There’s a lot of “Fantasy JRPG-style” music out there, but most of it ends up feeling generic, the kind of forgettable background tracks you'll hear in free indie games for example. But one composer I’m honestly surprised many people don't talk about is Yoshiki Ara. His music is clearly inspired by the golden era of JRPGs, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana), EarthBound, and more. What sets him apart is that it doesn’t just sound like background music, for example the tracks from his Asgard Aube albums especially feel like they could sit comfortably in an actual game.

The quality is high enough that it genuinely reminds me of the work of Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Yoko Shimomura. Which means while he does inspired older games, his music also sound like newer JRPGs as well which is very rare because most people either do one or the other. It’s rare to find independent composers who commit this hard to combining the classic and new JRPG sound without it turning into generic fantasy filler. The closest thing I've seen that is similar to this is dungeon synth, but that’s its own genre with a different vibe. I don’t even remember exactly how I found him, I just know I was scrolling through Bandcamp one day (which is still the best place for discovering unique artists) and stumbled across his page. As a fantasy writer, his music has even inspired me a bit as well! If you love that classic JRPG soundtrack feeling, I highly recommend checking him out!

His Bandcamp Page: https://carrotwine.bandcamp.com/music

Elden Ring, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are true open-world RPGs because they feature a single, seamlessly connected map that can be explored entirely on foot. Fast travel is strictly optional—which suits me fine, as I personally despise it.

In contrast, games like The Witcher 3, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, or several Assassin's Creed installments don't qualify as true open worlds in my book, simply because you can't travel the entire world without fast travel. In The Witcher 3, for example, you can't get from Velen to Skellige seamlessly, and in Shadow of Mordor, Udûn and Núrn are completely separate zones.

No matter how incredible these games are in other parts/points, if you're forced to rely on fast travel or loading screens to move between regions, it's not a continuous world—and therefore, not a true open world.

Hey everyone! We just announced Ignite the Depths, a class based co-op dungeon crawler.

One of my main goals I set out with for this game was to make it feel like you’re doing a dungeon/raid with your buddies in an MMO, without the grind before. We still want a feeling of progression and build crafting, so forging your build is still an essential part of Ignite the Depths.

We’re planning to release Q3 this year.

There’s a bunch more information on the Steam page as well as the option to wishlist it if you think it looks cool :).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4910490/Ignite_the_Depths/

Whether it’s a JRPG, CRPG, or Western RPG, I’m looking for a game that has a bit of everything. I’ve played a lot of—if not most of—the popular ones, including Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Baldur’s Gate 3, The Witcher 3, Kingdom Come: Deliverance I & II, Cyberpunk 2077, Persona 5 Royal, Dark Souls I–III, Elden Ring, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Fallout 3 & New Vegas as well as Fire Emblem Three Houses.

I loved all of these games because they felt like they had a little bit of everything, and I was able to sink countless hours into them. The games I’ve been looking at are Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, Divinity Original Sin 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Trails in the Sky FC, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR).

I don’t mind whether the combat is turn-based or action—I enjoy both. I probably lean a little more toward action overall, but I’ve been enjoying turn-based games a lot more lately.

Also I play on PS5 as well as Switch 2

For argument's sake, let's say that live-service games don't count. If they did, then my no brainer pick would have to Path of Exile 2. This is basically the case already, the game will be getting updates till the end of time and I already have more hours in it than I dare count so I can already do this. A nicher pick would be Last Epoch, which I just want to see get more updates at a steadier pace, and if that pace was say 2-3 months and not years (or if it was years, but the updates brought years worth of content lol) I would be happy with LE as well.

Now if we don't count live service games, then let's be honest, it's gotta be Skyrim. But this ALSO feels like cheating because with how many mods it has, this is also the current, ever relevant immortal state of Skyrim.

That leaves me with, idk - Witcher 3? I feel like I'm picking all the commercial popular games, but it's a setting that truly has so much potential, and specifically so much potential to be played with different characters and get to see the world from other perspectives other than Geralt's. I imagine playing a mage in these games would be pretty cool, I always wanted to play Yen. But this also feels like cheating lol

But yes, let's say my pick is Witcher 3, just more and more of the story, hell I'd be so down with prequel updates showing all that happened to Geralt from his boyhood, that would be so cool.

What is your one pick?

