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Roleplaying/ heavy storyline mmo
endermorgan
Member UncommonPosts: 21
The curse of getting older is that i want more from my games now. I no longer enjoy mindless leveling, or leveling much for that matter. But i enjoy the social aspect of mmos, and questing (if its a good story). I need a good mmo to play that encourages roleplaying and has a very good gripping storyline, that is constant, not some every 5 levels storyline bullshit. Ive enjoyed games like Face of Mankins (before they fuked it up, back when you cold drop items, and majority of players actually enjoyed roleplaying.) Guildwars when it first came out, i loved the first storyline, it was an amazing story imo, for an mmo.
I do love to roleplay but i find it lacking when you have to level, or do endgame instances. I enjoy MMOs that don't have much leveling or epic gear, that put you into the game and you go through a storyline or create your own with fellow players, and its mostly based on skill.
I havn't seen a really good roleplaying/ a game with a great storyline in forever, please help me find one.
Thanks.
Comments
You mentioned guildwars- all I can think of is the 2 new campaigns and the EoTN expansion
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
You mean a heavy lore based game?
Maybe Aion will have it, I really like games that use cut-scenes like guild wars did, I heard Aion will use them too.
Have you done all 3 guild wars campaigns?
Also, I like to read the Vanguard quests, the lore is pretty cool on some, shrug, if you like to read little quests they're hella fun.
I tried vanguard, it felt to lonley, and the quests felt like i was grinding. I have tried the 2nd guildwars expansion, but i just could not get into the story, seemed rather sloppy.
You coudl call it a heavy lore based game, but you would have to be carful with that, as just becasue it has a lot of lore does not mean much, for example, wow has a huge huge lore base, yet there is no continuing storyline throughout the entire game, and the entire game feels like a quest grind, to meet an endgame where you grind for gear. Anyone who possibly roleplays in wow i salute you.
Well so far the best RP I've found in any MMO is on the Landroval server of LoTRO. If you like Tolkien at all it's pretty fun to wander around the world. It's a fairly good looking game without being terribly hardware intensive. There is a main epic story line that isn't too shabby, and you can get to all the main cities early on with the exception of Rivendell, but even that isn't too hard to reach. If you are going for mostly social about the only level you would really want to reach is 20 to open up two extra social clothing spots, and maybe grind a couple of gold after that to purchase a house somewhere. PvP is confined to one area so if you aren't big into that it can be a plus not to have to worry about getting ganked everywhere you go. The game play and character creation aren't anything spectacular, but they aren't horrible either. It does have a free trial, 7 days I think, if you are looking for RP I'd check it out.
What you are asking for sounds a bit like a single player game. I do enjoy roleplaying a lot and I'm interested in quests, but not the kind of quests that they are handing out in MMOs these days with '!' and '?' and 'X'. Not quests that say kill 'X' and bring 'Y' to 'X'. It would be nice if the quests were a little more sporatic in nature and didn't always start with an NPC querrying you to do something for them. Warhammer seems to have some new ideas, but I haven't been able to get into the beta so I don't know if it's any good.
Id say it does get close to what a single player game is, but its mmo. Tbh the best fun i ever had in a game, was on a persistant world moduel for nwn (which basically turns nwn into a mini mmo) The roleplaying was amazing no matter what lvl you are, what i am having trouble with is, i want to roleplay and yet mmos these days make it so hard. And it has been ages since i have seen an mmo run a story line event. I don;t mean some crappy as wow bullshit event. I mean where gms hop on premade characters out and have a story unfold in front of the players. I have not seen that done in forever. All it seems developers care about now days is end game raiding and pvp. Where is the love for ppl who love to be pulled into a story, and cant stop playing because they want to know what happens next.
And as much as i love storyline i can't give up mmos, because NPCs are no fun, they are always easy to predict.
www.citadelofsorcery.com
It's really that next big questing experience. It is currently in development.
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
is that...? however, i like storyline very much. if the storyline of some game is good, i will stick to playing it for a long time..on the other hand...maybe stop..
My opinion is that "storyline" quests and roleplaying don't mix. Storyline quests usually only make sense if just one person ever does them. But the reality is that thousands of people save the same town over and over again. They get the same speeches, the same experiences, and the same gratitude. Storyline quests are for single-player games, not MMORPGs...at least, not MMORPGs that actually care about roleplay-conducive consistency and logic.
