Fallout 1! And also Pillars of Eternity 1! :) I have definitely got the Obsidian/Black Isle bug, and it never left - I hope they do another CRPG one day, as they're special games for me. :)
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
14 points (100.0% liked)
Computer RPGs
346 readers
33 users here now
Community for CRPGs (be it on PCs, Mac, consoles, etc). Any discussion around video games with a strong roleplaying component is welcome!
Rules (Click to Expand):
-
Follow the Lemmy.world Rules - https://mastodon.world/about
-
Be kind. No bullying, harassment, racism, sexism etc. against other users.
-
No spam, illegal content, or NSFW content (no games with NSFW images/video).
-
Please stay on topic, cRPG adjacent games or even JRPGs are fine. Try to include topics / games that have a strong roleplaying component to them.
Some other gaming communities across Lemmy:
- Adventure Games - !adventuregames@retrolemmy.com
- Automation Games - !automationgames@lemmy.zip
- Cozy Games - !cozygames@lemmy.world
- City Builders - !citybuilders@sh.itjust.works
- Incremental - !incremental_games@incremental.social
- Indie Games (variety) - !bside@fedia.io
- Lifesim Games - !lifesimulation@lemmy.world
- Open Source Games - !opensourcegames@lemmy.ml
- Roguelike Games - !roguelikes@lemmy.world
- Strategy (RTS, 4X etc.) Games - !strategy@lemmy.world
- Turn-based Strategy - !turnbasedstrategy@lemmy.world
- Tycoon / Business Sim Games - !tycoon@lemmy.world
- Video Game Art - !gameart@sopuli.xyz
- Video Game Music - !vgmusic@lemmy.world
Game-specific communities on Lemmy:
- Baldur's Gate 3 - !baldurs_gate_3@lemmy.world
- Elder Scrolls - !elderscrolls@lemm.ee
- Fallout - !fallout@lemmy.world
- The Witcher - !thewitcher@lemmy.world
Thank you to macniel for the community icon!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Dwarf Fortress Adventure Mode because it actually simulates a world. Any computer game which only has a limited number of n endings is not really roleplaying where "your choices matter".
Ok, accepting this limitation I'd pick Fallout 1 because I played it to completion as a kid. I did not manage that with Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2 back then.
Currently playing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous on my second run.
Disclaimer: I don't really count Disco Elysium as a CRPG. Maybe that's wrong, but I see it as a piece of art and a pseudo visual novel. Otherwise it would be that.
For proper CRPGs I can't really pick between Baldur's Gate 2 and Fallout 2. I love them for different reasons, and they have different strong points.
Fallout 2 is so sprawling and immense, and gives you so much freedom. It's full of neat little things. It's also very much a product of its time though, and so maybe if I didn't play it for the first time as a teenager I would have a different opinion of some of its humour.
Baldur's Gate 2 is just peak CRPG in my opinion. Great story, amazing characters and one of the best video game villains of all time, acted to perfection by David Warner. The hook after the prologue establishes stakes beautifully, and the open-ended goal of amassing resources for the trip is one of the best ways I've seen of maintaining suspension of disbelief while side questing.
Something also needs to be said about the companions, who are for the most part superb. BG2 in many ways handle companions better than many recent games, I feel. Just a small thing like having dialogues trigger spontaneously while travelling (as opposed to the player going to camp and initiating dialogue) makes them feel much more natural and less player-centric.
Same goes for the romances, which are reasonably varied and interesting and not just "everyone has a boner for you by default because you're the protagonist" á la BG3. Hell, characters actually interact with each other, not just the player! Two companions can enter a romance with each other, and there's a possible triangle drama!
I'm currently playing Dragon Age: Origins, and the party banter that just happens without my input, between each other and not involving me, is a big part of why I like it. I have been meaning to play the other Baldur's Gates before doing 3, and this is a good case for doing BG2.
