Anyone ever played Baulder's Gate 3?

[82-T/A]

9 hours ago, Tanooki said:

@82-T/A  I see what you're talking about, but seeing as Albert wants to single me out for being anti-gay fearing and hating of them I'm going to just say I'll agree with what you wrote so far, but I won't be replying anymore in here since oddly the site owner wants to pick fights and create narratives that do not exist and I really don't feel like getting into a pissing match with the admin.  Sorry I was enjoying the conversation, but apparently it's ok for you to write that, but if I agree and respond I'm the bad guy in the discussion which confuses the crap out of me.

 

I'm a bit dismayed at the overt-emphasis on getting the character to hook up with one of several eligible male bachelors (all of which are human and normal looking), but then your only choice of females is a hard-to-get Dark Priestess, a one-horned Devil Lady that's on fire most times, and a really weird-looking alien girl that's constantly insulting you. But I view it as more a sign of the times for the type of people working in the game industry and at Wizards of the Coast. None of that stuff is really of any interest to me in a game anyway. I'm kind of in between you and Albert on how I feel about it. People are allowed to put out whatever they want... when they attempt to become edgy, they'll lose some customers, and gain others. I think under current times... well... it's probably what the younger generation wants I guess. But the game itself is actually QUITE good. Note, there's a feature in the beginning of the game (that I must have missed the first time) that allows you to disable "sex" and "romance." I missed this completely the first time I create my team, but was told about it after the fact. I had to start over completely because I was racing through the game and screwing up all the side-quests... I left it on because it wasn't a huge problem for me.

 

 

8 hours ago, fdr4prez said:

Thanks.

 

Based on the gameplay discussions here, i will not be playing this game.

 

I enjoyed BG1 and BG2 when they were new, and there were many home-brew type of add-ons for these that i enjoyed, but this BG3 doesn't seem enjoyable now.  For BG2, there was a "romance" add-on pack that I never installed.  I don't play these games to roleplay romance.

 

The only CRPG i play these days is Temple of Elemental Evil from Troika.  It is available on GoG.

 

It is an old game that didn't play well when it was first released, and Troika never quite fixed it, but due to the community support there is a nice fix+expansion for it by the Circle of Eight called The Circle of Eight Modpack - New Content (a purist can download the modpack without the New Content).

 

There is an even newer community effort named Temple+ that fixes a bunch more issues that Co8 couldn't fix, and the Temple+ adds more classes and spells, etc.

 

Get the ToEE from GoG, get the Co8 Modpack NC, and Temple+ for a complete package.

 

D&D 3.5e and turned based combat at its best!

 

 

To be completely honest, I only really know AD&D 2e... and we had Thaco and negative armor class. I did play an actual D&D game a couple of years ago (remotely) with some friends using 3.5. I couldn't really tell you the difference between 5e and 3.5e. I've never actually played BG1 or BG2, so I can't really compare. Is there a "Shareware" (dating myself here) version of BG3 that you can download? I won't say your life is going to change, hahah... but it's pretty decent. Then again, if I'm comparing it to Pool of Radiance, going VGA is an upgrade. 

 

So... a little bit of a confession here... I actually own every single AD&D game out there. I either own them outright on CD, or re-bought all of them on GoG. I have the Temple of Elemental Evil also... just never played it. It's one of those things where I tell my wife that I'd like to be unjustly imprisoned for a year. Locked away with nothing but a dual Pentium 2 with my Roland SCC-1 and Sound Blaster 16 ASP. I want to get through all of the old Ultima games, all of my AD&D games, and Starflight 1 and 2. I'll get fed 3 square meals a day, time for working out and even time playing basketball with my prison buddies. I'd have no responsibilities. My wife and daughter, I would miss them dearly, and they'd have plenty of money to pay all the bills and continue on until my appeal which would find me not guilty... to which I would sue the state and recover all damages and my good name.

 

I'd be able to start my own business, and will have finally gotten through all those AD&D games. One can dream... hahaha...

 

Anyway, I'll check out Temple of the Elemental.... thanks!

