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Short List of Good Story-Driven RPGs?


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Diablo 2 and it's expansion...    ...Dungeon Siege...    ...Divine Divinity...  ...Lionheart.

 

 

 

 

 

For the sake of us all, this man must be killed.

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Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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Third Age is basically what Square/Squenix have been doing for 10 years. If you liked Third Age buy a PS2 right now and play the FF games. Especially FFX which is the base which Third Age was constructed from. The bad thing about Third Age was they used too many voiced over clips and didnt tell the story as well as they could have.

 

I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Final Fantasy. I guess the fact that it is a console-exclusive title is the main reason we haven't seen that title mentioned until now.

 

I remember when KOTOR I came out, there was a review that essentially said that KOTOR was Western man's answer to Final Fantasy.

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Third Age is basically what Square/Squenix have been doing for 10 years. If you liked Third Age buy a PS2 right now and play the FF games. Especially FFX which is the base which Third Age was constructed from. The bad thing about Third Age was they used too many voiced over clips and didnt tell the story as well as they could have.

 

By and large, I think the Active Turn Based system is the way to go. However, I really would not mind seeing something like Third Age that was more of a true RPG. It is a nice change of pace and a reminder of the pen and paper days that many of us have left behind.

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Anachronox.

 

Great game, highly underrated. You'll like it Plano. It has a great story, quirky companions which include worlds...literally. heh.

 

The combat is turn based as well.

 

The setting is space and the movement controls are similar to KotOR with the over the shoulder view in a 3D envirnonment.

 

The graphics will probably look dated, but they're still pretty to my eyes.

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to check it out.

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I was also curious about the King's Quest adventure games.  I have heard that

they did not have any combat at all (at least in the earlier titles).

 

At any rate, they seem to have played an important part in the development of story-focused cRPGs.

The early adventure games, both graphic and text, played an enormous role in the development of stories in games, cRPGs and otherwise. Sierra was the largest single producer of adventure games, and King's Quest was their flagship series, so they did make an important contribution.

 

The only King's Quest to feature combat was King's Quest VIII, probably the weakest of the whole series. The earlier ones were good, but very much intended for a 'family' audience. The Space Quest series was funnier, the Police Quest series more mature, and of course there's Leisure Suit Larry... The Quest for Glory series (originally called Hero's Quest) was a cRPG/adventure hybrid, still fondly remembered by some.

 

If you want to try pure adventure games with great dialogue, great stories and no combat, there's a lot to choose from. I'd recommend you post that as a separate thread, though

"An electric puddle is not what I need right now." (Nina Kalenkov)

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The poster ask for story-driven CRPG's and you suggest games like IWD, Diablo, and ToEE? :huh:

 

Some people like the IWD story, some don't.

 

While actually playing Diablo 2, yes you do not encounter much of the story, but the cinematic and the background info in the manual do fill you in on the story.

 

And at some point in time, when Plano has played BG more times then he can count, he will surely look for more games to replace them just as he is looking now to replace his RL gaming habit (I know I did). At least he will know of these games.

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Story driven with heavy dialogue. If it was only story-driven I could definitely see IWD.

 

But yeah, it definitely isn't the type of game the original poster wanted. Nor is Lionheart and probably not Divine Divinity either (haven't played that though).

 

The first half of Lionheart is pretty much story/dialogue driven, but the second half is not I'll grant you that.

 

But some people liked it despite that.

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Like IWD2 and Diablo all you want; they are not story driven games - no matte rhow good you may think the IWD story is either. There's a reason why BIS themselves described it as a dungeon crawler. The combatd rives it; not the story. While games like BG or KOTOR may have pretty much the same amount of combat as IWD 9give or take); those games are obviously storyd riven as where the combat occurs due to the story. IWD's story is filler inbetween dunegons. Remember, he's also asking for games that have are dialogue heavy which neitehr IWD or Diablo have.

 

I liked LH 'til I got to the sewers then i wa sbored out of my mind. Quit,a nd never looked back.

 

Once again, try Arcanum! Awesome!

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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"I didn't know you were still Arcanumized Volourn."

 

LOL You remember that. :D Yes, I still like it though it's come down to Earth as there's a lot of small-biggish things thata re annoying.

 

 

"Do you still play it often??"

 

Nope; but I did start playing it a week ago and for some reason it seems more challenging than it used to be. Weird...

 

 

"Did people manage to create mods for it??"

 

I haven't played any; but yeah mods have been made including one with a car..

 

 

"Being in the presence of Elitist Gods is so humbling."

