Oblivion

[OG_Gleep]

There is a solution for my problem with the Loot tables if anyone is interested. Several mods have released loot rarity plugins that basically extend the level requirements between seeing certain weapons and armor. As I understand it you'd be looking for top tier gear well into your 20s with these types of mods.

[NTJedi]

DominionsFAN said:
Look at this "low budget" RPG:

Blades of Avernum:
http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html

I swear this is much better as an RPG, then the new "high tech" RPGs. If you like RPG games, this is a must have.

Yes I found these games several months ago... the Avernum series use a fixed world which means limited replay value and Blades of Avernum has an editor unfortunately it's not very user friendly thus I contacted the developers to determine if a sequel would be released... the developers said 'very unlikely'.
If a Blades of Avernum_2 arrived with an updated editor I would definitely buy the game, but the current game and editor is too old. Thus I'm just waiting for NeverwinterNights_2.

[OG_Gleep]

DominionsFAN said:
Imho old wizardry games were the best RPGs. Oblivion is an action RPG for me, it is not a real hardcore RPG. Personally I really missed the good old RPG games, I havent seen a decent RPG in the last 2 years.

Really? I personally don't think this comes close to being an action RPG. Maybe if you constantly went from dungeon to dungeon. The amount of time I am actually swining a sword is minimal compared to the total time in game.

I enjoyed Pools of Radience..I don't remember exactly when that came out. A lot of people liked Gothic II, though I never played it. It definatley feels like the old school party based RPG games have taken a back seat to hack and slash game play. The decision of bioware to go the route they did with Neverwinter nights really bummed me out. Fortunatley I played the whole thing via LAN with a buddy so it eased the pain. The reason I enjoyed PoR so much, was the absolute scarcity of that style of RPG. And buggy rushed games normally make me upset, but it didn't bother me at all while I was playing POR.

What level are you guys right now for those who have the game? And what mods do you currently have installed?

I just downloaded a new dungeon that is supposed to be pretty sweet, called the Forgotten tomb.
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/i...owtopic=336534

Other notables:
1. 2 new weapon and Armor mods. One mods the Imperial Armor to be on par with Daedric. The other adds a new armor type and weapon type. Basically the blade equipment that has the same stats as ebony.
2. Alchemy mod that chages the name of the Potions to the first effect. Ie: Restore Health + Restore Fatigue would be called Restore effect. The end effect is that all your potions are grouped together instead of being scattered all over.
3. BTMod - Basically changes every interface screen. I think I described it in an earlier post. Makes life much easier.
4. Increased Animal drops - Spend a whole bunch of time tracking down a deer and find 1 piece of meat sucks. This alters all animal loot.
5. Wizard Hovel haven't checked this out yet.
6. Worthless Crap Mod - Adds a nominal value to all items that were previously 0 gold.

Looking for more if you guys have any suggestions.

[alexti]

OG_Gleep said:

I think I understand what you were saying, but I don't understand why. What sub genres do they represent?

Not sure I understand the link between your first statement and second. Might be a language barrier. Originally you said that comparison work within a group and put pretty much all pure RPG into one group. However, the focus of these RPGs and their goals are different. The first group is story-centered. The second leans toward strategy and tactics and the third one is more in exploration and immersion direction (some of the games can be put in two groups). My point was that, for example, comparing combat in Oblivion to combat in Wizardry 8 and concluding that combat system in Oblivion is bad isn't really productive, because it's not what Oblivion tries to do.

OG_Gleep said:

I never considered Star Control a Role Playing Game, and didn't know anyone else did either. I did a search for Star Control and Genre and it popped up a bunch of different things, including Roleplaying.

Yeah, its genre is hard to define, but if you ignore action combat what is left is more or less RPG I suppose...

[NTJedi]

OG_Gleep said:
It definatley feels like the old school party based RPG games have taken a back seat to hack and slash game play. The decision of bioware to go the route they did with Neverwinter nights really bummed me out.