 

 

 

[Razzie.P]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

Note, there's a feature in the beginning of the game (that I must have missed the first time) that allows you to disable "sex" and "romance." I missed this completely the first time I create my team, but was told about it after the fact. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wait... so since even before this game was released, nearly all the focus that I had seen from media to users/gamers has been constant squabble about the romance, sex, homosexuality, etc.  it was especially annoying when it first released because it was impossible to find any discussions about the actual game because of all the rants about all the things they were "FORCED" to do and what was being shoved into their lives, blah blah blah... but you're saying there's an option to simply disable it from the beginning?

 

If so... jeez, people....

 

 

[82-T/A]

1 hour ago, Razzie.P said:

Wait... so since even before this game was released, nearly all the focus that I had seen from media to users/gamers has been constant squabble about the romance, sex, homosexuality, etc.  it was especially annoying when it first released because it was impossible to find any discussions about the actual game because of all the rants about all the things they were "FORCED" to do and what was being shoved into their lives, blah blah blah... but you're saying there's an option to simply disable it from the beginning?

 

If so... jeez, people....

 

Yes, there is an option to "disable nudity / sexuality," to be clear. I'm not sure how much it affects the storyline. I've never checked it (so I still see the nudity), but I don't know if it eliminates "romance opportunity." I've not "had sex" with a character, just haven't really pursued it that hard (or I'm failing miserably at it, haha), but the only nudity is when you change armor and clothes off of a character, and in the beginning when you're creating your character. You could probably look it up. I have the manuals, but I'm just playing it as it is.

 

There's also four options for difficulty / "style" of play. The highest one focuses most on combat and strategy. I've picked the "story-based" one, which is also easier on combat. The rules don't change, but there's just less emphasis on it, and you have less combat selections... but the focus is more on the story so you do more rolls for conversation (persuasion and the like). I prefer the story-line more than anything else. I do like the combat, but like with the old AD&D games I used to play, the story is what made the game, not so much the little characters moving around and fighting.

  

[Tanooki]

@82-T/A I'm not sure where he sits on it other than his mischaracterization of things which is why I'm not going to get into it anymore really.  I can just say I don't like hot button subjects, click bait, social stuff, sign of the times hot words (think of the 90s JRPGs being mocked for 90s words getting flamed in hindsight) whatever it may be injecting into established lore whether it's games, tv, movies, comic books, whatever just fill in the blank.   I'm not saying don't do it, just be creative and make something new, not another chapter/page/story in whatever is whatever because...  That really is it.  As you said it'll aggravate some, pacify others, elate another group, and trigger others yet, and then more will just ignore it if at all possible and if they can't just walk away.  I guess I'd be in the walk away, because what's done is done and as was pointed out there are other D&D type materials in gaming out there past and present or past brought ot present with amateur coder/designer QoL resurrection pcakages to keep things fresh so it's not like you're stuck or out.  I'd just rather go fire up Dark Alliance 1&2 or something else because the extra wasn't necessary nor part of what had existed for decades but now it seems unavoidable because asyou said, the staff of the coding team and Wizards are of a group who are gung ho on that so deal or don't play and I just won't play.

 

In all fairness good on them for having the sex/romance thing with an on/off switch, but do we know if it will hamper the experience otherwise?  And why not a secondary switch where you can have it lean primarily one way or the other so you basically have to earn your romances and not have it just assumed into your lap from just saying something as overt as you did with getting help from a wizard character?  I do like that idea of an emphasis on story or if you want to be combat hardcore that but it does'nt break the rules either way.

[82-T/A]

Big question for me is... is BG1 and BG2 worth playing? I've never played them, though I own them... just curious if it's worth busting out. I like BG3... the overview and everything is great... but part of me yearns for a smaller more "compact" visual, similar to what maybe I would see in say the Ultima games (not Underworld, to be clear). 

[+wongojack]

4 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

Big question for me is... is BG1 and BG2 worth playing? I've never played them, though I own them... just curious if it's worth busting out. I like BG3... the overview and everything is great... but part of me yearns for a smaller more "compact" visual, similar to what maybe I would see in say the Ultima games (not Underworld, to be clear). 

I never finished, but I played the original BG1 A LOT.  There are quality of life things that you have to re-adjust to like remembering to save and accepting that some of your party members might suck, but it is a deep and engaging game in the D&D universe.  I have it somewhere on my list to play the Enhanced Editions someday.  From my exposure to BG1 and BG3, I would say it would give you almost exactly what you are after.  Isometric D&D gameplay with a streamlined story and overall experience.  The original games are still really long though.

