Please Recommend Dialogue Heavy CRPG with Face Frontal Conversations and with Decent Graphics.

[Rpgamer]

Also, Fantasy genre, not sci-fi like Mass Effect.

Not old top-down CRPGs like Planescape Torment, Arcanum, or Diablo. Games like DA: Origins and Witcher 2.

(Looking into Divinity II, Divinity: Dragon Commander and Risen 2)

Thanks.

 

[veloper]

Would you like fries with that?

VTM:Bloodlines

 

[NeutralDrow]

That's such an incredibly specific set of parameters that I thought this was going to be a sarcastic slam against Oblivion, or something.

But yeah, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a pretty good one, though it's modern fantasy instead of medieval. I dunno, would Skyrim count as dialogue-heavy enough?

 

[briankoontz]

Gothic 2.

 

[AgedGrunt]

Fallout 3/New Vegas, and be sure to mod them.

Older FO games are everything else, but top-down. Still great games.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Gothic 1&2, Risen 1.

 

[CriticalTortoise]

This is so weirdly specific that honestly I feel like all the good ones have already been named in the first post. Technically though... Oblivion would indeed fit those parameters.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I see you there, thinking about Risen 2, and I'm here as a Piranha Bytes fanboy to tell you - nope! Fuck it off, and forget about it, because it's complete trash. Instead, I'll echo the posts of a couple of others and say Gothic 2 and the first Risen. Both of those are fantastic action RPGs with a lot of dialogue. Well, the former doesn't have graphics that hold up today, but the latter sure does. Both have amazingly good combat systems too.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I see you there, thinking about Risen 2, and I'm here as a Piranha Bytes fanboy to tell you - nope! Fuck it off, and forget about it, because it's complete trash. Instead, I'll echo the posts of a couple of others and say Gothic 2 and the first Risen. Both of those are fantastic action RPGs with a lot of dialogue. Well, the former doesn't have graphics that hold up today, but the latter sure does. Both have amazingly good combat systems too.

Bollocks. Risen 2 isn't all that different from Risen 1 except being less clunky and perhaps a little easier. I suspect you, like many others, are miffed at the entrance of "pirates" or some other minor alteration to the first game.

 

[Vegosiux]

Witcher 2, decent graphics? There's tits all over the place, how's that in any way "decent"? It's naughty, that's what it is!

Joking and terrible puns aside, yes, VTM Bloodlines (just make sure to get all the user patches so the game actually doesn't break at a certain point) is good for that. It's not sci-fi, but it is a modern setting, so if you're looking for "high fantasy", you'll be disappointed I suppose.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Would Drakensang count? Maybe Neverwinter Nights 2 as well, particularly the Mask of the Betrayer expansion.

 

[Scars Unseen]

You could also go with Shadowrun Returns. It isn't an old top down RPG; It's a new top down RPG.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Bollocks. Risen 2 isn't all that different from Risen 1 except being less clunky and perhaps a little easier. I suspect you, like many others, are miffed at the entrance of "pirates" or some other minor alteration to the first game.

On the contrary, the pirate theme was one of the only things I liked about the game. It was pretty refreshing all in all. However, petty and incorrect assumptions aside.. I'm a little baffled that you'd say the gameplay isn't very different... just, what? I'm sorry, but you're going to have to explain this to me since both games play entirely different to each other from the combat systems right down to the exploration and difference of linearity. I'm just... yeah, some explaining is required here, if you'd be so kind as to oblige.

Also, less clunky? Risen 2's combat is almost broken in compared to the much smoother and fluid system of Risen 1. Hell, for the first month after its release there wasn't even a fucking dodge mechanic, and the one that was added in via patch is unreliable and rushed to hell.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Anything from BioWare. I remember Jade Empire particularly as seeming to have a cutscene and exposition following practically every single combat encounter. Almost every fight in the game has dialogue preceding it, proceeding it or both.

You could also go with Shadowrun Returns. It isn't an old top down RPG; It's a new top down RPG.

Brilliant. To continue in the vein of new, top down RPGs, Divinity: Original Sin has dialogue and writing aplenty. I mean there really is a lot of it. But the game is brilliant, a great RPG and an enjoyable challenge.

If the OP just wants to watch people talking, there's always the television as well.

 

[Asclepion]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Science fiction, but has everything else you want- dialogue heavy, story-driven rpg with multiple ways of solving problems with facial animations and decent graphics)

And of course Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.

You seem to have very specific tastes, OP.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Bollocks. Risen 2 isn't all that different from Risen 1 except being less clunky and perhaps a little easier. I suspect you, like many others, are miffed at the entrance of "pirates" or some other minor alteration to the first game.

On the contrary, the pirate theme was one of the only things I liked about the game. It was pretty refreshing all in all. However, petty and incorrect assumptions aside.. I'm a little baffled that you'd say the gameplay isn't very different... just, what? I'm sorry, but you're going to have to explain this to me since both games play entirely different to each other from the combat systems right down to the exploration and difference of linearity. I'm just... yeah, some explaining is required here, if you'd be so kind as to oblige.

Also, less clunky? Risen 2's combat is almost broken in compared to the much smoother and fluid system of Risen 1. Hell, for the first month after its release there wasn't even a fucking dodge mechanic, and the one that was added in via patch is unreliable and rushed to hell.

Oh i'm sure you can come up with a whole bunch of technicalities, but as a fairly casual gamers (that is, not one who plays more than a few hours a week) the experience was pretty uniform across the two games. People usually exaggerate their differences. I don't say there aren't differences, just nowhere near enough to call the game an abomination compared with the first, as you did.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Oh i'm sure you can come up with a whole bunch of technicalities, but as a fairly casual gamers (that is, not one who plays more than a few hours a week) the experience was pretty uniform across the two games. People usually exaggerate their differences. I don't say there aren't differences, just nowhere near enough to call the game an abomination compared with the first, as you did.

Hmm, did you play Risen on an Xbox? If so, then I can more understand where you're coming from since I've heard the port was terribly done. On PC, the game is very smooth and runs very fluidly. The combat, with a little bit of practice, is very balanced and rewards skill. The dodging in particular is especially useful when learned how to adequately use it, being able to fight large groups of enemies without taken so much as a hit through skilled dodging.

Of course, controls aren't the only thing that was done differently. Risen 2 is a lot more restrictive with exploration: there are lots of glorified linear corridors connecting small areas together and the fact that the game is split up into several tiny islands that you unlock over the course of time makes the world feel very small. In comparison, the first Risen has many more larger, more detailed areas and it does not force you upon a determined path. You can go wherever you want whenever you wish (with very few story-specific exceptions). Of course, you may run into some tough enemies but resourceful or skillful players will overcome them. So that's a pretty massive difference right there. Animation quality was also generally better in Risen, as was the voice acting (containing the talents of Andy Serkis and John Rhys-Davies as the cherry on the top).

But yeah, the pirate theme is about the only thing I truly enjoyed in Risen 2 (I thought the tropical island was done better in the first game) even if it was very Hollywood-esque. There were some moments when the combat shined (though you had to put up with broken combat for hours until you could invest some skills into it). I didn't like the cinematic animations with the parries and ripostes though. I prefer the more "in-control" feeling of Risen 1's parrying and ripostes.

Risen 2 also lacked the excellent soundtrack by Kai Rosenkranz, but that's admittedly a petty peeve of mine.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

Oh i'm sure you can come up with a whole bunch of technicalities, but as a fairly casual gamers (that is, not one who plays more than a few hours a week) the experience was pretty uniform across the two games. People usually exaggerate their differences. I don't say there aren't differences, just nowhere near enough to call the game an abomination compared with the first, as you did.

Hmm, did you play Risen on an Xbox? If so, then I can more understand where you're coming from since I've heard the port was terribly done. On PC, the game is very smooth and runs very fluidly. The combat, with a little bit of practice, is very balanced and rewards skill. The dodging in particular is especially useful when learned how to adequately use it, being able to fight large groups of enemies without taken so much as a hit through skilled dodging.

Of course, controls aren't the only thing that was done differently. Risen 2 is a lot more restrictive with exploration: there are lots of glorified linear corridors connecting small areas together and the fact that the game is split up into several tiny islands that you unlock over the course of time makes the world feel very small. In comparison, the first Risen has many more larger, more detailed areas and it does not force you upon a determined path. You can go wherever you want whenever you wish (with very few story-specific exceptions). Of course, you may run into some tough enemies but resourceful or skillful players will overcome them. So that's a pretty massive difference right there. Animation quality was also generally better in Risen, as was the voice acting (containing the talents of Andy Serkis and John Rhys-Davies as the cherry on the top).

But yeah, the pirate theme is about the only thing I truly enjoyed in Risen 2 (I thought the tropical island was done better in the first game) even if it was very Hollywood-esque. There were some moments when the combat shined (though you had to put up with broken combat for hours until you could invest some skills into it). I didn't like the cinematic animations with the parries and ripostes though. I prefer the more "in-control" feeling of Risen 1's parrying and ripostes.

Risen 2 also lacked the excellent soundtrack by Kai Rosenkranz, but that's admittedly a petty peeve of mine.

I played both on PC. For the record, I thought the first game was slightly better but it was also bloated in its backtracking and filler combat, and I rather enjoyed the linearity of R2. Anyway, nothing you said makes it sound like you really thought Risen 2 was as awful as you first intimated, so maybe you were exaggerating.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

I played both on PC. For the record, I thought the first game was slightly better but it was also bloated in its backtracking and filler combat, and I rather enjoyed the linearity of R2. Anyway, nothing you said makes it sound like you really thought Risen 2 was as awful as you first intimated, so maybe you were exaggerating.

Exaggerating, perhaps. But the first Risen is one of my all-time favourite games (and I believe it stands right next to Gothic 2 as Piranha Bytes' finest work) so it's really just the immense disappointment that came with it. Anyways, I did play through Risen 2 one and a half times, I tried to like it, but I couldn't, and I simply think it's about the worst way you could introduce yourself to Piranha Bytes' style of RPG, which is why I tried to warn the OP with aforementioned exaggeration and point him towards their other games instead.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I played both on PC. For the record, I thought the first game was slightly better but it was also bloated in its backtracking and filler combat, and I rather enjoyed the linearity of R2. Anyway, nothing you said makes it sound like you really thought Risen 2 was as awful as you first intimated, so maybe you were exaggerating.

Exaggerating, perhaps. But the first Risen is one of my all-time favourite games (and I believe it stands right next to Gothic 2 as Piranha Bytes' finest work) so it's really just the immense disappointment that came with it. Anyways, I did play through Risen 2 one and a half times, I tried to like it, but I couldn't, and I simply think it's about the worst way you could introduce yourself to Piranha Bytes' style of RPG, which is why I tried to warn the OP with aforementioned exaggeration and point him towards their other games instead.

Fair enough. But hey, at least it's not Skyrim eh?