Where are all the party based RPG adventure games?
I have a craving and only one kind of game can feed it.
One thing I really miss these days are party based RPG adventure games. These are NOT JRPGs even though they sound very similar. You start a game, create a custom party of 4 or more people and move out to explore the world. There may be classes but they are not quite set in stone, you can create a mage but no one forces you to pick between red, white and black.
The first one I can remember playing is the Exile series by Spiderweb Software. An excellent trilogy later remade into the Avernum series which is now on its 6th and final iteration. I highly recommend them. I am currently playing through both of those series but a little at a time to stave off burnout. Apart from those there seems to be a huge lack of similar games.
At around the same time I got into Realmz. Another party based adventure game. It was great fun but geared towards the Mac, so I never got far into it.
Quite a while later I stumbled upon Helherron by chance. A game which probably 5% of you have heard of, if that. Its an exceptional game crafted entirely by one guy that allows you to create a custom party of 8 (!) characters. Unfortunately it only runs well in Linux, the windows version has many bugs in XP. No improvements are forthcoming, the author himself admits he never gave out the source code because of how horrible it was. He is now in Japan studying to be a buddhist monk (I sh*t you not).
Since those three I haven't been able to find many other games that fit the bill. Do you guys have any ideas? I was recommended Jagged Alliance by a friend which I will check out later. All genres are good but swords and sorcery is a plus.
If you've not tasted Icewind Dale, I recommend that. And the new expansion to NWN 2 is of the same vein. The original NWN2 & MotB expansion have been great for me, but those only let you create the main character, not the entire party. The 2nd expansion, the one mentioned before, does.
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He's right, but Icewind Dale II has aged better than the first, in my opinion. It is chock full of strategic rpg action. Its my favorite of all the "infinity engine" games.
"But 2004 might be ancient for a teenager, with their hippin' and the hoppin' and the bippin' and the boppin', they don't know what the jazz is all about." - Gravey
Neverwinter Nights 2's Storm of Zehir expansion allows you to create a full party of 4 plus 2 henchmen... or with an ini text file edit, a party of 6. Its also a fun game. Not a hugely deep RPG like Mask of the Betrayer, but a totally different kind of RPG romp. More hacky, less chatty.
Jagged Alliance 1 and 2 (especially 2) was a great turn based strat+RPG mashup. There's cool mods and stuff for it now of course.
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I can't figure out exactly why, but I still think the first Icewind Dale was the better game overall. The sequel's system mechanics are indeed superior (a sort of mash-up between Infinity Engine 2e mechanics and 3e mechanics), but as a game overall I thought the first was a tighter and more enjoyable experience.
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Isn't Oblivion a party based game? (Don't know, I'm asking)
I avoid online multiplayer because my brain still works.
None of the Elder Scrolls games are.
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"But 2004 might be ancient for a teenager, with their hippin' and the hoppin' and the bippin' and the boppin', they don't know what the jazz is all about." - Gravey
Aw, man, I was so hoping that you were talking about an RPG-style game designed for up to 4 people to play simultaneously. Preferably while drunk. Something like Super Mario Party RPG.
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Up to 6 people can play either by lan or internet. The most I've played with was 4 people; 2 of us controlled the other 2 party members. Great fun.
"But 2004 might be ancient for a teenager, with their hippin' and the hoppin' and the bippin' and the boppin', they don't know what the jazz is all about." - Gravey
If you liked Avernum, have a look at Eschalon: Book 1. I can't vouch for it myself, but it garnered high praise when it was released. Apparently they are working on Eschalon: Book 2 too, so if you like it you at least know there'll be more down the road!
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If you have a DS you might want to see if the Etrian Oddessy games are your cup of tea. They are of Japanese origin but the gameplay is along the style of the old Bards Tale games (create a party at the adventurers guild, explore 1st person block-based dungeon). Hard as hell but great fun.
Also, Wizardry 8, if you can track down a copy.
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Isn't Eschalon just controlling one character? I just played the demo, so I suppose that there's a small chance more are added later, but if I recall correctly no.
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Icewind Dale II was easily the superior game!
And no I'm not biased because I could never beat the final boss in Icewind Dale 1.
Eschalon was pretty good. The game was well polished and didn't have any bugs I could fine. However it just wasn't for me. I guess I didn't like the skill system. To get a minimap for example you have to buy points of cartography. Until you sink more points into it the map is so garbled as to be useless. You could never take every skill and every one you didn't bring with you locked you out of tons of content. To experience everything you would have to play it multiple times and I hate doing that.
I remember playing a demo of Depths of Peril. That game wasn't bad but it seemed to me that the demo showed everything the game had to offer.
How much RPG does Dawn of War II have in it compared to RTS? I gather it's more focused on the individuals in a squad and their equipment and abilities than managing multiple squads.
If you don't mind a bit of strategy mixed into your RPG, then the Disagea and oher Nippon Ichi games are all about customising a group of your own characters.
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The Temple of Elemental Evil is a great party-based D&D game.
Tanglebones wrote:
If you play it on the lowest difficulty, it's practically all RPG. The gameplay is definitely real-time, but you can usually take your time setting up each battle, and you can always retreat to a safe place if things get too hairy. I went through it on Recruit difficulty and it was a lot of fun. There was very little pressure to micromanage the tactics. It also let me try a different mix of abilities that probably wouldn't work on higher difficulties. I almost spent more time tweaking my wargear and pondering where to put my stat points than I did killing aliens.
