Instead, I want to talk about something else.
My son bought himself a gaming computer a while back and recently upgraded the video card.
I got the old video card and suddenly I have a whole new world of video games open to me.
I have played a little Skyrim and DragonAge on the Xbox, but generally, I don't have much time for video games.
I *would* play some more, but I want to know what are the better choices out there.
In particular, I am looking to you, my readers, to help me out here.
I am looking for something as close to D&D as I can find. Yes, I know there are D&D video games out there. If you like those let me know! But I Am also looking at other versions of DragonAge and the Witcher looks really good.
Don't tell me what you think sucks. Tell me what you think is good!
I love RPGs, magic, combating monsters. I enjoy character customization options. But mostly I want to hear about what you all think is good.
Bonus. What D&D video games have you enjoyed?
Witcher 3 is a huge game, but I love it. The characters are interesting and the monsters are cool. And you can have sex on a stuffed unicorn, if that's your kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteMost of the games I play that are D&D related are low graphic requirement games. Card Hunter is an online tactics game, but it has a classic D&D skin and is a lot of fun. Darkest Dungeons is fun, in a D&D meets Call of Cthulhu way.
Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara and the Baldur's Gate games are my favourite D&D games.
gog.com have lots of dnd games
ReplyDeletetemple of elemental evil got me back into dnd after 20 years away
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is a great action RPG -- one of my favorites. Of course, Dragon Age: Origins is the spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate (and I love Dragon Age: Inquisition too).
ReplyDeleteUltima V: it's got your classic combat-magic-monsters fantasy thing going on, a fun plot twist, lots of character, and challenging puzzles that can be solved in multiple ways.
ReplyDeleteNow get off my lawn! ;D
Over the years, I've played many fantasy vid games that were clearly inspired by D&D. I've never found one that has matched what the RPG can give me...but then I haven't found one that allows me to be the DM.
ReplyDeleteI recall enjoying Diablo as a solo, dungeon-crawl. Fable for XBox was fun, though repetitive and stunted in many ways.
I don't know. I honestly wouldn't recommend ANY video game that would make a good substitute...not even the ones with D&D in the name! When I play vids these days I like exploring non-D&D genres and environments. The original Mass Effect wasn't "D&D" but it had customizable chargen, customizable party composition, "dungeon exploration," mysteries, and monsters. Just substitute guns and psychic powers for swords and spells and (with a compelling story line) you get a pretty well-paced D&D-like experience.
; )
Witcher 3 if your computer can handle it is possibly the best fantasy game ever made in terms of expansive worldbuilding, characterization, storytelling and has a really, really good mechanical system to back it up. get it if possible.
ReplyDeleteArcanum is an oldie but goldie by the guys who did the original fallout. a game where a previously high fantasy world is dealing with the sudden insurgence of early steampunk level technology, that is incompatible with magic. very open world sandbox
Diablo 3, while not the absorbing hack&slash of the second game was a really good, if linear, fantasy story with fun mechanics. good to play with casual friends.
Child of Light is a charming storybook fairy tale game about a young princess. play it for the visuals and art.
Dishonoured 2 is a cool steampunk stealth game with lovecraftian elements (story is minimally complicated, i recommend skipping the first one for a better experience, you won't miss much). play for the experience of being a magical assassin.
Vampire the masquerade: bloodlines is good for any fan of WoD or urban fantasy rpgs in general. play it for the narrative experience
I hear jade empire is good for the rpg fan of the wuxia genre. play for the atmosphere
i hear myst had a big following.... i know nothing about it
I hear good things about temple of elemental evil. play it for literally being a D&D game
Here's the RPG Codex's (A very puritanical CRPG forum/website) top 70 list: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9453 . Lots of great stuff in there. My personal recommendations from that list are (in personal preference order): Might and Magic 6, Arcanum, Gothic 2 and Dark Souls. The infinity engine stuff (Planescape torment, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale) is all very D&D (uses the 2nd edition rules) but the older I get the more tedious I find those games. Icewind Dale 1 and Baldur's Gate 1 are probably the place to start with those.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! Given me a lot to read!
ReplyDeleteSkyrim isn't a bad game by any stretch, but I found that I enjoyed the previous two Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind and Oblivion) more. The former has so much freedom that it's possible to break the story if you're not careful - there are no "unkillable" NPCs - but then again, that freedom is also what attracts a lot of people to tabletop RPGs over video games.
ReplyDeleteAs far as official D&D video games, the only one I have played so far to any real deep extent was the GBA version of Eye of the Beholder... which unfortunately was not very good.
Well, my selection:
ReplyDelete- Sword Coast Legends - For the D&D 5th edition content and FR lore. Characters are nice, combat is very fluid, no more "cast two spells, now must take 8 hours of sleep". Don't bother with the free DLC. Maybe you'll like creating dungeons using the DM mode.
- Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition - Finally getting far in the game, the enhancements help a lot playing the game after tasting some modern RPGs. Great story, great characters.
- Dragon Age Origins - A really good experience. I played without patches, so things got a little buggy.
- Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines - Maybe this is the quintessential Vampire computer RPG. Nothing released so far will give you a similar experience as playing a 1x1 Vampire session.
- Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition - The first game seems a little bit dated compared to the sequence, but was the top RPG at it's time. And Minsc and Boo, oh you'll love them.
- Legend of Grimrock - If you fancy some old style dungeon crawl, this is your game.
For a definite "Old School" feel I would try Darkest Dungeon. It has both the party building and dungeon exploration parts down. Its not really going to tax your graphics card though. Expect to lose a lot of characters.
ReplyDelete