Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Caliane · Mar 22, 2024

been too long. I wouldn't be really able to judge them fairly. I definately liked, shadows of undrentide, and hordes of the underdark. I also liked NWN's base campaign with Aribeth though.. its not beloved by most these days. I don't think i played any of the "premium modules". really not sure on that. lots of custom player ones. I think I looked up and found some hosting sites still active, earlier in the thread. don't really remember which ones were the best.

Nwn2's camera controls I remember being hell even back THEN. not sure if any EE helps with that.
nwn2's expac Mask of the Betrayer is known as being one of the best all time crpg stories. storm of zehir is less well recieved, but has a neat merchant guild minigame thing going on in it.

Kajiimagi · Mar 23, 2024

I picked up NWN EE on Steam sale , think this is the 3-4 time I have bought this game. I'm useless on the DLC as well. I played them all (when the game was 'new) but none stand out. I will add to

Caliane 's comment though. Mask of the Betrayer was awesome, and very moving despite the janky 3d engine.
I plan to play NWN again 'soon'. I just built a new 7800x3d / 7900 XTX machine and I keep just playing FF7 Rebirth on the PS5. LOL something is wrong with me.

Gavinmad · Mar 23, 2024

Caliane said:
been too long. I wouldn't be really able to judge them fairly. I definately liked, shadows of undrentide, and hordes of the underdark. I also liked NWN's base campaign with Aribeth though.. its not beloved by most these days. I don't think i played any of the "premium modules". really not sure on that. lots of custom player ones. I think I looked up and found some hosting sites still active, earlier in the thread. don't really remember which ones were the best.

Nwn2's camera controls I remember being hell even back THEN. not sure if any EE helps with that.
nwn2's expac Mask of the Betrayer is known as being one of the best all time crpg stories. storm of zehir is less well recieved, but has a neat merchant guild minigame thing going on in it.

Hordes of the Underdark is great and playing HotU after having played the base campaign makes a certain party member in HotU a much more meaningful thing, even if HotU is meant to be a sequel to Undrentide and not the base campaign.

Kharzette · Mar 23, 2024

I played all of those with friends. Shadows of undrentide had alot of multiplayer bugs, so we didn't enjoy it. The others were a decent time. I think the most fun we had was a premium module called Pirates of the sword coast I think? I think it was like 10 bucks. It did some gnarly stuff with the nwn engine.

Rajaah · Mar 23, 2024

Sounds like I should play Hordes of the Underdark after NWN1 and Mask of the Betrayer after NWN2 and just kinda not worry about anything else. That's if I stick with NWN and don't jump ship for a different CRPG.

Howlongtobeat has NWN listed as like 55 hours and HotU at another 20, with NWN2 at around 35 hours plus 15 for Mask. Which is a little more reasonable, but both are way too long. Not too keen on spending that much time with this antiquated engine.

I'm thinking if I beeline right to the OP build I'm working on (Scimitar Weapon Master with Barbarian rage) I'll be able to crush most of the content. Then if I just mainline the main quest and no sidequests, maybe I can get NWN1 done in like half the listed time. The beginning seems to be by far the hardest / most time-consuming part because before your build gets going you're very outgunned by the mobs at times.

Caliane · Mar 23, 2024

Gavinmad said:
Hordes of the Underdark is great and playing HotU after having played the base campaign makes a certain party member in HotU a much more meaningful thing, even if HotU is meant to be a sequel to Undrentide and not the base campaign.

thats a good point, and I think possibly why I remember NWN base campaign more fondly. checking a walkthrough, I am blending hordes of the underdark into nwn's base campaign into one story in my head I think.

If you had asked me how the base campaign ended, I would have said, with you know who attacking the city. which... is actually waterdeep, not neverwinter, and part of HotU.

Burns · Mar 23, 2024

Rajaah said:
Sounds like I should play Hordes of the Underdark after NWN1 and Mask of the Betrayer after NWN2 and just kinda not worry about anything else. That's if I stick with NWN and don't jump ship for a different CRPG.

Howlongtobeat has NWN listed as like 55 hours and HotU at another 20, with NWN2 at around 35 hours plus 15 for Mask. Which is a little more reasonable, but both are way too long. Not too keen on spending that much time with this antiquated engine.

I'm thinking if I beeline right to the OP build I'm working on (Scimitar Weapon Master with Barbarian rage) I'll be able to crush most of the content. Then if I just mainline the main quest and no sidequests, maybe I can get NWN1 done in like half the listed time. The beginning seems to be by far the hardest / most time-consuming part because before your build gets going you're very outgunned by the mobs at times.

NWN1 has aged the worst out of any old game I have ever tried to replay. It's not like the stories are that connected, so there is no need to play NWN at all to jump into NWN2. Likewise, Mask of the Betrayer has some player character bonuses/carry over for doing the NWN2 campaign, but, from what I remember, it's set up to just jump into MotB. I also liked Storm of Zehir, but you can evaluate if you want to play it, when you get done with Mask.

Rajaah · Mar 23, 2024

Burns said:
NWN1 has aged the worst out of any old game I have ever tried to replay. It's not like the stories are that connected, so there is no need to play NWN at all to jump into NWN2. Likewise, Mask of the Betrayer has some player character bonuses/carry over for doing the NWN2 campaign, but, from what I remember, it's set up to just jump into MotB. I also liked Storm of Zehir, but you can evaluate if you want to play it, when you get done with Mask.

Yeah, NWN hasn't aged well (neither has KOTOR, which I believe runs off the same engine as NWN but I might be wrong).

It's very much something I'm checking out for the historical significance and because it's on my list. We'll see how it goes / if I stick with it.

Shmoopy · Mar 23, 2024

Rajaah said:
You still playing IWD?

Another really good long-form video worth adding here that mostly focuses on CRPGs but also gets into the contribution of JRPGs a bit, or at least the late 80's early 90's ones that branched off of the CRPG genre. This video single-handedly got me pumped to do more CRPGs:

After this video, adding Disco Elysium, Wasteland 2, and Wasteland 3 to the list in the first post. Want to keep the list limited (considering how long it takes me to get to things) but I think those 3 are musts. How feasible is it to play Wasteland 1 at this point? Is there even a reason to play Wasteland 1? Some kind of remake would be great.

Video is really well done.

About Wasteland 1 - it was remastered and included in the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter:

Kharzette · Mar 24, 2024

Both of those got Mark Morgan soundtracks too.

Rajaah · Mar 24, 2024

Kharzette said:
Both of those got Mark Morgan soundtracks too.

Cool, I'm adding the Wasteland remaster to the list.

Things I'd like to get to near-term (as in, this year) are both NWNs, Fallout 2, Castle of the Winds, and Warcraft 3. Might also try to do both IWDs and Planescape, not sure though. A lot depends on how much time gets taken up by the NWNs. And whether EQ and Elden Ring end up cannibalizing my summer game time.

Speaking of, latest update:

Finally got the NWN Player's Guide out. It's a great guide. The first major dungeon is totally Plane of Justice, like I said. I mean PoJ is like a direct homage to this place.

Defeated the Gaoler and the Intellect Devourer. Whole dungeon was insanely long/repetitive and I'm wondering if the whole game will be like that. It does feel like a real D&D campaign though which is cool. Going with the rogue as the ally party member, even though he isn't the best or toughest at all, because it makes positioning way more important (tanking and flanking so he can backstab) and gives me more to do. He can post some real good damage numbers if used right.

Chest in the room got me a Scimitar +1 which prolly would have been a big help for the boss.

It seems that Scythe Weapon Master posts bigger crit numbers but also misses a fair amount so you're more dependent on luck of the draw. Scimitar WM is lower damage but more accurate (or maybe critical hits fire more) so it levels out to better DPS. At least from what I've read. Kinda liking the scimitar/shield/leather ensemble, like a Druid. No spells yet. Going to lean really hard on the Scimitar spec and critical hits, with some healing as backup.

Next up is something called the Beggar's Nest. Not really doing any side quests or optional stuff.

Rajaah · Apr 25, 2024

Between the overlong dungeons, repetitive fights and visuals, and just general dullness of it, NWN fell off for me after that. It and NWN2 are both kind of "on the bubble" for me now, as in I might scratch them off the list entirely. They're sizable time commitments, and according to HLTB I could play Icewind Dale + Planescape Torment in the time NWN takes. However I did spend some time getting my character specced right to be a Scimitar Master and I might want to see that through at some point.

I'd like to get another thing checked off since it's been so long. After the show, strongly considering running Fallout 2, if I can fit it in over the next four weeks or so. Not sure how long it is. I've got some huge expectations for this one as I wasn't crazy about FO1 but like FO2's QOL and story. I'll take any insight on FO2 in terms of builds, what stats/perks to go for, etc etc. I usually completely ignore Small Arms and go for Energy Weapons and stuff like that which will be better later on, but in FO1 I think I went Small Arms and it ended up being the right call. IDK though, it was many pages ago.