 

GodS? There is only one of those around here, and that's me. :huh:

 

RP, from what I've read the Arcanum mods are mostly drek. The only one I'm really even kinda interested in is the Car Arcanum one and maybe just maybe the hak that removes the level limit. otehrwise, it's total drek (only the IE community makes worse mods except for maybe MW modders).

 

 

R00fles!

DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.

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I was wondering if anyone was going to mention Final Fantasy.  I guess the fact that it is a console-exclusive title is the main reason we haven't seen that title mentioned until now. 

 

I remember when KOTOR I came out, there was a review that essentially said that KOTOR was Western man's answer to Final Fantasy.

 

By and large, I think the Active Turn Based system is the way to go.  However, I really would not mind seeing something like Third Age that was more of a true RPG.  It is a nice change of pace and a reminder of the pen and paper days that many of us have left behind.

 

VII and VIII were available on the PC. But in the big picture yep console exclusive pretty much covers it. Then again so is Third Age.

 

Yes and that made me laugh out loud as I recall.

 

The way ATB is used in FF there isnt a massive difference except that you dont have an order queu. Calling KOTOR ATB would probably be seen as radical as most people accept it as real time with pause (even though technically none of them even going back to BG have been). Third Age was a hack job compared to FFX. Not that I disliked the game by any means. It's just that EA overused the voiced scenes rather than telling the story of the characters. Although the scene where you stand up against the witch king in the tower is one of my favourite cutscenes in any game.

Without the movies to fall back on as an easy option I think we might have gotten a better story (then again perhaps not).

 

That battle system or some variation on it, is one of the trademarks of most JRPGs.

I have to agree with Volourn.  Bioware is pretty much dead now.  Deals like this kills development studios.

478327[/snapback]

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Diablo 1 had great atmosphere, and there were some enjoyable moments in Diablo 2. Divine Divinity was actually a nice surprise as well.

 

The others, well, crapola. Maybe we should just kill two fifths of him?  :ph34r:

 

Diablo also has a really interesting story. If you read it in the manual. There isnt much of it in the game (except for the cutscenes) but in an action oriented game thats probably a good thing.

I have to agree with Volourn.  Bioware is pretty much dead now.  Deals like this kills development studios.

478327[/snapback]

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Would you recommend either of those titles?

 

Ummm...

 

Well they are by no means my personal favourites but VII is widlely praised.

VIII is very different. It's much more "real" than the others, elements of Sci Fi. The best and the worst vehicle in the series.. The card and junction thing made the combat too much like work for me :D

 

Personally, considering you can pick up a PS2 for next to nothing that is what I would do. But if you can find either VII or VIII somewhere then they will be worth a look at the price. VII I think has a gamestopper with XP in the Chocobo races but you should be able to find a patch if you search around.

 

Grandia II while not by Squenix is also worth a look. Has a different twist on the combat system.

 

Vol is probably FFVIII's biggest fan on these boards.

I have to agree with Volourn.  Bioware is pretty much dead now.  Deals like this kills development studios.

478327[/snapback]

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VII and VIII were available on the PC.

 

 

Would you recommend either of those titles?

 

VII for PC is a bit of a mess. I've heard that unless you have Win98 and 3dFx class cards, it's going to look messy. Imagine the jagginess and pixelization of the PSX original but worse. This is due in part to the fixed resolution of the PC version. It's pretty much just a straight up port with barely no redeeming qualities.

 

VIII is a tad better all around. It does have a nifty bonus - Chocobo World, the add-on that came out for the PSX version in Japan, is a little executable that comes with the game. IIRC it wasn't released in the US for the PSX.

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I have to agree that if you are looking for story-driven games, Arcanum. Fallout and Planescape:Torment have to top the list.

 

Baldur's Gate is more of a lifestyle than a game-I have sampled each and finished only the original and TOSC-the endless micromanagement of characters through huge long-loading maps tossed the replayability for me and having infinite options to fetch and carry and argue with scripted NPCs is not more interesting to me than strategic combat. But anyone who is into rpg's at all has to consider this a landmark series.

 

Divine Divinity does indeed feel pretty story-driven, contains some memorable characters and is very dialogue heavy for a title that is probably most properly classed as an action rpg.

 

Diablo and D2 are addictive and challenging games but I can't in all conscience endorse them as story-driven. The best cinematic cutscenes evar tho. NWN kind of falls in here for me, too, being all about lewt and making your character into a god. NWN does have a somewhat stronger story element, but realtime and crummy dialogue options make it basically combat driven.

 

Lionheart?????? :( Like ToEE, marred by the spectre of what it could have been if not ruthlessly shafted by developer/publisher problems and the need for greed.

Both those games had some great strengths and possibilities but end up just leaving you feeling...used.

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