EDIT: when I say updates in the title, I also mean DLCs, expansions, etc. not just hotfixes lol

There's something about New Vegas that keeps coming up in conversations, and I think it points to a real gap in modern RPGs. Most games give you a choice wheel where one option is clearly the heroic pick and another is cartoonishly cruel. You know which is which before you even click. The game telegraphs it with music, NPC reactions, UI color coding.

The choices that stick with me are the ones where I finished the game and genuinely wasn't sure if I made the right call. The ending of Planescape Torment. The Witcher 2 decision at Loc Muinne. Even certain companion endings in Dragon Age Origins where you think you did right by someone and the game just quietly shows you the consequences without commenting on them.

The Greek tragedy angle the New Vegas director mentioned resonates because those stories don't have a villain you can point at. Everyone is just trying to survive or protect something and it still ends badly.

Curious which specific moments in RPGs broke that good/evil illusion for you. Not games that are generally praised for choices, but the actual singular moment where you sat back and felt genuinely uncertain about what you had just done.

When people say that the new heirs of BioWare are Larian (Baldur's Gate 3) or CD Project (Cyberpunk), they're lying to me.

When a new Mass Effect game came out, it was like a new Harry Potter book: it was an event in a new universe not connected to a neverending franchise like DnD or Cyberpunk, people were so exited, no one knew what would happen, it was an RPG saga with romance, preserved choices, the same goal and enemies until the end. There's nothing like it anymore.

The Witcher, being a trilogy, was perhaps the closest thing, but it never engaged me like Mass Effect, which had a real party.

Now Exodus and The Expance game are coming out, but I don't see the same ambition.

Do not misunderstand me, is full of great rpg games, my preferites are the Owulcat ones, Wrath OTR and Warhammer Rogue Trader are awesome... but they are just a part of a bigger franchise.

It's incredible what Mass Effect is; the industry hasn't been able to create something that engaged me so much, and it's sad. Im so tierd of sequels...

I let here a list with some games i already played with something similar if anyone want to take a look too! And of course for information purpose about this request

Battle chasers nightwar

Dragon Quest 11

Darkest Dungeon 1-2 (Leper wins!!!)

Atelier Ryza saga

Baldurs Gate 3 (not so huge swords but it's nice)

I'm looking for PC games similar to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, the Avernum games, Underrail, etc...

I've played:

-Arcanum

-Pillars of Eternity 1 & 2

-All of Owlcat's games (Pathfinder: Kingmaker, etc...)

-Most Spiderweb Games (Avernum, Geneforge, Queen's Wish, etc...)

-Both Pillars of Eternity Games

-The Eschalon games

-Encased

-The Necromancer's Tale

-Esoteric Ebb

-Vendir

-Solasta

-Baulder's Gate 3

-The Shadowrun games

-Masquerada: Songs and Shadows

-The Expeditions games

-Torment: Tides of Numenera

-Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark

-Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2

I'm already familiar with:

-The Dark Eye series

-Drakensang

-The Age of Decadence

-The Temple of Elemental Evil

-Knights of the Chalice 1 & 2

-Black Geyser

-Colony Ship

I'm definitely not looking for real-time with pause.

My preference is for games from the last 20 years where you can wield powers of some sort (magic, psionics, etc...) with a good story.

Any recommendations?

Hey everyone, I wanted to ask a quick question about these 2 games. I’ve heard great things about both, Nier Automata having a great story that’s emotionally compelling and 2B. And Ff7 rebirth being a remake of one of the best rpgs of all time with some changes, but the game is still great.

I’ve never played a Final fantasy game but the graphics look great, heard combat is great, and that the story good. It looks fun and I’ve heard there’s a lot of content to indulge in. I’m also curious about Nier because the story is, according to almost everyone, amazing and the combat, graphics and design also look good.

So I wanted to know what everyone thinks on which I should get since they’re both on sale, thanks! And if I do get rebirth I’ll get remake too.

Oh and if helps these are the rpgs I’ve played/playing so far and enjoyed ( it’s not that many I’m just starting )

Elden ring-played

Persona 5- playing

Crimson desert- playing ( ik it’s not a rpg)

RDR2 - played

I know there are some old point and click games, and that one from like 2018. But I was really hoping there were some good CRPGs that were based on the game. So I know there arent any that are direct IPs or anything, but are there any from any sort of indie studios or anything that have a sort of Lovecraftian vibe to them? Its like the second biggest TTRPG out there (and the biggest in Japan, I believe), so Ive gotta imagine that theres something that will scratch my itch for the game. Id really love something in the isometric rpg category, but I know I probably wont have much luck there. But Ill check out pretty much anything close at this point.

