Seeking the perfect RPG...
 

I just built a new PC, gamer quality, and now I'm looking for the perfect RPG for my needs, as follows:

• Must have high resolution, beautifully-rendered graphics. I have two GPUs, and a highly-developed sense of aesthetics.
  
• I would prefer a less violent game. Ideally, there would be more exploring, collecting items, and puzzle-solving, and less hack 'em up.
  
• IF there is fighting involved it MUST BE TURN-BASED. I am NOT INTERESTED in a hyperactive click-em-up. I like to set a strategy and watch it play out.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. I'm so out of the video game scene, but I hope there is a graphics-intensive, highly-playable RPG out there I can get into without too much obsessive investment of my time.

Oblivion is gorgeous. Fallout 3 combat is somewhat turn-based. Both are graphics-intensive. Unfortunately, both are more violent than puzzly.

I don't know any that hit all of your points. It seems like Japanese games are more likely to be puzzle based, and they are more aimed at the consoles.

If there is a game with beautiful graphics and a rich interactive environment, I could tolerate the combat scenes (after all, how else am I supposed to rack up items?) but it MUST be TURN-BASED. I can't stress this enough. I have no interest in a stressful torture-test of manual dexterity.

I also love designing characters, making creative choices, collecting exotic items, and exploring little usesless corners of the map.

I recommend Touring with Turing... you have to equip and manage a team of IT professionals to go out and implement a new strategic plan for your company. You can also choose to play for the "dark side" as the CEO, CIO, COO, or CFO and try to prevent the IT team from accomplishing anything useful.

There's no combat per se, though you do get to choose which staff get upgrades to their computers . . . .

Fallout 3 combat is FPS-style, but you can activate VATS, which goes semi-turn-based until you run out of action points. At that point, you have to go FPS-style until your action points build up again.

It has a certain stark beauty, but there's only so much beauty that a post-apocolyptic hellhole can have.

The environment is quite interactive-to an extent. There is junk laying about that you can pick up. Some of it can be used to build weapons, the rest can be used as ammo for one of those weapons. Cars and fire extinguishers explode when shot. There is also a lot of junk laying around that can't be moved, and there's not always a clear reason for the difference.

You do get to design your character, but there are a bit too few "perks" that do something unique, rather than raise a stat or two.

Most quests can be completed in at least two or three ways.

There are plenty of exotic items. Most weapon types have at least one unique version with added abilities. There are Bobble-heads for each stat and skill and a trophy case for them in your home. You can write a book, and then find it on the occasional person.

Exploring little useless corners is what Fallout 3 is all about. The map is huge, and you can go almost everywhere whenever you want. There are fun little discoveries all over. Even if you get the perk that labels all locations on your map, there is plenty of cool stuff that isn't at one of those locations.

And after reading the thread title I thought you were looking for one of these...

http://www.modelguns-worldwide.com/images/rpg7a.jpg

Happy Monkey, thank you for your input on this.

What can you tell me about the gameplay in Oblivion? I Google image searched (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) and the graphics do look beautiful.

It's realtime combat, for one.

The world is bigger, with much more varied and much prettier terrain than Fallout, but the random scattered dungeons are IMHO a bit more samey after the first few than the Fallout ones. The backstory is excellent- Bethesda Softworks has been building the Elder Scrolls history for well over a decade- and there are many books of history and other bits of exposition scattered around. Some of the quests are a bit disappointing, but if you play it be sure to join the Dark Brotherhood.

Character creation entails picking a starsign (special ability) and some skills that will be used to determine your character's level. After that point, all skills are raised by use. So if you want to be good at alchemy, pick all the flowers you can, and mix them together to make potions. Picking flowers, and things like that, is just about all of the environment interaction there is, and it doesn't even affect the flower's appearance. You can knock books, dishes, etc., off of shelves, but it seldom affects anything.

It is an excellent game, though, and I played it for months, exploring every cranny.

I've been reading Oblivion reviews. I've read the controls feel designed for the console version. Are you playing on a PC? What do you use, i.e. mouse, keyboard, to control most of what you do?

