An RPG recommendation

[Knighto]

Hey MGs,

I want to start playing RPGs but Japanese turn-based RPGs are out of question for me because of the time/fun factor :p

I was thinking about getting either Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origin or Borderlands. I'm all about good characters and plot but I want to enjoy the gameplay, too. I don't want anything slow.

Some friends told me that Fallout 3 is kind of disappointing regarding the story, is that true?

Dragon Age seems to need too much micro-management and it would intimdate an RPG first timer like me, what do you think?

I've been hearing that Borderland is no fun played solo and I have no means to play it co-op, is it not worth it if I have no one to play it with?

Should I just wait for Mass Effect 2, baring in mind that I didn't play the first one? Also, would the new Final Fantasy be something someone like me could consider?

So MGs, I could really use some help here. Thanks in advance! :)

[Landy]

Yeah, Borderlands is a MUST to play with friends. As of the other games you mentioned, i haven't tried either, so i can't really say. Not a huge RPG fan.

[Knighto]

:( does it at least have a split screen co-op? would that do?

Anyways, thanks for the help, CKS!

[Rob]

After playing through Borderlands I would not consider it much of an RPG at all. Bland storyline and a forgettable skill structure leaves it with an almost entirely shooter core. Without giving any spoilers I can say the focus of the game is guns and you end up not getting guns for something you damn well deserve guns for. FAIL :-( I was really looking forward to the game and even after playing with some friends we all ended up trading the game back in towards other games. I don't think it will work for you because you need 4 players in a game to get the better loot drops. You can play solo but you will not get some of the better guns.

Dragon Age is an excellent and very long game. It has an easier difficulty which should keep micromanagement down to a minimum so I think you might enjoy that. The storyline is epic and you get thrown into the middle of it early on. Your character has a purpose and they really try to get you into the mindset of action/consequences.

I still have not finished Fallout 3 but from what I have experienced the game is worth a buy. There is a decent story and a very deep and customizable skill system. If you buy the console version I think they include all the expansion content out for it as well. I have not met anyone yet that didn't enjoy Fallout.

You should be able to find the Mass Effect for cheap since its a greatest hit on consoles. It is a fun game all around and you could use it to familiarize yourself with the storyline before jumping into ME2 in January.

I have played a decent amount of Final Fantasy over the years but I skipped the last couple games so I will leave that to everyone else to fill in the blanks.

[Jason]

All of those games are excellent in different ways. I agree with Rob that Borderlands isn't really an RPG in the true sense of the word. I'd have liked to have seen a bit more emphasis on the various abilities of the different characters. I think it shows a lot of promise as a franchise, though.

I'm currently playing my way through Dragon Age: Origins, and it's a really good game - it actually reminds me of THE classic RPG in my eyes, which is Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. That game was truly monstrous, and if you can still find that on PC somewhere, I really can't recommend it highly enough. It might be a little 'beardy' for some, but once you get into it, it's a truly immersive RPG that was waaaaaay ahead of its time.
Anyway, I've digressed - Dragon Age is a great RPG, and if you can find it on the cheap, I highly recommend it.

Mass Effect is a game you HAVE to own if you're an Xbox owner and have even a passing interest in RPGs. It's one of the first games I ever played that really forced me to make genuinely gut-wrenching decisions, and I'm imagining the second one is only going to get better. Plus the interesting news that your Mass Effect 1 character will port across to your Mass Effect 2 game, along with any decisions you made along the way...
Seriously though, for the price, you can't afford to skip over Mass Effect.

As for Final Fantasy, I have no doubt that it'll be typical FF fare - truly jawdropping graphics, an excellent musical score, good strong character development, and all the boss battles a human being can handle. If you're not familiar with RPGs, Final Fantasy is always a safe starting place.

[Konrad]

This is the first time I see Borderlands referred to as an RPG. I haven't played it though, so can't comment. Didn't look particularly interesting to me though.

Since you didn't specify what system you're trying to play these on - can I assume anything?


If you're not afraid of the old, I would recommend that you brave the world of Fallout and Fallout 2. For as long as you know me, I will preach that those are the two best games I have ever played. Similar to those, but a thousand times more complex are the Baldur's Gate series. Great games, but not for someone getting into the genre. I too had trouble getting into them, and I never finished one purely because of it's size. Both Fallouts coincidentally were turned inside out multiple times.


Still, those recommendations are probably not things to start out with. Most gamers nowadays are ridiculously biased against anything not powered by a 3D engine, and chances are you wouldn't be able to look past the fact that you run around as a sprite.


