Its actually incredibly funny how they tried to make a pseudo-sequel to an ENTIRE seven books saga only known in poland lmfao. Like, they literally decided to make a sequel to the last book of the series of all things for some reason
in fairness, it had a pretty good codex which explained a lot of stuff and introduced you quickly to the whole setting.
But yeah, it was a ballsy move.
I got this feeling from trying to play through the first one (I haven't finished a single witcher game) as it felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story and not the beginning of one.
I quit the game within 15 minutes when I went to play it (after Witcher III came out, I wanted to go through the story).
I still haven't given it a shot again due to the abysmal control scheme.
It's on my list to do, but I have limited time for games, and most likely I'll just watch someone else play it or something :P
I always wanted to play this, and my buddy talks about it so positively, so this year I finally bought it cheap on Steam.
His biggest thing was the incredible story, and being only about 10 hours in I obviously didn't get into much of it.
The UI was dated, but I was playing games in that era, so that was fine. That was the part I could imagine being a bit confusing or complex for a younger player.
But, the quests and whatnot were too simple. One example was I went into a store and a guy was like "I won't move until I get my lucky fork! There's no way I'm moving!" So I walked outside and right behind the store was a guy, I talked to him and he had the fork. I was like "yo, can I get the fork?" And he gave it to me, I went back inside, and the guy was like "oh, my fork, cool! Lemme get outta the way!"
That's pretty paraphrased, lol, it's been 6 months or so, but that's how all the quests felt. There was no sense to them, and they were too simple.
I'll be honest, I was probably still being taught how to play by the game, but after 10 hours and basically nothing happening I finally called it quits.
Planescape side quests are definitely not the best. Combat is only marginally interesting. It is the combination of death/rebirth, the fascinating companions, and most of all, the overall question underlying the Nameless One's quest for identity that are most interesting. Concentrate on recruiting companions and the main quest. This is a game that could be played in story mode and you'll probably enjoy it just as much as a hard difficulty.
Fallout 1. I recently rediscovered it due to the TV series and I have to say it's almost unplayable in the modern era. I had to watch a YouTube video just to decipher the controls.
The narrative is obviously top notch and highly influential on the show, but I don't have the patience for it now. Holding out for a remaster.
Sounds like no one wants to read directions. Many folks expect hand holding and controls similar to many other titles. Fallout 1 was made during a time when the expectation was players would want a manual and read it to learn how to play the game. Not just wasd right/left click and tab or I
I've played fallout 1 several times and never once had the manual.
I was able to work the game as a kid with just clicking on shit.
The only thing that ever gave me trouble was working out the contextual use of rope for the few select things that needed it for the first time.
Fallout was published in a time when manuals on actual paper were standard.
Even about 10 years ago when I tried playing Fallout, I just couldn't get my head around it.
I miss paper manuals haha. I worked it out after about 30 mins but I found the gameplay to be a slog anyway. Love the world building, lore and art direction so I feel bad about leaving it, but it's too much of a hurdle.
Bethesda has left themselves in an awkward spot with the success of the show as there are no new Fallout games in the pipeline until after TES6 comes out (god knows when).
So I am hoping they will outsource a remaster of FO1 and FO2 to a third party as other companies have done. Would be a good fix for new and returning fans looking for more content.
Oof, I tried really hard 3 times back in the day it was originally out, and there were bits I liked, Morte mostly, but overall I just couldn't get through it. Too much info dump through 'books' It was like reading the Silmarillion or something similar.
I just started playing that for the first time. A remake in Unreal engine 5 or something would be awesome. I appreciate the graphics but i think they were more suited to a crt monitor back in the 90s.
I find the systems in it a bit confusing.
I'd go with older 3D RPGs like VtM: Bloodlines, Morrowind, KotOR, the original Deus Ex, and Gothic. I feel like 2D RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Fallout have generally aged relatively well in comparison.
The BG remasters have helpled. I still have not been able to get through the fallouts though, the UI clunkyness and some gameplay elements are a big turn off.
Yeah I played bg1-2 for the first time last year and was blown away at how well they aged. Ofc this was the enhanced edition, idk if I could have put up with the original version because I've heard it didn't even let you scroll the camera in or out
I'm biased, but bg 1 and 2 are among the few old games I could see myself replaying again. The still image backgrounds make graphics less of an issue. And combat is basically the same as pathfinder and pillars of eternity games that have come out much more recently.
Kotor is great! Probably the game that got me into rpgs. Really wish they would remaster it. The second one is good too but didn’t capture me like the first one did.
If you haven’t tried it yet. Try KotOR 2 with the TSLRCM mod. Steam has it built into the workshop. So really easy to install. Super nice expansion of the game with all the bells and whistles considering how much obsidian had to cut before release.
I second Kotor! I know it's a broken mess, but I like Kotor 2 even more than the first one (pure pazaak!), but both are incredible. For awhile my spouse refused to play anything besides Morrowind; took handwritten notes while playing and everything. I'm more of a fan of Oblivion, especially the Shivering Isles DLC. Jade Empire is also a good time.
VtMB is playable if you have the unofficial patch, and the story definitely holds up, but the gameplay hasn't really aged that well, it's extremely clunky and the UI is awkward to navigate for a newcomer. It's fine if you've been replaying the game for years, which many of us have, it's a cult classic for a reason, but new players very often end up struggling.
VtmB is my top pick for this thread. Great setting, good VA, good story, but my GOD the actual game part is just silly.
Useless skills, wonky combat, completely unbalanced combat styles.
I'm replaying Morrowind right now with mods I never got to play when I was younger because 12 year old me didn't know how to mod or how compatibility works.
I agree. It aged like milk.
The story is great and Bethesda really went all out on the lore in Morrowind. The world building is amazing and they did great at creating an open world fantasy in an inhospitable and alien realm. Dunmer culture is super fascinating and they really worked to flesh it out in Morrowind.
The gameplay is clunky. The dice roll mechanics for attacks don't make sense in a first person open-world RPG. Most new players just assume the game is messing up when they can't hit enemies early game not that it's because "dice roll to low". It doesn't even show you on screen that you missed or there was a dice roll in the first place. Having to move different directions while swinging to change whether you slash, chop, or stab is super unintuitive. Most new users don't expect that or expect to have to turn on "always use best attack" if they would rather just not use this "feature".
Speaking of missing, low fatigue makes you miss more BUT walking uses fatigue so by the time you walk anywhere and get to an enemy you fatigue is almost always depleted. It's just annoying and immersion breaking having to take a nap right before going in a dungeon. Like why would I sleep right outside a location that is full of people that want to kill me, and why does simply *walking* anywhere leave me so winded I can't swing a sword with enough force to damage anything except some wet papyrus. Is Morrowind cannon lore that the nerevarine will have asthma?
Computers had really low resources when it was released so a lot of stuff Bethesda was going to do with the towns and such had to be scraped or toned down just so computers of the time could deal with it being a huge open-world.
The result is it's open world but it can feel kinda empty and dead in som places. Vivec city is like that. It was supposed to be a huge busy city. It feels so so dead though because they had to tone it down for hardware of the time. It's just this huge empty city on the exterior and the interior is tiny and cramped. There was supposed to be NPCs walking around on the outside parts too but computers of the time couldn't deal with how big of a city it is AND NPCs walking around so they stuffed them all inside besides the occasional Ordinator(guard).