This opinion might not be understandable unless one places it on the foundation of a particular definition of roleplaying: in a massively multiplayer online environment, playing a role is not sufficient - instead, in-character interaction between players, the game world, and each other is the primary factor.
In replacement of "storyline" quests, I suggest live storyline events that have persistent effects on lore that evolves over the course of the game's existence. This isn't a new idea, it's been done in Horizons/Istaria and Ryzom, just to name two (there have been others no doubt, but I'm less familiar with them).
In Istaria, for example, two playable races and a racial capital city were unlocked in events.
The lore on Ryzom's website depicts the playable races' perspectives on what they think they know about their world, not necessarily the truth of the backstory. From there, that lore would've been updated to reflect the state of the races' knowledge as they uncovered fragments of their past, understanding of their present, and inklings of their future. Furthermore, the lore progress would differ between servers.
With live storyline events, your character has unique experiences that they can tell stories about to their metaphorical (or literal) grandchildren. Epicness is justified and genuine, requiring no exorbitant suspension of disbelief. Though not everyone gets to participate in every event, there are always more to look forward to (unless, as in the cases of Ryzom and Istaria, bad companies take over and neglect the game; note however that Istaria is now under the care of a fine company who are already getting their feet wet in running events, releasing more lore, and providing lore-grounded explanations for mechanics changes).
Ultimately, what I want, as a roleplayer and a sandbox enjoyer, is a storyline implementation that fits in the persistent massively-multiplayer environment instead of being an ill-conceived port from the single-player realm.
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In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on August 13, 2008.
You should try playing Final Fantasy XI, fantastic lore and the quests are not kill number of monsters and collect number of drops then return. The missions given to you in the game revolve around the storyline of Final Fantasy XI. Within each mission given to you, it unravels a part in the FFXI storyline and you find out more about Vana D'iel(name of the world in FFXI). After you finish the main storyline then you have 4 other expansions with new storylines you can also finish. The game, in my opinion, would make a great mmo to role play in but i haven't found many people that role play. You can still try to find some people though, im pretty sure theres a lot of people in FFXI that are willing to RP.
1-Guild Wars new chapters.
2-Age of Conan on a PvE server.( as any fresh release it has bugs, but if you focus on PvE you will find tons of really good storylines and RPG feeling, but if you are not up to stand the typical fresh release issues, I would recommend wait a couple of months, anyway, it is the only Low Fantasy story driven MMO )
3-Dungeons and Dragons online
4-Final Fantasy online - but maybe the leveling and grind wont please you
5-If you forget the social side, The Witcher (if you enjoy RPGs, please get this one)
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I'd have to say, try Age of Conan for some nice story telling. The game is buggy as heck right now, but the story follows the Conan comics and novel's lore to the letter. You will be very impressed with the beginners area. Many quest that all relate to main story and make sense.
If you want an action game and like PvP: go for AoC
If you want a slower paced game and dont like bugs: go for LotrO
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Well Papadam, both Guild Wars and Age of Conan have fast pvp but they also have a lot of pve and they are heavily storydriven games, this is why I recomended a pve sever.
In the end both Guild Wars and Age of Conan are not exacly action games...I think Guild Wars is the only mmo I experienced at the release that was bug-free... but yes, games like Lotro and EQ2 are pretty much bug free now.
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Ah Umbral not you again
I didnt say that AoC isnt a storydriven game (as we have discussed before), I meant both games are story and lore driven with lots of PvE but the main difference between AoC and LotrO is that they have different pace and AoC focus alot more on PvP! Personaly I think that one of thoose games seems like the best fit for the OP, thats all I was trying to say
Dont know about Guild wars since I havent played it but Ive heard its a good game!
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Ah Umbral not you again
I didnt say that AoC isnt a storydriven game (as we have discussed before), I meant both games are story and lore driven with lots of PvE but the main difference between AoC and LotrO is that they have different pace and AoC focus alot more on PvP! Personaly I think that one of thoose games seems like the best fit for the OP, thats all I was trying to say
Dont know about Guild wars since I havent played it but Ive heard its a good game!
hehe, hey Papadam...
