Have you looked at the Diablo games? I know that they’re kind of old, and definately a bash-to-advance game, but I liked Diablo 2 quite a bit.
Oh, and my wife and I are quite sim-happy. I’ve always like sim games. Some dark-ages type sims that you might like to try are Majesty and Dungeon Keeper 2.
I adore the dungeon Keeper games. So delightfully evil.
All the games I’d have reccomended have already been mentioned. There is one game you should definately look out for in the future though as it sounds like it might be right up your alley, though since it isn’t out yet, I obviously can’t really reccomend it.
The game is The Temple of Elemental Evil. It’s from Troika, the team that did Arcanum. It’s based on Gary Gygax’s Greyhawk campaign setting, updated to 3rd Edition D&D rules, and it looks to be a straight stat-based RPG with turn-based combat.
Here, I’ll let GameSpy tell you all about it. They’ll do a better job than I.
Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2 were a great deal of fun, and quite funny. However, they’re not RPGs (not that you indicated they might be, just that is what the OP is looking for). Still, any game where you can slap around Dark Mistresses can’t be bad 
(let the misogyny labels fly)
Tapioca, while I will never bash BG II, no game is as open ended as Daggerfall (The Elder Scrolls 2 with Arena being 1 and Morrowind as 3). BG II is a bit linear, especially after Ankthala, but is still my favorite RPG. So many different NPC configurations for so much fun, plus lots of really good fan mods greatly enhance its replay value.
It’s just that Morrowind’s combat is mindless not that it’s like an FPS. Do you like the pause action combat of D&D games? On looking back I see you didn’t like Baldur’s Gate (I was thinking of BG2). Baldur’s Gate was just mowing a big tedious black lawn. Definately get BG2 you will LOVE it. It’s the only game I got a strategy guide for - and it’s the best one ever written for a game. The character kit’s are so fun. There is NO doubt that this is the one for you.
Also, let me reccomend Septerra Core, a console style RPG for the PC which I thought was fun. A good game, not great, but worth playing. Of course, you’ll have to go digging in the bargain bin to find it these days which might make it hard to find, but at least its cheap.
:eek:
Greatest. Module. Ever.
Unfortunately (in her case; I personally never had a problem with it), the combat system itself has, to the best of my abilities to determine, not undergone any major changes.
The overhead, 3rd person view is the same; everything is real time unless you either set it to auto-pause at certain cues, or hit the space bar whenever you want to pause; casters still have a tendency to disregard personal safety when trying to accomodate line of sight for their uber-bestest-fry-em-up spells; bows and other ranged weapons have been toned down (if you had two or three archers in BG I, you were pretty much unstoppable); and the ability to cast 9th level mage and 7th level cleric spells (as well as the introduction of more powerful weapons/items suitable for higher level characters) of course alters combat, as well as higher level NPC’s using their abilities appropriately. I love how they did dragons combat properly–wing buffet, spell, spell, spell, breathe, tail, spell, wing buffet… you get the idea.
What specifically did she not like about the combat system? Was it too awkward or not requiring enough strategy or… ?
Sometimes I felt that some of the battles were too easy (but really, how much strategy do you need to blast a tribe of kobolds or an unthinking golem?), but I challenge myself by not continuing past a fight/plot advancer unless I can make it through without ever having a single character die.
lno, the Krondor games were definitely good ones. I still have them around somewhere. Packed in a box in the basement, like as not (we’ve moved since we played them). Definitely the right type of suggestion, though.
Gravity, definitely not interested in the Diablo games, or similar, sorry. We’ve looked at them before - too much action, not enough plot/story for our tastes. I know they’re extremely popular with other people, though, so I’m sure they’re not going to miss us.
Sims, on the other hand… hmmm. My wife was really into Sim City and SC2K sometime back. Do you (or anyone else) want to give me more details on Majesty or Dungeon Keeper 2? I’ve got an open mind, just don’t know much about them.
Tarantara, I didn’t ignore you earlier; but I wanted to do some research and find out more about Vampire: the Masquerade. Unfortunately, their web site was kind of unhelpful at telling me what the game was like, and I didn’t have more time at lunch to look at other sites. If you’d like to add some detail, I’m interested; otherwise, I’ll look for more sites on the web this weekend.