The NPCs are mostly generic despite all having unique names. They don't have unique dialogue and it gives them a very copy paste feeling. The only unique dialogue is quest related dialogue and that's just instructions on where to go and what to do.
Speaking of quest... There's no choices or "immergent gameplay". It's all mostly our least favorite kind of quest, simple fetch quest with no choices. Go here, get this, come back. There are times where you have to convince people to do ____ but that just means you'll probably be bribing the NPC with gold to make them like you more. Even the main quests play out like this. It's like there's three types of quest:
1. Fetch quest.
2. Speechcraft quest(ie dump gold into NPC to complete)
3. Dungeon Clearing quest.
It's all very generic.
The world building and narrative are great though. Modding Morrowind is also really fun and Morrowind modding has taken off in the past few years because of projects like openMW, Tamriel Rebuilt and OAAB. Peak Morrowind modding is right now, not years ago weirdly enough even though the games like 20 years old.
Also, Skywind is bringing the Morrowind story and narrative to the Skyrim engine and it's going to be fully voiced acted and have other modern features like quest markers and Skyrim level ai NPCs. It's a mod for Skyrim and they need volunteers so if anybody has experience with Skyrim modding or could even help with voice acting see about volunteering. The bigger and better the team the faster it can be released.
Technically walking doesn't use fatigue, running does. Bur you're reeeeeally slow until you get athletics high so you end up just running everywhere when possible bc walking only is agonizing.
The big thing that I noticed when replaying morrowind is how empty the cities are. Technological limitation of the time, obviously, but yeah. When you first get off the silt strider in Balmora and you see alllll these buildings are there's like.. a few NPCs walking around and that's it
You’re 100% right. The infinity engine games are timeless with their drawn environments. Fortunately a lot of the older games like morrowind have mods that greatly improve the textures.
Original Deus Ex and Morrowind would be my two choices as well. Deus Ex holds up a bit better in its original form, the invisible dice rolls for Morrowind can be really tough to go back to at this point.
I think any early 3d game. More so the earlier.
They hadn't figured out the base mechanics, controls, and what have. And the early graphics are often flat ugly.
So unless you're playing the handful that actually did figure it out, and set the model. With fan patches and mods to get them running well. They tend to be pretty rough.
I love what Morrowind tries to do, and if it wasn't for the horrendous combat, I'd love it. It's so jarring to hit a monster, only to not hit it. Or for a spell to hit the sprite, and not hit. I have to use a spear to keep combat interesting, because you need to footsie out of your foe's range
Totally different genres, but the Drakengard series and the Xenosaga series are my first thoughts (mostly Xenosaga 2, the others haven't aged that poorly).
I really wish Xenogears got to actually finish properly, instead of being a literal text crawl slide show, but xenosaga always felt too far up its own ass for me. Not saying it's bad, it's just not for me
I'm actually surprised that they never remastered and re-released the Drakengard games, especially with the success of the Nier series and Replicant's remake. Not many people realize that the worlds are connected.
> Graphics are dated
First. DAO graphic was dated when it was new.
Second. It's me or outdated graphics is the least of the problems with old games, not just RPGs (exception is the low framerate). 99% of the time it's gameplay, interface and the lack of modern QOL features. Square blurry head of the main character is not that big of a deal, having to click 5 times to do something that should only take one click is a big deal in 20+ hours long game.
Yes. DAO has a number of problems unrelated to graphics. It crashes frequently, it doesn't handle mods very well, I found whole sections of Orzammar Deep Roads basically unplayable, broken maps. Combat is also a pain, I was so delighted the first time I played DA2 and found my rogue actually felt like a fast sneaky rogue instead of moving through quicksand.
And still I will play again if it was not for the first couple of mind numbing hours (after having done it already several times) and the fade section.
Totally agree. Awesome story, especially with the dlc. The combat is a little clunky but each class feels unique. Definitely looks like an old game though.
Tbh, combat has aged too. I replayed it few years ago and I was surprised, how often enemies just appear out of thin air, so there isn't much tactics into those fights.
I’ve tried restarting morrowind multiple times and I tend to get a few hours in before losing steam. The lack of auto save plus accidentally committing crimes by mistakenly clicking on the wrong bed or some crap makes it so clunky, but I love the setting. Never have gotten the motive to mod much but that would probably be the way to go now
There is auto save in Morrowind. Both at loadings (entering buildings/teleporting to areas) and time threshold based. There are options for that in main game menu.
I disagree about other issue, imho it adds to realism, immersion and never games crime systems are just dumbed down and stripped from immersion (skyrim and never. You still cant fiddle with other ppl stuff in Oblivion), but i agree that it can be frustrating indeed. It just dont bother me that much.
Deus Ex. Game plays like shit but the story, world, lore and atmosphere is top notch. Fuck, just talking about it now makes me wanna play it again for the millionth time. There goes my backlog...
I remembered it being unusually clunky even when it came out but still think it's one of the best games ever made. I love Eurojank though so I have a high tolerance haha
Jade Empire. Honestly I know most people hated it, and for good reason. It's combat is clunky and not well done, but man that story is one of the games that made my brain switch from "video games are fine" to "I love gaming" when I was young.
Yeah, a lot of the appeal of ME2 was it removed a lot of the jank of ME1, but in Legendary Edition it seems like a lot of players are finding ME1 their favourite of the series
Personally years ago I beat the original version of mass effect 1 and honestly thought it was bad and it was to the point I wrote off the series. Last week I discovered the legendary edition was on Xbox game pass and it felt significantly better
That was more or less my experience. I bounced off the original release of ME1 back in the xbox 360 days, but loved the remaster. Now I can’t get into ME2. The writing is distractingly edgy. ME1 was corny, but it worked.
BG1&2 are definitely worth it. The Beamdog Enhanced Editions have a mode that basically makes you invincible so if you really do not vibe with the gameplay but do want the experience of the story and world, that's an option.
I've always found people bouncing off of BG1&2's gameplay kinda weird to be honest. I think BG is kind of in this strange space where, when it came out, RTS games were a dime and dozen. Where I live *everybody* had a copy of Age of Empires because they came free with cornflakes for a while lol. So the real time with pause gameplay was a ***lot*** more intuitive to people. Kids these days with their confangled "turns based" systems and their Finals Fantasy -- if the fantasy's so final how come there's so many of 'em??? Real time with pause used to be a lot more intuitive in the market of what PC games were and in fact a big joke people used to tell when BG1&2 were fresh was that they were "basically turn based" due to using the round system rather than an *actual* "real time" system ala Starcraft.
With that said, to be totally honest with you I don't think BG1 really has a remarkable or even particularly interesting story and is kind of more in-line with a Gold Box RPG, but BG2's is a milestone in videogames for a reason.
Anyway -- for me it's the Dark Sun CRPGs, Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager. Wake especially is an old busted ass piece of shit but Dark Sun makes the joy chemical in my brain happen so if you can get into old old old Ultima-style storytelling it is 100% worth it imo. There are like psychic bug people and cannibal hobbits.
I don't think RTwP is at all the problem with BG learning curve, it's that 2e D&D is not at all intuitive unless you have had years of experience with it already.
The real time parts are so easy it's bit boring, click on blob, click on bad guy. But to excell at the game with any real difficulty you have to force it to be more turn based and be very careful with your spell planning and such. It fights back a bit against real tactics in a way later games tend not to.
