I've decided to revisit a couple of my oldie favorites and throw them into the gaming mix. Divine Divinity and it's sequel Beyond Divinity, are both extremely awesome video games made by the same company. It's much like a hybrid of ToEE and Diablo 2. It's real time combat and not turn based but doesn't have the overpowered ridiculous quality of Diablo 2. You don't get waves and waves of creatures. While I do appreciate Diablo 2 for that reason and many other things, it just doesn't have enough variance in maps. The Divinities also go from act to act in progression but are more plot driven and many, many more quests. I forgot how much I loved these 2 the first time around. The leveling is great and the huge variance in prefix-suffix magic items makes you able to make any type of character that you want without being pigeonholed into one skill set. You can have a fighter that can cast a few spells as well as pick locks and such. Many, many variations. Can't say enough good things about them. They also have a kinda comic quality about them at times, comic meaning funny. The other one I've been playing lately is Morrowind III: The Elder Scrolls. Quite easily the most expansive gaming world ever created. I have never come across another game that is larger. The possibilities for quests and everything else is infinite. The most non-linear game I've ever played. I'm fairly sure it's impossible to actually complete every quest in the game or explore and discover the whole world in one game. A good guesstimate would be that it would take about 20-30 Worlds Of Warcraft to equal it's world and quests. If it had multiplayer, it would be the most perfect game ever, if it's not already. Actually, multiplayer might ruin it. I'm more than pleased with it being single player. One of the things that really draws me to this one is that it's not your stereotypical fantasy game. There are no elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, trolls and such. It has it's own theme and it's really refreshing. It's not so much high fantasy like most other games. It's more "realistic", for lack of a better term. The world is your oyster and you can be level one (even though there is no actual leveling progression but skill progression instead) and go anywhere in the world. It is possible for a "1st level" character to wander into a very, very bad place and get arbitrarily dead, kinda like a 1st level AD&D character stumbling into a lich's lair or some such thing. Again, I cannot say enough good things about this game. I haven't played Oblivion, it's sequel yet but plan on it in the near future. I expect it will be at least as monstrously huge as Morrowind III.
Necro, Have you played Divinity II: Ego Draconis? It seems like a decent RPG and, if you have played it, I would like you opinion on it. The original is not on Steam so am limited to Divinity II: Ego Draconis.
couldnt agree with you more about elder scrolls 3. well except that the 2. game was kinda more big. actually almost endless. but that was bcs it was auto-quest-generator. you can play morrowing 5000 times and still come into a cave you never saw before. but still i was kinda dissaponited by the lack of towns. i never played elder scrolls 4 so i always thought it was bigger and better. and with all the mods and stuff, morrowind actually beats its sequels. just like neverwinter nights. which is im playing these days. another nice game is system shock 2 also. to get that game played by multiplayer.. going trough the game with your mates, was just the best fucking idea for the best game suitable for that idea.
I enjoyed playing Morrowind at the time but it is one of those games that I never felt like playing again after I completed it due to its lack of overall depth. Oblivion was an improvement as far as depth is concerned, without losing the breadth of the earlier chapters, albeit with a less satisfying Tolkeinesque setting and very derivative main plot. NWN stole many hours of my life away from me, despite the blandness of the original campaign. The peak of the official campaigns for me was definitely Hordes of the Underdark -- they really nailed that, as far as what they could achieve with that engine. NWN 2 on the other hand, lacked the atmosphere of the first game. For me, a lot of that came about by replacing those beautiful character portraits of NPCs with poorly detailed 3d portraits. As far as single player RPGs go, I still play the Ultima Underworld games every couple of years or so. Other ones that I still give a whirl from time to time are Arx Fatalis and Deus Ex.
Oblivion's world is smaller than Morrowind's. (As far as I recall) Or maybe not... There are Elves in Elder Scrolls. And Orcs. And Goblins. I do not know if I like Morrowind or Oblivion more, probably Oblivion, because it works more stable and has better graphics. But when I had played them, I always tended to level-up by training (either for money in Morrowind, or by abusing my Summoned Skeleton in Oblivion.) And this is because scaling system there overpowers monsters at higher levels in comparison to player character, so player character will have hard time if he / she is not 'perfect"... If you ever come to playing Oblivion, get Shivering Isles Expansion. And Mannequin Mod.
Have you tried some of the player made adventures? Some of the latest releases are, in my opinion, much more immersive and have a higher quality atmosphere to them. I believe this one, Risen Hero to be one of the most professional releases to date. Also, there are a few great portrait packs that allow you to simply double click on your character's portrait and change it to many of the classic DnD portraits, many of the same portraits used with Co8's mods. This one has all the faces we know from BG1 and BG2 along with IWD1 and IWD2. Portrait Pack Classic Collection The yellow typed words are links to the mentioned work. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE TOEE and Co8 ROCKS! NWN2 has something to offer too, that's all I saying. :Being_a_s
I've been playing Knights of the Chalice. Pure Turn based mayhem! With an AI that will make you beg for mercy... Check it out. http://heroicfantasygames.com/Screenshots.htm
I've played about 10 hours into Divine Divinity II Ego Draconis and this is my take; The Good 1. One of the best things Larian Studios has offered. 2. A lot of pretty good voice acting. 3. Acceptable graphics and sound. 4. An almost engrossing story. 5. A fun, (once you buy into it) world concept. 6. Gothic III'ish game mechanics. The Bad 1. A Larian Studios production. 2. Lip-synced to a different language, (I'm guessing German) 3. Acceptable graphics and sound. 4. A story with more than a few loop holes. 5. A world concept I'm still trying to wrap my head around. 6. Gothic III'ish game mechanics. In my opinion, worth the $40.00 as a fall back game when I'm bored with my current reality escape tool.
They just released an expansion for Divinity 2. It 'remasters' the original and adds content. It is $40 on Steam, but you get 33% off if you own Ego Draconis.
