Any Steam recommendations for deep role playing games?

[MonkeySage]

I've been told Pillars of Eternity is good for this, and I'm keeping an eye on it, but I haven't played it yet. And of course I've played both Baldur's Gate games, Icewind Dale, and both Neverwinter Nights games.

Any other recommendations?

[factotum]

If you want specifically the sort of old-fashioned style that the games you listed have, then unquestionably Planescape: Torment. Mechanically it's a bit odd (your character is able to change class freely between thief, mage and fighter after a certain part of the story), but the story is one of the best ever crafted into an RPG. Fallout 2 is also an extremely good game, and while its story may not be as deep as Planescape is, it's mechanically a better game IMHO. Divinity: Original Sin is also extremely good mechanically, although it maybe borrows a little *too* much from the old-style RPGs it's aping--in particular, while being nominally open world, you realistically have to follow a very specific path through said world because you'll otherwise be too low level to handle the encounters.

If you're not so fussed about the isometric party-based style then I'd recommend The Witcher 3. An RPG with a good story, where choices you make actually matter? Sounds deep to me. Mechanically you're rather limited, though, since you're always playing Geralt of Rivia, who does most of his work up close and personal with a sword.

[MonkeySage]

I like the old style rpg but really the important part for me is a good story, with good characters, and meaningful choices.

It's kinda something I've not seen a lot of lately.

I was thinking about Planescape Torment, and I saw Steam has it too.

[Winthur]

a good story, with good characters, and meaningful choices.

OK then, that probably means games with primarily combat depth are not your forte. With that in mind...

Fallout 1/2/New Vegas should be played by anyone into RPGs, really. They're classics for a reason. Hell, you could play Fallout 3 too, but IMHO it's more of a theme park for shooting and looking at nice visuals than a proper "deep" story RPG. It has difficulties working on Win7 nowadays, too.
KotOR 1 is a competent classic Star Wars story while KotOR 2 is a very much expanded sequel that finally got patched to not be botched and features some interesting twists on the Star Wars universe.

If you wanna experiment with some new titles that are getting a lot of praise in some "hardcore" corners of the internet, you can try Age of Decadence - a game made by some hardcore Fallout 1 fans that believed RPGs primarily need you to really make your choices meaningful instead of just giving you an illusion of being meaningful. As a result, the web of choices and paths you can make takes a few complex spreadsheets to comprehend and no playthrough will be able to 100% everything, whether you make a generalist or specialist. It takes place in an unique setting of a post-apocalyptic ancient Rome. It's a very niche game, very thought-provoking in its design, and a worthy experience if you're really big into story and choices, but it's also really ambitious and you can just as easily bounce off of it if it overwhelms you. It's currently on a weekly sale for 7 euros. It also has a demo version. But yeah, if you ask me for "deep" roleplaying games and use these parameters, it's hard not to mention it.

[Aotrs Commander]

It you haven't played Torment, then definitely Torment. I consider it still the best RPG of all time.



The newer Torment: Tides of Numenara, which is about PS:T's level mechanically (though less buggy!) I think is a pretty close competitor to the crown in terms of tone, world and characters; but with the very low combat count, it's compartively short. (Actually, T:Ton could be argued to be an RPG that's verging on the border of a point-and-click sort of adventure, almost.)

KotOR 1 is a competent classic Star Wars story while KotOR 2 is a very much expanded sequel that finally got patched to not be botched and features some interesting twists on the Star Wars universe.

If you look at KotR 2, you DEFINITELY want to go to the Workshop and get the Sith Lords Restored and M4-78 Enhancement project mods, which restores or creates a lot of extra stuff that was intended to be in the game and was cut for time. (The amount of unused voice acting is quite shocking, actually.) It's very well done and makes for a significantly better experience. (The easy Swoop racing mod is also worht knowing about, since that was always kind of a dull mini-game.)

[rooster707]

Seconding (thirding? whatever) Planescape; I just started it last night and it is excellent. KotOR and KOTOR II, also. Some of the best Star Wars games ever, but also just great games in their own right.

I don't have too much to recommend myself. Jade Empire is amazing; check that out, especially if you like BioWare stuff. The Shadowrun Returns games are good (Dragonfall is the best, IMO). And this may not qualify as an RPG, but the original Deus Ex is just the best thing. Go take a look.

[Triaxx]

Pillars of Eternity is quite a lot of fun, though it's a bit shy on explanations. Fallout New Vegas is also awesome. The world is responsive, so are the characters.

[Lord Raziere]

If we're talking Bioware, Dragon Age: Origins is pretty good for this.