Neverwinter Nights was a great game, not the campaign in the game... I mean the game. The game has a very deep diverse editor, multiplayer functionality, and never before seen a stable DM functionality. This game you can do simple hack-n-slash or download some deep complex story or control a world others play or create your own world or find something else to download. Thousands of modules are available for download... if one is bad simply move to the next. Not to mention the game did so great on sales it had two expansions.

OG_Gleep said:
... with Neverwinter nights really bummed me out. Fortunatley I played the whole thing via LAN with a buddy so it eased the pain.

You must mean the campaign within the game because there's no way someone could have played all the modules currently available for download unless their brain is plugged into their computer.
If you only played Neverwinter Nights for the campaign within the game then you only found 5% of its total game value.

[Cainehill]

OG_Gleep said:
What level are you guys right now for those who have the game? And what mods do you currently have installed?

I've gotten to level 2 a couple times, only to have the (unmodded) game crash and lose my progress before I trained. Started looking at mods this morning, there's a couple that sound good - one that makes quest reward items level up (so doing a quest at level 5 doesn't screw you forever), and some others that change the screwed up skill / leveling concept.

What _I_ want though is a mod that just lets "I" bring up Inventory, and "M" bring up the map. Know any? *grin*

(Oh - some mods that speed up arrows / spells also seem like they might be cool.)

Hmm - Gothic 2 : You consider that ActionRPG a la Diablo, or what? I've been thinking about getting it, especially since I understand the gold version fixed a number of flaws.

[DominionsFan]

Well I completed the game already, along with lot of side quests, I am a master with the fighter guilds etc.
The game is really awesome, but I wouldnt call it a real RPG. Well for me the real RPG is party based, the combat is turn based, the dungeons are much bigger with lot of traps and puzzles and I could continue. This is definitely an action RPG, but I guess this is what making the game sell very good, also the incredible graphics.
I think the old school hardcore RPGs wouldnt sell very good, so we cannot expect one to be released in the near future I guess...sadly..

[Alneyan]

Cainehill said:
Hmm - Gothic 2 : You consider that ActionRPG a la Diablo, or what? I've been thinking about getting it, especially since I understand the gold version fixed a number of flaws.

Gothic II is kind of in the vein of the Elder Scrolls, at least at first glance. In Gothic you only play one character (either first person view or third person), it has its own skill system with crafting in particular, and it also focuses somewhat on guilds and the like. The game is relatively open-ended, at least in the way you can do things; its story is pretty much linear, near as I can tell.

That's about as far as the resemblance goes, though. Gothic II has a more subdued atmosphere, with less magic to go around than that other game, and a somewhat darker universe. I have found the world to be very engaging, in both town and countryside. Unlike in the Elder Scrolls, there are three classes with somewhat different paths, skills and quests, and your character level is actually relevant. The gameworld seems to be pretty much fixed; at least I know I got beaten up pretty quickly while strolling in some nasty places.

Gothic seems to do a relatively good job with the story and dialogue. I haven't seen any mention of Elves for starters (I haven't shed a tear for their sake). Dialogues don't go the Ultima VII style, but are instead of the "Pick the A, B or C line" variety. Characters aren't silent when you speak to them, unlike games coming from, say, Bioware. I know I mind commercial games without voice-acting very much these days; if all the game can do is show some pretty graphics, I'll do something else for my graphic needs and will stick to more textual-oriented games. Hmm, I digress.

The biggest problem I have with Gothic II is the German curse, though the game wasn't bit quite as bad as, say, the Anstoss series (most of them have not been released outside Germany, and the Anstoss games that have been translated were published under different games, just to make sure nobody can recognise them). It took the whole of two years for the add-on to be translated into English, thanks to a particularly talented publisher near as I know, and the game was released at a premium price (at least in France). $75 for a three-year old game, its add-on and their respective delays? Well, perhaps not then. Shame I don't understand German *very* well... hey PrinzMegaherz, will you marry me?

[Cainehill]

Heh. Whereas here, Gothic II Gold (in English) (with an expansion that fixed some problems) is currently less than $20, making it worth considering.

[PrinzMegaherz]

Alneyan said:
hey PrinzMegaherz, will you marry me?

Why not? It won't be long until we are all forced to convert to the Islam, so having a harem of my own won't be a problem.