[+fdr4prez]

Yeah, give them a try.

 

If you have the original release of BG1 and BG2, then i don't know if they'd run on modern systems, but if you have an old rig then give it a shot.

 

I've not played either in a dozen years, or more.

 

Take note that the battles are not turned based, so it takes some getting used to.  If I recall, you can make scripts to automate some things, and I think you can activate a setting to "pause at the end of the turn" - or something like that.  So then you can plan out the attack/spell/whatnot and then unpause and hope for the best.

 

I think that is the biggest turn off for me and why I've not replayed them over the years.  for comparison, I do replay ToEE every once in a while.

 

of the two, I do like BG1 better.  But in general BG2 was much more popular.  It has more in it compared to BG1.  

 

For BG1, there is a little known official expansion named Tales of the Sword Coast and it adds a few more areas to explore and expands on the story a bit.

 

For BG2, there is an official expansion called BG2: Throne of Bhaal and that starts right after the original BG2 game ends.

 

When you complete BG1, you can move that character to BG2, or you can start a new character in BG2.  if i recall, even if you move your character from BG1 into BG2, your character is changed a bit to fall more in line with how the BG2 game starts and that storyline.

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, back in the day, there was a strong modding community for both games, and many of those mods have been added into the EE versions.  I think that the Enhanced Edition versions, that wongojack mentions, are now the "standard" version people play on, and I've not been lurking in that community for 10+ years so I don't know much more about what's out there for the original or EE-versions.

 

If you have the original CDs, I'd imagine that some of these original mods are still floating around out there.  I may have some of them still sitting on an old drive, but I can't promise.  Some mods add character classes, some fix issues, some add NPCs, some change the enemy AI for tougher battles, etc. 

 

I'd recommend first playing the original unmodded versions and if you want to change up the replay value then explore some of these mods.

[newtmonkey]

@82-T/A

I agree pretty much 100% with @fdr4prez, including preferring BG1 over BG2.  The former feels a lot more like an adventure, with a massive interconnected open world to explore, a plot that is somewhat down to earth and mostly in the background for much of the game, and no cringeworthy romances.

 

I played and completed BG1 completely unmodded for the first time only a year or so ago, and I had a blast!  I thought it played perfectly fine, it's just a matter of learning the interface (which is pretty modern actually).  It's a huge game that can be fairly difficult unless you are willing to pay attention and experiment a bit.  It doesn't really hold your hand at all, so you can definitely stumble into areas that are high above your level, but there's much stuff to do that you can always go do something else if things get too difficult.

 

By default, you just create a single character and pick up companions as the game goes on.  I found most of the companions to pretty annoying, but you can create your own party by setting up a fake multi-player game, and that's how I played through the game.

 

Combat is indeed in real-time, but there are a lot of options to auto pause on certain events.  I started with all the options turned ON, and then gradually turned most of them OFF once I got used to playing the game.  Standard AD&D tactics apply: have two or three strong characters in front to protect your squishy spell casters in the rear.  I definitely recommend having a thief in the party, to send out as a scout to detect traps and encounters.  You can actually use your thief to draw single enemies back to your party, and this is a key strategy for whittling down some of the more difficult encounters.

 

There's the Enhanced Edition, but it uses the BG2 engine and is not 100% accurate to the original experience of playing the game.  However, if you buy the EE on GOG, you get the original releases as bonus content, so it's worth buying it anyway.

Edited May 2 by newtmonkey

[+fdr4prez]

54 minutes ago, newtmonkey said:

I found most of the companions to pretty annoying, but you can create your own party by setting up a fake multi-player game, and that's how I played through the game.

Nice trick.  I recall talk of this bitd, but I never tried it.

[82-T/A]

Thanks guys! That's awesome!!! 

 

Yeah, so just to be clear, the last "physical copy" game that I bought was Menzoberranzan, but all the other games I bought on GOG. It's sad really, almost an obsession... I flagged every single AD&D and D&D game I could find and just bought them all on GOG. But I JUST looked (right this minute), and I see that I own Baldur's Gate 1 and 2... both the enhanced editions.