Dragon Age 2.....well its a roleplaying game, but its on the rails so its probably not the best, unless you like an examination of cultural flaws and how a tragedy occurred that could've been easily preventable if you ever had the right information how it the situation started in the first place at some earlier time, but it turns out you were never in the right position to prevent it at all despite your choices, so if someone were to prevent it they would've had to be in one of the positions you weren't. no BBEG, just a bunch of factions and agendas coming together that make everything fall apart, one way or another.

Dragon Age: Inquisition, I haven't played all the way through, since its so long and dragged out, but it offers a lot of choice in a lot of things. real complicated political and relationship stuff. good if you can spend the time on it.

[Kaytara]

I've been told Pillars of Eternity is good for this, and I'm keeping an eye on it, but I haven't played it yet. And of course I've played both Baldur's Gate games, Icewind Dale, and both Neverwinter Nights games.

Any other recommendations?

By "both Neverwinter Nights" games, I assume you mean NWN1 and NWN2. Let me throw you a bone there: while the main campaigns are nice, solid games (though NWN2 was a bit on the unfinished side), it's their EXPANSION PACKS you're looking for. In particular, NWN1: Hordes of the Underdark and NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer are where it's at. It helps that they both take you into the epic levels, and the content is there to match. MotB in particular has been compared favourably to Planescape:Torment, and the story picks up directly where NWN2's super ambiguous ending left off, but is set in a different and pretty unique part of Faerun. If I'm wrong and you've played all the EP's, just ignore me for mistakenly assuming.

Betrayal at Krondor is good fantastic if you can enjoy older RPGs. Good party-based system, fairly unique combat system and open world exploration, fantastic story, pretty nonlinear, good replay value. The setting is from Raymond Feist's Midkemia books so your standard High Fantasy Tolkienesque ripoff, but extremely charming, for that. The story is built on a mystery and the game makes you work for the answers, though there are some things you can only guess at. I don't know if it's on Steam, but it's definitely on GOG.com. Technically the game is freeware now, but buying it from GOG or the like saves you the trouble of having to get DOSbox and do endless other potential troubleshooting to run a game released in 1993...

I've also heard good things about Jade Empire (another Bioware game), though I haven't really played it myself.

[Lector87]

If you're looking for great characters, tough choices, and deep emotional investment, I've heard Pyre has a lot going for it, unless you REALLY hate the idea of conflict being resolved in 3v3 basketball matches rather than combat.

Disclaimer: I haven't played the game myself, I've just heard a lot of good things and am very intrigued.

Advice regarding Planescape: Torment, take it or leave it - I actually started my first full playthrough by cheating and maxing out all the main character's stats. Three reasons:

A. It makes sense for the Nameless One to be good at everything, for reasons you'll discover as you play.
B. P:T is all about the dialogue and storytelling, so giving yourself a bit of an advantage gameplay-wise doesn't "break" the game. The combat is a side-show.
C. There are all sorts of little options and dialogue trees that only open up to characters of a certain level of competence - so having max stats in everything gives you access to all the game's depth.

If you don't want to out-and-out cheat, focus on the personality stats - INT and CHA give you access to special dialogue options and different ways of resolving quests.

[MonkeySage]

By "both Neverwinter Nights" games, I assume you mean NWN1 and NWN2. Let me throw you a bone there: while the main campaigns are nice, solid games (though NWN2 was a bit on the unfinished side), it's their EXPANSION PACKS you're looking for. In particular, NWN1: Hordes of the Underdark and NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer are where it's at. It helps that they both take you into the epic levels, and the content is there to match. MotB in particular has been compared favourably to Planescape:Torment, and the story picks up directly where NWN2's super ambiguous ending left off, but is set in a different and pretty unique part of Faerun. If I'm wrong and you've played all the EP's, just ignore me for mistakenly assuming.

Betrayal at Krondor is good fantastic if you can enjoy older RPGs. Good party-based system, fairly unique combat system and open world exploration, fantastic story, pretty nonlinear, good replay value. The setting is from Raymond Feist's Midkemia books so your standard High Fantasy Tolkienesque ripoff, but extremely charming, for that. The story is built on a mystery and the game makes you work for the answers, though there are some things you can only guess at. I don't know if it's on Steam, but it's definitely on GOG.com. Technically the game is freeware now, but buying it from GOG or the like saves you the trouble of having to get DOSbox and do endless other potential troubleshooting to run a game released in 1993...

I've also heard good things about Jade Empire (another Bioware game), though I haven't really played it myself.

I have played both NWN 1 and NWN 2, plus their EPs. Loved the EPs. Especially MotB and Shadows of Undrentide.

