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

[JoetheLion]

Seems to me Albion is a very obscure 1995 RPG. Review averages about 73/100. I did mention Might and Magic 6. It is a pretty old game, though.

It's not that obscure. I remember that most of the magazines I knew and read at that time gave it 9/10 marks and it's one of my all time favourite games. It has a pretty good story and a very reasonable (not over the top) sci-fi/fantasy crossover. Plus when I heard what was the movie Avatar going to be about, I wondered if Cameron just took Albion and silently remade it into movie, because the story is about young pilot working for a interplanetary mining corporation. So he crashes on a planet which should be without any life, but there he is in a lush jungle, meeting a humanoid cat race who call themselves Iskai.

About Might and Magic VI - The actual game is both isometric (most indoor locations and world map traveling) and 3D (most dungeons and cities) with a great architecture, specific for each culture on the planet (for example, iskai architects from the guild Dji-Fadh make the buildings, furniture and things like water channels and fountains literally out of living plants).

Throughout the game, you talk with many npcs, kill some enemies, solve riddles in dungeons (some of which are pretty good brainteasers) and meet new party members (there are more possible party members than slots in your party - lead character Tom + 5 other characters) who will comment on the situations and choices that the player/Tom makes.

Combat is turn-based, similar to that of HOMAM for example. There are only few musical themes, but the overall ambience makes up for it as it creates a great atmosphere (humming of maintenance droids and reactor in the beginning and noises of animals, splashing of water, winds blowing in a canyon etc...

Even though the game is not a non-linear, there are several solutions to some situations/quests, you can do some dungeons in a different order + some of them are optional.

That's a problem? I thought you were looking for good games. A good 1998 game which is still enjoyable and playable on current systems is a great thing.

 

[smackababy]

I'd recommend the Ultima series. The first few probably haven't aged well (but Ultima 3 is worth it regardless). If you can't play through all of them, do Ultima 3 and Ultima 7.

Someone mentioned the Krondor games, I found RtK pretty lacking though. Betrayal at Krondor was great, but Return to Krondor just didn't do it for me.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Curse of the Azure Bonds/TSR Gold Box Series

I think I played Curse for the entire summer of 88 or 89...lmao

 

[DaveSimmons]

Missing from your list:

Vampire the Maquerade: Bloodlines
Star Wars KOTOR 1-2
Fallout 3 & New Vegas (not action RPGs if you rely on VATS in combat)

Also for this:
> 2) all of the NWN games
Have you looked in the Neverwinter Vault for some of the "hall of fame" content like Adam Miller's sequence of games for NWN 1?

 

[Via]

I've updated the OP to reflect some suggestions that I've already played. Thanks a ton to everyone for the help.

As of now Arcanum seems like the best bet to be what I'm looking for. I totally forgot about that game.

Shadowrun returns looks interesting.

I really don't think going any older than Baldur's Gate is going to work for me. Everybody has their own timeline for what's too old, what they can safely go back to and enjoy. Mine starts about there. I know a guy who's first role playing game was Oblivion who can't play Morrowind because it's too "dated".

The major exception to that would be FO 1&2; even though it was released only a year before BG the graphics seem several gens earlier. I still remember booting FO1 up for the first time around 2002 and feeling my eyes start to leak. But something made me stick with it, and my first playthrough of FO is one of the great gaming experiences of my life.

 

[JamesV]

Arcanum is a great game; played through it many times.

 

[clok1966]

Arcanum is a great game; played through it many times.

Yes you wont be disapointed with that..

Might & Magic III (which is actually 3 games if you get world of Xeen and Darkside of xeen, they combine and make Clouds of Xeen) one of the OLD greats.. bit long in the tooth now.. but to this day i have a save i fire up and grind a few hours .. its so huge its one of the old ones, takes many many hours to finish it all.

you said Wiz8 - again one of the last great RPG's done the old school way.. I would HIGHLY recommend WIZ7.. (gold with voice) to this day I am still amazed what they got on 2 floppies.. not for todays gamers.. takeas some real RPG skills to make it in that one.. Wiz 6 is great too.. but the EGA graphics (even when it was new) turned me off.

