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

[BruceVC]

 

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

 

 

 

 

Yeah you would think that with all these years of playing RPG we would have consensus amongst   ourselves  on what components are important to a RPG  or what games are considered the best RPG....but thats not the case and we debate often on various topics  

[Kordanor]

I liked RPGs the moment I first played any. I think the very first ones were

Eye of the Beholder

Realms of Arkania 1

Dark Sun

 

Dark Sun I always saw as the predecessor of the infinity engine games as it was D&D, had the same perspective and more freedom in dialogues than the other games I played at that point. However Dark Sun always had one big advantage to me: It was turn based.

 

While I liked Baldurs Gate to some degree and I finished it I got bored about 2/3 the way through and overall it felt kinda disappointing. Planescape Torment I liked a lot. But because I wasn't a big fan of Baldurs Gate 1 I didn't actually check out other Infinity games, or just very shortly. I think I played Icewind Dale for less than an hour (never owned it) and I dropped playing NWN2 after maybe 10 or 20 hours due to the characters system, bad AI and RTwP System which I all didn't like. Bought the enhanced edition of BG2 but dropped it after 90 minutes because of the combat system + unsharp graphics (I love Spiderweb games, so I am not a graphics w**re).

 

So I guess with that background I have quite a hard stand in these forums and Pillars of Eternity needs to work a little harder to convince me compared to most others.

[PrimeJunta]

Gameplay in NWN2 is fairly ghastly but the character building system is fun IMO once you figure out the intricacies.

 

I've thrown BG2 at the wall numerous times, but never because of the combat system.

[Eurhetemec]

First came across pen and paper RPGs in about 1986, first played in 1988, been playing or running them since (everything from D&D to Vampire to Amber to Rulemaster (ahem) to Cyberpunk 2020 to Dungeon World).

 

I think the first CRPG I played which really blew me away was Dungeon Master, from 1987 (I played it in '88 or 89), on the Atari ST. The next big one was Ultima VI (I went back to the earlier ones later) and, strangely, an obscure and kind of bad but fascinatingly different/odd Japanese CRPG called Sorcerian.

 

I wasn't actually very impressed with Baldur's Gate when it first came out, because Fallout came out before it, and was far more daring and awesome, whereas BG1 just seemed like a throwback to mediocre AD&D-based CRPGs (by comparison with Fallout!). BG2 I liked a lot better, because really worked out how to make things interesting and huge and made better use of the FR and the 2E AD&D rules (and some influenced by the then-upcoming 3E).

[NegativeEdge]

I used to play the FF books when I was a kid. I played creature of havoc so much I wrote to the company asking for a replacement hero sheet because I'd rubbed a hole in mine. They sent me a new copy of the book and a bookmark signed by Steve Jackson. I was so stoked!

 

As for CRPGs it was an old blobber called Dungeon Master that I watched my folks playing that got me interested. I loooved that they would put in little things that recognised when you did something unexpected, like in that game you could go back to the dungeon entrance instead of destroying Lord Chaos and Lord Order would just blast you and take the firestaff. I thought that was so cool.

 

Many years later on my first PC one of my first games was BG1. I'd never played D&D, had no clue about anything at all but I loved that after candlekeep you could do whatever you wanted and it had reactivity out the arse. People got angry when you pinched their stuff, the building doors weren't just background you could actually go in the houses! and kill people randomly! and then when I tried to camp in the streets of Bereghost a guard woke me up and said we had to find an inn, I was like...all this reactivity...in one game

 

 

Pretty primitive stuff by todays standards but I loved it all, every part of that huge adventure and after I finished it I went out looking for other games like it and found this weird looking game with a big blue face on it but it was D&D, made in the same engine and the screenshots on the back looked good. Only 2 discs so it obviously wasn't going to be as good as BG but what could be.

 

These past 13 years have felt so long.