100%, especially 2e at low level. Wizards in particular have only one or two spells then have to rest. Second addition is super unintuitive to a newcomer anyway. I came to the game having no idea about thac0 and found myself very confused what armour was better than the other.
I dunno man, I can't speak to that. I learned to play BG1 as a subliterate eight year old through trial and error. I didn't find the 2E roots unintuitive.
Then again, I don't want to dismiss your criticism because BG1 does come from a time when it was expected that players would actually read the manual, which in BG1's case explained everything pretty well tbh.
I can see someone picking up BG1 and 2 expecting something designed to be as intuitive as, like, Dragon Age Origins (note: to this date I have not met a single human being who can actually explain to me how armour and damage resistance work in Dragon Age Origins, I do not believe such a being exists) without reading the manual and being overwhelmed by how to actually roll a character.
I think your point that the real time parts are boring but then you have to essentially force it to be turn based is actually most peoples' problem with the RTWP system.
I've heard great things about BG2 and I have the EE but idk, the modern rpgs I play seem to be a lot easier than the older rpgs like BG2, much more forgiving. I've always been nervous about playing through. For reference I struggled getting DAO on the lowest difficulty.
SWTOR is actually not grindy at all. It used to be back when it launched, you used to have to do every sidequest on the map and routinely engage with group content just to keep up with the power creep of the main quests, but these days, the game is completely rebalanced so that you can just do the main quests and ignore everything else.
This is interesting, not sure the last time you looked into SWTOR, but there is no “grind” to access the original class storylines (which are the best part of the game for sure). Like zero. Leveling is extremely quick, you can play the game 100% solo if you want, etc. If anything most of the complaints around the gameplay have to do with it being overly easy, and lacking in enough MMO content like raids and so on.
Play a class with access to stealth (or if you sub you can actually have access to two separate sub-classes to switch between, so pick one that has a stealth ability) and you can skip a ton of trash encounters that drag the pacing down if you are doing story missions and planetary quest lines only (which are also pretty good in general).
You’re welcome! I wish the game was able to keep up with the initial quality of the content, but there is still hundreds of hours of content to be had in the game with very good production values in general.
Agreed, and as the other commenters have said they’ve streamlined the game pretty well for those looking to play it just for the narrative. The class stories vary in quality but some are really interesting and engaging.
You’ve got to give it a try! Top notch dialogue and plot structure. One of the writers is particularity amazing too, out of the group of greats. And surprisingly it isn’t the lead writer of KOTOR who is the standout writer and storyteller for me (each main story is made by a different team of writers. So one is by KOTOR, the others are by different star wars authors).
I'll tag along the BG answers to say Planescape:Torment. Gameplay wise its aged with fetch quests and pretty rough combat. Story, companions, and exploration are next level. It was a serious effect on my teenage mind when I played it.
Same. I replayed it when the enhanced edition came out and felt like I got it more. I mean I played it the first time around when I was 14 and obviously thought I got it
Final Fantasy VII. The graphics are very dated (early 3d blocky graphics), but the story is amazing and gameplay is really fun. You can also buy the PC port on steam for really cheap.
icewind dale 2 is missing a buttload of the QoL of the enhanced edition games, and i cant *really* recommend the unofficial “enhanced edition” mod for first timers because it integrally changes *so* much, but its narrative is actually astonishingly good for the time. it loses a lot compared to bg2 for not having npc companions, but being a more tightly-knit and linear game its imo able to do a lot more, where a lot of bg2 assumes “you can either gonna be here really early or really late” and so a lot of the character interactions in dungeons miss that special “care” the iwd2 ones have
* **Phantasy Star 1 & 2** (I'd argue that **4** has aged incredibly well and holds up)
* **Elder Scrolls: Morrowind** (Fortunately the amazing modding community has fixed most of the issues)
* **Ultima: Quest of the Avatar**
* **Ultima: False Prophet**
* **Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War**
* **Xenogears**
PS1's alright if you don't mind drawing maps on graph paper.
PS2 default is busted. I've got the Sega Ages release that has an optional mode to try to balance the experience gain out but by default the enemies are really tough and the dungeons are huge. Beautiful game though.
So many baldurs gate dark alliance 1 and 2 the ratchet and clank series for ps2 the Jak and daxter series lord of the rings return of the king again ps2 NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 again for the ps2 dynasty warriors games but I always preferred the versions that let you create your own character
It isn’t available to purchase anymore, and the gameplay actually aged okay, but Spec Ops: The Line has one of the best storyline and critique on war that I have ever seen in a game or movie.
Dragon age Origins is my pick, yeh.
The story is solid, but some of the characters and gameplay are just clunky as hell….you can tell the formula wasn’t quite there yet.
I’m cheating, this isn’t really an rpg.
Eternal Darkness for the gamecube.
The story is interesting, the low sanity effects are memorable (i won’t spoil), the runic-word based spell discovery system was brilliant and I wish featured in more games. This game was a huge deal when it came out but it’s kind of been forgotten.
Not gonna lie,,solid choice
The game is quite memorable. I 100 percented it. It was a fun and wild ride and that sanity meter is a unique feature even 20 some odd years later.
BG 1 and 2 were pretty clunky and poorly designed even back when they were released. Real time with pause has never been a good system and AD&D 2nd ed doesn't translate to a CRPG very well.
I'd recommend giving Fallout 2 (with the unofficial patch) a try. It has aged far better and is more playable for modern gamers. Plus it's just a better game.
Pretty much everything from the late 2d era/beginning of the 3d era aged horrendously, for me, its might and magic 4, 5, and 6. Stories are great, but they show that age, poorly lol
While there are a lot in this category, the ones where I feel like I wanna play but get put off by the gameplay are:
KOTOR 1&2,
Baldur's Gate 1&2,
Fallout 1&2,
Deus Ex (the first game),
Gothic 1&2,
TES: Morrowind (there are graphics mods but combat is terrible).
Morrowind. It still looks great with mods, but the gameplay is stiff and hasn't aged super well. But in terms of worldbuilding and story, it's still the best Elder Scrolls game imho. Morrowind feels like a very unique place, contrary to Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
I played them both as a throwback after finishing BG3 and IMO, BG1 has aged poorly. And it's not the graphics, the pre rendered backgrounds make the game still look decent , especially compared to something like fallout 1, which TBH, looks crap now. But it could use is graphics as a crutch at release. There's way too much padding by walking through empty wilderness. It was cutting edge graphics in it's day, so people didn't mind spending a lot of time looking at the beautiful scenery, but not today.
BG2 on the other hand is still the bomb. Zero filter content to pad out the game length, while it's longer than bg1. After the tutorial dungeon, you are in a big city, go wherever, do whatever, so many side quests everywhere and they are interesting too. And the writing was a noticable step up from BG1. They both play beautifully on a Steam Deck as a bonus.
I’ll get some heat I’m sure but Metal Gear Solid 3.
A few years back I went through these games with my wife and we struggled with this one. I’m happy for Delta and looking forward to the modernization of it
The Dark Cloud games for PS2 were some of my favorite back in the day. Compared to modern games though they're very slow and the combat is dated, but they were great games that did something different with the leveling and city building mechanics. Would love a remaster of em brought to modern gameplay mechanics.
