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

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Via said:
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.
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I think the year is not the issue if the graphics are not fully 3D (3D is not aging well) and if the controls are "modern" (free movement, use of keys + mouse or just mouse, no need to input command in a text parsel, option to save anywhere in the game, no dead ends etc...) so I still think you should give Albion a chance. I've played it 6 times (last time was 3 years ago) and it's still really playable and there really is no other game like this one (well maybe except for its predeccesors Ambermoon and Amberstar which I find unplayable nowadays. My first RPG was Fallout, so I don't go back that much.

Anyway here are few ideas I think nobody mentioned yet:
Realms of Arkania: Shadows Over Riva
Wizards & Warriors
Anachronox

and some good indie RPGs:
Last Scenario
Exit Fate

By the way Arcanum is great, but don't forget to patch it with unofficial patch, since it's really buggy (which is the only real downside of this game). If you liked Fallout and Baldur's Gate games, there is no better choice to play.
 
Via said:
Has anyone tried Redguard? Is that any good?
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Redguard is more of an action game, rather than an rpg. And, it's only 2 hours long. Seriously. My roomate at the time beat me to actually going and buying it. He bought it on a friday night, and beat it 2 hours after bringing it home. After that I didn't bother buying it for myself.

I do not recommend it, for that reason alone.

He did say the game itself was pretty good....if only it had been 10 times as long as it was.
 
Via said:
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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NEVER PLAYED ARCANUM!!!???

you, sir, are in for a treat. fantastic game. get the fan patches to make it even better/fix bugs.
 
I like drakensang pretty well, but I can see the 'generic' view of it pretty well. Shadowrun returns.... meh. Its very much a classic style game, but it feels like they made a lot of sacrifices in the name of making the editor. Similar to going from the infinity engine stuff to NWN. Also it still needs a couple months of polish. Its clear it was rushed out the door with a lot of rough edges.
 
I haven't played Arcanum since it was new. Loved it though. I might have to try it again with the fan patches and different strategy!
 
I've been playing the demo, and it doesn't seem to run well on my PC. As I mentioned above - everything moves too fast. It's got "old game disease".

I might have to try it on my laptop. I'd like to check out the later M&M games but there doesn't appear to be a demo for any of them. I've watched a few "let's play"s of M&M 6 and I think I could handle it.

BTW - I also watched a "Let's play" of Betrayal and Krondor and I'm pretty sure that, as great as it may be, it's too old for me. My line or playability definitely lies somewhere between M&M 6 and BaK.
 
Craig234 said:
I'm surprised Wizardry 6 and 7 aren't mentioned - $5.99 for both on gog.
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Wiz 6 (bane of the cosmic forge) is my favorite game of all time. Will be hard to get past the graphics now (it is from the late 80's early 90s) but its a solid game if you can.
 
This is a great thread. It is almost a definitive list of PC RPGs worth playing. Thanks to all who contributed.

I didn't see anyone mention it and the reviews aren't awesome, but The Last Remnant might fit the bill (http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/the-last-remnant). I haven't played it but I always consider buying it during Steam sales. Steam does have have a demo if you're interested.

Also, I know this is the PC Gaming forum, but would you consider console-only game suggestions? I really enjoyed Tales of Vesperia and wouldn't miss it if I loved RPGs as much as you clearly do.
 
FWIW steam is -75% on the arcania & gothic bundle right now. $12.49 for all 3 gothics and two arcania games.
 
Midwayman said:
FWIW steam is -75% on the arcania & gothic bundle right now. $12.49 for all 3 gothics and two arcania games.
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Yeah, if anyone is interested in trying one of the great series of all time this is your chance.

Gothic 2 Gold, and it's 100 hours of great gameplay, for the price of a Big Mac? Insane deal.

Do play Gothic 1 first though. Gothic 2 is an immeasurably greater experience if you play them in order.

Gothic 3 is great now as well, after all of the hard work the community put into it. They've done as much work post-release as they did pre-release.
 
I didn't think it would happen, but I'm really immersed in Daggerfall right now.

Yes, it takes some time for the graphics to fade into smoothness. But this game has some epic qualities that are pretty apparent early on.

For ex. - It took me a while to get used to the controls (SS2's control schemes are sadly derived from this game), but I finally got comfortable and started to exert my dominance over the first dungeon. The fact that you automatically equip anything you pick up is unbelievably annoying, but as you progress through the tutorial you learn to live with it. After a few victories and subsequent rests I started to feel pretty good about my character.

Then I ran into a skeletal warrior. I had been hacking through most of what I encountered, but this guy blocked all of my attacks and chomped me to bits. I barely got away.

Then I had a brain storm (or maybe a brain shower, in my case) - swords don't do well against raw bone (at least in PC games I've played), and I had found a huge ass two-handed ball and chain earlier in the game. I equipped it, and after resting to full health I went to kick some skeleton butt. It was a tough fight, but I squeaked out a victory by the skin of my teeth. I only had a sliver of health left; time to camp again.

But my rest got interrupted by a bandit Spellsword. I had already killed like five of those guys, so I figure "no problem". Like a prototypical PC gaming idiot I went in with my weapon swinging....

....and didn't register a single hit.

And died.

**********mouse throwing fury***********


But I learned something - you can't attack a quick rouge with a heavy two-handed ball and chain, no matter how many you've killed in the past. And isn't that what great games are supposed to do, teach you something in a rewarding way? None of this clickety-click-click Morrowind melee nonsense , or having the game shout instructions at you (like the end of ME2). I feel a little smarter.

FWIT - I did make to to Daggerfall (damn, some aspect of the game are unintuitive). I'm exploring the town. I don't know if this game will take in the long run, but I definitely recommend it to any TES fan. It's pretty cool to see the origins of the series, and it's free.
 
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