I've had this on my mind for a few days and I decided it's best to make a topic and just ask about it.

I started playing games at home in the mid 1990s with stuff like Doom, Quake, later Half-Life, SC/Brood War, Diablo and so on. Since then I've branched out and tried a bit of everything, but my favorite genres remain RPG and strategy, and in particular deep, story- and exploration-heavy cRPGs (or open-world exploration like New Vegas, etc) and city/empire-builders. I have a bunch of these in my wishlist, especially on the RPG front, and was wondering if there are any dedicated Steam groups both for fans of either type of games, or also especially for Steamgifts GAs?

Also since it's an option, here is a poll about your favorite cRPG of all time - I've included what I thought would fit best in 20 entries, had to miss out on a few things and merge a few others, but we can discuss those in the comments. Among the missing are Dragon Age: Origins, Revenant, Darkstone, Gorasul, The Fall: Last Days of Gaia, and a few other titles.

Since NOX got in there by mistake, you can pick it as the Other option and share your favorite game in the comments below, if you don't see it on the list. Action-oriented RPGs are not included - stuff like Diablo, Path of Exile, Titan Quest, Grim Dawn, Torchlight. Also not included are non-isometric titles, which explains why fan-favorites like New Vegas and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines are also missing ;)

EDIT - a separate poll on your favorite city-building games of all time is now available :)

8 years ago*

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What is your favorite isometric CRPG game of all time?

View Results
Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Planescape Torment
Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale II
Fallout
Fallout 2
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura
The Temple of Elemental Evil
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
Divinity: Original Sin
Wasteland 2
Shadowrun Returns / Dragonfall / Hong Kong
Nox
Neverwinter Nights I / II
Age of Decadence
Pillars of Eternity
Tyranny
Expeditions: Conquistador
Torment: Tides of Numenera

Baldur's Gate is the greatest isometric cRPG of all time, by a mile.
Planescape Torment is something beyond, a game elevated beyond its medium, a true masterpiece artwork. It is the Citizen Kane of video games and, like Citizen Kane, it's not beloved by everyone, but it has a greatness unsurpassed by any game that has come before or since

8 years ago
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Hard to pick favorite. I love them all basically :) But i've voted for Shadowrun since i'm playing Dragonfall now and it's just amazing :3 So are rest of shadowrun games and games in this poll in general.

cRpg is my favorite genre alltogether.

8 years ago
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No Planet Alcatraz in poll 😭
Also Planet Alcatraz 2 👍

8 years ago
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Wow, never heard of these 1C games :)

8 years ago
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The english localization of the first game is beyond bad though, which is a darn shame, because the game looked interesting. It was borderline incomprehensible at points

8 years ago
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The first one was just added to HRK Make a bundle, so might snatch it just so it's in my library :)

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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People seem really happy with it, what disappointed you? Other than the epic development schedule and frequent delays, of course.

8 years ago
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I'm with Voidy in Torment. It's not a bad game, but it has its share of issues. The later parts feel underdeveloped, as if they ran out of time and were not able to complete them. The rulesystem also scales poorly with levels, and the skill-challenges later on become pointless, as you'll always suceed. They have an interesting system where you spend "effort" to increase the odds of sucess on a skill challenge, but towards the end you'll never run out of efforts, which makes the system fall apart. Also, bugs. Lots and lots of bugs, but inXile does have a good track record with fixing those

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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The problem with it, in particular towards the end of the game, was that I never failed any of the tests. I could put everything at a 100% success rate, because I got so many "free" efforts for every test, and there was no risk of me running out of them. And that was without sleeping.

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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I went with an Int build as well, but got enough in the other two, combined with my party members stats, that I could just 100% everything, and it kinda broke the game

8 years ago
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8 years ago
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F2 : played it on the CD version so many times

View attached image.
8 years ago
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Baldur's Gate hands down, but it's a tough second place between Fallout and Neverwinter Nights for me, even though the other ones you mentioned are almost all great games too, so in the end it feels like choosing between lobster and steak :3.

