I want to get into some CRPGs. I need help.

The Witcher 2 is coming out on Xbox 360 pretty soon (no way I could play it on any computers I own) and that got me thinking about some of the older CRPGs that people praise. Balders gate 1 and 2, PlaneScape Torment and the original Witcher are all games that I'd like to play but I have a bad past with PC games. I bought Deus Ex 1 and 2 and they run like crap on my PC (or they crash immediately.)

I'm thinking about getting the Witcher for my mac and upgrading to Mac OS 10.6.8 to run it. That probably won't run terribly right? All of the other minimum requirements are met.

As for the other games I downloaded Fallout for free on GOG and it ran as soon as i installed it (divine intervention?) I kind of think the game feels dated and I don't really like the combat so far, but it is alright. Those older CRPG's like Baldur's gate and planescape are from roughly the same time period. Would I be able to just get them off of GOG and play them on my crappy vista that can only run games like Starcraft , diablo, and Fallout? Fallout was my first time getting anything off of GOG so I'm wondering if every game will not be a pain to get.

Do you have any suggestion for this type of game that is worth playing? I'm I just being stupid for wondering if +10 year old games could run on my computer.

Baldur's gate is going to be remade soon so I can hold off on that. But are there any other games from that time of CRPG that I should play? Icewind Dale?

I imagine you could run those games, but not very well.

GOG is pretty fantastic with making older games run well on modern PC's (unlike Steam). Planescape and Baldurs Gate 2 should sort you out just fine. BG2 does everything that BG1 does, but better to the point of making BG1 unnecessary.

I would definitely recommend Planescape:Torment, it's bloody brilliant. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is also a great CRPG. The Witcher is good, but janky as hell. If you play that, remember to save often. The Gothic Series is pretty fun (watch out for part 3 though). Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is really good. The Quest for Glory games are adventure games that are technically RPG's, which makes then fantastic (you can even import/export your character through the entire series). That's all I've got for you, good luck

Sounds like you can generally run old 2D games, but not 3D games. You should do fine with any of the Infinity Engine games. GOG is a great (probably the best) source for old games like that. The games are cheap and very easy to run, having no DRM or other crap to put up with.

Agreed with Planescape Torment & Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines being well worth the time. Haven't tried much on gog.com to see how well those games transition to playing on newer systems but know that there's a few choices on there. Also Neverwinter Nights is another choice & I know that there's plenty of mods out there for that one once done with the main stories. The Witcher might be a little much depending on the pc specs you have but most of the suggestions on this list are rather easy to run on just about any modern pc.

Can you play Baldurs Gate 2 if you've never played any of those D and D Infinity Engine games? Watching the Baldurs Gate 2 Random PC Game video and also thinking about the enhanced edition being released this summer of BG1 I've really wanted to pull the trigger on one of these games. But I want a game with a good story too not just combat. From what Dave described in the video it seems like BG2 is the way to go with those games. Is that a correction option. Mind you once again I'm a total noob to those types of games.

@D43M0N said:

GOG is pretty fantastic with making older games run well on modern PC's (unlike Steam). Planescape and Baldurs Gate 2 should sort you out just fine. BG2 does everything that BG1 does, but better to the point of making BG1 unnecessary.

But I'd still like to play the first one for the story and stuff. Also the problem is i'm working with a vista that we bought from walmart for cheap, I never use it really, but the computer I mainly use is a Macbook pro so even if the mac is more powerful it can't play the games on it unless I get bootcamp or whine or something that I don't know how to use.

Been racking my brain for a good 5 mins and I just can't figure it out. What the hell is a CRPG?

@Nottle: Bootcamp is super easy to set up; on my OSX based Macbook I just threw in my Windows 7 CD and away it went. Plenty of guides are available online, I'd wager, or on the documentation that came with the laptop itself. Or maybe hit up an Apple store?

As far as story, you won't be lost if you jump straight into BG2.

i picked up the D&D anthology for like 20$ and it comes will all D&D games but neverwinter including the expansions

@Nottle said:

As for the other games I downloaded Fallout for free on GOG and it ran as soon as i installed it (divine intervention?) I kind of think the game feels dated and I don't really like the combat so far, but it is alright.

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@Enigma777: Computer RPG.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@Nottle said:

As for the other games I downloaded Fallout for free on GOG and it ran as soon as i installed it (divine intervention?) I kind of think the game feels dated and I don't really like the combat so far, but it is alright.

