I am a huge fan of adventure games, until up to a point because either i stopped looking, or they stopped appearing >_< my favorites were :
Also, i DID NOT like Dragon age. There is said it :P
Have you ever played Bioforge? It is adventure from mid 90´s, really good looking back then. Maybe my the most favourite adventure.
It looks like that Dragon Age actually didn´t get much praise from old-school BG fans. I wonder how much BG fans liked the game from those millions it sold. Looks like just "modern players" liked it,what is the reason DA2 was...well I don´t really know what it was, spiritual succesor to Crash Bandicoot or something?
I play games since the atari2600 and pitfall 2 was my first crush lol. On the c64 i played nearly everything to death and remember baggitman as the funniest. When the amiga arrived I started to play the whole SSI games back and forth, the quest for glory, kings and space quest sagas, dungeon master and chaos strikes back and not to forget all the lucasarts classics around these years. Jones in the fast lane baby...then gaming were cool and fun but not so relevant anymore.
But with Baldurs gate and the icewind dale games I felt the love for a game again like i had in my childhood. My FPS mod time aside the adventure RPG genre grew on me so strong and became my passion expecially for and with nwn. The witcher is a big hit in my opinion too. I dont care about the new flashy ARPGs like dragon age or skyrim or whatever and watch instead some of the Lets play episodes on youtube for no money... I prefer a deep and gritty believable RPG.
yes they were @NWN_babaYaga yes they were very great. Was it 7 that was one of the first games that had recorded voices or 6? I had to upgrade my soundcard back in the day haha.
Actually I liked Dragon Age Origins. Sure the story wasn't very innovative and it felt grindy sometimes, but still the party interaction was amazing, the banters and npc quests were a lot better, than in Baldur's Gate 2, and we should acknowledge how much energy was put into the background of the world. On the other hand, it never reached the feeling of the Baldur's Gate series.
Actually I liked Dragon Age Origins. Sure the story wasn't very innovative and it felt grindy sometimes, but still the party interaction was amazing, the banters and npc quests were a lot better, than in Baldur's Gate 2, and we should acknowledge how much energy was put into the background of the world. On the other hand, it never reached the feeling of the Baldur's Gate series.
For me BG (1&2) were buffets for quests, Dragon Age was a single meal without courses. I hated the 'stream-lined' mercenary work that was given out at taverns that was the majority of the side-questing; there was nothing memorable about any of them.
@smeagolheart i dont remember if it was 6 or 7. Its so long ago! Maybe i play 7 again before BGEE arrives because to be honest i never finished any of them. Oh yeah about the soundcard thing, adlib or soundblaster pro i had and until i fixed it just beep beep beep was all around.
But to me ultima 6/7 is the game that cant be beaten when it comes to interactivity.... you can make bread by combining water and doughs putting both together on an oven and so on. Its unbelievable!
BG1+ TotSC, BG2 + ToB Planescape Torment (probably the best RPG I've ever played) IWD + HoW + Trials, IWD 2 Witcher 1, 2 Fallout 1,2 + New Vegas Arcanum Temple of Elemental Evil (almost doesn't make the list, since it's a half-finished game, but still... terrific environments, impressive PnP adaptation / turn based system, could have been one of the greats with some more time and an actual storyline) Kotor 1, 2 Jade Empire Dragon Age 1 NWN 2 + Mask of the Betrayer (surprisingly good, with PST moments) Alpha Protocol (highly underrated, good story flawed game play) Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines (again a flawed game, but with terrific story and mood) Gothic 1,2 Bioshock Deus Ex 1,2,3 Batman: Arkham Asylum Persona 3,4 Final Fantasy 7,8 (usually people tend to like 7, my favorite is 8 tho) Diablo 1,2 Guild Wars (the only MMO I've ever really fallen for) Divine Divinity 1 Mass Effect 1,2,3 (despite the horrendously stupefying ending of ME3, it was still a terrific game for the better part...)
I began my gaming days on a Sega Megadrive 16-bit console, playing games like Sonic, Golden Axe and Altered Beast, moved on to the PC when I was 15-16, incidentally that was also when i discovered Baldurs Gate 1
Just remembered that beat'em ups weren't the only Arcade games that I played, I loved the Pang games too. Pang 3 was my favorite.
