To play new CRPG's or not?

bjon045

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The last 2 or 3 years have been a little hectic and I have not been able to put in the time I would like into playing CRPGs and it has got me thinking into how I should prioritise my playing time.

I recently started playing Neverwinter nights (both expansions + 1.68 patch) and have found it just as enjoyable as if I played a newly released RPG. Normally I would consider myself an early CRPG adopter but I am seriousily thinking about delaying my purchasing/playing of CRPGs in the future.

Here are some of the advantages I can think of:

*Less bugs (hopefully)
*More content via patches and expansions
*More online support/walkthroughs available via online forums etc

The big obvious downside:

*Missing out on playing the latest game
*Being ridiculed by your mates as they boast about playing the latest/greatest(debatable) game (G3, oblivion)


I just read the news article about Oblivion getting a small expansion (knights of the nine), I certainly won't be purchasing/playing it as I have already had my fill with oblivion, but if I had of waited would have my enjoyment been greater?

I am currently waiting on gothic3 and age of pirates to be patched to an satisfactory level and I am not even going to touch NWN2 till they release the first expansion pack(or 2). What does everyone else do?
 
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I must admit that I jump on the new stuff as it comes out, as long as its good. I am currently playing Gothic 3 and loving it, and I am awaiting NWN 2 with great anticipation. Many RPG's that come out has no real depth and athmosphere, but that is not something new in the history of CRPG's. So I try out what seems promising, play the games that are good and discard what disappoints (Oblivion, as an example, was a huge disappointment in my mind)
 
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I tend to buy games on the day of release myself, and then suffer through the weeks of massive patching, or WAITING for a patch (Dungeon Lords anyone!! ). Still, sometimes I beta test games which can be fun for an inside track, while at other times, I'm asked to review a game which means I have to play the game first, sometimes without any patches at all. Like SD above, I began G3 today and have NWN2 on pre-order. I've been anticipating the latest Gothic for months and since I run NWN campaigns over a server, you can imagine that NWN2 has been high on my priority list ever since it was announced. Hey, sometimes bugs can be fun!! :)
 
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Another advantage with waiting longer would be the nice prices in the bargain bin :) I try a mixed strategy: I usually don't wait long for the big new title that I have followed through their development cycle like Oblivion and Gothic3/NWN2 because I probably will like them and I absolutely love proper paper manuals instead of the damnable PDF files on CD/DVD. Sadly they don't come as good any more as for instance with the Baldur's Gate series. So that would be another advantage in my view of buying early: good packaging (proper manual, cloth map etc). With titles I'm not really sure of, I wait till they hit the bargain bin. I did this with Dungeon Siege I (nice atmosphere but otherwise storyless clickfest) for example and Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines (buggy as hell but great story in a fresh setting, fan patches solved the first problem as far as I heard). Buying early for the full price is also meant as a full supportive thumbs up to the hardworking developers, I only regret that you also pay the producers in full. The only exception I would now make in my strategy is the same that you point out: with big titles that come with extensive modding capability, such as Oblivion, with what I know now about the game, I would have waited a bit longer for the decent patch, but especially with the super fan content. I'm with Sei Daneic and you that Oblivion would have been a disappointment if you only would judge the "vanilla" (= unpatched & unmodded) version, with the right combination of patches and mods it's a totally different game! If you only use a mod like OOO (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul) it completely changes the playing experience AND smoothes out a lot of flaws in Vanilla Oblivion. But I already put in a lot of hours before that and that essentially spoiled some of the fun for me, changing the game continously while playing. So for NWN2: I probably buy early for the nice packaging but I'm gonna try keeping it on the shelf until some patches and good mod content is out.
 
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Some good points, especially about the price. I grabbed some early Oblivion mods myself and I still play heaps of NWN mods which makes that game the best value ever!! Some of the small Indy games are great to get early. They really care about their customers.
 
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I play a lot of older games too. Why? I can afford them and they are still as good as at the moment they cam out. Just recently finished Vampire the masqerade who I bought for a 20€ or so. When i finished Gothic 1 I went on a hunt for G2, guess what is was already out for some time, only played like 2 or 3 months ago KOTOR 1
the games stay good if they were good, eventhough they nedded some patches or so. So you can play the older games just as good as the new ones. Still looking for the fallout games in a price bargain :)
 
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I get new games as soon as possible if it's something I really want. Otherwise I wait for a cheaper, patched version to avoid buying a game and then letting it rot on the shelf.

And hello everyone. :)
 
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I`m always years behind with my pc`s.
Least all games i get are well tested/patched/reviewed and with decent walkthroughs ect ect.
Well i`m about to start Gothic 1 now! ,and by the time i`m ready for #3 i will have a much better pc and hopefully a nicely ironed out game.
 
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I get stuff right away the majority of times ... which is a problem since I track FPS & RPG and also PC & DS & PSP ... plus get games outside of that for review purposes and buy the occasion non-FPS/RPG like Civ IV. That is a lot of stuff!

