Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Rajaah · Mar 19, 2023

TJT said:
Planescape has an absolutely amazing story and many amazing sidequests. But you will need to follow a guide and you will need to be an intelligence character to find the real good ones.

The class system for it is weird and you counterintuitively will need to switch from caster to melee for various storylines and the game allows you to do this.

Alright, high intelligence, noted.

FO1 to FO2 doesn't have any kind of carryover, right? Cause I kinda want to try one of them as a low-int character after reading about how that goes here. Maybe FO1 low-int and FO2 my usual scientist-type Fallout character.

Penance · Mar 19, 2023

Second Planescape. Probably the best RPG story of all time if not up there with KOTOR and DA:O

Rajaah · Mar 20, 2023

Got another question: Diablo 1 particularly needed? What about Warcraft 1 and 2? Probably not, right? I've got a ROM of Warcraft 2 on my hacked PS Classic (no idea how to hack them so don't ask, somebody gave it to me) along with the other hundred PS1 games. I think I remember hearing Warcraft 2 on PS1 was super archaic and hard to play now.

Lambourne · Mar 20, 2023

Looking at your list, I've played a good number of them and they're all story heavy games with (near-) turn based combat. I'd probably not include Diablo as it's more of an action game with some RPG elements.

What's your scope for the project? Story heavy RPGs or games more focused on class-based/party combat? Best rated RPGs of the last x years? Action games with RPG elements? You'll have to make a narrow selection or you are going to be like that blog I linked earlier and end up with hundreds of games to get through.

The Baldur's Gate series has its roots in the SSI games of the 80s and early 90s, with classics like Pool of Radiance and Eye of the Beholder. They're all AD&D 2nd edition like BG. That's serious retro gaming at this point though, although all of them are popular enough to have gotten GoG re-releases so you don't have to mess with emulators too much.

Maybe just play your P1 games first, they're all good and those are going to take you a few months to get through already and then you can set a scope and see what direction you want to explore.

Rajaah · Mar 20, 2023

Lambourne said:
Looking at your list, I've played a good number of them and they're all story heavy games with (near-) turn based combat. I'd probably not include Diablo as it's more of an action game with some RPG elements.

What's your scope for the project? Story heavy RPGs or games more focused on class-based/party combat? Best rated RPGs of the last x years? Action games with RPG elements? You'll have to make a narrow selection or you are going to be like that blog I linked earlier and end up with hundreds of games to get through.

The Baldur's Gate series has its roots in the SSI games of the 80s and early 90s, with classics like Pool of Radiance and Eye of the Beholder. They're all AD&D 2nd edition like BG. That's serious retro gaming at this point though, although all of them are popular enough to have gotten GoG re-releases so you don't have to mess with emulators too much.

Maybe just play your P1 games first, they're all good and those are going to take you a few months to get through already and then you can set a scope and see what direction you want to explore.

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I don't really have a scope in mind and I'm trying not to add anything else to what's on there. Good chance Wasteland 1 will fall off due to the age and I might add some Mass Effect, don't know, probably not.

Gonna focus on getting P1 done and then evaluate the next step after that. Everything in P1 are things I have already and consider must-play. I mean I also consider P2 must-play and have most of those too. In any case, I think I've reached the limit of adding things to the list and need to just get it done.

What about Warcraft 2 though? Worth adding? I've heard it's very difficult. Question is does it have any real bearing on WC3.

Rajaah said:
Doing some early-morning Siege of Dragonspear and I'm actually murderhoboing a bit in this. I'm kinda trying to just get it done, so I'm booking it through some of the areas and not really going out of my way to help anyone. Some guys show up wanting me to do a quest for them so they'll let me pass, I just fight them instead. A group of giant Drow spiders tell me if I find their lost son they'll let me live, then I'm like "cool bro" and just START BLASTIN.

Reposted from the other thread, an SoD update. It'd be awesome if I could get that flaming sword Paladin hot lady to join my group for Baldur's Gate 2, but I'm going to venture a guess that it isn't possible. Maybe I can get her on my side by the end of SoD though.

Burns · Mar 20, 2023

Rajaah said:
I don't really have a scope in mind and I'm trying not to add anything else to what's on there. Good chance Wasteland 1 will fall off due to the age and I might add some Mass Effect, don't know, probably not.

