Seconding Planescape: Torment. It’s most excellent! You can still get that from Amazon.com too.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura fits the bill. Almost. It has a great story and world to explore. I personally love the character advancement.
The only problem is that you don’t control your party members in combat. Well… You can tell them to back off or specify a target to attack but you can’t micromanage their actions like you can your own.
It’s not based off DnD rules. It uses its own unique set of rules.
Every few years I break out my copy of Might and Magic: World of Xeen to cure my “turn-based RPG” jones. I don’t have the slightest idea whether it uses the D&D system, but I’ve enjoyed this one for many years.
The only games that come close to what you want AND have good production values AND have a good story have already been mentioned: BG series, and NWN series.
NWN 2 will definitely give you that party feel and the D&D fix thanks to the ability to control an entire party, and the toolset which lots of community members have used to create new adventures, many of which are based on classic PnP modules and CRPG games. NWN 1 has three different versions of Pool of Radiance, for example, and they are all great. NWN 2 is much newer so the number of modules isn’t as large, but it’s a decent list and growing. NWN 2 has a new expansion out too which is a great epic adventure.
The only turn based D&D RPG’s recently released are all bug ridden messes with very short or poorly written plot lines - the only one worth trying would be Temple of Elemental Evil. I’d say give NWN 2 a shot and see if you can overlook the pace of combat, which is pseudo turn based. Really, it’s the best D&D game series we have.
Word of warning: this is one the buggiest games I’ve ever played. There’re several patches out for it, but I’ve never gotten it to the point where it can be reliably played on my PC.
Fallout sounds great, but I think I’m just looking for a game that can refresh me on D&D rules whilst reminiscing the skull crushing.
could you give an idea of what you’ve played and liked, so that a) we can suggest similar things, and b) you don’t get redundant suggestions?
edit: well, everything I would’ve suggested has been suggested already, so never mind. (but let me add that if you have not played the Fallout games, you should no longer be reading this because you are either out buying it, installing it, or playing it.)
Fallout 3 being close?
Try Q4 2008!
I know, but relatively close though, compared to 1997 when the Fallout 2 came out. And now, BOS and any other variant in between don’t count as they are merely tactical live action strategy games.
Ditto. I found the mechanics frustrating and the bugs horrendous. I never finished it and wouldn’t recommend it at all and I like most D&D RPGs.
Edited to add: AND I started it with great nostalgia, having played the pen & paper module back in the old days. It still disappointed.
I’ll echo the love for most of the others mentioned here, though. BG I & II, the Fallouts, Planescape Torment…
Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance fits your bill, though it’s for Game Boy. Completely turn-based, with a nice tactical element- it’s played on a small map, and you move your party-members around, tanking with some, pulling back with others, and generally micro-managing everything. Emulators for PC exist, though I don’t believe that’s legal.
I loved the tactics of X-COM, but like I said, I’m looking for a refresher course on D&D type rules.
Curse of the Azure Bonds was great, and I’d get the few I haven’t played in the Gold box series if they weren’t sooooo dated.
I think fulfilling your request for D&D 3.5 (or even 3.0) rules-based is pretty much impossible. The NWN games are based on the 3.0/3/5 ruleset, but there are a number of changes specific to making them PC games that will trip you up. If you want a general introduction, they’re probably fine, but you will still want to read through the rules to see where the PC versions differ from the tabletop.
I’m going to differ a bit with the sentiment that BG is not turn-based at heart. It’s not turn-based if you want “all my guys go, then all his guys go” but the underlying D&D turn structure and initiative is there. You can configure the autopause to pause as each character’s turn comes up, giving you functional turn-based combat. I do not like real-time games at all, and I find the pausable system used in BG, NWN and the like to work really well for me.
And hey, no mentions of KOTOR? Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is an excellent game, pretty much based on the D&D ruleset but with Star Wars trappings.