[Triaxx]

It's not as deep character-wise, even with the absolutely astounding Circle of Eight mod pack that's almost required, but Temple of Elemental Evil is an extremely fun game. They did an epic job translating 3.5 rules into a game, and it's at least as fun as the tabletop in my opinion.

[factotum]

I've also heard good things about Jade Empire (another Bioware game), though I haven't really played it myself.

Jade Empire is a very good game, yes, and hopefully if you play it you don't get the big twist spoiled, because I think that would really detract from an awesome moment of gaming. The only problem with it is that they felt the need to include vertically-scrolling shoot-em-up sections that fit into a game about Oriental fantasy about as well as you'd expect them to--you can almost hear the crunch when you have to change gear to play them.

[Thrawn4]

"Planescape: Torment" is your best bet on a good story if you focus on the three mental stats, and you can do so even as a fightet. Still my favorite game

[Spore]

If you have played IWD and enjoyed it you might enjoy older turn based tactical games. Look for Commandos (WW 2 commandos behind enemy lines), the Jagged Alliance series (you are mercenaries in a fictional tropical island where factions fight over a new form of plants used to create medication and of course - drugs).

If you want to burrow deep to get some lore out of the game - and have enjoyable if punishing gameplay, I might recommend the Dark Souls series. Start with Dark Souls 3 or 1, it matters little. Most stories is from the sparse NPCs, item descriptions and the way monster behave and boss monsters do. Just a general guideline: Watch the damn intro cinematic of Dark Souls 1 to understand any semblance of story: You are the chosen one destined to sacrifice himself by rite of fire to lengthen the on-going age of fire (aka age of men). Some guy called Godking Gwyn did this before you. He went mad.

[Sian]

I would suggest Tyranny, as it gives a good twist on You being the evil guy (although it can easily be viewed as ambiguous enough that it can be seen as either Necessary Evil or Evil In Name Only) ... It suffers a bit from a "but thou most" in terms of arbitrarily forcing you to go against the Big Bad that you're working for in the start and the later parts in general feel slightly incomplete (although not anywhere as much as PoE), but otherwise its a strong title that really lets you do just about everything else, and even deciding on the questions the latter part of the character creation gives you, can change how the inhabitants in the world react to you, and who are inclined to be friendlier. And Obsidian have a fairly good track record of 'fixing' any logical mistakes in expansions, and there's one coming out later this year.

[Kaytara]

I have played both NWN 1 and NWN 2, plus their EPs. Loved the EPs. Especially MotB and Shadows of Undrentide.

I was preaching to the choir, then. ;)

The BaK recommendation still stands. In style and gameplay it's slightly closer to the Might and Magic and (I think) Daggerfall + Arena games than Baldur's Gate. Though for the love of god do not confuse it with Return to Krondor, even if the latter looks nicer and more modern - it's the "We realised too late that BaK was a cash cow and need a sequel ASAP, but the original team isn't there anymore" faux-quel. Confusingly, there's also Betrayal in Antara, the "We the original team want to make a similar game but can't set it in the same world due to licensing BS" spiritual successor. Ah, how I do love licensing BS.... *still super bitter about never getting the true sequel*

I'll have to think of something else. I can't believe I don't know any other good "deep" RPGs... barring those already mentioned in this thread, I mean. I suppose that the Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest games have a strong story and strong RPG components, even if they're technically point-and-click adventure games.

(Also, sidenote, I appreciate the random Planescape:Torment tips, as I still have yet to play the game myself. In particular developing the mental stats to have access to more story things.)

[Dorath]

It may look silly, but West of Loathing is one of the best written and most fun games I've ever played.

[Knaight]

Spiderweb Software makes a lot of these, with the Geneforge series in particular standing out. They're also comparatively cheap.

[Lector87]

I have played both NWN 1 and NWN 2, plus their EPs. Loved the EPs. Especially MotB and Shadows of Undrentide.

I keep hearing that MotB is one of the best PC RPGs out there...but then I would have to get through the NWN2 main quest, which I have attempted 3-4 times before getting bored and wandering away...

[factotum]

Spiderweb Software makes a lot of these, with the Geneforge series in particular standing out. They're also comparatively cheap.

Considering the guy has been using essentially the same graphics for the last 15 years, they *ought* to be cheap...

[MonkeySage]

I keep hearing that MotB is one of the best PC RPGs out there...but then I would have to get through the NWN2 main quest, which I have attempted 3-4 times before getting bored and wandering away...

I think you can just start the MotB campaign immediately, not sure.

[Aotrs Commander]

I never finished MoB... I found that spirit mechanism to be sufficiently tedious, it felt like i was having to rush through the game (and giving me the majority of my party as primary spellcaster seemed to be just taking the frack). About part-way through, I just got bored and never went back to it. (Started but never finished he last expansion, come to that, too.) Didn't find it particularly memorable personally; I always find it a bit mystifiying why everyone else seems to regard it highly.