 

I just looked at EE for BG1 and it says, "The Enhanced Edition contains over 75 hours of gameplay, including the original campaign, the classic Sword Coast expansion, plus brand new challenges in the Black Pits arena!"

 

And BG2 EE says, "The Enhanced Edition includes the original Shadows of Amn campaign, the Throne of Bhaal expansion, plus brand new challenges in the Black Pits II arena!"

 

I guess I thought I already owned everything related to it, but I just saw on GOG there's some other things: DLC Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. I guess apparently I do own this, but it doesn't seem to be included in any of the EE games I already have (but it says "In Library").

 

There are also two games that just came up that apparently I do NOT own:

 

- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2

 

What are these? Have you guys ever played these? Are these like offshoots, like how Ultima had the Savage Empire games being an off-shoot of Ultima 6?

 

It's definitely going to be weird doing D&D where it's real-play... (not turn based)... but the graphics definitely seemed to be a bit closer to what I like.

 

@fdr4prez, I do have a Dual Pentium II machine with Windows 98 SE and all the good stuff in it (Sound Blaster 16 ASP, Roland SCC-1, etc.). But GOG pre-loads all the stuff like DOSBOX and everything, so the games will likely run fine on my current modern PC. 

 

 

Thanks guys!!!

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

Thanks guys! That's awesome!!! 

There are also two games that just came up that apparently I do NOT own:

 

- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2

 

What are these? Have you guys ever played these? Are these like offshoots, like how Ultima had the Savage Empire games being an off-shoot of Ultima 6?

 

It's definitely going to be weird doing D&D where it's real-play... (not turn based)... but the graphics definitely seemed to be a bit closer to what I like.

 

@fdr4prez, I do have a Dual Pentium II machine with Windows 98 SE and all the good stuff in it (Sound Blaster 16 ASP, Roland SCC-1, etc.). But GOG pre-loads all the stuff like DOSBOX and everything, so the games will likely run fine on my current modern PC. 

 

 

Thanks guys!!!

Ok now you're getting into my space with that question.  What are these?  More of the same and in also anything but the same.  Confused?  Good.  It's D&D but live combat, you move around using a controller though keyboard and mouse I think works just as much as well too.  These started out initially for BG1 on Gamecube, PS2, and XB, but the sequel skipped Cube despite it doing fine in the day because most third parties had started to sadly ignore the thing going into its 4th year.  This game is live combat, live interactions, and moving along in a style you'd more think would be in play with a game like Diablo II.  Things aren't as tiny and no click straining your finger type stuff.  YOU can't also treat it like Gauntlet Legends, run in and swing away and think you'll survive either.

 

Both the games have a D&D style story, the first one I'm really just familiar with and you open up coming to town, a thieves guild luckily only knock you out and take your stuff, but not your life.  You end up in this bar, help the lady who runs the place and others to start trying ot find out who robbed you, where's your stuff, and it goes down a very D&D style rabbithole of the strange.   It will take you well beyond Baldur's Gate itself into other realms as things progress so your'e not always just in town, in the towns sewers etc.  I finished this on the Cube a few times in the day, and I guess whatever Steam/GoG says is the release date it got a HD remaster(nothing grand on the upgrade, it stayed true for better or worse) and released on PC, iOS, Android, modern consoles(Switch, PS, XB.)  Personally I think if you enjoy D&D, live combat vs turn based or seeming so (like the old games you're discussing before this), also liked how Diablo and even to a point gauntlet and their typess handle you should really dig this game.  There's a lot of gear, spells, weapons and more to pick up, enhance, learn, etc in this game.  It won't hold your hand really either, you can get chewed up if you get too brave.

 

When it re-released I grabbed it on Switch as console was first, a bit later PC hit and did that, but seeing as I think I could handle it, as a test I did grab the first one also for my phone for boring moments and it didn't disappoint.

[+fdr4prez]

1 hour ago, 82-T/A said:

@fdr4prez, I do have a Dual Pentium II machine with Windows 98 SE and all the good stuff in it (Sound Blaster 16 ASP, Roland SCC-1, etc.). But GOG pre-loads all the stuff like DOSBOX and everything, so the games will likely run fine on my current modern PC

Yes, since you have them from GoG, then you are good to go for modern systems. 

