| 28 MAY 2007 at 3:35am |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6694
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
I loved Baldur's Gate 2: SoA and have now played it and the finale EP Throne of Bhaal at least six times. Twice I also started wth the original BG and its EP Tales of the Sword Coast then moved directly onto the sequel.
If you liked BG2 that much then be sure to play the larger-than-usual EP - and do NOT miss the biggest optional dungeon crawl ever created - Watcher's Keep.
Unfortunately the Icewind Dale series (which is also an excellent Infinity Engine game) does not have pre-made / scripted party characters. So there are no romance scripts, companion quests or banter. Otherwise it too has a good original story, plenty of solid gameplay and wondeful full-party battles.
Planescape is the one free-standing title that used the same engine and it has by far the deepest, most unusual story. However it has a limited number of scripted party members and a smaller game world. Nevertheless, it is easily one of the best SP-only CRPGs ever made if not the best.
Fallout 1 & 2 are right up there too.
Cheers, Terry
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| 28 MAY 2007 at 2:01pm |
AndromusGuild Master
Posts : 5540
Joined: 6 NOV 2002
Status : Offline |
Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (28 MAY 2007 3:34am)
If you liked BG2 that much then be sure to play the larger-than-usual EP - and do NOT miss the biggest optional dungeon crawl ever created - Watcher's Keep.
I did play the expansion, and enjoyed it very much. Expansions too often feel like they've been tacked on just to pad out gameplay. But Throne of Bhaal continued the Baldur's Gate story in a genuinely interesting way, as well as providing a rewarding and satisfying close to the story. And Watcher's Keep was excellent. It kept me guessing as to what it was going to throw at me on every level.
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 10:55pm |
RaySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 362
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Location: US, CA
Status : Offline | I just don't think I have enough adjectives to say how wonderful I think the entire cycle of Bioware/Black Isle Infinity Engine RPGs are. To me they feel like one big cycle:
Baldurs Gate
Baldurs Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Baldurs Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (or whatever it was called, it had nearly the exact same name as the Diablo 2 expansion)
Planescape: Torment
Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale II
These games represent so many golden gaming hours for me! It's unbelievable to me that virtually no one at Bioware had EVER WORKED ON A GAME when they built BG. It's such a beautiful game; sucha sense of story.
I also think the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms is just a gem of a campaign setting for a CPRG. I love spendintg time there.
Remember, procrastinate now. Don't put it off!!
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| 19 DEC 2007 at 11:49pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6694
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
Add to that list the Heart of Winter EP for Icewind Dale and it's complete Ray.
Whenever discussing these wonderful D& classics, I also like to mention the all-time great Fallout 1 and 2 from Interplay using the terrific S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Rules and a unique sci-fi setting. Along with them, Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: KOTOR are next-gen cousins of the Infinity Engine CRPGs. A cousin once-removed would be Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura by Tim Cain & Company at Troika. Newer additions of the same basic lineage would include Jade Empire, NWN 2, KOTOR 2 and the recent Mass Effect.
Add them all up and you have an amazing list of top-tier RPGs produced over the past decade spanning several generations of technological advancement.
Cheers, Terry
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| 20 DEC 2007 at 1:21am |
RaySorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 362
Joined: 21 OCT 2002
Location: US, CA
Status : Offline | I love the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system!! I'm so glad it's coming back in Fallout 3!
Remember, procrastinate now. Don't put it off!!
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| 20 DEC 2007 at 3:35am |
kuddlesPrivate Detective
Posts : 702
Joined: 22 OCT 2004
Status : Online | It's funny this thread should come up now. While I still have plenty of new games on my plate, I've decided to finish every game I've missed in the past before so much time has passed that I know I'm becoming so overwhelmed I would never get back around to playing them. While most have been between 2003 to 2006 (when I almost completely stopped gaming altogether due to a busy schedule), one series I never got around to was Baldur's Gate I and II. Strange, since I adored the other Black Isle IE games, and I'm also a huge BioWare fanboy of all their other works (I bought an XBOX when KOTOR came out just to play it, and I'm not even a Star Wars fan!).
Regardless, I plan on installing BGT-Weidu and playing all the way through the entire epic, so I'll look forward to providing my final impressions in this thread as well, although that will obviously take some time.
