new to PC RPGs

[wintersquall]

so... my amazing new laptop will be here sometime in the next week or so, and i've never had a PC that would play games post-Zork. >.>

i bought WoW and am going to give it a try, but i'd love other suggestions from people that have played other PC games. For PC i'm mostly interested in RPGs since my action gaming fix can be sated on my console systems.

one i've seen that looked fun was Neverwinter Nights, also i was wondering about Tabula Rasa for another MMO.

thoughts/suggestions?

oh, here are specs in case there's a question of running certain games well:

Intel Duo Core 2.0G proc
2MB DDRAM
Nvidia 256meg 8600 GT

etc etc.

[Groovebox]

so... my amazing new laptop will be here sometime in the next week or so, and i've never had a PC that would play games post-Zork. >.>

i bought WoW and am going to give it a try, but i'd love other suggestions from people that have played other PC games. For PC i'm mostly interested in RPGs since my action gaming fix can be sated on my console systems.

one i've seen that looked fun was Neverwinter Nights, also i was wondering about Tabula Rasa for another MMO.

thoughts/suggestions?

oh, here are specs in case there's a question of running certain games well:

Intel Duo Core 2.0G proc
2MB DDRAM
Nvidia 256meg 8600 GT

etc etc.

Tabula Rasa is awful, don't bother. NWN is an awesome game, definitely worth a purchase/download. If you are into action rpgs/dungeon crawlers try Dungeon Siege 2 or Titan Quest. If you are looking for another MMO, I'd maybe wait for Warhammer or Age of Conan, both would run great on your system EVE online is kick-ass, they have a trial available... give it a shot http://www.eve-online.com A handful of BG forumers are playing it atm.

Also, Lord of the Rings Online may be available at some stores for $10-$15 and that includes 30 days gametime, it's not really an amazing game, but it has nice graphics and can be fun for a couple months. Oh yeah, they have a 7 day trial as well. http://www.lotro.com - Make sure you download the hi-res client if you sign up for the trial.

[Katlan]

If Warhammer is indeed comming out in June (and not being pushed back until Sept), then I would suggest waiting for that if u want to give a fresh mmo a chance. It's fun to start an mmo when everyone else does vs starting an older game that you enter as a noob. I have been waiting for warhammer, and if you pre order the CE version now then you will get a code for the semi-open beta (semi-open since you gotta pre order it and hope ur local store isnt out of codes by the time you do) which should be starting w/in a week or two.

Age of Conan looks interesting, but based on the combat system it seems like it may be very slow paced from what the average mmo gamer is used to (FFXI, WoW, ect...). They wanted to make it as close to real combat as possible and not some auto-atk marathon as the other mmo's are. But when I looked at it.. the fact you have to choose each atk/spell/ranged atk manually and set it up makes it seem like a slower combat system. Still prolly fun, but gonna wait on the reviews first.

WoW is a lot of fun at first and continues to deliver. But in the end you will notice the game is one giant grind that never ends. And to get far in WoW end-game will hurt your social life because if you can't keep up w/ur guild then they will outgrow you rather fast. A lot of mmo's are built around constant progression (game always goes vertically vs horizontally), but WoW takes that as its principle and made the entire game and all content bosses based around it. So, while its fun for a lot of ppl, others get tired of the endless gear fest.

[Viq]

I know it's not an RPG, but if you're into RTS at all then grab Sins of a Solar Empire.

[Groovebox]

I know it's not an RPG, but if you're into RTS at all then grab Sins of a Solar Empire.

Aye, that game is all sorts of kick-ass. I watched my brother play it for like 7 hours lol.

[nekura]

If you don't care about age I highly recommend Anachronox. It's a console-style RPG, but has a fantastic storyline and a lot of humor. It looks a bit bleh because it's based on the Quake 2 engine, but it's still one of my favorite RPGs to this day.

[Brill Weave]

Um my RPG suggestions are going to be a bit old. But I loved each one of them. Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Dungeon Siege were all fantastic as far as I'm concerned.

