Party Based RPGs

Noriym

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I'm in the mood for a good party-based RPG, one where I can build my entire party from the start.

Thinking about booting Wiz 8 up again, never finished it. But I'm thinking perhaps there are some party based rpgs that have came out in the last several years that I have missed. Graphics mean little to me, I just want good party play and combat.

Games I've played that feature custom parties:
Wiz 8
M&M 6-7
Icewind Dale 1 & 2
Eye of the Beholder 1-2
Exile
 
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Quite honestly, you don't have to go any further than Wiz8 and MM7. Of course, I'm biased since those are my all time faves, but I don't know that any "modern" games have managed to create that magic and be party-based. You can get some party dynamics going in Dungeon Siege 2, but that's a different sort of game. You didn't list Temple of Elemental Evil. That would be a possibility.
 
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Yeah, M&M7 is my favorite.

And yeah, I forgot about ToEE. Great game.

Too bad there is nothing newer out there. To me a good RPG is party based. I never really liked solo RPGs.
 
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I wanted to say Jagged Alliance 2, but you can only build your character and then pick a reasonable party from what's available on the market at the start, so it doesn't really qualify. However, this game's party (NPC) dynamics are still unsurpassed IMO. It's from 1999, though, which was not exactly 'in the last few years'.
The last game I played where I had to build my entire party from scratch at the start was M&M9; never finished it, however, as it was a serious bugfest.
Another game you might perhaps like (judging from your list) was Dungeon Master 2, but that's a good deal older still.
 
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There's M&M8, even I wouldn't suggest M&M9!! OR, dare I suggest finding a copy of Grimoire!! Rumour has it that Dte has one!! :biggrin:
 
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Wizards and Warriors, if you can find it--pretty fun if buggy game. Had some of the most unique races ever. I think you could roll a party of six. Evil Islands let you have a companion, but more in the NWN style IIRC, not one you created from scratch.

Those are both pretty old games.
 
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BG2 using the multi-player feature. I tried it once. You can still have access to the other NPC (for their quests) but you can build the 5 main characters. Of course yiou don't have to do the NPC quests. Tried it once but missed the NPC interaction.
 
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Silent Storm. But a word of warning: it's pretty much all combat and very, very light on the RPG side. The expansion you get with the Gold edition, Sentinels, gives you a little more RPG leeway, but not much.
 
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SleepingDog
G2 using the multi-player feature. I tried it once. You can still have access to the other NPC (for their quests) but you can build the 5 main characters. Of course yiou don't have to do the NPC quests. Tried it once but missed the NPC interaction.

I play it this way, and one tip, copy your first Multi-player safe game into the single player directory. You can use it like a single player game then, much faster.
 
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Thx for the suggestions fellas. I'll checkout Avernum, Wizards and Warriors, and Silent Storm.
 
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There's M&M8, even I wouldn't suggest M&M9!! OR, dare I suggest finding a copy of Grimoire!! Rumour has it that Dte has one!! :biggrin:
You can not build the entire party from the start in Might and Magic VIII. :)

@Noriym:
Be sure to check Wizards&Warriors - amazing game imho, just make sure to install the patch and unofficial resolution fix for the game.

patch - http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/files/wwpatchV1_0.zip
resolution fix - http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~rridge/wwpatch.html
additional patch if you`ll have problems with clicking on buildings in town - http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/files/ww-townavi.zip

Also check out World of Xeen (Might&Magic IV+V+additional quests+speech) - one hell of the game. Top 5 material in my RPG book. :)
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/482
 
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I'm in the mood for a good party-based RPG, one where I can build my entire party from the start.

Thinking about booting Wiz 8 up again, never finished it. But I'm thinking perhaps there are some party based rpgs that have came out in the last several years that I have missed. Graphics mean little to me, I just want good party play and combat.

Games I've played that feature custom parties:
Wiz 8
M&M 6-7
Icewind Dale 1 & 2
Eye of the Beholder 1-2
Exile

Any recent (and that is to stretch the word quite a bit) party based RPGs that I can think of only allow you to create the main character. You can play Baldurs Gate with a custom party by creating a multiplayer game and copying the save file to the single player save folder (SP stores savegames in the "save" folder while MP uses the "mpsave" folder IIRC). You do miss out on some content, especially in BG2. I'd just create 2-3 characters to cover the holes in the NPC roster (thievery in BG2 and to some extent clerical spells in BG1) and use some NPCs.