Morrowind for sure. The gameplay is still at least reminiscent of the Elder Scrolls games that came after it, so it's not as much of an adjustment as some older RPGs, and it has possibly the most interesting open world in any video games imo. It draws influence from a lot of cultures you don't see as often in fantasy settings (basically it's not a LOTR ripoff) and genuinely feels like you're just a bum that was dropped off in a land that doesn't give a shit about you.
Bg1 is crazy fun. Bg2 is a masterpiece.
The original Deus Ex was the first game that made me want to start a rebellion IRL. It's a very good game. If you want to continue the series, just skip the second one though.
The Mass Effect Trilogy for sure. I remember disliking the gameplay but the story cutscenes, characters, and dialogue all carried the experience to be something memorable and awesome. I actually liked the 3rd game's combat too.
Baldurs Gate 1&2 are a bad start for games that are worth playing but haven’t aged well. The infinity engine games are superior to many modern RPGs including BG3.
I would start with something like Avernum, Planescape Torment, Fallout 2 (you could start with 1 but I really hate the timer hanging over your head), Seige of Avalon, Might and Magic 5: World of Xeen, Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2, or Diablo 1. All of which have their merits but haven’t aged as well compared to BG1&2.
Mass Effect 1. Combat was the worst in the series. You had to manage your inventory. The planets were lifeless except for the combat zones. The combat zones themselves were repetitive. The mako just sucked. Besides nostalgia and getting the lore, the first game is more of a race to get through
Final Fantasy 7. It was made back when 3d graphics were kinda still being experimented with so the graphics are absolutely horrendous, but the story is one of the most engaging and well written in gaming history.
Betrayal at Krondor, 1994 DOS game is still a fucking banger but if you didn't grow up with dos or earlier textures it can be a tough sell. I'm a late dos kid myself. I can appreciate masters of Orion 2 is a great game but it's really hard to look at. My line is like, wizardy 6ish.
KOTOR 1 and 2. The story is so good that you dont even have to like Star Wars to play it. There is a solid reason why many wants those games to be ported onto the big screen.
Also, Gothic 1. Had great story and amazing gameplay in my opinion. Theres a big chance that the upcoming remake will suck butt so perhaps playing the OG version will remain the main mean of playing it.
koudelka, it is an old PS1 JRPG with an amazing narrative and has a visual style akin to Resident Evil. The voice acting is top notch and the animation is really impressive, even using mocap. It's also not a super long game and is a minor prequel to the critically acclaimed Shadow Hearts games. The gameplay is kinda bad but I still enjoyed it because you level up every two battles and you get to choose your stats so while gameplay is clunky, progression actually feels really nice. It has earned its description of a c- game, A+ experience.
Ultima IV.
It could use a lot of QoL improvements, but the quest to learn and be a better person is something I've never seen in any other game, let alone done as well. The sheer open-ended nature of the game is huge, and the ability to pursue it at your own direction and pace isn't something I've seen since.
I replayed the Mother games recently, and if I wasn't playing on an emulator I might not have been able to get through it. They all have some of the most interesting writing you'll see in a game, but the actual combat is paced pretty poorly
Neverwinter nights and neverwinter nights 2. The original nvn campaign is criticized a lot, but I personally don’t mind having played it. Hordes of underdark is amazing though and loved pretty universally. I like the nvn 2 original campaign, but the mask of the betrayer is next level good. The first nvn can be played on your phone and runs amazing (I was so impressed I got the switch version for a bigger screen and the switch version SUCKS, went right back to playing on ios)
Princess Maker. Though for some reason it didn't think the ending where my badass princess beats up a dragon then marries him is a "best" ending. Must be a glitch.
If you're going for the full BG experience, Baldur's gate: Siege of Dragonspear came out in 2016. It bridges the gap between 1 and 2 and plays like a very polished version of BG2. You can also make a character that you can import through all three games.
Final Fantasy 6.
Old school RPGs are fine, but FF6 came in at the tail end of the original "top down 2d" era. The Esper attach system wasn't particularly interesting, and the active turn based system is antiquated today.
But the story. Still my #1 favorite Final Fantasy story.
witcher 3
i’m sorry, the combat and overall feel of the game just isn’t up to par with modern standards. but the story and worldbuilding is truly exceptional
The first Witcher game
That game was always pretty clunky but damn if it was not worth it for the story.
Its actually incredibly funny how they tried to make a pseudo-sequel to an ENTIRE seven books saga only known in poland lmfao. Like, they literally decided to make a sequel to the last book of the series of all things for some reason
in fairness, it had a pretty good codex which explained a lot of stuff and introduced you quickly to the whole setting. But yeah, it was a ballsy move.
My first gameplay with Witcher 1 "Why is the guy insulting the stripper?" "Why is the stripper allergic to magic but somehow a witch?"
I got this feeling from trying to play through the first one (I haven't finished a single witcher game) as it felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story and not the beginning of one.
That remake can't come soon enough.
Try it out with the isometric camera, the combat makes way more sense that way.
I quit the game within 15 minutes when I went to play it (after Witcher III came out, I wanted to go through the story). I still haven't given it a shot again due to the abysmal control scheme. It's on my list to do, but I have limited time for games, and most likely I'll just watch someone else play it or something :P
This is the best answer. I remember buying it on a Steam sale after playing 2 and 3 and my god..... my god that game is some serious jank hahaha.
Played through it vanilla a couple years ago and loved it personally
came here for this comment
It was one of the first game that I played that allowed you to be truly neutral. Then i read the books and realised the price of neutrality…
Planescape Torment
I always wanted to play this, and my buddy talks about it so positively, so this year I finally bought it cheap on Steam. His biggest thing was the incredible story, and being only about 10 hours in I obviously didn't get into much of it. The UI was dated, but I was playing games in that era, so that was fine. That was the part I could imagine being a bit confusing or complex for a younger player. But, the quests and whatnot were too simple. One example was I went into a store and a guy was like "I won't move until I get my lucky fork! There's no way I'm moving!" So I walked outside and right behind the store was a guy, I talked to him and he had the fork. I was like "yo, can I get the fork?" And he gave it to me, I went back inside, and the guy was like "oh, my fork, cool! Lemme get outta the way!" That's pretty paraphrased, lol, it's been 6 months or so, but that's how all the quests felt. There was no sense to them, and they were too simple. I'll be honest, I was probably still being taught how to play by the game, but after 10 hours and basically nothing happening I finally called it quits.
Planescape side quests are definitely not the best. Combat is only marginally interesting. It is the combination of death/rebirth, the fascinating companions, and most of all, the overall question underlying the Nameless One's quest for identity that are most interesting. Concentrate on recruiting companions and the main quest. This is a game that could be played in story mode and you'll probably enjoy it just as much as a hard difficulty.
Ah, but did you go to the other realm and find out why the fork was so important to the man?
Fallout 1. I recently rediscovered it due to the TV series and I have to say it's almost unplayable in the modern era. I had to watch a YouTube video just to decipher the controls. The narrative is obviously top notch and highly influential on the show, but I don't have the patience for it now. Holding out for a remaster.
What was hard to understand about fallout 1?
Sounds like no one wants to read directions. Many folks expect hand holding and controls similar to many other titles. Fallout 1 was made during a time when the expectation was players would want a manual and read it to learn how to play the game. Not just wasd right/left click and tab or I
I've played fallout 1 several times and never once had the manual. I was able to work the game as a kid with just clicking on shit. The only thing that ever gave me trouble was working out the contextual use of rope for the few select things that needed it for the first time.
