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I suppose first I'll list my favorite RPGs:

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2
Jade Empire
Morrowind
Oblivion

I like games with good storylines and moral decision-making. Lots of conversations are a plus, but not necessary.

I heard the Fallout games, Planescape: Torment, The Witcher, Mass Effect, and the Vampire games fit my tastes. If any of you have anything to say about those, please do. Also, if you have any other suggestions, please tell me.

As a side note, I generally dislike games like Diablo and Icewind Dale. Hack and slash idiocy.

Planescape: Torment is simply the best game I've ever played. I think you should try it first.

Fallout games are great (1-2, never played 3-rd, and I don't think you should try Tactics, although it's a good game but certainly not what you're looking for).

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a very good game, I finished it not so long ago my first time and liked it very much.

I'd also recommend playing Arcanum - a truly wonderful game with huge world and huge opportunities.

Another game that I'd recommend is Gothic.

Drakensang

It's very much like good ol' Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale: [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/rpg-discussion-87/the-dark-eye-drakensang-pc-107221.html"]The Dark Eye: Drakensang[/url]. I've been enjoying it hugely. It's very fresh, there is also demo [url="www.drakensang.com"]on the homepage[/url] to be download.

Planescape is awesome if you're looking for plot. IMO, BG:SOA's storyline is almost mush by comparison. It's very low on combat, though, especially if you play in certain ways.

I never got into Arcanum, but I barely gave it a chance. My brother loves it.

I've never played any of the other games you listed.

Dude, you should totally go for Planescape: Torment. Just like Jimwth, you should play it first. It uses the Infinity Engine and AD&D rules (just like BG), so you shouldn't have troubles with getting used to the system. It's story is far grater and more interesting than that of BG and the NPC and your PC are the amongst the strangest beings you'll ever encounter in a RPG.

Only trouble is, it is quite old and encounters some problems under Win XP and Vista. So, it's important to check the PS:T forum for both official and unofficial patches before playing.

Arcanum goes under #2 in my list. It's very entertaining, but bugged as hell.

Fallout and Planescape are great games. Fallout has more freedom and flexibilbilty at character development, Planescape more written story to read, but both have a roleplaying depth Baldur's Gate doesn't even get close.

Bumbling_Bonobo wrote:I suppose first I'll list my favorite RPGs:

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2
Jade Empire
Morrowind
Oblivion

I heard the Fallout games, Planescape: Torment, The Witcher, Mass Effect, and the Vampire games fit my tastes. If any of you have anything to say about those, please do. Also, if you have any other suggestions, please tell me.

I will put in another plug for Planescape Torment: excellent story, lots of dialogue, engaging NPCs/party members, extremely well written, philosophically deep.

I suspect you will also enjoy The Witcher. While I have some quibbles with it, it is easily the best game I have played since the BG series and PS:T. Unlike the BG games, morality comes in shades of grey, and often you must choose between the lesser of two evils. Also, those choices you make have a very real impact through the game.

Of course, with anything like this, it is all highly subjective..

Neverwinter Night would probably fit your taste.
However, if you wanted my other game opinion, you should try out Asheron's Call. I just cant say enough about this amazing game. You just gotta see it for yourself, of course its not free. Its 12.95 monthly which is less than 50 cent a day. Its MMORPG, not much storyline but its more likely free world whereever you want to go and explore everywhere, fighting your way to level 275. Getting to 275 will take u like 2-3 years that is if you play EVERYDAY. It is very thrilling and heartbeating to stay alive and very challenging and fun game! I am AC player for 7 years and still loving it. It will be always in my heart.

Infinita wrote:Neverwinter Night would probably fit your taste.
However, if you wanted my other game opinion, you should try out Asheron's Call. I just cant say enough about this amazing game. You just gotta see it for yourself, of course its not free. Its 12.95 monthly which is less than 50 cent a day. Its MMORPG, not much storyline but its more likely free world whereever you want to go and explore everywhere, fighting your way to level 275. Getting to 275 will take u like 2-3 years that is if you play EVERYDAY. It is very thrilling and heartbeating to stay alive and very challenging and fun game! I am AC player for 7 years and still loving it. It will be always in my heart.

Actually, I played NWN. Hated the original campaign and Shadows of Undrentide, loved Hordes of the Underdark and Kingmaker. I also played on an online server called Astoria 2 for quite a few years.

I've never been into MMOs, really. Online roleplaying servers on non-MMOs are great, but MMORPGs all tend to annoy the hell out of me. The only one that seems halfway decent and mature is Lord of the Rings: Online, but I'm not really sure, since I only played it for a week on a free trial (I just left Bree with the hobbits before the trial ended).

Bumbling_Bonobo wrote:Actually, I played NWN. Hated the original campaign and Shadows of Undrentide, loved Hordes of the Underdark and Kingmaker. I also played on an online server called Astoria 2 for quite a few years.

