My brother's gotten me hooked on RPG's.
PS2's Summoner & DarkCloud were okay...
But I really love the ONLINE features for Diablo II & the expansion pack... I've been playing that a lot.

Any other good RPGs for PC (and online) out there?
Does Baulder's Gate II play online?
Tons of people are addicted to EverQuest I think, but they charge $10/month to play online.

Suggestions.

You can't go wrong with Fallout/Fallout 2 (assuming you like post-apocalyptic scifi).

Asheron's Call is great. Haven't tried EQ, but AC is most definitely worth $10/month, and it's a lot less buggy compared to EQ (from what I've read.

Baldurs Gate II will only play online with a connection between people. Actually that might only be for LAN play, but I'm not sure. You can't have more than 8 or so people in a game though.

Tuan Jim

I don't play a lot of PC RPGs... and I don't know if BGII has good online features... but DANG. I played BGII, and it sucked me in totally. The game is awesome. I just wish I had spaced it out some more... I put some marathon gaming sessions into that classic-to-be. Even if it doesn't have good online features, it is definitely worth playing just by yourself.

I've also heard some good things about Arcanum. It sounds like a promising game. BGII is my gold standard, though... if it's not as good as BGII, I'll probably be disappointed, even if the game is good on its own.

If you're into RPGs, and you haven't played BGII, you are WRONG.

/end BGII rave

Asherons Call is a good game with alot of content.

Dark Age of Camelot is being introduced on October 16th and looks like a great game as well.

Any online role play game (MMORPG) will have a monthly fee to play. Asheron's call is 9.95 a month. The fee for Dark Age of Camelot has not been anoounced that I know of.

I've been playing Arcanum. It's still a little buggy, but the game world is great (magic versus technology in a Victorian setting).

Asheron's Call isn't bad, much more dynamic world than EQ

Everquest is like a drug for most people, but it's plain, you just camp and fight with a lot of quests (involving more camping). It's not very buggy unlike what you heard.

Anarchy Online is bad, it's boring as heck and buggy as heck plus so full of exploiters it's not funny, I quit after 5-6 weeks.

Dark Age of Camelot I think the NDA doesn't allow me to disclose much, but it does have potential.

Other than those 4 which all cost to play, you might want to try Pool of Radiance 2 which is coming out soon I think and looks not half bad. But I find games that don't play multiplayer boring so I don't know much for rpgs on the pc.

IMO, the Fallout games are the best RPGs for the computer right now. I love the setting, and you can play the game in many different ways, and end up with different outcomes. They are both a few years old, so you should be able to get them fairly cheaply.

As far as fantasy RPGs go, Baldurs Gate 2 is probably the best one out right now. Though you may want to check out Neverwinter Nights. It's going to be released sometime in 2002, and is supposed to be the RPG that Pen & Paper D&D fans have been waiting for. It will have a single player adventure included, and it should be really good, but the core of the game is the design module, where you can completely build your own adventures and maps from the ground up, then lead other players through the quest. Sounds pretty cool... it's from the same people that made BG2, Bioware.

Brian

I really got into RPG's with Grandia 2 and Skies of Arcadia on my dreamcast. I then posted a thread on this forum asking for the best rpg games and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were the overwhelming winners. So, I started watching ebay....

Just a few days later I had picked up both games with expansion packs for $50 shipped (Ebay RULES!!!). When they arrived I struggled with which one to play first. But I knew if I did BG2 first it would ruin BG1 (graphically/gameplay). So I'm now about 100 game hours (not real time hours but probably close) into this absolutely AWESOME rpg game. It definately make Grandia 2 and SOA look like kiddy games. I am thoroughly enjoying Baldur's Gate 1 and can't even fathom a better rpg out there (yet I do still have BG2 to play).

Bottom line, in my opinion, go with the Baldur's gate series but start with the original and Tales of the Sword Coast expansion game. You will NOT regret it......

Actually, being a big fan of Fallout, I attempted to try BG I, but I just couldn't get into it. The gameplay/combat/character system was just too different. Combat esp. was really wacky to me. I guess if you've played D&D before, you might know what to expect, but I was expecting something a lot different and it really disappointed me. Glad I just borrowed it from my friend and didn't buy it.

Maybe if I had a lot of free time to muck around with, I might try it again, but with Fallout, you can just jump right in and everything's hunky dory. (also the reason I'm holding off on Arcanum for now. I tried the demo, and good gravy! the character creation thing really threw me for a loop. The character I ended up creating couldn't do jack. The lack of explanation accompanying it didn't help.).

Tuan Jim

I've been doing online RPGs ever since AOL had Neverwinter Nights (The original ) ..

Asheron's Call has a lot of good points, but the graphics just aren't as good as they could be, IMO.

EverQuest is considered by most to the "the best" .. it's come a long way and there is definately a lot to it, but in the long run really all you do is spend hour after hour waiting to kill 1 or 2 specific monsters to get some special item you've always wanted, then do it all over again for the next item, then 10 levels later you replace all those items by wasting even more time waiting for another special monster or 2.. I loved EQ at first, now I'm bored to tears with it and I quit about 6 months ago.

I loved Anarchy Online when it first came out, and when it was still in beta test, but now the game is just very boring and very buggy and laggy. The worst is what I call people lag, the more people you see on your screen, the longer your pc freezes.. sometimes as long as a minute or more.. that's not a long time but when you're playing these games staring at a frozen PC, that's like an eternity

I'm planning to try Dark Age of Camelot when it comes out, but I'm not too impressed.. theres something about the graphics that I just don't like.. the people look wierd.

Shadowbane looks like it will be good, but that's based on PVP so it will be loaded with little brats looking for frags.

The only online RPGs that I'm really looking forward to now are Star Wars Galaxies and World of Warcraft, both coming sometime next year.. I'm betting the star wars one will be released around when the second movie hits theaters.

I think I'm the opposite of you. I like the combat/gameplay in BG series, but the Fallout combat just sucks for me. You can't even control your partners! Same thing with Arcanum, which I think is by some of the team members of Fallout.

Just wanted to throw a vote in for Planescape: Torment, which is an AD&D game made by the same guys who did Baldur's Gate & Fallout.

I have played EQ for over a year and it is fun. I am waiting on Darke age now. The camping aspect of EQ is mostly a problem if you want it to be; otherwise killing stuff is fun. I must admit if you are trying to get a specific item off of a rare mob, it is boring.

fallout!

Well, I am going to stuff the ballot box. I just started playing Planescape: Torment tonight... that is why I'm up at 4:30 AM instead of in my bed. Intriguing story so far, and I found it for $10 at CompUSA.

You may want to look into Ragnarok Online (http://www.ragnarokonline.com) it is a MMORPG, but it is in Alpha phase(Free until final). It is actually quite stable and has decent graphics. I've been addicted for 2 weeks now and I haven't felt this way since Diablo!