RPG like Wizardry with single character?

[Achilles97]

I am limited to gaming on a MacBook right now . I just picked up Wizardry 8 which I enjoy but I prefer RPGs with a single character. I would enjoy Daggerfall on my laptop if it would run reliably.

I looked at Grimoure but the reviews are not encouraging.

Any suggestions on what I can try? The input system would have to be pretty simple for the laptop controls.

Thanks

 

[DigDog]

the various Shadowrun games, and Wasteland.

 

[TheELF]

What's your problem with daggerfall? Dosbox should not have any trouble on the macbook.
Grimoire has a 8 player party...

The classics, dungeon master and eye of the beholder, are great games.

 

[wanderer27]

The Bard's Tale, or maybe one of the others from this Bundle should fit the bill - https://www.humblebundle.com/jumbo-bundle-10

The Bard's Tale and a few others even have DRM Free, Linux, and Mac versions so it shouldn't be too rough to get them going.

.

 

[nakedfrog]

Maybe Legend of Grimrock would work for you.

 

[shortylickens]

https://www.moregameslike.com/wizardry-8/

 

[Achilles97]

Interesting!

Thank you everyone for the replies.

 

[StinkyPinky]

What type of Macbook? Two Worlds 2 runs ok on a macbook from 2013.

 

[Craig234]

Keep an eye out for gog.com's big sales on the dozens of old D&D games. Not sure how many aren't parties, though.

 

[bystander36]

What's your problem with daggerfall? Dosbox should not have any trouble on the macbook.
Grimoire has a 8 player party...

The classics, dungeon master and eye of the beholder, are great games.

Daggerfall was buggy as hell on PC, on a Macbook, it's likely worse. Why not Morrowind, Oblivion or Skyrim? The original Witcher shouldn't be terribly demanding either.

 

[DaveSimmons]

By single character do you mean truly alone like Morrowind, or are NPC companions OK like in Star Wars KOTOR 1-2 and Neverwinter Nights 1-2?

 

[Stuka87]

As i recall some of the Balders Gate games were available for OSX. Or if you dual boot windows, you can definitely run some of them.

 

[bystander36]

I thought he wanted single character games, not party based games.

 

[Achilles97]

HI, thank you for the discussion so far.

To clarify some points: I am on a 2016 MacBook 13". I can only use the laptop keyboard and touchpad for input as I am usually on a plane when I want to play the games. That might limit my ability to play some of the real-time combat games with decent combat mechanics that involve various input gestures in a timely manner.

I really enjoy the Elder Scrolls games but I am not sure if I want to deal with the Daggerfall bugs anymore and I've played Morrowind to death as it is probably my favorite game of all-time.

Yeah, I perfer games where I am the only character I manage and control. I would rather not have a party of companions unless they were completely independent in the manner of partying with real people in WoW.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

HI, thank you for the discussion so far.

To clarify some points: I am on a 2016 MacBook 13". I can only use the laptop keyboard and touchpad for input as I am usually on a plane when I want to play the games. That might limit my ability to play some of the real-time combat games with decent combat mechanics that involve various input gestures in a timely manner.

I really enjoy the Elder Scrolls games but I am not sure if I want to deal with the Daggerfall bugs anymore and I've played Morrowind to death as it is probably my favorite game of all-time.

Yeah, I perfer games where I am the only character I manage and control. I would rather not have a party of companions unless they were completely independent in the manner of partying with real people in WoW.

Thanks a bunch!

Legend of Grimrock1/2 might be up your alley, there's also a handful of similar games at least moderately well reviewed on Steam right now (The Quest which I have and enjoyed, Dungeon Kingdom which I haven't tried). If you're willing to break out of the first person mode, or persistent gameplay (aka move toward roguelikes), there's some excellent options available as well, I'd highly recommend Caves of Qud as a turn based roguelike, same with Tales of Maj'Eyal and Dungeons of Dredmor.

 

[Craig234]

Well there is Elder Scrolls Online with the new Morrowind expansion.

 

[DigDog]

honestly, i think the best, without a shadow of a doubt, single-character RPG game to have ever been made, is the first Neverwinter Nights.

the system is AD&D 3rd edition. Not as awesome as AD&D 2nd edition, but still pretty damn swag.

the graphics suck balls.

the gameplay is awesome. You have an practically INFINITE number of free additional modules (adventures, campaigns, quests .. DLC .. call them what you want) that you can play.

 

[bystander36]

honestly, i think the best, without a shadow of a doubt, single-character RPG game to have ever been made, is the first Neverwinter Nights.

the system is AD&D 3rd edition. Not as awesome as AD&D 2nd edition, but still pretty damn swag.

the graphics suck balls.

the gameplay is awesome. You have an practically INFINITE number of free additional modules (adventures, campaigns, quests .. DLC .. call them what you want) that you can play.