Baldur's Gate 1 can be kind of rough. It was a different time. The encounter design is not good. The companions have very little dialogue. It's much more exploration-oriented instead of story and character driven. It strives to fulfill that classic fantasy of travelling around the magic forests and whatnot, doing some dungeon crawling and finding some loot. I'd say it's still worth playing if you have decent tolerance for retro games, but I personally rarely feel the urge to replay it. It does set up the story for the sequel, but you could conceivably skip it. It actually sets up more for the Throne of Bhaal expansion than BG2 itself.
BG2 remains one of my all time favourites and I have replayed it several times.
One suggestion I will float for when you do get around to BG2: it's still sort of old school. Some characters hate eachother, and will eventually fight to the death. Characters will also just leave the group if your reputation gets too far away from their alignment. I personally tend to disable both of these features via the Tweaks Anthology. Reputation is a nightmare to manage in vanilla if you're trying to be anything but a goody-two-shoes, and some of the best banter is between characters who hate each other. I get the intention behind the design, but I think it's a better experience to just pick whoever you feel is interesting for your party and not worry about it.
Knights of the old Republic! I have a soft spot for the Infinity Engine games, but I really like that KotOR abstracts away most of the inventory management and lets you just focus on the story and characters. Plus props for being able to show the dice rolls so you can pick the extent to which you'd like to roll/role play.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, combat is mediocre, but the world building and writing is top notch. The characters are complex and multifaceted, the world feels real. The opportunity for role-playing is immense, there is a lot of variety in the clans.
Is Bloodlines the worst best game of all time or the best worst game of all time?
Regardless, I can't believe you forgot to mention the single biggest strength of the game: atmosphere! The art direction and music and design of the areas really create a mood that few games can match, even to this day.
Atmosphere is part of world building in my book. 😄
Yeah, the art direction and style makes the game timeless (although I am obviously biased).
Ah that's fair, to me I usually think of "world building" as in that part of the writing and lore, rather than level design and atmosphere etc. But yeah, regardless there are few games I can think of that can match the vibes of just strolling through Santa Monica at night, listening to the Rik Schaffer banger. I would say occasionally Cyberpunk at night in the rain gave me similar vibes (and they cited Bloodlines as a huge inspiration).
Agreed on the art direction and the most striking example is the faces. Using an exaggerated almost cartoony aesthetic and using Source engine to its fullest the characters have unbelievable facial expressions for its time. Since they never aimed for a photorealistic look the graphics haven't aged poorly at all.
Also you probably know of it already but if not this might be of interest to you: debofnight.com
Funny thing was I was in Europe when the game came out, but a few years later I got to live in LA and of course I went to Santa Monica many times (including the pier).
Sound (both the track selection and the composed track) fits perfectly. Both excellent for ambience and the spirit of the early 2000s.
Great share!
I've never been there, but I've heard people say the same about the Hollywood hub as well. Perfectly capturing that run down, depressing and sordid shabby reality of early 00s Hollywood. Plus the amazingly haunting OST there, written when Schaffer was fresh out of jail, homeless and withdrawing from Heroin if I remember right.
As a big Bloodlines fan, have you played Mandragora? It only came out recently so I haven't yet personally (it's on my wishlist) but it's written by Brian Mitsoda!
Yeah, Hollywood did feel a lot like it was in the game.
Was a bit strange as my frame of reference was Europe and Asia were downtown areas are the most busy and expensive.
I've heard of Mandragora, but these days I just can't get into ARPGs.🙃
I have unfortunately heard mixed things about Mandragora but seeing it has Brian Mitsoda I will play it some day. I'll try to remember to let you know what I think of it. Might be a while though, I'm waiting for a sale as my backlog is too long anyway 😅
Pillars of Eternity 2! The world of Pillars is really cool, and PoE 2 vastly improves the combat over the first game. Also Baldur's Gate 1+2, but that might be nostalgia talking.
Fallout 2. Ultima VII.
I really want to play some modern ones, I own some on gog, but I haven’t had time.
In my patient gaming list. Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2. Divinity original sin 1 & 2. Wasteland 2 and 3. Tyranny.
I recently started playing PoE 1 and while I really like the world building and atmosphere, the combat is just not very good. Although my class selection probably doesn't help in the early game.
I heard they are planning to launch full turn based support sometime in the next 6 to 13 months.