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Best of the New Shit?

Crooked Bee

(no longer) a wide-wandering bee
Patron
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Messages
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In quarantine
Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
The ones I enjoyed the most:
Divinity: Original Sin (I'm tired of repeating my reasoning for thinking this is the best KS RPG, so you can just read it in our RPGOTY 2014 article, along with other people's opinions: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9721)
Labyrinth of Touhou 2
Age of Decadence
Serpent in the Staglands
Telepath Tactics
Blackguards

Decent ones:
Wasteland 2
Pillars of Eternity
Might and Magic X
Lords of Xulima
Elminage Gothic

I didn't enjoy the Shadowrun games. They're like baby's first tablet turn-based RPGs with Bioware-esque writing.

Labyrinth of Touhou 2

Are you kidding me?

Best blobber combat ever, and just one of the best, most tactically varied RPG combat in general. The art style and writing are... well, yeah, so if that matters to you much, skip it.

See the thread in JRPG Discussion if you want some opinions of recent Labyrinth of Touhou converts who were initially skeptical, like Suicidal here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ranslation-released.93645/page-5#post-4123496
 

Kaivokz

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
1,499
The Banner Saga has good writing and tactical combat, beautiful art, only takes 10-15 hours to finish


Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Hong Kong (in that order) - Dragonfall has already received praise in this thread, but I thoroughly enjoyed HK too. If you're mentally capable of skipping through some inconsequential dialogue (there is too much text and as a result some of it is poorly written), there is some good content in there. Especially with two of the companions. The cybernetic system has been vastly expanded on if you're into that (cyber weapons, a cyber affinity skill tree, more mods) and the general combat seems to flow better even though the game is largely easier than DF. Both games took me about 30 hours to finish, but depending on your playstyle it could probably be between 20 and 40. I'd skip Returns, but if you've played everything else, the story isn't bad.


Wasteland 2: Director's Cut came out recently and it's enjoyable. I'd recommend it, especially if you've never touched Wasteland 2.


Since you mentioned Blackguards, Blackguards 2 is always an option. It's essentially more of the same combat with a female protagonist and a less engaging character system. The story is set a few years after the first game and includes many of the same characters (Naurim, Zubaran, and Takate will be your companions again). The character system removed attributes and made spells levels discrete tiers (all cost the same to level up and once unlocked have a 100% hit chance). Ranged combat and talents are similarly simplified. It's watered down, but the combat is still enjoyable.


Grimrock 2 has better mechanics than the first (character system and combat (e.g. enemies that have more complex move patterns than "spin in circles and get killed"), a slightly more interesting story, and a more open world (+ or - depending on your preference). Puzzles are still fun.


If you can find XCOM: Enemy Unknown + Enemy Within on sale, I'd say it's worth the price. Fun tactical combat, especially if you play on ironman. There is some randomness to the system, but you can play it to your favor if you're smart; I played through EU on ironman without losing a single member of my squad. If you beat Blackguards without too much hassle then you shouldn't have a problem. I haven't played EW, but it added more enemy types, genetic modification of squad members, a new cybernetic exoskeleton class, and some other content related stuff.


Despite the hate it gets, I consider Pillars of Eternity to be a good game. The setting was cool and had far more interesting elements than most recent games (the Godhammer, the saint's war, hollowborn (tell me it's not cool to fight Wichts), the gods in general, other nations are developed and politically interesting (Rauatai, Vailian Republics, etc.)). A few of the companions were well written, though they feel unpolished since their original concept was scrapped for some reason. The main story is adequate and against popular opinion I thought the antagonist was interesting, even though he ultimately turned out to be an idiot (much like Irenicus). The combat is too easy even on the hardest difficulty, and despite their desire to create a system that is balanced and can't be cheesed, there's a lot of cheese to go around (not necessarily bad). (e.g. my wizard solo killed the hardest enemy in the game on the highest difficulty after a couple reloads using a melee gish build.) BUT, the combat system itself is polished and if you like RTwP the system is definitely sufficient. I also enjoyed the character development and found it sufficiently complex.


If you really like blobbers, then play MMX:Legacy. Otherwise, it's buggy and unpolished. Pretty grafix though.
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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Messages
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In your face
Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Shadowrun: Hong Kong If you're mentally capable of skipping through some inconsequential dialogue (there is too much text and as a result some of it is poorly written), there is some good content in there.