[size=10][b]Games:[/b] Europa Universalis III&&[b]Music:[/b] [i]Awoo[/i] - Hidden Cameras&&[b]Series:[/b] Dexter (S1)&&[b]Movies:[/b] The Prestige (8/10) Little Miss Sunshine (5/10)&&[/size]
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| 20 DEC 2007 at 3:51am |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6694
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
If you love classic-style D& CRPGs Kuddles, you're in for a real treat.
Cheers, Terry
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| 23 DEC 2007 at 6:14am |
GonchiSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 337
Joined: 24 SEP 2007
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (19 DEC 2007 11:48pm)
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura by Tim Cain & Company at Troika.
A truly awesome cRPG that didn't get the love it deserved. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines was pretty good too, and so was Temple of Elemental Evil really. Oh Troika, we hardly knew ye'...
Also, with so many wondrous cRPG's mentioned, I feel obligated to add the magnificent Ultima games (at least until the 7th) and the oft forgotten Darklands and Betrayal at Krondor.
A few others I personally enjoyed, though I don't quite feel as though they match the quality of those mentioned so far in this thread, were Albion, Divine Divinity, Siege of Avalon and Prince of Qin.
But I'm not so complicated as to flee, &&or stand here in silence. &&But I'm not so simple as to not caution, &&that there aren't three minutes, or a hundred words, that could define me.&&&&[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlR-6Tw-5bE]Brief description of my person[/url] - Cuarteto de Nos
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| 23 DEC 2007 at 9:06pm |
Terry PenrodGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 6694
Joined: 16 OCT 2004
Location: US, Texas
Status : Offline | .
All good RPGs Gonchi - although many people disliked the Temple of Elemental Evil. The semi-sequel to Divine Divinty, Beyond Divinty was pretty good too.
Another series that ranks way up there in my book is The Elder Scrolls. It was a lot more open / less scripted than the Black Isle / BioWare D& titles but the game worlds sure were fun to explore. You had almost as much freedom in Fallout 1 / 2 and Arcanum, which is why they still have so much replay value. It's also why I'm excited that BethSoft is the studio that bought the rights to the Fallout franchise. They understand how to balance sprawling, wide-open environments with a central plot. But that degree of freedom can hurt dramatic pacing.
For tight, compelling stories with deeper NPCs, I prefer games like Planescape: Torment and Star Wars: KOTOR. But once in a while, it's nice to just roam around freely too. For that, Morrowind with both EPs and all the best player-created modules is hard to beat. Oblivion is amazing too but there's less variety in the game world. Too bad Daggerfall was so buggy, still a great game though.
Another CRPG I liked a lot was Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption once the all-important first patch came out from Nihilistic and Activision. It fixed pretty much all the initial problems and the file was only a couple of megabytes in size. The Storyteller MP mode never took off though but the unique SP game was very cool and I loved the 3D engine in its day.
I really enjoyed Arx Fatalis too as a full 3D, SP-only CRPG with a solid story. Its main flaw was that convoluted magic-casting system which used intricate mouse movements to conjur mystical patterns in the air. Just too flukey and it took waaaaay too long in combat against the harder, faster enemies. Interesting concept but it really needed something like the Wii controller to work.
A personal favorite of mine that many people missed was the tri-genre hybrid Omikron: The Nomad Soul from Quantic Dream. It was equal parts action, adventure and RPG in a really cool 3D game world that gave you some real freedom along with a well-paced story. Being able to freely possess the bodies of various characters and assume their RPG-like stats was sheer genius.
Last but not least, two other hybrid gems were Warren Spector's Deus Ex and Tom Hall's Anachronox from Ion Storm. Deus Ex was an all-around great game and Anachronox was too. It combined a compelling story and numerous great NPCs with fun gameplay, lots of humor and a clever comicbook style. You could visit several diverse game worlds and the whole thing was very well done.
Cheers, Terry
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| 24 DEC 2007 at 10:55pm |
GonchiSorcerer Apprentice
Posts : 337
Joined: 24 SEP 2007
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (23 DEC 2007 9:06pm)
All good RPGs Gonchi - although many people disliked the Temple of Elemental Evil.