When I was a kid every Sunday me and a friend of mine would spend 50 escudos each to get 2 credits. The first credit was spent on the normal levels as a warm-up. The second credit was always spent playing Panic mode.
As for my gaming career, I played mostly on consoles. I started off with a ZX Spectrum actually, lol. Can't remember much of those days.
Didn't play much PC games, BG1&2 were what really got me into western RPGs. They also made me get interested in the Forgotten Realms. BG2 is probably my favorite PC game. I liked the Icewind dale games, though I did miss the characters of the BG games.
I actually didn't like Planescape Torment much. I didn't like the changes to the UI when compared to the BG and IWD games, and I also felt that the game had too much text (and I'm an avid reader, lol). The way you could talk your way to the end of the game was fantastic, but I also felt that the game didn't have much combat.
Temple of Elemental Evil (almost doesn't make the list, since it's a half-finished game, but still... terrific environments, impressive PnP adaptation / turn based system, could have been one of the greats with some more time and an actual storyline)
Aside from the IE games, my PC gaming career only includes the Diablo series and several years on FFXI.
My console gaming career includes far more titles, mostly JRPG's. Western RPGs were a rarity on consoles. BG1 & 2 did make me buy the Dark Alliance games. I loved them both.
As for recent big RPG games:
Dungeon Siege III: I never played DS 1 or 2, and I hear the game was changed a lot for DSIII, but I had a lot of fun playing it. There wasn't much customization and the game was far too short, but it was fun.
Dragon Age: I did like the game, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me. The character interactions were fun, but I didn't enjoy the combat much. The reviews for DA2 made me not even touch the game.
FFXIII-2: I liked the game, though I didn't like how SE handled its first foray into DLC. There were DLC stuff that really felt like they shoud have been a part of the main game, and I don't like that feeling. As for the game though, I was already a fan of the combat system of FFXIII, so I liked XIII-2 too, but I didn't like the return of random encounters. FFXII was probably my favorite in the series, and I didn't like how they went from having no battle transitions in FFXII, to enemies visible on the map with battle transitions in XIII, to practically the return of random encounters in XIII-2. It felt like the series was devolving instead of evolving.
/sigh. My character limit problems are killing me.
Skyrim: Playing Skyrim was fun, until the rimlag hit (I had a PS3) and it took Bethesda 3-4 months to fix the damn problem. How a game with so much problems could be released in that state and still win GOTY in some parts is simply beyond my comprehension. For what's its worth though, the game was fun, but after a while I got tired of the quests being the same thing: go to that cave/castle/dungeon, kill everything, rinse and repeat. A game having a lot of quests is great, but not when the vast majority of them are completely uninteresting. The world was beautiful though, but the story was simply lacking for me. The combat system was pretty boring though (needed a lot more variety of opponents), and I didn't like the control scheme.
LOTR:War in the North: I had high expectations for the game since it was developed by the same studio (I think) that was responsible for the Dark Alliance games, but I simply didn't have fun with it. I also hated the system for ranged attacks.
Diablo III: Really fun game. I took my Barbarian all the way to Inferno, but I need a break before I play some more. Definitely a game that I see myself coming back to for more. The online only thing sucks though, and its also annoying that Blizzard's "balancing act" seems to hurt my solo play.
FFXIII-2: I liked the game, though I didn't like how SE handled its first foray into DLC. There were DLC stuff that really felt like they shoud have been a part of the main game, and I don't like that feeling. As for the game though, I was already a fan of the combat system of FFXIII, so I liked XIII-2 too, but I didn't like the return of random encounters. FFXII was probably my favorite in the series, and I didn't like how they went from having no battle transitions in FFXII, to enemies visible on the map with battle transitions in XIII, to practically the return of random encounters in XIII-2. It felt like the series was devolving instead of evolving.
I guess they thought the problem with FFXII was the battle system, when it should have been panned for its weak plot. Maybe closed-minded traditionalists didn't like the removal of random encounters, just because it was something different.
I haven't gone near FFXIII just because of the extreme linearity and 'press X to beat opponent' criticisms I've read about it... would you say that those criticisms are unfair?
