Reply With QuoteDungeon Lords got delayed until Q1 2005, for what it's worth.
All the stuff with guild wars (and a recent bount of Diablo-itis again) has me looking for other similar games. I've seen Dungeon Siege for reasonably cheap, and have heard mixed reviews about it. Sacred is still floating a bit high for my taste price-wise, and likewise has mixed reviews. Dungeon Lords looks good, but there's no demo for it yet and it's supposed to show up reasonably soon and I'm not picking up on much buzz about it.
Anyone have opinions on what else is out there in terms of good Diablo type games (Have Beyond Divinity, it was more RPG-ish than I was looking for, though)?
I'm mainly looking for something where I can play for 30-120 minutes and feel like I've done something interesting, whether it's finding a cool weapon or completing a quest or the like. This is where I think Diablo II has done a premiere job.
Dungeon Lords got delayed until Q1 2005, for what it's worth.
Dungeon siege never had the shiny for me. The weapons system doesn't have the neat depth, and I think single player doesn't have random drops. Getting a gold weapon was awesome in diablo, and usually just bank fodder in siege.
Have you ever considered trying a roguelike?
I recommend Angband to start, followed by TOME or Hengband. They're really great games. Bit of a learning curve, but really very fun.
Here's a good place to start for Angband-
http://www.thangorodrim.net/
I am playing hengband right now and having a great time even though I am using a simple barbarian fighter. I find roguelikes to be really engrossing.
Mark L
I used to play angband all the time on X when I was a help desk consultant. Unfortunately I'm a tech whore and I want all the shiny stuff. I also don't want to feel like the most viable route to being unafraid of randomly dying is to sit and farm lice for 5 levels in a small room/hallway.Originally Posted by Mark L
(Though it was always amusing when I accidentally miscalculated and let the lice take over the dungeon.. at least right up until they killed me.)
strokerace and I have been playing Diablo II Hardcore mode again, and it's a whole different game when you actually have a reason to fear death.
Of course, it isn't shiny and nice like some of the other games out there.
Don't forget Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM). My fave roguelike!
http://www.adom.de/
etc
Still relatively shiny. Just that I've done the Diablo thing and was looking for something new. If nothing worthwhile shows up, Diablo will continue to win I'm sure. The game has legs.
Dungeon Siege bored the heck out of me. Kind if like MS Word, it does too much for you without asking, and half the time you didn't want it to happen.
I seem to be one of the few people `round here who liked Dungeon Siege - and is willing to admit it, at least ;) - but I'm not sure it's what you're looking for. It's basically a party-based dungeon crawl through a linear pre-generated world, with a lightweight real-time tactical combat engine (kinda Myth Lite, IMHO) and a streamlined character system (3 stats, 4 skills - that's it).
The nicest thing I can say about it is that your party AI is good enough that you have to do very little in the way of micromanagement (except, ironically, inventory management, which is Diablo x 10). Gameplay is more about choosing your party makeup and positioning in combat than it is about frantically clicking things. Which, as other people would more bluntly put it, makes it the prettiest screensaver you've ever seen... 8)
I found it to be a pleasantly brainless little diversion, but it definitely lacks depth, replayability, and challenge; so if those are your criteria for judging action-RPGs, it's probably not for you. [Actually, DS is more like a RTS-RPG, IMHO - but I digress...]
Unfortunately, there've been precious few PC action-RPGs of the Diablo vein in recent years - much less good ones. [There are more options on the consoles, frankly - but some PC gamers hiss and recoil when you mention them. ;) ] There was that Chinese game last year, Blade & Sword, but it sounds like it wasn't very good. There was also Harbinger early last year - a Diablo in space, essentially - but again, not a great game. The recently released Restricted Area may have some promise, but I think it's only available in Germany right now. You've already mentioned Sacred and Beyond Divinity. Hmmm...now I have to start digging all the way back to Darkstone to think of another game title...
Frankly, you may be best off sticking with Diablo II and looking for a cool user mod or two. :D
Tried the demo, it seems not to be. I'm not looking for "Click on this monster, wait until dead, click on the next monster." Too much RPG, not enough action.
Speaking of RTS-RPG, anyone know how Spellforce fits in?I found it to be a pleasantly brainless little diversion, but it definitely lacks depth, replayability, and challenge; so if those are your criteria for judging action-RPGs, it's probably not for you. [Actually, DS is more like a RTS-RPG, IMHO - but I digress...]
I'm no gaming snob. I have a GC and a PS2, fire away. :)Unfortunately, there've been precious few PC action-RPGs of the Diablo vein in recent years - much less good ones. [There are more options on the consoles, frankly - but some PC gamers hiss and recoil when you mention them. ;)
But the console ones aren't really *in* the Diablo vein. There's a huge interface difference that makes them *a ton* better. Pressing buttons for attacks amounts to a huge gameplay difference from "click-n-watch."
Nothing I've run across on console has D2's depth in character building/item collection though. (Then again, nothing anywhere else does either, which may be why D2 still has such a loyal following.)But the console ones aren't really *in* the Diablo vein. There's a huge interface difference that makes them *a ton* better. Pressing buttons for attacks amounts to a huge gameplay difference from "click-n-watch."
At least, I assume we're talking about the action RPGs like the BG:DA engine games, X-Men Legends (which, come to think of it, may still be a BG:DA engine game), etc..
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, VG
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, G
Champions of Norrath, G
Bard's Tale, haven't gotten it yet
X-Men Legends, same, but everyone loves it
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, same, but everyone hates it
Btw, all those, except X-Men afaik, use the Snowblind Engine (i.e. versions of the Dark Alliance 1 engine).
I think X-Men Legends uses that engine too. And I don't hate Fallout: Brotherhood, for the record.
When did that come out? last I heard it was still coming out in like 2 weeks.
If you have a GBA, you might also check out Shining Soul II, which is the closest to Diablo II in overall mechanics that its almost a complete theft. If not, oh well. :P The EA Lord of the Rings GBA games (Two Tower and Return of the King) were also very solid Diablo-likes and they are all bound to be cheap.
If not those, then you might also try Crimson Tears, which is Diablo in a somewhat different mode, with its own set of flaws, but well done for what it is and DEFINITELY has some eyecandy. That's for the PS2.
But above all of those I would recommend an action RPG dungeon hack which gets way too little credit: Vagrant Story. If you haven't played this yet, find it now. Its a late PSX game, but it won't affend your senses, especially if you turn on hardware smoothing, because its very, very, very purty. Its also extremely deep and whatever flaws it has are small, niggling interface issues. Its long and the replay value is stupendous, because they add a New Game+ with about 20% more content if I remember correctly (or maybe that was just me ignoring certain areas, but I don't think so). In any case, wait until you see what kind of things motivate you to play again. Music, originality, depth, control, mechanics, story, character, graphics, art direction, there's just no major element to complain about. Its a total dungeon-hacking masterpiece and the savepoints were pretty generous if I remember correctly, in any case I easily got through the game about an hour at a time and you can definitely feel progress, especially with the forging of your own equipment or practicing risk chains and such. Its a very different game from Diablo, but with many of the same addictive qualities and its a definitely an action-based dungeon hack.
Since its about four years old, you're bound to find it for cheap somewhere or on eBay or something.
-Kitsune
Well if we're going back to the PSX, I nominate Ehrgeiz.
mouselock I waited to play Sacred until they patched it up and released the Sacred Plus expansion. I've been working on it for the past week or two and I have to say I like it a lot. It's very Diablo-like in many ways yet it goes in a different direction I like. It is definitely a game I can play for a half hour and do some fun stuff. There are tons of quests to complete and most of them are relatively brief.
The graphics are nice. I don't like the default zoom levels much but that is my main gripe about the game. Otherwise I've been having a blast with it.
Saw it linked on Bluesnews today: http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=27157When did that come out? last I heard it was still coming out in like 2 weeks.
Hey, that frees up a game purchase. hmmm what to subsitute?
For the record X-men Legends does not use the Snowblind engine, but Raven's own custom made in-house engine. If you don't believe me, then ask them. An interview with them on X-Play mentioned this was the first console title they have made and they had to start at square one when thinking about how to develop for it.
Not quite true! I think it's good. Of course, I could be the only person alive who'll say that. So it goes. Regardless, it's definitely not as polished as BG:DA2 and CoN, so I'd go with either of them first and foremost.
BG:DA1 wasn't bad or anything, but I think DA2 beats it down in every imaginable way.
One other game I haven't seen mentioned yet - I forget who it is here that is the AD&D Heroes whore, but his viral marketing campaign was strong enough to get me interested. I finally got an XBox, so (aside from the fact that GTA:SA is the best goddamn game I might have ever played) I have no more excuses for not checking Heroes out.
As far as the Snowblind games compare to Diablo 2 in general - I like playing melee characters more with a joystick, so the games are at their best with those characters. But I definitely prefer magic-users with a mouse/keyboard. For instance, you don't see any characters like the Necromancer in the Snowblind games, and it's probably because half the spells the Necromancer uses (the curses) are those that you need to be able to cast on any location on screen immdiately. That's something you simply can't pull off effectively with a joystick.
But they compensate for that loss by (arguably, this could of course just be my opinion) overpowering the spells the magic-using classes do have while still giving them tolerable melee ability. I had a much easier time beating BG:DA1 with the elven sorceress than I did the other two classes because it was way too easy to rely on Mordekainen's Sword, Chain Lightning, and then use a super-powerful long sword or something similar while those spells do their thing.
Heroes is a blast in multiplayer if that's an option (as is BGDA). I also really liked Dungeon Siege in multiplayer, but the inability to save ended up killing that game for my group.
Wrong (partly, I gather you mean the RPG engine, I mean the graphic engine, professional deformation). It uses Vicarious Visions' Alchemy :)For the record X-men Legends does not use the Snowblind engine, but Raven's own custom made in-house engine.
As you can see on the loading screen right after Raven's : I just verified ;)
I thought Darkstone was pretty good. Plus patched it has alot of replayability. Also... plays alot like Diablo 1.
etc
Hey kafka, I've tried ADOM a few times, but it seems VERY complicated. Any tips on getting started? It's different from other rogues I've played.
I'm playing Champions of Norrath now on PS2, and I'm loving it. Very Diablo-ish, and lots of fun.
Play a warrior class and stick to the easy quests in the first town to get a feel for the game. playing a spellcaster is hard hard work... especially since once you die game over (just like other roguelikes). High hit point races with melee skills are good first playthroughs. Once you get a hang of the mechanics I'd move onto a character with some healing abilities and spellcasting focusing primarily in melee, like a priest/paladin.
I've barely scratched the depth of the game since I die usually around level 25. Made a Dwarf Paladin to upper 20's.
Here's some guide links.
http://www.andywlms.com/adom/
and a brief one
http://www.foxcomm.net/web2/malaux/asg/asg.html
etc
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