Yes, Lotro is more storydriven than Vanguard, WoW or Everquest, but AoC and GW are a bit more... I think the OP should try all of them.
Guild Wars is a very good game ( maybe a bit old now ), my favorite is the first one (Prophecies), the game does has a short life, but it is a very good experience if you enjoy rpg games.
The main issue of Guild Wars is the community, very rude ( same with Lineage 2) and usually bad players, there are some very hard moments in Guild Wars, so it is the kind of game you should enjoy with a couple of real life friends and good players.
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If what you're looking for is a roleplaying game and consider that to outweigh short leveling, little focus on gear and good storyline and quests then you should not give Guild Wars a try again. Roleplaying in Guild Wars hardly exists at all and will be ruined by all players running around screaming various illogical non-roleplaying comments in general chat. If you however feel you can sacrifice that in favor of other aspects then I would urge you to give Guild Wars a try; and Prophecies is the campaign you should try since it got the best storyline and longest one.
If you consider roleplaying and good storyline and quests to outweigh leveling and gear then I think Lord of the Rings Online may be a good game to try. I only reached a quite low level when trying it, but from what I saw then and have heard from others the storyline and quests were good and roleplaying was easy in the game.
QFE! Couldn't agree more. Then again, we both have common roots and interests, so it doesn't come as a surprise.
I think Asherons Call has a monthly storyline update.
I am also looking for one with a very active storyline. Means every few days some new events to advance the story. If possible with human gms advancing the storyline and giving it a human touch instead of the automated feel.
Don't heavy storylines generally take away from roleplaying? Like limiting you in many ways?
Hear me out on this, but you may want to check out Neverwinter Nights. (Maybe 2 never tried it.) Not the single player aspect but the player made persistant worlds with multiple DM's. I have found them to be the best, and maybe the only great source of roleplaying these days period. There is no roleplaying that touches what goes on in these. Maybe some nights you have 10 dm's on with 40-50 players in an area and the dm's make custom dungeons for you if you roleplay a evil character, and give you experience for things like going stealth and spying on enemies or other groups of players. They control npc's and do all kinds of cool stuff.
You can get Neverwinter Nights Diamond edition for like 10-20$ now with everything, and then check out nwn.bioware.com/players/pw_guide.html which has a link to a database of persistent worlds. However, many of them might be dead due to migrating to Neverwinter Nights 2.
Research some on NWN2 here is the persistent world forum: nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewforum.html
They might be dying off, but I hope not for your sake. No MMORPG can even come close to the RP that can go on in these. My sessions before were even better than any table top session i've ever had. Actually no RP in the history of my life touches it.
P.S. Persistent World means it is like an MMO. Servers are always up and your character info is saved on them. They just lack the playerbase, but are also smaller in scale. Some of the best ones have one main town and then focus on what goes on around it until eventually something happens say to kill everyone in the town and survivors move and rebuild. The Worlds usually constantly change.
I totally agree with you, a main story line does take away from roleplay, however since developers seem to lazy to do live action storyies anymore (which is my favorite, i did play games that have what your talking about, and i actually mentioned it in a later post. I can't wait for another game to pick up on stories like that. or have enough resources to allow players to create stories for other characters to live, but alas, what i am finding in all the mmos now is grinding to an x lvl. Most good roleplay i see is normally happing around there, but perhaps im just playing the wrong games. Its quite sad that i have not found a game to do live story lines even the grinding games of the past used to do them. Developers just lost intrest in story it seems and have been putting all into graphics and pvp.
To all the ppl telling me to play conan, i have and around lvl 50 it dropped all story line and turned into a grinding game. pah. One thing i can not stand in an mmo is when it sticks you in 1 zone and makes you kill the same type of creatures for hours. I need more of a reason to play other than just lvling. Its quite sad but since FoM which is a game that failed, yet was so amazing for roleplay. i have not been able to stand standard mmos. The way wow started was, there was no lvls, every pieace of gear you used was player made, there were 7 factions, and pvp was not encouraged but rather politics was highly important. PvP normally did start when 2 factions got at each others throats, but it was all roleplay. And i loved it, untill they got a fucking publisher who wanted to turn teh game into quick money and made them change everything that made the game sandbox and amazing. (then the game got full of fucking pvp retards and in the end the game fell through and all the old players left and the game ran out of money).
