AdambotLive said:
when i get my gaming PC, i need to get some good rpgs for it. i don't like JRPGs though, and never will.
already on my list:
Mass effect
TES 3/4
Fallout 3
Any suggestions?
I recommend the following fairly recent games:
#1: "Drakensang", the biggest sleeper hit in a while. I liked it a lot, though it is fairly slow paced.
#2: "The Witcher" Decent single character game, very well crafted. I recommend only supporting the uncensored version though.
#3: "Risen" the RPG I'm currently playing, again a decent single character game, done by the guys that did Gothic.
I'm a hardcore RPG player, I don't mind JRPGs at all, but those are some of the better WRPGs I've played on the PC that you didn't mention that aren't heavily promoted.
As an aquired taste, some of the better small-house/independant PC RPGs are:
#1: The "Soldak" Duology, "Depths of Peril" and "Kivi's Underworld". Both take place in the same world. Depths of Peril is an Action RPG/Management sim hybrid that winds up being pretty good. Very surprising given the league it was developed in, I feel it got far less credit than it deserved due to being straight to the budget bin. Kivi's Underworld is the sequel and far less complex but shows better polish overall, it's even less well known as it was straight to digital release (and I would have never even looked at it if it wasn't for the first $10 boxed game).
#2: 1C, a European Developer released Planet Alcatraz, which is an interesting game, though done with a fairly low production value, and some of the most horrendous voice acting I've ever heard, combined with a truely terrible script after translation. That said reading the subtitles can get you through the game. It is kind of amusing however to see cinematics where someone punches someone else (and their arm clips through the receiving model), and where someone added in voice work saying "here, let me kick him with my leg".
Still it's a fairly original concept where you more or less play a clone of Riddick out to escape a prison planet, the RPG system is a combination of Fallout and Baldur's Gate and actually performs pretty well once you figure it out. It's just the voice/sound/cinematics are in a catagory of awful reminicent of old JRPGs.
#3: The same company above also released a game called "Star Wolves" which is a tactical RPG based around running a mercenary company of space fighters. It features an interesting if short plot, trading elements, and a decent leveling/customization system. It suffers from god awful long travel times however.
Basically I pimp these games as often as I do because I see potential with some of the developers, and given what I see as a general lack of quality RPGs I think they need the referances to hardcore fans who will support them into getting bigger products and better translations.
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Truth be told a lot of my favorite PC based RPG series of all times are older than you can easily find. If your just starting PC gaming you'd probably be less impressed than by the indy efforts above (which actually are pretty good). Of them I'd think some like "Baldur's Gate" stood up well, as have "Knights Of The Old Republic" (I & II) with their PC translations, and a few others.
With massive patching Neverwinter Nights 2 is not bad (and pretty recent), though admittedly it's mostly worthwhile for the "Mask Of The Betrayer" expansion. I'm critical of it (despite having played worse games) because it wasn't exactly programmed by newcomers/independants.
See, in general I could write a huge and scathing rant about the state of the current CRPG industry but it's pointless here.
Truth be told though, your best bet is to pick up like Oblivion and Fallout 3 as starting points. They have their detractors but are pretty epic in scope, well polished for the most part (despite criticisms) and can keep you busy for ages. You already mentioned checking those out.
The games I mention above are secondary to the ones already mentioned, since you see to have a general "hit list" of the best stuff for the PC over the last few years.
