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Which RPGs are the best for beginners?

Atlet

Arcane
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Nov 11, 2017
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I already played Baldur's Gate, IWD and PS:T.

So, which games a begginer in the genre should play now? Fallout, Deus EX, Arcanum, Age of Decadence, Morrowind...?

Tks in advance for the eventual tips.
 

Deleted member 7219

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The Witcher 3 for third person, Fallout New Vegas for first person, Shadowrun Dragonfall or Hong Kong for isometric are all great places to start for the three types of RPG actually worth playing.

There’s plenty of threads on the Codex about the rest of the good RPGs, Morrowind, Pillars of Eternity, Neverwinter Nights series, Gothic series, Vampire Bloodlines, Torment, Fallout etc but with the exceptions of Morrowind and Bloodlines they may not be the best places to start for someone new to the genre.

There’s no point in giving an exhaustive list of all the good RPGs because it’s already been done.
 
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Gregz

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The Desert Wasteland
I already played Baldur's Gate, IWD and PS:T.

So, which games a begginer in the genre should play now? Fallout, Deus EX, Arcanum, Age of Decadence, Morrowind...?

Tks in advance for the eventual tips.

Fallout or Deus Ex are both great beginner titles from your list, also:

Squad/Party with Combat Focus: Jagged Alliance 2

More D&D with 3.5 ruleset: Temple of Elemental Evil w/ Co8 mod or Knights of the Chalice

First Person RPGs with great Atmosphere: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines or System Shock 2

Fantasy aRPG: Diablo I
 
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Krivol

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Potatoland aka Prussia
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Not funny, son.


it was my first rpg

wasnt meant to be funny

Oh, sorry then. I am well met with the hate oblivion, Fallout 3 and other "decline" games have here, thats why I thought you were trolling.

Long ago, I played Oblivion, but stopped when it got repetitive and boring. Tbh, I found some stuff very nice in this game, like the dark brotherhood quests, the vampire disease and the general dark mood.

WTF? You two go kill yourself! NOW!
 

Scroo

Female Quota Staff
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Codex 2014 Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Lands of Lore
Might and Magic: World of Xeen

If you want to start looking into blobbers.

Idk, but I think this games are not the best way to start the genre, although they are well beloved here in the community.

They are hardcore in my eyes. Not a begginer game.

But, i could be wrong.

Well if you want to look into blobbers they are among the easiest out there. Lands of Lore has very few stats (basically none), the most forgiving automap of any game I know and is generally not extremely hard. Might and Magic 5 is easy once you master the UI and get an understanding of the game itself and is also a great entry into turn based blobbers.

Other oldschool blobbers are way more unforgiving but I guess you could also try Anvil of Dawn. Or go for a newer one like Legend of Grimrock altho imho it doesn't reach the magic of the old ones.
 

Neanderthal

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Diablo, old school atmospheric dungeon crawl, click your mouse simpla as.

Bit more complicated:
Pool of Radiance if you want some AD&D goodness.
Betrayal at Krondor for masterful storytelling in a well realised setting.
Ultima 7 quarter century old and still unmatched.
Ultima Underworld same.

All four are easy to play, accessible and sterling examples of the genre. Obviously read manuals first, they're great.
 
Self-Ejected

c2007

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Ultima IV

+M

Once Lord British has taught you some manners, find something to erase the memory. Perhaps F:NV.
 

Atlet

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Nov 11, 2017
Messages
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Lands of Lore
Might and Magic: World of Xeen

If you want to start looking into blobbers.

Idk, but I think this games are not the best way to start the genre, although they are well beloved here in the community.

They are hardcore in my eyes. Not a begginer game.

But, i could be wrong.

Well if you want to look into blobbers they are among the easiest out there. Lands of Lore has very few stats (basically none), the most forgiving automap of any game I know and is generally not extremely hard. Might and Magic 5 is easy once you master the UI and get an understanding of the game itself and is also a great entry into turn based blobbers.

Other oldschool blobbers are way more unforgiving but I guess you could also try Anvil of Dawn. Or go for a newer one like Legend of Grimrock altho imho it doesn't reach the magic of the old ones.


Nice, i thought the M&M series was somewhat difficult. I always wanted to start the 6-7-8 trilogy. I will this games you said, tho'. Tks
 

Danikas

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
1,605
I already played Baldur's Gate, IWD and PS:T.