8 years ago
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I love Fallout 2, but I don't think I'll ever spend as much time with a game again as I spent with BG2.

8 years ago
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NOTE - A level 5+ GA has now been added to the original post, will run until 15:00 CET on May 4th. Good luck to everyone!

8 years ago
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Fallout 1/2

8 years ago
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difficult question.. fallout or neverwinter nights or dragon age origins

8 years ago
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lol i played and enjoyed every single game on the list :S :S :S
I vote for Planescape Torment. 4 CD's of pure joy trying to remember/reconstruct my memories being the Nameless one.
I can't join the GA but thank you anyway =)

8 years ago*
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You're welcome, glad to see some big CRPG fans around here :)

8 years ago
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For a city/empire builder fangroup, there's Builders, managers & commanders.

8 years ago
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Thank you for the link, not sure if this was supposed to be in the other topic or not, but joined nonetheless :)

8 years ago
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You only asked for groups in this topic, not the other :)

8 years ago
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True that, didn't realize it!

8 years ago
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Divinity Original Sin EE because it has by far the best combat system out of any game I've played.

8 years ago
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Just a bump since I havent played any of them D:

8 years ago
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Fallout 2

8 years ago
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I've played very few so far. Was pretty much disappointed with Divinity: Original Sin: yep, the combat system is awesome, but that's it, the story is generic at best, side quests are forgettable, the same goes for boring NPCs (although I appreciate developers' attitude towards cats)). Pillars and Eternity and Tyranny are much better written, to say the least, but I'm just not a fan of real-time combats; anyway, I'd put both these games (even Tyranny that feels rushed and ends abruptly) way higher in my personal rating. Wasn't particularly impressed with Shadowrun Returns, but loved the next two parts of the trilogy. Simply wasn't able to cope with Age of Decadence, its difficulty is impossible for a newbie like me; I think I'll give it another chance in a couple of years. Gave up on Wasteland pretty fast: I need a narrative, I'd waited (maybe not long enough), but literally couldn't find one; also these ridiculous hit chances were really irritating. And... I'm that single person who's voted for Torment: Tides of Numenera. I'm currently midgame, and I'm in love with everything except for rare combat (but I'm not really playing for combat, so it doesn't matter). Obviously, the next step will be getting acquainted with classics.

8 years ago
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Age of Decadence is a SUPERB cRPG, despite its age and very small development team + the high difficulty. Multiple plots, an amazing world, so many quests and ways to finish them, I highly recommend it to any fan of the genre :)

Have you played Arcanum?

8 years ago
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Not yet, but I'm definitely going to.

8 years ago
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It's on Steam and GOG - definitely one of my top 3 cRPGs of all time, and a good contender for one of the best worlds and some of the most interesting quests and stories in a role-playing game, period.

8 years ago
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Get ready to experience bugs up the ass. It is an incredibly good game with one of the most complex plot network I met in a single-player cRPG, but the combat system is incredibly unbalanced (depending on how lucky you are at character specialisation, you can be a demigod from the start or struggle with basic enemies at level 50), the engine is horrible, and the journal is terrible so you really need to play the game constantly enough to remember the three dozen quests you'll constantly be juggling. The payoff is ginormous though if you manage to explore as much as possible.

8 years ago
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I feel like I'm the only one who enjoyed Divine Divinity. (?)

8 years ago
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I don't really have a favourite but I'll give some love to Icewind Dale since it was the first I played all the way through. I'd tried Baldur's Gate not long before but didn't get too far, this wasn't too long after TotSC came out and even then its art-style seemed a bit dated, like a ren faire in game form (I did revisit it later on, also BG2 fixed the aesthetic issues). IWD was darker and mysterious, it had real atmosphere and a fantastic soundtrack. It got me into these games and I still enjoy it now for how straightforward it is, and again that atmosphere.

8 years ago
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Fallout 2, followed VERY closely by Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights tied for 2nd.

8 years ago
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