RPGs very light on text, heavy on reactive gameplay?

[Silva]

Playing Shadowrun Hong Kong this last month almost gave me cancer and made me wanna go back to Genesis Shadowrun - each "mission" feeling more like a novella the author wants to narrate than actual operations where I must manage tactics, team, risks etc in a meaningful way. A real letdown. So what RPGs are there offering actual gameplay (action, tactical, strategical, whatever) in a dynamic and reactive environment, preferrably light on text and stories?

So you bros know where I stand on the sand, I've distanced myself from the CRPG genre for some time now, exactly due to my little patience for walls of texts, and while I love things like Planescape Torment I wouldn't want to play it ever again. Tried Persona 5 for fondly remembering some old shin megami games and ended up dropping it almost instantly due to the walls of texts.

So, suggestions?

 

[CryptRat]

Voidspire Tactics focuses on tactical combat and interactions with the environnement in a well crafted open-world and has almost no text.

 

[Forest Dweller]

(Sort of) Deus Ex

 

[Silva]

Yep, Deus Ex is (sort of) a good example, but I've finished it a couple times already. Any other game like it?

Voidspire Tactics focuses on tactical combat and interactions with the environnement and has almost no text.

Thanks I'll take a look on it. Does it have a reactive environment? If I kill a certain type of enemy, does it's friends/faction put a bounty on me or something?

By the way, is there something like the STALKER games, where NPCs wander the map autonomously following their own goals and necessities? (and then you stumble upon one of them fighting a wild boar and you help them and then you improve relations with their faction, and after a couple improvements now some of them can follow you around to help you scavenge/hunt animals/smoke enemies' ass and their faction leader now sells you things with a discount and you can bang the faction whores for free?)

 

[CryptRat]

Voidspire Tactics focuses on tactical combat and interactions with the environnement and has almost no text.

Does it have a reactive environment? If I kill a certain type of enemy, does it's friends/faction put a bounty on me or something?

No, sorry, what it actually has is tons of hidden places that you can reach via tools and via skills like freezing water and that kind of things, and magic effects which can combinate.

 

[Ash]

New Vegas (and classic FO) has a notable amount of reactivity to player gameplay choices, though most of it is through dialogue and the rest boils down to whether or not you killed or helped this or that dude.

Logic Artist's games Conquistador and the Nameless Mod (for Deus Ex) also place some emphasis on it.

In my experience it's a rather rare thing even among RPGs.

 

[dream expert]

Voidspire Tactics focuses on tactical combat and interactions with the environnement in a well crafted open-world and has almost no text.

It also has a sequel called Alvora Tactics.

http://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=Rad Codex

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

dins curse maybe?

its a click click click die game but its procedurally generated and has some of what you are looking for

 

[deama]

elex

 

[Bester]

MGS5TPP

 

[buffalo bill]

Infra Arcana is a rather difficult and free roguelike that requires rather little reading. Other roguelikes probably fit the bill too.

 

[luj1]

So what RPGs are there offering actual gameplay (action, tactical, strategical, whatever) in a dynamic and reactive environment, preferrably light on text and stories?

You could try Fallout Tactics.

 

[Siobhan]

If Deus Ex qualifies, you don't seem to want all that much reactivity (it's mostly in the dialog) and you seem to be fine with a fair amount of text (there's a lot of talking in hubs and between missions). So doesn't basically any DOS-era CRPG satisfy your criteria? If not, you could also check out Dex as a palate cleanser. For me it's at the upper end of how much dialog and story I want in a game, but it's no worse than Deus Ex in that respect.

 

[Lilura]

Jagged Alliance 2.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Microsoft Excel

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I will suggest the two games best for this, and you will ignore them because they are not sexy enough at first look, but they are the two best games for this:

Ultima Underworld
Vulture (Graphical NetHack)

 

[sser]

Alpha Protocol, allegedly.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Alpha Protocol is so bad, even sarcasm doesn't work. ^

 

[Jokzore]

Legend of Grimrock

 

[Baron Dupek]

Marauder - Man of Prey

 

[almondblight]

From what I remember, Cyber Knights is a lot like Genesis Shadowrun but with better combat (and less tedious too, IIRC). If you can get past the graphics, it's worth checking out.

 

[Great Deceiver]

 

[Silva]

Just remembered another: This War of Mine.

Thanks. I forgot I played this and found awesome but never finished.

By the way, isn't it strange that the genre that supposedly tries to offer the best experience/accuracy for playing a role tend to be so weak on world reactivity and npc intelligence? Shouldn't it have developed it's own A-Life by now instead of keeping the cardboard NPCs with annexed walls of text that only exist when the player enters it'sight range? It makes me think if the true rpgs are not things like Stalkers and FTLs.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Alpha Protocol is so bad, even sarcasm doesn't work. ^

It might be bad, but it's also......fun. Would recommend.

Also, Mount & Blade ?