Quite a few older AD&D games allow you to create a full party. The Goldbox games (whose RP value IMHO is comparable to IWD), the two Darksun games, and maybe Menzoberranzan and the other games using that engine (not sure about those). The Realms of Arkania games also let you create your entire party, and I'm fairly sure that some old school dungeon crawlers like Dungeon master (I think there is a recentish Java remake) does it too.

And since you dont mind poor graphics I'd also recommend the ancient Demon's Winter, with a huge game world to roam around and a character development system that IMHO is vastly superior to 2nd ED ADD.
 
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Don't know that I'd vote for W&W. It's an OK game that could have been great with more development time. Heuristic Park did squat to fix the numerous, often game-breaking bugs, although that wasn't entirely their fault since the publisher (Activision?) pulled all QA and patch funding the day they kicked the title out the door. I swore off DWB titles after that, which turned out to be wise given the state Dungeon Lords was/is in. Although you've got to love the W&W Uber-Horse...
 
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Yeah, you're right dte--even patched W&W has game breaking bugs--but it also has a lot of cool exploration on boats and horseback, more adult story than you'd think from the silly races, and one of the main things the poster was looking for, rolling your own full party, so maybe he can get some fun out of it before it breaks, or even possibly the extra patching might help. I got about half-way through before it self-destructed and I admit I've never gone back, but Dark Savant's links above might make it worth a shot. :)

And yes, putting six party-members--including an elephant and a tiger--on your trusty steed and galloping off into the sunset was quite a highlight. :p

@Zaleukos/Sleeping_Dog----good point on the BG's--that's the only way I ever played them since I had a total lack of appreciation for most of the available NPC's. Plus I just like making my own party. :)
 
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While I've tried creating my own party for BG2, it didn't play out too well for me. In my views not bringing along any of them is missing half the game.
 
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A lot of people feel that way, Arma. If the npc banter, backstories and sidequests are a big part of your enjoyment of the game then missing all that will definitely take a dimension out of the experience. For me, I just don't like 90% of Bioware NPCs, so just like real life, I don't invite them to my party. ;) I can think of a few over the years that I enjoyed, like Deekin and Minsc(for awhile) but mostly I'd rather roll my own blessedly silent partners. Just me. :)
 
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And yes, putting six party-members--including an elephant and a tiger--on your trusty steed and galloping off into the sunset was quite a highlight. :p
Sunset's nothing! The fully-loaded Uber-Horse swims with the greatest of ease, climbs mountains, walks on castle walls, and occasionally has been spotted in the tops of trees.
 
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Athough i am a big fan of party based rpg games i would not mind trying out a single character based rpg if that character has extensive character development.
certainly i don't want a single character that just runs around finding better weapons and thats it.
Anyone here know of such games ?

btw has anyone here tried Demise ? This is a party based RPG that offers a 110mb demo. I am having technical problems with though so i am wandering if anyone has played the full version and what they think of it.
 
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I have an old retail version of Demise (it was later re-released using the .net framework and I felt seriously offended at the prospect of having to pay an extra 20 dollars for what was a patched version of an already expensive game, so I didnt get that one).

It's a dungeon crawler with a lot of grinding. There is NO character interaction and you spend most of your time killing a vast menagerie of baddies through the 32 levels.

You dont really develop characters much, they are defined mostly by their class choices (you can multiclass quite a bit and it is essential if you are playing with less than a full party) and equipment. Combat is literally hands-off (you have pre-set actions for your characters that kick off as soon as you run into hostile enemies, which you do whenever entering a new room at a level that is challenging to you). I still managed to get my moneys worth out of it since it is pretty varied and you have such a wide range of killing equipment/spells available, but I wouldnt recommend buying it without trying to take characters to level 20 or so in the demo first. The comfort level is something around 10 character levels for one dungeon level (so you'd need to be in the hundreds to reach the bottom), but difficulty varies a lot depending on the size of your party.

The version I have still had some rather serious bugs (unimplemented features, spellcasters not working unless in the first slot of the party) as well.

decklins domain should have the rights to the game now.
 
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