Rajaah · Oct 1, 2025

After giving up on NWN after a few hours during my last two swings at this, it's almost time for my annual revival of the CRPG quest. I'm pretty much locked-up for the rest of 2025 (as in, everything I'm playing up through the end of December is already decided) but I've got a big "take time off for health" planned in January/February and nothing lined up game-wise for what'll end up being a surplus of free time.

Decided I'm going to pencil in four specific CRPGs for that period of time and get 'em done, and I'm going to crowd-source which ones I play next. Starting on January 1st and of course I'll report back on here with how they go.

Fallout 2 gets a bye into this group since it's a must; it's been bothering me for a couple years how I've played through every main series Fallout except that one and it's the one I've heard the most good things about. The other 3 are a jump ball; they're entirely up in the air and up to you to vote on.

Go ahead and cast your votes for which two you'd go with and we'll see what shakes out, either in terms of what gets the most votes or what gets the most compelling argument, and we'll see what I'm playing on January 1st. TRY TO LIMIT YOUR VOTE TO THREE THINGS with a note on why those things specifically (perhaps they compliment each other).

Expansions don't count as their own game (I.e. you can vote for Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne as one single entity).

Below is what's left on the original list that I haven't played yet. Crossing out the things that I'm not in the mood for / tried previously and couldn't get into, like Neverwinter Nights and System Shock. Can try those again later, my objective here is to get my CRPG roster moving again. Also crossing out things I'm specifically saving for later.

Can't seem to edit the first post in the thread which is why I'm even including the crossed-out things on here. This is an update to the original list with things I wasn't able to edit onto it, like how I finished a couple more things since then.

Keeping the initial three tiers of priority, which is worth noting here because lower-priority things are less likely to get played any time soon and thus are getting more of a boost by being crowd-voted into the next group.

Automatic Bye: Fallout 2

Higher Personal Priority:
-Icewind Dale
-Icewind Dale II
-Planescape Torment
-Warcraft 3
---Frozen Throne
-~~Neverwinter Nights~~
-*System Shock Remake
-*System Shock II
-Neverwinter Nights II
---Mask of the Betrayer

Medium Personal Priority:
-Pillars of Eternity
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Divinity: Original Sin
-Divinity: Original Sin II
-Diablo 2
-Wasteland Remastered
-Wasteland 2
-Wasteland 3
-*Baldur's Gate III

Lower Personal Priority:
-Arcanum
-Temple of Elemental Evil
-Tides of Numenera
-*KOTOR
-*KOTOR 2
-Disco Elysium
-Pathfinder
-Pathfinder II

New Additions:
-Deus Ex
-Ultima Underworld
-Ultima Underworld II

TLDR: Pick three of these:
Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II, Planescape Torment, Warcraft 3, Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Divinity: Original Sin, Divinity: Original Sin II, Diablo 2, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil, Deus Ex, Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II

I've got crippling choice paralysis on this which is part of why it kept stalling out the last couple times I tried to revive it and why I'm trying to avoid that by crowd-sourcing choices.

Whatever gets the most votes will be up front on Jan 1st, then Fallout 2, then the other two.

Janx · Oct 1, 2025

Rajaah said:
After giving up on NWN after a few hours during my last two swings at this, it's almost time for my annual revival of the CRPG quest. I'm pretty much locked-up for the rest of 2025 (as in, everything I'm playing up through the end of December is already decided) but I've got a big "take time off for health" planned in January/February and nothing lined up game-wise for what'll end up being a surplus of free time.

Decided I'm going to pencil in four specific CRPGs for that period of time and get 'em done, and I'm going to crowd-source which ones I play next. Starting on January 1st and of course I'll report back on here with how they go.

Fallout 2 gets a bye into this group since it's a must; it's been bothering me for a couple years how I've played through every main series Fallout except that one and it's the one I've heard the most good things about. The other 3 are a jump ball; they're entirely up in the air and up to you to vote on.

Go ahead and cast your votes for which two you'd go with and we'll see what shakes out, either in terms of what gets the most votes or what gets the most compelling argument, and we'll see what I'm playing on January 1st. TRY TO LIMIT YOUR VOTE TO THREE THINGS with a note on why those things specifically (perhaps they compliment each other).

Expansions don't count as their own game (I.e. you can vote for Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne as one single entity).

Below is what's left on the original list that I haven't played yet. Crossing out the things that I'm not in the mood for / tried previously and couldn't get into, like Neverwinter Nights and System Shock. Can try those again later, my objective here is to get my CRPG roster moving again. Also crossing out things I'm specifically saving for later.