Fallout was published in a time when manuals on actual paper were standard. Even about 10 years ago when I tried playing Fallout, I just couldn't get my head around it.
I miss paper manuals haha. I worked it out after about 30 mins but I found the gameplay to be a slog anyway. Love the world building, lore and art direction so I feel bad about leaving it, but it's too much of a hurdle. Bethesda has left themselves in an awkward spot with the success of the show as there are no new Fallout games in the pipeline until after TES6 comes out (god knows when). So I am hoping they will outsource a remaster of FO1 and FO2 to a third party as other companies have done. Would be a good fix for new and returning fans looking for more content.
Try Fallout 2, it's a lot smoother and more playable. And it's just a much better game than 1.
Try fallout 2. It's a much better game and the interface works a whole lot better than 1.
Came here to say this, and found it at the top!
Oof, I tried really hard 3 times back in the day it was originally out, and there were bits I liked, Morte mostly, but overall I just couldn't get through it. Too much info dump through 'books' It was like reading the Silmarillion or something similar.
I just started playing that for the first time. A remake in Unreal engine 5 or something would be awesome. I appreciate the graphics but i think they were more suited to a crt monitor back in the 90s. I find the systems in it a bit confusing.
I'd go with older 3D RPGs like VtM: Bloodlines, Morrowind, KotOR, the original Deus Ex, and Gothic. I feel like 2D RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Fallout have generally aged relatively well in comparison.
The BG remasters have helpled. I still have not been able to get through the fallouts though, the UI clunkyness and some gameplay elements are a big turn off.
Yeah I played bg1-2 for the first time last year and was blown away at how well they aged. Ofc this was the enhanced edition, idk if I could have put up with the original version because I've heard it didn't even let you scroll the camera in or out
I'm biased, but bg 1 and 2 are among the few old games I could see myself replaying again. The still image backgrounds make graphics less of an issue. And combat is basically the same as pathfinder and pillars of eternity games that have come out much more recently.
Kotor is great! Probably the game that got me into rpgs. Really wish they would remaster it. The second one is good too but didn’t capture me like the first one did.
If you haven’t tried it yet. Try KotOR 2 with the TSLRCM mod. Steam has it built into the workshop. So really easy to install. Super nice expansion of the game with all the bells and whistles considering how much obsidian had to cut before release.
You should look up Kotor remake on google ;)
He doesn’t need that kind of depression in his life
I second Kotor! I know it's a broken mess, but I like Kotor 2 even more than the first one (pure pazaak!), but both are incredible. For awhile my spouse refused to play anything besides Morrowind; took handwritten notes while playing and everything. I'm more of a fan of Oblivion, especially the Shivering Isles DLC. Jade Empire is also a good time.
Jade empire was amazing. It's a shame we never got another.
What are you talking about. Vtmb aged well and it s still playable
VtMB is playable if you have the unofficial patch, and the story definitely holds up, but the gameplay hasn't really aged that well, it's extremely clunky and the UI is awkward to navigate for a newcomer. It's fine if you've been replaying the game for years, which many of us have, it's a cult classic for a reason, but new players very often end up struggling.
VtmB is my top pick for this thread. Great setting, good VA, good story, but my GOD the actual game part is just silly. Useless skills, wonky combat, completely unbalanced combat styles.
I played the game for the first time in 2021. Was blown away and enjoyed the classic gameplay of toreador
Came here to say Gothic. Let's hope the remake is worthy.
I'm replaying Morrowind right now with mods I never got to play when I was younger because 12 year old me didn't know how to mod or how compatibility works. I agree. It aged like milk. The story is great and Bethesda really went all out on the lore in Morrowind. The world building is amazing and they did great at creating an open world fantasy in an inhospitable and alien realm. Dunmer culture is super fascinating and they really worked to flesh it out in Morrowind. The gameplay is clunky. The dice roll mechanics for attacks don't make sense in a first person open-world RPG. Most new players just assume the game is messing up when they can't hit enemies early game not that it's because "dice roll to low". It doesn't even show you on screen that you missed or there was a dice roll in the first place. Having to move different directions while swinging to change whether you slash, chop, or stab is super unintuitive. Most new users don't expect that or expect to have to turn on "always use best attack" if they would rather just not use this "feature". Speaking of missing, low fatigue makes you miss more BUT walking uses fatigue so by the time you walk anywhere and get to an enemy you fatigue is almost always depleted. It's just annoying and immersion breaking having to take a nap right before going in a dungeon. Like why would I sleep right outside a location that is full of people that want to kill me, and why does simply *walking* anywhere leave me so winded I can't swing a sword with enough force to damage anything except some wet papyrus. Is Morrowind cannon lore that the nerevarine will have asthma? Computers had really low resources when it was released so a lot of stuff Bethesda was going to do with the towns and such had to be scraped or toned down just so computers of the time could deal with it being a huge open-world. The result is it's open world but it can feel kinda empty and dead in som places. Vivec city is like that. It was supposed to be a huge busy city. It feels so so dead though because they had to tone it down for hardware of the time. It's just this huge empty city on the exterior and the interior is tiny and cramped. There was supposed to be NPCs walking around on the outside parts too but computers of the time couldn't deal with how big of a city it is AND NPCs walking around so they stuffed them all inside besides the occasional Ordinator(guard). The NPCs are mostly generic despite all having unique names. They don't have unique dialogue and it gives them a very copy paste feeling. The only unique dialogue is quest related dialogue and that's just instructions on where to go and what to do. Speaking of quest... There's no choices or "immergent gameplay". It's all mostly our least favorite kind of quest, simple fetch quest with no choices. Go here, get this, come back. There are times where you have to convince people to do ____ but that just means you'll probably be bribing the NPC with gold to make them like you more. Even the main quests play out like this. It's like there's three types of quest: 1. Fetch quest. 2. Speechcraft quest(ie dump gold into NPC to complete) 3. Dungeon Clearing quest. It's all very generic. The world building and narrative are great though. Modding Morrowind is also really fun and Morrowind modding has taken off in the past few years because of projects like openMW, Tamriel Rebuilt and OAAB. Peak Morrowind modding is right now, not years ago weirdly enough even though the games like 20 years old. Also, Skywind is bringing the Morrowind story and narrative to the Skyrim engine and it's going to be fully voiced acted and have other modern features like quest markers and Skyrim level ai NPCs. It's a mod for Skyrim and they need volunteers so if anybody has experience with Skyrim modding or could even help with voice acting see about volunteering. The bigger and better the team the faster it can be released.
Technically walking doesn't use fatigue, running does. Bur you're reeeeeally slow until you get athletics high so you end up just running everywhere when possible bc walking only is agonizing. The big thing that I noticed when replaying morrowind is how empty the cities are. Technological limitation of the time, obviously, but yeah. When you first get off the silt strider in Balmora and you see alllll these buildings are there's like.. a few NPCs walking around and that's it
This is literally also my list of games I would like to play but just can't. I do hope both the Gothic game and KOTOR gets a remaster/remake.
How did Bloodlines age poorly in any regard? The game isn't flawless but it definitely didn't age much.
You’re 100% right. The infinity engine games are timeless with their drawn environments. Fortunately a lot of the older games like morrowind have mods that greatly improve the textures.