You pick a squad of four out of (eventually) six units and go to town. Every mission has a boss or boss-like creature to defeat, as well as intermediate objectives. There isn't a huge amount of variety in the maps and missions, but they use clever tricks to make the maps look different--different times of day, starting in a different place, encountering different opponents.
If you're just going to play it like this, I'd wait for a price drop, though. The campaign can be finished in 15 hours or so if you focus on the story and finish the game with your squads below the maximum level of 20. You can make it last longer by doing optional missions to collect more wargear and level up your squads.
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I wrote an email to the Conference Call (that they decided they wouldn't read, boo!) saying that I would kill for the next Baldur's Gate to go the direction of the small squad tactics of Dawn of War 2. Another Fallout or Fallout Tactics with the same Dawn of War 2 game play mechanics would be totally awesome!
Tamren, have you tried Atlantica Online? Its pretty much the real Final Fantasy MMO without random encounters. It has an emphasis on combat with a few quest and a much lighter story. You create a main character and then can recruit up to 9 mercs from a large pool of classes that expands as you level up. Its time limited turn based strategy with spells, gear and crafting. I am enjoying it a lot.
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I looked into that. It seemed interesting but a bit grindy for my taste.
I would sell my mother for a DoW2 based Fallout:Tactics. They also need to do a similar version for the Inquisition.
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Look no further. Characters are a bit too JRPG for my tastes, but overall pretty fun.
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Personally, I think an Inquisitor-based story would be _EPIC_ awesome based on Mass Effect. (In other words, a lot more RPG-style). Still, DoW2 is all kinds of awesome. Fallout: Tactics based on that would be awesome. Or, just a Dark Crusade-esque expansion that adds Necrons and the Tau as playables. Man, can you imagine a DoW2 style campaign for the Imperial Guard, Necrons, Tau, Chaos, Eldar, Tyranid, and the Orks? That'd be enough gaming goodness to last me a year. (15-25$ expansions containing a new playable race, with the full SP campaign? Yes, please. I'd go for that in a heartbeat.)
Ulairi wrote:
Not Planescape: Torment? I'll cut you, man, I'll cut you!
Agreed...they're about as hard as running through a Fire Emblem game without losing a single character the whole time...you'll play the same levels over a few times.
I'm hoping that with the fairly recent advent of multi-player gaming (at least to the mainstream) that we'll see a few more party-based RPGs pop up as the FPS dies its slow death...western-style would be a plus.
I like the cut of your jib, Minarchist. -- Podunk
What Minarchist said. -- Paleocon
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I love RPGs as much as most die-hards, but the FPS will never die. Grow and expand yes, but never die. (I'm really hoping for a meet-in-the-middle... like a worthy sequel to Deus Ex. Bioshock simplified a lot, and missed a lot of the charm and fun System Shock had.)
Ulairi wrote:
Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that it would go away completely, just that at some point it has to cease its reign as king of the gaming heap and move on to a more adventure game or RTS role as some new genre or hybrid of genres comes to the forefront.
I like the cut of your jib, Minarchist. -- Podunk
What Minarchist said. -- Paleocon
Listen to Minarchist, for he is wise. -- Jonman
Baldur's Gate I and II, Icewindale I and II, Neverwinter Nights I and II. Bioware has strayed further and further, thanks to better AI, from a party based RPG and more to having complimentary characters. Guild Wars with its henchmen and heroes mechanic adds a fair bit to AI characters. A big part of GW solo play is getting the better heroes on your side. You can get tanks, DPS, healers, etc.
Another thing to look at are tactics and squad based games. Many of the same principles are present in the older Rainbow Six titles, Mech Commander, Full Spectrum Warrior. The Heroes of Might and Magic series takes many of the same principles. As does the Total War series-think of your army as your party. Even look into Dawn of War II. Admittedly all of these games do not enjoy the same lavish writing that many of the previous RPGs have. It is more a mechanical similarity.
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I love Rainbow Six titles, but I'm struggling to find anything RPG-like in them. I suppose that a story is presented is something, but I've never seen it as more than an weak excuse to shoot stuff.
ToEE is mechanically the best D&D-based game I've ever played. I only wish more companies had the guts to release an RPG with turn-based combat. In fact, the only other ostensibly turn-based games I've played on the PC in general were squad-based tactics: Jagged Alliance and Fallout Tactics.
Check out Might & Magic 3, 4, 5 (not to be confused with Heroes of M&M - totally different series)
http://www.abandonia.com/en/game/RPG
Clouds of Xeen (4) is my favorite of the party based RPGs, with Ultima 7: Serpent Isle being my second fav. If you do play Worlds of Xeen (4 & 5 together), do yourself a favor and finish Clouds before entering the Dark Side (through the small pyramids). Way more fun that way. I haven't played 3, but I had a roommate who thought the rest paled in comparison to it.
There are a pile of old-school party based games on that site. Need Dosbox for most, if not all, of them.
I had an issue with Dosbox and M&M4, where it would hang upon Signing-in at the tavern (where you create your characters). If I switch dosbox to windowed-mode, by hitting alt-enter, then try to sign in at the tavern, the problem goes away. I could then fullscreen it again and it would be fine.
You may want to check this out Monsters' Den: Book of Dread
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FedoraMcQuaid wrote:
not to mention the sequel, which is certainly 'more of the same'
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LarryC wrote: