Game Opinion

[aragwen]

Hi all
  My brother in law asked me this question seeing that I always play fantasy adventure games. But since Layo I have not played many other games.
  So I was hoping that some in this community will have an opinion about the games that he inquired about. He was asking me about Dungeon Siege 1 & 2 and Sacred.
  Regards Aragwen

[FlameStrike]

I liked Dungeon Siege 1, it had a nice character progression system, and it was fun. Haven't played Dungeon Siege 2 yet, but from the videos i saw, it looks quite good.

[freemen2]

Just know DS1, was ok but mainly hack & slash, good story but the maps were a let down, seemed to me like they where mostly all the same, with a few exceptions *shrugs*

[Frendh]

If you go the melee or archer way in DS1 + expansion,
nothing will ever happen. Almost nothing. You'll see a
couple of numbers on the character sheet go up.

Meaning, I didn't get any nifty attacks other than the
standard one (clickclickclick x 9999999, less than diablo2
though) and the attack animations are few.

The two spellcaster classes are more interesting to play.

The maps were a mix of good and bad. Some things looked
really nice. The jungle areas were probably my favourites,
especially if you maxed out the graphic settings.

I guess the story was okay.

[miltonyorkcastle]

all those are fun if you like a good bash fest, methinks.  don't plan on any really nifty stories or anything.

[aragwen]

He is no really into hack and slash....so I guess that discount it...
  I also saw something called Bard's Tale?
  Or if someone has any recommendations except NWN off course, feel free to shout out.
  Aragwen

[Wintersheart]

New or old ones?
I have been continuously disappointed by new RPGs since Baldurs Gate II and Morrowind. If he hasn't played these they are still the best in my opinion.

If he can wait about a month then Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is coming out.


 

[Ioskeha]

I've played all the games you've listed and I enjoyed the first Dungeon Siege the most.

I didn't think Dungeon Siege 2 was as good as the first one.  GPG took out the one thing that made the first one a lot of fun to play; freewill to multiclass without your character becoming terribly weak.  In DS2 if you multiclass your character will not be able to keep with spawns since their levels will be lower compared to if you just took one class.  The game just is not balanced for multiclass characters.  I tried to recreate my Melee/Nature that I had in DS1 and I found myself having to restart the game and import my character just so I could get past a lot of areas in the game.  Even going solo I had to restart at least seven times.  I also didn't like the battle system in DS2 all that much.  I guess I had just gotten so use to DS1's auto-attacks that having to spam the mouse-button to attack annoyed me after a few hours of playing.

As for Sacred.  Heh...I can't even remember why I didn't like this game; I guess that should tell ya just how much I enjoyed this game .  I wanna say the reason was the character developement system, but I can't be sure.

Ask your Brother-In-Law if he's played the Baldur's Gate series.  If he hasn't I recommend this series for a good Hack 'n Slash experience.  Good story, fun combat system, it's all around a great series.  I'm currently replaying the series with a Fighter/Mage/Cleric and enjoying it just as much as I did the first time I played it many years ago when it was first released.  My character just hit level 3 in all his classes and I'm about a forth of the way done with BG1.  

If he's more into the tactical side of battles then recommend the Icewind Dale series.

If he's looking for a great story in an RPG then recommend Planescape: Torment.  I'm playing this game also for the first time.  The story in this game is freakin' great.  Easily one of the best stories ever told in an RPG, but I feel I should warn you Brother-in-Law if he decides to play it.  There's a LOT of reading, and I mean a lot.  I've probably been playing the game for 20 hours now, and out of that 20 hours I'd say 18 of that was spent reading.  The game plays a lot like an adventure game without the annoying inventory puzzles.

Heh...I'm playing too many games.  No wonder I have no time for Layo.

[Talan Va'lash]

Baldur's gate II was great... I dont know if theres anything else I can say other than that it was great.

I've heard really good things about planetscape torment, and I think were using some of the music from it here.

I also had fun playing fallout 1 a couple years back.  The setting was cool, and it was more of an adult game (drug use, language, sex, though it wasn't AS adult as Fallout 2 which I didnt like as much and stopped playing before I finished it.)  Fallout 1 did feel a bit like they were up against a deadline at the end and a bit of it got slapped together (there were a few glitches in the storyline where you could end up doing something without doing some of the things that were supposed to lead up to it, making you go, huh?)

If you're not completely turned off by graphics that are reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) Exile III by spiderweb software (small shareware company, support the little guy, huzzah!) is a great game.  Its game world is HUGE for a singleplayer rpg.  There are.... its been a while since I played it, like 8 years or so, but I don't think I'm exadderating when I say there are hundreds of towns.. well, at least a hundred, that all have different shops and at least one npc that has an interesting dialogue (whether related to a subquest or just some information about the region.)  I think this is the longest single player game I've ever played that kept my interest throught the whole thing.  I'm pretty sure I played it for at least a month, but I think it was quite a bit longer, and that was only going through it one time, and I remember there were many subquests (and even a portion of the main plot) that I didn't do because I either couldn't beat them, or couldnt figure out the riddle or puzzle.  And.. one of the major cities on one of the continents got crushed into rubble because I couldn't beat that part of the main plot.  Thats one of the things that was cool about the game, you could choose whether or not to do really anything though... sometimes bad stuff happened if you took too long, or accidentally decided that throwing a fireball at the golem creating machine was the best way to turn it of... and the ensuing conflagration destroyed two farming villages... yeah...

