In need for CRPGs Recommendations!

[Alson]

Well, I finally decided to take THE step. I'm joining a B.A. group. No, not Bachelor of Arts--BG2ers Anonymous... Yes, after more than two and a half years, I've uninstalled BG2 (not that I could play anyway, as I lent the discs to a friend).

So now it's time to pick a new CRPG, and this is where I need your help. Fallout 2, Planescape:Torment, Arcanum, Lionheart, Vampire:The Masquerade, Icewind Dale 2 and Temple of Elemental Evil - all sound like good stuff indeed, but I'm not buying anything before I'm getting proper feedback. For example, I've heard PS:T's dialogues are by far the best - but I'm an avid fan of tactical combat, so I'm not sure this is the one for me. On the other hand, my Diablo 2 days are long gone now. Also, keep in mind that my system isn't all that - 500MHz, 160 RAM, a solid graphics card and Win98.

So, if anyone's in the mood for commending his favorite game--it'd be appreciated. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Xen]

HEY ALSON! [img]smile.gif[/img] I haven`t seen you for a long time! Welcome to the club! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

I liked Vampire:TM pretty much so i did with PS:T. If you like tactical combat i think that IWD series is the thing for you. A LOT of fighting and there could be more quests involved.

[pritchke]

I recommend Fallout 2, and Planescape:Torment for Role playing. The very first Fallout is really good so try getting 1 & 2 as a package if you have never played the first one. I have never played 2 but if it is so much better and much longer as some say than the first one it has to be good.

For a tactical player than Icewind Dale 2 might be more your thing or even Fallout Tactics (I really should play this game so don't take my word on this one because I have been so busy with IWD II and it is very good).

[ 12-09-2003, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

[Luvian]

Here's my review of the games you talked about:


Fallout 2: Very good open ended RPG. The engine is a litle old but it work great. You can be a fighter, a thief, a diplomat, good, evil... The skills and dialogs choices allow you total freedom on how you want to play the game. Baldur's Gate and Fallout series are the series with the most fans their modding scene is as strong as the BGII one.

Planescape:Torment: A masterpiece. The best dialogs and roleplaying ever. It's like Baldur's Gate, but with a lot better story.

Arcanum: I really like this game. I always have it installed. Here's a recent thread about it.

Lionheart: Sucky game. Think diablo on speed, with a bad interface and horrible avatars.

Vampire:The Masquerade: I like this game and replayed it few times, but it's not a standard RPG. The controls ae Similar to Ultima 9 or a little like Neverwinter Nights. Don't play this game without the official patch.

Icewind Dale 2: The updated Baldur's Gate II engine focused on combats and tactics. It's extremly hard compared to BGII and use 3rd Editions rules.

Temple of Elemental Evil: If you take a look at it's forum here, you'll see that lots of the threads are about why people don't really like this game. Take a look there for opinions.

Fallout Tactics: It's to the fallout series what Icewind Dale II is to the Baldur's Gate series. I like this game, as it's what I consider a "plug and play" game. Just install and start playing. There's very few downtimes and micromanagment and it's all about small teams tactics. Some maps took me hours to finish the perfect way. There are lots of mods and maps for this game, too.

Neverwinter Nights: Some people love it, some hate it. To me, it's Dungeon siege with dialogs choices and loading screens.

[ 12-09-2003, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

[Xen]

Originally posted by Luvian: Here's my review of the games you talked about: Neverwinter Nights: Some people love it, some hate it. To me, it's Dungeon siege with dialogs choices and loading screens.

I am in the other group. I absolutly hate it. To me it is kinda like Diablo... hack and slash mostly.

NWN is all about Multi-Player.

[Assassin]

Well, though I personally liked Baldur's Gate 2, I despised utterly Fallout 2 for its combat system. There wasn't any thinking involved in the first bit; just click, click, click. Maybe, if I had stuck in longer, I might've liked it, but I disliked Fallout 2.

