so, how did ya'll started liking this genre?

[apolloooo]

unlike some of the veterans here, my obsession with the genre only started back in 2011-12. indirectly, it was obsidian that made me a fan of this genre. it all started with new vegas. what i found when playing that game is a whole another new experience back in 2011. i've played dragon age and elder scroll games before, but upon new vegas, it is just really a whole different experience. the world building, NPC complexity, writing, the world and how it react to what you did, it's all just harmoniously blend into one amazing experience.

 

that excited high school student at the time just opened door to a whole new genre of videogame he's been missing his whole life. i looked up about who made new vegas, and found out it wasn't bethesda, and discovered obsidian, and the connection to black isle guys. wanting more, i looked up fallout 1 and 2 which were made by the key persons of obsidian, and i torrented fallout 1, and tried it for the first time. it was little rough at first. everything looks blurry, controls and interface are clunky, all the complaints "younger gamers" usually have playing olden games.

 

after 10 hour or so, i weirdly fell in love with that ancient software and from that i began to slowly overlook the muddy part, and found a hidden gem beneath decades old dust in them. after that i started with morrowind, then planescape torment, which is probably the best thing i have ever played at that time, i fell even deeper in love, then the infamous baldur's gate series, KOTOR 1/2, jade empire, fallout 2, NWN and indie titles like avernum. since that i never stopped playing games from this genre. after i finished one games, immediately i moved on to another. though up until last year, like 50% of them were pirated, the others i bought from shared steam account. after i scored a nice part time job,around summer 2014 which gave me quite a disposable income, i started to actually buying my games, and steam started using my local currency really helps alot.

 

i have played dozens of games, and it still feel like i'm just scratching the surface. there are just alot of wonderful games i haven't experienced and all these is absolutely going to keep me busy for years ahead, even not counting the new games.

 

 

[Emerwyn]

My story is probably similar to a lot of the people in these forums. Started out playing tabletop/PnP RPGs such as Warhammer Fantasy, Fading Suns, Legend of the Five Rings, Vampire the Masquerade and AD&D with my friends. Obviously we also enjoyed console RPGs very much, at first Supernintendo classics such as Secret of Evermore, Illusion of Time, Chrono Cross, Earthbound, or Secret of Mana, and later the big wave of JRPGs on Playstation led by Final Fantasy VII. One day we heard that a game based on Forgotten Realms would come out for PC, and I was the only in my group of friends to actually have a PC besides a Playstation. That was Baldur's Gate, which I picked up as soon as it hit the shelves.

 

I fell in love with that mix of storytelling, free exploration and challenging tactical combat. I had already enjoyed very much games like Front Mission, Vandal Hearts, or Ogre Tactics, but those games didn't allow for exploration, it was just cutscene-combat cycles with no freedom to roam or do anything. Plus DnD as a setting just had a lure and magic to it that could not compare. And suddenly I became a CRPG fan and devoured every game of that kind, no matter how terrible it was. I even finished the awful Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, arguably the worst CRPG to ever see the light of day - and I still managed to enjoy it. 

 

BG2, IWD, IWD2, Torment, NWN, NWN2, ToEE, etc... they all were thirsted upon by my insatiable need for CRPGs, but then the genre suddenly died. That until Dragon Age: Origins, that gave me high hopes of a new CRPG era. Unfortunately, BioWare's soul was eaten by EA, and any hope for PC games made for PC gamers coming from BioWare was instantly killed off.

