by Tocsin » Aug 04, 2017 8:29 am
I'm really surprised that the original
Deus Ex and
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind haven't been mentioned yet. They're older but definitely not obscure PC RPGs, from 2000 and 2002 respectively. The world design of both games are still very worthy of admiration and have a lot to teach, and NPC interaction is very reactive to the player's actions. All of
Deus Ex's NPCs are unique and voiced, and think and act very differently around the player character.
Morrowind has some generic townies, but all the unique characters are fleshed out, and your reputation and alliances affect townie behaviour too. If you enjoyed
BioWare's RPGs you really should do yourself a favour and pick these games up.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is another PC RPG I recommend for its narrative, but it's rough around the edges due to the publisher, Activision, forcing the game to go gold
before it was finished and shuttering the developer immediately after, so if you decide to pick it up you should also install the
Unofficial Patch.
Geneforge is another PC RPG I recommend, all five games in the series are available on Steam and GOG in one pack. I definitely recommend playing the first and second games. The third is, underwhelming. You can pick up the fourth and fifth ones are great, but I think you'll have a better appreciation of their increasingly grave stories if you play the first and second ones first.
Morrowind also has an
Unofficial Patch that you should also install. The game has a very large modding community; to any newcomers keen on modding the game before they play, I recommend
Better Bodies,
Better Heads,
Better Clothes,
abot's Silt Striders,
Darknut's Armor Textrures, and
Darknut's Creature Textures (
additional pack for the
Blood Moon expansion),
Morrowind Graphics Extender XE,
phal's Improved Water Shader for MGE, and the
Morrowind Acoustic Overhaul. There are other graphical enhancement mods, but I think if you're new to the game, it's best to play once with the original environment textures before replacing the crumbling, moss-grown stone of Vivec City with shiny white marble.
Plugging in
Psychonauts (2005) because that game was darling. It was originally released on Xbox, and has PS2, PC, PS3, and PS4 ports; if you can't play the original Xbox version I recommend getting the PC port, as the PS2 port was very buggy and the PS3 and PS4 ports are really just emulations of that messy PS2 port. I don't want to spoil anything more. Two other sixth-generation games I recommend are
ICO and
Shadow of the Colossus, which were re-released with higher res textures for the PS3.
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2 & Gamecube) is another gem, but you'll have to play one of the original consoles or use an emulator, there are no proper ports or re-releases.
As for more contemporary games:
- Waking Mars is a puzzle platformer where you play as an astrobiologist uncovering the red planet's greener history. It was originally released on iOS as a tablet game, and then got a remastered PC port, which I highly recommend.
- Spec Ops: The Line has one of the best narratives I've seen in a video game. It starts off like a clichéd military shooter, but then it just... I can't say any more or else I'll spoil it. I'm very impressed by the developers; honesty and sincerity like that is all too rare in any work these days. I played the PC version without any problems, it was also ported to PS3, Xbox 360, and OSX, Linux. Don't know how the ports held up.
- Undertale. If you haven't heard of it yet, go play it! PC game that can be played on very low-end rigs. Don't read anything else about it, don't look at anything else, just play it!
- The Talos Principle, a beautiful first-person puzzle game with a big mystery to unravel. Or not; you can just play for the puzzles which are lots of fun.
If you're open to shorter, more compact point-and-click adventure games and visual novels on the PC:
- Another World
- Grim Fandango
- The Fabulous Screech (free Flash game)
- The Day (free Flash game)
- The Sea Will Claim Everything
- Hatoful Boyfriend (yes, the pigeon dating simulator)
- Ever 17: The Out of Infinity
I'm really surprised that the original [i][b]Deus Ex[/b][/i] and [i][b]The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind[/b][/i] haven't been mentioned yet. They're older but definitely not obscure PC RPGs, from 2000 and 2002 respectively. The world design of both games are still very worthy of admiration and have a lot to teach, and NPC interaction is very reactive to the player's actions. All of [i]Deus Ex[/i]'s NPCs are unique and voiced, and think and act very differently around the player character. [i]Morrowind[/i] has some generic townies, but all the unique characters are fleshed out, and your reputation and alliances affect townie behaviour too. If you enjoyed [i]BioWare[/i]'s RPGs you really should do yourself a favour and pick these games up. [i][b]Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines[/b][/i] is another PC RPG I recommend for its narrative, but it's rough around the edges due to the publisher, Activision, forcing the game to go gold [url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-07-10-reanimated-the-story-of-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines]before it was finished[/url] and shuttering the developer immediately after, so if you decide to pick it up you should also install the [url=http://vtmb.wikia.com/wiki/Unofficial_Patch]Unofficial Patch[/url]. [i][b]Geneforge[/b][/i] is another PC RPG I recommend, all five games in the series are available on Steam and GOG in one pack. I definitely recommend playing the first and second games. The third is, underwhelming. You can pick up the fourth and fifth ones are great, but I think you'll have a better appreciation of their increasingly grave stories if you play the first and second ones first.