Now, as for Arcanum; I bought it, started up a new game, and didn't like it that much. The turn-based combat system only starts when the creature actually reaches you, which really bites for ranged people. Harm is overpowered for the first little bit. Beware of this game if you're very fond of BG2's style of Mages as destruction dealers; there are a total of 10 or less spells that actually damage the stupid enemy out of 80. All of the rest are summoning/weakening/buffers.

Out of all of the ones that you mentioned, if you like small party tactics, I'd recommend Icewind Dale 2; very nice for combat. Less roleplaying, sure, but the combat is actually pretty darn good.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Assassin: Well, though I personally liked Baldur's Gate 2, I despised utterly Fallout 2 for its combat system. There wasn't any thinking involved in the first bit; just click, click, click. Maybe, if I had stuck in longer, I might've liked it, but I disliked Fallout 2.

Fallout's combat system is extremly interesting, once you learn more about it. You can aim at about every body parts. Hit the eyes to blind people, hit the groin to temporarily disable them, break arms and legs.... For even more fun, use a minigun/flamethrower/plasma weapon and see them die an extremly painfull death.

There are full of attack types: Normal, electrical, laser, plasma, explosions... All armors have there pros and cons, and you also need to find out ennemies's weakness.

Now, as for Arcanum; I bought it, started up a new game, and didn't like it that much. The turn-based combat system only starts when the creature actually reaches you, which really bites for ranged people. Harm is overpowered for the first little bit. Beware of this game if you're very fond of BG2's style of Mages as destruction dealers; there are a total of 10 or less spells that actually damage the stupid enemy out of 80. All of the rest are summoning/weakening/buffers.

Sure, battle only automatically start once something is hit, but you can manually turn it on at any time.

As for magic, I agree that the spell selection is rather slim, but mage are extremly powerfull in this game. Harm, Desintegrate and Quench life can kill most ennemies extremly fast. So does fireball.

For lots of fun, do my combo. Dominate the ennemy, polymorph him into a sheep, shrink him, then cast spell shield on yourself and cancel the spells on the guy. They'll become permanent! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

I didn't like this game at all at first, but I then gave it a chance and played it until I understood the system, and now I can't get enough if it! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Out of all of the ones that you mentioned, if you like small party tactics, I'd recommend Icewind Dale 2; very nice for combat. Less roleplaying, sure, but the combat is actually pretty darn good.

I'd reccomend Fallout Tactics more for small party tactics, but Icewind Dale II is good for that, too.

[ 12-09-2003, 05:35 PM: Message edited by: Luvian ]

[Assassin]

Yeah, but I think taht Icewind Dale 2 would be easier to pick up for someone with more experience in BG 2 than stuff like Fallout.

[Luvian]

Originally posted by Assassin: Yeah, but I think taht Icewind Dale 2 would be easier to pick up for someone with more experience in BG 2 than stuff like Fallout.

That's true.

[Bozos of Bones]

To answer your question:
Icewind Dale 2-you just gotta love it. Five stars
Icewind Dale-look above
Fallout 2-can't get any better than that... almost(look below)
Baldurs Gate-the one of two things which are better than fallout 2
Baldurs Gate 2-the other of the two
Arcanum-this game is great on so many levels. Try it
LionHeart-stay away from this game. I learned that the harder way. It sucks
Vampire: the Masquerade Redemption-a very good game with some problems, manly difficulty and bugs
Planescape: Tornment-next to the two aforementioned, this is the only title capable of challenging(notice "challenging" not "defeating") Fallout 2
So, to summarise, if you want some good clean fun with a bit less brain use than Baldur's Gate, take Icewind Dale. If you want something more, take Planescape. If you want to get sentimental, take Fallout 2. If you want something Fallout-style but newer, can't go wrong with Arcanum. Of you find infinite reloading fun, play Icewind Dale 2 in Heart of Fury mode(15th level characters minimum).
I wasn't helpfull at all, was I?

[ 12-09-2003, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Bozos of Bones ]