Graphics were the initial reason I wanted to get a new game, and the visuals in this game seem really impressive. I also like the fact that you can wander around and do side quests seemingly forever.

I might be able to deal with the real time combat if the controls are ergonomic enough. Also, apparently, I could just sneak up on people etc. or various other tactics. And the skill-building is based on what you use, not set point advancements.

Hmmm... I might consider this one on graphics alone. Again, my whole reason in the first place.

Mouse and keyboard are better controls for any first person game. The complaints about a console feel are for the gigantic icons limiting how much of your inventory you can see, the lack of hotkeys where they might be useful, and stuff like that. The primary control is still good for mouse/keyboard.

Also, user-created addons (only available for the PC) can fix some of those issues.

Mr. Clod has been playing the newest Final Fantasy RPG (through Steam.) He's enjoying it quite a bit.

World of Goo



Please check it out. If you find this one appealing, I might have other suggestions for you. If not, I won't waste any more of your time.

Pong?

I've ordered Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition from newegg. Thanks for the tip, Happy Monkey.

It won on visuals and open-endedness. I plan to start with an Assassin Wood Elf with the birthsign of the Thief.

You're a dork.

Yeah, you're a hippy.

Very cool. I may be going back to Oblivion when I'm done with Fallout. I've got the expansion packs unopened by my computer.

My agenda is: exploring the many sqaure miles of gorgeous forest, picking ingredients for potions, some of which I can sell for gold, some of which I can make custom poisons for my arrows, which I will pick people off with while I'm lockpicking and sneaking around in the shadows of dungeons. I want to develop my speed, agility, and acrobatics so that if caught in a melee I can do stuff like backflip/fire arrow, backfilp/fire arrow.

One hint for potion making - try and use light ingredients (weightwise). The weight of a new potion is based on the weight of the ingredients used the first time that potion is made. So if you have two ingredients with the same property, use the lighter one first.

And when your alchemy skill improves, the next potions you make will be the first ones with that new strength. So once your alchemy skill is maxed out, be sure to use light ingredients or you'll be stuck with heavy potions for the rest of the game.

Because he like RPGs or because he picked the wrong one?

Yes, I want that shrouded armor. Super lightweight and gives me a bonus in most of my main skills.

I'm playing basically a stock assassin, but I replaced intelligence with agility (because intelligence doesn't actually make better potions/poisons). I am getting wealthy from alchemy. I have the grass fade slider turned all the way down to reveal plant objects.

I have started using the Jaufree's chest at Weynon Priory as a "safe container" (the cell never resets). This is the only time I fast travel--when I'm getting over-encumbered with loot, I drop it off, and later I pop back in and out to sell it.

good thing you don't play fantasy football......people would think you're a dork.

I highly recommend Fallout 3, also, though Oblivion is ever so nice.

I got my shrouded armor, plus I found a constant effect chameleon ring. I'm semi-invisible--I look just like Predator did in the movie.

I was sneak/running through the forest and ran right up on a wolf. I was right in front of him, about 10 feet away, and he just sat there.

I just decided about 10 minutes ago that I'm heading into town to buy Oblivion, and I come in and find there's a whole thread dedicated to finding it. This could've saved me $20 and a week of useless RPG hunting.

Stupid New Post option filtering in stupid non-read political stupid posts in the stupid order so I miss good posts. Grr.

That was the funniest thing I've heard all night.

But seriously, I love Oblivion. I just started playing again.
First time I played I made a mage orc. Funniest shit ever.
Don't forget to fight in the Arena!

I will get that for the kids to play on their Wii - looks awesome. I might even give it a go. Post more links to that kind of stuff - I'm out of the loop on this topic.

Will do. I love this kind of game. I got it for the Wii, and SonofV and I played it a lot. It is *playable* for one player, and you can have fun, but some things are only possible with the cooperation of two players.

Oblivion
 

NUMBER ONE TIP (I wish I had known from the beginning of the game):

DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR ARMORER SKILL. Why? Because you cannot repair magical items without Journeyman (50+) Armorer skill.