 

As Tanooki mentions, the Dark Alliance versions were originally made made for PS2 era consoles. 

 

I've never played them. 

 

 

Dragonspear is a newer developed game that was written in the style of BG1 and it takes place between BG1 and BG2. 

 

I've not played that one either. 

 

I have played Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2.  They are both similar to BG, but the main key difference is that in the BG series you play with a single player character with NPCs joining your party to help you out, but in the IWD series you create a party (up to 6) and there are no joinable NPCs. 

 

The IWD storyline is less flexible (or more linear) compared to the BG series. 

 

The IWD games had less community mods, bitd, but I think there are EE versions on GoG. I've not played those versions. 

[+fdr4prez]

On 4/30/2024 at 7:16 AM, 82-T/A said:

To be completely honest, I only really know AD&D 2e... and we had Thaco and negative armor class. I did play an actual D&D game a couple of years ago (remotely) with some friends using 3.5. I couldn't really tell you the difference between 5e and 3.5e.

 

2nd Edition:
BG1
BG2
BG: Siege of Dragonspear
IWD

3rd Edition:
BG: Dark Alliance
BG: Dark Alliance 2
IWD 2

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

Neverwinter Nights

 

3.5 Edition:
Temple of Elemental Evil

Neverwinter Nights 2

 

5th Edition:
BG3

[82-T/A]

4 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Both the games have a D&D style story, the first one I'm really just familiar with and you open up coming to town, a thieves guild luckily only knock you out and take your stuff, but not your life.  You end up in this bar, help the lady who runs the place and others to start trying ot find out who robbed you, where's your stuff, and it goes down a very D&D style rabbithole of the strange.   It will take you well beyond Baldur's Gate itself into other realms as things progress so your'e not always just in town, in the towns sewers etc.  I finished this on the Cube a few times in the day, and I guess whatever Steam/GoG says is the release date it got a HD remaster(nothing grand on the upgrade, it stayed true for better or worse) and released on PC, iOS, Android, modern consoles(Switch, PS, XB.)  Personally I think if you enjoy D&D, live combat vs turn based or seeming so (like the old games you're discussing before this), also liked how Diablo and even to a point gauntlet and their typess handle you should really dig this game.  There's a lot of gear, spells, weapons and more to pick up, enhance, learn, etc in this game.  It won't hold your hand really either, you can get chewed up if you get too brave.

 

Android and iOS? Dude, that's wild... I can't imagine playing an AD&D game on a tablet or iPhone. Anyway, these sound awesome. I just don't know when or where I'm going to find the time. 😕

 

3 hours ago, fdr4prez said:

Yes, since you have them from GoG, then you are good to go for modern systems. 

 

As Tanooki mentions, the Dark Alliance versions were originally made made for PS2 era consoles. 

 

I offend people when I say this... but remember the old Ultima games, like Ultima 1 through 5? Those games are horrendous (in my opinion) on the PC. But the versions they put out for the 8-Bit Nintendo made them more like Dragon Warrior, and in my opinion, far more playable. Ultima 6 of course MUST be on a PC... and sucks on a console (my opinion), but maybe the Dark Alliance games are just better on PC.

 

 

1 hour ago, fdr4prez said:

2nd Edition:
BG1
BG2
BG: Siege of Dragonspear
IWD

3rd Edition:
BG: Dark Alliance
BG: Dark Alliance 2
IWD 2

Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor

Neverwinter Nights

 

3.5 Edition:
Temple of Elemental Evil

Neverwinter Nights 2

 

5th Edition:
BG3

 

 

Ok, so you're starting to uncover my "crack" addiction here. I have a problem... and also apparently I lied to you guys (more on that). I have 389 games in my GoG Library. I hoard digital media. I feel the need to be a hoarder, but not in my real life because it's too stressful. So I have bare walls in some rooms just because I like the feeling of open space. But computer games were such a huge part of my childhood when I was in grade school. I went to a boarding school, and my parents let me take my 8088 KayPro with me (other kids had 286s and one kid had the new 386!). So I was enthralled with these games. Suffice it to say, I apparently have every single one of the games you listed above.

