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Obscure Isometric RPGs

CheOffshoreCheOffshore Member Posts: 27
edited September 2012 in Off-Topic
Since we're all fans of the good ol' isometric RPGs here, I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone can remember the less well known, yet still fun/ playable alternatives that may have gone forgotten in the mists of time, it would be nice to hear of alternatives to dig out and play before BG:EE.

I mention this as nobody seems to have mentioned the one forgotten Black Isle game, Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, which despite its flaws (I think it was rushed out as Black Isle shut down during the end of its development), I have completed twice, very good game, especially during the early stages in Barcelona, great character development which takes lead from Fallout! looks great, too
Post edited by Coriander on
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Comments

  • ShapiroKeatsDarkMageShapiroKeatsDarkMage Member Posts: 2,428
    Check out Divine Divinty. The soundtrack is awesome!
  • Awong124Awong124 Member Posts: 2,643
    Arcanum was pretty interesting. But I remember it got boring after a while because there aren't a lot of cool items in the game.
  • agrisagris Member Posts: 581
    Temple of Elemental Evil is one I've heard about a lot but never tried. Something about the 3rd ed. rules just turned me off. Similar story with NWN and NWN2- I tried NWN briefly, but it looks so trashy compared to the hand drawn art of BG/BG2....
  • raclariuraclariu Member Posts: 56
    "Arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura" is the best beside the others we all know so well :)
  • Space_hamsterSpace_hamster Member Posts: 950
    Arcanum was full of promise and atmosphere...but the game clearly went off the rails, much of the gameplay mechanics was broken or incomplete.
  • ZafiroZafiro Member Posts: 436
    Barcelona had a nice atmosphere in Lionheart. Arcanum is grand, so is ToEE with Circle of Eight, you may also want to check out Knights of the Chalice.
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    Arcanum is a great game that I recommend to anyone who likes RPG's. The game balance is shot to hell at times (the lvl1 necromancy spell is really all you need to murderise *everyone* in the game) but this, and many other bugs, can be fixed by installing the latest Fixpack.

    As for obscure games (since Arcanum is pretty well known), I say Dink Smallwood!
    It's possibly the stupidest game I've played, but it's gorram hilarious. Also, Cthulhu Saves the World is awesome.
  • DougPiranhaDougPiranha Member Posts: 50
    Jagged Alliance 2 is a team-based RPG/turn based-strategy hybrid, so not quite pure RPG, but it is the best game ever, for me at least. Fun characters, great B-movie story, non-linear gameplay and fantastic combat system (even better than BG2). And there is cool mod called 1.13 which improves on already great game.
  • azuritazurit Member Posts: 182
    Inquisitor. Unfortunately, english version will be available on September (there is already a czech version).
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    TOEE is a game as close to PnP 3ed rules as it is possible to get.
    It has it's issues, and you should install co8 fixpack, but I'm sure for fans of BG it is worth playing.
    It's based on a classic adventure.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @ajwz I have that Module. :)
  • CuvCuv Member, Developer Posts: 2,535
    The spell/abilities 'wheel' turned me off right away to TOEE... while I can moderately tolerate that in a NWN, it just made seemed silly and clumsy in an isometric game. Looked promising, but I never finished it because of the controls.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    LadyRhian said:

    @ajwz I have that Module. :)

    I would love to play that module in PnP. Some of the best modules around are classics :)
  • RenshtalisRenshtalis Member Posts: 136
    Check out dark stone, great game that never really took off.
  • PaladinPaladin Member Posts: 335
    Thanks, I had never heard of Lionheart. I will have to give that one a spin. I have played all of Black Isle's other RPGs.
  • KhamillKhamill Member Posts: 226
    How about Septerra Core, very interesting mix of real time - turn based battle RPG.
    I,ve also enjoyed Evil Islands, starts slow but gives a lot of fun as game progress.
  • odeeodee Member Posts: 87
    @Khamill
    YaY!!! a septerra core player , love the game , finished the game a few times , a bit final fantasy-ish but I don't mind , really . How about realm of arkania trilogy , great story and amazing music score . Anybody play Albion here?
  • KharasKharas Member Posts: 150
    Beside the BG and Icewinddale series.. Id say "Arcanum : Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura" and "Lionheart : Legacy of the Crusader".

