Good evening,
Lately, my preferred type of game - character driven games with a strong story - all seem to have something wrong. I'm wondering if there's a game (perhaps old or obscure) which has most/all of the following:
- Strong story elements. It could be in the form of interesting side quests, the little quests MMOs send you on, a large overarching story, etc. - just as long as it pulls you in.
- Highly varied combat. For example, I thought the Jedi Knight games were fun due to the variety of weapons and force powers. I also enjoyed Dragon Age's combat as a mage since the spells had varied effects and different fights required different tactics. On the other hand, unmodded Oblivion bored me to no end; every fight felt the same.
- A sense of growing power. Vanilla Oblivion failed at this (due to level scaling), but with OOO Oblivion was quite good. I rather enjoy starting weak and growing considerably; it also helps if you get to exercise your power (so, even if there's level scaling or increasingly difficult enemies, there ought to be some areas where you can beat up the things that used to beat up you).
- Replay value, either in the default game or in the form of plentiful user created content.
- (Less important than the others) high mobility. Climbing over buildings in Assassin's Creed, Jedi Knight, etc. sure beats being unable to jump. Clearly wouldn't apply for slower RPGs.
To be clear, I enjoy slow-paced RPGs, third person action games, first person shooters, etc. The genre doesn't matter to me much; the content does. Also, I'd be up for a MMO if one fit the bill.
Just about any theme or setting works - fantasy, science fiction, present day, etc. - though I've yet to find a present day/"real world" game which interests me much; usually, such games tend to have repetitive (just guns) combat and low mobility.
Finally, it'd be preferable if this worked on my laptop (Lenovo T400 with an ATI Mobility 3470), but if a game fit most of the criteria and required more power, I do have a desktop with a HD 4870. I'm not picky about graphics. For RPGs and the like, very basic graphics (think Neverwinter Nights) don't bother me; for first and third person action games, graphics perhaps like Overlord or Jedi Knight 2 are perfectly sufficient.
Thanks for your help!
Tarrosion
EDIT: Relevant games which I've played: Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, KOTOR 1 and 2, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, Jedi Knight 2, Jedi Academy, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Dragon Age.
Lately, my preferred type of game - character driven games with a strong story - all seem to have something wrong. I'm wondering if there's a game (perhaps old or obscure) which has most/all of the following:
- Strong story elements. It could be in the form of interesting side quests, the little quests MMOs send you on, a large overarching story, etc. - just as long as it pulls you in.
- Highly varied combat. For example, I thought the Jedi Knight games were fun due to the variety of weapons and force powers. I also enjoyed Dragon Age's combat as a mage since the spells had varied effects and different fights required different tactics. On the other hand, unmodded Oblivion bored me to no end; every fight felt the same.
- A sense of growing power. Vanilla Oblivion failed at this (due to level scaling), but with OOO Oblivion was quite good. I rather enjoy starting weak and growing considerably; it also helps if you get to exercise your power (so, even if there's level scaling or increasingly difficult enemies, there ought to be some areas where you can beat up the things that used to beat up you).
- Replay value, either in the default game or in the form of plentiful user created content.
- (Less important than the others) high mobility. Climbing over buildings in Assassin's Creed, Jedi Knight, etc. sure beats being unable to jump. Clearly wouldn't apply for slower RPGs.
To be clear, I enjoy slow-paced RPGs, third person action games, first person shooters, etc. The genre doesn't matter to me much; the content does. Also, I'd be up for a MMO if one fit the bill.
Just about any theme or setting works - fantasy, science fiction, present day, etc. - though I've yet to find a present day/"real world" game which interests me much; usually, such games tend to have repetitive (just guns) combat and low mobility.
Finally, it'd be preferable if this worked on my laptop (Lenovo T400 with an ATI Mobility 3470), but if a game fit most of the criteria and required more power, I do have a desktop with a HD 4870. I'm not picky about graphics. For RPGs and the like, very basic graphics (think Neverwinter Nights) don't bother me; for first and third person action games, graphics perhaps like Overlord or Jedi Knight 2 are perfectly sufficient.
Thanks for your help!
Tarrosion
EDIT: Relevant games which I've played: Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, KOTOR 1 and 2, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed 1 and 2, Jedi Knight 2, Jedi Academy, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Dragon Age.
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