Any good overhead rpgs like Baldurs gate or Fallout?

So you guys know of any good over head rpgs similar to Baldurs gate or Fallout ?

I played Dragon Age this year and liked it. No shortage of people on the Internet saying it's a shit RPG, but for me it was pretty much exactly how I remembered Baldur's Gate.

Ever tried games from Spiderweb Software? They're very dated-looking but quite fun.

Doominator2 said:

So you guys know of any good over head rpgs similar to Baldurs gate or Fallout ?

By 'over head' you mean 'top-down isometric,' because the view isn't fully top-down, but slanted a bit.

Anyway, you're in luck. There are a lot of great RPGs in this style. Before I can make any solid recommendations, I'd like to know what exactly you mean by "similar to Baldurs [sic] Gate or Fallout?" Do you mean in terms of gameplay? Turn-based combat? Depth of stat progression?

Anyway, off the top of my head, you can not go wrong with: Planescape: Torment or Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Diablo 1 + "The Hell" free modification

schwerpunk said:

By 'over head' you mean 'top-down isometric,' because the view isn't fully top-down, but slanted a bit.

Anyway, you're in luck. There are a lot of great RPGs in this style. Before I can make any solid recommendations, I'd like to know what exactly you mean by "similar to Baldurs [sic] Gate or Fallout?" Do you mean in terms of gameplay? Turn-based combat? Depth of stat progression?

Anyway, off the top of my head, you can not go wrong with: Planescape: Torment or Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Yes sorry, by over head I do mean top-down isometric, and by similar I mean an rpg that has the gameplay elements and depth of a Black Isle rpg. :)

Doominator2 said:

Any good overhead rpgs like Baldurs gate or Fallout?

TheCupboard said:

Diablo 1 + "The Hell" free modification

Does not compute.

Drop everything and play Planescape: Torment RIGHT NOW if you have not already.

Neverwinter Nights since you seem to be somewhat used to D&D-based games

Black Isle also made Icewind Dale, and I think it even uses the same engine as Baldur's Gate. I haven't played it, so I can't recommend it personally, but I have heard that it's very good.

While not by Black Isle, I did really enjoy Divine Divinity, although it can be quite difficult (but if you're used to Fallout, then it shouldn't be too hard). It's a bit strange, so you may or may not enjoy it as much as much as I did, so maybe look up some retro reviews online before buying it.

But as far as I'm concerned, if you liked Fallout 1/2, then you'll go fucking bananas over Planescape and Arcanum. Planescape has very deep, detailed dialogue, and crushing, satisfying turn-based combat. Arcanum has an incredibly unique and detailed world, and great characters. It's also got little touches like most doors being destructible if you've got the armaments (i.e. don't know lockpicking? No problem - just use dynamite)! Both games also have an intriguing central mystery to unravel. :-)

God, how I envy you right now... Wish I could play these again for the first time.

EDIT: As it happens, GOG.com is having a great Winter sale, so these games are about half-price right now. I'll look around for more later, as I'm sure there are some other good ones that I've forgotten about.

Icewind Dale - Complete - $4.99 (on sale)
Divine Divinity - $2.99 (on sale)
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - $2.99 (on sale)

Pick up Arcanum if you can. Definitely flawed (ex: in battles you can switch between real-time and turn-based action, and it usually comes down to choosing the one that won't dick you over in a particular situation), but unique-as-hell setting and a lot of fun. LOTS of character customization; building your class in part boils down to whether you want to go magical or mechanical; you can do a bit of both, but your proficiency in one is impeded by your progress in the other. Wide variety of schools of magic, equipment creation from blueprints, and more I never got around to; it's been years since I played, and even then I never got very far into the story.

2003 era RuneScape

schwerpunk said:

Planescape has very deep, detailed dialogue, and crushing, satisfying turn-based combat.

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I don't think it was quite turn based? Certainly wasn't twitch combat, but I don't think there were turns, just every action took a certain amount of time to perform, and you could pause to queue up a spell or something.

Dragon Age is a very good game. Especially Origins. I'd recommend the Ultimate Edition if you can.

Diablo 2, I would also recommend Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition.

