I request help with finding a good RPG (I haven't played)

[A user named cat]

Fact is Gothic 3, once you fully adjust to the system, has a very powerful addicting quality if you enjoy open ended RPG games and high difficulty.

Fact is the game was unplayable for most people unless you were one of the lucky few. 8-10 second freezes when scenery loads, countless clipping issues never fixed and a screwed up damage system. I remember dying when falling from a 2 inch drop while traversing the area outside the opening town. This was even with the latest fan patch.

 

[darthdarther]

Xenogears for the ps1

I despise this whole series. Not that I didn't try hard to get into it since everybody seemed to love it.

My memories of M&M are: tedious crappy combat&combat&combat&combat(&combat) & fed-ex quests.

Oh, come on. It's much more than that.

Such as how using certain spells is vital to exploring around the world. You want to get inside a closed forest clearing, and don't have a ranger to guide you through it. You use the Teleportation spell to teleport inside it.

Or similiarly, you're in a cavern filled with lava, and there are flying demons that can kill you in one blow. You teleport onto the hard rocks that you see, whilst also making a point to avoid the rocks from which the demons have a clear shot at you. That stuff is fun and intense.

Or maybe inside a dungeon, there are holes that release poisonous gas when you walk over them. You turn on the Levitation spell, so that your feet are above the ground when you walk.

And there are many wells scattered around the world that temporarily boost your stats. There is a spell that allows you to set a portal at any point, so you place a portal at that point, and then directly go back and forth through it to get the boosts. "Oh no, there's a dangerous enemy standing a few clicks away from me. *teleports back and forth from a well* Heh, you ain't so tough now!"

Besides, being able to complete a M&M game, or atleast being able to do so properly requires you to painstakingly record every obscure bit of information you find, because ultimately, they all can add up and point to something useful that will make a particular difficult task much easier.

For me, the Might And Magic games represent everything I want from a RPG. They are the ideal RPGs, and have more consistent quality than any RPG series I know.

I'm looking at the substance first, mechanics are secondary. I need good story, quests, memorable NPCs with well written dialogues. M&M totally lacked in this regard. I found combat extremely tedious, ended up with my party flying around with levitation spell most of the time just to avoid the combat.
I remember slashing through hordes of goblins by simply keep pressing the Attack button, without even goig in turnbased. Seriously it was like 4 guys against 200 respawning goblins and zero tactics required.

Oh.

Oh.

You are talking about the newer M&M games. Sorry, I only played the early 90s DOS stuff.

Mandate and the seventh one were the best for me. Everything after was underdeveloped garbage, rushed in time for the holidays or whatever.

 

[Galar]

I'm looking at the substance first, mechanics are secondary. I need good story, quests, memorable NPCs with well written dialogues. M&M totally lacked in this regard. I found combat extremely tedious, ended up with my party flying around with levitation spell most of the time just to avoid the combat.
I remember slashing through hordes of goblins by simply keep pressing the Attack button, without even goig in turnbased. Seriously it was like 4 guys against 200 respawning goblins and zero tactics required.

Oh.

Oh.

You are talking about the newer M&M games. Sorry, I only played the early 90s DOS stuff.

I played M&M1, 2 and 3. 1&2 are ffrom the 80's but the 3 fit perfectly your category as it is from 1991. For all 3 the description of Suchy is quite right. I wonder how you could deny that. Good Story? Good Puzzles? Interesting Fighting? Good exploration? Where is all of that? The truth was poor story, poor fight system and repetitive fighting, bellow the average for the puzzle area and the exploration.

In the 80's M&M was cool stuff later on, not always, well ok not for 2&3 at least as I don't remember to have play any after those.

 

[Wyrmlord]

I have played 3, 4, and 5. 3 not so much because it requires you to find a word in the manual every time you open it.

There is no story in M&M games. Well actually, there is a pretty detailed story in the manuals, but it's not relevant to the actual game. Much of the story in the series seems to revolve mainly around Sheltem, the guardian of Terra, who gets banished from his world and then later finds another world as a vessel of regaining his control over Terra. Make what you will of it.