[Krandor]

Neverwinter Nights was already mentioned, but that game is pure gold, can't recommend it enough. You could probably find a copy of the platinum edition for 30-40 bucks nowadays, and with both expansions that's something in the neighborhood of 60-80 hours of gameplay. You can get it on consoles, but Oblivion is a winner as well.

It's really old now, but Fallout 1/2 (I would suggest 2 just since it's bigger/has more character customization, etc) are classics, and with Fallout 3 coming out later this year, you can get yourself introduced to the universe. You can't argue with a game that's let you sever people's spines with a shotgun between Porn movie shoots (just don't catch an std!).

But seriously, get Neverwinter Nights. The graphics are a little dated by now (the game is close to 6 years old now), but the gameplay is still A+

[Dareus]

Neverwinter nights is on my list of best rpg's ever. Not only that, but there are some really cool player made rp servers and such you can play on for even more hours of awesome game play. If you are looking for a mmo I would recommend just waiting a month or two. With Age of Conan and Warhammer coming out the playing field is about to change drastically. To satisfy my urge to play a mmo I picked up City of heroes/villians for 20 bucks the other day. I've been having a blast with it and it has a very friendly community, I would totally recommend it to help out with the wait.'

Oh and just to edit, Tabla Rasa sucks so much balls it makes baby jesus cry. Its fun for maybe a day or two, but then you realize it is the same exact thing over and over and over. And the job system looks cool on paper but only half of them are not completely worthless. We all know how fun it is so sit around and go "Wtf, I just grinded to 30 to get a weapon that does 10 damage?" Thats around the time I quit and swore never to play that trash again.

[Viq]

If you don't care about age I highly recommend Anachronox. It's a console-style RPG, but has a fantastic storyline and a lot of humor. It looks a bit bleh because it's based on the Quake 2 engine, but it's still one of my favorite RPGs to this day.

I'll 2nd this one. Anachronox had a really fun battle system, a fun script, and an interesting art style. It was a great game overall.

[Isiolia]

Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 for sure. Mask of the Betrayer is really good (NWN2 expansion).

If you haven't played Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 on console, they're on PC and a fine experience there (well, first one is, second was rather buggy last I played it). They're based on the NWN engine, and play like a more restricted, but more tightly scripted version of those games.

The older RPGs that NWN came from, Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale series, etc are still findable as well in collection form. I haven't played Planescape: Torment, but I hear it's one of the best. That one is harder to find these days though.

The Witcher is supposed to be good, and again based on those games. Jade Empire is available on PC, and Mass Effect will be in May or so.

Fallout 1/2 are great. Might find the two-pack for $10 still around. Fallout 3 is coming... /glee

If you haven't played Deus Ex, you might give that a try. It's more FPS than RPG, but has a branching story, character customization and consequences for playing certain ways. Again, one you might find in the bargain bin or something. You can find the ISO for System Shock 2 around on abandonware sites too, if you want to see the origins of Bioshock, and a similar playstyle to Deus Ex.
The sequel got console-ified a bit.

It might sound strange too, but, try Warcraft III. The way things are set up in that game, you have heroes for missions that make playing through them sort of like playing a tactical RPG.

If you want things more like an MMO, the Elder Scrolls games are a good place to look (Morrowind, Oblivion), again, if you haven't played the console ports. On the PC you have the benefit of user-created patches and tweaks.

Might consider picking up adventure games too if you see 'em. At least the first Longest Journey game if you see it, that was excellent.

[nekura]

Regarding The Witcher, there's a big update coming that's supposed to fix a lot of the game's issues (including its horrendous loading times), so I'd wait for that if you decide to give it a try. It's a good game, though.

[Brill Weave]

Crap I forgot about Neverwinter Nights. That is also one of the best games available if you're a PC RPG fan.