The extreme linearity is indeed a fair criticism. Yes, being forced to always move forward fit the plot, but at the expense of freedom. It also didn't help that it took way too long to open up all the battle system options.
The "press X to beat opponent" on the other hand is a stupid complaint. Its the exact same thing as complaining that in FFXII you watched the game play itself.
In FFXII, through the gambit system, you had as much involvement in battles as you felt like. It was a beautiful system because you could program the game to play as you saw fit. If you assigned every action to gambits and then hated only watching, the player can only blame himself.
Likewise, in FFXIII you have the option to select the auto command that usually makes the right decisions, but I always inserted the commands myself.
Yeah the Dragon Age side quests were utter crap, but the companion quests were really good though. Skyrim was a huge disappointment. All those guild quests were gutted. Just a couple of quests to reach the top of the hierarchy? Really? I mean you can't just take over a university or a brotherhood within a few days. Main story was ok, but thats not the focus of the game. And scaling enemies are a joke once again. I watched a bandit lord crushing a whole legion camp, without any form of resistance. And getting Daedric armor through black smithing was a joke too. Skyrim was good but it is way overrated. Diablo 3 geez, i don't know where to start. Beside a flawed story, come on Blizzard you can do better, Act IV has been a sucker punch. Again a brief act? In Diablo 2 it was excuseable, because they weren't so popular back then, but now? What were they doing all those years? There were so many amazing previews of diablo 3 but so much amazing stuff didn't make it into the game. Game balance is a mess too. Its ok to have some abilities that are a bit more powerful or useful than others. But the skills in Diablo 3 are like a pile of garbage with a couple of fresh fruit inside. Oh and all the villains seem to come from some saturday morning cartoons. Oh you will never get the second piece of the sword, it is where the nephalem temple is. When i read this I was shocked, seriously did your enemy just explain to you where the tool is to be found to defeat them? Really?! But I liked the companion background and Leah, too. I loved Diablo 2, but Diablo 3 just stinks of lacking logic, bad storywriting and telling, and poor balancing. And this coming from a company, that always boasts with their stories and amazing game play.
Oh and I read something about Blizzard wanting to remove any references to religions from Diablo. So they removed pentagrams; ok that is fine with me but Diablo shouting "We are Legion" is ok?
Heroes of Might and Magic is a game you guys should really try out. It is awesome. Same for Full Throttle and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
The extreme linearity is indeed a fair criticism. Yes, being forced to always move forward fit the plot, but at the expense of freedom. It also didn't help that it took way too long to open up all the battle system options.
The "press X to beat opponent" on the other hand is a stupid complaint. Its the exact same thing as complaining that in FFXII you watched the game play itself.
Well, you couldn't, really, it required a lot of active participation. I think there are some farming exploits that 'run themselves' but they may require taping the analog stick down. :P
I'm a fan of the original Dragon Age, and the 'compromises' between the design of the old Infinity Engine games and DA, each one undermining the title of 'spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate'. But if Dragon Age II is anything, its to show how much worse things could have been from the start.
The most practical example I can give is the top down view, something to be envied of Origins' PC version wasn't present in Dragon Age II apparently because they wanted to make prettier ceilings.
The most fundamental example I can give you is the 'Cinematic Focus' burrowed from Mass Effect, which is defined rather succintly by David Gaider as 'leaving nothing to the imagination'. The Infinity Engine games are hardly as 'literary' as the games from a decade before but they are a farcry from how BioWare constraints itself by spending so much money on cutscenes, voice acting and lip synch, limiting how far they can go with the one remarkable thing that Origins had going for itself. And you can find it in the review below:
The review's title 'Dragon Age: Choices and Consequences' already 'spoils' what I mean. What DA:O has going for itself really aren't the similarities with BG which, save for the silent protagonist and the kind of combat design employed are rarely even important, its intricate and reactive quest design.
BTW, that was the best review I've seen for Dragon Age: Origins, its very critical but I'm no blind fanboy - I only, and especially, criticize what I actually like and I find nothing, absolutely nothing perfect.
So.. about me... I play rpgs and strategy games.