As for puzzles - I like the puzzles in M&M 4 and 5. You've not played M&M 4 and 5, but they contain some neat puzzles. When you first enter your newly built castle, you find some letters etched onto various objects and statues in it. Someone is sending you a subliminal message. If you make note of all the letters, and then arrange them in the order you find them, they spell 'labaratory', which is the password for finding the most powerful sword in the game.

You don't like the fighting in M&M? There are some hard tactical fights in 4 and 5. There are priests that cast lightning on you at range. If you try to fight them at range, it gives them the chance to continue casting lightning and burn the whole party down quickly. You have to make some hard decisions, based on the spells you have with you. If you have Protection Against Electricity, you can cast that, and then close in on them to hack them down in meelee, though the Protection will wear off eventually, so it's not a good idea if they are too far away. If you have Teleportation, you can jump right onto them, and then hack them up, but you will still end up allowing them to have one shot at burning you.

Similiarly, there are enemies that can cast Sleep on you. They are a danger, because even if it's a weak enemy, his ability to cast Sleep will make all the difference in killing you. So, you have to strike them down with your most offensive ranged spells and ranged attacks as quickly as possible. If your party has more Speed, they can cast Sleep on them first, and take the advantage there.

It's the beauty of turn-based combat. You have to make every decision of the moment count, or you will allow your enemies to exploit your lost chance. And frankly, I think M&M style turn-based is quicker and more fun than action-point based turn-based combat.

What's so bad about the exploration? There are so many inaccessible or hidden places in the game that are found by clever use of skills, spells, or finding objects that can unlock the ability to find or enter those areas.

Repetitive fighting? There is a massive variety of enemies in the game, each with their unique way of dealing with them. And not just that, each situation of meeting a particular kind of enemy is different.

 

[DaveO]

Oh, come on! The early part of M&M might be that easy with super slashing or using bows, but eventually you needed Sparks, Fireblast, and definitely Shrapmetal! And don't forget ICBM bombing with Meteor Shower and Starburst.

Now IF you're willing to put up with a lot of combat using SSI's tactical system, then Eternal Dagger is pretty darn good. It's probably a very good precursor with various monster resistances that were not seen again until certain action RPGs came out much later(*cough* Diablo 2 for example *cough*).

 

[J1M]

Fallout.

 

[Trash]

Darklands, Dark Sun (any of the series, though number one is the best), Buck Rogers, Ultima 7, Gothic 2 with add-on and Betrayal at Krondor are all awesome games that will keep you busy for ages.

 

[mondblut]

I wonder how you could deny that. Good Story? Good Puzzles? Interesting Fighting? Good exploration? Where is all of that? The truth was poor story, poor fight system and repetitive fighting, bellow the average for the puzzle area and the exploration.

Fighting is indeed very basic and repetetive (unless the sheer variety of enemies counts), and story is absent, but puzzles are good if that's your kind of gaming at all, and exploration is excellent, you can't deny M&M that.

Exploring a huge open-ended world while repetetively slaughtering a menagerie of enormous variety and solving tons of riddles and puzzles to continue is pretty much everything M&M was about.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Exploring a huge open-ended world while repetetively slaughtering a menagerie of enormous variety and solving tons of riddles and puzzles to continue is pretty much everything a RPG is about.

Fixed.

 

[Hory]

Um, not the RPGs I've played.

 

[mondblut]

Exploring a huge open-ended world while repetetively slaughtering a menagerie of enormous variety and solving tons of riddles and puzzles to continue is pretty much everything a RPG is about.

Fixed.

No way, riddles and puzzles do not belong in here!

 

[Wyrmlord]

You're right. You're actually absolutely right about riddles and puzzles. Though huge open ended world and lots of combat are good RPG staples.

 

[Lain_13]

might and magic series

My memories of M&M are: tedious crappy combat&combat&combat&combat(&combat) & fed-ex quests.

My memories of M&M are: shooting&shooting&shooting&WOW!NOWICANFLY!&shooting&shooting&shooting&STARFALLARMAGEDDON