[Amentep]

Hmmm, well I played D&D, Gamma World and Star Frontiers in the early 1980s. In 1985 I played SSI's Phantasie which I loved (the idea of being able to recruit random monster classes was a hoot).

 

Played some other mid-80s RPGs on the C64. Didn't have the money for a good computer, and ended up moving over to consoles for awhile where I played things like Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Final Fantasy. I decided to break down and buy a computer around the time Baldur's Gate was coming out and reviews for it led me to buy it. That then led to Icewind Dale and Fallout and Fallout 2 when I finished BG.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Amentep

[Legbiter]

Baldur's Gate 1 and AD & D in junior high.

[Valmy]

Eye of the Beholder

 

 

Worst ending ever.

[Kordanor]

 

Eye of the Beholder

 

 

Worst ending ever.

 

I don't remember the ending. In any case you could take over your crew to EotB 2 :D

[Valmy]

 

I don't remember the ending.

 

For good reason. You killed the Beholder, a text message popped up saying 'Beholder dead!', and then you got dropped to DOS. Mass Effect 3 makes fun of that ending.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Valmy

[Kjaamor]

Probably all started with Heroquest, an old D&D-lite board game that I used to play with my next door neighbour when I was a kid (about 4-9yrs old). I don't think we necessarily played it quite as it was intended, but we played it for years.

 

In terms of crpgs, I always liked RPGs before I really even knew what they were. I used to get PC Gamer magazine for the demo CD, and inevitably I'd spend more time on the RPGs than anything else.

 

The first one that really grabbed me was the demo for Fallout. It was a mini-version of the first Junktown map, although the characters were completely different. If I played it now, I could do every quest and kill everything in about fifteen minutes, but I spent hours in that thing. Unfortunately its release seemed to pass me by, because I never found any more mention of it in PC Gamer, until it eventually showed up in my local games shop when I was 14. I was actually on a pseudo-date at the time, and in hindsight that whole thing might have gone better had I not found the RPG I'd been waiting to play for years.

 

The other one was Final Fantasy VII, of course; a game I devoured so greatly that if you cut me, small droplets of the platinum edition come out.

 

BG came afterwards. I didn't know much about it, but I thought it looked quite Fallout-esque, so I bought it on the back of that. I'd have been about fifteen, I think. I really liked it, but I found it incredibly unforgiving (which it is) and it took an awful lot of approaching it with my jRPG hat on ("This guy is best with two-handed swords, therefore I'll send him forward with his two-handed sword to kill those kobolds") before I switched to the RTS style it needs ("This guy is best with two-handed swords, but that doesn't matter for **** if he's full of arrows, therefore I'll inch forward frame by frame with everyone using ranged weaponry").

 

All time favourite crpg list is probably...

 

1. FFVII

2. Fallout 2

3. BG 2

4. FFX

5. KotOR

[cloudline]

This is how I started liking this genre:

 

My parents were really abusive. I had a really crappy childhood. My birthday was coming up and my Dad cancelled my birthday. I had a month or so prior to my birthday submitted an order for Baldur's Gate I via a pay-after-delivery company, Columbia House. I'd learned that if you used a fake name to order things, well, Satan never paid the bill. Truly though the sheer smirking joy I experienced on my birthday receiving and then opening my ill-gotten computer game was memorable. It was the best [expletive] you to my Dad and I've been gathering my party before venturing forth ever since.

 

As an adult it's also extra satisfying knowing that I screwed a company that screwed customers. Good times.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_House#Business_practices

 

Ah the circle is complete now. My Mom bought me BGII SOA after I begged her, and now as an adult I've backed Obsidian in creating this gem of a game. Ah... satisfaction.

[Voss]

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. 

Um.... New Vegas is an open world  FPS with very limited RPG elements.  It is a completely different genre.

