jaded gamer seeks info on good rpgs . . .
Posted: March 10th, 2011, 7:30 am
Hi There,
I’m new to this site and have come on a quest for RPG knowledge . . .
I started playing pc games a few years ago. I started with city-building games like Caesar III and moved on to tactical/strategy games like the Total War series. I tried a few first-person shooters but quickly got bored. I then discovered the RPG genre.
Well, I’m fifty years old and I work in publishing as a freelance author/editor/indexer/proofchecker/mapmaker. I mention this because it probably explains my critical attitude towards pc games. Basically, I’m looking for a pc game that is fairly mature and well put together.
I started my foray into the RPG genre by looking at a pc game ranking website. I made a note of the top-rated games and bought them in order to judge for myself. While each game I tried contained some good stuff, I actually gave up on all of them for one reason or another.
The Witcher: Boring quests. The 'adult' content was pretty immature. Combat was confusing. Moving around the map was a chore. The camera was a pain.
Mass Effect 2: I couldn’t get into the story. Seemed too ‘Hollywood’ and shallow. The whole game just got on my nerves.
Baldur’s Gate/Icewind Dale/Neverwinter Nights: I just got really bored with killing goblins.
Dragon Age Origins: More ‘Hollywood’. I found the story and characterisation shallow. Reminded me of old episodes of ‘Scooby-Doo’.
Fallout 1: Started the game three times. Got killed by giant scorpions each time. Gave up.
Spellforce: Couldn’t get into the story. Found the combat annoying.
Disciples II: Graphically, the game looked a mess on my system (heavily pixelated) so gave up.
Grotesque Tactics: Unplayable due to a camera with a mind of its own.
The Bard’s Tale: Looks ugly (everything is brown and green). Combat is just a frantic keyboard-bashing mess.
King’s Bounty Armored Princess: Combat takes forever. Just can’t engage with the basic ‘story’.
King Arthur Role-Playing Wargame: There’s nothing ‘role-playing’ about it. Didn’t like the real-time combat system.
Magicka/Torchlight/Titan Quest: All seem very light on characterisation. Just endless fighting.
Hinterland: Wouldn’t run smoothly on my system. Gave up.
Majesty: Just looks too grainy and pixelated on my system. Nothing to really engage with. You just build things and kill things.
Having played with these games, I’ve pretty much had my fill of goblins, orcs, wizards, apocalyptic storylines, warring factions (i.e. thinly disguised simplifications of the Christianity-Judaism-Islam dynamic), and ‘go kill my enemy’-type ‘quests’.
Another pet-hate of mine is the whole ‘levelling up’ concept. In real life, you gain with one hand and lose with the other. I find levelling up in games annoying. People are born with talents and can develop skills through practice, but advances in one area usually mean stagnation or degeneration in another. ‘Levelling up’ forces the player to repeat the same combat ‘mini game’ ad infinitum in order to advance through the game world. I find that a bit tiresome.
Anyway, I found the Eschalon games on Steam. I’m wondering whether to buy or not? Please help! I’m looking for an absorbing, challenging game. But not one that’s impossibly hard. I’m looking for good graphics but that doesn’t mean they have to be ‘awesome’. I’m looking for good characterisation and a solid story that isn’t pretentious, shallow or just plain silly. I’m looking for a game that can be played a variety of ways, to suit my own (fairly slow) pace. I’m look for a combat system that requires thought rather than fast reflexes. I’m *not* looking for a story that’s basically a justification of current Western foreign policy.
OK, rant over. If anyone can give some help or advice that would be much appreciated.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I also tried Morrowmind and Oblivion. Both seemed a bit disturbed. Oblivion (apart from CTDs) got on my nerves because of constant travelling up and down hills with impossible inclines. The whole thing gave me motion sickness and was tiresome in the extreme. In fact, the game kept crashing when my ingame character 'fell off' the scenery etc. I spent most of my 'Oblivion' time pressing down the key that makes your ingame character walk. Seemed boring and pointless.
OK, rant definitely over now. Promise.
I’m new to this site and have come on a quest for RPG knowledge . . .
I started playing pc games a few years ago. I started with city-building games like Caesar III and moved on to tactical/strategy games like the Total War series. I tried a few first-person shooters but quickly got bored. I then discovered the RPG genre.
Well, I’m fifty years old and I work in publishing as a freelance author/editor/indexer/proofchecker/mapmaker. I mention this because it probably explains my critical attitude towards pc games. Basically, I’m looking for a pc game that is fairly mature and well put together.
I started my foray into the RPG genre by looking at a pc game ranking website. I made a note of the top-rated games and bought them in order to judge for myself. While each game I tried contained some good stuff, I actually gave up on all of them for one reason or another.
The Witcher: Boring quests. The 'adult' content was pretty immature. Combat was confusing. Moving around the map was a chore. The camera was a pain.
Mass Effect 2: I couldn’t get into the story. Seemed too ‘Hollywood’ and shallow. The whole game just got on my nerves.
Baldur’s Gate/Icewind Dale/Neverwinter Nights: I just got really bored with killing goblins.
Dragon Age Origins: More ‘Hollywood’. I found the story and characterisation shallow. Reminded me of old episodes of ‘Scooby-Doo’.
Fallout 1: Started the game three times. Got killed by giant scorpions each time. Gave up.
Spellforce: Couldn’t get into the story. Found the combat annoying.
Disciples II: Graphically, the game looked a mess on my system (heavily pixelated) so gave up.
Grotesque Tactics: Unplayable due to a camera with a mind of its own.
The Bard’s Tale: Looks ugly (everything is brown and green). Combat is just a frantic keyboard-bashing mess.
King’s Bounty Armored Princess: Combat takes forever. Just can’t engage with the basic ‘story’.
King Arthur Role-Playing Wargame: There’s nothing ‘role-playing’ about it. Didn’t like the real-time combat system.
Magicka/Torchlight/Titan Quest: All seem very light on characterisation. Just endless fighting.
Hinterland: Wouldn’t run smoothly on my system. Gave up.
Majesty: Just looks too grainy and pixelated on my system. Nothing to really engage with. You just build things and kill things.
Having played with these games, I’ve pretty much had my fill of goblins, orcs, wizards, apocalyptic storylines, warring factions (i.e. thinly disguised simplifications of the Christianity-Judaism-Islam dynamic), and ‘go kill my enemy’-type ‘quests’.
Another pet-hate of mine is the whole ‘levelling up’ concept. In real life, you gain with one hand and lose with the other. I find levelling up in games annoying. People are born with talents and can develop skills through practice, but advances in one area usually mean stagnation or degeneration in another. ‘Levelling up’ forces the player to repeat the same combat ‘mini game’ ad infinitum in order to advance through the game world. I find that a bit tiresome.
Anyway, I found the Eschalon games on Steam. I’m wondering whether to buy or not? Please help! I’m looking for an absorbing, challenging game. But not one that’s impossibly hard. I’m looking for good graphics but that doesn’t mean they have to be ‘awesome’. I’m looking for good characterisation and a solid story that isn’t pretentious, shallow or just plain silly. I’m looking for a game that can be played a variety of ways, to suit my own (fairly slow) pace. I’m look for a combat system that requires thought rather than fast reflexes. I’m *not* looking for a story that’s basically a justification of current Western foreign policy.
OK, rant over. If anyone can give some help or advice that would be much appreciated.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I also tried Morrowmind and Oblivion. Both seemed a bit disturbed. Oblivion (apart from CTDs) got on my nerves because of constant travelling up and down hills with impossible inclines. The whole thing gave me motion sickness and was tiresome in the extreme. In fact, the game kept crashing when my ingame character 'fell off' the scenery etc. I spent most of my 'Oblivion' time pressing down the key that makes your ingame character walk. Seemed boring and pointless.
OK, rant definitely over now. Promise.