Your favorite RPG, including all subgenres.

[kingcomrade]

You've never understood why? You must be the most oblivious person to ever play the game.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

It surely is better than most other game's combat, but it could be so much better

I never understood why everyone hates Arcanum combat system, the Turn Based mode it's basically Fallout's, only that called shots are made through the keyboard.

The fact that the called shots were pretty awful, the interface was pretty clumsy, especially the action point display, and combat started in real-time and only seemed to enter turn-based once an enemy was right on top of you, pretty much giving summoner mages a ridiculous amount of power with spells like ogre summoning.

Not that it's combat was really awful, it was bearable, but it definitely had it's flaws.

 

[Keldryn]

The fact that the called shots were pretty awful, the interface was pretty clumsy, especially the action point display, and combat started in real-time and only seemed to enter turn-based once an enemy was right on top of you, pretty much giving summoner mages a ridiculous amount of power with spells like ogre summoning.

That was a huge turn-off for me... I thought that maybe I was missing some way to start turn-base combat before the enemy was standing next to me, but I guess I wasn't. I loved the concept of the game and I've tried playing it several times, but the general clunkiness of the game kept turning me away.

 

[somnium]

The fact that the called shots were pretty awful, the interface was pretty clumsy, especially the action point display, and combat started in real-time and only seemed to enter turn-based once an enemy was right on top of you, pretty much giving summoner mages a ridiculous amount of power with spells like ogre summoning.

That was a huge turn-off for me... I thought that maybe I was missing some way to start turn-base combat before the enemy was standing next to me, but I guess I wasn't. I loved the concept of the game and I've tried playing it several times, but the general clunkiness of the game kept turning me away.

Eh, you can. Just click the attack button (the shield icon) and the turn based mode will switch on (or of depending on your situation).

The most unbalancing aspect i found was how little attention seemingly was given to movement of creatures in the turn based mode. For example: ore golems walked across half the screen in one turn in the turn based while they needed several seconds to do the same in real time. But the real time mode was too fast paced and became too chaotic when the enemy came near to make any judgment or even choice targets (for me atleast).
This lead to me switching the turn based combat on and of for my dwarven gunman depending on the situation. Witch resulted in a (really) chunky version of rtwp, witch i find boring and irritating. Needles to say i wasn't too trilled by the combat system.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

In order:

1. Morrowind (GOTY)
2. KOTOR
3. KOTOR 2
4. NWN (including expansions, premium modules, user-created modules)
5. Gothic 3
6. Gothic 2
7. Vampire Bloodlines
8. Jade Empire
9. Fallout
10. Planescape Torment

 

[Jasede]

That's from worst to best, right? You almost got me there.

 

[Sodomy]

It surely is better than most other game's combat, but it could be so much better

I never understood why everyone hates Arcanum combat system, the Turn Based mode it's basically Fallout's, only that called shots are made through the keyboard.

The fact that the called shots were pretty awful, the interface was pretty clumsy, especially the action point display, and combat started in real-time and only seemed to enter turn-based once an enemy was right on top of you, pretty much giving summoner mages a ridiculous amount of power with spells like ogre summoning.

Not that it's combat was really awful, it was bearable, but it definitely had it's flaws.

Also, you get way more attacks per turn in most cases, going into the inventory and using items doesn't take any APs (this alone is pretty damning), movement cost is much lower, the aformentioned problem with enemy movement, and more availiability of various skills (such as backstab and sneak [which is actually a good thing]) during combat mark it as being pretty different. In Arcanum, you get way more done in 1 turn; far too much happens between periods of reacting to what the opponent did, IMO.

Anyways, in rough order:
Fallout
Arcanum
Geneforge 2
Geneforge 4
PS:T
ToEE
Gothic 2
Gothic 3
Ultima 7

 

[Lemunde]

Well to avoid getting flamed I'll go with close favorites.

Diablo 2, Spellforce, Avernum series. I guess my favorite RPG hasn't been made yet. But as you can see from the list I prefer RPGs that focus on dungeon crawling and character building and the more random stuff the better.
What we need is a nice big roguelike with modern graphics. I know that's kind of contradictory but you know what I mean. Everything great about roguelikes except for the crappy graphics or the lack thereof.

 

[JarlFrank]

Well to avoid getting flamed I'll go with close favorites.

Diablo 2, Spellforce, Avernum series. I guess my favorite RPG hasn't been made yet. But as you can see from the list I prefer RPGs that focus on dungeon crawling and character building and the more random stuff the better.
What we need is a nice big roguelike with modern graphics. I know that's kind of contradictory but you know what I mean. Everything great about roguelikes except for the crappy graphics or the lack thereof.

ADOM looks good, even with ASCII.

 

[slipgate_angel]

A few.

Fallout 1 & 2 ((Despite everybodies hatred for 2))
Buck rogers: Countdown to doomsday
Dark cloud 2 ((A JARPG))

I wouldn't mind JRPGs if it weren't for the heavy level grinding.

 

[Keldorn]

4-way tie.

FO 1 & 2
PS:T
BG2 (without which, the pristine pompous paladin Keldorn would not even exist !)

 

[Necros]

Hi!

My favourite is Deus Ex because it let's me play the way I want to (and of course there's the brilliant story, the great music and voice acting and the amazing design). But Wizardry 8 and the KOTOR games are close too.

I haven't tried D&D ( or AD&D) but I have played MAGUS (a very good Hungarian RPG) when I was in high school.

