Posted by SportThis website was referred to me by one of my guild members. Fantastic job guys!We are currently playing Archeage. It is a medieval sandbox style MMORPG which you can sail the seas doing trade runs, battle for castle occupancy, be a pirate.... or even live a simple farmers life.Lots of both PvE and PvP content. Highly recommended.

My friend plays it. I enjoy hearing about some epic stuff happening there, like losing trade packages, or recovering a lost, probably long forgotten package, worth a fortune, deep in the water.

I also heard people comparing it to Ultima Online for the complexity of the world and freedom of choice. Unfortunately as I saw on a gameplay, the setting isn't attractive for me.

Oh, and I hate MMORPG genre.

Starting Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption next week. Does anyone know how to get Galador running under Windows 7? I tried all reasonable compatibility modes & checkboxes and I don't want to install any emulators.

Posted by WerwolfStarting Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption next week.Does anyone know how to get Galador running under Windows 7? I tried all reasonable compatibility modes & checkboxes and I don't want to install any emulators.

Tried Redemption once and it was kind of meh. Tried Bloodlines next and i've lost couple of weeks of my life.

I kid you not. The amount of depth and immersion this game have with all the dialogues, factions and places to be is juuuuust staggering. Adding the crazy awesome ending just make this game one of my all time favourite RPGs. Damn how i want a new VTM game. Next-gen VTM game, huh? Quite sad that Troika Games are no more. Someone should pick the franchaise. Anyway.

Do bloodlines mate, you will not regret !

Updated 26 September 2014 (21:35)

I played it a little and I agree with you on the matter of depth, story and atmosphere. But I outright hate the default controls. I almost failed the tutorial fights... I'll try again after I find a way to rig the controls so that I don't get sick from the camera movement. If not successful, I'll start Wasteland 2.

I play my games for the depth of not just the story, but also the world around you. So Elder scrolls is perfect!

Lol my last post was 31 May, 2013 on this topic Well... This was the game what i played, or just try to play: Divinity Original Sin, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Shadow Of Mordor, Wasteland 2, Legend of Grimrock 2, Lords of Xulima, Might and Magic X Legacy, NEO Scavenger, Hand of Fate, Blackguards 1 and 2, Caribbean!... Game that still need to play (or play again) or try: Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, Baldur's Gate I & II EE, Icewind Dale EE, Shadows Heretic Kingdoms, Darkest Dungeon, Sunless Sea, Xenonauts, The Witcher 1 and 2... Game that I avoided to play: Fable Anniversary, Risen 3 - Titan Lords... Game that I am waiting for: Pillars of Eternity, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt Divinity Original Sin - For me this was one of the best game of 2014. I played with my brother and friend (with mod that you can play with 4 players, I played 2 characters). I think there is no need to say anything about this game, because if you are huge RPG fan then you already played the game or know the game. Dragon Age: Inquisition - I played this game, but only small time. And for now I am not so big fan of the game... But need to play more to have final word. Wasteland 2 - My next big best game for 2014. Even though I didn't play as nearly as DOS this game i fantastic. For me it will be even best if I played on multiplayer (especially for my friend because he want to plays this game with someone). I need to start playing again but waiting for big balance patch. And then starting to play for real. Legend of Grimrock 2, Lords of Xulima, Might and Magic X Legacy - I group this 3 game together because they are close to each other. LoG 1 was fantastic game but 2 was even better. MaM X is good too but still need to finish it. Lords of Xulima is new game for me. Only played a little and it is Great. NEO Scavenger - Great small survival Rugelike RPG game. Played a lot when was in beta. Graphics not so great. Hand of Fate - Nice new Roguelike RPG game. Combat is not so great but this is not most important thing in this game. Blackguards 1 and 2 - Both game didn't like at all. Caribbean! - Buggy mess... Great Concept but need a lot of patching... Maybe one day this will be good. But for now not so much. Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall - Idk why I didn't play this game... People always recommend me but I always forgot it Baldur's Gate I & II EE, Icewind Dale EE - Need to start to play this game from the begging. I never played BG I and ID any version. I played long ago BG II and only see BG I (when brother played long time ago). I feel the need to play this game because of new upcoming game Shadows Heretic Kingdoms - Heard a lot of Positive words for this game. Warning game is only SingePlayer. Darkest Dungeon - Waiting to play this game after get out of BETA status. unless Sea - Great Adventure RPG (RugeLike) game. Need time to play. Xenonauts - If someone is fan of XCOM series then this is the must... The Witcher 1 and 2 - I want to finish-play again Withcer I and start to play Witcher II (never played this game). Fable Anniversary - Didn't like what people talks about this game, that's why I avoided to play. Risen 3 - Titan Lords - For me every Risen game was bad. Oh I wish there is new Gothic (but in style like Gothic II or III. The last was bad). Pillars of Eternity - Soon waiting time is over for this game... I am so hyped. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Man I really want to play this game but I don't know if my computer will handle this game on High settings.

