Community "What are you playing?" thread

[Chilkoot]

We frequently see posts here asking for recommendations on games similar to BT IV (or just good RPGs/CRPGs in general). These are always interspersed and off-topic, and hard to find later.

Since we appear to have a number of people with similar interests here, I though it might be good to start up a thread to get all of the recommendations and non-BT discussion in one place.

So this thread is specifically for recommendations or insights into what's currently got your interest and why. Kindly keep it civil and avoid belittling others gaming preferences.

[svdp]

Good, idea, Chilkoot. Let's centralize some stuff, as we did with other topics as well.

Well, first of all, there's the obvious (fairly recent) look-alike: Operencia .

https://store.steampowered.com/app/985950/Operencia_The_Stolen_Sun/

To some degree, it's VERY similar to BT4, especially in the base game-mechanics. It doesn't offer as much complexity or exploration and is generally rather more simple in set-up than BT4, though. But it still has lot's of the same overall concepts, RPG/combat/traps/puzzle-wise, etc.

As a second suggestion, if one is talking about a more general and broader "similarity" with BT, it would be Silversword, especially if you're looking for a clone-esque similarity of the older BT1-3 games. But still, it could satisfy a crave for old-style bard-related RPG's also.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995580321

The same goes for the old BT1-3 and their remastered versions themselves, of course; oldies, but classics! :

https://store.steampowered.com/app/843260/The_Bards_Tale_Trilogy/

And, of course, the snarky 2005 Bard's Tale (ARPG):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/41900/The_Bards_Tale_ARPG_Remastered_and_Resnarkled/

[Chilkoot]

Currently, I'm getting a lot of miles out of The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/970830/The_Dungeon_Of_Naheulbeuk_The_Amulet_Of_Chaos/
It's goofy and the English voicework is pretty awful (with some exceptions), but being an RPG it has some compelling elements. One thing it does really well is a feeling of progression as the characters become more and more powerful. Combat actually gets more fun as you work through the game, which is uncommon.

I've been playing mostly on Game Pass (PC), and received the Steam version just recently as a gift. Not sure I'd recommend it to anyone at full price. Lots of good gameplay value if you can get it on a sale.

[Kira]

So I don't know if I can offer much in terms of recommendations for RPGs that have similar gameplay as BT4. Also full disclosure, I'm not mainly into BT4 for the combat, I like the combat system but I'm more coming from an exploration/puzzle/atmosphere angle, not so much a tactical combat angle.

With that in mind I can recommend Desktop Dungeons with the caveat that it's not really an RPG in the classic sense, it's more of a puzzle/kingdom management/roguelite game with an RPG-like gameplay. The graphics are a bit old but it's just getting a 3D remake that will come out in a bit over a week, so I'll copy the link for both versions.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/226620/Desktop_Dungeons/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1976950/Desktop_Dungeons_Rewind/

[Kira]

Originally posted by svdp:

Operencia

I looked around for this game and I really liked what I saw! I even found a place where it's currently on deep discount, so I didn't hesitate. I'll try it soon, in any case thanks a lot for the recommendation!

[Shneekey]

Across the Obelisk is a game that has piqued my interest recently. It's a deck-building roguelite game with meta progression. Which doesn't sound very much like Bard's Tale *anything*. However, it's also a *party of four*, each with their own deck to manage and curate, with equipment and gear slots, and is multiplayer capable, with each player controlling one or more characters.

Think Slay the Spire meets Darkest Dungeon set in someone's D&D campaign.

[Sigil]

stranger of sword city(also any experience.inc games)
wizardry series
etrian odyssey series
grimrock series
vaporum series
labyrinth of refrain series
labyrinth of touhou series

[svdp]

Speaking of the new game Inxile is making in steampunk style... ;-)
Another addition I would like to make is Vaporum.

The battle-mechanics are quite different, but it's also a dungeon crawler in first person with puzzles and the vibe isn't all that different, so people searching for something similar might like this too. The setting is steampunk, not high (or low) fantasy or its variants, but still quite original.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/629690/Vaporum/

Originally posted by Kira:

Originally posted by svdp:

Operencia

I looked around for this game and I really liked what I saw! I even found a place where it's currently on deep discount, so I didn't hesitate. I'll try it soon, in any case thanks a lot for the recommendation!

you're welcome! :-)

Tell me how it goes later on in the game, because I only played the demo, which is mostly like a tutorial. I missed a bit the more-in-depth mechanics of an RPG, and it had not much complexity nor room for exploration was my first impression. Story seemed intriguing, but since it was a demo, I never got to the end. But maybe that gets better?

I sometimes think I didn't give it a fair chance, but the demo didn't really convince me neither. Though if you say it gets better the further you go, or if there's a *really* heavy discount, of, say, -75%, I might consider it buying anyhow. :-)

[Kira]

Originally posted by svdp:

you're welcome! :-)

Tell me how it goes later on in the game, because I only played the demo, which is mostly like a tutorial. I missed a bit the more-in-depth mechanics of an RPG, and it had not much complexity nor room for exploration was my first impression. Story seemed intriguing, but since it was a demo, I never got to the end. But maybe that gets better?

I sometimes think I didn't give it a fair chance, but the demo didn't really convince me neither. Though if you say it gets better the further you go, or if there's a *really* heavy discount, of, say, -75%, I might consider it buying anyhow. :-)

I might have bought it at around 10.- somewhere else, they actually had a deepest ever discount on that other platform. I haven't progressed too far with it yet, mainly just checked it out, I really like the mood based on the tutorial, so I'll probably finish it sometime, but I'm still playing my current games (like BT4).