 

[Kraszu]

Gothic 2
Gothic 3

What about first Gothic?

 

[Black]

1. PS:T
2. Fallout
3. Arcanum
Trinity [*]

 

[JarlFrank]

Hi!

My favourite is Deus Ex because it let's me play the way I want to (and of course there's the brilliant story, the great music and voice acting and the amazing design). But Wizardry 8 and the KOTOR games are close too.

I haven't tried D&D ( or AD&D) but I have played MAGUS (a very good Hungarian RPG) when I was in high school.

It's his first post and he resurrected an ancient thread with it.

All hail the necromancer king!

 

[Quaid]

Fallout 1 Hands Down

Runners up: Arcanum, Vampire: Bloodlines, Wasteland, BG 1, System Shock 2

Currently playing Planescape: Torment. Got it back when it came out in 1999 and only played until I was out of the mortuary! I have reinstalled it and I'm determined to play it through to the end. The story and atmosphere is very cool and I'll have to see about character development as I go.

One thing I am confused about: I want to play a charismatic mage, and I jacked up INT and CHR to 18 on character creation. I saw no place to choose my class, and now it calls me a 'Fighter'. My assumption is as I gain in levels (and my memories) I will be able to reclassify myself (either through actions or manually choosing). The manual is little to no help in this.

Can anybody please confirm or clarify how the classes work in Torment?

 

[ixg]

You can change classes through certain NPCs/quests (whichever) in the game. Fighter is just the default.

 

[Quaid]

So everyone starts as Fighter?

 

[JarlFrank]

So everyone starts as Fighter?

Yes.
Talking to certain people lets you become either Thief or Mage, or learn fighter-specific skills. So basically you're classless in the beginning, without any class-specific skills.

 

[Callaxes]

Darklands had you adventuring through medieval Germany. Fighting robber knights, demons, the templars, evil villagers and even a Dragon, exploring the countryside, doing missions for the Hanze or running into a group of Pilgrims. This game was huge in both scope and replayability. I remember really loving the combat (it was kinda new at the time) and the many ways I could shape my characters. This baby has been on my HD for years and still have I never finished all the “main questlines”.

I love this game! I still haven't been able to play alot since I got it, I spent a total of 40-50 hours in it and I realy see myself playing it for years and years to come. It's one of those games that removes all barriers, even tough the interaction isn't perfect, it gives you the best feeling of freedom I ever experienced in a game.

About the combat: I sead alot of times that it sucks, but the more I'm playing the game, the more I'm starting to enjoy it. It's weird, usualy even the best combat engines (TOEE) are good at first, but lose their apeal when they become repetative. Darklands felt blank at first sight, but it's starting to brighten up for me.

I realy wish there were other games like this, because a modern developer can easy build up a survival engine for travels like in RoA or a focus on C&C like in Fallout and the recent Wicther, but it's hard today to make such a big interactible and complet sandbox that Darklands has, because you cannot expect to make a game that sell with only water color pictures.

 

[DraQ]

In my case it would be (in no particular orrder):

PS:T
(atmosphere, originality, story, writing, characters, pretty much everything save for combat)

Morrowind
(obviously not because of it's rather mediocre RPG values, but it is an RPG and happens to be one of my favourite games due to it's well developed background, original setting with built-in moral ambiguity, lore and considerable wiggle room left to the player)

Fallout 1&2
(mostly ability to make decisions, openendedness and atmosphere, though I'd lie if I said that I don't like gory animations for criticals)

Wizardry 8
(ok, it plays more like some complex turn-based hack and slash, but I like it's flexibility, spellcasting, refreshing setting and messing with numbers and character personalities during party creation. And, who am I kidding, I like collecting phat lewt too.)

Deus Ex
(combines equal amounts of RPG and FPS and does it really well. I like the setting, atmosphere and the fact that the creators did their homework, which can be seen in descriptions of some augmentations. It happens to play well too.)

Anachronox
(Ok, it's not really an RPG, despite being classed as one, but the story and humour are awesome and characters can rival those in PS:T in terms of originality.)

One thing I am confused about: I want to play a charismatic mage, and I jacked up INT and CHR to 18 on character creation. I saw no place to choose my class, and now it calls me a 'Fighter'. My assumption is as I gain in levels (and my memories) I will be able to reclassify myself (either through actions or manually choosing). The manual is little to no help in this.

Can anybody please confirm or clarify how the classes work in Torment?

You'll have to find a teacher to change your class, and trust me, becoming a mage in PS:T is one of the coolest things evar.

 

[Shannow]

FO2; G2:NotR; IWD2; BG2; M&M8; PS:T

I first wanted to go for the holy Duality of the sequel but I just couldn't ignore PS:T...

While FO2 is my favourite, the others don't stand in any special order.

 

[Severian Silk]

To be honest, I haven't played all that many RPGs. My RPG experience consists of:

FFI-VIII
various other JRPG ROMs
Fallout Dual Jewel case
JA2
Silent Storm
Prince of Qin
ToEE - never finished, as I'm not a D&D grognard
Diablo demo
Little bits of Teudogar and Prelude to Darkness
Ultima Underworld: Martian Dreams
KotOR
Freedom Force

 

[Micmu]

Fallout 1
Ultima 7
Fallout 2
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum
Mask of The Betrayer
Baldur's Gate 2
Geneforge 1
Gothic 1
Gothic 2+NoTR

 

[Keldorn]

Fallout 2 & Baldur's Gate 2.