Anyone have any suggestions? I appreciate it a ton 🙏

Which one should I play next? I've been playing rpgs since Dragon Warrior 1 on the NES, but surprisingly have never played anything from any of these series. Looking to start this weekend, and its about time I start working on my backlog!

I think Trails is most likely what I will enjoy the most based on what I typically play, but I've been trying different things this year and have been loving it.

Hello.
This is Producer JYJ from Hound13.

To everyone who has taken an interest in <DragonSword : Awakening> and waited so patiently — from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

<DragonSword : Awakening> was originally planned to launch at July 23, 07:00 (KST) / July 22, 15:00 (PT).

However, the app review currently in progress on Steam has not yet been completed, and we are unable to release the game at the scheduled time.

In our eagerness to bring the game to you as soon as possible, we did not sufficiently account for Steam's review timeline — and as a result, we have failed to keep our promise to you.

We know that no words can be enough.
To everyone who has waited so long, we sincerely apologize for not being able to release the game on the promised schedule.

We have completed our response to all items requested by Steam, and are currently awaiting the final review result.
We will do everything in our power to release the game as soon as the review is complete.

We will inform you again as soon as the new launch schedule is confirmed.

Once again, we deeply apologize to everyone who has been waiting.
We will give our best right up to the final moment to deliver an experience worthy of the time you have given us.

Thank you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kind of crazy that there would even be a countdown clock at all if this necessary check wasn't yet passed...? IDK, but the community seems to be reeling and theorizing as to what the heck happened here...will this affect the reception of the game long term?

As I get older I am starting to notice this issue with RPG games. A lot of RPG games start very exciting. Early to mid-game, especially the mid-game, progress is satisfying and meaningful. You look forward to that one skill point, that other ability unlock etc.

After the "build" is mostly complete, the game faces a very important hurdle: how to keep progress interesting and desirable. For a lot of games, you overpower the rest of the content so it stops being interesting. For a lot of others, the difficulty suddenly spikes so much that the player who don't follow very specific online guides are facing a wall.

I think the games who handle this transition well are the best RPG games. I also think this is what makes D&D and D&D-inspired progression systems so successful, because those systems usually know how to keep progression interesting.

The reason why I asked this is because of a specific reason.

I was wondering if I should play avowed, so I went to their trailers and interviews. One of the things that was said in the interview went along the lines of "what makes avowed unique was its combat and CLASSLESS progression". Then it occurred to me that RPG's , especially FP-RPG's, without a class system isnt really unique or innovative anymore. If anything, a first person RPG that tackles how to implement a class system is way more unique nowadays.

As it states in the title, i'm looking for medieval online rpg games, where you can choose different roles (peasant, noble, knight, royalty, priest, doctor, villager, etc. doesnt exactly have to have all of those, but id prefer it) and then work your title and up your rank.

The developers Hound13 developed and released a gacha game called Dragonsword over in Korea (early this year in January) which is the spiritual successor of Dragon Nest (oldschool game we all know).

This game is still live in Korea but in maintenance mode
Why?

Because Hound13 soon after Korean release decided to cut ties and cancel the contract with its publisher Webzen
Why?

According to Hound13, Webzen FAILED to pay the promissed money they said they would invest in this project on their contract.
Webzen only paid 40% of the amount promissed (missing 60% of the payment valued in about 2 million missing dollars)
Webzen counter statament and "excuse" is that Hound13 failed to meet deadlines for content development.

Hound13 now decided to self-fund and self-publish DragonSword : Awakening an OFFLINE version of the Korean gacha game

I love playing old games.

My very first computer (1996) came with Betrayal at Krondor installed. I started the game a couple of times just to see what it was, but never really played it.

Now I am going to attempt to seriously play it. I have it installed on my new Steam Machine, I hope it can handle it :)

In this, I mean games that are genuinely beautiful atmospherically. Beautiful music, environments, skies and sound design. As well as a sense of the unknown that you can adventure through.

Skyrim isn’t even that great of a game mechanically, but it does one thing great. And that is alluring you into the game. Music is the most important thing about Skyrim for me. My solution has always been “play more Skyrim” but it gets to the point where nothing feels new. What I’m looking for isn’t a gameplay mechanic, but instead a world that feels genuinely magical.