    Both are amazing games. Yes, they both have flaws, but in both games the universe sucks you in with its charm.
  • BugratBugrat Member Posts: 118
    Cuv said:

    The spell/abilities 'wheel' turned me off right away to TOEE... while I can moderately tolerate that in a NWN, it just made seemed silly and clumsy in an isometric game. Looked promising, but I never finished it because of the controls.

    I agree that wheel type UI's are pretty bad, but the problem is alleviated a bit in ToEE because they give you the ability to map ANY action to a hotkey. So stuff you use in every fight like charge you can assign to 'z' or 5-foot step to 'a' which makes it a lot more playable.

  • KenKen Member Posts: 226
    I guess Nox should be mentioned here? More Diablo-ish..

    I really tried to like "Arcanum : Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura" because of the settings and such, but it was just awfull! I hated the animations, and everything seemed so stiff..
  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 627
    Fallout Tactics. It's sort of the redhaired stepchild, among Fallout games but it's probably the one I've played the most. As far as story goes, it's really not very important in terms of your character.. Nor is there much "RP" in it, if any at all. However, it's an awesome jampacked game of strategic action in the Fallout setting and will give hours and hours of very engaging strategic small-team combat.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @ajwz It's not too bad, until you get to the elemental nodes, which are just endless fights and looking for the gems for the Yellowskull/Golden skull. And fighting Zuggtmoy can be a pain- her entire "throne room" is transformed/polymorphed fungi creatures, like Violet Fungi, Yellow Mold, Shriekers, Green Slime, Black Puddings... Green Slime is something they never put into any of the games. If you touch it, it starts turning your character into it... You need to scrape it all off, and then cast Cure Disease to get rid of it... and then heal the damage it's done to you.
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    edited August 2012
    Khyron said:

    Fallout Tactics. It's sort of the redhaired stepchild, among Fallout games but it's probably the one I've played the most. As far as story goes, it's really not very important in terms of your character.. Nor is there much "RP" in it, if any at all. However, it's an awesome jampacked game of strategic action in the Fallout setting and will give hours and hours of very engaging strategic small-team combat.

    Ahhh Fallout Tactics. I had so much fun with it. Played it again half a year ago on vacation. Make a crack team of snipers and take out raiders from 200m away. Of course, you let one guy sneak up front so that IF a raider manages to flee the target area's sniper barrage, he'll run around the corner straight into a shotgun shot to the face.
    And the descriptions make the game so much better.

    Super Mutant slashes Paul for 43 damage.
    Paul is torn in half like a phone book.

    Suzie Shotgun critically hits Robot in the sensors for 127 damage.
    Robot executes Oh_Shit.exe and explodes.
  • AranneasAranneas Member Posts: 282
    XCOM is isometric. and mostly an RPG.
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    TOEE was alright, but the turn-based approach with no option to skip or consolidate enemy turns could be annoying. As @LadyRhian says, the final few fights such as Zuggtmoy have a lot of enemies. And they all take their time to move, fight, cast etc.

    It's a matter of make your moves, go and make a cup of tea, read the newspaper, come back and MAYBE the enemy turn will be done. I think the final fight took me a couple of hours, mostly enemy turns.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @Corvino Wow, that sounds... tedious.
  • MathuzzzMathuzzz Member Posts: 203
    azurit said:

    Inquisitor. Unfortunately, english version will be available on September (there is already a czech version).

    That Inquisitor was advertised by czech magazine as a promising BG clon. I haven´t played it yet, but heard that it is of course really hardcore RPG. It has thick dark medieval atmosphere.

  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    Corvino said:

    TOEE was alright, but the turn-based approach with no option to skip or consolidate enemy turns could be annoying. As @LadyRhian says, the final few fights such as Zuggtmoy have a lot of enemies. And they all take their time to move, fight, cast etc.

    It's a matter of make your moves, go and make a cup of tea, read the newspaper, come back and MAYBE the enemy turn will be done. I think the final fight took me a couple of hours, mostly enemy turns.

    God that sounds annoying. ToEE always lost me when I got to the actual temple. I always got lost in the tunnels, annoyed with the myriad of quests that contradicted eachother and in the end just started a new game to try out new party compositions.
    At least Fallout had a speed setting for enemy turns, so they'd just zip over your screen in the fastest mode.
  • LadyRhianLadyRhian Member Posts: 14,694
    @Drugar Maybe cover this in Feature Requests, if you haven't already?
  • DrugarDrugar Member Posts: 1,566
    @LadyRhian
    ...Are they doing a ToEE:EE? What should I be covering?
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