[svdp]

Originally posted by Kira:

Originally posted by svdp:

you're welcome! :-)

Tell me how it goes later on in the game, because I only played the demo, which is mostly like a tutorial. I missed a bit the more-in-depth mechanics of an RPG, and it had not much complexity nor room for exploration was my first impression. Story seemed intriguing, but since it was a demo, I never got to the end. But maybe that gets better?

I sometimes think I didn't give it a fair chance, but the demo didn't really convince me neither. Though if you say it gets better the further you go, or if there's a *really* heavy discount, of, say, -75%, I might consider it buying anyhow. :-)

I might have bought it at around 10.- somewhere else, they actually had a deepest ever discount on that other platform. I haven't progressed too far with it yet, mainly just checked it out, I really like the mood based on the tutorial, so I'll probably finish it sometime, but I'm still playing my current games (like BT4).

Ah well... Decided to buy it as well. Wasn't -75% but -66% on GOG, but maybe you meant the same. Will try it out a bit further this time, and see how it goes...

[svdp]

Another one I would recommend, though it's technically not the same as Bard's Tale 4 (not first person view, nor grid-based combat), is Drakensang.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/12640/Drakensang?snr=1_7_15__13

It's more third-person, top-down-ish, but it IS a party based RPG with some puzzles and loads of fun. Based on the Dark Eye rules, with a pauze-mechanic for fights, so one can gather all hits and strikes and combo's of your party.

Been years that I played it, but I really enjoyed it in my slightly younger days. ;-)

It was fun and a blast to play, just like its successor Drakensang: The River of Time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/33770/Drakensang_The_River_of_Time/


Then they went bankrupt unfortunately, and some bigcorp bought it over but instead of making a third edition, they went for the quick bucks and tried their hand at a run-of-the-mill online ARPG, and slapped the "drakensang" name on it. Don't buy that, buy the first two, original games, if you want a fairly good and fun party-based RPG. It's a pretty older game by now, so buy at a discount, and you'll have made a good deal. :-)

[svdp]

It's now on summersale, it seems! If people even want remotely to try this out, it's the moment!! At -80%, this is really a steal! For 5 bucks you get two nice, party-based RPG's!

Even if it would turn out you don't like it after all, it's really no big loss!

Edit: Couldn't help myself! Bought the two at steam, even though I have the first one on GOG and both of them on DVD (somewhere). Yes, there was a time where game-DVD's were a thing. ;-)

Also added the DLC while I'm at it. :-p

https://store.steampowered.com/app/33780/Drakensang__Phileassons_Secret/

[Rand]

I'm only semi interested in the first person dungeon crawler RPG's, but one I enjoyed recently for a more casual yet challenging experience that can be completed in < 20 hours is Potato Flowers in Full Bloom:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1601280/Potato_Flowers_in_Full_Bloom/

[Chilkoot]

Anyone looking for a really engaging RPG should check out Starfield. Don't let the haters turn you off summarily.

The outer-space setting and frequent gunplay aren't for everyone, but it has some solid RPG mechanics and the story telling is truly brilliant at times.

In general, it falls somewhere between "Skyrim with guns" and "Fallout without the depression".

System requirements are high, so be prepared to tune a lot if you're on PC. With a bit of work, I'm sitting at 60-100 FPS on a 3070, the lower end of that range being bare minimum for FPS gunplay. Performance is probably the game's biggest weakness right now.

Overall a big thumbs up, though. Haven't been able to put it down since release. Once full modding is supported early next year, the value proposition will be even better.

[svdp]

Originally posted by Chilkoot:

Anyone looking for a really engaging RPG should check out Starfield. Don't let the haters turn you off summarily.

The outer-space setting and frequent gunplay aren't for everyone, but it has some solid RPG mechanics and the story telling is truly brilliant at times.

In general, it falls somewhere between "Skyrim with guns" and "Fallout without the depression".

System requirements are high, so be prepared to tune a lot if you're on PC. With a bit of work, I'm sitting at 60-100 FPS on a 3070, the lower end of that range being bare minimum for FPS gunplay. Performance is probably the game's biggest weakness right now.

Overall a big thumbs up, though. Haven't been able to put it down since release. Once full modding is supported early next year, the value proposition will be even better.

I'm usually a fan of beth, at least with the TES games. Just thought I wanted to wait buying it yet, since I prefer the GotY versions (TES are almost the only thing I buy at full price! I'm a patient man 😉 ). A recent exception was BG3, also bought full price, but I'm still playing this and have not finished chapter 1, thus I think I can go on a bit without starfield, yet.

But I've played 1200+ hours on Skyrim, so if it's as good, I won't habe problems playing it as well.

Truth be told, I still have about 1800 games to play. I won't get out games even if I manage to become 100 y old. But no doubt I'll buy starfield too. I actually thought the reviews weren't all that bad? Major complaint I heard was that you couldn't drive vehicles on the planets?

Ah, you know how it goes. People were majorily complaining about cyber77, but I played it a bit on the lib of a friend, and it seemed allright to me - architecture was stunning, even; really gave off a cyberpunk vibe. It was 'ot perfect, and maybe it was worse on old consoles, but on PC it was ok and certainly not worth all that drama.

So I take all whining with a pinch of salt, unless the criticism is extensively substantiated in a factual manner.

[Chilkoot]

I've been sinking my teeth into Baldur's Gate 3 lately. It's ... immense. From what I can tell, the D&D 5th Ed. rules are pretty faithfully implemented, which means complexity and options are off the chart.

If you want a game to really immerse yourself into, this looks like it ticks off all the boxes. From what I've seen so far, it takes itself very seriously, so don't expect any kind of quirkiness or levity - though maybe there is some "fun" interspersed later on.