Action RPG's are awesome (A tribute)

[Roufuss]

My small little tribute thread to the awesomeness that are Action RPG's. I got addicted when Diablo came out, and since then, I've played or tried to get a hold of every one that has come out so far on the PC (where the genre is the best, imo). Let's keep this thread dedicated to the PC, and I'll make a seperate one for the consoles.

I just played the Titan Quest demo, and stayed up until 3 am finishing it, losing track of time and having an amazing time... it brought up some amazing feelings. So in this thread, I'll list the ones I know about, we can discuss them, share some with others, list some that aren't as well known. Here is the list of ones I personally own and some comments:

[Diablo 1 + Hellfire - Diablo 1 was awesome, the expansion to Diablo 1 was even better. I very much loved the Monk and the new areas this expansion brought. Bravo Blizzard!

Diablo 2 + Lord of Darkness: Nothing more you can say here... the best of the best.

Sacred + Sacred Underworld: I enjoyed it, but the game is huge... I've never managed to finish it, or touch the expansion. The game seems too big and too non linear for its own good.

Dungeon Siege + it's expansion: I don't remember alot about Dungeon Siege... I enjoyed what I played, and I remember the ice caverns being awesome. Seeing as how I just found the full game + expansion at an EB for $5 used, I'm going to pop it back in and play through it.

Some games that I own but haven't yet played through:

Revenant
Divine Divinity - People say this one is awesome
Beyond Dvinity - I want to play it but supposedly it has Starforce
Enclave - Can this be considered an ARPG?
Dungeon Siege 2 - Own it, but never could get into it... a friend loves it though
Neverwinter Nights - Have yet to install it... seems to be alright, has some interesting ideas

Games that are coming out in the future:

Titan Quest - This game is amazing, the demo blew me away, day 1 purchase definately, whether it's on sale or not.

Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World - Expansion pack for DS 2

The Witcher - This game has been 3 or 4 years in the making: http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/709/709874p1.html

Neverwinter Nights 2 - Previews look amazing.

Diablo 3 - One can hope and dream this is coming out

Now, my list seems kind of small... there has to be some more ARPG's that I missed out there. So here you go, discuss your favorites, ask about ones you may have never heard of, enjoy the glory that is the Action RPG ;)

As an aside, I was surprised Blizzard only opted for one expansion pack for Diablo 2... a second expansion would have made them a killing.

[Chacrana]

Divine Divinity was really good when I played it... Beyond Divinity was crap though... it took the concepts that the first game did well and destroyed them. Enclave wasn't really an RPG -- it was more of a 3rd person action game mixed with some awful.

Titan Quest... that game will be a god among action RPGs. The demo got everything right and I can't fucking wait for the game to come out... support the DVD version.

Anyway, definitely an interesting thread mainly because action RPGs get no respect around here.

[Roufuss]

Added one current (Neverwinter Nights, can't believe I forgot it) and two future titles - NWN 2 and The Witcher.

Here's one I've never heard of either:

Kult: Heretic Kingdoms

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=21586

[Vinny]

I think the only one of those that I played as Diablo II... and it was great until I finished the first chapater and got real tired of having to fight enemies every time I continued my game from a save spot even though I completely cleared the area before saving. Plus, continually click the left mouse button got pretty repetitive.

[crystalklear64]

Gothic II was an awesome action RPG, and Gothic III will be coming out in the Fall sometime.

[Genocidal]

You said you weren't getting Beyond Divinity because of Starforce, but didn't Sacred have it as well? That's one of the things that stopped me from picking it up at the EB Games clearance (That, and the fact that it still rang up as $12, when better games rang up at less than half that).

I'll have to check out this Titan Quest demo. If it's as good as it sounds, I may have a new addiction for the first time since Diablo II.

[Rei no Otaku]

My friends and I played so much Diablo 2 it was scary. We were obsessed with the game for quite awhile. We even would just spend large amounts of time making up Diablo boss names like Rotgut the Impure.

Deckard Cain is the man.

[Chrono72090]

Uhh, oblivion.

[Kayden]

Might and Magic Dark Messiah looks to fucking knock Oblivion on its ass.


Dungeon Siege 2 was ok, but it had game crippling issues that literally made it unplayable. IE, in certain boss fights, saving mid fight would delete the boss and leave you trapped in the boss area. Its a known and acknowleged issue, but all MS recommends is reverting to a backup save. :roll:

[Chacrana]

Might and Magic Dark Messiah looks to fucking knock Oblivion on its ass.


This year has finally seen the revival of RPGs on PC... with Dark Messiah, Titan Quest, Gothic 3, The Witcher, and Neverwinter Nights 2 hitting before the end of the year, I'm going to be spending a hell of a lot of time playing games on my PC.

On a side note, while technically an RPG/RTS hybrid, Spellforce 2 is wicked. Been playing the hell out of this for the last few days. No Starforce either for those concerned.

[Metal Boss]

I think it's safe to assume TES series is heading towards action RPG with oblivion.

[Roufuss]

You said you weren't getting Beyond Divinity because of Starforce, but didn't Sacred have it as well? That's one of the things that stopped me from picking it up at the EB Games clearance (That, and the fact that it still rang up as $12, when better games rang up at less than half that).

Sacred isn't on the list, and I've never had a problem with it. If you were going to jump into Sacred, I highly recommend Sacred Gold, as it's only $20 and has the game and the expansion (and the expansion is difficult to find on its own).

