Most Atmospheric RPGs

lackblogger

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The discussions which get played out most in any RPG/game forum tend to be the quite technical topics, such as bugs, gameplay mods, gameplay flaws, mechanics, getting stuck, difficulty, etc etc, and rightly so I suppose, as it is games we are playing most of the time, not interactive novels.

However, you will often find that everyone has a game they love despite a whole hoard of shortcomings in all kinds of different departments, and I think RPGs are more-so in this regard. Someone can make an appalling game that barely functions, but it will still garner a very strong following and, in most cases, the most determined and dedicated mod fanbase that will try to keep improving the game even decades later, comparable only to maybe the empire building strategy games. (I am classing most FPSs and Open World Action Games as RPG-like for the purposes of this discussion)

For example, I was reading up today about Simon the Sorcerer, a popular European RPGish Adventure game. Episodes 1 and 2 were made well and are still beloved, 3 was notably a bad game and people have pretty much forgotten about it and 4 was ok but missed the mark, but mostly forgotten about. If these had been full RPGs then you could bet there would be hoards of people scurrying away trying to make the later games all uber correct and interesting.

Also, looking at the RPG cRPG Analyser, in the 'must haves' it doesn't mention the most important, but more subjective, quantity that is atmosphere.

Take Dragon Age II for example. Poor ol' Couch is bored to tears of people saying how cruddy that game was, he's happy to plug away at it 7 times, and the more daring forum goers might try and pin down some specifics as to "why?", when the answer is probably the same as that one game we love but no-one else does - in that it provided an atmosphere (more than just game-world and law) that was right up our ally for some unexplainable and probably highly personal reason.

Another example that grows in popularity every year is the Trioka bug-fest Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, a game which was, on release, good for only complete masochists and barely anyone could complete it. But it hit home with a large group of very dedicated people and, year on year, it's turned into a very playable RPG classic. Why did this game deserve such special attention? Mainly because of atmosphere. It's atmosphere acted like a paralyzation cloud to a huge number of players, refusing to let them leave the game be.

If you ask me what THE most important aspect of an RPG is, then I would probably say "atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere". But you can't code atmosphere, it has to come from someone's soul, and it has to play the roulette wheel of hitting home with other people's concept of atmospherics. But, as a designer, you can try to make the game as atmospheric as possible by having that thing called a 'singular vision' (even if lots of different people work on and contribute to that singular vision).

Just for forum fun's sake (because we all love noseying into other people's game choices), do you kinda-sort-of agree? Think I'm nuts? And what games did you find were not really anything special, but, for some weird reason, grabbed your soul by sheer world immersion? Or games that always were great in both gameplay and immersion? What were the least atmospheric RPGs you've ever played? Let's see if we can find a useful pattern?

For me, my big surprise was Kings Bounty: The Legend. It's not really a format I was familiar with and didn't think I'd like it at all when I started playing it. My initial expectation was a game that would be only marginally better than a facebook game. But somehow or other, the more I played, the more I got suckered into this wonderful world that made me not care in the least that I was, essentially, having the same fights over and over again with barely any 'interesting' law in a not very traditional and previously forgotten about set RPG gameplay systems.

My biggest let down surprise was probably Neverwinter Nights 2 original campaign. The game was jam packed with conversations and associated exposition and law tid-bits, cut scenes, character building, varied locations which mostly looked like they were well designed, but I felt nothing but coldness playing it, a strange sense of emptiness which is difficult to describe but leaves you caring not one jot what happens during the game other than enabling you to progress. No sense of 'little thrills' when something catches your attention unexpectedly etc.

You might feel the complete opposite about my two choices. Which is the thing really. I'd be really interested to hear your examples. Preferably gloriously verbose and juicy descriptive examples :party: .
 
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Sadly, I'll never be able to understand the word atmospheric.
It doesn't exist in my language as such and I have a hard time to decypher what could it exactly mean used to describe a software product.
If the word used was mesospheric, I could assume it's about something higher than others of the similar kind that would be stratospheric and tropospheric then. But it's not.
 
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I’ll agree that atmosphere is impotent, it makes or breaks games. The most recent example of this that I can think of is Pillars of Eternity. Everything pre-lunch pointed to that it would be an amazing game, that I would enjoy and play for hundreds and hundreds of hours, like I did with the old infinity engine games, instead I put it down after 20 hours into the campaign, and I haven’t really felt like picking it back up since then. Why? Well I didn’t enjoy the atmosphere. It is a good game, well written and well produced, but it just didn’t click for me.