This is what happened to me: all along I’ve been dropping damaged items when I found ones in better condition. When I was in town I would pay to have all my items repaired. My Armorer skill was getting zero development.

Then…I got the Shrouded Armor by joining the Dark Brotherhood. And it was so cool--until I realized I can’t repair it myself (I.e. in the field). So…I could be in the middle of a dungeon with 0% armor and not be able to do anything about it except, what? Carry a spare set of armor? Jeez.

Now, I'm having to develop Armorer--fast. Instead of sneaking around picking people off with arrows, I run up to them and get in close range combat. I have to make sure that both of us take a few hits before I win the fight. Then I pick up all their items, and repair EVERYTHING (their items as well as my own). What a hassle.

Well, at least my Blade, Light Armor, Block etc. skills are improving. I am learning the combat system much better, which will surely come in handy some day.

P.S.

People can hit you with some pretty messed-up stuff when you get in close. This one guy hit me with a hammer that had Burden and Drain Strength, which caused the inventory I was carrying to over-encumber me--I couldn’t move! . . . I’ll be so happy when I can go back to being a proper assassin.

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/me...er_430x600.gif

http://paizo.com/image/product/catal...SP214_500.jpeg

http://www.badalijewelry.com/images5/kts-dork.lg.jpg

http://msp185.photobucket.com/albums...topia/dork.jpg

http://frankportman.com/images/kingdork-large.jpg

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pics/ho...ForestLogo.jpg

Good to know flint...about the armor thingy, just moments ago (before the @#$@#$ing game crashed for the 80th time) I decided to ignore that skill. Now I won't :D

If you don't have a high performance rig, click escape, go into options, video and start ratcheting down on what all is being rendered (for instance, the grass distance fader, turn it all the way down to zero and your computer won't have to render all that "ground clutter" waving in the breeze everywhere). Funny thing is, this game came out a couple of years ago, but it's still crashing mid-range systems with it's intricate visuals!

P.S. another benefit to losing all that grass is you can see things on the ground easier (alchemy ingredients, etc.)

Eh, it's not my computer, it's because I'm on the Kvatch quest...other NPCs make it do bad things. I had to go all the way to 640x480 res to complete the one farmboy quest. Nyerrr.

Edit: I'm glad you're playing this game so much better than me, it makes life easier :D

Edit Edit: It also keeps making my arrows dissapear mid-fight, I'm trying to find info on it online. Seems to be a glitch

I study things: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Oblivion . . . gotta love the internet

Is it possible you have the fader for rendering yourself turned down farther than you can shoot an arrow?
If not that, there are tons of recommended patches and bug fixes on the Elder Scrolls wiki linked to above.

I can't believe you're even doing the main quest. I'm just exploring the countryside to see what's out there.

:D I've been browsing gameFAQs on it...to learn how to use the skills and such...but I'm also enjoying just finding stuff out by playing with it since that's the whole reason I wanted a new game anyway, the last few RPGs I've played have been more or less "DO IT ONE OF THESE 5 WAYS OR YOU CAN'T COMPLETE THE GAME CAUSE YOUR SKILLZ ARE TOOO SUCKIFIED" you can't just figure that crap out on your own, unless you want to make 8000 characters

I bought the Game of the Year Edition (with the expansion packs) I'm installing those now since on the oblivion website it's too confusing to figure out which of them will break your game if they are/aren't installed for this edition

I'm hoping later patches are bundled into these expansions, but you never know

I'm running the Game of the Year edition with no patches and having no problems. I've only loaded disc one.

The community has created many, many "unofficial" patches and mods. But I see no reason to get into that...

How far are you along the main storyline?

I took the amulet to Jaufree, and he let me get the free stuff in his chest and the free horse. I took all the stuff from the chest sold it; now I'm using the chest as "safe" container (it never resets). That's it. Occasionally he starts nagging me about going to look for Martin.

I read if you don't do the Kvatch quest very near the beginning, you better wait until you are very powerful. The reason is that the NPCs don't level, but the enemies do. . . . So once I get invincible I'll go do the Kvatch thing (sorry about that, NPCs, you're not gonna make it).