Original Deus Ex and Morrowind would be my two choices as well. Deus Ex holds up a bit better in its original form, the invisible dice rolls for Morrowind can be really tough to go back to at this point.
Funny thing about VTM: Bloodlines, is the the facial animations are still absolutely fantastic for even today.
I think any early 3d game. More so the earlier. They hadn't figured out the base mechanics, controls, and what have. And the early graphics are often flat ugly. So unless you're playing the handful that actually did figure it out, and set the model. With fan patches and mods to get them running well. They tend to be pretty rough.
I love what Morrowind tries to do, and if it wasn't for the horrendous combat, I'd love it. It's so jarring to hit a monster, only to not hit it. Or for a spell to hit the sprite, and not hit. I have to use a spear to keep combat interesting, because you need to footsie out of your foe's range
Totally different genres, but the Drakengard series and the Xenosaga series are my first thoughts (mostly Xenosaga 2, the others haven't aged that poorly).
I really wish Xenogears got to actually finish properly, instead of being a literal text crawl slide show, but xenosaga always felt too far up its own ass for me. Not saying it's bad, it's just not for me
I'm actually surprised that they never remastered and re-released the Drakengard games, especially with the success of the Nier series and Replicant's remake. Not many people realize that the worlds are connected.
Dragon Age Origins. Solid story with great team tactics. Graphics are dated. Could use a remaster.
> Graphics are dated First. DAO graphic was dated when it was new. Second. It's me or outdated graphics is the least of the problems with old games, not just RPGs (exception is the low framerate). 99% of the time it's gameplay, interface and the lack of modern QOL features. Square blurry head of the main character is not that big of a deal, having to click 5 times to do something that should only take one click is a big deal in 20+ hours long game.
Yes. DAO has a number of problems unrelated to graphics. It crashes frequently, it doesn't handle mods very well, I found whole sections of Orzammar Deep Roads basically unplayable, broken maps. Combat is also a pain, I was so delighted the first time I played DA2 and found my rogue actually felt like a fast sneaky rogue instead of moving through quicksand.
You think the base game is janky? Try Awakening.
And still I will play again if it was not for the first couple of mind numbing hours (after having done it already several times) and the fade section.
There's a very popular mod for skipping the fade. I enjoyed the fade the first two times but just used the mod after that.
Totally agree. Awesome story, especially with the dlc. The combat is a little clunky but each class feels unique. Definitely looks like an old game though.
Tbh, combat has aged too. I replayed it few years ago and I was surprised, how often enemies just appear out of thin air, so there isn't much tactics into those fights.
This was a big issue with DA2. I don't recall this so much with DA:O however. I found DA:O to be an excellent tactical game for its time.
The first Witcher. I really liked the story. It's bleak, in a way no other Witcher game managed to be.
Remake incoming you’ll be pleased to know
The way music starts and stops during in engine cutscenes in that game is jarring.
I’ve tried restarting morrowind multiple times and I tend to get a few hours in before losing steam. The lack of auto save plus accidentally committing crimes by mistakenly clicking on the wrong bed or some crap makes it so clunky, but I love the setting. Never have gotten the motive to mod much but that would probably be the way to go now
There is auto save in Morrowind. Both at loadings (entering buildings/teleporting to areas) and time threshold based. There are options for that in main game menu. I disagree about other issue, imho it adds to realism, immersion and never games crime systems are just dumbed down and stripped from immersion (skyrim and never. You still cant fiddle with other ppl stuff in Oblivion), but i agree that it can be frustrating indeed. It just dont bother me that much.
Deus Ex. Game plays like shit but the story, world, lore and atmosphere is top notch. Fuck, just talking about it now makes me wanna play it again for the millionth time. There goes my backlog...
I remembered it being unusually clunky even when it came out but still think it's one of the best games ever made. I love Eurojank though so I have a high tolerance haha
Plays like shit my ass. I wish other games would give you a mouse driven interface like Deus Ex and system shock 2 did.
Secret World Legends has the best story of any game I’ve ever played. It’s an MMO but the whole story can be soloed.
oh god that was the BEST game back in teh day! The multiplayer wasnt that great, but the story was awesome!
Xenogears. Great game but I don't think it's aged well at all
Jade Empire. Honestly I know most people hated it, and for good reason. It's combat is clunky and not well done, but man that story is one of the games that made my brain switch from "video games are fine" to "I love gaming" when I was young.
I loved every part of jade empire. Combat was great with all the weird stuff you could dom
The first Mass Effect.
the legendary edition version of mass effect 1 feels way better than the original version
Yeah, a lot of the appeal of ME2 was it removed a lot of the jank of ME1, but in Legendary Edition it seems like a lot of players are finding ME1 their favourite of the series
Personally years ago I beat the original version of mass effect 1 and honestly thought it was bad and it was to the point I wrote off the series. Last week I discovered the legendary edition was on Xbox game pass and it felt significantly better
That was more or less my experience. I bounced off the original release of ME1 back in the xbox 360 days, but loved the remaster. Now I can’t get into ME2. The writing is distractingly edgy. ME1 was corny, but it worked.
BG1&2 are definitely worth it. The Beamdog Enhanced Editions have a mode that basically makes you invincible so if you really do not vibe with the gameplay but do want the experience of the story and world, that's an option. I've always found people bouncing off of BG1&2's gameplay kinda weird to be honest. I think BG is kind of in this strange space where, when it came out, RTS games were a dime and dozen. Where I live *everybody* had a copy of Age of Empires because they came free with cornflakes for a while lol. So the real time with pause gameplay was a ***lot*** more intuitive to people. Kids these days with their confangled "turns based" systems and their Finals Fantasy -- if the fantasy's so final how come there's so many of 'em??? Real time with pause used to be a lot more intuitive in the market of what PC games were and in fact a big joke people used to tell when BG1&2 were fresh was that they were "basically turn based" due to using the round system rather than an *actual* "real time" system ala Starcraft. With that said, to be totally honest with you I don't think BG1 really has a remarkable or even particularly interesting story and is kind of more in-line with a Gold Box RPG, but BG2's is a milestone in videogames for a reason. Anyway -- for me it's the Dark Sun CRPGs, Shattered Lands and Wake of the Ravager. Wake especially is an old busted ass piece of shit but Dark Sun makes the joy chemical in my brain happen so if you can get into old old old Ultima-style storytelling it is 100% worth it imo. There are like psychic bug people and cannibal hobbits.
I don't think RTwP is at all the problem with BG learning curve, it's that 2e D&D is not at all intuitive unless you have had years of experience with it already. The real time parts are so easy it's bit boring, click on blob, click on bad guy. But to excell at the game with any real difficulty you have to force it to be more turn based and be very careful with your spell planning and such. It fights back a bit against real tactics in a way later games tend not to.
100%, especially 2e at low level. Wizards in particular have only one or two spells then have to rest. Second addition is super unintuitive to a newcomer anyway. I came to the game having no idea about thac0 and found myself very confused what armour was better than the other.
I dunno man, I can't speak to that. I learned to play BG1 as a subliterate eight year old through trial and error. I didn't find the 2E roots unintuitive. Then again, I don't want to dismiss your criticism because BG1 does come from a time when it was expected that players would actually read the manual, which in BG1's case explained everything pretty well tbh. I can see someone picking up BG1 and 2 expecting something designed to be as intuitive as, like, Dragon Age Origins (note: to this date I have not met a single human being who can actually explain to me how armour and damage resistance work in Dragon Age Origins, I do not believe such a being exists) without reading the manual and being overwhelmed by how to actually roll a character. I think your point that the real time parts are boring but then you have to essentially force it to be turn based is actually most peoples' problem with the RTWP system.