You will find that nowadays a lot of RPGs split nicely into three categories:

Plot Driven, Open World and "Softcore"

Some of the best plot driven RPGs in my opinion include both Knights of The Old Republic games. The new Dragon Age would also fit in this genre, as well as the somewhat-old Jade Empire. From the creators of my beloved Fallout, comes Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a brilliantly climactic RPG based on the early beginnings of the Source engine. Dragon Age, which is "the game" today is indeed excellent and indeed worth a playthrough. If you don't wish to be bothered with the micromanagement you can switch the game to Easy and complete almost the entire game in real-time. You'll still have to pause from time to time, but not nearly as much. My main issue with the game is the sheer number of enemies it expects me to fight... Playing as a mage (probably the most interesting class in most RPG's) I still get bored of the combat eventually.

From Open World RPGs, many many people fancy Oblivion as well as Morrowind, though I never got into either. Gothic 3 is also a fantastic game if you can look past all the bugs. Fallout 3, though not living up to the originals, is a fantastic place to explore - and a great place to start the series since it has nowhere to go but up. :p

Then there are the "softcore-semi-RPGs" that are quite popular recently. Games that scratch the surface of an RPG but are heavily mixed with other genres. Things such as Bioshock, Borderlands and Fable are clear examples of this, and also (perhaps controversially) Mass Effect. The last is very much a brilliant game, but for an RPG remains very shallow and simplistic. It may make a great starting point though. I do reccomend you play the original before jumping into the sequel as it is a direct continuation of the plotline.

[CemeteryGates]

I haven't had the pleasure to play Borderlands nor Dragon Age: Origins.

Fallout 3 on the other hand...
The story isn't mind-blowing but it's not the worst I've seen either. One of the expansion packs (Broken Steel) appears to prolong the main storyline; however, whether that's for better or worse, I really can't say as I don't have that expansion pack.
Anyway, there's lots of things you can besides quests, and there's a good amount of quests too, mostly relatively long ones.
I guess I can't tell you a lot about it, except that I've put about 200 hours into it and still haven't finished it, and still have two (or three?) expansion packs to get when I do, and I still want to beat it.

Waiting for Mass Effect 2? Nah. As the others say, get the first while you wait. I picked mine up used (though it was pretty much new) for about $30 USD compared to the $60 USD new when it was about 4 or 5 months old. I bet you could get it for half the price today. I put about 60 hours into it to beat it, and I decided to play it through another time, but I let a friend borrow it after I'd put another 10 hours into it.

The Final Fantasy series is pretty much a Japanese turn-based RPG. I liked III, VII and VIII. The rest are full of clichés, in my opinion, and part of the appeal of VII and VIII was the insane graphics at the time (at least in cut-scenes).



Another recommendation would be for you to consider getting Oblivion. Perhaps some may say it's overrated, or whatever, but for me, I bought it when it came out in late 2006, I've put over 300 hours into it, I still play it, I'm about to finish it, and I haven't installed the expansion pack yet!
I'm willing to bet it's still got at least another 50 hours for me.
And as with the original Mass Effect, you can probably pick it up really cheap nowadays.

[vlbarto10]

Borderlands if definately more of a shooter game and it is best played with 4 players absolutely. I enjoyed anyway it was more of a laid back game to play with friends while we were passing the time until the other big titles came out.

I have not played Dragon Age due to friends giving in mixed reviews. Micromanagement was definately part of the discussion. I am a newbie to the gaming world so keep that in mind. Its all relatively new to me so....

[Knighto]

WOW guys, I don't know what to say or how to thank you all. I'm so happy I joined MG in its early days, the name is not wasted on anyone on this site. We're all true mature gamers and I'm very lucky to know you. You saved me hours of reading about those games. It seems you're all the best gamers to trust out there. Cool!

So I'm not getting Borderlands but I still have to decide between Fallout 3 and Dragon Age for now (more on DA: O side, though, because of the "easy mode" you told me about)

To tell you the truth, spending hunderds of hours on one game is still kind of intimidating for me. The longest time I spent with a game (71 hours) was Okami on PS 2 and it's not an RPG obviously. I wish there weren't a lot of AAA titles coming out these days, though, it's just overwhelming.

I did play Mass Effect actually -at a friend's place- for 4 or 5 hours but frankly the loading times (elevators anyone?) and the ugly texture pop-up drove me away, do you think I'll get over that when I'm more immerssed in its universe?

CKS, Robrunsfromzombies, Jason, Konrad, CemetryGates, vlbrato10 and all MGs, thanks a lot!

[Jason]

Yeah, the elevators were frustrating. Apparently they're not in number two, though, which is a bit of a relief.

[Konrad]

I dunno, I kind of enjoyed the elevator music.

Of the two I would recommend Fallout 3, it's far from a perfect game but I certainly enjoyed it more than I am Dragon Age.

[Jason]

I think it depends which setting and what gameplay you find more interesting - Dragon Age is a lot more tactical, and arguably a 'truer' RPG, but Fallout 3 is more accessible and has a lot more freedom.

[Knighto]

Huh, I'm leanning towards Fallout 3 again!

One last question, which one will take more time with the side quests and all?