There is no shame in not liking a game that most other people like, or liking a game that most other people hate. Games, like movies, books or music, resonate differently with different people. If everyone liked the same games, the world would be a lot more boring.
 
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"atmosferski" is what my dictionary spits out, joxer. It's just the feeling you get when you sit contented at a campfire at night, warm and cozy, stars twinkling above, lights and shadows flickering, crickets chirping, a guitar being played, bottle of booze in your hand …

Definition of "atmospheric", according to Merriam-Webster, is "creating a pleasant or exciting mood or feeling".


As for games that nailed it — Wheel of Time was one for me, Loom, Monkey Island I+II and generally lots of point & click adventures, really. Ambermoon, Albion (really nice alien soundscapes and 2D-art in houses), Gothic I + II, Diablo 1 (Tristram Theme), Baldur's Gate 1 (candlekeep sucked me right in), System Shock II, VtM: Bloodlines of course, Divinity, Freelancer (space…), S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Planescape: Torment, …

Trackmania (most uplifting racing games I know with bright, blue skies).

Just thought of the Dune films. Lynch version was pretty atmospheric and felt really dusty and dry, while the TV films' deserts came out of a computer and felt sterile and bland. Detail is important, in context.
 
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Not very verbose I'm afraid, but my two favourite games with athmosphere are Vampire Mascerade Bloodlines and Planescape Torment. With morrowind as a good number three.

Not sure i would range athmosphere as the most important. But I do like games which make me feel like being there, i guess it's somewhat related. 24

Pibbur
 
"atmosferski" is what my dictionary spits out, joxer. It's just the feeling you get when you sit contented at a campfire at night, warm and cozy, stars twinkling above, lights and shadows flickering, crickets chirping, a guitar being played, bottle of booze in your hand …

Definition of "atmospheric", according to Merriam-Webster, is "creating a pleasant or exciting mood or feeling".
What you're describing is something I'd put in a sentence as - idyllic. :)

If you used the dictionary to turn the word into my language "atmosferski" that you got from athmospheric can not stand alone. It has to have another word past it. So it'd be "atmospheric pressure", "atmospheric smell" or in poetry we could use "atmospheric color" for example.
What does your dictionary say however if you use atmospherish? Not sure if that word even exists, but translated, it could be used as a standalone. Something like rubbish. :D
 
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What you're describing is something I'd put in a sentence as - idyllic. :)
Doesn't have to be idyllic. For example, imagine a winter scene, like in Icewind Dale or Game of Thrones. You are dressed in a heavy coat, you can hear the sound of your feet trudging through the snow, crunching the ice, the wind is howling, sight is bad because of a storm, hands are freezing, your breath is visible, your beard full of icicles…

The sum of its parts makes up a tapestry, which creates a certain, strong mood. That's what atmospheric games do, I suppose. They stroke your senses to induce a feeling.
 
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If we're talking strictly RPGs - I'd say the PB games are incredibly strong in the atmosphere department. So are the TES games - and the Witcher games. Mass Effect games, too - especially the first one.

Secret World is also incredibly potent in the atmosphere department. So is World of Warcraft, actually.

Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis qualify as well.

Not strictly RPGs, I consider Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, System Shock, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex: HR to be very powerful in this way, too.

Even less RPGish, I'd say games like Dead Space and Alien Isolation rank right up there at the top.
 
The sum of its parts makes up a tapestry, which creates a certain, strong mood. That's what atmospheric games do, I suppose.

Yes. :) Atmosphere is what happens when the art, the music, the sound, and the ambiance all harmonize to create a picture and make you feel something.

One of the most atmospheric games I've ever played was Disciples II, though games like the Icewind Dale series and Pillars of Eternity also rank really highly for me. For non-RPG's, I would call Crusader Kings II and Lords of Magic excellent, and for MMO's, Lord of the Rings Online did astoundingly well in creating atmosphere. :) For me, they're all classics in terms of ambiance.

The Witcher 2 was an absolute masterpiece in terms of atmosphere.

Oh, and yes. The Bioshock games, but especially Bioshock Infinite. Oh, yes.
 
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Doesn't have to be idyllic. For example, imagine a winter scene, like in Icewind Dale or Game of Thrones. You are dressed in a heavy coat, you can hear the sound of your feet trudging through the snow, crunching the ice, the wind is howling, sight is bad because of a storm, hands are freezing, your breath is visible, your beard full of icicles…

The sum of its parts makes up a tapestry, which creates a certain, strong mood. That's what atmospheric games do, I suppose. They stroke your senses to induce a feeling.