[i]Morrowind[/i] also has an [url=https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Tes3Mod:Morrowind_Patch_Project]Unofficial Patch[/url] that you should also install. The game has a very large modding community; to any newcomers keen on modding the game before they play, I recommend [url=http://mw.modhistory.com/download-21-2418]Better Bodies[/url], [url=http://mw.modhistory.com/download-42-3286]Better Heads[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42262/]Better Clothes[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42267/]abot's Silt Striders[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43416/]Darknut's Armor Textrures[/url], and [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43420/]Darknut's Creature Textures[/url] ([url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43422/]additional pack[/url] for the [i]Blood Moon[/i] expansion), [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/41102/]Morrowind Graphics Extender XE[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/23606/]phal's Improved Water Shader for MGE[/url], and the [url=http://download.fliggerty.com/download-76-1045]Morrowind Acoustic Overhaul[/url]. There are other graphical enhancement mods, but I think if you're new to the game, it's best to play once with the original environment textures before replacing the crumbling, moss-grown stone of Vivec City with shiny white marble.
Plugging in [i][b]Psychonauts[/b][/i] (2005) because that game was darling. It was originally released on Xbox, and has PS2, PC, PS3, and PS4 ports; if you can't play the original Xbox version I recommend getting the PC port, as the PS2 port was very buggy and the PS3 and PS4 ports are really just emulations of that messy PS2 port. I don't want to spoil anything more. Two other sixth-generation games I recommend are [i][b]ICO[/b][/i] and [i][b]Shadow of the Colossus[/b][/i], which were re-released with higher res textures for the PS3. [i][b]Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance[/b][/i] (PS2 & Gamecube) is another gem, but you'll have to play one of the original consoles or use an emulator, there are no proper ports or re-releases.
As for more contemporary games:
[list][*][b][i]Waking Mars[/i][/b] is a puzzle platformer where you play as an astrobiologist uncovering the red planet's greener history. It was originally released on iOS as a tablet game, and then got a remastered PC port, which I highly recommend.
[*][b][i]Spec Ops: The Line[/i][/b] has one of the best narratives I've seen in a video game. It starts off like a clichéd military shooter, but then it just... I can't say any more or else I'll spoil it. I'm very impressed by the developers; honesty and sincerity like that is all too rare in any work these days. I played the PC version without any problems, it was also ported to PS3, Xbox 360, and OSX, Linux. Don't know how the ports held up.
[*][i][b]Undertale[/b][/i]. If you haven't heard of it yet, go play it! PC game that can be played on very low-end rigs. Don't read anything else about it, don't look at anything else, just play it!
[*][i][b]The Talos Principle[/b][/i], a beautiful first-person puzzle game with a big mystery to unravel. Or not; you can just play for the puzzles which are lots of fun.[/list]
If you're open to shorter, more compact point-and-click adventure games and visual novels on the PC:
[list][*][i][b]Another World[/b][/i]
[*][b][i]Grim Fandango[/i][/b]
[*][i][b][url=http://www.kongregate.com/games/JonasKyratzes/the-fabulous-screech]The Fabulous Screech[/url][/b][/i] (free Flash game)
[*][b][i][url=http://ludusnovus.net/my-games/the-day/]The Day[/url][/i][/b] (free Flash game)
[*][i][b]The Sea Will Claim Everything[/b][/i]
[*][b][i]Hatoful Boyfriend[/i][/b] (yes, the pigeon dating simulator)
[*][i][b]Ever 17: The Out of Infinity[/b][/i][/list]