 

 

 

Myself I started with PnP RPGs and eventually these new fangled computer thingies started having games on them, including dungeon exploration games like Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. It was interesting to see how things changed over time and eventually story and plot took center stage over combat, and then both were abandoned entirely for semi-interactive movies.  It will be interesting to see if the genre can be revived from its long death.  

Edited March 19, 2015 by Voss

[Kordanor]

 

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. 

Um.... New Vegas is an open world  FPS with very limited RPG elements.  It is a completely different genre.

Not really. It has tons of RPG elements, in fact more than most other so called RPGs have. Just that you can play it from a first person perspective does not make it a shooter.

You also don't need to aim in New Vegas due to the VATS which will give you better results than normal aiming.

[rjshae]

 

 

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. 

Um.... New Vegas is an open world  FPS with very limited RPG elements.  It is a completely different genre.

Not really. It has tons of RPG elements, in fact more than most other so called RPGs have. Just that you can play it from a first person perspective does not make it a shooter.

You also don't need to aim in New Vegas due to the VATS which will give you better results than normal aiming.

 

Absolutely. It's the amount of choice you have over your character build and subsequent activity, and the consequences of those choices, that makes it an RPG.

[LuccA]

I was just a kid when I first saw my older cousin playing BG1 (maybe 10 or less). He was killing wolves with his party. I remember I was amazed by the grey stone UI and the character portraits in the right side, wanting to know who they were. My mom bought the game later (I didn't even ask!), but the rules and the english were too much for me... I forgot about this game for years, until I got my first personal computer, so I remembered and looked for it... and I found the box and the manual all scratched with blue pen, probably by myself as a dumb kid (I made a hair in the skull in the box and stuff). Well, the CDs were alright, so I installed then and had a memorable playthrough, I was most surprised with the story, reactivity and exploring... Through the years, I played this game enough to memorize some lines, I think I can lipsync the narration in the beginning.

 

For some reason I never went past chapter 2 in BG2. Not that I don't like it, actually I think it must be more enjoyable than BG1 due to party interactions and stuff (characters are my favorite thing about cRPGs), but I always had a techniqual or personal life issue that prevented me for continuing (I'm actually playing it right now, plan to finish it this time, and yes... I'm excited that I'm still able to get a brand new experience from a definit classic!).

 

I also finished PS:T (another memorable playthrough, in a whole new level) and IWD (very nostalgic too, the best music and art of all IE games in my opinion) in the meantime, and had some frustrating experiences with tabletop RPG (not a common thing were I live too, probably the same sunny country issue as CaptainMace). Now, I'm looking so forward to PoE. I think it's the only life dream coming true I had, since I never had a redhead girlfriend.

[constantine]

I was a Nintendo-PS1 fan. I started playing D&D 2nd revised at my teens. I was bought my 1st PC when I was 19 and my introduction to the genre was with Baldur's Gate.

 

It blew my mind, this game. Playing it for the first time is one of my most enjoyable moments in my gaming 'carreer'.

[Sedrefilos]

 

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. 

Um.... New Vegas is an open world  FPS with very limited RPG elements.  It is a completely different genre.

 

 

 

Myself I started with PnP RPGs and eventually these new fangled computer thingies started having games on them, including dungeon exploration games like Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. It was interesting to see how things changed over time and eventually story and plot took center stage over combat, and then both were abandoned entirely for semi-interactive movies.  It will be interesting to see if the genre can be revived from its long death.  

 

New Vegas is the epitome of rpg in a video game form. Not only it is heavy on roleplay it's full of rpg elements. Presentation (open world FPS) is irrelevent weather agame is an rpg or not, since it's a video game and there is no default way to present things (like in pnp is always people around a table).

[Voss]

 

 

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. 

Um.... New Vegas is an open world  FPS with very limited RPG elements.  It is a completely different genre.

 

 

 

Myself I started with PnP RPGs and eventually these new fangled computer thingies started having games on them, including dungeon exploration games like Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. It was interesting to see how things changed over time and eventually story and plot took center stage over combat, and then both were abandoned entirely for semi-interactive movies.  It will be interesting to see if the genre can be revived from its long death.  

