Still looking for an enjoyable "old school" RPG, but maybe I've played them all?

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Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
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And when I say "I've played them all", I mean from a specific time period (perhaps from late 90's to mid 2000's)

This is what I've looking for:

1) Interesting story (I don't mind fantasy cliches if they're well done)
2) Large world to explore, preferably dotted with plenty of towns and settlements to discover.
3) Interesting NPCs to meet (again, cliches are ok)
4) tons of fun quests to solve; since I grew up with these types of games I don't really mind fetch-it quests
5) Does not have to be sandbox
6) decent, intuitive level-up scheme. Preferably no skill trees. Scratch that - NO skill trees.
7) not an action RPG like Diablo or Nox


I've played (off of the top of my head):

1) all of the infinity engine games
2) all of the NWN games
3) DA:O
4) the entire Gothic series
5) All of the fps/rpg hybrids (SS2,DE)
6) The entire ME series (doesn't really apply here, but I figured I'd mention it)
7) ToEE
8) Wizardry 8
9) Arx Fatalis
10) The entire FO series
11) VtM:BL
12) Two worlds series
13) KotoR series
14) most of the TES series

I've played a lot of others as well.

I'm afraid to go back too far. I bought Betrayal at Antara years ago and I couldn't get into it, and that probably rules out a lot of classic 80's and 90's RPGs. In my quest for a new RPG experience I also tried a bit of those indy RPGs like Geneforge, but they didn't take either.

One hidden gem I really got immersed in was a game called Soulbringer, and that might be what I'm looking for: a game that was overlooked because it didn't get a decent release and therefore didn't sell well.

Does anyone have any ideas?
 
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V

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
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I've played Divinity 2. Actually bought on a recommendation from someone here.
 
V

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
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I think I only lasted a couple of hours.

iirc the person who recommended it said that it was very similar to the Gothic series, which is my favorite of all time, so I went out and bought it at full price. It ended up being more like Two Worlds (a series I have have played as well).

It might have just been an example of skewed expectations.
 
Y

yepp

Senior member
Jul 30, 2006
403
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Risen series?

Arcanum?

Check out the Drakensang games if you haven't, The Dark Eye, The River of Time, Phileasson's Secret.

Vampires the Masquerade Bloodlines is a must play.
 
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V

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,670
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YEPP said:
Risen series?

Arcanum?

Check out the Drakensang games if you haven't, The Dark Eye, The River of Time etc...

Vampires the Masquerade Bloodlines is a must play.
Click to expand...

I've payed Risen twice - great game. Risen 2 isn't as bad as some say, but the island hopping thing is so different that it's hard to get into. I played for about 10 hours, went hunting in the night with Patty, got lost in the midst of spawning monsters, figured out you can't camp anywhere but town, and quit.

I've payed the first Drakensang a bit, but didn't get very far. I had it on D2D; hopefully it got transferred to Gamefly. I'll have to check that. It did seem a bit generic.

I played a long game of Bloodlines a while ago.

I've never played Arcanum. I did try the demo off of a PC Gamer demo disc eons ago and didn't really like it, but I was a big time RPG noob back then. That's definitely one to consider trying again.
 
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Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
Your 'have played' list is very incomplete as the posts are showing.

What's wrong with the Spiderweb games? Latest is Avadon.

You could always go back to some classics like Might and Magic 6 or the Krondor games.

You could also try something like World of Warcraft as a single player, explore and quest.
 
Zenoth

Zenoth

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2005
5,202
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Maybe Divine Divinity?

There's a good bunch of RPGs at GoG.com that might interest you, so I'd recommend that you go check their library, all their games have user reviews as well.
 
sash1

sash1

Diamond Member
Jul 20, 2001
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dungeons of dredmor, perhaps?

not really old school, but i'll throw it out there because i luff it: Bastion
 
V

Via

Diamond Member
Jan 14, 2009
4,670
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Craig234 said:
Your 'have played' list is very incomplete as the posts are showing.

What's wrong with the Spiderweb games? Latest is Avadon.

You could always go back to some classics like Might and Magic 6 or the Krondor games.

You could also try something like World of Warcraft as a single player, explore and quest.
Click to expand...

I've had my fill of WoW. As I mentioned in my OP - I bought Betrayal at Antara many years ago, and it was too old for me then. I'm sure that won't get any better now.

Is Geneforge Spiderweb? I've tried those. I might try them again.

Zenoth said:
Maybe Divine Divinity?

There's a good bunch of RPGs at GoG.com that might interest you, so I'd recommend that you go check their library, all their games have user reviews as well.
Click to expand...

I've played the original Divinity games. I'm probably going to go for Arcanum at GoG.

sash1 said:
dungeons of dredmor, perhaps?

not really old school, but i'll throw it out there because i luff it: Bastion
Click to expand...

I've played Bastion. It's fun.



Has anyone here played Sacred 2?
 
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Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
Ah, thought that fit the bill. I need to play it again also. How about legend of grimrock? Not really an rpg but a great game that looks like an old style rpg with modern graphics.
 
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cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
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Via said:
I've played (off of the top of my head):

4) the entire Gothic series
Click to expand...

Damn I vaguely remember the times when I could take a two week span and devote 60 hours to playing Gothic.

Sorry I don't have any games to add, just remembering the fun this game was (until #3 came out)
 
JoetheLion

JoetheLion

Senior member
Nov 8, 2012
392
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How come that nobody mentioned Albion? I thought that ppl here are RPG veterans and this is one of the all-time top RPGs.

+ how about Might and Magic? VI,VII,VIII "trilogy" is very addictive with great dungeons and exteriors to explore, great skill/leveling system, many quests and big cities. + If you've played Heroes of Might and Magic III, you'll find it even more enjoyable, since Might and Magic VII is kind of a "sequel" to the events of that game.
 
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Borealis7

Platinum Member
Oct 19, 2006
2,901
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+1 for M&M7 - one of the best ever. 6 was also great but be warned - pre 3DFX era. haha.
 
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Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
JoetheLion said:
How come that nobody mentioned Albion? I thought that ppl here are RPG veterans and this is one of the all-time top RPGs.
Click to expand...

Seems to me Albion is a very obscure 1995 RPG. Review averages about 73/100.

+ how about Might and Magic? VI,VII,VIII "trilogy" is very addictive with great dungeons and exteriors to explore, great skill/leveling system, many quests and big cities. + If you've played Heroes of Might and Magic III, you'll find it even more enjoyable, since Might and Magic VII is kind of a "sequel" to the events of that game.
Click to expand...

I did mention Might and Magic 6. It is a pretty old game, though.
 
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