So, which games a begginer in the genre should play now? Fallout, Deus EX, Arcanum, Age of Decadence, Morrowind...?

Tks in advance for the eventual tips.
Im a storyfag so I can recommend you: Fallout 1 & 2, Arcanum, Deus Ex, Witcher 1 & 2 & 3 , Fallout New Vegas + Dlc, Vampire: The Masquerade, Kotor 2, Gothic 1 & 2, Nwn2 Mask of the betrayer (Nwn2 OC is a boring slog).

All this games will be worth your time.
 

Kyl Von Kull

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This should not even be a discussion. The OP has played some Black Isle titles, but has not yet played Fallout 1 or 2. That’s an absurd situation. Just play the original Fallout immediately. Everything else can come later. Seriously, it’s not even worth thinking about.

That said, after starting with the Black Isle games, nothing else will ever be as great.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
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Searching for my kidnapped sister
Fallout 1 and 2 are good for a game newbie. I should know, I broke my teeth on them.

BG1 might be but its graphic is dated now.

Deus Ex actually is a bit too advanced for beginners. As well as Planescape Torment, BG2, Icewind Dale series.

Star Wars Knight of the Old Republic 1 is a good beginner game.

Vampire The Masquerades Bloodlines is another one.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,292
I already played Baldur's Gate, IWD and PS:T.

So, which games a begginer in the genre should play now? Fallout, Deus EX, Arcanum, Age of Decadence, Morrowind...?

Tks in advance for the eventual tips.

Ultima 7 (The Black Gate) and 7:2 (Serpent Isle). You can find a Let's Play of both (and Ultimas 4-6) here so that you can get a taste of what it is like. Just... don't do half the stuff he does. It is aimed at veterans of the series who can see where he has gone straight off the rails and is digging his way to China.

Fallout and Fallout 2 are easy to get into and understand. 3 onwards is a complete shift in gaming philosophy, becoming more like The Elder Scrolls than Fallout, so it depends on what you like.

Do NOT try Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines as a beginner due to a hell of a lot of technical issues. The game was badly bugged and the combat all over the place. You will need a mod or an unofficial patch to fix things. The mod is full of fixes for what the author INTERPRETE as bugs, and the patch is a pain to install. Save yourself the trouble. A pity, because the setting is really good and if you have a good group, the tabletop game is lots of fun.

Morrowind can be overwhelming for a beginner. It is large, it is open, and you are given few pointers as to what to do other than go to X, and talk to Y. Following nothing but the few pointers you have would not give you the full experience of the game, and may (I am not sure because I always go off the beaten track) end up pitting you against things you are ill-equipped to handle.

Temple of Elemental Evil is basically 3.5 tabletop rules in a CPRG. It is clunky and as mentioned, you WILL need to patch it and install mods. It is a mess otherwise. The main thing is that the Co8 mod/patch is easy to install and fixes everything, and any extras are clearly marked and are not part of the original storyline (i.e., they all happen after the main game).

Icewind Dale 2 isn't that hard, but it is completely different from IWD in terms of rule set. It is pseudo 3rd Edition, whereas BG and IWD was 2nd Ed. You may like it or you may not. The storyline is not too bad, but has a bunch of plot holes crashing through it.
 

2house2fly

Magister
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
1,877
I'm not a huge RPG guy (i mainly pop around here to check out news about Obsidian) but the RPGs I've had a good (and accessible) time with definitely start with Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas. Also, Bloodborne is a great modern one. I don't really know if it's technically considered an RPG but it has stats and dialogue choices and equipment and multiple endings and a clear emphasis on mechanics over AAA production values, which puts it right in RPGland as far as I'm concerned.
 

Zed Duke of Banville

Dungeon Master
Patron
Joined
Oct 3, 2015
Messages
11,759
I already played Baldur's Gate, IWD and PS:T.

So, which games a begginer in the genre should play now? Fallout, Deus EX, Arcanum, Age of Decadence, Morrowind...?

Tks in advance for the eventual tips.
Rogue (1980), Wizardry (1981), Ultima III: Exodus (1983), Dungeon Master (1987), Pool of Radiance (1988), Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992), Final Fantasy VI (1994; a.k.a. FF3), TES II: Daggerfall (1996), Fallout (1997).

This will give you a taste of classics in a variety of CRPG subgenres. Ignore those telling you to focus on games in the period 1998-2002 (and even more those telling you to focus on later games).
 
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