I haven’t played a new game in ages. I think the last thing I spent money on was NWN. I prefer fantasy type stuff - complex storylines are nice, but optional. Here are some games I’ve enjoyed in the past:
Neverwinter Nights
Diablo 2
King’s Quest (6 and 7)
Monkey Island
Civilizations 2 and Warcraft 3 were also mildly amusing, but I suck at strategy stuff. And before you recommend Baldur’s Gate, I’ve already tried playing it, but this was after I’d already played NWN and having more than two characters to handle was just too much for me (yeah, I’m a lazy bitch). I tried playing WoW but lost interest pretty quickly. I didn’t like the interface.
I can’t wait for Diablo 3 to come out, but that’s a few years off, I’m sure, so I’d like something to keep me entertained in the meantime.
Have you ever tried any of the Heroes of Might and Magic games? I suck at strategy games but enjoy dungeon crawlers and fantasy RPGs and found the turn based stuff to be a lot of fun.
Diablo 1 beats Diablo 2 any day of the week in terms of atmosphere and gameplay. It’s shorter, harsher, and quite balanced.
Fallout 1 and 2 are scifi, not fantasy, but they are among the best single player RPGs I’ve ever played. Best character development system, best voice acting, superb writing, entertaining combat. Any NPCs who join you are run by their own AI, which you can preset (within character-specific constraints) before combat. The graphics are bad even by late 90s standards, but every other aspect is top-notch. Fallout 2 also has the coolest assassination technique of all time, which is best left unspoiled
Planescape: Torment has the same engine as Baldur’s Gate. However, your main character’s stat caps are 25. Yes, 25, in a D&D setting. You can beat the entire game with just the main guy and his talking, floating skull companion. The skull is more entertaining than Minsc and Boo. Great game overall.
If you are willing to load up Dosbox for the oldies, you can’t go wrong with Betrayal at Krondor.
Another vote for Planescape: Torment. Arguably the game with the best story ever told.
Have you tried the Elder Scrolls games? If not I recommend Morrowind (which you could probably pick up as a budget game now). I wouldn’t say Oblivion was that great though, in fact it was one of the biggest let downs of my gaming life.
Oh HELL yes! I forgot about that. If you can get 5 as well do so at it ends the story, although I never got to play it so can’t say whether it was any good.
QFG 5 is a mixed bag - the humor and adventure part is still excellent there, and there is a romance arc in the story (multiple selection of ladies!) and the music is by Chance Thomas and it’s one of the best game soundtrack evar. The combat system is its weaker part - think Diablo in 3D but with a fixed camera. I wished they have retained the original QFG 1 to 3 system (QFG 4’s combat system is just…weird…)
Alas, you need a fan-patch to make it run on XP. I am not sure if it runs on Vista though.
Addition: Oh, if you enjoy Neverwinter Nights, you may want try Knights of the Old Republic I, and maybe II (sequel’s not as good as the first, but a fan-patch may change that…not sure if it is out yet).
If you want to go real old school, you might be able to find a version of the old Interplay game Wasteleand for an Apple II emulator.
Or, if you can find a copy, Interplay released an RPG collection that included the Bard’s Tale games, Wasteland, Wizardry Gold, and a few other old-school RPG’s.
And if you want a first-person shooter with adventure/rpg elements, you can’t go wrong with Deus Ex.
Have you tried NWN 2? There is the whole party dynamic, but you still have the pause button and the auto leveling, so you can just treat your party members as pack mules if you want.
Also, somewhere in the middle of the game you can solo the rest of the adventure by leaving your party behind.
There’s one expansion pack for it already, and a new one coming out later this year.
I have Wasteland for Apple II. Right here in my hand now. I really liked that game.
On the back:
HOT.MEAN.RADIOACTIVE
It’s 2087
World War III has come and gone.
As a Desert Ranger, you’ve vowed to help rebuild humanity… but first you have to survive.
Requirements:
APPLE II+. IIe, IIc, IIGS
5 1/4" disk drive required
4 blank disks required
It required only the 40 column 64k memory not the 128k on a 80 column graphics card, which was standard for a IIc.
Wasteland is by Electronic Arts. I know it’s not the same as Wasteland 2.
I’m playing through Neverwinter Nights II now. I’ve never had a D&D game feel like a chore for me before. I think I’m almost done with it, but goddamn I’m not feeling it.
Thanks for all the rec, guys. I forgot there was a NWN II - must’ve come out when I was in grad school or something.
I’ll try for some of the slightly older games. I have a PC (or access to one at least) and it’s pretty up-to-date (I’m living with my parents for a few months and my dad is fanatic about updating hardware as often as possible) but since my parents don’t play games the graphics card is not great.