 

From there we go to 2014, where out of nowhere came Divinity: Original Sin to completely blow me, being probably the most enjoyable game I played in 5 years. Then I had high hopes for Wasteland 2 that weren't quite met, but the reality was that the CRPG genre was back to stay, moreso when Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tales of Numenera had been announced to release shortly. Now as PoE is finished and ready to ship, we are pretty certain that there will be a PoE expansion, and PoE:2, as well as other indie projects like Serpent in the Staglands, and the sequel of Divinity: Original Sin, so definitely it's a great time for oldschool RPG players.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Emerwyn

[PrimeJunta]

Short version: PnP since I was 11 (1982), eventually my dad got a computer and I discovered Might & Magic, Wizardry, and Ultima (and NetHack of course). Drifted over to flight sims and strategy games some time in the 1990's, got back into cRPG's around 2002. Big dry spell somewhere in the middle which was just one disappointment after another except for VtM: Bloodlines and The Witchers (despite the glaring flaws in both of them). Enjoying the glorious incline brought forth by Kickstarter. Somewhat bummed that I just haven't had the time to play all the ones I'd want to, like Inquisitor (not to be confused with DA:I, that turd), Divinity: Original Sin, Expeditions: Conquistador, and so on.

[Lunessence]

I would say the SNES system I had as a kid sold me on the RPG genre. Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger and Legend of Mana were some of my favorite games. In the mid 90's to early 00's I played on a few MUDs and played DOS games like King's Quest and Lucas Arts games (those were more of the adventure genre, though). When I found Planescape: Torment in 2001 I fell utterly in love with it. Got into the Final Fantasy series starting at #7 when the PS1 came out; stuck with them because they had the cool RPGs that Nintendo didn't. I feel like I've been a fan of the genre pretty much my entire life. 'Tis an awesome feeling. 

[Sedrefilos]

I discovered what an rpg truly is when I played Baldur's Gate 2 and then Fallout 2. I was familiar with dungeon delving, fantasy settings and other computer and board games with rpg elements such as stats, dialogue line picks etc before I play those 2 games, but not with a roleplay experience, like making dialogue choices ans stats/skills that reflect your character and have consequences etc.

 

EDIT: Although my experience with tabletop and video games start at mid 80's, I only start looking into the crpg genre more thoroughly after I played Fallout: New Vegas (best crpg I've ever played so far - waiting for Pillars to put it second) and even more when the old-school crpg kickstarter frenzy begun about 2 years ago. Until then I never knew or care about who made which game; I just played rpgs and liked them or not. Pillars got me so much excited because of the nostalgia, I guess. Having the IE games experience carved in my mind so hard couldn't resist

This is the only video game (or any, now that I think of it) forum that I've ever participated into (that says a lot about my excitement for the game!) and, to be honest I started to get a bit tired (yet the excitement of the release pulls me back into it)

I guess I'll go back to loosen up a bit with radaring and following video games. Sometimes I think "man, you never did this when you were in your 20's, now in your mid 30's spending so much energy on video games trivia? wtf?". I'll see...

Edited March 19, 2015 by Sedrefilos

[Sonntam]

I like RPGs like V:TMB, Kotor 2, Alpha Protocol, F:NV and so on, but I never really warmed up to isometric strategic real time combat. 

 

I'm buying POE out of hope that this time I will enjoy the combat more (because it's more transparent and less DnDish) and because Obsidian writes great games. 

 

I'm really more of an Obsidian fangirl, than of Baldur's Gate and the like.

[Starwars]

I played pen and paper in my teens, which coincided with the release of Fallout. Though I'd played cRPGs before that, Fallout was the one that really hit it out of the park for me. I never enjoyed the BG's quite as much as some people here do but I still have a considerable amount of nostalgia for them as I played them to death way back when. It's weird how the IE games just managed to capture... something that was quite special. The feeling of adventure perhaps? Not sure.

 

Been interested in RPGs ever since and, in many ways, the genre seems to be hitting a peak now for me because there are... well, a lot of them it feels. Some nostalgia-driven, some AAA. I dunno, it feels like exciting times. There is a drive to the genre again, and diversity.

[Katarack21]

Baldur's Gate was my first direct exposure to D&D, and to PC RPG's (I had played a lot of console RPG's, of course). I bought it in the store when it was reduced because BGII was soon to come out; I got BGII when it's price fell, too.

