Jonesing for a first person RPG or Im-Sim

[curds]

+1 for Arx Fatalis. It fucking rules. Some of the best atmosphere ever.

 

[Spukrian]

Check out Ultima Underworld 1 & 2!

 

[udm]

Pretty sure Zombro has played all the games mentioned (apart from Brigand Oaxaca which I utterly despise), so I'm going to have to be the one to say, wake me up when you do find a good one because I'd sure like to play it too

Edit: oh you haven't played Arx? Yeah that's a must play

 

[JarlFrank]

(apart from Brigand Oaxaca which I utterly despise)

Why tho? It's a fun game if you manage to get into it.
The only thing I dislike is the save system that requires you to seek out a bed.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Dread Delusion possibly I guess.

DD is not an immersive sim. The lack of immersion in that game is one of its biggest problems atm. It's a decent walking sim but everything in the RPG mechanics just sucks hard / is irrelevant.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Dishonored 2. /thread

 

[jackofshadows]

Arx is great but combat heavy

Play CP2077 if you haven't yet.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I want to play a good or at least decent first-person, single-character game where I can create a character, or at the very least have meaningfully branching skill trees to approach problems in my own way.

What about The Quest?
Great quest design and character building options, the expansion is great as well.

 

[udm]

(apart from Brigand Oaxaca which I utterly despise)

Why tho? It's a fun game if you manage to get into it.
The only thing I dislike is the save system that requires you to seek out a bed.

The awful AI and UI. But the killer was when the game crashed while I was saving progress in Chapter 7 or 8 (one chapter before the final one), wiping out all my progress.

 

[Paul_cz]

Posting this kind of thread without writing which games you already played is god damn moronic OP. We are not mind readers.

 

[ItsChon]

The ideal first person RPG would be a game like Archaelund, where you can utilize the best parts of a first person point of view, and then once you enter combat, it zooms out to an isometric, turn-based RPG on a grid. Sadly, the game isn't out yet and who knows if it'll even be good. I've never played Arx, how well does it run, how combat heavy is it, and why is it so highly regarded?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

The ideal first person RPG would be a game like Archaelund, where you can utilize the best parts of a first person point of view, and then once you enter combat, it zooms out to an isometric, turn-based RPG on a grid. Sadly, the game isn't out yet and who knows if it'll even be good. I've never played Arx, how well does it run, how combat heavy is it, and why is it so highly regarded?

I've never had an issue getting Arx to run on modern OSes. It's pretty combat heavy, roughly on par with Dark Messiah.

The reason for the popular esteem of it is that it is very much Ultima Underworld 3. If you like UU1 and 2 you will pretty definitely like Arx.

And honestly Arx is arguably more of a direct successor to Ultima Underworld than Ultima Underworld 2 is.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Arx Libertatis helps it run on modern OSes + fixes bugs, it's not so much as a mod as just a continuation of the engine itself, as the source was released for Arx Fatalis in 2011 under the GPL.
Still requires the game itself for the assets, akin to OpenMW.

 

[Zombra]

Posting this kind of thread without writing which games you already played is god damn moronic OP. We are not mind readers.

I disagree and the thread seems to be doing fine without you, but I updated my sig with a link to all video games ever finished. I didn't begin actively logging until 2003, and accidents happen, so it may be incomplete but I hope it's still adequate for your needs.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Posting this kind of thread without writing which games you already played is god damn moronic OP. We are not mind readers.

Often, other users with similar interests will peek through these sorts of threads to see if there are any interesting recommendations. Otherwise, you get like: Recommend a <genre preference> for <user> x N threads. That is a far worse situation.

 

[Jason]

Morrowind, Daggerfall, Gothic 2, & Gothic 3 aren't on your list so give those a go. Also agree with Arx, however keep in mind it is primarily a FP dungeon crawler with lots of backtracking around the underground world killing stuff. I also didn't enjoy the mouse spellcasting gimmick but I'm probably in the minority on that. Worth playing regardless.

Unrelated side note: If you dug Ogre Battle check out Tactics Ogre & Bahamut Lagoon.

 

[Yosharian]

Hi, just throwing a general thread out there in July 2022. I want to play a good or at least decent first-person, single-character game where I can create a character, or at the very least have meaningfully branching skill trees to approach problems in my own way. Deep character building mechanics a plus but I will take what I can get. Big bonus points for good noncombat gameplay of any kind, or objectives that can be completed through mechanics that aren't just "kill stuff". My hope is that since there are so many games out there right now, there are some gems I haven't heard of.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Chernobylite!

