2d rpg games recommendations?

[chongjasmine]

I like to play rpg games, but prefer the graphics to be 2d. Any recommendations?

 

[PolarBlues]

Shadowrun Returns and its sequels. You can often find it really cheap on Good Old Games.

 

[Gabriel]

If you've never played it, you could try Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. There's even a spectrum of ways you could try it.

If you want a very streamlined console experience, then try the NES port.
If you want some streamlining, but still a console experience, then try the Sega Master System port.
If you want the full 80s experience with all that entails, then try the PC port. Or if you're really daring, hunt down an Apple IIc or C64 and play on original hardware.
But keep in mind that Ultima IV was from an era where games expected you to read and study the documentation as well as take meticulous notes.

I've recently played classics like Dragon Quest 1 and Final Fantasy 1 again. I'd say those two are always good for a revisit. Really, any of the classics qualify: Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, early Phantasy Star, and other Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest installments.

Me and PC RPGs parted ways around the late 80s, so I don't have many recommendations there. I recall having fun with Legacy of the Ancients, which is currently abandonware. Depending on if you really mean "2D" or just mean "old style" then the old AD&D Gold Box games could fit the bill as well as Bard's Tale Trilogy.

One I have but have not yet tried is Nox Archaist. It's a recently made RPG in the old style of Apple II Ultima games.

 

[chongjasmine]

I like final fantasy 1. I just completed it. Thanks for your recommendations!

 

[The Mad Hatter]

If by 2d you mean stuff like the old Baldur's Gate games and such, here's some recommendations like that plus some other stuff.

Tyranny on Steam

Experience a story-driven RPG where your choices mean all the difference in the world.

store.steampowered.com

Save 75% on Wasteland 2: Director's Cut on Steam

From the producer of the original Fallout comes Wasteland 2. With over 80 hours of gameplay, deck out your Ranger squad with devastating weaponry, test the limits of your strategy skills, and bring justice to the Wasteland! The choices are yours…but so are the consequences.

store.steampowered.com

 

[JAMUMU]

If you are of hardy constitution and sharp mind, might I suggest to you the delights of Zorbus? Zorbus is the roguelike RPG that turns men into mince, kings into crayons, and paladins into princesses.

 

[Afterburner]

If you want a REALLY old school feel, look up the Avernum series by Spiderweb Games. They're on Steam and GOG. Very much an indie gaming series. Very much a love letter to old-school CRPGs from the 80s and 90s. Make sure you have a pen and paper nearby when you play, because there's not a lot of hand-holding in these games. If you find a clue, best write it down.

 

[Davies]

If you want a REALLY old school feel, look up the Avernum series by Spiderweb Games. They're on Steam and GOG. Very much an indie gaming series. Very much a love letter to old-school CRPGs from the 80s and 90s. Make sure you have a pen and paper nearby when you play, because there's not a lot of hand-holding in these games. If you find a clue, best write it down.

There's also the publisher's more recent efforts, the Queen's Wish series, and their Geneforge series, which offer different types of fantasy from the Avernum series. I can't say more without spoiling them, unfortunately.

 

[thebigh]

If you've never played it, you could try Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. There's even a spectrum of ways you could try it.

I always thought Ultima VI was the high point of the series.

 

[CaoCao]

all pre-DS pokemon games, what else? ;)

 

[Afterburner]

I always thought Ultima VI was the high point of the series.

Ultima VII for me. I had a huge map of the gameworld that I drew out on graph paper using colored pens and pencils. Got about halfway through. It woulda been about six-by-eight feet in size if I'd managed to complete the whole thing.

 

[The Guild]

ScummVM started out as an interpreter for the classic old Lucas Arts and Sierra Online point-and-click adventures and after two decades of development can run hundreds of games on PC, most consoles and phones. A few of my favorites suited to players new to the adventure game genre are:

• Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (LucasArts): very much like the movies! lost civilisations, supernatural artifacts, nazi's, humor, romance
• The Secret of Monkey Island (LucasArts): a lot like (and may have inspired) the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
• King's Quest VI (Sierra): save the princess of an exotic mythical kingdom from the evil vizier
• Gabriel Knight - Sins Of The Fathers (Sierra): occult investigation in eighties New Orleans with a pinch of horror
  (I would like to list more Sierra games, but especially the earlier ones are very unforgiving and/or require typing rather than clicking.)

You will still need to acquire the game files yourself, and better do it legally or else poor CEOs of massive gaming conglomerates might starve to death in a cardboard box in winter. As a random comment totally unrelated to that, the Internet Archive is a wonderful project and many interesting things can be found using the site's search function.

 

[bleys21]

You will still need to acquire the game files yourself, and better do it legally or else poor CEOs of massive gaming conglomerates might starve to death in a cardboard box in winter. As a random comment totally unrelated to that, the Internet Archive is a wonderful project and many interesting things can be found using the site's search function.

Wait. This is something we can do?

 

[The Guild]

Wait. This is something we can do?

Sure. Check out Good Old Games, which has many of these games available. And in fact, some of their distributions use ScummVM internally.