Scyth;if you don't mind going back a little bit.. like 3, 4 years back that is, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is great RPG that really didn't get the recognition it should have.
You can get it on steam and with that patches that came after Troika Games went under, it was a very solid fun play. Might not be your thing, dunno, but it's one of those games I always recommend to RPG lovers just in case .
Scyth;if you don't mind going back a little bit.. like 3, 4 years back that is, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is great RPG that really didn't get the recognition it should have.
You can get it on steam and with that patches that came after Troika Games went under, it was a very solid fun play. Might not be your thing, dunno, but it's one of those games I always recommend to RPG lovers just in case .
I agree, its' an excellent game.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
What are some good rpgs for the pc within the last 10-11 years or so that had a good story? Sandboxes like oblivion etc are out because their stories tend to blow. Doesn't have to be a pure rpg, it can be rpg-like as well.
Best one is still Bioware Neverwinter nights.
Planescape: Torment and the Icewind dale games from Black isle is also amusing, all rather old.PS:T is the best one of them.
Dragon age is worth a try, and the second game is supposed to release really soon.
Obsidians NWN 2 is so so but not near the first game.
Scyth;if you don't mind going back a little bit.. like 3, 4 years back that is, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is great RPG that really didn't get the recognition it should have.
You can get it on steam and with that patches that came after Troika Games went under, it was a very solid fun play. Might not be your thing, dunno, but it's one of those games I always recommend to RPG lovers just in case .
Oh, yes. I forgot about it, rather fun game actually.
Just avaoid Vampire: Redemption, it was really bad.
Until recently I had not played a proper single player RPG in years due to MMO's and thinking that games without online multiplayer were not worth my time.
I picked up The Witcher in the Steam sale this year, and it is awesome.
I have been really enjoying my time with the game and have not experienced a world as well crafted as this in very many MMO[object Window]s.
[object Window]
I am waiting on Guild Wars 2 as far as MMO[object Window]s go and nothing other than GW1 (but I have been playing that years) is taking my fancy at the moment. Seriously, if you are MMO jaded and have not tried it before give The Witcher a go, besides the sequel comes out in March I do believe.
Well giving gothic 3 a try, and I guess i'll give the witcher another shot.
"An MMORPG could be completely diffirent from WoW. Just look at games like Dofus, Wizard101 or EVE. But as it is, most of the Western MMOs are trying to succeed by out-WoWing WoW. It's like an army of 10 sports games made about same sports, and barely none about other sports. WoW clone is an accurate description of those games, it manages to convey much information with only two words." -Poster on mmorpg.com
Rift: World of Warcraft clone #9321 Nothing special to see here move along.
I like Vampire the Redemption. I enjoyed it a lot I know it was not as good as Bloodlines but it was not so bad. Christof was quite tragic and being a huge romantic I thought his love that went on for centuries was very sweet. Also the different vampire clans were interesting but they were more fleshed out in the Bloodlines storyline.
Well Planescape is the best and the talking head will crack you up many many times. I also like Fallout 2 was my very first PC game.I started PC gaming only in 1998 or so after I was chained and forced to stay at home with my son. I lost all human contact with my friends who were all too busy to call even and my post partum depression was not helpful either
However I started gaming and never looked back with a PS and played all the RPGs I could get my hands on and fell in love with Final Fantasy 7 you should get that I think they have that for the PC. It is a wonderful game with a good story.
I think Dragon Age was a lot of fun I especially enjoyed the constant banter in the backgroud between Alistair and Morrigan. She was quite a biatch at times and I loved her propositioning Sten. Very good game and I think the story was also very touching.
Witcher was also a very good game and from a man's point of view very satisfying .I enjoyed the story and it does get better later as many have pointed out.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 I absolutely love to death and have a crush on Garrus.
Neverwinter Nights the first one was good but the second one the camera controls really killed the game for me.
2 worlds II is an interesting RPG game imo. You can dismantle weapons and armor and upgrade your items, experiment with alchemy, combine crystals and upgrade your rings and weapons and use magic cards in order to create diiferent spells. And it's one of the few rpgs that support online play.
