Looking for older games with good quests/missions

Originally Posted by buckaroobonzai
Awesome thansk for the info Cacaro. Have you played any pf the opther games I listed?

Never heard some of them (Prince of Quinn, Expedition Amazon, Border Zone), but I've played most of the other ones.

The ones I wholeheartedly recommend:

Space Rangers 2: simply put, one of the best games I've ever played. An odd mix of turn-based space combat and trading, cyoa-style adventures (a *lot* of variety in them, including a prison simulator and no, i'm not joking) and some real-time strategy sections. Against all odds, it works beautifully. But the most beautiful thing about this game is probably its living galaxy, where events happen and the war goes on even without you.

Darklands: One of the best RPGs ever made. Amazingly detailed, awesome world (medieval Germany with some fantasy elements thrown in), tons of ways to solve pretty much every problem.

Quest for Glory: five adventure/RPG games. 1 and 4 are masterpieces every gamer should have played at least once, 2 and 3 are very good games, I also loved 5, but I'm a passionate QFG fanboy (some people hated it due to the increased amount of combat and the fact it was more of an action/RPG rather than an adventure/RPG like the first four ones).

The Magic Candle: If I were to rate pre-1990 RPGs, I'd put Dragon Wars at the top, Wasteland as second and this would be a pretty close third place. Usually billed as an "Ultima clone", it's actually much more complex - at least gameplay-wise - than the early ultimas. Also has an outstanding attention to detail in pretty much everything: if you wish to enter a house you have to knock and tell the name of the person living in it (the only time I've seen something like this in a RPG), NPCs have schedules and shops open/close depending on time, you can get hospitality in some monasteries in the gameworld but they'll close down if you don't donate, dwarves get sick on boats, PCs can get jobs… it's basically the first RPGs trying to give a full world simulation and greatly succeeding at it.

Ultima Underworld: yet another masterpiece by Origin, though I like the sequel more. Also try the World of Ultima titles.

I'd also recommend to try:

Betrayal at Krondor: great story and dialogues, lots of freedom and some very inventive quests (getting a person drunk to gain some info)

Megatraveller 2: avoid the 1st one, you won't miss anything. This one, instead, is much more interesting - the char creation system is one of the most complex ones I've ever seen, something like 100 or more skills you can choose from (although some of them won't ever be needed in the game: this was pretty common back in the day, since you could roll a char with the game char creation and then use it for a p&p session - I did it myself more than once, actually) and the game is absolutely *gigantic*.

Planet's edge and Hard Nova: sci-fi rpgs. Haven't played them myself, but I've heard many good things about both. Given the usual lack of sci-fi rpgs, you may want to try them if you like the genre.

While I'm a big fan of Darklands, I wouldnt laud that game for the quests. Darklands is pretty much in the "Elite with Swords" genre with randomly generated quests and dungeons. You do have many different options for solving quests (using saints, skills, or alchemy) but the presentation of the quests is quite lacking.

The setting is neat, and the combat system was way ahead of it's time.

Ultima Underworld 2 is a brilliant game. A pity the engine hasnt aged well (which is a problem when you are doing real time combat and platform jumping). The quests all make sense, but there is little of the handholding of modern games. Ultima Underworld I felt lacking in direction in comparison. I never felt that I was doing anything but dungeon crawling in that game.

Originally Posted by Zaleukos
While I'm a big fan of Darklands, I wouldnt laud that game for the quests. Darklands is pretty much in the "Elite with Swords" genre with randomly generated quests and dungeons. You do have many different options for solving quests (using saints, skills, or alchemy) but the presentation of the quests is quite lacking.

I do agree that there isn't much variety in quests (that's probably my biggest complaint about the game, actually - the lack of unique quests), but at the same time some quest moments were truly memorable: taking part in the sabbath and having the priest baptizing the captive childs so they couldn't be sacrificed, or being hunted by the guards throughout the city streets (while you're looking for the proper spot to climb the city walls) because you killed the executioner moments before he carried out the death sentence on your party… sure, many things were randomly generated and/or generic, but it still is a sandbox RPG done *right* in that, despite the randomization, you still get - among other things - a lot of unique events to experience and partake in.

Ultima Underworld I felt lacking in direction in comparison.

Same reason why I liked UU2 more, even if UU had lots of great moments (learning the language of the lizardmen to communicate with them has earned a permanent place in my "top 10 rpg moments")

Originally Posted by cacaro
Quest for Glory: five adventure/RPG games. 1 and 4 are masterpieces every gamer should have played at least once, 2 and 3 are very good games, I also loved 5, but I'm a passionate QFG fanboy (some people hated it due to the increased amount of combat and the fact it was more of an action/RPG rather than an adventure/RPG like the first four ones).

Only the last game got translated for here.
That's why I never knew about this series, which is a real shame, imho.

If you haven't played the Exile/Avernum series by Jeff Vogel, they look very old style and are full of good quests and some choice and consequence. Geneforge too, though all of his games start to feel like "been there done that" after awhile.

How about Arcanum?

Good idea.

Especially since I found my game CD a few days ago again.

Originally Posted by cacaro
UU had lots of great moments (learning the language of the lizardmen to communicate with them has earned a permanent place in my "top 10 rpg moments")

Just recently did this and was quite entertained. Who'd thunk? The above suggestions have been added to my backlog. Thanks!