Looking for a futuresque RPG

[Grimwulf]

Grimwulf

I heard good things about "Space Rangers 2" (Космические рейнджеры 2: Доминаторы).
It's even has a favorable Codex review:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=126

Does it break the parade of RPG mediocrity?

Also "Precursors" (Предтечи), granted its by a Ukrainian rather then Russian team.
Heard their two previous attempts were "interesting failures" but the third is actually "quite good for what it is"...

Plus what games from the former USSR countries would you say are actually decent?

Can't really name Space Rangers an RPG. It was always more a strategy for me, with elements of text quests and yeah, a bit of RPG resemblance. It's good. Hell, I never said that russian games suck (most of them do, tho). Russian rpgs - that what sucks bad and deserves all kinds of decline.

Ukranian games are a whole different story. There is a SHITTON of great Ukranian games and RPGs. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is good, although I only played the first one in vanilla. Precursors is some kind of add-on or sequel to it, AFAIK.

Original Eador was made by a single dude. Ukranian dude.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Konung 3.

I've had that installed for a while, it didn't seem to bad, but I put it down for a while and was totally lost when I fired it back up (a large complain generally for me), so many games I've left half finished.. soo many.

Anyone know if it's worth continuing with? I bought a huge collection of 1C stuff for pennies a while ago and haven't even scratched the surface of 99% of them

 

[Raghar]

What's up with the hating on non-translated Planet Alcatraz? It had ridiculously funny writing and atmosphere. Like the sauna scene at the beginning where you had to talk you way out of forced buttlove or the tinfoil dudes.

That's because people can't understand Russian. (and I prefer to play every game in English, it improves suspension of disbelief/alienization)

Original Eador was made by a single dude. Ukranian dude.

Well, the design in early parts is excellent, just it falls apart in middle game, and in late game it's obvious he didn't play it much. It fails on simulation of empire, and depends on build instead of ad hoc crativity. Then there is grind of getting shard and shard. Basically it shares autism with Russian games.

 

[Grimwulf]

Really now. Leaving the thread for good, no offence. I've already made my personal record of off-topic posting.

See ya all somewhere else. Last replies tho:

Konung 3.

You are not even trying to be thin.

tries to criticize original Eador

I'm not going to listen to this. Either you didn't play the game AT ALL, or you just trollin' me too. The campaing really is autistic tho. And I see nothing bad about it.

Alexander Bukolev was designing the whole system and balance for over a decade. He was making the actual game, with visuals, music and testing, with his own skills and finances for more than two years. No god forsaken kickstarter, not even donations. It was released almost perfectly polished and bug-free, later there was only 1 or 2 balance patches. Yes, he is still developing mp, so what? Personnaly, I don't have the guts to insult this man or his game. I completed the campaign, and will do it again one day. I enjoyed every bit of it.

Only thing I wish for, is all indy devs were like him.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Really now. Leaving the thread for good, no offence. I've already made my personal record of off-topic posting.

See ya all somewhere else. Last replies tho:

Konung 3.

You are not even trying to be thin.

I'm not doing this on purpose, although it is quite funny.

I have tonnes of shit like this lying around who better to ask if I should bother with them or not than The 'dex.

A hundred odd 1C games, seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[Branm]

Underrail is what i consider set in the future...

 

[Silva]

Really? You think that's a valid arguement against SRR in general?

Well, being an old Shadowrun grognard like me, who grew up with art from Bradstreet, Nelson and cia, you must imagine how shocking the cartoonish style is for me.

But really, I would never criticize a game just for the art. Shadowrun Returns is shallow enough in the c&c, world reactivity and open-endness departments to ellicit a more serious criticism from my part. I dont find the game actually bad - the writing is top notch, and seeing ol' Armitage again is great - but in the end it felt more of a glorified adventure than a true rpg for me (just like bioware games). Long story short: I was hoping a game relased in 2014 would easily beat games released 20 years ago, but as it is the SNES version still nailed the gritty atmosphere better, and the SEGA Genesis version nailed the gameplay. But its not a bad game.

Underrail is what i consider set in the future...

