I got some classic RPGs from GOG, what do I play first?

Dezzy · Dec 17, 2011

I'm almost done with the action game Skyrim, and now I'm in the mood for a great RPG. ..or five.

I got these from the half off sale at gog.com. Was this a good score?

Lands of Lore 1+2
Temple of Elemental Evil
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum
Ultima 7 Complete (and I got Exult)

I've never played any of these games before, so they'll all be totally new to me. What order should I play them in?

Multi-headed Cow · Dec 17, 2011

Maybe play Temple of Elemental Evil and Planescape Torment at the same time, in the hope that you'll somehow mash ToEE's excellent combat and shit everything else with PST's excellent everything else and shit combat in your memory and create the perfect RPG.

thesoup · Dec 17, 2011

If you're a storyfag, play Torment and fall in love with MCA.

Angelo85 · Dec 17, 2011

Multi-headed Cow said:
Maybe play Temple of Elemental Evil and Planescape Torment at the same time, in the hope that you'll somehow mash ToEE's excellent combat and shit everything else with PST's excellent everything else and shit combat in your memory and create the perfect RPG.

RPGasm incoming!

But also remember to play the other titles. You won't look at four armed monsters the same after.

King Crispy · Dec 17, 2011

1) Lay them all out on your bed

2) Close your eyes, and mix them all up

3) Without opening your eyes, just grab one

4) ...

5) Free Jim Profit!

Wyrmlord · Dec 17, 2011

Don't play Lands of Lore. Old action RPGs can be fun when you don't want to play anything else, but they are really the second-tier games of this genre.

We are the glad that the town prostitute comes to attend service, but she must never be allowed to preach to the congregation.

Excidium · Dec 17, 2011

I say play PST first, it's probably the shortest of all.

octavius · Dec 17, 2011

Play them chronologically.

Satan · Dec 17, 2011

PST -> Arcanum -> ToEE -> Lands of Lore -> Ultima

Mainly because Ultima will take a long time until you finish it. PST is short comparing to others, Arcanum can be both short and long, depending how do you play it (think of Fallout), but it's a great and awesome game, better than ToEE, which is short and has many flaws, but has great atmosphere and combat. I haven't ever finished LoL though, so I can't say much about it.

Eyeball · Dec 17, 2011

Play PST first. Then replay it five or six times so you've seen maybe 50% of the content in it.

Then play Arcanum four times or so.

Ignore the rest. Especially TOEE, which you should swap for the far better game Knights of the Chalice.

Shadenuat · Dec 17, 2011

So there are 6 games actually?
You throw d6 then.

SCO · Dec 17, 2011

russian roulette

Elwro · Dec 17, 2011

d6 is exactly the answer. You should play them ALL, the order is irrelevant. Good games don't age.

Jaesun · Dec 17, 2011

Play them in the order of the year they were released.

Mrowak · Dec 17, 2011

Elwro said:
d6 is exactly the answer. You should play them ALL, the order is irrelevant. Good games don't age.

What that patriot said.

However, when you reach ToEE, be sure to install latest Co8 mod. It comes in two flavours - the first one simply fixes numerous bugs - so even if you are a purist install it to have bug free experience. The other version is Co8 NC (for New Content) - lot's of extra quests, spells, items, feats and removed level cap. If you are not a purist apply it to your first installation.

You'll thank me later

Kz3r0 · Dec 17, 2011

Planescape: Torment first, and get the blast of your life as a gamer.
Temple of Elemental Evil with C8 patch for the best combat in an RPG.
Ultima 7 for more old RPG Goodness.
Arcanum as long lasting game experience.
Lands of Lore 1+2, not a fan, maybe is your cup of tea, irregardless, you can safely play it as last.

Kz3r0 · Dec 17, 2011

Don't listen to the multi-banned troll, his post will disappear soon enough by the way.

Mayday · Dec 17, 2011

What's the best way to play ToEE? Which mods etc?

PorkaMorka · Dec 17, 2011

Play PS:T once, as a character with high INT and WIS.

Skip the rest.

You may enjoy reading the LP of Ultima VII on http://lparchive.org/ but I wouldn't recommend actually playing it.

Skittles · Dec 17, 2011

Mayday said:
What's the best way to play ToEE? Which mods etc?

As mentioned above, Co8. I would recommend the New Content version, but if you're really story oriented you might hate what it does to the original module (but if you're really story oriented, you need to know that TOEE is not about the story in the least). Co8 fixes a lot of technical difficulties with the original game, but is responsible for introducing a 'jerk lag' issue, so save often and in different slots. I don't know of any other mod that offers anything like Co8 or has the same amount of polish.

TripJack · Dec 17, 2011

chronological order is as good as any

actually reverse chronological order would be better, that way you play the worse games first

PorkaMorka said:
Play PS:T once, as a character with high INT and WIS.

Skip the rest.

You may enjoy reading the LP of Ultima VII on http://lparchive.org/ but I wouldn't recommend actually playing it.

Mayday · Dec 17, 2011

I do not much care for the story. I'd rather have minimal unobtrusive story than lots of bland story to wallow through.
I've heard the starting town is terrible- if there's a mod that graciously skips it- let me know.

Skittles · Dec 17, 2011

Mayday said:
I do not much care for the story. I'd rather have minimal unobtrusive story than lots of bland story to wallow through.
I've heard the starting town is terrible- if there's a mod that graciously skips it- let me know.

Co8 NC. You don't 'skip' it but you can do a mod-created dungeon designed for lvl. 1 characters rather than doing fetch quests, etc. in Hommlet to build the experience necessary to continue with the game.

Or you could be a man and do Emridy Meadows with level 1 characters and power through the game without doing Hommlet quests or the NC dungeon. Really, Hommlet's quests are weak, but they're there as a crutch to build XP. Don't do them if you don't want to.

Mayday · Dec 17, 2011

I, uh... um...
can you give me an example of a cRPG story you enjoyed?

MMXI · Dec 17, 2011

Joined: 16 Dec 2011
Posts: 21

I got some classic RPGs from GOG, what do I play first?

Novice

Multi-headed Cow

Guest

Arcane

Arcane

Too bad I have no queen.

Arcane

P. banal

Arcane

Educated

Arcane

Arcane

Arcane

Arcane

Fabulous Ex-Moderator

Arcane

Arcane

Arcane

Augur

Arcane

He ruins the fun.

Hedonist

Augur

He ruins the fun.

Augur

Arcane