Yeah, Dragon Age drove me nuts.

The combats were always so frustrating, one sided one way or the other, depending on whether you wanted to use lockdown magic or not.

Assuming you tried not to use magic, it's always your handful of guys against a dozen or so monsters. Then you go back to camp, where you have another 8 guys that COULD HAVE BEEN THERE making the fight less of a grind.

"Don't split the party" is a maxim for a reason, but in Dragon Age you're forced to leave most of your strength in camp. I get that it's the design of the game, but, man, I sure hated it. Combined with too much "trap" character development and the messed up magic, it was tough to really appreciate the story.

I guess I got lucky then (and I mean that sincerely). I only had combat trouble in the dwarf section of the storyline.

Quote from: Piestrio;733010Mass Effect was an okay film (if a bit long) but I disliked having to press buttons from time to time just to see it.

Have many video games been reduced to this?  (ie.  Being like a movie).

(I don't play any modern video games, other than grand theft auto).

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;732784Gap in the market there. How to get the guys who hate cRPGs to play them.

I'm not sure an analogy with tabletop RPGs is merited. The mirror image of this reasoning brought us D&D 4e, remember?

On a more serious note, I don't pretend for one moment that CRPGs will ever oust actual, tabletop RPGs from my hierarchy of hobbies. I'm a super casual WoW player, I clock in probably 2 or 3 hours a week, if that much (which is why I'm such a slooooooooow leveler and never have gear for endgame shit, which leads to frustration and going off to start a new alt, and makes me wonder whether I should be playing a single-player CRPG instead of paying a monthly fee), and maybe 1 or 2 hours of GW2 (which I've just started but looks even more casual-friendly than WoW).

However I am very, very hardcore with my tabletop stuff. I do research (not Google or Wikipedia, I'm talking about tracking down academic journals and going to the library and shit) for my games. Who the fuck does research for anything, even work, nowadays? And I do this just for me. Most of my players don't even care whether this NPC was an actual, obscure historical or fictional character, or what were the Wehrmacht's actual military ranks, or how inter-intelligible are the languages spoken by the native tribes of the Upper Xingu region, or how Alcubierre drives might work.

Quote from: baragei;733071Morrowind's setting and presentation are stellar! While the actual gameplay is not all that good, it's still my favorite.
I know you like RQ as well, so in the spirit of it all, here's the RQ6 TES-hack.

Interesting stuff. I've read a bit on TES lore and while it's still not all clear to me, I love seeing what people are doing with RQ6. I'll probably keep those Winged Twilights handy in case I need a suitable demon flunky/assassin for an evil sorcerer.

Quote from: Piestrio;733168For me it was that what promosed to be a new baldur's gate turned out to be an exercise in combat tactics and management.

You could tell where the designer's passion was.

Well, that's crossed off the list then. Too bad.

Quote from: Piestrio;733010Mass Effect was an okay film (if a bit long) but I disliked having to press buttons from time to time just to see it.

All three? Bummer. I could use a good SF CRPG, and FPS elements would even be a plus.

Dragon Age has very MMO-ish mechanics but once you get the hang of them they aren't that hard. Usually. The MMO-ish-ness – by which I mean, aggro is a thing you have to deal with – may be a deal-killer for you though.

Quote from: The Butcher;733237All three? Bummer. I could use a good SF CRPG, and FPS elements would even be a plus.

I think that's harsh.  Mass Effect is one of the best-liked CRPGs around.  It's typical Bioware stuff - deep dialog trees separated by .   In this case, is FPS.

The shooty parts definitely get better as the series progresses.

For a Roguelike, GearHead is my favorite, and not just because I did over 50% of the sprites for it. A roguelike with pilotable customizable mecha and playable in ASCII or in graphical mode. LOTS of story that can be uncovered and you get sometimes very different plots each playthrough.

Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2. Pretty good overall. 2 though feels somehow much -less- than 1 in options. Still. Good game overall.

If you can get the console. the two .Hack games are great. I liked the Infection series alot for its story and GU was pretty good overall too. Possibly hard to find now.

FFXIII The Tactics sequel I liked alot. Interesting story and characters. While not a JRPG, FF Tactics itself is darn good.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth I still have yet to play past the start. Really interesting so far. But seems more combat oriented than I wanted.

Of those mentioned, Skyrim is probably my favorite. Definitely worth picking up on Steam when it goes on sale (and it often does).

I found Elder Scrolls Online to be very much like Skyrim, too.  Maybe Skyrim meets EQ2.

Butcher, there are presently 5 main types of RPGs. "Japanese-type RPGs"; "Bethesda-type RPGs" (sandbox-driven); "Bioware-type RPGs" (story-driven); "Eastern European RPGs"; and "Diablo-type" RPGs.

I do not play Japanese-type RPGs and cannot comment.