You can also play music using a guitar hero like interface ( i can only manage to play the drum) and gamble in order to earn money. You can stealth, steal and pick or break locks if you wish, It also has an open world that can be explored with horses and boats and it has nothing to do with oblivion.
And finally it's the only rpg that can perform very well on low end machines with high quality graphics, it has some ai problems and a weird interface but i did not regret spending my money on it.
He specifically asked for a good story, and someone suggest Borderlands ? *scratches head*
Personally I distinguish between story and storytelling. Mass Effect has a really standard story, if you think about it, the "ancient evil is coming back to get us" has been done countless times in fiction, but the storytelling is what makes the title so great. I also bought the novels, you can see that the main author is very experienced in SF fluff. In the same line, Dragon Age is also pretty standard, but well executed.
My would be suggestions already fell, so i'll comment on them:
- Knights of the Old Republic 1:
Descent buildup, the plottwist is foreshadowed a lot but you only get the hints at the second playthrough, then they feel pretty obvious.
- Kotor 2:
This game actually has a lot better story than part 1 but it fell flat on execution because of the rushed release. The last act feels hastingly thrown together.
- Vampire Bloodlines
Good story, it keeps you guessing a long time. Top notch voiceacting that makes the characters so memorable. (John DiMaggio voicing Smiling Jack is awesome). Suffered from buggy release and the game has several stretches where nothing happens storywise and the game just tosses enemies at you.
- NWN2 vanilla
Folks on tvtropes.org joke the game is a clichestorm, not taking itself too seriously and I think they are right. Interestingly it just hits the mark of using the all those cliches without being goofy.
Sometimes you notice that the developers ran out of time adding content, the romance options are very limited and seem unfitting.
-NWN2 expansion Mask of the Betrayer
We have a winner here. The clichestorm has gone, the developers had time to fully flesh out their story and it shows. Of the games I played in the last decade, the grandness of the finale is still stuck the most in my head. It is hard to describe what made it so memorable without spoiling it.
-NWN2 expansion Storm of Zehir
This is a hard contrast to the other expansion, it is a standard story, setting up a playground for a custom party.
Another vote for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines here. Imo one of the finest and most overlooked single player rpg's ever made. If you can find a copy the moding community has made patches and a graphics update for it available for free.
Planescape Torment. One of the few games i would actually call a masterpiece. If i should do a personal Rotten Tomatos`ish pc game meter, i think it would hover around the 100%.
Baldurs Gate 1-2 in the upper 90%`s.
Fallout 1-2 95% ish
Nwn, fallout 3 and Kotor prolly in the 85-90 ish.
Dragon Age, Drakensang 75-80, though i would place Drakensang ~10% higher in the Atmosphere category.
Im glad you mention these becouse these are real good rpg's.
Dragon age massive attack are not there just story's with limited rpg elements thats all.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009..... In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Sounds as though you tapped the market. You tried Jade Empire?
Hmm I think so, if thats the one where youe some martial arts user then yeah. Kinda been looking for some older games, newer games have been mostly about being pretty and not much else.. not all but most.
Divinity 2 and risen are not only pritty there also good rpg's
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009..... In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Bioware do make awesome solo RPGs, if you like the following
- Fully voiced stories with multiple endings.
- interactive characters that play along side you (talk to them, romances, or some times even kill :O).
- Multiple paths between good and evil choice making that can range from small to large changes in the plot.
- Twich based combat for Mass Effect 1&2, button bashing for Jade empire, and more a MMO feel for Kotor and DA:origns.
- Customisation, i.e - from characters gender, face, stats and class to weps and armor.
I didnt see anyone mention Knights of the Old Republic (Kotor) though i didnt read all the posts, so i take it back if someone did. The graphics havent aged well, but they stories are just as glorious now as they were back in 04.
It might be an old game, but with PC mods, there still quite entertaining, and if you like the Starwars licience, it was voted best starwars game ever :P
Dragons Age: Origins plays more like a MMO and has the most choices from different starter stories for the different races, to various 4 different endings, however, other games like Mass Effect have more cinematic endings compared to DA:O but thats because theres too many variations to the story that a CGI ending wouldnt be able to fit everything in.
Jade Empire was the least interesting, the combat is more for consoles and it felt rather short compared to Mass Effect, DA:O and Kotor.