I thought NWN had a group as well, but can't recall, do they fight with their own AI? Actually, Dragon Age: Origins, while you get a party, allows you to setup behaviors for each character to fight on their own. If setup well, you rarely have to touch your party members, just don't play on a high difficulty level. These two are not turn based, but let you pause the action any time you want to give commands, like NWN.

There is the option of playing Divinity Original Sin (1 & 2). They have a party, but you can choose to pick up the lone wolf perk, which makes it possible to play solo, or with 1 other party member (I think 2 requires a 2nd party member to be successful, I don't recall if the 1st did as well). It's turn based, so you don't have to have any reactions.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Any of the 3D Fallout games are pretty much just Morrowind/Skyrim with Fallout as a title.

 

[DigDog]

NWN has AI for you AND for your party or NPCs. The number of people in this party can change between 1, 2 (more common, you and a follower), or a whole bunch.

You click on the enemy to attack, a la Diablo, but only once, and then you character keeps attacking.

You can also pause and give commands individually.

honestly, it's great. It can be as easy as you want (GO MURDER THOSE GOBLINS) or turn-by-turn if you need it.

What is really, realy great is the creativity that is shown in the player-created content. These people were not restricted by the rules of the game developer, and some scenarios are pretty darn grim ..

try the one where you play as an anti-paladin .. slaughtering the innocents is your mission.

 

[DigDog]

funny thing unrelated, but funny so included here, because it makes you think.

a few years back there was a game released, Temple Of Elemental Evil (henceforth Temple).

This game didn't do well, but it received some praise from some gamers (i.e. some people LOVED IT, most hated it).
It was based on the older rules of AD&D. And you played a full party.

This meant that it had a lot of options, but also that it was slow, and unwieldy, and hard.

You started from level 1, and were expected to reach maybe level 12, which is not much. However, most of the engine was in the game, so if you were ready to grind, you could reach a higher level.

Now .. the game used 100% pure AD&D systems.

If you started the game, ran into a badass random encounter ...

And killed them all except one ...


and all your characters died .. except one ..


and then your last character killed that last mob ...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM instant level 5 or so.

because the number of mobs would generate a threat level, which would assign a XP value to each mob. But because all your characters died, the game would think it's your 1 character vs all the mobs, and raise the XP value of each mob.
And because your characters were dead, you would not have to share this XP, but it would all go to your 1 character left alive.

And then you could go on and now you were higher level, and you would just wreck all the mobs, and keep on getting boatloads of XP, and totally break the character level ceiling.

 

[bystander36]

and then your last character killed that last mob ...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM instant level 5 or so.

because the number of mobs would generate a threat level, which would assign a XP value to each mob. But because all your characters died, the game would think it's your 1 character vs all the mobs, and raise the XP value of each mob.
And because your characters were dead, you would not have to share this XP, but it would all go to your 1 character left alive.

And then you could go on and now you were higher level, and you would just wreck all the mobs, and keep on getting boatloads of XP, and totally break the character level ceiling.

Most older games were this way. Baldur's Gate did the same thing, but it wasn't that you got bonus experience because your party was dead, it gives the same experience, it just isn't split 4 ways. Most RPG's 15 years or more ago, would split the experience from a mob with how ever many you had in a group, so you could power level up a single powerful character by soloing. Go with two members, and be a bit lower level, or more and be lower level still. However, because the experience for each level increased, you wouldn't get all that higher level, just a couple levels.

 

[DaveSimmons]

^ also the old games had fairly low hard caps on your level until the sequels. In the SSI Gold Box games you couldn't become godlike until the third or fourth game in a series,

 

[Craig234]

Check Vaporum.

 

[Ancalagon44]

So, you need an RPG where you control a single character with a touchpad and a keyboard, and it cannot be an MMORPG because you will be flying when you play, so you will probably not have an internet connection.

I don't think I'd recommend the modern Fallout games (Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4) because I think shooting might be a little difficult with a touchpad. You have VATS, which is good, but in fights you frequently run out of VATS points.

What about action RPGs such as Grim Dawn and Titan Quest? Both are on sale at the moment, Titan Quest itself is pretty cheap right now. They are somewhat faster paced than traditional RPGs, but they would fit a lot of your requirements. Not deep story or roleplaying wise.

Otherwise maybe Torment: Tides of Numenara? That is story heavy and role playing heavy, not much in the way of action. No idea if you end with multiple party members, you might. But you start with only one character even if others join you later.