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Coyote

PC, Console, Indie, or Mainstream...

What are the upcoming RPGs you are most looking forward to? (We'll allow recently-released RPGs, too. Because if you are like me, you are perpetually late to the party by a couple of months...) And why?

Me? Eschalon: Book 1, probably. It seems to be pretty old-school in its sensibilities, invoking the names of classic PC RPGs as Ultima and Wizardry as its inspirations. But I keep watching that video over and over --- it's definitely more modern in its presentation. Not ultra-high-tech or million-dollar-production-values, but still really nice. It also promises to have a pretty deep gaming system with a rich storyline. An RPG for RPG fans, rather than an RPG for the mass market.

Depths of Peril is my current RPG drug of choice. We'll see if Eschalon (or The Witcher) beats it out.
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largemarge · Level 1 Wanderer Joined: 22 May 2007 Posts: 10

That trailer for Eschalon looked really sharp. I will definitely check that game out when it is released.
I have been waiting for Mass Effect to be released for so long. I have hyped that game in my mind to such a feverish degree. I can't wait for that game.

Gareth Fouche · Level 3 Seeker Joined: 15 Jun 2007 Posts: 45

Eschalon is currently top of the list of indies I'm looking forward to. Mainstream I already have my choices, witcher and Mask of the Betrayer. Game Dev is going to suffer for a while I'm afraid. Razz

Coyote · Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:49 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I've already suffered a little in the game dev department due to Depths of Peril. These others are gonna be dangerous.
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icosahedron · Level 1 Wanderer Joined: 03 Jul 2007 Posts: 6

I'm definitely looking forward to Eschalon. I'll give Depths of Peril a whirl, and probably end up buying it.

I'm also looking forward to NWN2's expansion (can't recall the name right now).

I've also got a couple of good mods for NWN that I'm looking forward to putting through the paces: Shadowlords, et. al.

Mass Effect will have to wait until next year. I'll probably just pick it up from the used games rack sometime next spring. I just can't justify a $60 purchase for something I very well might not finish. A $20 purchase I can live with. Shame on me. Rolling Eyes

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Gnarf · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:18 am Post subject:

I came across Knights of the Chalice the other day. Don't know a whole lot about it, but it looks proper cool. And reading the design notes there, it would seem the creator has some of the same pet hates as me (hiding statistics, enemy scaling and improving skills through repeated use, to be precise), so all should be good. One worth keeping an eye on I'd say.

cowgod · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:30 am Post subject:

I'm a bit behind the times.

I would say that I'm looking forward to Geneforge 5, but I've only played the first game in the series so far.

I would really like to get Freedom Force, but that's about 5 years old.

If I had a really new RPG, I probably wouldn't be able to play it with a 4 year-old laptop anyways.

I don't even know what new RPGs are coming. I know that I do not want Fallout 3. It's not really a Fallout game.

Coyote · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:04 pm Post subject:

I'd pick up Freedom Force anyway. That game rocked, and as you already know, I have no problem with playing older games...

I think it is available as a digital download nowadays.
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cowgod · Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 10:49 am Post subject:

metallimoose · Level 1 Wanderer Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 7

I recall playing Freedom Force, but if I remember correctly it suffers from "Fire Emblem syndrome", which means that there's no way to level up your characters outside of the storyline. You can't replay old levels or fight random battles for XP, which annoys me. I don't think it's necessarily as bad as Fire Emblem's system (wherein you actually have to manage which character gets the killing blow on an enemy so as to spread around the experience - UGH), but I think it's clumsy design nonetheless.

I'll probably rent Fallout 3. It's true that it breaks from the Fallout mold, and I'd have preferred a true sequel, but I believe it's possible that it'll be an entertaining game regardless. It doesn't sit well with me to avoid a (potentially) good game because it shares its namesake with a pair of great games.

Fable 2 will warrant a rental and maybe a buy, if only because of the co-op mode. Why oh why don't more console games release with co-op modes, RPGs included? It's the best of both worlds: the focused campaign of a single-player game, and the friendly atmosphere of cooperative play. MMOs have moved into this territory, but it's never quite the same -- the meaningless fetch and collection quests dilute the gameplay.

On the indie front, I've been playing the (long!) demo for The Spirit Engine 2. It's got a very original battle system, wonderful music, and a somewhat interesting story, but it suffers from some difficulty imbalance, so that the gameplay gets in the way of the game -- a fatal flaw. I'll probably cut down the difficulty to 'easy', but I feel like I shouldn't have to do that.

One of these days I'll probably pick up Geneforge or Avernum or Eschalon -- I can never remember which is which. I played their demos in a one-month timespan, and they were all enjoyable to me.

New Star Soccer 4 should release this month. I don't even like soccer and this series keeps me interested. In my opinion it's an RPG with the combat replaced with soccer -- beyond the on-field gameplay, you can date, get married, have kids, gamble, buy cars/houses/etc. It's a prototype of what all games can be IMO -- take decent gameplay, graft it to a great context, and you've got a great game. Context is everything.

And I was trying to beat Outpost Kaloki X, but it's too hard. Evil or Very Mad

I'm something like 0 for 5 on the final mission. I can't come close to getting $50k... most I've gotten is $30k. I've given up!

hanako · Level 5 Hunter Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 245

cowgod · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

hanako · Level 5 Hunter Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 245

I've bought a few ebooks lately from webscription.net, which generally charges me about $5-6 each. That's certainly higher than the set price of a used book, but not higher than buying a used book off ebay or somewhere plus getting it mailed to me. Also, they give a wide choice of formats, including drm-free HTML, and I actually *like* reading books in HTML since then I can read a bit at my computer while waiting for other things to compile/download/whatever. And they give away a bunch of books free to try and tempt you into using their system. All in all, I'm a fan, I just wish they had a wider range.

On the other hand I have seen some authors selling ebook versions for the same price as the physical thing, with all sorts of copy protection, or only readable in PDF which I find uncomfortable on a computer. Unless it's the sort of book where the exact page layout really matters (RPG sourcebooks!), pdf is pointless for ebooks.
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cowgod · Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:11 pm Post subject:

BloodyBandage · Level 1 Wanderer Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Is it true they are still making games for the Suikoden series? I loved playing them, but haven't kept up to date with it. Also anyone like Lufia/Chrono Trigger or Suikoden and could suggest a good rpg either already out or coming out? because those are the type of games I really enjoy.
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