Mass Effect has a great story, if ya love a bit of pew pew and sci fi, you'll love it, however. It doesnt have the replay value of the other games, due to being only male or female char, both saying the same voiced script, also with really 2 endings as such, whereas in DA:O theres more variation.
You could even hold off for SW:TOR to come out, (if you like starwars).
Although it is a MMO, it can be played like a solo game, which features decision making and fully voiced stories, but its not out till mid year ish.
If you don't mind something a bit more old-school style and indie produced, the Avernum and Geneforge series have some fantastic stories. But expect to do plenty of reading. BTW you don't have to play them in order to "get" the story (although it's fun to do so if you want the full experience) - you might want to avoid the older ones for their archaic UIs.
if you like some really "old school" (think 8bit NES) try the Aveyond series. some more more older ones can be found here http://www.gog.com/en/catalogue#rpg/
also.
Venetica (Im playing this now. It reminds me of Gothic in gameplay but better)
Mass Effect 2 (1 has a good story as well, but I preferred the gameplay of 2)
Dungeon Siege 2 (debatable, but I enjoyed it)
Neverwinter Nights 2
Last Remant (if your computer can handle the graphics)
Forgotten Realms: Demonstone
Medieval 2 (more tactical than RPG but extremely intense and in-depth)
Overlord 2
Spellforce 2
Dragonshard
Some good ones coming in the next couple of months, too, like Hunted: Demon Forge, Dragon Age 2, Dungeons Siege 3, Two World 2, etc. Actually I think TW2 comes outin a couple of days.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Surprisingly no-one's mentioned Arcanum yet, do try it.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is the full title for anyone interested. I believe it's available on GOG.com. Now I'm going to have to go buy it dammit.
Comments
Scyth;if you don't mind going back a little bit.. like 3, 4 years back that is, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is great RPG that really didn't get the recognition it should have.
You can get it on steam and with that patches that came after Troika Games went under, it was a very solid fun play. Might not be your thing, dunno, but it's one of those games I always recommend to RPG lovers just in case
.
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Dragon Age, Fallout 3 (and New Vegas), and The Witcher are 3 of my recent favorites.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
I agree, its' an excellent game.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Best one is still Bioware Neverwinter nights.
Planescape: Torment and the Icewind dale games from Black isle is also amusing, all rather old.PS:T is the best one of them.
Dragon age is worth a try, and the second game is supposed to release really soon.
Obsidians NWN 2 is so so but not near the first game.
Good RPG games are rare nowadays.
Oh, yes. I forgot about it, rather fun game actually.
Just avaoid Vampire: Redemption, it was really bad.
Until recently I had not played a proper single player RPG in years due to MMO's and thinking that games without online multiplayer were not worth my time.
I picked up The Witcher in the Steam sale this year, and it is awesome.
I have been really enjoying my time with the game and have not experienced a world as well crafted as this in very many MMO[object Window]s.
[object Window]
I am waiting on Guild Wars 2 as far as MMO[object Window]s go and nothing other than GW1 (but I have been playing that years) is taking my fancy at the moment. Seriously, if you are MMO jaded and have not tried it before give The Witcher a go, besides the sequel comes out in March I do believe.
Good luck whatever you choose.
Yup ill agree Drakensang and Drakensang TRoT are great ..
Divinty 2
And Two Worlds Two which will hit the shelves on the 25th..
Well giving gothic 3 a try, and I guess i'll give the witcher another shot.
"An MMORPG could be completely diffirent from WoW. Just look at games like Dofus, Wizard101 or EVE. But as it is, most of the Western MMOs are trying to succeed by out-WoWing WoW. It's like an army of 10 sports games made about same sports, and barely none about other sports. WoW clone is an accurate description of those games, it manages to convey much information with only two words."
-Poster on mmorpg.com
Rift: World of Warcraft clone #9321 Nothing special to see here move along.
I like Vampire the Redemption. I enjoyed it a lot I know it was not as good as Bloodlines but it was not so bad. Christof was quite tragic and being a huge romantic I thought his love that went on for centuries was very sweet. Also the different vampire clans were interesting but they were more fleshed out in the Bloodlines storyline.