Not exactly an RPG, nor does it have skill trees, but it is really good. I'm hooked on it right now.

It does have skills that you choose to upgrade from your base companions.

 

[Harthwain]

Chernobylite!

Not exactly an RPG, nor does it have skill trees, but it is really good. I'm hooked on it right now.

It does have skills that you choose to upgrade from your base companions.

I'd rather go with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Not really an RPG, but always felt like one to me for some reason. I recommend Call of Pripyat in particular, because item upgrades give you the sense of progression/specialization similar to RPGs. It's also the most polished release (although I could recommend the whole series, frankly). The survival aspect (weight, radiation, hunger) and horror elements are nice additions as well. On top of that there is some variety of guns and suits to pick from.

However, you don't exactly have multiple ways to solve problems (just kill stuff) and the character building as such is non-existent (except what I said about Call of Pripyat). Still, if somebody didn't play it, now would be good time to at least give it a try as this is a great series and one of my all-time classics.

 

[gaussgunner]

Hi, just throwing a general thread out there in July 2022. I want to play a good or at least decent first-person, single-character game where I can create a character, or at the very least have meaningfully branching skill trees to approach problems in my own way. Deep character building mechanics a plus but I will take what I can get. Big bonus points for good noncombat gameplay of any kind, or objectives that can be completed through mechanics that aren't just "kill stuff". My hope is that since there are so many games out there right now, there are some gems I haven't heard of.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I wish I knew. That game would be a masterpiece if done well - by foregoing party management, turnbased combat, and personalized dialogue written for a fixed protagonist like JCD or Geralt. It'll be pretty light on flavor dialogue; just the quests. Good combat is essential, and it'll have some other good systems like stealth and stealing. Probably fancy character customization too, unless it's indie.

AAA won't touch that. There couldn't have been any 3D indie games like that before 2010-15 (unless you count Thief, Gothic, etc). After 2010 the scene filled up with "designer" types who can't pull this off, not to mention all the dumb political shit. It would be one guy or a small team, not associated with such people, and off the radar.

 

[Yosharian]

Chernobylite!

Not exactly an RPG, nor does it have skill trees, but it is really good. I'm hooked on it right now.

It does have skills that you choose to upgrade from your base companions.

I'd rather go with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Not really an RPG, but always felt like one to me for some reason. I recommend Call of Pripyat in particular, because item upgrades give you the sense of progression/specialization similar to RPGs. It's also the most polished release (although I could recommend the whole series, frankly). The survival aspect (weight, radiation, hunger) and horror elements are nice additions as well. On top of that there is some variety of guns and suits to pick from.

However, you don't exactly have multiple ways to solve problems (just kill stuff) and the character building as such is non-existent (except what I said about Call of Pripyat). Still, if somebody didn't play it, now would be good time to at least give it a try as this is a great series and one of my all-time classics.

OK but everyone who knows good games has already played STALKER, come on

 

[Harthwain]

OK but everyone who knows good games has already played STALKER, come on

That's probably true, but I figured there is no harm mentioning it, just in case.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I disagree and the thread seems to be doing fine without you, but I updated my sig with a link to all video games ever finished. I didn't begin actively logging until 2003, and accidents happen, so it may be incomplete but I hope it's still adequate for your needs.

What about those of us disabling signatures?

 

[curds]

I've never played Arx, how well does it run

Runs great with Arx Libertatis source port.

how combat heavy is it

Medium combat-heaviness. There's a fair amount of combat, but plenty of downtime exploring, solving puzzles, etc.

and why is it so highly regarded?

Superb atmosphere, emergent gameplay/immersive mechanics, pretty interesting plot once it gets going.

 

[Paul_cz]

I disagree and the thread seems to be doing fine without you, but I updated my sig with a link to all video games ever finished. I didn't begin actively logging until 2003, and accidents happen, so it may be incomplete but I hope it's still adequate for your needs.

I just find it to be a waste of time recommending something you already played, that's all. So yes, that list sure helps.
In that case, you should absolutely play:

Kingdom Come Deliverance PC version with hardcore mode
Enderal: Forgotten Stories Special Edition
Cyberpunk 2077 PC version
Prey 2018
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos is not first person, but is brilliant.

Dishonored 2 is not an RPG, but it is one of my favourite immersive sim-type games ever.

And if you like some zombie killing with very light RPG elements, Dying Light 2 is a good fun.

Frankly, I envy you having so many awesome games unplayed.

 

[Tacgnol]

I second both Arx Fatalis and Kingdom Come Deliverance.

It is not for nothing they are both well liked on the Codex. They also both scratch the RPG and immersive sim itch simultaneously.