Bit suprised you Felt Drakensang was generic.. Its my understanding it Huge in Germany, its one of my favorites of the NEW games.. good combat, ok story, and pretty nice to look at. but o each their own..Speaking of.. realms of Araknia (3 games all on GOG) Hardcore RPG, and I MEAN HARDCORE! I see there is a REMAKE on STEAM.. holy smoke.. i missed that.. YOU just got me a NEW game to play!!!!!

 

[Via]

I just realized I made a careless mistake - I googled Might and magic 6, saw the images and figured it wasn't what I was looking for. But the search was showing Heroes of Might and Magic 6, not M&M 6. I played Heroes 5 to death.

I'm going to take a hard look at the later M&M games: 6-8.

 

[DaveSimmons]

It's not an RPG, but since you like Heroes have you played King's Bounty the Lengend & Armored Princess?

 

[Smoblikat]

Icewind 2?

 

[datalink7]

Planescape: Torment. Best RPG ever made if you're going by story and interesting characters. Get it at GOG.com, get the widescreen mod to up the graphics, the enhancement mod, and you're good to go.

 

[turn_pike]

Since you liked Mass Effect, Deus Ex and Bloodline then I dont see why you wouldn't like Witcher 2.

Yes it is a bit of an action-rpg hybrid and it has skill trees but so do the aforementioned games.

I also strongly recommend Dark Souls for a completely new experience. Especially coming from Bioware RPG where everything is explained in its barrage of verbiage into the Souls series where you have to go with conjecture and inference. Personally it makes for a more fulfilling and memorable experience.

The Elder Scrolls series are excellent if you like exploring. It has excellent background story, literature (you will find books everywhere and their content are pretty good) and most of all settings. But its storyline and characters are a let down. That said some of my rpg greatest experiences come from Elder Scrolls, especially Morrowind. Exploring the Telvanni towers, admiring the Hlaalu architecture, braving the sandstorm in the Red Mountain and being lost in the expansive city of Vivec.

Jade Empire was a pretty great one-off experience. I do wish Bioware would make a sequel or something similar i.e. Asian themed RPG.

PS
Guys, he did say all infinity engine games.
PPS
Betrayal at Krondor was great, one of the best RPG I've ever played. Don't judge it by the horrible Betrayal at Antara which has little to do with Krondor other than exploiting its fame.

 

[Craig234]

Arcanum is a great game; played through it many times.

I need to play it. I got it around when it came out, and started it, and just going off the starting area there were these wolves, and I couldn't get past them. Put it aside.

Years later I read info suggesting that's a higher level road, and there's another with appropriate things.

 

[Via]

Since you liked Mass Effect, Deus Ex and Bloodline then I dont see why you wouldn't like Witcher 2.

Yes it is a bit of an action-rpg hybrid and it has skill trees but so do the aforementioned games.

I also strongly recommend Dark Souls for a completely new experience. Especially coming from Bioware RPG where everything is explained in its barrage of verbiage into the Souls series where you have to go with conjecture and inference. Personally it makes for a more fulfilling and memorable experience.

The Elder Scrolls series are excellent if you like exploring. It has excellent background story, literature (you will find books everywhere and their content are pretty good) and most of all settings. But its storyline and characters are a let down. That said some of my rpg greatest experiences come from Elder Scrolls, especially Morrowind. Exploring the Telvanni towers, admiring the Hlaalu architecture, braving the sandstorm in the Red Mountain and being lost in the expansive city of Vivec.

Jade Empire was a pretty great one-off experience. I do wish Bioware would make a sequel or something similar i.e. Asian themed RPG.

PS
Guys, he did say all infinity engine games.
PPS
Betrayal at Krondor was great, one of the best RPG I've ever played. Don't judge it by the horrible Betrayal at Antara which has little to do with Krondor other than exploiting its fame.

Doh - how could I forget to put TES on my list? I've extensively played Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. Absolutely loved Morrowind, thought the other two were ok.

I did download Daggerfall, and learned how to use Dosbox just to play it. I didn't get very far, unfortunately. I spent like 10 minutes trying to strike at the mouse that attacks you in the beginning and only got one hit. So I gave up.