=D
Okay then, I'll just list what games I have currently installed on my PC. The Baldur's Gate series; Icewind Dale 1; PS:T; Arcanum of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura; Dragon Age: Origins; Dungeon Siege 1 for playing the Project Lazarus; The Elder Scrolls Morrowind and Skyrim (the latter under the process of heavy modification because otherwise its sort of bland >.<); Temple of Elemental Evil; Diablo 3 (\o/ for moneys); The Witcher (never finished); Alice Madness Returns (never finished); Napoleon and Empire entries of the Total War series (both darthmodded); Europa Universalis 3; Victoria II; Crusader Kings II and Age of Empires III.
Games that I want to try right now are the original Deus Ex (only the gods know why I still didn't play this one); Troika's Vampire the Masquerade; Ultima VII and its sequel.
Games that I'm looking forward to are BG:EE; Wasteland II and Shadowrun: Returns.
Games that initiated me into gaming are JRPGs, specifically, Chrono Trigger, which admittedly isn't the post-Final Fantasy VII stereotype (for one, it does provide the player with choices towards end of the game which can lead to different endings) but still, go figure.
I like Dragon Age: Origins. The different starting context and areas depending of your race, while only really affecting just the start of the game was refreshing. I also like its lore and find the story interesting. The companion interactions are fun too. Go Leliana! I enjoyed the character development and the gameplay as well. The game feels however more "on rails" than Baldur's Gate.
About Dragon Age 2, I'm disappointed. There is only few area assets all recycled during the full game. It's like a copy-pasted world build from few bricks. Most of the story takes place in the city with few missions outside. Also unlike Dragon Age:Origins, where the encounters were more naturally appearing, the enemies just kinda pop-up from nowhere in waves. The game feels like a rushed product, packed with fight-action. The only thing I like more in DA2 than in DA:O, is the combat gameplay. It feels more dynamic and fun to watch.
I have not played Bioforge (of If I did, I don't remember it ). About "old-school" like party control PCRPG, I like Drakensang: The Dark Eye (It's not the same than Drakensang Online!). The game certainly does not measure to Baldur's Gate in term of story, and the global map exploration is linear but for the rest I enjoy it. But I may be biased since I prefer The Dark Eye ruleset over AD&D.
I have played a huge amount of games, but I will try to summarize my favourites by genre. I will probably forget a whole bunch of awesome games, but I shall try to include those which I have liked the most.
RPGs: Baldur's Gate (obviously) Ultima VIII and IX (I have not really played the earlier ones.) Bastion Mount&Blade Skyrim and to an extent, Oblivion (I really enjoy just roaming(jumping) around in the big world, although the story is quite uninteresting and the level-scaling stinks.) I did not like DA:O even if the NPC interaction was great.
FPS: Half-life (I love both, but I think the second is the better one.) Quake (The first one, gotta love that atmosphere and gameplay.) Unreal Tournament (I like all, but the first one is the best in the series.)
RTS/TBS: Battle for Wesnoth (It is free and open source, so get it now! ) Dungeon Keeper (The first one, not the second) Total War (Especially Rome:Total War) Rise of Nations
Platformers: Super Meat Boy (such a wonderful game) Teeworlds (Also FOSS) VVVVVV
Misc: Portal (I truly love both, but first one is the best.) The Binding of Isaac Jets'n'Guns (The best soundtrack ever.) Seal Hunter (Free) Botanicula Audiosurf Limbo Monkey Island Minecraft (With friends, quite tiresome when playing alone.)
Mount and Blade Warband was incredible. Unpolished with bad graphics, and simple design, but still amazing gameplay. Fighting your own battles later for your liege. Being a faction renegade was one of the best experiences ever. All to conquer your liege's rightful kingdom, just with a couple of soldiers. Underrated game, absolutely underrated.
The day I win nethack will be the greatest day....
I guess the biggest nostalgia games I have are Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis, Kings Quest 6, Final Fantasy III (6), Super Mario World, Ouendan, Ouendan 2, and Warfcraft III tower defenses.
Right now I've started Saints Row 2, because I really enjoyed Saints Row the Third but it's really not the same, so I will probably dump it. I'm also playing Pocket Planes...