Strange, even though people have been talking about this for months now, I recall only now that back in the days before release, there was some news post that the Shadowrun writing team wasn't doing so well with the scope of the writing and therefore they had to bring another editor in. I am too lazy to find the news post now but as I remember it I was the only one saying that a good editor cutting out unneccesary stuff was actually a good thing while anybody else was worried and complaining about how cutting shit out of the story is a bad thing and diminishes the original idea or whatever bullshit argument.

Seems I was right after all and if anything, the editor should have cut out even more stuff. (Haven't played the game yet to see for myself though.)
 

Suicidal

Arcane
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
2,208
Labyrinth of Touhou 2 is probably the best purely combatfag RPG released in the past 10 years and until a western dev makes a combatfag RPG of comparable quality I will forgive the LoT devs all the anime cancer they shoved in their game. I really liked Might and Magic X and Lords of Xulima, for example, but the combat in those games is nowhere near what I found in LoT2 in terms of variety of tactics, enemies and challenge. Definitely my surprise hit of 2015. But it goes without saying that if you're looking for serious story/characters/world building then you need not bother.

Labyrinth of Touhou 2

Are you kidding me?

Heh, I remember the exact same thought crossing my mind when I first saw it but then I decided to give it a try and then I ended up playing through the whole thing. Best decision I made this year.
 
Last edited:

ClaviculaZ

Novice
Joined
Jul 8, 2013
Messages
36
Let's not forget Expeditions: Conquistador. It was very well-received in 2013, but somehow fell under the radar later on. For me, it was one of the best gaming experiences in recent years.
Also, you might want to look into the Legends of Eisenwald. It's undoubtedly good, yet there aren't enough sales at the moment.
 

Achiman

Arcane
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Jul 19, 2012
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810
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Australia
Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech
Loving Age of Decadence atm. It's somewhat confusing on who to talk to and when to get in fights (pretty much never)
Wasteland 2 was fantastic imo. Definitely picks up in the second act however, there is some slog to get through.
Pillars of Eternity is worth playing if only for the art. It's a spiritual sequel to Baldur's gate in the same way Diablo 3 is to Diablo 2 however (failure)
Divinity OS is 100% more enjoyable if you can play with a buddy. Friendly fire is lulzy and helps distract from some of the "funny" writing.
I just finished Styx which was surprisingly good, pretty hard too.

Seeing as you didn't mention what you have to game on.
Persona 4 is really good.
Etrian Odessy 4 is also pretty good. The grind is real though.
 

Ladonna

Arcane
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,637
You guys have given me a lot to think about here.

I find myself with the same issue I had a couple of years ago; a sudden gush of CRPGs, and not enough time to play them all. This hasn't happened since...well...maybe the early 90s? late 80s? Difference then was plenty of time/not enough money for all of them (at the time). And when you consider I also play other games like Crusader Kings 2, Kerbal Space Program, etc, it is difficult getting the momentum up to buy and try a new CRPG.

I think I will start off buying from the local guy (Age of Decadence). After all, I did buy Madman on a whim due to the developer (which is a fun game), and VD has always been a fairly standup guy, even if he tried to make the Codex respectable and unwittingly initiated The Glorious Revolution(tm).

If there is a demo for Touhou 2, I will check it out. Otherwise I think I won't bother; I have bought other JRPGs in the past on peoples recommendations and been disappointed by the grinding and inanity.

If anybody else wants to wade in and point something out, please do. This has been very helpful.
 

Perkel

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2014
Messages
15,810
Age of Decadence
NEO Scavenger
Divinity:Original Sin
Pillars of Eternity
Wasteland 2

in that order

Age of Decadence is the new PST or MotB
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
I think I will start off buying from the local guy (Age of Decadence)
I wouldn't take the recommedations at face value because the honeymoon isn't over yet. PoE got rave reactions here in the first week after release, but then the tone shifted somewhat, to put in mildly.
It seems that AoD is indeed good at everything it does, but the problem is, it does is exactly two things: combat and dialogs. So to enjoy it you need to be either a hardcore combatfag or an equally harcore storyfag, everyone else needn't apply.
 

