The best Kickstarter RPGs?

[Althernai]

I recently got a new laptop and have been playing through the list of Kickstarter RPGs that I either backed or otherwise acquired (usually by backing a related game). I'm mostly done with the ones I have and some of them are better than others (though none are terrible). My ranked list is below. Does anyone know of similar ones which are good or have an opinion on these?

 

1) Divinity: Original Sin (Enhanced Edition). This is the best of the lot and it's not all that close. It's not the first to try incorporating environmental effects in combat (e.g. an oil surface hit with fire will ignite and water will put the fire out), but it has the best rendition of this that I've seen so far. The combat is turn-based, but it never feels slow or repetitive; the encounter design is very good and the skills of the party are varied. The story is fine and the companions are similar in style to Baldur's Gate 2 (i.e. they occasionally talk to each and the player as well as have a personal quest) although there aren't many of them. The production values are also very high: it's fully voiced, 3D (i.e. you can rotate the camera) and looks and runs great at 4K resolution and maxed out video settings on a measly GTX 1050. I have a few nitpicks (e.g. inventory management), but honestly, this is the best game I've played in years.

 

2-3) Pillars of Eternity. I think almost everyone on this forum is familiar with this one so I won't go into too much detail about. It's in the style of the Infinity Engine games and does a pretty good job of reinventing the latter... except that it has an unhealthy obsessions with MMO-style "balance". A good game, but quite some distance from being a great one.

 

2-3) Shadowrun Returns (Dead Man's Switch, Dragonfall, Hong Kong). I'm being lazy by lumping them together since Dragonfall is arguably better than Hong Kong and both are better than the original. The setting is a mix of cyberpunk, magic and and the humanoid races based on Tolkien. The turn-based combat and other conflict resolution mechanics are pretty good, but not revolutionary. The story and characters vary from decent to very good depending on the episode. I can't quite make up my mind whether it is better than PoE (hence the tied ranking) -- despite being quite different from each other, they share the quality of being good, but not great.

 

4) Torment: Tides of Numenera. The drawback of experimentation is that sometimes new ideas don't work out. T:ToN is extremely verbose, but I would not say that this helps it develop a better story or (with perhaps an exception or two) more memorable characters than any of the three games listed above. The idea of the setting is very good, but part of it was not implemented as promised by the Kickstarter and in general the whole thing doesn't feel finished. The combat is turn-based and not very good; the game's saving grace is that it is very rarely necessary. I'm kind of hoping that they do an "enhanced edition" of some sort because the game has potential, but it just isn't realized.

 

5) Wasteland 2. Another turn-based Unity game. To be fair, I haven't played its "Director's Cut" so maybe they improved it somewhat, but the original was not compelling enough for me to play it again. Four of the party slots are taken up by one's own characters so there is less room for companions with dialog. The combat is better than T:ToN, but worse than the other games above and unlike T:ToN, there's a whole lot of it that cannot be avoided. It's not a bad game, but not really my cup of tea.

 

6) Lords of Xulima. Everything that is bad about Wasteland 2 is worse here: tedious turn-based combat, minimal characterization and a relatively thin story. It also comes with a unique, but utterly generic fantasy setting. Meh.

[ShadySands]

My top 5

1. Shadowrun Returns series (in order HK, DF, DMS)

2. Wasteland 2

3. Pillars

4. Divinity:OS

5. Torment

 

If I can't combine 

1. SR:HK

2. SR:DF

3. Wasteland 2

4. Pillars

5. Divinity

[HoonDing]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[redneckdevil]

1-shadowruns (all of them, always play them in order and still love them).

2-pillars. First crpg that I got into that I didn't get a guide for best spec and run thru to see the story. Older crpgs didn't really enjoy the playstyles but loved the story. Pillars was first one that I learned and enjoyed mechanics on my own and love the story.

3-wasteland 2. Bit boring storywise but isn't that bad and the combat feels like fallout

4-divinity OS. Putting it here bc it's the last Kickstarter game I played. It's colorful but pretty boring to me, can't seem to get farther than finishing the first town before I put t down and go to the next one. Dunno.

[Jozape]

I've only dabbled with most of them. The ones I've actually managed to play much are Wasteland 2 and Tides of Numenera. I played Wasteland 2 twice already since starting in February actually. Waiting for the content update to replay Tides of Numenera. I like both though I prefer Tides of Numenera and I think it's closer to its predecessor in quality. Neither are as good as their predecessors when taken as a whole but still enjoyable.

[SonicMage117]

Hmmm... Somethimg different.

 

My vote goes to Sunless Sea, which (in my opinion), doesn't get the credit it deserves.

 

 

I think every rpg fan should try it at least once, it may not have all the flashy graphics from say... todays Jrpg's but it beats them in terms of freedom, story and depth. Plus it's Cthulhu

[Keyrock]

The Shadowrun series of games (Returns, Dragonfall, and Hong Kong) are far and away the best of the bunch, they're all fantastic, particularly Dragonfall and Hong Kong.  Wasteland 2 I enjoyed quite a bit, I was quite happy with that game.  I haven't finished TToN yet, but I'm enjoying what I have played so far.  Pillars I grew to hate with a passion and D:OS I never finished on account of how utterly boring it is.  Lords of Xulima is garbage-tier.  Sunless Sea is a great game, but I'm not sure I'd label it a RPG.  It's more a resource management game than anything else.  Great writing, though.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Keyrock

[Althernai]

Hmmm... Somethimg different.

 

My vote goes to Sunless Sea, which (in my opinion), doesn't get the credit it deserves.

 

...

I think every rpg fan should try it at least once, it may not have all the flashy graphics from say... todays Jrpg's but it beats them in terms of freedom, story and depth. Plus it's Cthulhu

Interesting. This doesn't look like an RPG in the same style as the others, but I guess it could work depending on the extent of the story elements. I'll give it a try.

 

Looks like there are a lot of people who like Shadowrun here. I agree that they are good games (in fact, good enough for me to back Battletech without ever being into MechWarrior games before), but they didn't strike me as that good. Maybe I'll take another look one of these days.

[Fenixp]

This doesn't look like an RPG in the same style as the others

Sunless Sea isn't in the same style as anything else out there, really. That's one of the things making it so good.

[melkathi]

Finished one playthrough of Shadowrun: DS. Gave up somewhere in SR:HK and always mean to continue it but never seem to not have something better to do. always mean to complete Pillars of Eternity but it seems a chore. Found Wasteland 2 frustrating and gave up on it. Found the writing in Divinity: OS too terrible to endure to get to the gameplay - would not back again.

Keep meaning to finish Torment, but the story and world aren't as engaging as I had hoped.

 

Expeditions: Conquistador was awesome. Wish I had backed that instead of some of the projects I did back.

[SonicMage117]

Interesting. This doesn't look like an RPG in the same style as the others, but I guess it could work depending on the extent of the story elements. I'll give it a try.

 

The freedom in the game is crazy, you start out by making a character from scratch - name, background, class, occupation, etc. Then you get a ship and hire a crew. You can romance people, eat your crew, basically anything is possible. It's dark and gritty - kinda like Gotham atmosphere, which is nice too. The game is all about choice and reflection.

 

If you try it, let me know what you think. Whether you like it or think it's bad, I'm all ears!