(Mind you, I say that about MoO2 as well. milage and all that.)

[tyckspoon]

I never finished MoB... I found that spirit mechanism to be sufficiently tedious, it felt like i was having to rush through the game (and giving me the majority of my party as primary spellcaster seemed to be just taking the frack). About part-way through, I just got bored and never went back to it. (Started but never finished he last expansion, come to that, too.) Didn't find it particularly memorable personally; I always find it a bit mystifiying why everyone else seems to regard it highly.

(Mind you, I say that about MoO2 as well. milage and all that.)

Going the 'Suppression' route makes the meter drain slow enough to be tolerable, IMO, but I certainly wouldn't blame a person for, say, using console commands to refill the meter or modify the drain rate. As for speed of play, I just made all the casters take Extend/Persist metamagics, dropped as many buffs as possible on the party, and beat most things into the ground with melee. NWN2's engine isn't very conducive to tactical use of spells other than that.

[Triaxx]

What's MotB? I'm getting no help from Google.

[Douglas]

Going the 'Suppression' route makes the meter drain slow enough to be tolerable, IMO, but I certainly wouldn't blame a person for, say, using console commands to refill the meter or modify the drain rate. As for speed of play, I just made all the casters take Extend/Persist metamagics, dropped as many buffs as possible on the party, and beat most things into the ground with melee. NWN2's engine isn't very conducive to tactical use of spells other than that.

I don't recall it being explained in the game, or at least not having attention drawn to it, but the amount restored by using Suppress increases based on how many spirits are nearby. One of the available party members counts as a spirit, and so do elementals which are on the Summon Monster list. Have that party member and summon some elementals when you Suppress, and it will actually restore more than you lose by resting, making the Suppression route actually reverse the drain, not merely slow or even stop it.

What's MotB? I'm getting no help from Google.

Mask of the Betrayer, an expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2.

[Aotrs Commander]

Going the 'Suppression' route makes the meter drain slow enough to be tolerable, IMO, but I certainly wouldn't blame a person for, say, using console commands to refill the meter or modify the drain rate. As for speed of play, I just made all the casters take Extend/Persist metamagics, dropped as many buffs as possible on the party, and beat most things into the ground with melee. NWN2's engine isn't very conducive to tactical use of spells other than that.

If I tackled it again, I'd probably do that. (And a mate of mine did use the console.) I think at the point I'd sort of fell off, I'd gotten the suppression down, but by then, the game had lost me a bit. Of course, what it all means it practise is that the spirit-meter is either pressure making you uncomfortable with the pace of the game (and I was down to taking damage at one point) or it is essentially tedious busy-work you have to faff with every so often. Neither of which I think adds to the experience of something. It needed to have been handled rather better than it was to work decently, I think.

(Though, as I say, I perhaps am in the minority.)

[Lector87]

What's MotB? I'm getting no help from Google.

Mask of the Betrayer - an expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2.

[Corlindale]

Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura is a bit of an oldie now, I guess, but I quite enjoyed it. The setting is interesting and the role-playing aspects are actually some of the most deep I've seen, with plenty of attention to detail and many quests with multiple solutions. I found it a particularly fun game for playing a really evil character, since the evil option is in many cases genuinely the easy one and there's a Necromancy spell that is basically Speak with Dead, so unlike many other games you can totally get away with murdering Main Quest people.

It's also one of very few PC rpgs that I've seen where they actually create specific content for when you play a really dumb character. Seriously, try out a low Intelligence run for a lark and watch how people treat you accordingly. As a great example of the game's attention to detail, playing a dumb character will also mean that your quest journal is written in simplistic language with bad grammar and everything.

Combat is a bit clunky, though (I recommend using "Fast Turn Based"-mode as the lesser evil), and the game is quite unbalanced (long story short: Magic is OP and Tech mostly requires a lot of effort to make worthwhile), but I found those things easy to live with given the great setting and well-realised RPG aspects.

[Togath]

The other fallout games have been mentioned, but I honestly feel Fallout 4 didn't handle it nearly as bad as folks often describe it. I think it's more a case of "the game raised expectations for itself too high". Like, after New Vegas, people expected something even more impressive and whatnot.
I personally like 4 a lot, for both it's fancier visuals and smoother feeling combat than 3 and NV(at least in my opinion). Plus it feels like there's a few more somewhat-darkly-whimsical missions in it than 3 had. Also the gear customization actually is pretty darn fun as a way of advancing your power.