But want a game where lvling doesn't feel like lvling, where i am enjoying live stories, i would even settle for a game with a good story line. yes i do prefer live story and roleplay, but i just can't find a game that really allows it to get to its full potential.
And please no one say guildwars again, guildwars was already discussed on first page, and its more less a shortlived game for me, as all i enjoy is the storyline. no endgame roleplay possibiliies.
If you ever find one, please let me in on it :P ive been waiting a long time for a good game like that.
or perhaps you know a website or guild dedicated to mmos with livestoryline content? So i can atleast i can find a community of people who are waiting for the same thing as me?
To the OP;
I smiled reading your post, as it was virtually identical to me, and what I want from a game.
I grew up playing pen and paper rpg's, and in my adulthood, I sought the same thing in my computer games, and got it through classics such as Baldur's Gate I and II, and the brilliant Planescape:Torment (still arguably the best plot and storyline in any game). This progressed to NWN, whilst at the same time, I began to dabble with MUD's.
Then I discovered the MMORPG genre, and I thought I had discovered the holy grail of my gaming needs through EQ2. I still think it is a brilliant game, and one you should definitely check out if you haven't done so already.
However, EQ2, and then WoW, just did not cater for my rpg needs, or my wish to play a game with strong story-lines and plot. I went from one MMO to another, to find at least one that would attempt to recreate a single player rpg's depth of narrative. None satisfied that wish, and I grew despondent, thinking that the genre had stagnated into a simple formula of seek and detroy quests, or find object 'a' and bring to point 'b' missions. The lack of ambition and imigination made me think that I was going to give up on the genre.
Then I came across LoTR. Now, I had tried it when it was in beta, and I had not been too impressed. At the time, I thought it to be too much like WoW - but dressed in Tolkien's garb. This was an unfair judgement though, as I was later to discover.
LotR has a fantastic appreciation for details, that never fail to leave me amazed when I am exploring the world. It is also one of the most ambitious MMO's that I have come across, and cannot wait to see the first Expansion Pack, MInes of Moria. Imagine an entire expansion, devoted mainly to an underground environment.
It is a game that is casual friendly, meaning that you do not have to sacrafice your RL to play it. The quests are very story driven, especially the main epic quest-line, which reveals more about the story (in the way of cut-scenes - another aspect I love) as you progress.
The community is very friendly, and mature - at least in my experiences of the EU-RP server Laurelin.
Also, there is always some role-playing hotspots where you can get involved with your character, and play alongside like-minded individuals. The Prancing Pony in Bree is usually a fun place to go and chill out with an ale, and role-play with others of the same ilk. From which, you soon make allies, and maybe enemies, and story-lines are created almost on the spot.
They are daying a 14 day free trial at the moment, and I strongly urge you to give it a try. It's also the only MMO I have come upon that has very little in the way of gold-farmers or bots.
If you ever decide to give it a try, and you are able to play on the EU RP server Laurelin, I would be happy to show you around. My character is a Hunter - sort of like a ranger type, and a guide, so he could take you to some of the more amazing places to show the wonders of the world.
On an other matter: I know several people have suggested FFXI. I played it a few years back, and it is a great game in its own right. However, from what you have said in earlier posts, I really do not think that this is the game you are looking for. It is more for hardcore players, and has a monstrous grind, and time-sink. Something I'm sure that is not on your preferred list of 'wants'.
I hope that this information is off use to you. You may want to check out DnD online also, but I was quite disappointed with it.
Let me know how you get on. Maybe I shall see you in Laurelin one of these days.
BTW - Although LotRo has all these qualities, it is still not my 'holy grail' game. Too me - it is the closest to date.
Alas imma give Lotr a try again, i tried it back in beta as well. But perhaps i gota bad impression or the game was to new. You are correct, i am not looking for a time sink, i am not able to compete in time sinks. I am enlisted in the USAF, and because of that i have to go to training and other such TDYs. Even though alot of them are not that long, 1 week in a time sink mmo puts you forever behind all yoru friends. And at some point i will deploy which will only put me further behind. Time sinks are not for me :P nor do i find grinding fun.
wait for GuildWars2
If you do, and are still states side roll on Landroval and you will find plenty of RP.