Which game should I play next?

[Nerull]

Add ToEE to the list. I've been playing it since buying it this week, and it is quite good, if you don't mind turn-based combat.

[Encard]

Let's see...

Baldur's Gate 1: Great game, this. Obviously, it's the prequel to BG2... It uses 2nd Edition AD&D rules, with many of the same modifications as BG2 had, although BG2 had a good bit of extra stuff added in (other than in-game content liek weapons, I'm talking about kits, sorcerers, monks, barbarians, higher-level spells, and some other things). BG1 takes you from levels 1-7.

Icewind Dale: Another game using 2ed AD&D rules and the Infinity Engine, but with more combat and less plot. Still, it's a pretty fun game... Just don't expect a brilliant and intriguing storyline.

Planescape: Torment: I've never actually played this game. However, from all I've heard, it's excellent, so it very well might be worth taking a look at.

Icewind Dale II: Similar in content to IWD, but IWD2 uses 3rd Edition D&D rules instead of 2nd Edition. Whether this is better or not is debatable. Plot-wise, like IWD, it's not that strong... Still, a reasonably fun game.

Neverwinter Nights: Didn't like it too much, myself. With one character, combat seems to be a lot more hack-and-slash, and the lack of a decent single-player plot doesn't help any. Now, I'll admit I haven't played much online, and I've only gone through a few user-created modules; this might redeem it. However, I'm not so sure of that. Oh, and it uses 3rd Edition D&D rules.

Morrowind: I liked this game... It doesn't use D&D rules, but still quite nice. The main thing for me was exploring the massive, beautiful landscape. Now, I should note that once I'd more or less finished with that, the game got dull pretty fast, so I haven't actually finished it. Still, I got quite a few hours of fun from it. Now, it does have flaws. Combat, for example, it very simplistic; NPC dialogue also isn't all that great, although it's not absolutely horrible, and I don't know how strong the main plot is. Still, I liked it.

Summoner: Older game, this... However, not THAT old, pretty good graphics, and just in general (at least to me) quite fun. The age will also means it's a fair bit cheaper than some of the newer games. This is another game that doesn't use D&D rules. You control a party of between 1 and 4 character at any given time (the number is based on the plot), and the system is largely skill-based (as in, you get skill points each time you level up, which you assign to various things, like weapon skills, magic skills, backstab, pick locks, etc), although not all characters get all skills. It also has an interesting chain-attack system. After you make a successful attack/chain-attack, you have a certain time at which you can right-click and initiate another chain attack... Characters start with 4 chain attacks, each of which has a distinct affect (not just always more weapon damage... many have other results, like healing yourself, slowing the enemy, elemental damage, and other stuff), and end up learning up to 8 by the end of the game, depending on how proficient you were with chaining (you learn new attacks faster the more you use chain-attacks). The number of attacks you can string together into one chain is unlimited. Anyways... this helps to keep you focused on combat rather than just sitting around waiting for someone to beat up someone else, and maybe hitting a hotkey every so often. The plot's good, and the enemies (and ways of dealing with them) are reasonably varied. Anyways, this is a game I'd suggest picking up, if you can find it... Not up to BG2 qualoity, but then, I have yet to see another game I personally thought was.

Gothic II: Another game not using D&D rules. Also another I've yet to finish, actually, although that's not really the game's fault. You control 1 character. The plot, which I haven't experienced that much of yet myself, is supposedly quite good. Exploration is fun, although not in my opinion on the level of Morrowind, but some things (such as walking near trees making it nearly impossible to see where your character is or what's nearby) are rather frustrating. Combat, on the other hand, is a bit less simplistic than Morrowind... You actually manually parry and choose the type of attack to do, and you can (to some extent, anyway) string attacks together into combo type things. Also, there's three main paths of prgression through the game. I'll note, btw, that this game is hard. Quite hard. If you play it, expect to die quite a bit. Oh, yes... Load and save times for this game are PAINFUL.

Temple of Elemental Evil: 3.5 Edition D&D rules, to which it apparently sticks very faithfully. It's a remake of the old 1st Edition D&D by the same name. I don't actually know if it's good or not, although iirc it's been praised a good bit.

[ 09-24-2003, 09:19 PM: Message edited by: Encard ]