Recommend me a gateway western RPG.

^^ That's why I think it's a good gateway for someone coming from jrpg: a not so different approach from what he already knows, as opposed to, for example, Planescape: Torment, that is really a great game, but I suppose can be troublesome for someone who isn't already into the genre.

edited 25th Apr '11 8:13:40 AM by Fire

I still stand by a Spiderweb game as the ideal introduction, the interfaces are dead simple and squeaky clean, the gameplay is solid and turn-based, the system requirements are infinitesimal, and they're highly accessible (fully debugged and maintained, downloadable online from the original author, untimed trials providing days of gameplay.) I love all of them, but the best place to start would probable be the original Exile.

Baldur's Gate is something of a dungeon crawler too, though, so be aware that it bridges two separate genres. (In the same way that Shin Megami games straddle dungeon crawlers and JRPG.) I reckon All Fallouts but 3/Alpha Protocol/Jade Empire/Mass Effect/Dragon Age/Knights Of The Old Republic/Planescape:Torment/Baldur's Gate/Vampire:The Masquerade:Bloodlines all cover the various bases required, each with various drawbacks and strengths.

None of them are perfect, or present the typical playing experience. But they're all accesable in various ways. The only ones to avoid, really, are the ones that are painfully difficult or involve complicated mechanisms (Neverwinter Nights line comes under the later), or games that aren't particulalry strong examples of the genre (Fallout 3, for instance, has some RPG elements, but is more of an open world sandboxing game. Though it's still an RPG. Just not a strong example of the genre. Some will disagree.)

Just pick one from the list above.

^^^^I know, but I was just guessing what he was talking about.

Diablo 2 and/or Torchlight would work for gateway WRP Gs although some might argue they are too action oriented to be WRP Gs.

Well, revisiting this thread was interesting. Thanks to DB Ace 9 Aura for reminding me of it in passing.

I acquired a few WRP Gs and have played them a little.

• Albion - I don't remember when I played it but I did play some of this, and found it was kinda interesting but a bit tedious.
• Avernum 4-6 - haven't played. (Wait, didn't someone say not to start with 4 anyway?)
• Avadon The Black Fortress - I think I got halfway through this. I remember the last thing I did was that I ignored my superiors and candidly stated to unfriendly people who I worked for and what I was doing. And the game didn't seem to like me that much for it. Also there was this one pit in a corner of one map where there are horribly strong monsters. I think I got tired of trying to cheese them out one by one...so I kinda just put the game down a while ago.
• Aztaka - I've heard this is an RPG, and I think it's made by a western dev, but otherwise I don't know anything about this.
• Deus Ex (GOTY ed.) - Someone gifted me this back in late 2011. I got through the tutorial. Haven't touched it since. Dunno what it was but I remember feeling a headache from playing it — later I realized that FPS games (when set with too high of a FOV) can give me headaches. Though i subsequently played a lot of TF 2 so maybe it's better now?
• Dragon Age: Origins - I've played through the first chapter and I'm in the camp waiting to be inducted to something, if I recall correctly. I specifically decided I wanted to do a blind playthrough of this game. So far it seems somewhat interesting, though definitely something I want to really sink a lot of time into, and it hasn't quite swept me away yet. Does look gorgeous.
• (Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara - despite its name, it's actually a beat-em-up. And I have't played it anyway.)
• Elder Scrolls 1: Arena - played the first dungeon of this, and it's tedious just to get this running right in DOS Box. So I put it down.
• Fallout 1, 2, Tactics - I picked these up from GOG, before they became unable to sell them anymore. I haven't tried them yet.
• (Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition - despite being made by a Brazilian devteam and clearly taking a lot of inspiration from D&D, the gameplay more closely resembles a JRPG, actually.)
• Neverwinter Nights 2 - picked this up knowing that it's D&D 3.5 (which is the RPG system I'm most familiar with), and I've also heard very good things about it. I haven't started it yet, though.
• Quest Run - I think this is by a western dev and is an RPG, but I don't know much about this game at all.

Between the two games I've played extensively, though...for whatever reason, I just feel I haven't quite felt that "spark" of inspiration/immersion/motivation to really jump into their settings yet. Like, I haven't quite fallen in love with them yet, and I still feel kinda like I'm playing them because I haven't gotten enough WRPG experience yet (rather than "because I feel like it"), and I'm not sure if it's because of the setting/characterization or the gameplay mechanics). Avadon felt a little awkward but was vaguely interesting so I kept playing it...until I stopped, I guess. DA:O might get somewhere once I jump into the meat of the story (it still feels like I'm in what's effectively a prologue to the main campaign), and the battle system seems rather smooth. Hopefully it gets really awesome soon. (Whenever I get some time to pick it back up, lol.)

(FWIW, one criticism I have of JRP Gs is actually that their battles are often slow and tedious, and if anything, strategies remain the same so one might as well design an autobattling script and fix a meal while the game runs through a dungeon. For me, games I like seem to tend to fix this by making fewer or quicker (action RPG!) battles and making dungeon exploration more meaningful. Or better yet, thinking outside the box and doing away with the idea of a "dungeon" in favor of a less structured and more narratively-appropriate and flowing experience.)

edited 19th Aug '14 11:26:18 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

You could try this one:

http://www.gog.com/game/arcanum_of_steamworks_and_magick_obscura

It's dirt cheap and highly rated.

We have a general VG recommendations thread. Please use that.