Nomad said:

Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I don't think it was quite turn based? Certainly wasn't twitch combat, but I don't think there were turns, just every action took a certain amount of time to perform, and you could pause to queue up a spell or something.

Oh shoot, you're right, it was pausing, like in Baldur's Gate. I remember that wheel-thingy on the left would stop moving when you hit the spacebar. Or something...

Hm, maybe I need to play this again, too.

Sacred Gold

Oh I forgot, The Witcher 1 Enhanced Edtion is an RPG and has a top down mode.

Avoozl said:

Oh I forgot, The Witcher 1 Enhanced Edtion is an RPG and has a top down mode.

Witcher 1 has an absolutely dreadful combat system though. It's the only game where I couldn't get through the tutorial sequence because the combat is the most boring thing ever.


Also, Diablo and Sacred aren't role playing games. _-_

Well I enjoyed its combat system, you only have to hit again at the right time when the cursor turns yellow and he swing even faster each time, I was disappointed when the second game took it out entirely but I still enjoyed the game regardless.

Try the Ultima series, especially Ultima VII. Also I liked Albion. That's all I can think of that's not already mentioned.

Okay, they're not recent titles.

Torchlight 2 is pretty good if you like searching for gear and all that, along with Diablo2.

Clonehunter said:

2010 era RuneScape

FTFY

Jodwin said:

Also, Sacred isnt a role playing game. _-_

How so?

DoOmEr4LiFe said:

Neverwinter Nights since you seem to be somewhat used to D&D-based games

This!

Both expansion packs are pretty cool too, I particularly enjoyed 'Hordes of the Underdark' which is for higher level characters but was pretty epic :)

Ragnor said:

How so?

Because it's a Diablo-clone (having an open world doesn't change that fact) and Diablo is a hack-'n-slash dungeon crawler? Spoiler: Having a character system with experience points does not make an RPG.

NWN should be a disappointment for anyone expecting Baldur's Gate, Fallout or Planescape: Torment. The main game has an incredibly predictable plot, the characters are really annoying (fuck Aribeth and her boyfriend) and the main quest line is just a series of fetch quests. The first act is a great example: You need to get four items, there are four areas leaving from the main hub area and each of them has one of those items. Once you've got them all you get thrown into the boss dungeon, so to speak. There's no free exploration and what little side quests there may be are also very lackluster.

Shadows of Undrentide is a bit better. It's still very constricted compared to older RPGs but the quest design is better, and since it takes place in outdoors and mythical ruins it feels more open and/or interesting than NWN's cities and barren country towns. HotU is definitely the best of the three, and if you can get an NWN bundle for cheap I'd buy it just for HotU alone (and the plethora of user-made content if you're into that). Mind you, HotU is far more dungeon crawler-esque than even the main game, but the fact that you're dealing with shit in epic level dungeons and finally Hell, or Cania, itself is neat.


If you don't mind waiting for RPGs, we've got a lot coming. Pillars of Eternity and Divinity: Original Sin both are looking quite promising. 2014 should be goooood.

Nomad said:

Drop everything and play Planescape: Torment RIGHT NOW if you have not already.

+1

I'm not a big fan of isometric rpg's or rpg's in general. But, I really enjoyed Torment.

schwerpunk said:

Black Isle also made Icewind Dale, and I think it even uses the same engine as Baldur's Gate. I haven't played it, so I can't recommend it personally, but I have heard that it's very good.

I think I enjoyed Icewind Dale more than the Baldur's Gate games. It is less story based. It's also quite linear with usually only one quest at a time.

The first diablo was a blast. playing with your pal on ps1 and later the diablo 1 expansion with same pal on pc

schwerpunk said:

Arcanum has an incredibly unique and detailed world, and great characters. It's also got little touches like most doors being destructible if you've got the armaments (i.e. don't know lockpicking? No problem - just use dynamite)!

Dynamite = Fist. Axes, Chakrams and Bows can whack doors open without breaking. Chakrams can destroy the stone golems and fire elementals without breaking or taking damage...

It was also fun to critically fail with backstab & the arcane great sword... player gets cut in half... oops.