But if you take too long on some of the main plot things, the main cities get replaced with a new area where the walls may show damage, or the one shop you really liked going to was taken out and the owner was killed...  yeah, so it was cool that time acctually mattered, unlike a lot of games where you could technically take 100 years game time to beat it and nothing would happen differently.

as I said, this game is great too, but only if you can get past the fact that the graphics are terrible.  i mean, compared to what were playing now they're not just bad they're terrible.  Great game though.  Combat is turn based, you move across a zoomed out world map and enter city/dungeon/random enounter maps when you get somewhere or enter combat.  Enough about this game...

oh yeah, a newer game from the same company, Geneforge 1.  Not as huge as exile III, but the graphics are substantially better.  Think baldurs gate on 1/1000th the budget.  Movement is realtime, when you enter combat it goes to turn based.  Has another really interesting setting.  Fantasy might and magic like DnD but with a slightly sci-fi twist.  The reason this one gets mentioned on my list is that its the ONLY game thats made me make moral decisions... and.. acctually think about it.. like... in a kinda serious "examine yourself" type of way.  And it wasn't just "are you going to be good?  or evil?"  a couple of times there WERE no good solutions to the problems of the NPCs and their villiages.  It was like... the lesser of two evils, except which was lesser depended on your point of view.  I bought (er registered) geneforge II when it first came out and while it was decent, it seemed to just rehash the same things that put the first one above other games in my mind... but, it wasn't as profound when a lot of it was the same issues reheated.

allright, I'm done typing... if theres any more that I should put here they're getting left out heh.

oh, website of the shareware company if you want to look http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com Support small buisinss!  Death to the heartless bioware corp! erm... uh... I mean.... death to.. uh... world hunger.  yeah.

-TV

[Tedulas]

When DS1 came out, I was addicted to it! It was a brilliant game...fun leveling up, finding different character routes like I did a warrior, healer which was a good combo.

DS2 looked great in the trailors etc, it came out and my friend bought it but I haven't seen it, And I don't want to buy it because of Layonara online. I don't care about the graphics but Layonara online is VERY realistic, unlike games like when you go online you have bad tempered 12 year olds swearing at you when you point out that they are hacking and getting 100000 damage per hit.

[regnus]

Talan Va'lash - 10/9/2005  9:43 AM

If you're not completely turned off by graphics that are reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) Exile III by spiderweb software (small shareware company, support the little guy, huzzah!) is a great game.  

-TV

I just downloaded all three Exile games.  They remind me of the Ultima series.  I know the series tanked there towards the end but the earlier ones were fun.  Ultima IV was the first CRPG I ever played.  Not sure if it qualifies as a CRPG but you know.  Back in the Commodore 64 days. hehe  That goes back to the days of Zork!

[Talan Va'lash]

regnus - 10/9/2005  8:17 AM

Talan Va'lash - 10/9/2005  9:43 AM

If you're not completely turned off by graphics that are reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) Exile III by spiderweb software (small shareware company, support the little guy, huzzah!) is a great game.  

-TV

I just downloaded all three Exile games.  They remind me of the Ultima series.  I know the series tanked there towards the end but the earlier ones were fun.  Ultima IV was the first CRPG I ever played.  Not sure if it qualifies as a CRPG but you know.  Back in the Commodore 64 days. hehe  That goes back to the days of Zork!

Did you get em before I posted this or as a result of it? heh.  I started with the third one, and started playing the first two, but the fact that I already knew what happened in them from the history you find out in the third one, and a few improvements in the GUI in the later ones, I never played the first two through.

I think the first videogame rpg I ever played (can hardly call it a CRPG heh), well, barring gauntlet (which doesnt count) and Zelda (which barely counts) was ... shadowgate I think it was called.  It was for NES and was kinda like Myst in that you move from screen to screen rather than walking continuously.  It had a little pointer that you had to move around the screen using the stupid little + looking pad.  I dont think I ever got very far in it, but I thought it was VEEERY cool when I was like... 5.  I kept getting breathed on by the dragon, or dumped into the lava by the minotaur or whatever it was that guarded the bridge...

-TV

Edit:  did someone saaaaay nethack?

[Frendh]

There are a lot of good modules for NWN...

If he likes console games, the old Chrono Trigger
for the SNES was really good. I was glued to
it every free minute I had. The gameplay is
like in the FF games.

[regnus]

@Talan

I DL them as a result of your post.

Shadowgate was cool.  I played it on an old 286 with CGA graphics woohoo!  Although I feel so old now since I was quite older than 5 when I played it. hehe

I have the opportunity to buy one of the arcade versions of Guantlet for $600.  I am still deciding if I am going to pull the trigger on that one but I keep wishing I could get back all the money I spent on both I and II when they were actually in the arcade. hehe

[Talan Va'lash]

regnus - 10/9/2005  10:50 AM

@Talan

I DL them as a result of your post.

Shadowgate was cool.  I played it on an old 286 with CGA graphics woohoo!  Although I feel so old now since I was quite older than 5 when I played it. hehe

I have the opportunity to buy one of the arcade versions of Guantlet for $600.  I am still deciding if I am going to pull the trigger on that one but I keep wishing I could get back all the money I spent on both I and II when they were actually in the arcade. hehe

I really don't remember how old I was when I played it.... it probably came out like '88 '89 for NES so 5 or 6 might be right on heh.

I met the guy that wrote gauntlet.  I was like, wow, I bet you got a ton of cash for that!  and he said he showed it to a game company or something, and then they came out with it commercially without making any deals or compensating him.  So he met with the company and the quote I remember him saying that he said was, "Hackers don't sue hackers" and that he settled for an arcade version of the game.

-TV

Edit: Chrono trigger and FF and stuff are RPGs just about as much as Diablo 2 is an RPG.