Gonna focus on getting P1 done and then evaluate the next step after that. Everything in P1 are things I have already and consider must-play. I mean I also consider P2 must-play and have most of those too. In any case, I think I've reached the limit of adding things to the list and need to just get it done.

What about Warcraft 2 though? Worth adding? I've heard it's very difficult. Question is does it have any real bearing on WC3.

Reposted from the other thread, an SoD update. It'd be awesome if I could get that flaming sword Paladin hot lady to join my group for Baldur's Gate 2, but I'm going to venture a guess that it isn't possible. Maybe I can get her on my side by the end of SoD though.

Warcraft 2, just like Command and Conquer Red Alert, are great RTS, but you don't need to play any of them, to play the other. For the most part, Warcraft 3 is the only RTS that has a narrative that rivals the standards of the gameplay, and it stands on it's own. The only other narrative driven RTS type game I can think of is Spellforce, but it is much more a mishmash of RPG elements blended in.

As for Diablo 1, I liked the the story of it more than Diablo 2, and didn't even bother with the story of Diablo 3 (or buy the game until years after release). I have never thought it good enough to go back and play it though, but then, I am not a Diablo fanboy. Mechanics wise, everything has probably be done better by now, so no real point, if not for the story?

For retro gaming, you would probably be better served playing something like Wizardry 8 or World of Xeen, as those type of game were good, different, and don't really get made anymore.

Also, Arcanum is on most people's lists of the top RPGs of all time, that's of the era of games you are playing, that is still missing.

reavor · Mar 20, 2023

Rajaah said:
Alright, high intelligence, noted.

FO1 to FO2 doesn't have any kind of carryover, right? Cause I kinda want to try one of them as a low-int character after reading about how that goes here. Maybe FO1 low-int and FO2 my usual scientist-type Fallout character.

no, it's not intelligence, it's wisdom that is most important for planescape.

inspired by this odyssey I started playing NWN EE as a solo druid. let's see how this goes.

Lambourne · Mar 20, 2023

Rajaah said:
I don't really have a scope in mind and I'm trying not to add anything else to what's on there. Good chance Wasteland 1 will fall off due to the age and I might add some Mass Effect, don't know, probably not.

Gonna focus on getting P1 done and then evaluate the next step after that. Everything in P1 are things I have already and consider must-play. I mean I also consider P2 must-play and have most of those too. In any case, I think I've reached the limit of adding things to the list and need to just get it done.

What about Warcraft 2 though? Worth adding? I've heard it's very difficult. Question is does it have any real bearing on WC3.

Reposted from the other thread, an SoD update. It'd be awesome if I could get that flaming sword Paladin hot lady to join my group for Baldur's Gate 2, but I'm going to venture a guess that it isn't possible. Maybe I can get her on my side by the end of SoD though.

I never played WC2 so maybe someone else can answer. Only played Orcs vs Humans and that's really RTS, wouldn't consider it an RPG. Haven't played it since the 90s though.

You might consider Fallout 3 after 1 and 2, I actually think that captures the spirit of the setting more than New Vegas or FO4 did. The spirit being: you crawled out of a safe bunker into a destroyed world where humanity was only barely clinging on. The later games had so many towns and people in it that it felt like civilization should have been rebuilt already.

Legend of Grimrock is a modern take on the old school dungeon crawler/RPG which was well received, although it's not really a story focused game, it's more on the explore/fight/puzzle side of RPG.

Burns · Mar 20, 2023

Lambourne said:
I never played WC2 so maybe someone else can answer. Only played Orcs vs Humans and that's really RTS, wouldn't consider it an RPG. Haven't played it since the 90s though.

You might consider Fallout 3 after 1 and 2, I actually think that captures the spirit of the setting more than New Vegas or FO4 did. The spirit being: you crawled out of a safe bunker into a destroyed world where humanity was only barely clinging on. The later games had so many towns and people in it that it felt like civilization should have been rebuilt already.

Legend of Grimrock is a modern take on the old school dungeon crawler/RPG which was well received, although it's not really a story focused game, it's more on the explore/fight/puzzle side of RPG.

Nein! Nein! Fallout 3 is an ABOMINATION!!!!

reavor · Mar 20, 2023

Lambourne said:
I never played WC2 so maybe someone else can answer. Only played Orcs vs Humans and that's really RTS, wouldn't consider it an RPG. Haven't played it since the 90s though.

You might consider Fallout 3 after 1 and 2, I actually think that captures the spirit of the setting more than New Vegas or FO4 did. The spirit being: you crawled out of a safe bunker into a destroyed world where humanity was only barely clinging on. The later games had so many towns and people in it that it felt like civilization should have been rebuilt already.

Legend of Grimrock is a modern take on the old school dungeon crawler/RPG which was well received, although it's not really a story focused game, it's more on the explore/fight/puzzle side of RPG.

Plenty of civilization in FO2 too, in terms of writing and humor New Vegas was far more in line of FO2 than FO3. Also New Vegas had better DLCs

Lambourne · Mar 20, 2023

Yeah not saying New Vegas isn't worth playing, just liked the desolate feel of 3 more. Play both.

Caliane · Mar 20, 2023

Lambourne said:
Looking at your list, I've played a good number of them and they're all story heavy games with (near-) turn based combat. I'd probably not include Diablo as it's more of an action game with some RPG elements.

What's your scope for the project? Story heavy RPGs or games more focused on class-based/party combat? Best rated RPGs of the last x years? Action games with RPG elements? You'll have to make a narrow selection or you are going to be like that blog I linked earlier and end up with hundreds of games to get through.

The Baldur's Gate series has its roots in the SSI games of the 80s and early 90s, with classics like Pool of Radiance and Eye of the Beholder. They're all AD&D 2nd edition like BG. That's serious retro gaming at this point though, although all of them are popular enough to have gotten GoG re-releases so you don't have to mess with emulators too much.

Maybe just play your P1 games first, they're all good and those are going to take you a few months to get through already and then you can set a scope and see what direction you want to explore.

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let him focus on the iso rpgs.

then we can get him playing the Ultima's. Then wizardry/dungeoncrawls. then might and magic. then kings quest.

reavor · Mar 20, 2023

Caliane said:
let him focus on the iso rpgs.

then we can get him playing the Ultima's. Then wizardry/dungeoncrawls. then might and magic. then kings quest.

king's quest? now we're really moving from rpgs to adventure games.

Rajaah · Mar 20, 2023

Burns said:
Also, Arcanum is on most people's lists of the top RPGs of all time, that's of the era of games you are playing, that is still missing.

Alright, I added Arcanum to the list. I think

Tmac was also talking about that one. Left off Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1 etc.

reavor said:
inspired by this odyssey I started playing NWN EE as a solo druid. let's see how this goes.

That's what I like to see, I'm hoping this odyssey (and my God, it's an odyssey) is gonna inspire other people to pick up these old CRPGs and play along.

Got a couple picards on the original post, that's kind of obnoxious. Maybe they doubt my ability to get through a whole series when I say I will and think this whole thing is a joke. I've done this a few times in the past with other things: Entire Final Fantasy series in 2001-2002, entire Dragon Quest series in 2009-2010.

Burns said:
Nein! Nein! Fallout 3 is an ABOMINATION!!!!

I love Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but I also played (and platinumed, of course) them both in summer 2012 back to back. That was two fantastic times. Since I did everything I'm not gonna touch 'em again though. Besides they're pretty far from the iso stuff I'm mainly focused on here. Super looking forward to FO1 and 2 now, up until recently I had no plans to ever go back and play them but here we are. Was gonna start FO1 ASAP but I think I'll get BG2/ToB done first since BG has really grabbed my attention.

Caliane said:
let him focus on the iso rpgs.

then we can get him playing the Ultima's. Then wizardry/dungeoncrawls. then might and magic. then kings quest.

King's Quest looks awesome, that's the Fromsoft quadrilogy right? I'd love to play that but I don't really have any way to unless it's on Steam. Tried to get them on PS1/PS2 not too long ago and the prices were exorbitant, just like the Armored Core games (which I also missed). I have a thing about "games I missed out on" right now because I missed SO MUCH STUFF growing up.

Actually before this CRPG idea coalesced, I was gonna go through the Armored Core series and probably also King's Field. Then I hit the roadblock with seeing the stupid prices they're all fetching and going nah, I'll wait for some kind of compilation eventually. I wish PS2/PS3 emulation worked better.

I did manage to get Armored Core 1 for like $5 on the PSN store (PS3 version of the store, not up for much longer FYI so grab it if you want it). Unfortunately, it's the one I already played. So I tabled that whole idea for now.

SIEGE OF DRAGONSPEAR UPDATE: Reached the endgame. Heading into Avernus next, which is sick and I can't wait, though it'll be tomorrow or the next day. I tried to romance Viconia for the entire expansion and she was just a nonstop horse's ass in response. Basically I decided to be Viconia's Simp and see how that went. It went exactly like you think it did. Finally in the 2nd to last chapter where I am now, I just kicked her to the curb as rudely as I could after pillaging all her stuff. It was the first time she was ever polite to the Bhaalspawn.

Yup.

Caliane · Mar 20, 2023

Arcanum is equality top tier, and broken unfinished mess. its one of the top games for dialogue branching. where people will treat you differently based on race/sex, just across the game. as well as your int, will effect your dialogue choices. or getting drunk. not like modern games which just open on a new dialogue choice. no. it outright changes what you say based on int. or slur your words when drunk, etc.

fan patch is necessary.

Unofficial Arcanum Patch

Penance · Mar 20, 2023

I'm guessing Dragon Age Origins isn't on the list because you already played it? If not that needs to be a priority along with planescape and KOTOR.

Kajiimagi · Mar 20, 2023

Caliane said:
Arcanum is equality top tier, and broken unfinished mess. its one of the top games for dialogue branching. where people will treat you differently based on race/sex, just across the game. as well as your int, will effect your dialogue choices. or getting drunk. not like modern games which just open on a new dialogue choice. no. it outright changes what you say based on int. or slur your words when drunk, etc.

fan patch is necessary.

Unofficial Arcanum Patch

was just getting on to endorse Arcanum and mention do NOT play the game as is. Fan patch is 100% needed.

Tmac · Mar 21, 2023

Rajaah said:
Alright, I added Arcanum to the list. I think Tmac was also talking about that one. Left off Warcraft 2 and Diablo 1 etc.

That's what I like to see, I'm hoping this odyssey (and my God, it's an odyssey) is gonna inspire other people to pick up these old CRPGs and play along.

Got a couple picards on the original post, that's kind of obnoxious. Maybe they doubt my ability to get through a whole series when I say I will and think this whole thing is a joke. I've done this a few times in the past with other things: Entire Final Fantasy series in 2001-2002, entire Dragon Quest series in 2009-2010.

I love Fallout 3 and New Vegas, but I also played (and platinumed, of course) them both in summer 2012 back to back. That was two fantastic times. Since I did everything I'm not gonna touch 'em again though. Besides they're pretty far from the iso stuff I'm mainly focused on here. Super looking forward to FO1 and 2 now, up until recently I had no plans to ever go back and play them but here we are. Was gonna start FO1 ASAP but I think I'll get BG2/ToB done first since BG has really grabbed my attention.

King's Quest looks awesome, that's the Fromsoft quadrilogy right? I'd love to play that but I don't really have any way to unless it's on Steam. Tried to get them on PS1/PS2 not too long ago and the prices were exorbitant, just like the Armored Core games (which I also missed). I have a thing about "games I missed out on" right now because I missed SO MUCH STUFF growing up.

Actually before this CRPG idea coalesced, I was gonna go through the Armored Core series and probably also King's Field. Then I hit the roadblock with seeing the stupid prices they're all fetching and going nah, I'll wait for some kind of compilation eventually. I wish PS2/PS3 emulation worked better.

I did manage to get Armored Core 1 for like $5 on the PSN store (PS3 version of the store, not up for much longer FYI so grab it if you want it). Unfortunately, it's the one I already played. So I tabled that whole idea for now.

SIEGE OF DRAGONSPEAR UPDATE: Reached the endgame. Heading into Avernus next, which is sick and I can't wait, though it'll be tomorrow or the next day. I tried to romance Viconia for the entire expansion and she was just a nonstop horse's ass in response. Basically I decided to be Viconia's Simp and see how that went. It went exactly like you think it did. Finally in the 2nd to last chapter where I am now, I just kicked her to the curb as rudely as I could after pillaging all her stuff. It was the first time she was ever polite to the Bhaalspawn.

Yup.

Uhhh wasn’t me.

Gutterflesh · Mar 21, 2023

The original Fallout was so damn buggy, but I was determined to play it. I remember the patch process being such a fucking disaster back in the day that I resorted to downloading unofficial fixes put out by other players. Hunting down information and fixes for this game was my first real introduction to gaming forums.

Good times.

TJT · Mar 21, 2023

Tuco Did you ever get around to playing Original Sin 2?

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