Can't seem to edit the first post in the thread which is why I'm even including the crossed-out things on here. This is an update to the original list with things I wasn't able to edit onto it, like how I finished a couple more things since then.

Keeping the initial three tiers of priority, which is worth noting here because lower-priority things are less likely to get played any time soon and thus are getting more of a boost by being crowd-voted into the next group.

Automatic Bye: Fallout 2

Higher Personal Priority:
-Icewind Dale
-Icewind Dale II
-Planescape Torment
-Warcraft 3
---Frozen Throne
-~~Neverwinter Nights~~
-*System Shock Remake
-*System Shock II
-Neverwinter Nights II
---Mask of the Betrayer

Medium Personal Priority:
-Pillars of Eternity
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Divinity: Original Sin
-Divinity: Original Sin II
-Diablo 2
-Wasteland Remastered
-Wasteland 2
-Wasteland 3
-*Baldur's Gate III

Lower Personal Priority:
-Arcanum
-Temple of Elemental Evil
-Tides of Numenera
-*KOTOR
-*KOTOR 2
-Disco Elysium
-Pathfinder
-Pathfinder II

New Additions:
-Deus Ex
-Ultima Underworld
-Ultima Underworld II

ToEE getting a remake here soon.

Kajiimagi · Oct 1, 2025

Rajaah said:
After giving up on NWN after a few hours during my last two swings at this, it's almost time for my annual revival of the CRPG quest. I'm pretty much locked-up for the rest of 2025 (as in, everything I'm playing up through the end of December is already decided) but I've got a big "take time off for health" planned in January/February and nothing lined up game-wise for what'll end up being a surplus of free time.

Decided I'm going to pencil in four specific CRPGs for that period of time and get 'em done, and I'm going to crowd-source which ones I play next. Starting on January 1st and of course I'll report back on here with how they go.

Fallout 2 gets a bye into this group since it's a must; it's been bothering me for a couple years how I've played through every main series Fallout except that one and it's the one I've heard the most good things about. The other 3 are a jump ball; they're entirely up in the air and up to you to vote on.

Go ahead and cast your votes for which two you'd go with and we'll see what shakes out, either in terms of what gets the most votes or what gets the most compelling argument, and we'll see what I'm playing on January 1st. TRY TO LIMIT YOUR VOTE TO THREE THINGS with a note on why those things specifically (perhaps they compliment each other).

Expansions don't count as their own game (I.e. you can vote for Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne as one single entity).

Below is what's left on the original list that I haven't played yet. Crossing out the things that I'm not in the mood for / tried previously and couldn't get into, like Neverwinter Nights and System Shock. Can try those again later, my objective here is to get my CRPG roster moving again. Also crossing out things I'm specifically saving for later.

Can't seem to edit the first post in the thread which is why I'm even including the crossed-out things on here. This is an update to the original list with things I wasn't able to edit onto it, like how I finished a couple more things since then.

Keeping the initial three tiers of priority, which is worth noting here because lower-priority things are less likely to get played any time soon and thus are getting more of a boost by being crowd-voted into the next group.

Automatic Bye: Fallout 2

Higher Personal Priority:
-Icewind Dale
-Icewind Dale II
-Planescape Torment
-Warcraft 3
---Frozen Throne
-~~Neverwinter Nights~~
-*System Shock Remake
-*System Shock II
-Neverwinter Nights II
---Mask of the Betrayer

Medium Personal Priority:
-Pillars of Eternity
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Divinity: Original Sin
-Divinity: Original Sin II
-Diablo 2
-Wasteland Remastered
-Wasteland 2
-Wasteland 3
-*Baldur's Gate III

Lower Personal Priority:
-Arcanum
-Temple of Elemental Evil
-Tides of Numenera
-*KOTOR
-*KOTOR 2
-Disco Elysium
-Pathfinder
-Pathfinder II

New Additions:
-Deus Ex
-Ultima Underworld
-Ultima Underworld II

If you are playing for good stories, I'd pick Planescape Torment, Arcanum (warning it's pretty janky), Dues Ex, and one of the PoE games, probably 1. The combat in PoE didn't win me over but I really liked the story.

Rajaah · Oct 1, 2025

Added an addendum/TLDR to the above post. Whatever gets the most votes will be up front on Jan 1st, then Fallout 2, then the other two.

Kajiimagi said:
If you are playing for good stories, I'd pick Planescape Torment, Arcanum (warning it's pretty janky), Dues Ex, and one of the PoE games, probably 1. The combat in PoE didn't win me over but I really liked the story.

I really like PoE1. I created a bad-ass monk in that game when I was trying it out before.

KoahLei · Oct 1, 2025

Rajaah said:
Added an addendum/TLDR to the above post. Whatever gets the most votes will be up front on Jan 1st, then Fallout 2, then the other two.

I really like PoE1. I created a bad-ass monk in that game when I was trying it out before.

Poe Deadfire and Tyranny I've played through three times. Great lore and stories I thought.

Talos · Oct 2, 2025

Rajaah said:
After giving up on NWN after a few hours during my last two swings at this, it's almost time for my annual revival of the CRPG quest. I'm pretty much locked-up for the rest of 2025 (as in, everything I'm playing up through the end of December is already decided) but I've got a big "take time off for health" planned in January/February and nothing lined up game-wise for what'll end up being a surplus of free time.

Decided I'm going to pencil in four specific CRPGs for that period of time and get 'em done, and I'm going to crowd-source which ones I play next. Starting on January 1st and of course I'll report back on here with how they go.

Fallout 2 gets a bye into this group since it's a must; it's been bothering me for a couple years how I've played through every main series Fallout except that one and it's the one I've heard the most good things about. The other 3 are a jump ball; they're entirely up in the air and up to you to vote on.

Go ahead and cast your votes for which two you'd go with and we'll see what shakes out, either in terms of what gets the most votes or what gets the most compelling argument, and we'll see what I'm playing on January 1st. TRY TO LIMIT YOUR VOTE TO THREE THINGS with a note on why those things specifically (perhaps they compliment each other).

Expansions don't count as their own game (I.e. you can vote for Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne as one single entity).

Below is what's left on the original list that I haven't played yet. Crossing out the things that I'm not in the mood for / tried previously and couldn't get into, like Neverwinter Nights and System Shock. Can try those again later, my objective here is to get my CRPG roster moving again. Also crossing out things I'm specifically saving for later.

Can't seem to edit the first post in the thread which is why I'm even including the crossed-out things on here. This is an update to the original list with things I wasn't able to edit onto it, like how I finished a couple more things since then.

Keeping the initial three tiers of priority, which is worth noting here because lower-priority things are less likely to get played any time soon and thus are getting more of a boost by being crowd-voted into the next group.

Automatic Bye: Fallout 2

Higher Personal Priority:
-Icewind Dale
-Icewind Dale II
-Planescape Torment
-Warcraft 3
---Frozen Throne
-~~Neverwinter Nights~~
-*System Shock Remake
-*System Shock II
-Neverwinter Nights II
---Mask of the Betrayer

Medium Personal Priority:
-Pillars of Eternity
-Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire
-Divinity: Original Sin
-Divinity: Original Sin II
-Diablo 2
-Wasteland Remastered
-Wasteland 2
-Wasteland 3
-*Baldur's Gate III

Lower Personal Priority:
-Arcanum
-Temple of Elemental Evil
-Tides of Numenera
-*KOTOR
-*KOTOR 2
-Disco Elysium
-Pathfinder
-Pathfinder II

New Additions:
-Deus Ex
-Ultima Underworld
-Ultima Underworld II

TLDR: Pick three of these:
Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II, Planescape Torment, Warcraft 3, Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Divinity: Original Sin, Divinity: Original Sin II, Diablo 2, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil, Deus Ex, Ultima Underworld, Ultima Underworld II

I've got crippling choice paralysis on this which is part of why it kept stalling out the last couple times I tried to revive it and why I'm trying to avoid that by crowd-sourcing choices.

Whatever gets the most votes will be up front on Jan 1st, then Fallout 2, then the other two.

Divinity: Original Sin
Diablo 2
Divinity: Original Sin II

Tuco · Oct 2, 2025

Diablo 2, Planescape Torment.

I'd play Ultima 7 before Underworld.

There is still features ultima 7 had that haven't been surpassed in any other crpg, like their npc schedules.

Exult

exult.sourceforge.io

agripa · Oct 2, 2025

you should add underrail to your list.

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Rajaah's CRPG Blog

Caliane

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Kajiimagi

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole

Kharzette

Watcher of Overs

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Caliane

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

Burns

Avatar of War Slayer

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Shmoopy

Avatar of War Slayer

Kharzette

Watcher of Overs

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Rajaah

Honorable Member

Janx

Kajiimagi

Rajaah

Honorable Member

KoahLei

Karen

Talos

Golden Baronet of the Realm

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!

Exult

agripa

Molten Core Raider