BG just blew me away almost immediately. From that opening narration, "Nestled atop the cliffs that rise above the Sword Coast, the citadel of Candlekeep..." right up to the end I couldn't tear away. BGII was even better; Irenicus joined my list of favorite villains when I got to the second dream ("Life...is strength. This is not to be contested, it seems logical enough. You live, you effect your world. But is it what *you* need? You are...different...inside."). From that I looked backwards, much as you did more recently, and played Fallout 1 and 2. I was lucky, though; I came into this PC game genre pretty much at exactly the best moment. Things just exploded in awesomeness pretty much instantly; Planescape, IWD, KOTOR, etc.

I fell in love with the whole style and genre of games, but more it seemed like there was a breadth and depth to the stories and characters that I just didn't get out of consoles. I cared so much more about Irenicus and the consequences of his war than I ever, EVER did about Sephiroth. Not to say I don't love FF VII; I still play it occasionally, but it soon became clear to me that there was something unique and special about the IE-style game. I'll be honest; I fell in love with virtually every game BioWare made between '98 and 2007. In that time period it was not uncommon to hear me say "BioWare has never made a bad game and probably never will."

I still believe that might have remained true if EA hadn't ripped the heart and soul out of BioWare to feed their unholy legions. BioWare wasn't the only studio working in that genre, but they were a large part of the driving momentum behind it; when BioWare changed, much of my computer RPG gaming disappeared. Of course, NWN throws a wrench into this idea; I never have liked that game. Endless crappy fetch quests and fed ex quests; to this day that's all I think of about NWN.

Obsidian came around with KOTOR 2 in, what, 2004? Something like that. I enjoyed it immensely, even felt it was in some ways and improvement on KOTOR; but the bugginess...it was *almost* the buggiest game I had ever played, but VtM:B beat it out by, like, a month. NWN 2 was exactly the same; a better game in almost every way, except so buggy as to be hard to play. After that it was a downhill fall for my favorite company; Jade Empire and Mass Effect were fun but less enjoyable, more contained, following from NWN on-rails gameplay but with points of psuedo-openess. After EA bought them it just turned into rails everywhere.

I still have Castle of the Winds, though. You ****ers can't take that from me! *shakes fist at EA*

[morhilane]

First cRPG was BG2, bought on release because people where talking to me about BG1 and I already had an interest in PnP D&D.

 

I was into Space Sims before though, so playing a role and exploring were already "in my blood" so to speak.

[Striped_Wolf]

Went over to a friends house. He had gotten BG for his birthday and I watched him explore the wilderness and I realized I had seen nothing like it. The ambience and music was pretty cool. When I got home I couldnt stop thinking about that odd game with the amazing wilderness atmosphere.
I convinced my brother to download it for me, which took some dedication since it was 5 discs

That was like 15-20 years ago... I never really stopped playing it  

 

Edited March 19, 2015 by Striped_Wolf

[Katarack21]

Downloading a 5-disc game in 98....that must have taken a while.

[BruceVC]

I started reading the Fighting Fantasy books ( Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone ) in the 1980's and then moved onto D&D and then AD&D 

 

But I also started playing games like Kings Quest and Heroes Quest and from there evolved onto other fantasy  PC titles like Ultima, Gothic, Elder Scrolls and the of course the various AD&D RPG like BG

 

But for me fantasy and RPG has always been in my blood since I first learnt to read

[kat7ra]

Dad was playing BG1 back when it came out, and it was love at first glance, wasn't allowed to play it myself yet, but I'd always try to peek, or try to talk him into letting me watch him play.

When I finally got to play it myself there was no way back. Loved RPGs since that, and I'm never going to change!

[Osvir]

I've always loved aRPGs, jRPGs, wRPGs (Tales of Destiny is my #1 of all time). I didn't know much about cRPGs until, well, 2+ years ago I didn't know it was as extensive as it is, and that there was TONS of great titles I had never heard about and now these 2 years I've researched and played lots of them (Might & Magic series, Wizardry series, Lands of Lore, Krondor, .

