lot (wide spell selection, disarming, lots of little special abilities) and it looks ok doing it.

Most importantly, with the toolset, it's fairly easy to make anything you like. The game doesn't ship with all the art you might want, but making custom building models, re-texturing stuff and the like is pretty simple (to judge from the amount of it) and it ships with all the terrain art most people would want. The only real deficiency is in character models, but there are still plenty, some user-made ones available and more on the way.

 

[NiM82]

Probably the Infinity Engine, simply because it was lovely and slick and worked (don't think it ever crashed on me). It also allowed for very pretty looking games thanks to it's non tile based nature, etc. I'd have loved to have seen a turn based build of it, or something a bit different from DnD (like what CDProjekt did with the NWN engine).

I don't really care for most 3D rpg engines, having to fap around with the camera constantly pisses me off immensely.

 

[Raapys]

Yeah, I too dislike 3D-based engines like that of NWN. I really can't stand the camera, and the whole engine just feels slow and unresponsive. Also, there's way too much and too long loading, which makes travelling from one place to another a chore.

 

[Volourn]

Aurora. No contest.

TOEE, and IE for runner ups.

 

[RK47]

Aurora in the witcher is nice, Aurora for NWN series, not so much.

 

[caliban]

The only problem with tW is that the landscapes are pre-made. No tiles. So adding new areas will be hard for modders and they'll have to utilize existing ones. Apart from that I agree that it's great.

 

[Wilco]

It's IE hands down. The IE games still look pretty good for their age and most of the best RPGs I've played are on IE too. Fallout and Aurora are runner ups.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Does people vote for aurora just because there were bunch of crpgs made for it? Because i can't think of any other reasons beyond that.
Maybe someone would go on and eleborate why is it good?

 

[mjorkerina]

The only problem with tW is that the landscapes are pre-made. No tiles.

Fuck the ease of use of tiles if it means avoiding the generic dungeon number 80869 in the usual aurora games.

This is NWN, folks :

NWN OC
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/e/nevwpc014.jpg
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/e/nevwpc016.jpg

NWN XP1
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/n/nnsupc005.jpg
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/n/nnsupc017.jpg

NWN XP2
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/w/nwnhpc010.jpg
http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/n/w/nwnhpc015.jpg

For the solo game experience (not using the mod tool to make a small campaign to play with friends) it was a huge downgrade from the Infinity Engine. When you use premade landscapes, even when you reuse the same texture again and again you can still make it feel "unique" with the shapes and not a ticket to boredom. Tiles are like playing with legos.

 

[Volourn]

"Does people vote for aurora just because there were bunch of crpgs made for it? Because i can't think of any other reasons beyond that.
Maybe someone would go on and eleborate why is it good?"

It's role-playing ruleset is awesome.

You can create your own stuff out of the box without having to be a computer expert.

The graphics are underrated.

It can be used in different ways., and there aren't as many limits as some think. I remember a time where whiners tried to claim that controllable npcs was impossible. Same with rideable horses, and a bunch of other shit.

It's a rather stable engine depsite some whining. Definbitely mroe so that most other engines.


"For the solo game experience (not using the mod tool to make a small campaign to play with friends) it was a huge downgrade from the Infinity Engine. When you use premade landscapes, even when you reuse the same texture again and again you can still make it feel "unique" with the shapes and not a ticket to boredom. Tiles are like playing with legos.""

Aurora > IE

No contest.

 

[mjorkerina]

It's role-playing ruleset is awesome.

Not more than the IE. The IE in its last breath was upgraded to d&d 3 and could do dialogue related skills checks, Icewind Dale 2 did, even though it's a dungeon hack.

You can create your own stuff out of the box without having to be a computer expert.

Which just mean more shitty stuff coming from incompetents. Fun with friends, not so much to give for public consumption.

The graphics are underrated.

It can be used in different ways., and there aren't as many limits as some think.

So why the two official extension pack (SOU and HOTU) have dungeons that are as generic as nwn OC ?

Aurora > IE

No contest.

:mustache:

 

[Klaz]

I changed my mind, I think that the Fallout engine could be the best... although the skill cap is ridiculous (200%? is there any non-combat check for a skill value of 200%?)

 

[cardtrick]

I changed my mind, I think that the Fallout engine could be the best... although the skill cap is ridiculous (200%? is there any non-combat check for a skill value of 200%?)

Is there even a combat check for skills that high?

I was pretty sure that you had a 95% chance at an eye shot at the max range of a weapon with more like 175 or 180.

 

[King Crispy]

If the ToEE engine had Z-axis support and had been showcased in a more polished, successful game then there would be no contest. (Some of the answers here are popularity votes)

Even as it is, for pure turn-based D&D combat goodness, it has no rival IMO.

 

[Klaz]

I changed my mind, I think that the Fallout engine could be the best... although the skill cap is ridiculous (200%? is there any non-combat check for a skill value of 200%?)

Is there even a combat check for skills that high?

I was pretty sure that you had a 95% chance at an eye shot at the max range of a weapon with more like 175 or 180.

I think that you could need a skill that high if you had many cumulative penalties (Eye damage, low/damaged perception, low light, etc.)

 

[fastpunk]

Aurora in the witcher is nice, Aurora for NWN series, not so much.

Yeah, but the Aurora engine from The Witcher is so heavily modified that it almost counts as a new engine. But anyway, Aurora works fine, it's good tech and it has great tools... but the ToEE engine deserves top spot. It looks pretty and the combat is pure excellence, although, I've heard it's quite hard to develop with it.

 

[Mefi]

ToEE probably, I'm still waiting for some hacker to release a ToEE editor.

Try over at Co8. Friendly former communists give many gifts.

--

I'd go with ToEE too. It's a beautiful engine to play about with, if you have the tools. Not sure about the lack of Z axis support. It can certainly be manipulated from what little I know of 3d modelling.

And I will give credit to Bethesda for the engine of Oblivion. Would be nice if they used it for a role-playing game, but you can't have it all I guess.

 

[DraQ]

Would be nice if they used it for a role-playing game, but you can't have it all I guess.

What's so great about OB's engine? Not exactly fast, not exactly stable, not exactly able to avoid phisherprice look...