 

New Vegas is the epitome of rpg in a video game form. Not only it is heavy on roleplay it's full of rpg elements. Presentation (open world FPS) is irrelevent weather agame is an rpg or not, since it's a video game and there is no default way to present things (like in pnp is always people around a table).

 

It has a very basic skill system and there are maybe...20 people to interact with beyond selling loot.  You might as well argue that diablo 3 is an rpg.

 

If you like the game that is fine, but it is missing a lot of what I consider to be essential to an RPG, and a lot of rpg-like elements that make a token appearance without much depth.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Voss

[Rahelron]

I have to thank my cousin for introducing me to the RPG world. He gave me the basic D&D ruleset as a gift for my ninth birthday. Since I wasn't able to talk any of my friends into playing it though I started looking for other ways to play... and I found videogames. My first one was Baldur's Gate, then everything that followed.

[Kordanor]

@voss

I am not sure we are talking about the same game here.

New Vegas had tons of possibilities to make decisions and to influence the story. It has a character system extremely similar to the one of Fallout 1 or 2 or many other RPGs.

It has more companions than PoE will have. And more than 200 NPCs.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Kordanor

[Sedrefilos]

@voss

I am not sure we are talking about the same game here.

New Vegas had tons of possibilities to make decisions and to influence the story. It has a character system extremely similar to the one of Fallout 1 or 2 or many other RPGs.

It has more companions than PoE will have. And more than 200 NPCs.

I suppose Voss has mistaken New Vegas with Far Cry maybe? Or hasn't played it?

Makes no other sense.

[Cluas]

 

snip

 

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 

 

Thanks for asking. I just had a trip down my memory lane lol.

I started reading FF when i was 11 or 12 (That's 30 years ago!) I read and completed about 15, that's how many that got translated to danish- I did complete Creature of Havoc (this was the absolute hardest) and Deathtrap Dungeon (you mentioned my two fave's)...

 

I also do remember Lone Wolf, but I only read one or two, and I couldn't really get into the lore and stuff... Then when i was 14-15, we started the Fighting Fantasy "tabletop", The Riddling Reaver" or something like that. It was cool, but then shortly after I got the red D&D box. Ohh the memories ....

[wolfrider100]

In 1998 I really can not remember what month it was at the time, but I know I found a demo copy of Baldur's Gate in a PC Gamer magazine that my one friend lent me. At the time I did not know

what crpgs were but man did this game look cool and I just had to load it up on my old HP computer which did not have a very good video card at the time (it only had that cheap integrated one) and wow just that small taste got me hooked bad on the genre and after bugging my folks for about a few weeks or so, my grandmother went to our local Best Buy and bought me my very own copy. Well a few years later when I was still in high school, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Icewind Dale and then Icewind Dale II all come out around that time and I bought my own copies after saving my money up for about a year or two and kept on playing them up till and after I graduated in late 2003. I still play them from time to time but I never really finished Fallout 1 and 2 or Planescape:

Torment till a few years later after that. I just could not get into them at the time, but after I had a little free time I give them a second chance and something just clicked and I beat them all

..maybe it was cause I was older but who really knows in the end.

Edited March 19, 2015 by wolfrider100

[Halsy]

Started PnP in 82ish +/-. D&D was always the main staple - Forgotten Realms/Dragonlance/Spelljammer/Shadowrun, all followed. Paranoia too. Most people have never played that game and it's too bad because it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on - and probably off. I'm amazed no one has ever made a video game of it because it would be a massive cult hit.

 

http://io9.com/5973846/why-the-paranoia-rpgs-alpha-complex-is-the-greatest-dystopia-of-all-time

 

I then moved on to (co)sysoping  BBS', playing Door games, then MUDs as the Darpanet slowly became the internet, and then CRPGs, MMOs, and here were are.