We need another BG/BG2, Forget the MMORGs!

[mmo]

A pretty classic singleplayer CRPG (but with 3d gfx) is currently in development in germany.

drakensang.com

In an interview they said it could best be compared to the BG games, but in 3d.

I just played Drakensang online in browser and It was really stunnig.

 

[The Serge]

Some would compare Dragon Age: Origins to BG and BG2, and I'd largely agree.

Let's likely to get that comparison is Dragon Age 2, which -- while a good game -- is far heavier on the action elements than on the "traditional" RPG elements.

I'd just like to see a classic D&D game... I recently finished Troika's Temple of Elemental Evil (with the substantial -- and arguably necessary -- Co8 mods), and it's still the most faithful CRPG in my opinion (I hated NWN because it was so difficult to create a real party unless you played with others... in which case, I'd rather play PnP).

 

[Remus Lupin]

I loved DA, and I'm on my second play through of DA2. I think DA:O has much more of a Balder's Gate feel to it. For DA2 I think they're pulling a lot more inspiration from Mass Effect, which, while not a bad thing, takes it a bit farther away from what I loved about Baldur's Gate and its cousins.

 

[MarkB]

Nice thread necro - interesting to see the way things were shaping up three years ago.

I'm starting to have at least middling-high hopes for The Old Republic - I think they may actually manage to crack the combination of traditional quest-based CRPGs with an MMO environment.

 

[The Serge]

I loved DA, and I'm on my second play through of DA2. I think DA:O has much more of a Balder's Gate feel to it. For DA2 I think they're pulling a lot more inspiration from Mass Effect, which, while not a bad thing, takes it a bit farther away from what I loved about Baldur's Gate and its cousins.

In terms of the heightened cinematics and a voiced and named protagonist, I definitely agree with you that DAII borrowed a lot from ME. However, I think that in terms of characters' interactions and high fantasy elements, it's as much like BG as DAO. The major difference I see with DAII is that it eliminated the boundaries to real-world physics in order to amp-up the action... Which I suppose is also more like ME.

For me, what made the BG series great (especially BG 2) was breadth. You were dealing with a huge world with tons of quests that branch of the main story. Both DAO and DAII do the same thing. However, I think DAO goes much, much further than either BG or DAII because characters often have more than two ways to solve a quest. I think this is the major area in which DAII fell short and, ironically, was a lot more in line with BG2 (save for breadth).

For my money, the best D&D computer game story and second best game play is Planescape: Torment. It was incredibly dialoge and character driven with numerous solutions to the various problems the Nameless One encountered. And it is definitely a predaccesor to both ME and DAII with it's spectacular use of a named, voiced first-person protagonist. PST definitely deserves a remake!