[wintersquall]

awesome suggestions, and i got a SMS that my laptop arrived @ minneapolis' dhl hub about 15 min ago so it should be delivered to my desk tomorrow morning. XD good luck getting any work out of me for the rest of the day until i leave early at 2 hahaha.

so, it looks like i was right about neverwinter and all i did was read the box for 2... should i invest the time to go find the first one, or just jump into the second?

i plan on checking out a lot of the games posted here, you didn't waste the calories typing. one question though, as a newb PC gamer... aren't a lot of these titles going to be like, downloadable somewhere? or is that a rule one of DL club: don't talk about DL club or something...

just wondering because PC games are in short supply at most of the game stores i frequent, may have to hit ebay/etc if i want to find the less available ones.


edit: if there's a console version of a game, chances are 95% that i've played it and beaten it... mass effect arrived from gamefly last night, but thanks for reminding me that i can get Jade Empire on PC - my original xbox died about 8 hrs in and i never finished it, wouldn't even have thought of that one.

[Brill Weave]

thanks for reminding me that i can get Jade Empire on PC - my original xbox died about 8 hrs in and i never finished it, wouldn't even have thought of that one.

OMG. Do not buy a single game until you finish Jade Empire! Not really, but it's a fantastic game. I still have that and both Knights of the Old Republic that I toss into my 360 from time to time. Fan-fucking-tastic game.

[Isiolia]

so, it looks like i was right about neverwinter and all i did was read the box for 2... should i invest the time to go find the first one, or just jump into the second?

While the included campaign is good, a big part of what NWN brings to the table is the additional downloads/expansions/user created stuff (not to mention that it can be run on a server for basically a private MMO type thing).
On the one hand, NWN Diamond (original game, both expansions and then some) is what, like $30 now? On the other, NWN2 has an expansion out, another coming, and a number of modules itself.

IMO, if you want to play the NWN content, then get the first one. If you just want an RPG in the style of that, then NWN2 has plenty to offer. On release it was a bit less playable than the first one, but it's been patched and plays very similarly now.

Either shouldn't be too hard to find.

i plan on checking out a lot of the games posted here, you didn't waste the calories typing. one question though, as a newb PC gamer... aren't a lot of these titles going to be like, downloadable somewhere? or is that a rule one of DL club: don't talk about DL club or something...

Well, personally, I don't pirate readily available software. You can find a lot of stuff on Amazon.com, actually, especially now that they have smaller online stores listed through them. Also just look when you go to a store that does sell PC software. That rack of $10 jewel case games just might have something good in it.

In some cases you have what's referred to as "abandonware", where the game is no longer available and/or the company has simply released it for free. It may be completely legally, or just nobody-cares-anymore downloadable. There are sites out there that track that sort of thing. For example:
http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=3924

Occasionally you'll also find old full games on discs with gaming magazines, or more recently, abandonware pointed out in said magazines.

Mostly you'd find older titles on sites like that, to the point where you may want to get Dosbox http://www.dosbox.com/ to run them.

[Kaelan]

I usually torrent games I'm interested in and if I'm still playing them after like a week or so, I'll actually buy them (did that with oblivion and ended up buying all the official mods :D ). There's too many games that look interesting (but may not be any fun at all, can't tell till I actually play) for me to do it any other way :/.

If I were you I'd definitely get Oblivion and NWN (or NWN2; I don't like NWN2 that much right now because it's still riddled with annoying bugs, even though the gameplay is pretty good)

[Guyverarmor]

If you like Star Wars, the KoTOR series are good :nikkei: Also, another good one is

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. get to customize your char,lightsaber, and choose between light and darkside powers, replaying it as we speak :D :D

[Mizango]

If you like Star Wars, the KoTOR series are good :nikkei: Also, another good one is

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. get to customize your char,lightsaber, and choose between light and darkside powers, replaying it as we speak :D :D

I absolutely love this series lol. It showed me that deep down I am a cold, ruthless motherfucker. No matter how hard I try to be good and righteous I always seem to curb stomp that idea to hell in the long run.