Rose-colored glasses (nostalgia bias warning)
This was my first PC game ever, and I LOVED it.
I know I put the nostalgia warning, but honestly I've replayed this game a ton and I still love it to this day.
This is another game I have to stop myself from replaying so that I can actually work through my backlog.
It's got an alignment system that's pretty easy to manipulate once you understand it, but as a kid it was so awesome seeing myself appear lighter and brighter as I did my good deeds. (Spoiler: if you get so benevolent, you even get a beam of light that shines down on you, which I adored).
I've still never done an evil playthrough because being mean to fictional characters makes me sad, but I hear the evil side of things is just as cool and fun.
If you're looking for a classic, tropey RPG experience, this is where you can find it.
And just a reminder that following tropes isn't a bad thing; instead, this game takes inspiration from RPG tropes and perfects them.
The plot is straight forward and easy to follow without being boring, the twists make sense but can be hard to guess without actively trying to, the abilities give you such a broad range of choices that you can do combat nearly however you want, AND you can kick chickens!
You can get married, buy houses, trade goods with wandering traders, act like a bandit, be a feared source of benevolence.
I know there's quite a few options that provide this kind of gameplay that may seem a bit cleaner than this game, but this was one of the originals and the love from the developers truly shows and shines.
My biggest complaint with the game is that as you level up abilities, you get older which, while an interesting and cool detail, means you can never be a mid-20s badass; you'll always get old before you get awesome.
This was my first PC game ever, and I LOVED it.
I know I put the nostalgia warning, but honestly I've replayed this game a ton and I still love it to this day.
This is another game I have to stop myself from replaying so that I can actually work through my backlog.
It's got an alignment system that's pretty easy to manipulate once you understand it, but as a kid it was so awesome seeing myself appear lighter and brighter as I did my good deeds. (Spoiler: if you get so benevolent, you even get a beam of light that shines down on you, which I adored).
I've still never done an evil playthrough because being mean to fictional characters makes me sad, but I hear the evil side of things is just as cool and fun.
If you're looking for a classic, tropey RPG experience, this is where you can find it.
And just a reminder that following tropes isn't a bad thing; instead, this game takes inspiration from RPG tropes and perfects them.
The plot is straight forward and easy to follow without being boring, the twists make sense but can be hard to guess without actively trying to, the abilities give you such a broad range of choices that you can do combat nearly however you want, AND you can kick chickens!
You can get married, buy houses, trade goods with wandering traders, act like a bandit, be a feared source of benevolence.
I know there's quite a few options that provide this kind of gameplay that may seem a bit cleaner than this game, but this was one of the originals and the love from the developers truly shows and shines.
My biggest complaint with the game is that as you level up abilities, you get older which, while an interesting and cool detail, means you can never be a mid-20s badass; you'll always get old before you get awesome.