I've never been into MMOs, really. Online roleplaying servers on non-MMOs are great, but MMORPGs all tend to annoy the hell out of me. The only one that seems halfway decent and mature is Lord of the Rings: Online, but I'm not really sure, since I only played it for a week on a free trial (I just left Bree with the hobbits before the trial ended).

Annoying? By what? Having to find party to do quest or what? People in your way or interferring you what you are trying to do?

Just do free trial on Asheron's Call.

Infinita wrote:Annoying? By what? Having to find party to do quest or what? People in your way or interferring you what you are trying to do?

Or maybe the constant grinding for grinding's sake that most MMORPGs incorporate into their quest system.

VtMB is one of the best games I've played, and I'm currently playing through The Witcher when I have time to play, which sadly is not often at the moment. Both are fun games and I'd recommend them.

Bumbling_Bonobo wrote: I've never been into MMOs, really. Online roleplaying servers on non-MMOs are great, but MMORPGs all tend to annoy the hell out of me. The only one that seems halfway decent and mature is Lord of the Rings: Online, but I'm not really sure, since I only played it for a week on a free trial (I just left Bree with the hobbits before the trial ended).

I played LOTRO for several months. The community is generally more mature than other MMOs, and, obviously, it has much more of a story.
It was fun for the time I played it, but I became bored with the repetitive grinding, and nearly identical quests that told you to go kill "X" number of "Y." (Not to mention some of the asinine idiots I had the displeasure of encountering)
If you can get into a good Fellowship with people who have a similar play style and outlook to your own it can be a real blast. But, ultimately, it's still an MMO.

I tend to agree with you about NWN, the OC was awful, I dragged myself to about the middle of the third chapter and then finally gave up in disgust.

Since you say you like Morrowind and Oblivion, if you haven't already, you could also look into some of the excellent modifications made by the player community. In addition to mods that add functionality, tweaks, updated graphics or a complete game overhaul, there are also some really excellent quest mods.

I'll will also add my vote to Planescape Torment, Fallout 1-2 and Arcanum.

Have you ever played the Might and Magic games? It's still one of my favourite series. I can't say they're outstanding or extremely original in any department, but they're fun and that's what games are supposed to be. I would not qualify them as story driven games, but they're surely not your average action RPG where you can skip the dialogues. (My nephews hate them because it's not mindless clicking!)

If you don't mind the outdated graphics, I recommend that you download World of Xeen at abandonia.com and give it a try.

Other possibilities worth a mention, though they haven't been released yet:
[url="http://www.irontowerstudio.com/"]Age of Decadence[/url]
[url="http://dragonage.bioware.com/"]Dragon Age[/url]

I have much more faith in AoD than I do in the latter, given that Bioware is now owned by EA and that, as mentioned, many of their games following BG2 have been a bust, but until seeing the game, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Gilliatt wrote: Have you ever played the Might and Magic games? It's still one of my favourite series. I can't say they're outstanding or extremely original in any department, but they're fun and that's what games are supposed to be. I would not qualify them as story driven games, but they're surely not your average action RPG where you can skip the dialogues. (My nephews hate them because it's not mindless clicking!)

If you don't mind the outdated graphics, I recommend that you download World of Xeen at abandonia.com and give it a try.

I second that. If you can live without much needless blabla and can play a party instead of one central character with helpers the Might & Magic (especially 3-7) games are really great.

kmonster wrote:I second that. If you can live without much needless blabla

Some of us actually like what you refer to as "needless blabla." If you don't care for dialogue intensive games, that's fine, we all have our preferences. However, there's really no need to be so obnoxious about it.

I much prefer games such as BG2 or PS:T precisely because conversations with NPCs and party members have a bit of depth. In my view this adds to the role-playing experience and overall story. This is, in part, why I am lukewarm on the IWD series, your group is custom created rather than a collection of personalities. At least, that is true for the vanilla versions of both games, there are a couple of mods that address this issue.
But, again, that is personal preference.

I'm with the crowd in that you should definitely play Planescape: Torment, as its probably the best game I've ever played. The writing is beyond what you'll find anywhere else.

Vampire: Bloodlines is a great game, and The Witcher is really fun too.

Try out Fable(1 not 2) My top five goes like this 1.Fable 1, 2.Jade Empire, 3Morrowind, 4.(Not an RPG) 5.BG:2. Similar to list to yours?

Sain wrote:Try out Fable(1 not 2) My top five goes like this 1.Fable 1, 2.Jade Empire, 3Morrowind, 4.(Not an RPG) 5.BG:2. Similar to list to yours?

I never played 2. Wasn't really all that fond of 1. It was fun for a bit, but it got boring fast. And, in my view, The Lost Chapters extending it into some convoluted mess just made it worse.

I did not see anyone mention ,The Whitcher.
I had a good time with it