[Jason]

I'd say almost certainly Fallout 3 - one thing I noticed about DA:O was that the sidequests weren't tremendously interesting. There's a couple of good ones with the other party members, but a lot of them are a bit... 'meh'.

[Konrad]

Fallout 3 had me finishing the game at around 60-70 hours, all side quests finished with the likely exception of a few I missed.

Dragon Age i'm at 23 hours, and nearing what would seem like a logical climax - though I read somewhere that the game is supposed to take upwards to 100 hours of gameplay so who knows really.

I still conider a valuable thing to consider the fact that the 70 Fallout 3 hours flew by like that. While 23 in hours of Dragon Age I've already put it away for over a week once, though I'm back to playing it again.


Still, I'm kind of a Fallout freak so the game was shits and giggles for me all the way through. Dragon Age on the other hand uses a setting I never particularly enjoyed. I'm heavily biased, and the game still manages to keep me coming back.

[Knighto]

Thanks guys! Fallout 3 it is for now. did they release a disk that has the game and all it's DLCs yet? If not, will they ever?

I might still check DA: O when it's cheaper, though.

[Konrad]

Game of the Year edition includes all 5 DLCs. It was released very recently, around October 13th.

[MyNameDidntFit]

If you're not afraid of the old, I would recommend that you brave the world of Fallout and Fallout 2.
ThisthisthisthisamilliontimesTHIS.

Fallout holds a special place in my heart that no game will ever take. It's simply the most amazing game. I played through it again last year and even with graphics that are, by modern standards, bloody atrocious, I couldn't stop playing it.

If you have a PC--specifications should be a non-issue--I'd recommend buying Fallout 1 and 2. Like Konnie, I'll preach these games so long as I have the will to live and the ability to speak.

Four US$20 you can get Fallout 1, Fallout 2 and Fallout: Tactics from Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/2008/). Fallout: Tactics is... well, I personally despise it, but both FO1 and FO2 are worth a many times that amount each.





>.> And, uh, on the actual topic, the only one of those games I've played is Borderlands and I thoroughly enjoyed it playing through with one of my mates. But, like the others have said, if you can only play solo I'd definitely recommend something else.

I would, however, recommend Mass Effect: the story is great, the character interaction is brilliant and the gameplay is reasonable. The only real downside to it is that the side missions are, in my opinion, boring as hell. Still, I'd say you should at least play it prior to ME2's release.

[nilihanth]

Wait. Fallout 3 has a main story? Joking of course, but Fallout 3, like any Elder Scrolls game, has so many side quests it's astounding. I usually find that the side quests are more fun overall than the actual story. Republic of Dave, anyone? Antagonizer? C'mon. I stopped at the point of the Fallout 3 story where I was allowed to wear the power armor (not a spoiler really) and then continued for more side quests.

[Rob]

What difficulty did you all play Fallout3 on? I started it on Hard which might have discouraged me from playing it all the way through the first time. I was constantly running low on ammo after I went out to the coast.

[nilihanth]

What difficulty did you all play Fallout3 on? I started it on Hard which might have discouraged me from playing it all the way through the first time. I was constantly running low on ammo after I went out to the coast.
I'm on normal difficulty. I started out having a hard time finding the good ammo for my Chinese assault rifle but then as my lockpicking skill grew I found more and more ammo. Laser rifle ammo was also hard to come by at first but then I stopped using it anyway because it seems to break itself when you fire it :hammer:

[Rob]

The Chinese assault rifle was my main gun for the entire time I played. I can't count how many times I passed up a box/door because I never bothered with leveling my lock picking skill. I'm starting a new character today so I will definitely put some points into it.

[Konrad]

I played it on normal difficulty. It seemed to work just fine, I didn't play the game for the shooting mechanics - but storyline and world exploration.

An important thing to remember when creating your charachter is to make sure you select 3-4 skills you want to master and focus on those. You will fail with an all-around setup, and I know many people who got turned off from the game because their character wasn't particularly good at anything.

I would always recommend Speech\Charisma and Lockpicking to find their way into your favourites.

[Jason]

Yeah, I tried to go all-round, and as a result am frequently getting raped by Super Mutants.

[Knighto]

I couldn't find game of the year edition of Fallout 3 but you guys got me so excited about it that I got someone to get it for me next month from a neighboring country! :D

If I love as much as you said I will I'll definitely check 1 and 2, too.

Thanks everyone!

[Astonix]

If I were you I'd definitely try otu Dragon Age: Origins, or, If you're looking for something which has a small but friendly community, look at Dark Age of Camelot USA. Only has about 3,000 players but it's a good RP game.

[Landy]

Isn't dragon age only a SP rpg?

[Astonix]

I think so, not played it personally, just heard good things from friends. It was suggested by Knighto himself too.

Also, in my opinion, Fallout 3 takes time for it to get good. Its grueling at first but gets fun later on.