Edit: Somehow I forgot Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. That is all.
I forgot a VERY nice rpg, which was Vampire the Masquerade REDEMPTION, not bloodlines, it was the first of the 2 vampire rpgs. Pretty cool, you played both in the middle ages and newer age, and you actually had a normal party, with abilities you had to manage, or get your ass handed to you
Hi everyone. I just managed to register here after a very long period of frustration with the craptcha thing. Some of you may remember me from th Beamdog forum. I definitely remember Caruga.
Anyway, I thought it would be nice to start my contribution in this topic. My genre of choice is RPG of course. I played tones of them and it would take to much space to enumerate all, so I'll just mention some. I played all Bioware RPGs except Jade Empire, which I didn't like. I played 4 EAware games: 2 RPGs: Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect; 1 shooter - Mass Effect 2 and 1 Sonic spin off - Mass Effect 3. Other RPGs on my list include Ultima, Akalabeth, Pool of Radiance, Fallout 1 & 2, TES: Morrowind, all Final Fantasy games until FF X (at wich the series ended for me) and some indies, including the excellent Eschalon series. But of course it all started with Baldur's Gate.
As far as other genres, I sometimes enjoy some action adventure/sandbox games, like GTA, sports managers like Football Manager, and occasionally shooters, e.g. Half Life.
Hmm, I'll start by giving my opinion of the two that seem contentious - Dragon Age: Origins and Diablo 3. I liked DA:O, and played it intensely for about six months when it came out. The problem for me is, it has zero replayability as far as I'm concerned. Where it fails as a BG successor is in bland combat that can be automated by the AI. In the end game, I was using the same tactics over and over. Mana burn the enemy caster, send in the melee team, prison cage, prison cage, battle over. In BG every single battle requires its own special tactics and spell use.
Diablo 3: I like it. I'm playing it right now. I'm still enjoying normal level, and have four different toons going. I think my secret is that I'm a very casual player, and I don't rush to the highest level of my arpg looting games and expect them to still entertain me after that. But I understand a lot of the criticisms. I will never use the rmah. That's got to be the worst idea ever had by a gaming company, and it sucks for solo players like me that they are balancing the game around it. The online requirement destroys hardcore mode, I think, because sooner or later you *will* get a disconnect that will kill your toon.
Now to the list. I'm attempting chronological order here, more or less: Might and Magic 6-8, Heroes of Might and Magic 1-5, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Sacred 1 and 2, Divine Divinity 1 and 2, Diablo 2 and 3, Titan Quest with Immortal Throne, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, KOTOR 1 and 2, Dragon Age: Origins with expansions and DLC, ... hmm, I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting, but those are the big ones that made lasting impressions for me.
One game I have been playing at least as long as BG games : Minesweeper
@Norolim Akalabeth, is that related to Tolkien world and Numenor? I'll have to look about it.
No. It's not directly related. It's a title of a game by Richard Garriott. It's often called Ultima 0 as it is treated as a precursor of that series. The full title is Akalabeth: World of Doom. The title, however, IS most probably related to Akallabêth, the title of fourth part of Silmarillion and a word in Adunaic, meaning the fallen, I think.
Comments
It looks like that Dragon Age actually didn´t get much praise from old-school BG fans. I wonder how much BG fans liked the game from those millions it sold. Looks like just "modern players" liked it,what is the reason DA2 was...well I don´t really know what it was, spiritual succesor to Crash Bandicoot or something?
the protaganists comments as you pummel the other mutant/cyborg to death with his own arm or leg was hilarous
But with Baldurs gate and the icewind dale games I felt the love for a game again like i had in my childhood. My FPS mod time aside the adventure RPG genre grew on me so strong and became my passion expecially for and with nwn. The witcher is a big hit in my opinion too. I dont care about the new flashy ARPGs like dragon age or skyrim or whatever and watch instead some of the Lets play episodes on youtube for no money... I prefer a deep and gritty believable RPG.
And ultima 6 and 7 were fantastic!!!
But to me ultima 6/7 is the game that cant be beaten when it comes to interactivity.... you can make bread by combining water and doughs putting both together on an oven and so on. Its unbelievable!