I found Baldur's Gate and the Infinity Engine games through google after being burned out on "lacking" and declining stories/gameplay to my experience in the console world:

"Best PC RPG of all time" and "Baldur's Gate... what is that?" and then looked into it and I was sold. Bought 2 boxsets, Icewind Dale (3-in-1 Boxset) and Baldur's Gate (4-in-1 Boxset*). This was... 8-9 years ago? I was 18~19. But I remember playing a Fallout demo on my PowerBook G3 when I was maybe 10-12* and remember seeing a friend play Baldur's Gate 2 around the same age. I also remember seeing a friends character sheets for D&D and asking what it was and wanted to join, but I guess we both forgot about it because I just remembered it now xD

*I just found these boxsets the other day and I've been extremely tempted to re-install vanilla BG again :D
** I re-discovered Fallout later years, it was my gateway game into the genre (Before Baldur's Gate).

Edited March 19, 2015 by Osvir

[kryadan]

I rented Phantasy Start IV for Genesis back in like 94 or something and loved  RPG's since. One of my exes Uncles told me I HAD to try this game and handed me a bunch of CD's,

 

What did they say on them? "Baldur's Gate". From there BGII, IWD, IWDII, NWN, NWNII and a host of other games in between obviously.

 

I read about Pillars on MMORPG.com and told myself I had to get it =)

Edited March 19, 2015 by kryadan

[Valmy]

Well in 1987 I got The Bard's Tale 2 for my 10th birthday. It looked so epic on my monochrome Apple II. I wish I was kidding but my standards were lower back then.

 

I eventually ended up playing a bunch of PnP games as well but since I went off to college it has been only CRPGs.

 

I just remember in 1997 thinking 'damn why don't they make cool RPGs like that anymore?' Then Fallout came out and I haven't thought of those old 80s games since. But man there were two instances, the mid 90s and most of last decade, when I feared the genre had been left for dead.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Valmy

[Sensuki]

A friend gave me his CDs for Dark Sun Shattered Lands.

[Cluas]

It was 1997  
I had been playing tabletop D&D and other rpgs.  It all started with the Fighting Fantasy books, though.
I was also playing the hobbit on my c64 lol-

I remember getting my first pc. I was playing the Diablo demo wayyyyy too much. So I bought the original 5 cd BG as soon as it hit the stores, played all the way through, it took me a month or something like that. I have played this game many , many times, but still get surprised now and then... 
Then I got my hands on IWD. Much rejoyce. And when HoW (the expansion for IWD) came out, and I could play in 1024, with my friend, that's all I did ... 

Years later I tried BG2, which I didn't enjoy so much. I played it through anyway. I then found the TUTU version of BG. It worked alright, but I got stuck in Durlags Tower because of some bug. So my BG adventure ended here, for many years. I played IWD and IWD2, until NWN came out. I remember waiting and waiting. And the disappointment : o
Since then I have been waiting for someone to pick up where the IE games left. It has been a really really (way too) long wait. I have gotten used to get really disappointed when a new crpg is released ...

Edited March 19, 2015 by Cluas

[rheingold]

D&D 1st edition - Greyhawk world. Heck I remember when forgotten realms came out and me and my mates where all going, "that pretender, it will never last..." Stopped pnp around 3.5, mainly because our group split up. First games, might and magic and quest for glory 1. After that the usual suspects. Looking forward to Pillars, Larians new game after Original sin. Hoping that the new forgotten realms game - sword coast legends will have a good single player campaign (they are pushing multi player) it really has some good people working on it.

Edited March 19, 2015 by rheingold

[BruceVC]

It was 1997  

I had been playing tabletop D&D and other rpgs.  It all started with the Fighting Fantasy books, though.

I was also playing the hobbit on my c64 lol-

I remember getting my first pc. I was playing the Diablo demo wayyyyy too much. So I bought the original 5 cd BG as soon as it hit the stores, played all the way through, it took me a month or something like that. I have played this game many , many times, but still get surprised now and then... 