Updated 20 March 2015 (11:10)

Hey RezMar, fellow dwarf! I missed you!

You're a gamer like me, and that's why I really care about your opinion. However, I don't agree with most what you said, probably because I've became bilious over the many titles I played. Alright, so here goes my $0.02:

Divinity Original Sin - I could really feel the engine not being polished enough. The experience wasn't smooth. Also somehow the beginning wasn't immersive enough for me to play longer. Maybe it's partially because of the character creation that is dull. I really don't understand why this game is so much loved.

Wasteland 2 - got that one as well. I waited for it, but when I started playing it, two major flaws were encountered:

1. Character creation stylized as Fallout, but not nearly as humorous or intuitive. There is way to many ways to spend points into and before playing the game you have no idea which are important and which not.

2. Start of the game is too slow. I found the starting dialogues boring enough to stop playing. I might one day return to it, since I bought it and still believe it's a nice game once you dive into it.

NEO Scavenger - a very interesting game, but suffers for the same problem most indie roguelikes suffer: it's too random; it kills player too randomly instead of punishing for wrong decisions. Even if you die because of your wrong decision - the game fails to communicate to you what was the decision. That's where FTL is the king.

Blackguards 1 - I loved it! This game was fresh, with it's combat system feeling like Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - similar scale (number of hexes), well, the HEXES!! Interesting (fresh!) character creation and development - the development was intuitive and yet there wasn't a single (right) way to develop your characters, as I know it by comparing my playthrough with my friend's. The story was simple, battles challenging (on the right difficulty level for your skills), and equipment... Realistic! I think it's the first time I've actually seen a realistic equipment in RPG game - every next armor set or weapon is slightly better, but the difference is really subtle - and yet it's enough to have this addicting feel of growing your character. While I disagree with the gaming community for being too enthusiastic about some titles, I'm enraged (!) that developers, who put new qualities into a genre aren't always appreciated enough.

Shadowrun Returns - For Cyberpunk fans, I guess. As a big Cyberpunk fan I loved it - but the game mechanics became tedious near the end of the game, so while I finished it, I didn't bother to play the expansion.

Baldur's Gate I & II EE, Icewind Dale EE - old games with mods are better.

Sunless Sea - another roguelike and another failure. I can really give a well thought-out review, as I played this game a lot, and the only reason why I did, is that I was strongly sick and I needed some brainless entertainment to do anything but laying in bed (to avoid bedsores )

1. The game is beautiful.

2. It is an exploration game, where you are punished for exploration.

3. Rewards for exploration, won battles and finished quests are ridiculously low. It is basically one big grind.

4. This is a game made by creators of Fallen London, a browser MMORPG. The mechanics that were interesting for a browser game are a complete disaster in a fullscreen PC game experience. When you start playing the game, there will be walls of text, that you might find interesting - I liked Fallen London, and so I loved to read the stories. But the text quickly becomes repetitive and you stop to read it. There's simply not enough content to pull it off.

5. If you look at forums, most people developed the strategy of either mindless grind by trading resources over and over (and that's what I did) or using hazard to gain wealth - if you lose your dice throws, you simply restart the game and try again.

6. As I said earlier, in good roguelike you're punished for bad decisions - often it's because you didn't know these decisions were bad - but you can understand how you should improve and adapt to the world in game, restart the game and start over. In Sunless Sea you can't just start over, because the game is about grinding - so you might find yourself grinding for 5 hours to make a mistake, to restart the game, and grind 5 hours again to the moment when you can change your decision and let's say not fight a particular monster.