Fibber McGee, Septerra Core rings a bell - I know that I’ve seen that in stores, and at least picked it up and considered it. I can’t remember exactly why we don’t have it, but we don’t. Wanna say more about it?
soulmurk, it was very unfair of me to state that my wife wasn’t thrilled by the BG combat system, without telling you why. Unfortunately, I can’t correct this, because I don’t remember the details. I do know that she didn’t firmly *dis-*like the game, just that she didn’t like it as well as others we’ve played. At any rate, I’ll be asking her to remember what she thought about it, because I am leaning towards getting BG2. (Which is not to say that I won’t get others as well, so that’s not the end of this thread!)
I’m also still considering Wiz8, and after D_Odds’ advocacy post, I’m reconsidering Icewind Dale. I had been under the impression it was light on plot/story; apparently that’s not the case? KidCharlemagne indicated that it was combat heavy. I don’t necessarily need character interaction within the party, but I am interested in interaction between the party and NPC’s. Let me ask this: how much of the IceWind Dale story gets moved along because you kill things, and how much because you talk to the right people or solve things?
Hmmm. Why am I responding to all these people in the same post, instead of padding my post count by doing it separately?
Oh, and Fibber, The Temple of Elemental Evil sounds way cool - I’ll look at that web site this weekend also. I still remember playing the Village of Hommlet module in pencil&paper D&D some mumble years ago, that was SUPPOSED to be a lead-in to the module “The Temple of Elemental Evil”, which never materialized during the years I was playing. The lead-up was cool, though.
Oh, you know, I don’t think I had connected Morrowind with Arena until this point. I think that if I had seen them written as Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls 1: Arena, more often, I probably would have made the connection, but maybe not.
Anyway, I remember having Arena. We both played it for a while, couldn’t see the point, or any plot, got bored, and gave up. I’m still a little concerned (from above descriptions) that would happen in Morrowind, as well, although it seems less likely.
It’s academic, though - I just checked the system requirements, and it’s not going to run on our PC. So I think I’ll file Morrowind in the back of my mind (under “M”, for “Maybe”), until the day comes that we replace the computer (which I know we’ll do at some point, but not this month).
Icewind Dale gets triggered by NPC contact…afterall it is your job to save the Ten Towns. There aren’t a lot of side quests, and most are at the beginning (so that you can toughen up from level 1). There is an expansion pack, Heart of Winter, and a free, very large, scenario download, Trials of the Luremaster. The latter is more puzzle-based; I’m sure there were puzzles in the original, just not many. There is significant NPC (but not party NPC) interaction throughout the game. It is more combat-oriented than Baldur’s Gate, though not by much, and it is the same combat engine.
Dungeon Keeper is a fun and fulfilling god-sim. In it, you play the ultimate evil. You build subterranean dungeons, attract minions, and battle to defend your realm from other dungeon keepers and those pesky heroes (such as you play in M&M and Wizardry). Our local best buy has both games for about $10.00.
Yes, you need to configure 4 top-of-the-line video cards in an array to get a good framerate in Morrowind. Running it on a mainframe probably wouldn’t hurt.
I never played Arena, but I think that Morrowind is easier to stay on course than it was in Daggerfall. It certainly is nowhere near as buggy as even the patched Daggerfall, probably due to its dual development for the XBox.
While this is certainly not an indictment of Wiz 8, I put it down after awhile to play HoMM 4 and replay Morrowind, this time with the expansion pack. And I much preferred Icewind Dale, which (the more I compare) has more NPC interaction.
Yes, you need to configure 4 top-of-the-line video cards in an array to get a good framerate in Morrowind. Running it on a mainframe probably wouldn’t hurt.
I never played Arena, but I think that Morrowind is easier to stay on course than it was in Daggerfall. It certainly is nowhere near as buggy as even the patched Daggerfall, probably due to its dual development for the XBox.
While this is certainly not an indictment of Wiz 8, I put it down after awhile to play HoMM 4 and replay Morrowind, this time with the expansion pack. And I much preferred Icewind Dale, which (the more I compare) has more NPC interaction.
I do think you will enjoy Wizardry 8. I just played the demo, but it seemed really good. But I didn’t have the time or money at the time to get it, and when I did, Morrowind was out :D.