This. Very much.

The reason IWD is among my top RPGs of all time is the sheer amount of atmosphere contained. The IMO amazing use of IE color palette, the sheer variety of locales (crypts, volcanoes, tree village, hand-shaped fortress, frozen museum, etc), coupled with the amazing Soule soundtrack makes it THE most atmopheric game in my library.

I suppose this also applies to a lesser extent to most games scored my Soule (Morrowind, NWN, etc). Maybe I'm just a Soule fanboy, but he has a way supporting and enhancing the atmosphere of every game he's involved in.

I also agree with Dart about the Witcher having an amazing atmosphere. Especially Chapter 4 in Murky Waters. The beautiful, pastoral country side with all the hidden dark secrets all covered with a healthy does of Slavic mythology. Really superbly done and probably my favorite portion of that game.

Edit: Aubrielle, yes, thank you for reminding me of Disciples II. Amzing aesthetics in that game, especially the stunning character portraits.
 
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I'm amazed we got all the way to post #8 without mention of the Bioshocks. Heck, atmosphere was the prime redeeming quality of a series that would have been mid-tier shooters had they not been placed in Rapture and Columbia.
 
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I'd also add in the STALKER games: those are some very atmospheric shooters.

And also, I found Gothics 1-3 very immersive and atmospheric.
 
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I'm amazed we got all the way to post #8 without mention of the Bioshocks.
Isn't that series that ended with season pass?
If yes, I just told you what killed the "atmosphere".
 
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I think every RPG I've played has a great atmosphere. :thinking: I can't really think of one that let me down in that regard.

Vampire: Bloodlines, Morrowind, Gothic 1 & 2, Oblivion, Skyrim, Kingdoms of Amalur, Diablo, Sacred 2, etc. etc.

I think discovering feeling-oriented things like atmosphere in a game is more of an adjustment of one's own mind state, rather than an intrinsic quality in a game.

I can still immerse myself in the atmosphere of a game like Thunderscape just as well as Skyrim. I don't think I'm rare or special because I can do that, I think most just don't bother because the former game is so old.

In 10-20 years I wonder how many people will still think Skyrim is atmospheric, when we're playing with virtual reality and have the Holodeck in our living rooms. :D
 
I'm usually don't notice any atmosphere or immersion, I'm typically just playing a game and up until a year or so ago probably wouldn't have anything memorable enough to post in this thread.

Then at about 1 am in my pitch dark theater room I entered the depths in Dark Souls. It was a game changing experience for me. The dark musty feel of the graphics, the sound of the water swishing from my feet, drips from the ceiling and the unnerving predator like noise made by what I would later find out is the basilisk. I had a ton of souls and was lost with the feeling of impending death around every corner and no bonfire in sight. I'd never felt tension or experienced atmosphere like that before in any game.

It was by far my best gaming moment ever that I sadly had never experienced before or since. I was hoping for more of that feeling in DS2 but it was bland and never happened.
 
Being inside of the Many in System Shock 2 was creepily atmospheric. Climbing to the top of the Throat of the World was also cool. I also enjoyed Blackreach for the same reason. Compared to other dungeons, Blackreach felt deep and foreign.
 
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If we're talking strictly RPGs - I'd say the PB games are incredibly strong in the atmosphere department. So are the TES games.

Secret World is also incredibly potent in the atmosphere department.

Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis qualify as well.

Pretty much these, with the addition of PST and VtM:Bloodlines.
 
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Pretty much these, with the addition of PST and VtM:Bloodlines.

PST is a good example of an isometric game which managed to have a powerful atmosphere.

Truth be told, so did Arcanum and ToEE.

The moathouse had the perfect music for that trip down PnP memory lane ;)
 
The Thief games were pretty atmospheric also. That sense of actually being there. Every sense is heightened. On a smaller scale, the most atmospheric part of any game Ive played was the Ocean View Hotel in Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. The music in the original Diablo had that "suck me in and not let go" feeling to it also (one of the only games I actually keep the music on for). Half Life 2 made you feel part of the world also
 
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Gothic 1-2 pretty much defined the term "atmosphere" in a gaming context for me, and I've been going on about places like the Old Camp, Swamp Camp and Khorinis for over 10 years now, so I'll just stop writing now.
 
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