Xenonauts - I won't even try playing that - I have life.

The Witcher 1 and 2 - played through almost whole Witcher 1, but act 4 was a disaster and I never managed to finish it. I hated some decisions devs made in W2, so I didn't buy it and instead just watched the story on Youtube. However I still believe in devs from my country and I bought the preorder of Witcher 3. Now I wait for release to buy the best graphics card I can afford to have the best experience possible.

Risen 3 - "every Risen game was bad."

Pillars of Eternity - waiting as well with mixed feelings. Part of me regrets not funding it on KS, part is happy as the game seems to take 2D graphics as it's biggest feature - while the thing with 2D games is that these games put more effort on developing game mechanics and less to graphics. Given the hype and IMHO dull setting (lore) this game might be a disaster.

The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt - Man I really want to play this game but I don't know if my computer will handle this game on High settings.

If you don't know, then you know it won't; and it's not Murphy's law, it's just developers who have no experience in optimizing games As optimizing goes, I think you forgot to mention Shadow of Mordor

Just started on 'Pillars of Eternity' after playing through 'Arcanum -Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura' twice and a very unsuccessful month with 'Never alone' and getting stuck in 'Edna & Harvey: The Break Out'. So far I was a bit bored with the somewhat generic quests in the first act of 'PoE'. But now that I've found more and more hilarous references to other stuff of various sources and am about to claim the stronghold I like it much more. Edit: But after a while tending to the stronghold plus the related events, and moving around in the second act (of four) my excitement dropped a lot. Stronghold events are rather bad scripted in my opinion. Also the character buildup as well as the combat system really started to get on my nerves. I do like having lots of possibilities, as it is offered in 'PoE', but not if the amount of possibilities practically forces you into powergaming.

Updated 22 December 2016 (08:33)

Currently playing Neverwinter Nights when I have the time. Like Abalyth, I am enjoying re-livng the old experience from when I originally played it. Baldur's Gate got me started on this journey, and along the way, I've played BG II, Icewind Dales I/II, Sacred I/II and NWN, then life got in the way. Got to wondering if NWN was still around and playable on Win 10 and found GoG. Now I'm happy. There are others there that I'll be picking up as well.

Ultima Online

It's been a long time since I finished an epic-sized RPG (I would say the last time was Neverwinter Nights, just to give you some indication). I've attempted several RPGs since then (Elder Scrolls Oblivion and Skyrim, Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origins, etc.), but I've never stuck around long enough to finish them. One of the things that kills my immersion in so many RPGs is the seemingly endless combat grind (this is true of both computer and table-top, in my experience). So much of my immersion is tainted because it seems every plotline or side plot just leads to another fight. I'm not saying combat shouldn't be an integral part of RPGs. I'm saying too many conflicts are forced into the story and too much game advancement is based upon fighting. Why is it considered more of an accomplishment to slay every bandit in an outpost, rather than spy on them and report so that a larger force can go in and exact justice (which is also more realistic)? Or why are so many promising "subtle" plotlines thrown to the side in favor of XP gain? Is anyone familiar with RPGs (they can be mainstream, indie, low-budget, computer, table-top, etc.) that tell a great story without turning into a stab-and-shoot fest? One of the few I can think of is the Call of Cthulhu tabletop game (combat with the Mythos is generally a very bad idea). Thank you for your input and I hope you have all enjoyed the Holiday season!

Updated 27 December 2016 (21:41)

Posted by TruthseerOne of the things that kills my immersion in so many RPGs is the seemingly endless combat grind (this is true of both computer and table-top, in my experience). So much of my immersion is tainted because it seems every plotline or side plot just leads to another fight. I'm not saying combat shouldn't be an integral part of RPGs. I'm saying too many conflicts are forced into the story and too much game advancement is based upon fighting. Why is it considered more of an accomplishment to slay every bandit in an output, rather than spy on them and report so that a larger force can go in and exact justice (which is also more realistic)? Or why are so many promising "subtle" plotlines thrown to the side in favor of XP gain?

That is the same experience, that has effectively killed or at least maimed my interest in 'Pillars of Eternity'. Although I very much like the feature of the game that recieving experience is in the order 1. solving quests, 2. exploring the landscape, and then 3. victory in combat by updating your Bestiary-Log.