4249

I stalk the night
Patron
Joined
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Messages
1,216
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut Divinity: Original Sin 2
Haven't seen any mention of Paper Sorcerer. Has it already been forgotten? It was a bit of a diamond in the rough, but a decent blobber nonetheless. One of the few taking notes from Wizardry 4.
 

Daedalos

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
5,559
Location
Denmark
Great:

Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
Divinity: Original Sin: Enhanced Edition
Underrail
Invisible Inc.

Decent:

Pillars of Eternity

Didn't like:

Shadowrun Returns/Dragonfall/Hong Kong
 

LilSassy

Novice
Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
33
I keep hearing the term 'Blobber' pop up in this topic. What's that mean?
 

Epsilon

Cipher
Joined
Jul 11, 2009
Messages
428
I keep hearing the term 'Blobber' pop up in this topic. What's that mean?
Games where your entire party is in one spot, or a blob. Typically these kinda games are dungeon crawling games seen from a first perspective. Wizardry, Might and Magic, Eye of The Beholder, Legend of Grimrock, Grimoire, are blobbers.
 

LilSassy

Novice
Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
33
Games where your entire party is in one spot, or a blob. Typically these kinda games are dungeon crawling games seen from a first perspective. Wizardry, Might and Magic, Eye of The Beholder, Legend of Grimrock, Grimoire, are blobbers.

Oh, of course. Thank you!

blobber is a game where you play as a hydra, usually 4-8 headed.

You had a good run.
 

butchy

Prospernaut
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
493
You guys have given me a lot to think about here.

I find myself with the same issue I had a couple of years ago; a sudden gush of CRPGs, and not enough time to play them all. This hasn't happened since...well...maybe the early 90s? late 80s? Difference then was plenty of time/not enough money for all of them (at the time). And when you consider I also play other games like Crusader Kings 2, Kerbal Space Program, etc, it is difficult getting the momentum up to buy and try a new CRPG.

I think I will start off buying from the local guy (Age of Decadence). After all, I did buy Madman on a whim due to the developer (which is a fun game), and VD has always been a fairly standup guy, even if he tried to make the Codex respectable and unwittingly initiated The Glorious Revolution(tm).

If there is a demo for Touhou 2, I will check it out. Otherwise I think I won't bother; I have bought other JRPGs in the past on peoples recommendations and been disappointed by the grinding and inanity.

If anybody else wants to wade in and point something out, please do. This has been very helpful.

You made the right choice with AoD. And ignore anyone who says Elminage Gothic is good. It is awful. Imagine taking everything bad from the games of the 80s and making a new game from it and you will have this shit. Could you play Wizardry 1 now? Or Wizardry 3? I can't. Way too dated with a shitty interface. Elminage Gothic is like that but with slightly better graphics and with more grind and stupid shit like breakable one use maps, and is pure JRPG stupidness. JRPGs and the people who like them are usually stupid and most likely pedophiles.

We seem to like similar games so I can recommend AoD easily, the WL2, then when you are done with them Star Crawler and Underail will be out.

Lastly, there is a decent real rpg called Underworld that is 1000x better than Elminage Gothic if you want another new blobber. There is a part 2 coming out soon as well.

Okay, really lastly, Heroes of Steel Tactics RPG is a pretty good game that I think appeals more to people who played the old crpgs in the golden days. There is a sci-fi game like it called Templar Something or other that I think is as better in most ways, worse in others.

I was just kidding - couple more recommendations - Bloodlust Shadowhunter is like VtM:Bloodlines with less story and more diablo. I shall remain is pretty good arpg with some twists.

Oh, shit. Dead State. That is a really good game, how could I forget?



So, just to recap. Ignore the jrpg and console fans - play AoD, then WL2 or Dead State. After that you have Underail and Star Crawler. WL2 definitely delivers on the old school formula.
 

Cadmus

Arcane
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
4,264
What I can 100% recommend as must play is Div OS because the combat system might be the best of its type and Age of Decadence because its something so different and intelligent its a great landmark in rpgs.

Rest that I had fun with.is dragonfall, mmx, lords of xulima(it gets grindy though) and conquistador because its so unique.

Wl2 and poe fucking bored me. ILL try wl2dc maybe its better

I dont know if you mentioned witcher2 but its great also.
 

Higher Animal

Arcane
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
1,854
I think I'll just start spamming every thread like this one. Serpent in the Staglands is a must-buy.
 

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