Comprehensive List of (Good) RPG Games for the Mac?

[IJBall]

Hi all!

As this is a knowledgeable group, I thought I'd ask you all on your thoughts of some good single-player RPG games for the Mac.

It's an unfortunate fact of life that nearly all of the games listed on this particular forum are PC-only (or, at least, not playable on the Mac).

So I though I'd get the thoughts of the people around here about good Mac RPGs.

For background, I'm familiar with Spiderweb's games Avernum & Geneforce (though I've never played either as I didn't start with number "1" of either series, and have been rather turned off by what I perceive to be their low graphics quality (Eschalon has spoiled me!)). (And I vaguely remember Exile and Realmz from years past, though I don't think I got into playing either...)

Beyond that, I obviously know about the Ultima III & IV versions for the Mac.

Beyond this, I can't say I know what all is out there.

So, thoughts? (TIA!)...

[alandale]

Here's a few I've played myself:

Neverwinter Nights 1 and expansions
- great, lots of player-made modules

Baldur's Gate 2 + Throne of Bhaal
- great

Icewind Dale
- good, emphasis on combat

Fate
- fun little action rpg, gameplay similar to Diablo

Dungeon Master Java
- 1st-person dungeon crawler
- try "Custom -> dmorig.dat" instead of "Enter" if you're new to Dungeon Master (the default dungeon is very hard)

And a bunch I haven't played yet:
Neverwinter Nights 2
Jade Empire
Fable
Kivi's Underworld
Depths of Peril
Magic Stones
Cute Knight Deluxe
PlaneShift
Battle for Wesnoth (strategy RPG)

[Palog]

Here few more worthy Mac RPG:

• Fallout 1: To play it on OSX you'll have some hassle because you'll hardly find where to buy any OSX version. But at some point there was legal links of the port to OSX but recently I couldn't find it anymore but through a dowload of the complete version at some ptop places. That's weird but I don't think you'll have another choice.
• Baldur's Gate 1: Classical, I prefer it to BG2 because it lets more freedom, is less linear and I prefer its mood.
• Fallout 2: I don't feel it as good than the 1, but some people feel it different and the good point is that the OSX version should be easier to find (well I have the OSX CD but I think you can find some used copy)
• Neverwinter Night 2: Better than it's reputation.
• Neverwinter Night 2: Mask of the Betrayer. Not released for the Mac but fully compatible with the Mac version, here is a link to install it from PC CD. At bottom of this page there's a link for manual install if you prefer. It's that last one I did. Great game with original design choices, really worth the little hassle.
• Citadel: Adventure of the Crystal Keep. To play it use the Mini vMac excellent emulator of Mac+. Unknow but excellent RPG. You can find it on some abandonware site.
• The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2): It's a legal free port of Star Control 2 including with a Mac version: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
• Dungeon Master 2: Has been ported to Mac, you'll need an emulator to play it on OSX. You can find it on some abandonware site.
• Captain Blood: To play it use the Mini vMac excellent emulator of Mac+. You can find it on some abandonware site.
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for Mac
• Freedom Force
• Dungeon Siege

That said, you punish yourself by not looking at Avernum and Realmz:

• For Avernum, yes graphics are ugly but you get used to them and then you get solid RPG that have a giant size each and there's 5 in the series. Also worthy Blades of Avernum with many user made scenario.
• For Realmz it is now free. But more important it allows to play The Sword Lands trilogy which is one of the best RPG I ever played. Unlike Realmz itself you'll have to pay a small fee but they definitely worth it. Realmz won't run on OSX but will work very well with the Mac emulator SheepShaver. The best version to download is at: http://www.emaculation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5275

And to conclude this list, the last but not the least is to use DosBox. It works very well on OSX and through it you'll be able to play many Dos RPG classics that you can find on some adandonware sites.

If you play them all plus best dos classics you can play in DosBox you probably get years of RPG gaming on your Mac.

EDIT: I forgot to add a few excellent Roguelike games that has a Mac port. I'll quote only one, rude with the player but great anyway (even if I never finish it), it's ADOM (Ancient Domains of Mystery).

[zanderohm]

alandale and palog put together a pretty comprehensive list of the best for mac that i have found...

do yourself a favor and injoy the spiderweb's lineup of avernum! I prefer that series over the geneforge...
i know that the graphics are not top of the line, but it more than makes up for it in story and pure RPG fun!
because of the low tech system it is easy to make a large world to explore, and they do a great job of making the storyline fun and compelling. you can always download a trial and see if it's worth it, trust me though, it is!!!

[Evnissyen]

I wish they would re-release the original Neverwinter Nights for Mac, sigh... .

[CrazyBernie]

I wish they would re-release the original Neverwinter Nights for Mac, sigh... .

Was there something wrong with the first mac release?

http://nwn.bioware.com/about/requirements.html

Or were you referring to the original AOL MMO version of NWN (circa 1991)?

[Evnissyen]

Heh, no, I meant because I don't own the first NWN, and wish to... and I don't want to buy it used.

It's still being distributed for PC, but not for Mac.

[CrazyBernie]

Well, there's always ebay.... http://cgi.ebay.com/NWN-Neverwinter-Nig ... dZViewItem

[Evnissyen]

No, man, there's never eBay.

...I hate eBay.

...Don't make me go into it.

...I mean it!

[CrazyBernie]

But... but... it's Factory Sealed... and has both expansions! For only 49.99 w/free shipping! Might be the only fresh copy left in the United States!!

*** Edit ***

Turns out it's a PC version with a Mac Conversion DVD. That's kinda poopy, but it's an option I suppose.

[Evnissyen]

Yes. Everything about eBay is poopy.