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Bethesday-type RPGs: These are characterized by open, sandbox worlds with highly customizable characters and exceptionally detailed world building.

I love Bethesda-type RPGs and give them my strongest recommendation. Within this field, the front-runners are The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim. The games become self-evidently "less hardcore" with each generation, but they remain excellent. Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas are Bethesda-style RPGs that are mechanically similar to TES, with equally good production value.

Also worth playing is Kingdoms of Amalur, despite its studio's tragic collapse.

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Bioware-type RPGs: These are class-and-level based games with party-based mechanics and very strong stories.

Within the Bioware-type RPGs, you have Dragon Age 1 and 2, and Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. I liked both DA1 and ME1 and their sequels less so. The Mass Effect games become increasingly "shooter-like" with each sequel.

Also within the Bioware-type RPG genre are Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, which did an admirable job of presenting a D&D-like experience as a computer game. It also has very powerful GM tools for creating your own content.

Fable 1, 2, & 3 fall somewhat in-between the Bethesda and Bioware type RPGs. The Fable games are very story driven, like DA, but have many sandbox mechanics and a world that's very interactive with the user. These games are much more light-hearted than TES or DA as well.

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Eastern European RPGs: These tend to have dark settings with non-traditional tropes, and baroque, hard-core mechanics.

Witcher 1 and 2 are essentially Eastern European Bioware-type games. Gothic 1, 2, 3, and Risen 1 and 2 are Eastern European Bethesda-type games. The Gothic series has low production value but it has very well-made interlocking mechanics.

Two Worlds 1 and 2 also fit in here. Two Worlds 2 is worth playing if you like sandboxes.
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Diablo-style RPGs: These are variations on the classic 2D isometric hack-and-slash gameplay of Diablo. Diablo 3 is obviously the top contender here. Dungeon Siege 1, 2, and 3, Sacred 1 and 2, and Torchlight are all worth playing in this genre.

There has been a resurgence of old-school cRPGs as well:
Avadon, Echelon, etc...

I quite enjoy those. Top-down sprite graphics, deep gameplay, open-world, exploration, discovery. Awesome sauce.

Quote from: Piestrio;733550There has been a resurgence of old-school cRPGs as well:
Avadon, Echelon, etc...

I quite enjoy those. Top-down sprite graphics, deep gameplay, open-world, exploration, discovery. Awesome sauce.

I've tried Avadon and Echelon. As much as it totally nukes any "old school" cred I might claim to have, I couldn't enjoy either one of them...although I could see Avadon being a game someone could love.

Quote from: amacris;733544Butcher, there are presently 5 main types of RPGs. "Japanese-type RPGs"; "Bethesda-type RPGs" (sandbox-driven); "Bioware-type RPGs" (story-driven); "Eastern European RPGs"; and "Diablo-type" RPGs.

Thank you for the super-detailed rundown. What do you feel is a good introductory game for Bethesda and Bethesda-like, sandbox CRPGs?

Quote from: amacris;733544Also within the Bioware-type RPG genre are Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, which did an admirable job of presenting a D&D-like experience as a computer game. It also has very powerful GM tools for creating your own content.

Oh, I played the hell out of NWN1 and even enjoyed the corny but fun single-player campaigns. Maybe nostalgia had something to do with it. Later, playing on community multiplayer servers derived with GM tools may have been my gateway drug into MMOs. But then real-life and the aforementioned dry spell happened.

I might look into ME since I'm a sucker for FPS games. In fact I may ask for FPS recommendations soon enough, because I'm having a blast (heh) with my rifle-toting Warrior in GW2.

I personally prefer story driven RPG's. So I like Bioware. The Mass Effect games are really good storywise, even if the setting is a bit of a cliché. The KOTOR games were really good as well. I find Fable fun, but it plays more like Zelda than a real RPG. Very action oriented with a lot of gimmicky social interaction. One of my favorites is the Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines game. It offers a lot of different ways of dealing with a problem and it's non-grind. But it is also very buggy and you need unofficial patches to make it work.

I was never that keen on Bethesda. It's probably the best RPG company. There games (both Elder Scrolls and Fallout) offer an extreme amount of freedom. Unfortunately it is a lot of the same. I am getting less impatient with managing my inventory during the years and Bethesda games have the most stuff to sort out. I like dungeon crawlers like Diablo. Best games in that genre are now Torchlight and Path of Exile (free to play) and not Diablo 3 with it's limited skill system. I also want to mention Borderlands which is a shooter with lots of loot RPG. Basicly shooter Diablo. Very fun with coop.

Oh I forgot Demon Souls and Dark Souls. Never played them, but they offer something different. Hardass difficulty. I don't play JRPG's. I hate androgyn humans with purple hair wielding massive sword and crying all EMO in cutscenes. :rant: