|
Hey guys, I'm looking for any D&D games that are like Baldur's Gate I & II and planescape: torment. I like controlling a party and I love all three of those games, so if you know of any I haven't played just list them here.
Not games like deadly alliance where you play a single character. I'm looking specifically for games where you control a party like the three I mentioned.
There's always Icewind Dale I and II, and their respective expansions. Both are a lot of fun.
Other than that, the only other of that type that I can think of is Temple of Elemental Evil, and that one requires some serious patching before it becomes playable. The NPCs get to pick their share of the treasure before you do, and before you know it, they've encumbered themselves to the point of uselessness, because they also don't sell anything, nor can you remove items from their inventory. Without the patches, it's a serious pain in the butt. With them, a passable dungeon crawl.
Definitely story intensive, but more linear than the BG games, most of the quests involved are directly tied to the storyline. Still, they're very heavy on dialogue and have wonderful plots. Plus, you get to create each character in your party. IDII even uses an early version of 3E character rules.
|
As Shadowborn mentiond, Icewind series is good - you have to make your own party from scratch, which I enjoyed.
Temple of Elemental Evil is a bit rarer, and is much more open-ended than other RPGs. Lots of possibility there for how you adventure, plus it is a very accurate use of 3.5 D&D, even allowing your to charge and ready actions. In my opinion the best interface in any RPG to date (but I love radial menus).
Neverwinter Nights series is bit more limited but you do get a semblance of a party (first one is 1 or 2 NPCs, second one is up to 4).
From an older perspective, there is also Ultima VI and VII.
The many customer-made modules for NWN and NWN2 give the games a lot more playability beyond the initial campaigns. Plus, some of those modules are really, really good!
Avoid, at all costs, Pool of Radiance: The Ruins of Myth Drannor. It's a TERRIBLE game.
I wish there were more games like the three you mentioned though...
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
I loved Icewind Dale I & II.
I actually have Icewind Dale II installed on my PC at the moment, but then I got Fallout 3 and well you know the rest...
Plus, Icewind Dale II was made right as 3.0 was coming out, so it uses a very basic version of that ruleset instead of 2e rulset. I found it made for much better character creation personally.
I also liked Neverwinter Nights, but am not a big fan of Neverwinter Nights 2.
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 are really, really great. Also you get to pick your own party from the get go. ;) I enjoyed them even more than BG.
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 are really, really great. Also you get to pick your own party from the get go. ;)
That was one of the big selling points for me as well. A full 6 man (or woman) party custom built by me (to totally suck fighting a Black Dragon in the Yuan-ti infested Chultan Jungle as it turns out...)
Avoid, at all costs, Pool of Radiance: The Ruins of Myth Drannor. It's a TERRIBLE game.
It's not all bad. I got the collector's edition and it came with a free mouse mat, poster and DnD mini.
;p
Peace,
tfad
|
|
Icewind Dale 1 and 2 are really, really great. Also you get to pick your own party from the get go. ;)That was one of the big selling points for me as well. A full 6 man (or woman) party custom built by me (to totally suck fighting a Black Dragon in the Yuan-ti infested Chultan Jungle as it turns out...)
See I'm probably going to get it, but that's actually a point against it for me. I liked BGIIs way of having the characters join your party and then actually interact with each other based on their personalities.
Excuse me to ask you this, but did you consider playing a MMORPG ?
Sure, they are not real D&D games (except D&D Online), but in most of them you can still find adventure in the D&D spirit, in a broad multiplayer universe.
The panel of players is not always ideal, as everybody is playing for different reasons, but it's up to you to find the people you like to play with, like around a table.
In most of them, some RP servers (or labelled as such) encourage to roleplaying and gather actual communities of roleplayers, assembled in guilds.
I don't want to advertise any of them, as my opinion might be biased, but there are many to choose from, like Age of Conan, Dark Age of Camelot, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Everquest, Guild Wars, Warhammer, World of Warcraft and many others...
Dragon Age: Origins is coming out in 2009 for PC and then later for consoles. It looks good and I like the original setting they came up with, so far.
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
|
I also miss this style of game. Other than ones already mentioned, you can always go back to the "gold box" games. They're more than a bit dated, but are still some of my favorite computer RPGs.
There's also the Wizardry Series that lets you build and control a party. The later 3 games (Bane of the Cosmic Forge, Crusaders of the Last Savant, and Wizardry 8: I can't remember the subtitle) were more plot involved than the earlier games, but still are mostly exploration and fighting games.
Two players can also rock both Norrath games for the Playstation (or Xbox), D&D Champions... and there was another one but I don't recall the title.. They're a good few years old now, but there are so few fantasy themed co-op games where two people can sit in the same room together and play.
I can second Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2, but I completely understand the fun of the character interaction. BG2 had a huge staying power for me simply because I found it fun to watch the various NPC's react from eachother.
One of my most memorable parts from that game was a random interaction where Viconia and the evil dwarf start picking on Aerie, and Edwin joins in. Poor Aerie. :P
"Someone fetch this monkey a banana."
Even though he was kind of lousy as a character, I liked Jan solely for his long-winded character interactions. Especially about the flesh golem eating contest. The trick was, you have to leave out a saucer of milk to draw them in...
|
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
I was interested in D&D Tactics for the PSP, but not enough to buy a PSP to play it on. It's supposedly 3.5 rules, turn based, make your party, and even includes psionic classes and powers.
I bought D&D Tactics even though I don't own a PSP (it was AUS$25, on special reduced from $80). I borrowed my Sister's PSP but didn't get past character creation before I had to give it back.
|
|
I'll add my voice in for Icewind Dale I and II. If you can't find a copy, Gametap has both games available to play and it's only $.99 for the first month and then $9.99 each month if you want to stick around. A buck ain't bad to try out a game. Heck, it even has Baldur's Gate I and II, Fallout 1 and 2 and a whole host of other games to play.
Dragon Age: Origins is pretty much the spiritual successor of the Baldur's Gate series. It's the same developer, Bioware, and you can even pan the camera out to the same isometric view of the BG/IWD games. Personally I can't wait till it comes out. I've been itching for a good fantasy RPG along the lines of BG/IWD myself. I could never really get into Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, neither game really grabbed me.
Temple of Elemental Evil was the most faithful to the 3.5 rules, but as was said earlier, don't try to play it without the fan patches. I grew frustrated with it though when my entire 6th lvl party was TPKed by a giant CR2 Crayfish. I uninstalled the game after that never to look back.
My suggestion: Check out Icewind Dale I and II on Gametap and check out Dragon Age: Origins when it comes out next year.
|
|
Ok, I'm probably going to be unneccessarily thorough here by listing all the "Western style" RPGs I can think of off the top of my head that have any kind of party element to them, since whilst most of them have AI controlled party members and aren't based on D&D or even high fantasy, I figured you might be interested in the games that have the storys and sidequests to more than make up for it:
D&D games with full party control:
Icewind Dale I & II: As everyone else has said, these games are the closest fit, they're very similar to BG though rather more linear story-wise and there are no NPCs that can join your party, you have to make 6 characters from scratch.
Neverwinter Nights II: If you like NPCs with their own backstory rather than making an entire party yourself, this may be a better choice than IWD, I also think the plot is better than IWD (though I know a lot of people don't like it, I really enjoyed it). You have to like controlling the minutae of your party as the AI is so atrocious that it's really best played with the AI turned off completely. It's also more than a little buggy unfortunately, some people get through fine, but I hit lots of crashing issues.
Temple of Elemental Evil: More dungeon crawl than plot-filled, but pretty faithful to the 3.5 rules and quite open ended. You'll have to spend a lot of time patching it to make it even vaguely playable though.
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Ugh, maybe if you *desperately* needed a D&D fix. Definately patch it before you play it (one of the bugs in the unpatched version can kill your OS on uninstall). The plot is OK but it's slooooooooow, it's one huge dungeon crawl so the NPCs are few and far between. It's also fully turn based with no options for automation so you have to plug your way through every damn skeleton, plus you don't get full customisation on levelling (feats etc. are chosen for you).
Full party control but not D&D:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II: Honestly, if you don't mind Star Wars this is probably your best choice. The first one in particular has an excellent plot and engaging NPCs to recruit. The second one is similar, but the plots a little more disappointing (though mostly just because of the ending)
X-Men Legends: Possibly not your cup of tea, it plays very similarly to Dark Alliance/Norrath, but you have a party of four and flick between controlling them with the D-pad, or control can be split by up to four people. Plot is decent though obviously very comic-y
Not full party control & not D&D (except the first one):
Neverwinter Nights: You have a henchman who is controlled by AI and a few simple commands ("heal me" etc.) there's a fair variety of personalities and they all have sub-plots, but they're not as fleshed out or original as BG/PS. The plot of the first installment is kind of predictable TBH, but the Hordes of the Underdark expansion is much better.
Fallout I & II: If you haven't played Fallout you really should, it's post apocalyptic with a fantastic storyline and great characters. You can recruit some diverse NPCs but they're AI controlled
Jade Empire: Mythical ancient China styled setting. About 8 or so NPCs that join your party, you only have one tagging along at a time and they're AI controlled but there's still loads of character development and sub-plots
Mass Effect: Sci-Fi, great storyline, there are six recruitable characters (you can have two with you at a time, AI controlled with some user commands) with really well-developed back stories. The PC version has evil SecuROM DRM on it though, so minus points there.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura: Steampunk Fantasy (it starts with a zepplin being shot down by half-ogres in bi-planes and proceeds from there), bit of a cult classic and definately worth a shot if you don't mind a bit of a wonky combat system (not too much of a problem as it's kind of like Planescape:Torment in that it's possible to talk your way through large chunks of the game, hell, some of the AI controlled NPCs will leave if you solve too many problems through violence). It's actually pretty non-linear with your decisions making a fair bit of difference to your options plot-wise. I really recommend it.
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader: Alternate history medieval period with added magic. An example of squandered potential sadly, an ingenious idea for a plot (who doesn't love the idea of hanging out with Galileo or having Joan of Arc accompany you on your adventures), that kind of falls over in the execution. Play it until you leave Barcelona for lots of cool NPC interaction, then quit when it turns into a Diablo clone.
Dragon Age: Origins: coming out next year (in theory), billed as dark heroic fantasy and the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, could be good, who knows?
And the one that doesn't fit at all, but is my guilty pleasure:
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines: OK, so it's a modern day action RPG with no party, is occasionally juvenile about sex and violence (don't play a female Malkavian unless you want to be staring at fetish gear all game), the last quarter kicks your ass if you play a social character unless you have maxed out obfuscate or something to give you a combat edge like high celerity, and it's buggy as all hell, but I love it to death. The script is clever and your conversation options change frequently depending on your clan and whether you've bought up persuade/seduce/intimidate. There are plenty of sidequests and half a dozen alternate endings, and whilst the environments are often too damn dark, they can also be really evocative to the point of being downright creepy at times. It's worth playing just to play through as a Malk to see all their crazy conversation options and household appliances talking to you ("murder, murder, murder...").
As to why there aren't more decent D&D games, blame TSR for utter lack of quality control in the 2e days, or Hasbro for giving exclusive rights to Atari, or Atari for not doing enough with the licence...
I bought D&D Tactics even though I don't own a PSP (it was AUS$25, on special reduced from $80). I borrowed my Sister's PSP but didn't get past character creation before I had to give it back.
I was interested in D&D Tactics for the PSP, but not enough to buy a PSP to play it on. It's supposedly 3.5 rules, turn based, make your party, and even includes psionic classes and powers.
It's not the best D&D game by any means, but it is a lot of fun when you get into it. Like all RPGs, when you sit down to character creation, it can take a while, especially considering the number of options from 3.5 they ported into the game.
I really like D&D tactics. It's the closest thing to the old Gold Box games we've had, since, well, the Gold Box games. If you have a PSP then you should at least give it a try. It's just a shame that it didn't do a bit better - a sequel would've sorted out the few problems the game has.
Peace,
tfad
|
|
Ok, I'm probably going to be unneccessarily thorough here by listing all the "Western style" RPGs I can think of off the top of my head that have any kind of party element to them, since whilst most of them have AI controlled party members and aren't based on D&D or even high fantasy, I figured you might be interested in the games that have the storys and sidequests to more than make up for it:
D&D games with full party control:
Icewind Dale I & II: As everyone else has said, these games are the closest fit, they're very similar to BG though rather more linear story-wise and there are no NPCs that can join your party, you have to make 6 characters from scratch.
Neverwinter Nights II: If you like NPCs with their own backstory rather than making an entire party yourself, this may be a better choice than IWD, I also think the plot is better than IWD (though I know a lot of people don't like it, I really enjoyed it). You have to like controlling the minutae of your party as the AI is so atrocious that it's really best played with the AI turned off completely. It's also more than a little buggy unfortunately, some people get through fine, but I hit lots of crashing issues.
Temple of Elemental Evil: More dungeon crawl than plot-filled, but pretty faithful to the 3.5 rules and quite open ended. You'll have to spend a lot of time patching it to make it even vaguely playable though.
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Ugh, maybe if you *desperately* needed a D&D fix. Definately patch it before you play it (one of the bugs in the unpatched version can kill your OS on uninstall). The plot is OK but it's slooooooooow, it's one huge dungeon crawl so the NPCs are few and far between. It's also fully turn based with no options for automation so you have to plug your way through every damn skeleton, plus you don't get full customisation on levelling (feats etc. are chosen for you).Full party control but not D&D:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II: Honestly, if...
Thanks for the huge breakdown I appreciated it. Stupid WotC and Stupid Atari, not realizing a winner when they had it and continuing in that vein and instead making more lame 1 person live action games.
Ok, I'm probably going to be unneccessarily thorough here by listing all the "Western style" RPGs I can think of off the top of my head that have any kind of party element to them, since whilst most of them have AI controlled party members and aren't based on D&D or even high fantasy, I figured you might be interested in the games that have the storys and sidequests to more than make up for it:
D&D games with full party control:
Icewind Dale I & II: As everyone else has said, these games are the closest fit, they're very similar to BG though rather more linear story-wise and there are no NPCs that can join your party, you have to make 6 characters from scratch.
Neverwinter Nights II: If you like NPCs with their own backstory rather than making an entire party yourself, this may be a better choice than IWD, I also think the plot is better than IWD (though I know a lot of people don't like it, I really enjoyed it). You have to like controlling the minutae of your party as the AI is so atrocious that it's really best played with the AI turned off completely. It's also more than a little buggy unfortunately, some people get through fine, but I hit lots of crashing issues.
Temple of Elemental Evil: More dungeon crawl than plot-filled, but pretty faithful to the 3.5 rules and quite open ended. You'll have to spend a lot of time patching it to make it even vaguely playable though.
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor: Ugh, maybe if you *desperately* needed a D&D fix. Definately patch it before you play it (one of the bugs in the unpatched version can kill your OS on uninstall). The plot is OK but it's slooooooooow, it's one huge dungeon crawl so the NPCs are few and far between. It's also fully turn based with no options for automation so you have to plug your way through every damn skeleton, plus you don't get full customisation on levelling (feats etc. are chosen for you).
Any reason why Planescape: Torment is not on that list? That's quite possibly one of the very best BioWare titles, if not best RPGs, ever.
|
I just finished digging through my junk in my closet, and found that i still had Temple of Elemental Evil. Good game, IMO. I remember getting it when it was available at WalMart for $10. I have Planescape, that's a great game too. Both of the NWN games are good, but for me NWN2 takes getting used to, the camera angles act differently than the first game. If you're not opposed to MMO's, I play GuildWars occasionally. I don't play as much because my good computer fried last summer, and my current one barely supports it.
Any reason why Planescape: Torment is not on that list? That's quite possibly one of the very best BioWare titles, if not best RPGs, ever.Because Lastknightleft mentioned it in his original post, so I assumed he'd already played it, otherwise it'd be my first suggestion :).
If only I had put more ranks in reading comprehension. FWIW, even tho' it has already been mentioned, Fallout and Fallout 2, while sci-fi themed, are pretty excellent as well. Anyone out there ever actually play Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader? Always wondered about that one.
|
|
Anyone out there ever actually play Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader? Always wondered about that one.
It's... schizophrenic. The initial area of Barcelona is character-driven RPG heaven, tons of dialogue and interesting NPCs, once you leave Barcelona though it turns into a somewhat subpar Diablo clone with only a handful of small areas that aren't monster-infested dungeons. The big problem is that it's use of the SPECIAL system gives you lots of options, but since you don't pick up many NPCs and once they join you they all become utterly useless anyway, you're effectively forced to play a physical bruiser just to get through the game, which is kind of boring...
Bunches of good ideas!!!
Thanks for the info! I will definatly have to search out these titles.
Hah, I love Baldur's Gate. In fact, I just finished up the whole campaign (Baldurs 1 & 2 with expansions) last week.
If you like turn based rpgs with full party control might I suggest the Exile series from Spiderweb software?
http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/productsOld.html
They also sell a isometric remake called Avernum, but I don't like it as much. Its got a deep storyline, overhead view, and each game is pretty huge. The first one is rough though, but number three is really nice.
Also, if you can manage to find it, one of my favorite full team rpgs is the Aethra Chronicles, of which only part 1 was made.
Wally World had Fallout I, II, and Tactics in one bundle for $20 so I picked it up. I will be installing it later on this week. Hopefully it is as good as everyone says it is.