A word of warning concerning Baldur’s Gate II: When making the game, they had to make some assumptions about how you played the original, so they went with what most folks did. If you played it differently, you might not like some of the “inconsistencies”. For instance (no real spoilers, since you learn all this in the first five minutes or so), Imoen is dual-classed to mage, which means that she’s not a super high-level thief like she was when I played, and Dynaheir (the mage accompianing Minsc) and what’s-his-name the fighter who was married to Jaheira are both killed off, since apparently most folks playing the first one got tired of them. Also be advised that it’s not third edition rules, it’s second edition rules hacked to vaguely resemble third edition (3E didn’t come out soon enough for them to be able to program it into the game, but they had some hints as to what was coming)
I’ve heard plenty of good things about Neverwinter Nights, by the way, but it’s definitely geared towards online play, which you said you didn’t want. If you play solo, your party will consist entirely of one main character and one henchman.
Yep, D_Odds has it right about the Dungeon Keeper games. You are the evil overlord. You build your dungeon to attract certain creatures. You build more rooms to train the creatures and things like: If you build a library, you will get warlocks. The warlocks will make spells that you can use. If you build a workshop you will get trolls, the trolls use the workshops to make traps that will defend your dungeon from those pesky hero attackers. You go through scenarios to build up enough to beat the particular boss hero of the chapter that you’re in. When that’s done, you can either go on to the next scenario or keep playing in your little dungeon. The graphics are better in Dungeon Keeper 2 than in 1, and there are more monster types that you can attract.
Majesty is like this: you have a kingdom. There are a few hovels, one guard tower and your palace, basically. Then you play through senarios where you have to build up to beat the bad guys. Build a marketplace to get money, build a warriors guild to get fighters, build a temple to get healing spells and such.
These are both bargain-bin games now, as they’ve been out quite some time, and the system requirements are pretty low. Both are very fun if you like sim type games at all. I love them both.
My two cents:
I hated, hated, hated Wizardry 8. The storyline was the hokey blend of fantasy/scifi that annoys me no end, and the combat in the game was horrifically slow. If I was attacked by three groups of nine wasps (a common occurance), it might take each wasp five seconds to resolve its action. 5x27=135 seconds, over two minutes, for the opposition to resolve its turn. Often I’d get in a fight, then I’d get up, go to the bathroom, go grab myself a drink, pick up a book, and come back to the computer — and I STILL wouldn’t be able to take my turn in combat yet. It drove me bonkers, and I eventually quit playing it.
Baldur’s Gate II, OTOH, was great: in terms of character interaction, it’s second only to Planescape:Torment in my experience. You can have long involved conversations with your party members, opening up side quests, falling in (and out of) love, and generally having a blast. Some of the side quests are tragic and awful; some are hilarious (viz. the Red Wizard’s side quest). The game is extremely long. If you start to get bored in the first section, remember that you’re not obligated to complete every side quest: remember that you know how to move the game forward whenever you want.
Icewind Dale was fun, but I disagree that the storyline is especially rich. I found it to be pretty stock fantasy gaming storyline; nothing happened in it that surprised me.
I’m playing Neverwinter Nights now, and it’s reasonably fun, although the single-player storyline isn’t particularly rich. There’s really only one compelling character in it. I’ve not tried any of the user-created modules for it, but I’ve heard good things about them; indeed, the main strength of the game seems to be its customizability. Will your wife be able to use a fast internet connection? She may want to look into NWN, then.
And one recommendation that’s a little out of your requested field, but I’m gonna make it anyway: Deus Ex, while primarily an action shooter, has a better roleplaying storyline than most roleplaying games do. I’m not normally a big fan of FPS games, but Deus Ex is a brilliant exception to that rule. You can probably get a copy for cheap now, and you might want to give it a try. But it is definitely outside of your requested field.
Oh – and Betrayal at Krondor rocked! Find it for some awesome retro fun!
Daniel
You dork!
[sub]sorry, no one else did it yet[/sub]
ok, back to playing emulated FF1 on Nesticle, with the ill-advised party of 2 fighters and 2 thieves.
That wouldn’t bug us at all - we’re used to it from all the Ultima games, after all.
Uh… yeah… Well, I’ve never really seen either 2nd or 3rd edition rules on paper, only derivatives of them in the computer games; and the difference will still be considerably smaller than the difference between any of these games and the non-D&D based ones, so that won’t bug us in the least. In fact, we may not notice it in that context at all.
Nope, definitely not. Online play seems to be “the wave of the present”, but it’s just not to our tastes. It’s really a bummer to us that the games all seem to be going to on-line only series (our favorites, after all, were the Ultima and Might and Magic series).
We also thought Chronos Trigger was fun. 