[argyle]

Kinda surprised there's been no mention of Guild Wars yet in this thread.

Anyway, I picked up the Titan Quest demo at EB last week....guess I should load it, huh? ;)

[Swift900]

I recently re-purchased Diablo I and its expansion Hellfire, and am looking forward to playing through it again later this year. In fact, I've never had the opportunity to try out Hellfire, so that should be pretty badass. By the way, for those of you who have played and beat Diablo...
... wasn't the final cinematic, where the warrior pulls out his knife, carves out Diablo's soulstone, and proceeds to ram it into his skull; crazy as hell!

Roufuss, make sure to add Hellgate: London to the list of games coming out in the future. It is being developed by the big names behind Diablo and Diablo II. Nuff said.

[Chacrana]

Kinda surprised there's been no mention of Guild Wars yet in this thread.

Anyway, I picked up the Titan Quest demo at EB last week....guess I should load it, huh? ;)

Yes, please play it. I can't express how awesome it is. After years and years of Diablo clones that have been crap, this one looks to be superior to Diablo in every conceivable way.

And I've gotta have a little section for negativity too so: I actually wasn't a fan of Sacred. Everything in that game felt bland and generic and the combat didn't feel rewarding or interesting at all. I played through the whole thing for some reason, but damn... I wouldn't play it ever again.

[omegaweapon7]

console rpgs, while less complicated, is much more fun action wise, too back they dont make it as deep as pc rpgs due to lack of mouse/key.

try:
champions of norrath 1 and 2
balder's gate 1 and 2
xman legends 1 and 2

and j-rpg stuff...
dark cloud 2, this game owns
legend of mana for ps1, imo best mana game, a love or hate game.
kingdom hearts 1 and 2...

and ofcourse, the BEST action rpg in my opinion, is Shining Force NEO, god that game was a blast.

[Kayden]

On a side note, while technically an RPG/RTS hybrid, Spellforce 2 is wicked. Been playing the hell out of this for the last few days. No Starforce either for those concerned.

The first SpellForce sounded absolutely awesome, but the game sucked balls. I take it 2 is much better?


console rpgs, while less complicated, is much more fun action wise, too back they dont make it as deep as pc rpgs due to lack of mouse/key.
...Let's keep this thread dedicated to the PC, and I'll make a seperate one for the consoles...

[Lord Draconus777]

Does anyone remember Ultima Underworld? I've always wanted to play that game, if there's anyway to play it on windows XP, please help me out.

Oh, and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction if still the best if you ask me. Even 5 years later, it still has ridiculously addictive gameplay that makes you scream for more, if you're playing online with other people that is.

[mombbsmj]

A little game called Fate is pretty good too. It's pretty easy and steals a lot from Diablo but I put quite a few hours into it.

[Chacrana]

The first SpellForce sounded absolutely awesome, but the game sucked balls. I take it 2 is much better?

Infinitely better. Gamespot's review cleared that up in the first sentence and other reviews have said that Phenomic really has learned from experience.

[rodeojones903]

Anyone know where I can download the titan quest demo? All i can find is file planet, and Ill be damned if I'm going to pay them so I can download a demo.

[poe]

I keep meaning to dig out Nox and give that a playthrough; tried it out, then forgot I had it installed. Darkstone is another good one, but it's pretty basic, as old as it is.

I also DL'ed a Doom 3 mod called Dungeon Doom, which pretty much makes for a decent Action RPG with the D3 engine. If you have the expansion pack as well, there's a version with extra classes.

And Chacrana, European versions of Spellforce 2 do have Starforce. I go to www.boycottstarforce.net for a good list, the only one I've found which really breaks down Euro and US versions for most titles.

EDIT: Try Filefront for the Titan Quest demo. No registration and I'm getting about 160 kB/s, which is the most I usually see with my connection.

[Swift900]

I keep meaning to dig out Nox and give that a playthrough; tried it out, then forgot I had it installed.
I just picked up Nox via barterbee.com. I've not yet got the chance to play it, but have read that it was pretty good.

I also DL'ed a Doom 3 mod called Dungeon Doom, which pretty much makes for a decent Action RPG with the D3 engine. If you have the expansion pack as well, there's a version with extra classes.

Thats pretty crazy. I'll definitely have to check it out. If it looks good enough, it may actually get me to reinstall Doom3, which I hated.

[Chacrana]

I keep meaning to dig out Nox and give that a playthrough; tried it out, then forgot I had it installed. Darkstone is another good one, but it's pretty basic, as old as it is.

I also DL'ed a Doom 3 mod called Dungeon Doom, which pretty much makes for a decent Action RPG with the D3 engine. If you have the expansion pack as well, there's a version with extra classes.

And Chacrana, European versions of Spellforce 2 do have Starforce. I go to www.boycottstarforce.net for a good list, the only one I've found which really breaks down Euro and US versions for most titles.

EDIT: Try Filefront for the Titan Quest demo. No registration and I'm getting about 160 kB/s, which is the most I usually see with my connection.


Yeah, I know the European versions have Starforce, but the US versions are completely safe.

[Kayden]

Anyone know where I can download the titan quest demo? All i can find is file planet, and Ill be damned if I'm going to pay them so I can download a demo.

Since when did you have to pay for FP? I know they have the prefered servers... but they should still have free ones.

Anyways, I know theres a torrent for it on mininova. Try google.