Underrail has a great atmosphere. Its what I hoped for Shadowrun Returns to feat.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Really? You think that's a valid arguement against SRR in general?

Well, being an old Shadowrun grognard like me, who grew up with art from Bradstreet, Nelson and cia, you must imagine how shocking the cartoonish style is for me.

But really, I would never criticize a game just for the art. Shadowrun Returns is shallow enough in the c&c, world reactivity and open-endness departments to ellicit a more serious criticism from my part. I dont find the game actually bad - the writing is top notch, and seeing ol' Armitage again is great - but in the end it felt more of a glorified adventure than a true rpg for me (just like bioware games). Long story short: I was hoping a game relased in 2014 would easily beat games released 20 years ago, but as it is the SNES version still nailed the gritty atmosphere better, and the SEGA Genesis version nailed the gameplay. But its not a bad game.

I can fully accept the point of view that we want what we want.

I agree with your SRR gameplay criticisms. Have you played Dragonfall: DC yet? It's a completely different game, to the point that it's one of the best rpg's I've played in a long time, and has become my defacto recommendation for the time being.

 

[Silva]

Didnt play D:DC yet, no. From what I hear, it looks like I'll like it better than Returns.

But what I really wanted out of a Shadowrun game is a remake of the Genesis version gameplay wise - lots of randomized runs coming through different Johnsons in an fully open and emergent environment with persistent contacts and factions, etc. Give it a top notch atmosphere (Underrail-like would be enough) and a Returns-like writing and it would be heaven.

 

[SarcasticUndertones]

Agreed, a larger world with more reactivity and Johnson hunting would have been probably more to the original vision of the pnp and would have made more a more satisfying game for the old timers.. but hey, we're lucky we got a Matrix in the end.. Astral plain is the next thing to shoot for.

..and D: DC is a far far better game, if they can evolve on that it's gonna be really fun.

 

[Raghar]

FFXIII is futuristic RPG, and FF VII is futuristic RPG, and well FF X is also futuristic RPG. (In a meaning: well we had technology, we had, that was 500 years ago before the war...)

I also remember on some squad games, but I don't recall names. Some games are too obscure to be cracked, or developers more concentrated on anti-crack measures than on gameplay, stability, and renomee outside of Russia/theirs own country.

OP, in case you don't know, THIS is Planet Alcatraz:

If only it looked this way. Imagine Rance instead of main character, two girls tied to pole...

 

[Nael]

Underrail. Its EA is not 100% complete but it's still one of the best RPGs I've played in years. Setting is similar to the Metro games and it plays like a refined Fallout. I think once it's complete it could be a strong contender for GOTY.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I played an old game called Quarantine. It was one of the first games I played. You play a taxi driver in a future lawless mutant city. It's open world; you can ignore plot and just do random tasks in the city. It's probably one of the reasons I grew up to like open world games. I think I like more to do the repetitive random missions more than the story.

Not sure if this fits exactly the desired futuristic/cyberpunk setting. It's also an old little known game from 1994 and you're unlikely to find it.

I found it just fine. Google helps, bro.

Grimwulf

I heard good things about "Space Rangers 2" (Космические рейнджеры 2: Доминаторы).
It's even has a favorable Codex review:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=126

Does it break the parade of RPG mediocrity?

I read through the entire thread just so I could be the first to recommend the Russian science fiction RPG called Space Rangers 2, and here Grim Monk goes beating me to it. Definitely give this game a whirl. It is at least one futuristic Russian CRPG that I can say is quite good and enjoyable.

 

[Grim Monk]

I read through the entire thread just so I could be the first to recommend the Russian science fiction RPG called Space Rangers 2, and here Grim Monk goes beating me to it. Definitely give this game a whirl. It is at least one futuristic Russian CRPG that I can say is quite good and enjoyable.

And I've literally only made up my mind and bought it like 30 minutes ago.

Previously held off for two reasons:
1. The art style puts me off somewhat.
2. It used to be on GOG DRM-Free but got pulled just as I was going to buy it...

A game that could generate such a overwhelmingly positive response among Codexers is worth looking into...