BG1+ TotSC, BG2 + ToB
Planescape Torment (probably the best RPG I've ever played)
IWD + HoW + Trials, IWD 2
Witcher 1, 2
Fallout 1,2 + New Vegas
Arcanum
Temple of Elemental Evil (almost doesn't make the list, since it's a half-finished game, but still... terrific environments, impressive PnP adaptation / turn based system, could have been one of the greats with some more time and an actual storyline)
Kotor 1, 2
Jade Empire
Dragon Age 1
NWN 2 + Mask of the Betrayer (surprisingly good, with PST moments)
Alpha Protocol (highly underrated, good story flawed game play)
Vampire the masquerade: Bloodlines (again a flawed game, but with terrific story and mood)
Gothic 1,2
Bioshock
Deus Ex 1,2,3
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Persona 3,4
Final Fantasy 7,8 (usually people tend to like 7, my favorite is 8 tho)
Diablo 1,2
Guild Wars (the only MMO I've ever really fallen for)
Divine Divinity 1
Mass Effect 1,2,3 (despite the horrendously stupefying ending of ME3, it was still a terrific game for the better part...)
I began my gaming days on a Sega Megadrive 16-bit console, playing games like Sonic, Golden Axe and Altered Beast, moved on to the PC when I was 15-16, incidentally that was also when i discovered Baldurs Gate 1
When I was a kid every Sunday me and a friend of mine would spend 50 escudos each to get 2 credits. The first credit was spent on the normal levels as a warm-up. The second credit was always spent playing Panic mode.
As for my gaming career, I played mostly on consoles. I started off with a ZX Spectrum actually, lol. Can't remember much of those days.
Didn't play much PC games, BG1&2 were what really got me into western RPGs. They also made me get interested in the Forgotten Realms. BG2 is probably my favorite PC game. I liked the Icewind dale games, though I did miss the characters of the BG games.
I actually didn't like Planescape Torment much. I didn't like the changes to the UI when compared to the BG and IWD games, and I also felt that the game had too much text (and I'm an avid reader, lol). The way you could talk your way to the end of the game was fantastic, but I also felt that the game didn't have much combat.
My console gaming career includes far more titles, mostly JRPG's. Western RPGs were a rarity on consoles. BG1 & 2 did make me buy the Dark Alliance games. I loved them both.
As for recent big RPG games:
Dungeon Siege III: I never played DS 1 or 2, and I hear the game was changed a lot for DSIII, but I had a lot of fun playing it. There wasn't much customization and the game was far too short, but it was fun.
Dragon Age: I did like the game, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me. The character interactions were fun, but I didn't enjoy the combat much. The reviews for DA2 made me not even touch the game.
/sigh. My character limit problems are killing me.
Diablo III: Really fun game. I took my Barbarian all the way to Inferno, but I need a break before I play some more. Definitely a game that I see myself coming back to for more. The online only thing sucks though, and its also annoying that Blizzard's "balancing act" seems to hurt my solo play.
Games that I'm currently awaiting:
BGEE and BG2EE of course.
Tales of Graces F, my first Tales of game.
And nothing else I guess.
I haven't gone near FFXIII just because of the extreme linearity and 'press X to beat opponent' criticisms I've read about it... would you say that those criticisms are unfair?
The extreme linearity is indeed a fair criticism. Yes, being forced to always move forward fit the plot, but at the expense of freedom. It also didn't help that it took way too long to open up all the battle system options.
The "press X to beat opponent" on the other hand is a stupid complaint. Its the exact same thing as complaining that in FFXII you watched the game play itself.
In FFXII, through the gambit system, you had as much involvement in battles as you felt like. It was a beautiful system because you could program the game to play as you saw fit. If you assigned every action to gambits and then hated only watching, the player can only blame himself.
Likewise, in FFXIII you have the option to select the auto command that usually makes the right decisions, but I always inserted the commands myself.
Though on the other hand you do hate "Tab". >_>
Skyrim was a huge disappointment. All those guild quests were gutted. Just a couple of quests to reach the top of the hierarchy? Really? I mean you can't just take over a university or a brotherhood within a few days. Main story was ok, but thats not the focus of the game. And scaling enemies are a joke once again. I watched a bandit lord crushing a whole legion camp, without any form of resistance. And getting Daedric armor through black smithing was a joke too.