 

And I remember now that I have actually played Pools of Radiance - Ruins of Myth Drannor. I would creepily wait in the parking lot of my Catholic church (while my daughter was in Sunday School, which was on Tuesday nights oddly enough), and I'd play on a small laptop, Pool of Radiance... this one, not the old Gold Box Series game. I got fairly far in it, but I screwed something up, and cannot find a key with which to open a door that will allow me to go on to the next "area." I can't even recall exactly what... but the key is gone, and now I'm screwed. So I don't think there's anything I can do... even though I wanted to complete the game (sigh). 

 

Anyway... I just looked up Icewind Dale... and damn, those games are both awesome, and both totally along the lines of kind of what I'd like to play. I'm almost thinking that when I'm done with BG3... I will probably go straight to Icewind Dale.  

[+fdr4prez]

4 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

And I remember now that I have actually played Pools of Radiance - Ruins of Myth Drannor. I would creepily wait in the parking lot of my Catholic church (while my daughter was in Sunday School, which was on Tuesday nights oddly enough), and I'd play on a small laptop, Pool of Radiance... this one, not the old Gold Box Series game. I got fairly far in it, but I screwed something up, and cannot find a key with which to open a door that will allow me to go on to the next "area." I can't even recall exactly what... but the key is gone, and now I'm screwed. So I don't think there's anything I can do... even though I wanted to complete the game (sigh). 

 

I played this a few years ago.

 

It was quite the dungeon crawl.   All hack-n-slash with minimal story.  Not much replay value.

 

at least with BG, IWD and ToEE, you can play to your alignment (for the most part) and the story engagement varies accordingly, and your dialog choices can have dire consequences.

 

On a non-D&D aside, have you played or heard of X-COM: UFO Defense - Wikipedia it was my first PC game that I really played back in the day.

 

The opening is quite good.

 

Gameplay is quite in-depth.

[82-T/A]

1 hour ago, fdr4prez said:

I played this a few years ago.

 

It was quite the dungeon crawl.   All hack-n-slash with minimal story.  Not much replay value.

 

at least with BG, IWD and ToEE, you can play to your alignment (for the most part) and the story engagement varies accordingly, and your dialog choices can have dire consequences.

 

On a non-D&D aside, have you played or heard of X-COM: UFO Defense - Wikipedia it was my first PC game that I really played back in the day.

 

The opening is quite good.

 

Gameplay is quite in-depth.

 

Oh dude... stop!!! Haha... this was like one of my absolute favorite games growing up. This was a slightly later game for me... I'm mid-40s now, so the first games I played were all CGA / Monochrome games on an 8088... but I played this one when I was a Freshman in high school during the summer. I loved this friggin' game. I also played Terror from the Deep.

 

Which by the way, there's an interesting story on that. XCOM 2 - TFTD had an emergency patch that went out. They had multiple missions where you'd run across an airplane that had crashed in the water (because of course, the whole game TFTD is under water). And apparently shortly after release, there was a major airline crash where hundreds of people died. Maybe it was the ValueJet one in the Everglades where all the survivors of the crash were basically eaten by alligators. Anyway, the patch for XCOM TFTD 1.2 stripped out all the crash-landed underwater commercial planes. There was no real value to having them, it was just another "thing" that you'd see underwater as you were responding to an alien underwater landing. But I always thought that was interesting. If you can find the original floppy disk version of XCOM 2, it still has the crashed underwater planes in it.

 

But yeah... I'm assuming you've played the new XCOM and XCOM 2 that came out a few years ago? They were both pretty awesome. There was a whole slew of XCOM games that came out between XCOM 2 - TFTD, and the "new" XCOM games from a few years back. Almost none of them were very good. One of my friends (who's name I can't even remember now), put a picture of me as an Easter Egg in one of those games... I'll have to look up which XCOM it is. But if you manage to find this one area and go into it (3D), you end up walking into a room where there's a picture of me on the wall in my 1970s leather jacket from like 1999, standing next to David Hasselhoff in front of Knight Rider, and this other guy named TART who's flexing and working out at the gym (they photoshopped us all together), along with a picture of his Dodge Neon which he did all kinds of stuff in it. It's pretty funny...

 

 

BUT... ok, seriously... did you ever play the UFO games? UFO Aftershock, UFO Aftermath, and UFO Afterlight (maybe not in that order?). You HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO play those games.