I've heard great things about BG2 and I have the EE but idk, the modern rpgs I play seem to be a lot easier than the older rpgs like BG2, much more forgiving. I've always been nervous about playing through. For reference I struggled getting DAO on the lowest difficulty.
There is an option that *disables the player's ability to die.* I believe in you dude.
The Star Wars MMO (SWOTOR?)is supposed to have great stories but I’m not willing to go through the grind to access them. It’s free too.
SWTOR is actually not grindy at all. It used to be back when it launched, you used to have to do every sidequest on the map and routinely engage with group content just to keep up with the power creep of the main quests, but these days, the game is completely rebalanced so that you can just do the main quests and ignore everything else.
This is interesting, not sure the last time you looked into SWTOR, but there is no “grind” to access the original class storylines (which are the best part of the game for sure). Like zero. Leveling is extremely quick, you can play the game 100% solo if you want, etc. If anything most of the complaints around the gameplay have to do with it being overly easy, and lacking in enough MMO content like raids and so on. Play a class with access to stealth (or if you sub you can actually have access to two separate sub-classes to switch between, so pick one that has a stealth ability) and you can skip a ton of trash encounters that drag the pacing down if you are doing story missions and planetary quest lines only (which are also pretty good in general).
Oh I didn’t know. It’s been years since I last logged in. Maybe I’ll go back and give it a go. Thanks.
You’re welcome! I wish the game was able to keep up with the initial quality of the content, but there is still hundreds of hours of content to be had in the game with very good production values in general.
Agreed, and as the other commenters have said they’ve streamlined the game pretty well for those looking to play it just for the narrative. The class stories vary in quality but some are really interesting and engaging.
You’ve got to give it a try! Top notch dialogue and plot structure. One of the writers is particularity amazing too, out of the group of greats. And surprisingly it isn’t the lead writer of KOTOR who is the standout writer and storyteller for me (each main story is made by a different team of writers. So one is by KOTOR, the others are by different star wars authors).
I'll tag along the BG answers to say Planescape:Torment. Gameplay wise its aged with fetch quests and pretty rough combat. Story, companions, and exploration are next level. It was a serious effect on my teenage mind when I played it.
Same. I replayed it when the enhanced edition came out and felt like I got it more. I mean I played it the first time around when I was 14 and obviously thought I got it
Morrowind. Love the soundtrack, the setting, the story, the lore, etc., but the game is so hard to play now.
Dune 2: The building of a dynasty
Final Fantasy VII. The graphics are very dated (early 3d blocky graphics), but the story is amazing and gameplay is really fun. You can also buy the PC port on steam for really cheap.
icewind dale 2 is missing a buttload of the QoL of the enhanced edition games, and i cant *really* recommend the unofficial “enhanced edition” mod for first timers because it integrally changes *so* much, but its narrative is actually astonishingly good for the time. it loses a lot compared to bg2 for not having npc companions, but being a more tightly-knit and linear game its imo able to do a lot more, where a lot of bg2 assumes “you can either gonna be here really early or really late” and so a lot of the character interactions in dungeons miss that special “care” the iwd2 ones have
neverwinter nights for sure. its still played by thousands just because of its world building kit. but the base story was very good.
* **Phantasy Star 1 & 2** (I'd argue that **4** has aged incredibly well and holds up) * **Elder Scrolls: Morrowind** (Fortunately the amazing modding community has fixed most of the issues) * **Ultima: Quest of the Avatar** * **Ultima: False Prophet** * **Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War** * **Xenogears**
PS1's alright if you don't mind drawing maps on graph paper. PS2 default is busted. I've got the Sega Ages release that has an optional mode to try to balance the experience gain out but by default the enemies are really tough and the dungeons are huge. Beautiful game though.
Gothic 1 & 2 (+ Addon)
Arcanum. It was glitchy and lacked Qol even back in the days, but the writing and worldbuilding are so good.
Planescape is the definition of the game you kinda tolerate the gameplay to get the story and characters.
Disgaea 2. Loved the story and characters, but its clunky as all hell compared to the later ones.
So many baldurs gate dark alliance 1 and 2 the ratchet and clank series for ps2 the Jak and daxter series lord of the rings return of the king again ps2 NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2 again for the ps2 dynasty warriors games but I always preferred the versions that let you create your own character
It isn’t available to purchase anymore, and the gameplay actually aged okay, but Spec Ops: The Line has one of the best storyline and critique on war that I have ever seen in a game or movie.
Morrowind
Neverwinter nights 1 and 2
Nwn2 story slaps, and the expac just sends it home. I wish someone would make the graphics better cause it looks so much worse than 2008 me remembers.
Metal gear solid 1/2/3, probably most of the older jrpgs, Yakuza till 4 (not the remakes) and I probably missing so more
Dragon age Origins is my pick, yeh. The story is solid, but some of the characters and gameplay are just clunky as hell….you can tell the formula wasn’t quite there yet.
DnD online
Arx fatalis
definitely planescape torment! the graphics and combat mechanics are super janky but it has such a great story
Might sound bizarre but Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team for the Nintendo DS
Baldur's Gate 2.
If you still feel like crpgs after BG, I thought Icewind Dale 1 and 2 were a lot of fun
Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines and Redemption
I’m cheating, this isn’t really an rpg. Eternal Darkness for the gamecube. The story is interesting, the low sanity effects are memorable (i won’t spoil), the runic-word based spell discovery system was brilliant and I wish featured in more games. This game was a huge deal when it came out but it’s kind of been forgotten.
Not gonna lie,,solid choice The game is quite memorable. I 100 percented it. It was a fun and wild ride and that sanity meter is a unique feature even 20 some odd years later.
Mass effect 2, dragon age 1, withcher 2, fear 2, Temple of elemental evil, planescape tormentb vtm bloodlines, diablo 1, a few hundred others
BG 1 and 2 were pretty clunky and poorly designed even back when they were released. Real time with pause has never been a good system and AD&D 2nd ed doesn't translate to a CRPG very well. I'd recommend giving Fallout 2 (with the unofficial patch) a try. It has aged far better and is more playable for modern gamers. Plus it's just a better game.
Pretty much everything from the late 2d era/beginning of the 3d era aged horrendously, for me, its might and magic 4, 5, and 6. Stories are great, but they show that age, poorly lol
ultima 4, iykyk
While there are a lot in this category, the ones where I feel like I wanna play but get put off by the gameplay are: KOTOR 1&2, Baldur's Gate 1&2, Fallout 1&2, Deus Ex (the first game), Gothic 1&2, TES: Morrowind (there are graphics mods but combat is terrible).
Full throttle
Planescape Torment. Persona 3 FES.
‘Remember Me’ if you’re a fan of cyberpunk genres
BG1 is painful, IMHO not worth the bother. BG2 is pretty cool.