Posted by TruthseerIs anyone familiar with RPGs (they can be mainstream, indie, low-budget, computer, table-top, etc.) that tell a great story without turning into a stab-and-shoot fest?

The board game 'Dungeon Quest' by Fantasy Flight from 2011 (newest issue) just offers a basic dungeon crawl experience, but fighting is on the lower to middle area of the problems of the heroes. The roleplaying-games 'Fiasco' by Bully Pulpit games from 2009 and 'Dread' by The Impossible Dream from 2005 provide very unique "combat"-systems. In the area of computer games the best way to avoid combat is to choose a point&click adventure like 'Monkey Island', 'Galador' or 'Edna & Harvey: The Breakout'.

Considering classical pen&paper-rolplaying it's my experience that it is possible to play through a ten year campaign without getting into any fights. If combat grind starts to become a problem for the players it's either the game masters or the munchkining players fault. In which case it can be solved simply by talking about who wants what during the course of a session.

Updated 27 December 2016 (20:18)

Thank you for your input, Werwolf! I definitely remember the adventure games of yore...everything from text adventures/interactive fiction to the earliest graphical adventure games (King's Quest, Alone in the Dark, Monkey Island series, etc.) to the earliest computer RPGs (basically strategy games with an RPG flavor, such as the SSI gold box games), all the way through the HUGE worlds of the present. I also started playing tabletop RPGs in my mid teens, and that has almost been 30 years ago.

One thing I enjoyed about some of the "old-school" interactive fiction and adventure games was the precarious balance between problem solving and danger. Just because you weren't involved in direct combat didn't mean your character wasn't in danger. In fact, most of the dangers were NOT combat-related!

One of the things I don't like about the close relationship between old-school war gaming and role-playing games is the "encapsulation" of a character or archetype based upon his or her combat capabilities. Often times, the skills of the character become glorified combat modifiers and tools for the player to gain every advantage he or she can in combat. So many times the more subtle skills and abilities (I'm talking to you, Charisma) became dump stats.

I'm certainly not trying to go on some sanctimonious lecture that combat is a bad thing. In fact, many adventures without at least the threat of combat would so often become downright boring. My angle is that too many times combat is the easy solution for game designers and not enough thought has gone into what is more logical or potentially fresher and more enticing. We already know the sharpshooter can easily hit his or her target at 350 meters and win the day with his or her martial exploits. But what happens when that character has to make a decision on handling prisoners? How is his or her decision making affected when a family member is one of the rebels? What happens when bribes are offered? What are the consequences when an adventuring party assassinates an evil ruler, only to have a slightly less evil (i.e., doesn't outright commit tyrannical acts spurring instant and justified rebellion), but ineffective, ruler (makes horrible political decisions that inadvertently cause many to suffer) fills the vacuum? These are the things I wish more games would explore...though I guess they wouldn't sell as much would they?

I'll look into your game suggestions. I hope to eventually design/develop one of my own!

Posted by WerwolfThat is the same experience, that has effectively killed or at least maimed my interest in 'Pillars of Eternity'. Although I very much like the feature of the game that recieving experience is in the order 1. solving quests, 2. exploring the landscape, and then 3. victory in combat by updating your Bestiary-Log.The board game 'Dungeon Quest' by Fantasy Flight from 2011 (newest issue) just offers a basic dungeon crawl experience, but fighting is on the lower to middle area of the problems of the heroes. The roleplaying-games 'Fiasco' by Bully Pulpit games from 2009 and 'Dread' by The Impossible Dream from 2005 provide very unique "combat"-systems. In the area of computer games the best way to avoid combat is to choose a point&click adventure like 'Monkey Island', 'Galador' or 'Edna & Harvey: The Breakout'.Considering classical pen&paper-rolplaying it's my experience that it is possible to play through a ten year campaign without getting into any fights. If combat grind starts to become a problem for the players it's either the game masters or the munchkining players fault. In which case it can be solved simply by talking about who wants what during the course of a session.

Updated 27 December 2016 (21:45)

I'm watching the developments of Chronicles of Elyria, don't think I'll have time to play though.

Diablo III and Warhammer: Total War.

Skyrim and Fallout. There is something about those games that makes me forget anything else. I love the immersion