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@Enigma777: Computer RPG.

Well in Fallout I spent 4 moves trying to stab a rat with a knife and I whiffed every time I know, I wasn't built towards melee and I was 2 minutes into the game, but from the very little I've played the combat and interface are clunky. Shooting rad scorpions isn't very exciting and involved very little strategy or skill to pull off. Maybe that will change when I actually play more than an hour of it but so far the game has some problems. Then Ian was in my way and I couldn't get out of a building because he and another NPC were at an impasse. Party management is almost non existent. Also there is a time limit.

@slyspider: Oh yeah how often does GOG have sales. Maybe then is a good time to get these games.

@Nottle said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@Nottle said:

As for the other games I downloaded Fallout for free on GOG and it ran as soon as i installed it (divine intervention?) I kind of think the game feels dated and I don't really like the combat so far, but it is alright.

.....................................................................

@Enigma777: Computer RPG.

Well in Fallout I spent 4 moves trying to stab a rat with a knife and I whiffed every time I know, I wasn't built towards melee and I was 2 minutes into the game, but from the very little I've played the combat and interface are clunky. Shooting rad scorpions isn't very exciting and involved very little strategy or skill to pull off. Maybe that will change when I actually play more than an hour of it but so far the game has some problems. Then Ian was in my way and I couldn't get out of a building because he and another NPC were at an impasse. Party management is almost non existent. Also there is a time limit.

The time limit is only there for a while, and you can get more time by going to The Hub and talking to the water merchants. And trust me, once you're a higher level, and you have some powerful toys with over a 100% and a 95% to hit the eyes, the combat is great. Anyway, i think Fallout 2 is a better game, and companion management is a little better there. Besides, the atmosphere, story and characters are what made and make Fallout so great, something Bethesda didn't fully understand. But hey, that's just me.

All of the Might and Magic games are on sale on GOG right now. If you want to mess with anything, get the Might and Magic 6-pack, since you are literally playing less than a dollar per game. Sure, the first two are basically unplayable, but III, Xeen and VI are all great games, Might and Magic VI in particular. Yeah, they're old as hell, VI has some hilariously aged graphics with its 2D sprites on a 3D plane thing and digitized character portraits, but if you can get past that you'll find some pretty great hack-n-slashy exploration focused RPGs. And while you're at it, get yourself a copy of Heroes of Might and Magic III, which is unarguably the best of that series, though Heroes II is great as well.

I would also say that you should stick with Fallout. Just put all your points into Small Guns and Speech if you want the easiest, most straightforward path through the game. The skill system for that game is in general not as open as it seems, but I'll take that over the bad pop-culture jokes and sluggish pace of Fallout 2 any day. But you should probably play that too, if only because I hear it gets better from where I left off before quitting.

Planescape holds up pretty well, although it has a problem early on where it tells you to go places that you don't know how to get to, but that can be mitigated by glancing at a walkthrough. The combat parts aren't great, but they're thankfully few and far between until the last 1/4th of the game, at which point your party members will be able to do most of the heavy lifting for you. You're fine waiting for the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate. Moreso than any of the other Infinity Engine games, it kind of throws you to the wolves (literally) and isn't the most newbie friendly. Same goes for Icewind Dale, but that's kind of by design. It's supposed to be difficult and very combat focused, though I think it's kind of brilliant in that regard.

Temple of Elemental Evil is probably the singular worst modern-era game to put in front of someone not used to the genre. But I feel the need to name drop it anyways.

In conclusion: if old graphics bother you, find another genre. if you are willing to deal with some of the crap that old games throw at you (namely in the "where exactly to go" compartment) then welcome aboard. Good luck, and good hunting.

@ArbitraryWater: Thanks for the suggestions. Old graphics don't really bother me but there are just so many Might and Magic games I probably wouldn't get around to it unless they all had a good story, maybe I'll give it a shot but right now I want to play the DND stuff or stuff that bioware made.

@Nottle said:

@ArbitraryWater: Thanks for the suggestions. Old graphics don't really bother me but there are just so many Might and Magic games I probably wouldn't get around to it unless they all had a good story, maybe I'll give it a shot but right now I want to play the DND stuff or stuff that bioware made.

If you had to choose, pick VI. But yeah, they're not so much as far as the story department is concerned. It's not like they're connected in such a way that you need to play the prior ones before playing whichever one you choose. The best D&D game is Baldur's Gate II, but since that's being remade too and playing the first game helps, you probably shouldn't start with that.