 

[norolim]

Grimwulf
Also "Precursors" (Предтечи), granted its by a Ukrainian rather then Russian team.
Heard their two previous attempts were "interesting failures" but the third is actually "quite good for what it is"...

The Precursors is an incredibly ambitious game. Way too ambitious for its own sake. I tried to play it a few years ago, but made a mistake of caring about the plot. The combinantion of the convoluted, nonsensical story, relative emptiness of the massive world and the one male actor voicing all the localised NPCs including the female ones [English version] was just too much for me after a while.
It's worth trying though, just to see the scale they were going for. If you do, however, treat it more like a sandbox, where you can kill shit, drive shit, develop shit, fly and destroy shit in space, land on shit, trade shit and much more... Don't even try to understand the story or listen to the dialogues or you'll be lost sooner than you know it.

 

[Xathrodox86]

Gents I salute your for all those wonderfull ideas and recommendations. I'll try some of them for sure! Altough I have a strange urge to play something Russian...

 

[pippin]

If only it looked this way. Imagine Rance instead of main character, two girls tied to pole...

I saw that as if the allies made their version of Ilsa.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Crooked Bee has done LPs of a few obscure futuristic cRPGs.

 

[DalekFlay]

Lack of good future setting RPGs is well known. For whatever reason people don't think it sells, which might not be far off considering how many around here whine when a game doesn't have typical fantasy grimdark. I would kill for a game like Fallout set in a sci-fi world where each map location was a planet or starbase.

Anyway I highly suggest Shadowrun Returns Dragonfall, and maybe the first Mass Effect if you like cinematic storytelling.

 

[bloodlover]

Must the game be PC exclusive? Fear Effect 1 and Fear Effect 2 are two amazing games. Sadly only on PS1 and PS2

 

[Ninjerk]

FFVII is more akin to dieselpunk than futuristic (little relation aside from the -punk moniker's association with "retrofuturism," I don't know if it applies being that it isn't intended to represent our planet or history).

 

[Xathrodox86]

Must the game be PC exclusive? Fear Effect 1 and Fear Effect 2 are two amazing games. Sadly only on PS1 and PS2

I'm a PC fag mostly. Have an old Gamecube laying somwehere but it catches dust most of the time.

 

[Heechee]

There's also the French game Omikron: The Nomad Soul. At least the first part is definitely futuristic and somewhat cyberpunkish. Interesting setting and atmosphere, very French (although not all that original). It is also more of an action-adventure game than RPG, reminiscent of the Outcast which came out the same year (1999).

 

[adddeed]

Grimwulf

I heard good things about "Space Rangers 2" (Космические рейнджеры 2: Доминаторы).
It's even has a favorable Codex review:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=126

Does it break the parade of RPG mediocrity?

Also "Precursors" (Предтечи), granted its by a Ukrainian rather then Russian team.
Heard their two previous attempts were "interesting failures" but the third is actually "quite good for what it is"...

Plus what games from the former USSR countries would you say are actually decent?

Can't really name Space Rangers an RPG. It was always more a strategy for me, with elements of text quests and yeah, a bit of RPG resemblance. It's good. Hell, I never said that russian games suck (most of them do, tho). Russian rpgs - that what sucks bad and deserves all kinds of decline.

Uhm, Space Rangers IS an RPG. Its not a strategy at all, but I has an RTS mini game. You fly around in your ship, upgrade it, upgrade your skills, hire people, do quests, etc. Just because there is trading, a dynamic and lively universe, text quests, rts games, aracade games, doesn't make the game not an RPG.

And yes Ukranian games are great. Men of War series anyone?

 

[JarlFrank]

Another thing I can recall is the Restricted Area - a really horrible & bland & kinda stupid Diablo-clone (you could've changed your brain on the run, lol), but it's cyberpunkish.

Urgh, avoid this, it's the most bland and boring Diablo clone I ever played, and I played a lot of those. It's basically has just three tilesets for levels, only very few enemy types that get reskinned to give you more powerful foes (corporate guard level 1 has white armour, level 2 has red, etc etc). It's just a recycling dump of ever the same shit you find in the first three levels.