Well Planescape is the best and the talking head will crack you up many many times. I also like Fallout 2 was my very first PC game.I started PC gaming only in 1998 or so after I was chained and forced to stay at home with my son. I lost all human contact with my friends who were all too busy to call even and my post partum depression was not helpful either
However I started gaming and never looked back with a PS and played all the RPGs I could get my hands on and fell in love with Final Fantasy 7 you should get that I think they have that for the PC. It is a wonderful game with a good story.
I think Dragon Age was a lot of fun I especially enjoyed the constant banter in the backgroud between Alistair and Morrigan. She was quite a biatch at times and I loved her propositioning Sten. Very good game and I think the story was also very touching.
Witcher was also a very good game and from a man's point of view very satisfying .I enjoyed the story and it does get better later as many have pointed out.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 I absolutely love to death and have a crush on Garrus.
Neverwinter Nights the first one was good but the second one the camera controls really killed the game for me.
2 worlds II is an interesting RPG game imo. You can dismantle weapons and armor and upgrade your items, experiment with alchemy, combine crystals and upgrade your rings and weapons and use magic cards in order to create diiferent spells. And it's one of the few rpgs that support online play.
You can also play music using a guitar hero like interface ( i can only manage to play the drum) and gamble in order to earn money. You can stealth, steal and pick or break locks if you wish, It also has an open world that can be explored with horses and boats and it has nothing to do with oblivion.
And finally it's the only rpg that can perform very well on low end machines with high quality graphics, it has some ai problems and a weird interface but i did not regret spending my money on it.
visit http://www.twoworlds2.com/en/story.html for the story
He specifically asked for a good story, and someone suggest Borderlands ? *scratches head*
Personally I distinguish between story and storytelling. Mass Effect has a really standard story, if you think about it, the "ancient evil is coming back to get us" has been done countless times in fiction, but the storytelling is what makes the title so great. I also bought the novels, you can see that the main author is very experienced in SF fluff. In the same line, Dragon Age is also pretty standard, but well executed.
My would be suggestions already fell, so i'll comment on them:
- Knights of the Old Republic 1:
Descent buildup, the plottwist is foreshadowed a lot but you only get the hints at the second playthrough, then they feel pretty obvious.
- Kotor 2:
This game actually has a lot better story than part 1 but it fell flat on execution because of the rushed release. The last act feels hastingly thrown together.
- Vampire Bloodlines
Good story, it keeps you guessing a long time. Top notch voiceacting that makes the characters so memorable. (John DiMaggio voicing Smiling Jack is awesome). Suffered from buggy release and the game has several stretches where nothing happens storywise and the game just tosses enemies at you.
- NWN2 vanilla
Folks on tvtropes.org joke the game is a clichestorm, not taking itself too seriously and I think they are right. Interestingly it just hits the mark of using the all those cliches without being goofy.
Sometimes you notice that the developers ran out of time adding content, the romance options are very limited and seem unfitting.
-NWN2 expansion Mask of the Betrayer
We have a winner here. The clichestorm has gone, the developers had time to fully flesh out their story and it shows. Of the games I played in the last decade, the grandness of the finale is still stuck the most in my head. It is hard to describe what made it so memorable without spoiling it.
-NWN2 expansion Storm of Zehir
This is a hard contrast to the other expansion, it is a standard story, setting up a playground for a custom party.
Another vote for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines here. Imo one of the finest and most overlooked single player rpg's ever made. If you can find a copy the moding community has made patches and a graphics update for it available for free.
Gothic 3 is decent now after soem major patching but Gothic 1 and 2 are still better.
Witcher is a very good one to if you give it a chance.
Vampire the Masquerade as others have said is a great game evne if it is looking dated visually.
If your willing to stretch a little further bakc still i;d recommend Deus Ex,System Shock 2 and Fallout 2
Planescape Torment. One of the few games i would actually call a masterpiece. If i should do a personal Rotten Tomatos`ish pc game meter, i think it would hover around the 100%.
Baldurs Gate 1-2 in the upper 90%`s.
Fallout 1-2 95% ish
Nwn, fallout 3 and Kotor prolly in the 85-90 ish.
Dragon Age, Drakensang 75-80, though i would place Drakensang ~10% higher in the Atmosphere category.
Dungeon Siege 45% ish.
Im glad you mention these becouse these are real good rpg's.
Dragon age massive attack are not there just story's with limited rpg elements thats all.
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
Divinity 2 and risen are not only pritty there also good rpg's
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.
I'm currently enjoying Divinity 2. Dragon Age is excellent.
Mass Effects have a great story. I agree with others in that they are pretty light on RPG, especially ME 2.
Anachronox
Generation P
Can't beat a bit of Shining Force 1 & 2.
They were what made me follow RPGs back in the Megadrive days..
Can get them on Steam (pc) now for a couple of quid.
Core i5 13600KF, BeQuiet Pure Loop FX 360, 32gb DDR5-6000 XPG, WD SN850 NVMe ,PNY 3090 XLR8, Asus Prime Z790-A, Lian-Li O11 PCMR case (limited ed 1045/2000), 32" LG Ultragear 4k Monitor, Logitech G560 LightSync Sound, Razer Deathadder V2 and Razer Blackwidow V3 Keyboard
Bioware do make awesome solo RPGs, if you like the following
- Fully voiced stories with multiple endings.
- interactive characters that play along side you (talk to them, romances, or some times even kill :O).
- Multiple paths between good and evil choice making that can range from small to large changes in the plot.
- Twich based combat for Mass Effect 1&2, button bashing for Jade empire, and more a MMO feel for Kotor and DA:origns.
- Customisation, i.e - from characters gender, face, stats and class to weps and armor.
I didnt see anyone mention Knights of the Old Republic (Kotor) though i didnt read all the posts, so i take it back if someone did. The graphics havent aged well, but they stories are just as glorious now as they were back in 04.
It might be an old game, but with PC mods, there still quite entertaining, and if you like the Starwars licience, it was voted best starwars game ever :P
Dragons Age: Origins plays more like a MMO and has the most choices from different starter stories for the different races, to various 4 different endings, however, other games like Mass Effect have more cinematic endings compared to DA:O but thats because theres too many variations to the story that a CGI ending wouldnt be able to fit everything in.
Jade Empire was the least interesting, the combat is more for consoles and it felt rather short compared to Mass Effect, DA:O and Kotor.
Mass Effect has a great story, if ya love a bit of pew pew and sci fi, you'll love it, however. It doesnt have the replay value of the other games, due to being only male or female char, both saying the same voiced script, also with really 2 endings as such, whereas in DA:O theres more variation.
You could even hold off for SW:TOR to come out, (if you like starwars).
Although it is a MMO, it can be played like a solo game, which features decision making and fully voiced stories, but its not out till mid year ish.
If you don't mind something a bit more old-school style and indie produced, the Avernum and Geneforge series have some fantastic stories. But expect to do plenty of reading. BTW you don't have to play them in order to "get" the story (although it's fun to do so if you want the full experience) - you might want to avoid the older ones for their archaic UIs.
http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html
Always read the small print.
if you like some really "old school" (think 8bit NES) try the Aveyond series. some more more older ones can be found here http://www.gog.com/en/catalogue#rpg/
also.
Venetica (Im playing this now. It reminds me of Gothic in gameplay but better)
Avencast:Rise of the MAge
Eschalon: Book I&2
Torchlight
Broken Sword series.
Dragon Age: Origins
Drakensang
Mass Effect 2 (1 has a good story as well, but I preferred the gameplay of 2)
Dungeon Siege 2 (debatable, but I enjoyed it)
Neverwinter Nights 2
Last Remant (if your computer can handle the graphics)
Forgotten Realms: Demonstone
Medieval 2 (more tactical than RPG but extremely intense and in-depth)
Overlord 2
Spellforce 2
Dragonshard
Some good ones coming in the next couple of months, too, like Hunted: Demon Forge, Dragon Age 2, Dungeons Siege 3, Two World 2, etc. Actually I think TW2 comes outin a couple of days.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
Surprisingly no-one's mentioned Arcanum yet, do try it.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is the full title for anyone interested. I believe it's available on GOG.com. Now I'm going to have to go buy it dammit.