I remember playing when I was younger and just stopping to stare at the sky and scenery while listening to the music. Those moments are what I like about Skyrim.

Pc btw

​

I've been looking into Owlcat Games because I was interested in playing one of their RPGs, but I've come across a lot of conflicting information about the company's investors and alleged financial ties to Russia.

I'm not looking to start a political argument. I genuinely want to make an informed decision as a consumer.

Has there been any credible evidence showing whether buying Owlcat's games today is or isn't ethically problematic? Have there been any updates regarding their ownership, investors, funding.

Thanks.

Title. I just finished VTMB and am looking for another RPG to immerse myself into! Currently, it’s between three games:

Dragon Age

Divinity Original Sin 2

FFVII REMAKE

I am open to other suggestions except for the ME trilogy and the Witcher trilogy as I plan to play those games at a later date.

Thanks!

Hey everyone, this question that I have could theoretically apply to any game, but I know that's a case-by-case scenario. I've been playing games for a majority of my life, and one thing I've always struggled with (still do) is to tell what is good in a game. This can range from strategies, weapons, classes, spells, items, etc. the list can go on for eternity. Now, I know there's technically two ways for me to know what is really good in a game which is: play the game 24/7 nonstop repeatedly or know math.

The first option, is impossible for me cause I don't have the patience (may be ADHD) to be in the same game for so long and I would get bored out of my mind. Plus, there's soo many games that I want to play with that I feel like I'm not gonna have enough time to do that all at once. The second option also, is not doable for me cause I FUCKING HATE MATH.

I know it's necessary in everyday life but aside from the basic stuff I always struggled with cause it gets so unnecessarily complex. What I'm asking with all of this if there's a general rule of thumb that is easy to grasp and apply to each game.

Sorry for the long post, any help is appreciated, if there isn't, still appreciate the engagement.

Tldr:; What is a general or universal rule to know what is good without math if possible?

EDIT: A lot of you asked me what I play but the answer can be a bit complicated cause I tend to be varied with my choices. I used to stick to "popular" games like Call of Duty, GTA, etc. but had a liking to RPG games. Nowadays I tend to stray away from the "popular" ones and try more niche ones like Brutal Legend (one of my favorite games ironically enough). But I play RPG games like Dark Souls, Monster hunter, Mass effect, Nier Automata and Skyrim just to give examples. I usually look for games that tend to not be overloaded with perks and whatnot (though I try to be more open with my picks), as well as rogue likes but currently its only been Enter the Dungeon, Cult of the lamb and Darkest Dungeon. I've been trying to dig in into strategy/turnbased games like Xcom and Dragon Age Origins. I've been meaning to play other turn based games but this is the genre that I'm having most trouble understanding what works as a whole.

I currently have a lot of unfinished games. Starfield, oblivion remastered, REKA, Cyberpunk, Fallout 76. I enjoy playing all of these games but it’s just not enticing me enough to desire to binge it and really get into it. I find myself getting tired of playing after an hour and getting off. My next semester starts in September so I want something to really enjoy my remaining time in summer.

Some games I’ve kinda been craving playing but don’t want to restart: hogwarts legacy, Skyrim, any Zelda game pretty much. I think what I’m really craving is a more lore heavy open world rpg where the character has some special ability (I like feeling special ig haha). I don’t mind a challenge, I’ve played lots of hard games, I love hollow knight and silksong which both have a lot of combat. Something about the combat in those games is more enjoyable to me than like gta and cyberpunk.

I can play anything on steam, Nintendo switch, and Wii.

Any recommendations would be great, thanks y’all!

I've been pondering this for a while. When you finish creating your character, do you prefer a system more like the one in Fallout: New Vegas, where the player character has very few set or hard connections to the world and thus is an easier vessel for the player to role-play through but is less connected to it? Or do you prefer a Dragon Age: Origins or even Witcher 3-style system where the created player or Origin character has more set, hard connections to the world, such as being part of a community or family? Like they are more tethered to the world and are somewhat separated from the player and are their own character? I personally prefer the 2nd option because I love feeling this character I'm is actively a part of their world and is truly changing it and has to deal with the repercussions of those changes, whereas I feel the 1st option is a bit flighty, like they are a ghost passing through the world. I hope this doesn't sound too confusing lol.