Games of the late 90s and beyond

[MasterSmithFandango]

I started playing through the fallouts again in anticipation of hating Fallout 3, but that definitely reinvigorated my RPG bug that had been dormant for awhile. So I decided I'm going to go through all of the good/great RPGs of the late 90s to the present and replay them, but I want to make sure I don't miss anything on this epic quest. Here's what I have so far:

Fallout 1/2
Arcanum
Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate 2
The Witcher
NWN (kind of on the fence on whether I want to replay this again...)
Gothic 1/2 (Maybe 3? See how it goes)
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines

That's kind of where I am now, and I'm sure this list is full of things I'm missing, so any input would be helpful.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I would recommend Gothic 3, and also Morrowind GOTY edition. And there's also NWN2 and MOTB. Mass Effect and Jade Empire are fun too, as are both of the KOTORs.

You named pretty much every other RPG I would recommend.

 

[DraQ]

Maybe add Daggerfall (though it's pretty much a love/hate game, as is Morrowind) as well as Wizardry 8 (Retro-style dungeon crawl, but what a fun game it is!).

 

[Mr Happy]

Definately add Prelude to Darkness. It is free, it is a 2002 game, you probably have not played it judging by the fact that it is not on your list, and it is probably one of the best and most innovative RPGs ever. One of these days, if I am lucky enough to get a good chunk of free time, I"ll write a review of it or something.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Yeah, I knocked out Morrowind GOTY and played through both KOTORs as well as ME. I didn't really like NWN2 OC, but I need to get off my butt and get MotB sometime, as I hear only great things about it. I think I'm going to pass on the KOTORs, JE, and ME, as well as Morrowind because they're pretty much "fun once" for me.

I'll definitely check out Prelude to Darkness though.

 

[Jasede]

The sad thing is, Prelude to Darkness is 90% unplayable due to bugs. I tried, I really tried, but reloading and restarting and crashing every three minutes aren't my idea of a good time, and if the game was Wizardry 9.

 

[Mr Happy]

Definately worth a try, though, because performance probably varies depending on your computer. It was actually not too terrible on my machine, which stutters on pretty much any game made after 2003. Make no mistake, it is a buggy-ass game, it had approximately a crash per 20 minutes on my computer, but 1) it is mostly crashing, and not "game breaking" bugs that prevent you from finishing quests and such and 2) it was good enough that I played it through to the end and enjoyed throughout despite the crashes.

 

[sportforredneck]

Wizardry 8 was out in 2001 if I could recall. You could try that one out. It would be completely different from the rest of those to break up styles.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Yeah, I have Wizardy 8. Never finished it though. Not a knock on the game at all, I just think I got distracted by something else that came up and never got back to it.

 

[LCJr.]

The sad thing is, Prelude to Darkness is 90% unplayable due to bugs. I tried, I really tried, but reloading and restarting and crashing every three minutes aren't my idea of a good time, and if the game was Wizardry 9.

Tell me about it. Although for me it was every 10-15 minutes.


For the OP.

I've personally burned out on Vogel(Spiderweb Software) but if you haven't tried any of his games at least try Geneforge or Nethergate.

Don't know if it's great. But it's good and definately epic. Object Software's Prince of Qin. Got put down by a lot of people for being a Diablo clone, which it isn't. Then got bashed by a lot of people for not being a Diablo clone. Sometimes you can't win. Anyway read Saint's review.
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=29

 

[Heresiarch]

You can try Divine Divinity. Even codexers like it. Once you get out the first big dungeon and look pass the stupid combat, you'll embrace some Ultima 7 + BG2 goodness. Great humour and good quests. Lots of detail too. Plays really like Arcanum.

If you can stomach the grafix and dosbox pain, you should try out Daggerfall. Best and the last not-dumbed-down of the TES series.

 

[mondblut]

The sad thing is, Prelude to Darkness is 90% unplayable due to bugs. I tried, I really tried, but reloading and restarting and crashing every three minutes aren't my idea of a good time, and if the game was Wizardry 9.

1.6 version (the last paid one) was fairly stable. I played it through, and it only crashed a few times. It is when they started fixing and "enhancing" the game the bugs went on the loose, it seems.

 

[Volourn]

"Even codexers like it."

Only dumb ones.

 

[Zhirzzh]

The sad thing is, Prelude to Darkness is 90% unplayable due to bugs. I tried, I really tried, but reloading and restarting and crashing every three minutes aren't my idea of a good time, and if the game was Wizardry 9.

1.6 version (the last paid one) was fairly stable. I played it through, and it only crashed a few times. It is when they started fixing and "enhancing" the game the bugs went on the loose, it seems.

Do you still have 1.6? I can't find any of the old versions of it.

 

[Korgan]

Don't forget Sith Lords and MOTB. Hey, they're by MCA. Decent gameplay, great story.

 

[Mareus]

You forgot quite a lot great ones:
Icewind Dale 1/2
Deus Ex
Jagged Alliance 2
Kotor 1/2
Morrowind

You might also try some JRPGs if you like such sort of things. I love Final Fantasy 6,7 and Chrono Trigger.

There are also bunch of other great games which are not RPGs, but since they are great they should not be missed.

 

[Black_Willow]

You have to try Anachronox. It has a great plot and lots of humour.

 

[DraQ]

Yeah, Deus Ex is cool if you don't mind about 50-50 FPS/RPG blend.

Also:

You have to try Anachronox. It has a great plot and lots of humour.

.

 

[JarlFrank]

"Even codexers like it."

Only dumb ones.

I thought you didn't like the game?

 

[Binary]

Grimoire

 

[LCJr.]

If you can stomach the grafix and dosbox pain, you should try out Daggerfall. Best and the last not-dumbed-down of the TES series.

Why do you lie?

 

[Heresiarch]

Eh? Do you mean I should recommend Oblivion instead?

 

[Texas Red]

He probably means that randomly generated dungeons and cities without any content are annoying and not fun in any way.

 

[Raapys]

He probably means that randomly generated dungeons and cities without any content are annoying and not fun in any way.

Chess can be fun, and it doesn't even have dungeons or cities.

 

[Relayer71]

"Even codexers like it."

Only dumb ones.

The intellectuals among us prefer the subtleties of that groundbreaking, genre-shaking, revolutionary, pulse-pounding, epic masterpiece known as Neverwinter Nights.