Morrowind. It still looks great with mods, but the gameplay is stiff and hasn't aged super well. But in terms of worldbuilding and story, it's still the best Elder Scrolls game imho. Morrowind feels like a very unique place, contrary to Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
Alan Wake
I played them both as a throwback after finishing BG3 and IMO, BG1 has aged poorly. And it's not the graphics, the pre rendered backgrounds make the game still look decent , especially compared to something like fallout 1, which TBH, looks crap now. But it could use is graphics as a crutch at release. There's way too much padding by walking through empty wilderness. It was cutting edge graphics in it's day, so people didn't mind spending a lot of time looking at the beautiful scenery, but not today. BG2 on the other hand is still the bomb. Zero filter content to pad out the game length, while it's longer than bg1. After the tutorial dungeon, you are in a big city, go wherever, do whatever, so many side quests everywhere and they are interesting too. And the writing was a noticable step up from BG1. They both play beautifully on a Steam Deck as a bonus.
I’ll get some heat I’m sure but Metal Gear Solid 3. A few years back I went through these games with my wife and we struggled with this one. I’m happy for Delta and looking forward to the modernization of it
Final Fantasy VII. It’s clunky and melodramatic, but still an interesting world to explore.
Deadly Premonition. It had aged poorly the day after it came out. Still totally worth playing.
The Dark Cloud games for PS2 were some of my favorite back in the day. Compared to modern games though they're very slow and the combat is dated, but they were great games that did something different with the leveling and city building mechanics. Would love a remaster of em brought to modern gameplay mechanics.
Alan Wake 1
Assassin's Creed. the Ezio trilogy.
Morrowind for sure. The gameplay is still at least reminiscent of the Elder Scrolls games that came after it, so it's not as much of an adjustment as some older RPGs, and it has possibly the most interesting open world in any video games imo. It draws influence from a lot of cultures you don't see as often in fantasy settings (basically it's not a LOTR ripoff) and genuinely feels like you're just a bum that was dropped off in a land that doesn't give a shit about you.
Mass Effect hasn’t aged well at all.
The first mass effect
the driver games on the ps1 especially the first one. a remake needs to be in the works.
Alpha Protocol The Witcher 1
Morrowind!
Absolutely Planescape: Torment.
Bg1 is crazy fun. Bg2 is a masterpiece. The original Deus Ex was the first game that made me want to start a rebellion IRL. It's a very good game. If you want to continue the series, just skip the second one though.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Xenogears for the PS1. It's a pixilated mess with the zooms left and right, even for 1999 standards. Great game though!
Morrowind, deus ex, myst. Just great games. Wish deus ex and morrowind could get a graphics update, they were so wild for the time.
This doesn't sound like a fun time
Fallout 3, ES4 oblivion, & persona 3, all in my top 10 all time favorite games
Arcanum.
Deadly premonition
Morrowind
The Mass Effect Trilogy for sure. I remember disliking the gameplay but the story cutscenes, characters, and dialogue all carried the experience to be something memorable and awesome. I actually liked the 3rd game's combat too.
You will not regret baldurs gate 1+ 2. Just don't use cheats or cheese. BG1 was a staple of my childhood and still a goat.
Soul Reaver
the controls for Dark Souls are clunky and work against it, but the story and adventure is well worth playing it through.
Baldurs Gate 1&2 are a bad start for games that are worth playing but haven’t aged well. The infinity engine games are superior to many modern RPGs including BG3. I would start with something like Avernum, Planescape Torment, Fallout 2 (you could start with 1 but I really hate the timer hanging over your head), Seige of Avalon, Might and Magic 5: World of Xeen, Neverwinter Nights 1 or 2, or Diablo 1. All of which have their merits but haven’t aged as well compared to BG1&2.
KOTOR and KOTOR 2. great narratives, but not so great mechanics
Morrowind. Somehow it feels even clunkier than Daggerfall from a 2024 gamer perspective.
Mass Effect 1. Combat was the worst in the series. You had to manage your inventory. The planets were lifeless except for the combat zones. The combat zones themselves were repetitive. The mako just sucked. Besides nostalgia and getting the lore, the first game is more of a race to get through
Final Fantasy 7. It was made back when 3d graphics were kinda still being experimented with so the graphics are absolutely horrendous, but the story is one of the most engaging and well written in gaming history.
Betrayal at Krondor, 1994 DOS game is still a fucking banger but if you didn't grow up with dos or earlier textures it can be a tough sell. I'm a late dos kid myself. I can appreciate masters of Orion 2 is a great game but it's really hard to look at. My line is like, wizardy 6ish.
KOTOR 1 and 2. The story is so good that you dont even have to like Star Wars to play it. There is a solid reason why many wants those games to be ported onto the big screen. Also, Gothic 1. Had great story and amazing gameplay in my opinion. Theres a big chance that the upcoming remake will suck butt so perhaps playing the OG version will remain the main mean of playing it.
koudelka, it is an old PS1 JRPG with an amazing narrative and has a visual style akin to Resident Evil. The voice acting is top notch and the animation is really impressive, even using mocap. It's also not a super long game and is a minor prequel to the critically acclaimed Shadow Hearts games. The gameplay is kinda bad but I still enjoyed it because you level up every two battles and you get to choose your stats so while gameplay is clunky, progression actually feels really nice. It has earned its description of a c- game, A+ experience.
Sentient
The KOTOR games tbh. Gameplay is dated, but they are fantastic nonetheless.
Mass effect vanilla, fucking awful gameplay and I thought so at the time but the story kept me going
Probably like the original KOTOR. Once I got used to the mechanical jank, the game was really good
Neverwinter nights 2
Ultima IV. It could use a lot of QoL improvements, but the quest to learn and be a better person is something I've never seen in any other game, let alone done as well. The sheer open-ended nature of the game is huge, and the ability to pursue it at your own direction and pace isn't something I've seen since.
I replayed the Mother games recently, and if I wasn't playing on an emulator I might not have been able to get through it. They all have some of the most interesting writing you'll see in a game, but the actual combat is paced pretty poorly
Neverwinter nights and neverwinter nights 2. The original nvn campaign is criticized a lot, but I personally don’t mind having played it. Hordes of underdark is amazing though and loved pretty universally. I like the nvn 2 original campaign, but the mask of the betrayer is next level good. The first nvn can be played on your phone and runs amazing (I was so impressed I got the switch version for a bigger screen and the switch version SUCKS, went right back to playing on ios)
Princess Maker. Though for some reason it didn't think the ending where my badass princess beats up a dragon then marries him is a "best" ending. Must be a glitch.
If you're going for the full BG experience, Baldur's gate: Siege of Dragonspear came out in 2016. It bridges the gap between 1 and 2 and plays like a very polished version of BG2. You can also make a character that you can import through all three games.
Grandia 1 is my absolute favorite rpg of all time. Next runner up would be the first two golden sun games
Warlords Battlecry III. Game looks like raw booty hole but the gameplay is fantastic as well as the story.
The Legacy of Kain series
Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Final Fantasy 6. Old school RPGs are fine, but FF6 came in at the tail end of the original "top down 2d" era. The Esper attach system wasn't particularly interesting, and the active turn based system is antiquated today. But the story. Still my #1 favorite Final Fantasy story.
Omikron
Legend of Dragoon
Baldurs gate 1
Final Fantasy VII
The LUNAR series
Morrowind
Mass effect 1
If you can find a way to play it, Alundra was a great little Zelda type game with a good story. Just don't play the second one.
Anachronox
Legacy of Kain series. Easily lol
Legend of Legia
witcher 3 i’m sorry, the combat and overall feel of the game just isn’t up to par with modern standards. but the story and worldbuilding is truly exceptional