Has anyone tried Redguard? Is that any good?

I have Demon's Souls for PS3 and Dark Souls for PC. They're fun, but not exactly what I had in mind.

I've played The Witcher 1&2. I'm one of the few who prefers the first one.

Jade Empire is one of the last games I bought from gogamer (sniff).

Let me throw this out there one more time: Has anyone played Sacred 2 lately?

 

[Via]

It's not an RPG, but since you like Heroes have you played King's Bounty the Lengend & Armored Princess?

Yeah, I bought those about a year ago.

 

[Via]

I'm going to get Arcanum from gog. One final question (hopefully):

I'm also going to buy one of the last M&M games to try out the series. Which one would be best as a first experience for a M&M noob: 6, 7, or 8?

 

[Craig234]

I'm going to get Arcanum from gog. One final question (hopefully):

I'm also going to buy one of the last M&M games to try out the series. Which one would be best as a first experience for a M&M noob: 6, 7, or 8?

IMO, start with 6 - if you like it, you do them in order, if not, you probably won't like the rest. I'm a bit biased though, I played 6 and barely started the rest.

 

[Via]

I figured 6 was probably the one to get.

 

[jaqie]

Just thought I would throw out a few you might have not tried, even if they may not fit your criteria exactly I did enjoy them all very much and you might too...
FF7, FF3 english, chrono trigger, earthbound (amazing), ogre battle march of the black queen(more strategy but has rpgness to it), final fantasy tactics (there is a translated version somewhere)

 

[Via]

I've played FF 7. Is 3 the original 6? If so I've played that one as well.

I have Chrono Trigger, but I've never played it. Everyone raves about it; I really should check it out.

I'm playing the demo of Arcanum right now as a prep for buying it. It's not sucking me in just yet - everything is moving really fast, like the characters and enemies are all on speed. Maybe the gog version fixes that.

grrr.. gog only sells M&M 6 bundled with the the first 5.

 

[DigDog]

we thinking too much "dungeons and dragons" here;

try the VAmpire The Masquerade series, they were pretty good.

 

[Obsoleet]

It doesn't meet all of your requirements, and I haven't played as many RPGs as you have thru my life but my favorite, and always will be is the Buck Rogers games from the early 90s. I love those. I prefer a scifi theme to elfs and pointy hats (in general), as it spices up life a little bit.. and it seems to me a good scifi game is harder to come by. Mostly because elves with green boots sell..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countdown_to_Doomsday

Should be easy to find the games and easy to run in dosbox.

 

[JamesV]

I need to play it. I got it around when it came out, and started it, and just going off the starting area there were these wolves, and I couldn't get past them. Put it aside.

Years later I read info suggesting that's a higher level road, and there's another with appropriate things.

Nope, you gotta go through the wolves early on; this game is tough, and a prime example of saving often.

I just started playing Risen for the first time, and it's much the same. Unforgiving, and strange after having my hand held in Skyrim. The most innocent thing can wipe you in Arcanum and apparently Risen also.

Search everywhere and invest in guns when you get past the initial tough areas. If you get past that tough part, there is a great steampunk game to explore.

 

[Via]

Nope, you gotta go through the wolves early on; this game is tough, and a prime example of saving often.

I just started playing Risen for the first time, and it's much the same. Unforgiving, and strange after having my hand held in Skyrim. The most innocent thing can wipe you in Arcanum and apparently Risen also.

Search everywhere and invest in guns when you get past the initial tough areas. If you get past that tough part, there is a great steampunk game to explore.

Did you attack a boar too early?

 

[boglwe]

Ultima 7...there is NO equal; sew a guy back together after he was torn apart (need a say more.) There are a ton of cities to explore and u usually have to walk to get to them. There are also random surreal things happening. One of the first truly open world games. If u can get over the graphics then you are in for a treat. Add to that ultima underworld. EQ2 is one u can try; one really cannot get more fantasy based than that.

Your question is one I ask myself a few times a year. My list is very similar to yours and i am an rpg fanatic. Dark souls u might wanna try. I was amazingly amazed with the combat, lore and locations; play it on a console if u can.