If you like action-rpgs there's the Diablo games, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, Sacred 1 and 2, Divine Divinity, and Titan Quest. There's also the older Elder Scrolls games which you should be able to run. Arena and Daggerfall are free. There are countless older games, but if you're finding Fallout to be a problem I probably shouldn't recommend them.

Well I see my suggestions would be unecessary. Every game i was going to mention already has been.
Damn you people.
/shakes fist
 
Baldur's Gate 2 i would actually say is a pretty intimidating game to start your infinity engine experience with. So play BG1 first for sure.
I remember BG2 being my first experience too and man it took me quite a while to start figuring shit out, getting my ass kicked all over the place. Then again i was much younger.

@upwarDBound said:

If you like action-rpgs there's the Diablo games, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, Sacred 1 and 2, Divine Divinity, and Titan Quest. There's also the older Elder Scrolls games which you should be able to run. Arena and Daggerfall are free. There are countless older games, but if you're finding Fallout to be a problem I probably shouldn't recommend them.

Diablo 2 is great, really wish my friends would give it a try so I I could actually play it with a consistent group of people. I never beat the first one though. I don't find Fallout problematic, it just took some getting use too. I didn't know it had some weird map and that it wasn't one big world and the timer does bum me out.

@ArbitraryWater: So Baldur's gate 2 is being redone as well?

Mass Effect 3 is on the PC.

@TheHBK: Yeah, but I've played the other 2 several times on Xbox. Maybe someday I'll own them on pc when they are part of a $10 deal.

@Nottle said:

@ArbitraryWater: So Baldur's gate 2 is being redone as well?

Yep, though the language used suggested that it was coming after the enhanced version of the first game. Honestly, Baldur's Gate 2 doesn't nearly need the level of tweaking that the first game does, and can hold its own with just a widescreen patch and a fixpack. I honestly got pretty close to playing them both again recently, but then I figured I should wait for the enhanced edition to see what they changed and such. If that weren't the case, those would immediately be my first choices as far as these kinds of games go. As it stands, you could probably go with something a bit tamer, such as KotOR or Neverwinter Nights if you want that D&D flavor, though the ruleset and difficulty of both those games is neutered to the point of "human beings could probably play it". Also the original campaign for Neverwinter Nights is incredibly boring and not worth touching. That game practically demands that you download the decade's worth of great single player modules or just go straight to Hordes of the Underdark, which is the one that everyone seems to like.

There are a variety of fixes to make these Infinity Engine games bearable at this day and age just install them and you'll be fine. You can find the essential mods here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406868Planescape Torment is certainly one of my favorites so I highly recommend that game.

@ArbitraryWater: Alright good, because on the site it makes it just sound like they were working on 1 but i see it now. I played KoTOR on my xbox 360 and is the PC version choppy? Because that game was bad with that. I stopped playing when I got HK47, I should probably pick it back up. I heard if your on the dark side you can kill half your crew and convert others to the dark side.

Do i need to know anything about the DND universe to play Baldur's gate, Planescape or Icewind Dale? They are all in a DND universe right?

@Enigma777 said:

@TheDudeOfGaming Well there's the problem. Who the hell says Computer nowadays? It's all about the PC, baby!

PCRPG?

@EVO said:

@Enigma777 said:

@TheDudeOfGaming Well there's the problem. Who the hell says Computer nowadays? It's all about the PC, baby!

PCRPG?

Add in a space and you're there.

@Nottle said:

@ArbitraryWater: Alright good, because on the site it makes it just sound like they were working on 1 but i see it now. I played KoTOR on my xbox 360 and is the PC version choppy? Because that game was bad with that. I stopped playing when I got HK47, I should probably pick it back up. I heard if your on the dark side you can kill half your crew and convert others to the dark side.

Do i need to know anything about the DND universe to play Baldur's gate, Planescape or Icewind Dale? They are all in a DND universe right?

If you have a PC that is less than 10 years old, I somehow doubt that KotOR would be especially choppy.

Most of the D&D games that have ever been made usually use the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, which is basically an intricately detailed generic fantasy universe. Other than cameos by a few important characters from the books such as Elminster and Drizzt, they aren't ever connected in any meaningful way. Planescape uses the Planescape setting (go figure) and basically goes out of its way to have as little fantasy cliche as possible and is instead extremely weird. It's a good thing that it explains a lot of that stuff to you in-game.