There are pros and cons - for me the worst thing about being an 'early adopter' is that I don't get to lavish attention on games like I used to. I mean, I've played Gothic 2 ~6 or so times through, but that is the exception. Most games get once through and that is it ... I'm really trying to focus my purchases and playing (and saying 'no' to free games for reviews every now and then helps ;) ) - so recently I've been able to replay Divine Divinity and am chugging through tons of NWN modules.

Mike
 
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Mike, the best way to chug through tons of NWN modules is to join a LAN type group and play with them!! Hint, hint!! :)
 
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I would, but my gaming time is severely fragmented, which is one reason I don't get into multiplayer in general (let alone MMO) - I might play 15 minutes of a game while the car warms up, perhaps something on the DS or PSP at lunch at work if I'm running a simulation at my desk, and so on. Nothing dependable ;)
 
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Personally, unless the game is a sure title, like G3, I always wait for reviews from players here ( and from the Dot before as we are all the same lol ) to give me info I need to decide. This group has always been dead on in discriptions and reviews so I have never been disappointed with games I buy.
 
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Hm, I ran out of time over the years. I just can't afford to play as many games as I did back then, and there are very few new games I buy. If I really want a game, I won't wait until it comes to the budget bin; *but* I might read the first p/reviews, and if they speak about tons of bugs, I'll wait for patches before I get the game (as is the case with G3 right now).
If there's a game I really, really, really want to get my hands on, I won't even read the p/reviews, I'll just preorder (like Dark Messiah).

Sometimes, however, even waiting won't help. Only recently I re-started NWN, all patched up and ironed out, and re-quit playing the game only last week... I still find it boring :(.
 
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I would agree with Cmgamer. I tend to wait until many reviews have come in before deciding if I should give a new CRPG a try. I will sometimes check out metacritic or gamefaqs for reviews.

If nothing seems to be interesting to me then I'll look for abandonware CRPGs that got great reviews. That alone could keep me busy for many months until NWN2 and G3 get all their patches out. ;)
 
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Sometimes i get bitten by the anticipation bug and run out and buy a new title, like with Oblivion, but I generally wait otherwise. I wait til the games get patched up. I also have such a backlog of games, i cant help but feel kinda dumb to run out and grab a new title when i havent even finished what's on my plate yet!
 
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I rarely get new titles these days as I have no rig to play them on. Sure, there is the occasional thing that sparks up my interest (like NWN2 these days) and makes me think of an upgrade, but still those a pretty rare.
 
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I have balders gate and icewind dale2 here, never played them longer than an hour before i got sick of those
Those are the only games I have and never finished or tried to finish
 
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Most of the new rpg's lack the depth of the years gone by. I find that most of them can be completed alot quicker than something like Baldur's Gate or Planescape Torment. It seems that they are mostly action games with RPG trappings. Like Oblivion, very beautiful game, but no where near as deep as Arena or Morrowind. I think it is the curse of Blizzard that has caused this :p
 
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I re-started NWN, all patched up and ironed out, and re-quit playing the game only last week... I still find it boring :(.
That's funny. I just did the same thing. Hated NWN for 4 years, and then in September, restarted. However, I avoided all the original content. I only played mods. In particular, Tales of Arterra. Percy is a great NPC. Also, Darkness over Daggerford. And The HeX Coda. And Pirates, Wyvern Crown, etc. Once I got out of the NWN rut and started playing games that change the standard, boring dynamics, things got better. The HeX Coda turns NWN into sci-fi. That was interesting. Arterra finally gives us some memorable NPCs. I thought Arterra was very PS:T-like. Kingmaker gives us a cowardly wererat for an NPC, and he was hilarious. Wyvern Crown gives us horses & jousting. Pirates was the only game that got me into crafting. By trying these mods, I found NWN became something much better than what Bioware had put out.

I play a lot of older games too. Why? I can afford them and they are still as good as at the moment they cam out.
Agreed. Love buying a rich, deep RPG for $10. :) And since their requirements are very humble, there is little need to invest in new computer equipment.

I tend to buy games on the day of release myself, and then suffer through the weeks of massive patching, or WAITING for a patch (Dungeon Lords anyone!! ).
I think Dungeon Lords is probably the best argument for waiting. The new(er) Collector's Edition of Dungeon Lords is, according to many players, "what Dungeon Lords should have been in the first place." And many players don't want to pay twice for it. Well, I didn't. I waited until the Collector's Edition came out, and only then bothered to consider it.

Gothic 3 is having the same issue. NWN was an absolute nightmare when it first came out. The support forum was inundated with miserable customers, myself included, who just could not get the damn thing to run. I eventually built a computer specifically for NWN -- I had a NWN developer give me the exact specs of his computer, so I could perfectly reproduce a working system -- and even then it would slow to a crawl after a few hours. I hated it. But now, it's pretty much fine on a high-end rig.

And same with Arcanum. That was (supposedly) a buggy hell when it first came out. I don't know. I waited until 2 years after release, then bought it and immediately patched it. I never saw ANY issues with Arcanum. It was fast & responsive on my new PC, it never crashed, the in-game bugs with dialogue and combat never reared their ugly heads, etc. Being a late adopter definitely has its benefits when it comes to video games.
 
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I like to try new CRPG's, but I never seem to have time to finish them. :(
 
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