 

I know you like the original X-COM, it's awesome, and maybe you liked the new XCOM but thought it was maybe a bit "too much." The perfect "in between" are those three UFO games. They have all the fun / strategy of the original XCOM game, but with slightly better graphics. Here's the GOG title page for one of them (the rest are linked from this): https://www.gog.com/en/game/ufo_aftermath

 

Anyway, these games were made by the original XCOM developers, but under two different companies (rights kept changing hands), so it took forever for them to get all three. 

[82-T/A]

Anyway, for me... this was my first "real" game that I played. 

 

 

 

I remember being at Software City in Richmond, Virginia... and standing there looking at the shelves of games. My mom told me I could only have one game. There were three games that were drawing me in... Starflight, Arctic Fox, and Garfield Paint. Now... I was a huge fan of Garfield... so I almost got that, and Arctic Fox looked good, but Starflight promised me an entire world (or universe rather), so I picked it up. It came in one of those old school LP / Vinyl game sleeves with two 5.25" floppy disks. The one in the video there is the EGA version. I only had a Hercules monochrome monitor at the time, so it looked like this: 

 

 

[+fdr4prez]

I played XCOM2 - TFTD back then, but I didn't get too far.  I didn't like the fact the in XCOM you built up all this neat tech by the end of the game, but in XCOM2 you basically started over in regards to tech  

 

I've not played anything newer in that franchise and I've not played the other UFO games before.

 

There's a neat little UFO game for android named Grabatron.

 

 

 

it is now available for free if you search around for the Grabatron APK and assuming you know how to install APK on your phone (some people don't know how).

[Tanooki]

7 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

Android and iOS? Dude, that's wild... I can't imagine playing an AD&D game on a tablet or iPhone. Anyway, these sound awesome. I just don't know when or where I'm going to find the time. 😕

 

I offend people when I say this... but remember the old Ultima games, like Ultima 1 through 5? Those games are horrendous (in my opinion) on the PC. But the versions they put out for the 8-Bit Nintendo made them more like Dragon Warrior, and in my opinion, far more playable. Ultima 6 of course MUST be on a PC... and sucks on a console (my opinion), but maybe the Dark Alliance games are just better on PC.

 

Yeah and it's stunningly well done port wise on there, you can touch, or if you have a controller/grip it's no different than playing on Switch or whatever.  Check this apple link, has some images and the rest to get a taste.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/baldurs-gate-dark-alliance/id1632982179
It's also only $10 as is the sequel.

 

Also for that matter the older Baldur's Gate and so-on style games are on mobile too for $10 as well.

[newtmonkey]

The Dark Alliance games are basically Diablo clones.  I completed the first game, and it was alright but extremely basic compared to Diablo II or modern clones like Grim Dawn.

 

Icewind Dale is definitely worth a play.  It's a pure dungeon crawl and somewhat linear, though there's still plenty of exploration and questing.  I found the combat to be much enjoyable than in BG, though it uses the same engine, because the encounter design is much better.  The pre-rendered backgrounds are gorgeous, as is the soundtrack, and it's a very atmospheric game.

 

10 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

I offend people when I say this... but remember the old Ultima games, like Ultima 1 through 5? Those games are horrendous (in my opinion) on the PC. But the versions they put out for the 8-Bit Nintendo made them more like Dragon Warrior, and in my opinion, far more playable. Ultima 6 of course MUST be on a PC... and sucks on a console (my opinion), but maybe the Dark Alliance games are just better on PC.

I think that the NES ports of Ultima III and Ultima IV are decent, though a far cry from the PC games.  Ultima: Exodus (NES) is actually borderline broken due to how they screwed up the level scaling for encounters; the game can actually become literally impossible if you are unaware of this, and just level up without thinking.  Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES) is missing a lot of stuff from the PC version, but keeps the important stuff and is indeed a fine port.

 

However, Ultima: Warriors of Destiny (NES) is a travesty.  It cuts out 90% of the content of the PC game, and forces the game into a bastardized version of the Ultima VI engine, so it of course looks like shit and runs like garbage.  It feels like it's constantly on the verge of crashing the console.

Edited May 3 by newtmonkey