Then I got my hands on IWD. Much rejoyce. And when HoW (the expansion for IWD) came out, and I could play in 1024, with my friend, that's all I did ... 

 

Years later I tried BG2, which I didn't enjoy so much. I played it through anyway. I then found the TUTU version of BG. It worked alright, but I got stuck in Durlags Tower because of some bug. So my BG adventure ended here, for many years. I played IWD and IWD2, until NWN came out. I remember waiting and waiting. And the disappointment : o

Since then I have been waiting for someone to pick up where the IE games left. It has been a really really (way too) long wait. I have gotten used to get really disappointed when a new crpg is released ...

 

Those Fighting Fantasy books were really entertaining, I don't how many you completed. Remember Deathtrap Dungeon and Creature of Havoc 

 

Did you ever play the Lone Wolf series of books? Also a very exciting fantasy series 

[Enoch]

I had uncles who were D&D nerds, one of whom (stereotypically) lived with my grandparents.  He had a C64 (might actually have been grandpa's, but resided in his room), and the game that hooked me on that was Might and Magic 1.  I was probably 8 or 9 when I first saw it, and I had already read some of the fantasy paperbacks and D&D manuals that I found around that house, so it was immediately recognizeable and appealing to me. 

 

Sadly, those relatives of mine play nothing but WoW these days...

Edited March 19, 2015 by Enoch

[CaptainMace]

Was around 13 when daddy bought himself a new personal computer for work purposes. Back then was a time when you'd be given one or several games with the product. The computer went along with 3 or 4 games, and 2 are of 'em were legendary, being Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri et Baldur's Gate.

It's also when I started to feel that pc gaming suited my tastes more and was now possible.

Never played tabletop games, it's something that was not very popular where I grew up. Like any inside activity in any sunny country I guess.

[Raventhull]

My first rpg exposure was playing Zork and Bards Tale when I was a kid. Also remember playing Curse of the Azure bonds,and the codex wheel  it came with lol. Started playing pnp AD@D not to long after that. Early console rpgs I played were the first Dragon Warrior and Shining in the Darkness. Fallout 1 and 2,Baulders Gate 1 and 2,Planscape:Torment,Fallout:Tactics.The MMO bug hit and played the crap out of Everquest(Ruins of Kunark era) and a game I still miss to this day-Shadowbane.

[Nonek]

I was probably first beguiled by fantasy as a genre by my love of classical mythology, Pater spoke ancient Greek flawlessly i'm told, and had worked in quite a few archaeological goldmines. The family had long been tied to the profession, and were present at Mycenae and Knossos apparently during the famous excavations. My father instilled in me a great thirst for the derring do and human theatre that the ancient world offered, in ones dreams there were the golden stones of Troy rising above distant, exotic lands and warm sparkling blue seas, quite a contrast to the green and pleasant English countryside. A little gentle escapism that I indulged in frequently as a child, however I believe it probably boosted my academic potential, and certainly provided a diverting passtime.

[apolloooo]

I still believe that might have remained true if EA hadn't ripped the heart and soul out of BioWare to feed their unholy legions. BioWare wasn't the only studio working in that genre, but they were a large part of the driving momentum behind it; when BioWare changed, much of my computer RPG gaming disappeared. Of course, NWN throws a wrench into this idea; I never have liked that game. Endless crappy fetch quests and fed ex quests; to this day that's all I think of about NWN.

well to be honest, the first NWN is kinda like MMO wannabe, instead of focusing on campaign and compelling plot and characters, it tries to focus on the online side, which i don't really dig either. glad obsidian fixed it with NWN2, and ultimately, Mask of The Betrayer, which is like the second best videogame story to plancescape.

 

also i feel like a kid here

 

you guys have like so much history with it, like a long-life marriage XD

Edited March 19, 2015 by apolloooo