I know. The bugs were a big killer for a lot people, but in a time when practically every RPG released was (and still is) a twitchy action title with stats, ToEE's tactical turn based combat was a breath of fresh air.
And thankfully the Co8 folks have fixed the game up quite well.
Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (23 DEC 2007 9:06pm)
The semi-sequel to Divine Divinty, Beyond Divinty was pretty good too.
Beyond just failed to grab my attention, and I just never managed to sit myself down and play it through. I don't know what it was.
Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (23 DEC 2007 9:06pm)
Another series that ranks way up there in my book is The Elder Scrolls. It was a lot more open / less scripted than the Black Isle / BioWare D& titles but the game worlds sure were fun to explore. You had almost as much freedom in Fallout 1 / 2 and Arcanum, which is why they still have so much replay value. It's also why I'm excited that BethSoft is the studio that bought the rights to the Fallout franchise. They understand how to balance sprawling, wide-open environments with a central plot. But that degree of freedom can hurt dramatic pacing.
For tight, compelling stories with deeper NPCs, I prefer games like Planescape: Torment and Star Wars: KOTOR. But once in a while, it's nice to just roam around freely too. For that, Morrowind with both EPs and all the best player-created modules is hard to beat. Oblivion is amazing too but there's less variety in the game world. Too bad Daggerfall was so buggy, still a great game though.
I am not a fan of TES, or Bethesda for that matter. To me Daggerfall was the best of the series, where as Morrowind didn't impress me and I downright loathed Oblivion. I have no expectations for Bethesda's Fallout (or as I also like to call it, Fallout Gaiden. I don't plan to buy their game or play it. As far as I'm concerned Fallout 3 died with Black Isle and deserves to rest in peace.
Knights of the Old Republic I liked, but felt almost RPG-lite to me. Planescape: Torment on the other hand is top notch.
Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (23 DEC 2007 9:06pm)
Another CRPG I liked a lot was Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption once the all-important first patch came out from Nihilistic and Activision. It fixed pretty much all the initial problems and the file was only a couple of megabytes in size. The Storyteller MP mode never took off though but the unique SP game was very cool and I loved the 3D engine in its day.
I really enjoyed Arx Fatalis too as a full 3D, SP-only CRPG with a solid story. Its main flaw was that convoluted magic-casting system which used intricate mouse movements to conjur mystical patterns in the air. Just too flukey and it took waaaaay too long in combat against the harder, faster enemies. Interesting concept but it really needed something like the Wii controller to work.
Redemption was fun, as far as "clear the area of baddies" action rpgs go. I wouldn't include it on any top 10 list though.
Originally Posted By Terry Penrod (23 DEC 2007 9:06pm)
A personal favorite of mine that many people missed was the tri-genre hybrid Omikron: The Nomad Soul from Quantic Dream. It was equal parts action, adventure and RPG in a really cool 3D game world that gave you some real freedom along with a well-paced story. Being able to freely possess the bodies of various characters and assume their RPG-like stats was sheer genius.
Last but not least, two other hybrid gems were Warren Spector's Deus Ex and Tom Hall's Anachronox from Ion Storm. Deus Ex was an all-around great game and Anachronox was too. It combined a compelling story and numerous great NPCs with fun gameplay, lots of humor and a clever comicbook style. You could visit several diverse game worlds and the whole thing was very well done.
Omikron's ok, though I wouldn't call it an RPG. The premise of the game caught my interest but didn't quite live up to my expectations. There were some good ideas that just didn't seem to be properly developed, like for example, the body-hopping. Nothing changed regardless of which body you were in, making the feature comparable to simply changing clothes. It would have been interesting if each character was in fact a character with unique abilities offering multiple paths through the game, as opposed to simply being a body/outfit you could wear. The game was perhaps too linear for that to work.
I agree about Deus Ex and Anachronox. Both excellent games. Anachronox is badly in need of a sequel.
But I'm not so complicated as to flee, &&or stand here in silence. &&But I'm not so simple as to not caution, &&that there aren't three minutes, or a hundred words, that could define me.&&&&[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlR-6Tw-5bE]Brief description of my person[/url] - Cuarteto de Nos
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