Skyrim was good but it is way overrated.
Diablo 3 geez, i don't know where to start. Beside a flawed story, come on Blizzard you can do better, Act IV has been a sucker punch. Again a brief act? In Diablo 2 it was excuseable, because they weren't so popular back then, but now? What were they doing all those years? There were so many amazing previews of diablo 3 but so much amazing stuff didn't make it into the game. Game balance is a mess too. Its ok to have some abilities that are a bit more powerful or useful than others. But the skills in Diablo 3 are like a pile of garbage with a couple of fresh fruit inside.
Oh and all the villains seem to come from some saturday morning cartoons. Oh you will never get the second piece of the sword, it is where the nephalem temple is. When i read this I was shocked, seriously did your enemy just explain to you where the tool is to be found to defeat them? Really?! But I liked the companion background and Leah, too.
I loved Diablo 2, but Diablo 3 just stinks of lacking logic, bad storywriting and telling, and poor balancing. And this coming from a company, that always boasts with their stories and amazing game play.
Oh and I read something about Blizzard wanting to remove any references to religions from Diablo. So they removed pentagrams; ok that is fine with me but Diablo shouting "We are Legion" is ok?
Heroes of Might and Magic is a game you guys should really try out. It is awesome.
Same for Full Throttle and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
I'm a fan of the original Dragon Age, and the 'compromises' between the design of the old Infinity Engine games and DA, each one undermining the title of 'spiritual successor of Baldur's Gate'. But if Dragon Age II is anything, its to show how much worse things could have been from the start.
The most practical example I can give is the top down view, something to be envied of Origins' PC version wasn't present in Dragon Age II apparently because they wanted to make prettier ceilings.
The most fundamental example I can give you is the 'Cinematic Focus' burrowed from Mass Effect, which is defined rather succintly by David Gaider as 'leaving nothing to the imagination'. The Infinity Engine games are hardly as 'literary' as the games from a decade before but they are a farcry from how BioWare constraints itself by spending so much money on cutscenes, voice acting and lip synch, limiting how far they can go with the one remarkable thing that Origins had going for itself. And you can find it in the review below:
http://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=195
The review's title 'Dragon Age: Choices and Consequences' already 'spoils' what I mean. What DA:O has going for itself really aren't the similarities with BG which, save for the silent protagonist and the kind of combat design employed are rarely even important, its intricate and reactive quest design.
BTW, that was the best review I've seen for Dragon Age: Origins, its very critical but I'm no blind fanboy - I only, and especially, criticize what I actually like and I find nothing, absolutely nothing perfect.
So.. about me... I play rpgs and strategy games.
=D
Okay then, I'll just list what games I have currently installed on my PC. The Baldur's Gate series; Icewind Dale 1; PS:T; Arcanum of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura; Dragon Age: Origins; Dungeon Siege 1 for playing the Project Lazarus; The Elder Scrolls Morrowind and Skyrim (the latter under the process of heavy modification because otherwise its sort of bland >.<); Temple of Elemental Evil; Diablo 3 (\o/ for moneys); The Witcher (never finished); Alice Madness Returns (never finished); Napoleon and Empire entries of the Total War series (both darthmodded); Europa Universalis 3; Victoria II; Crusader Kings II and Age of Empires III.
Games that I want to try right now are the original Deus Ex (only the gods know why I still didn't play this one); Troika's Vampire the Masquerade; Ultima VII and its sequel.
Games that I'm looking forward to are BG:EE; Wasteland II and Shadowrun: Returns.
Games that initiated me into gaming are JRPGs, specifically, Chrono Trigger, which admittedly isn't the post-Final Fantasy VII stereotype (for one, it does provide the player with choices towards end of the game which can lead to different endings) but still, go figure.
I also like its lore and find the story interesting. The companion interactions are fun too. Go Leliana!
I enjoyed the character development and the gameplay as well.
The game feels however more "on rails" than Baldur's Gate.
About Dragon Age 2, I'm disappointed. There is only few area assets all recycled during the full game. It's like a copy-pasted world build from few bricks. Most of the story takes place in the city with few missions outside.
Also unlike Dragon Age:Origins, where the encounters were more naturally appearing, the enemies just kinda pop-up from nowhere in waves. The game feels like a rushed product, packed with fight-action.
The only thing I like more in DA2 than in DA:O, is the combat gameplay. It feels more dynamic and fun to watch.
I have not played Bioforge (of If I did, I don't remember it
About "old-school" like party control PCRPG, I like Drakensang: The Dark Eye (It's not the same than Drakensang Online!). The game certainly does not measure to Baldur's Gate in term of story, and the global map exploration is linear but for the rest I enjoy it. But I may be biased since I prefer The Dark Eye ruleset over AD&D.
RPGs:
Baldur's Gate (obviously)
Ultima VIII and IX (I have not really played the earlier ones.)
Bastion
Mount&Blade
Skyrim and to an extent, Oblivion (I really enjoy just roaming(jumping) around in the big world, although the story is quite uninteresting and the level-scaling stinks.)
I did not like DA:O even if the NPC interaction was great.
FPS:
Half-life (I love both, but I think the second is the better one.)
Quake (The first one, gotta love that atmosphere and gameplay.)
Unreal Tournament (I like all, but the first one is the best in the series.)
RTS/TBS:
Battle for Wesnoth (It is free and open source, so get it now! )
Dungeon Keeper (The first one, not the second)
Total War (Especially Rome:Total War)
Rise of Nations
Platformers:
Super Meat Boy (such a wonderful game)
Teeworlds (Also FOSS)
VVVVVV
Misc:
Portal (I truly love both, but first one is the best.)
The Binding of Isaac
Jets'n'Guns (The best soundtrack ever.)
Seal Hunter (Free)
Botanicula
Audiosurf
Limbo
Monkey Island
Minecraft (With friends, quite tiresome when playing alone.)
That is the short version
Underrated game, absolutely underrated.
I guess the biggest nostalgia games I have are Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis, Kings Quest 6, Final Fantasy III (6), Super Mario World, Ouendan, Ouendan 2, and Warfcraft III tower defenses.
Right now I've started Saints Row 2, because I really enjoyed Saints Row the Third but it's really not the same, so I will probably dump it. I'm also playing Pocket Planes...
Edit: Somehow I forgot Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. That is all.
Anyway, I thought it would be nice to start my contribution in this topic. My genre of choice is RPG of course. I played tones of them and it would take to much space to enumerate all, so I'll just mention some. I played all Bioware RPGs except Jade Empire, which I didn't like. I played 4 EAware games: 2 RPGs: Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect; 1 shooter - Mass Effect 2 and 1 Sonic spin off - Mass Effect 3. Other RPGs on my list include Ultima, Akalabeth, Pool of Radiance, Fallout 1 & 2, TES: Morrowind, all Final Fantasy games until FF X (at wich the series ended for me) and some indies, including the excellent Eschalon series. But of course it all started with Baldur's Gate.
As far as other genres, I sometimes enjoy some action adventure/sandbox games, like GTA, sports managers like Football Manager, and occasionally shooters, e.g. Half Life.
Diablo 3: I like it. I'm playing it right now. I'm still enjoying normal level, and have four different toons going. I think my secret is that I'm a very casual player, and I don't rush to the highest level of my arpg looting games and expect them to still entertain me after that. But I understand a lot of the criticisms. I will never use the rmah. That's got to be the worst idea ever had by a gaming company, and it sucks for solo players like me that they are balancing the game around it. The online requirement destroys hardcore mode, I think, because sooner or later you *will* get a disconnect that will kill your toon.
Now to the list. I'm attempting chronological order here, more or less: Might and Magic 6-8, Heroes of Might and Magic 1-5, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Icewind Dale 1 and 2, Sacred 1 and 2, Divine Divinity 1 and 2, Diablo 2 and 3, Titan Quest with Immortal Throne, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, KOTOR 1 and 2, Dragon Age: Origins with expansions and DLC, ... hmm, I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting, but those are the big ones that made lasting impressions for me.
@Norolim Akalabeth, is that related to Tolkien world and Numenor? I'll have to look about it.