Hee...yes I read that last night, and don't worry, I've killed all but the invincible NPC already.

Also, I missed out on a free horse twice now, which is a bummer.

Just go back to the Weynon Priory and talk to people until the guy offers you the horse. If you want a horse.

I don't use mine.

I run everywhere.

"Frequent Crashing possibly due to connected HP printer
A program related to HP printers may cause Oblivion to crash. Before running Oblivion: Press Ctr-Alt-Del to bring up the task manager. Go to the Processes Tab. Right click on any process starting with the letters HP and select End. Running Oblivion at this point may have this issue corrected. Note: The PC will need to be restarted to reinitialize printing or imaging."

Mebbe this is why, Oblivion doesn't like HP printers.

I have a question.

does this game charge you a fee to play on their servers each month?

Sorry I'm late to this thread. Try this site for pointers.

No lj, I got it for $20 (1 game + 2 expansion packs) at best buy, no monthly fee...just a regular game

Yah, that's what I was thinking too. How many types are available nowdays.

Does a LAW count in the same catagory?

There are no servers. It runs on your computer. It's not one of those games where you're walking along minding your own business and suddenly you get killed by a flying, invisible 10-year-old with the ultimate cheat code. All the people you interact with in this game are animated characters with artificial intelligence. They're not as predictable as video game characters used to be, though. They actually react and make decisions.

You might like N+... available for various platforms (but not the Wii I don't think).

I almost got killed collecting six sets of bear fangs for this farmer who promised me a reward. And what he gave me was ... a book. WTF. It was an enchanted book, though. It gave me a bonus in Heavy Armor. Uh...I wear light armor. This is a useless reward.

So I broke back in to his house, to rob him of anything valuable. As the reward I deserved. He caught me trying to pickpocket him, and started yelling for guards. So I killed him. Nobody came and nobody saw what happened, so...that's that. No negative consequences.

I feel kind of empowered by that. I'm a stealthy character. I wonder what else I can get away with.

I think I will do a few contract hits for the Dark Brotherhood and see how that goes.

This will earn me infamy, but so what? I don't really care if NPCs "like" me.

Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

Let's face it. My main skills are Sneak, Marksman (sniper), Alchemy (making poisons), and Security (lockpicking). I'm not the "hero" type.

On the other hand, I always give coins to beggars. And this has, as far as I know, no direct benefits in the game.

On the other hand, I did kill a homeless guy in order to be initiated in the Dark Brotherhood...

Got it.

Love it.

the PC term is 'Hobo'

Is there a way to get World of Goo on a Wii DVD? Seems like the only way to get it is to download it directly onto the Wii. I'll buy stuff that I download onto my PC because I can burn a hardcopy as a backup. Is there a way to make a disc copy of a version downloaded to the Wii?

Like I said, best quests in the game. And one of the best rewards.

I'm doing all the Daedric quests first.

Pretty good rewards there, too. (35% chameleon ring, unbreakable lockpick, katana w/ 22pts fire damage, Oghma Infinium)

You're a dork Honey.... and that's why I love you...

So can we buy Munchkin now and have game night?

I have a bookcase at home dedicated to PC RPGs (Well over 200 fantasy games, most rpg, some rts, some action rpg) I've been playing them since I was 5 (24 now) so feel free to ask me if you're looking for a specific kind of game. I wouldn't label myself a purist by any means, i just prefer the fantasy style over anything else.

The first thing that comes to mind looking at your initial requirements is The Last Remnant. Really the only time you're going to find a true turn based rpg is with a squaresoft(square enix) title. You can find turn based rpg themed rts games (Ala fantasy wars, elven legacy, heroes of might and magic, kings bounty etc.) but nothing in the 1st or 3rd person mode. Last Remnant is gorgeous and has a real fun play style.

My game won't runnnnn

It started crashing more and more recently, now it won't even start playing before it crashes. and the patch that might fix it won't install it says my old files don't match so I suck.

areghhhh

killing orcs is very therapudic! I NEED MASS GENOCIDE OF ORCS, IT CENTERS MEEEEE.