How do you decide what to play?

[alienjesus]

I have multiple methods.

First and foremost, most of the time I just kinda go 'let's play this one next'.

I normally play a long game over a longer stretch of time and play smaller games in between. Lately I've been using the weekend to play some shorter palette cleansers whilst I work through RPGs otherwise.

I try and keep a game on the go on handhelds at all times. If I stick console only I will probably play less overall.

Lastly, I normally have some sort of marathon or goal that helps me pick when all else fails. I've been working on my Alphabet marathon since last February - sure, I've only played through to game M on it, but any time I'm not sure what to play next I can go and play game N, y'know? There's no rush to get it done!

Play N+

I've played if before and wasn't a fan

I have the rest of my list outlined anyhow:

N - Nine Persons, Nine Hours, Nine Doors (DS)
O - Opoona (Wii)
P - Persona 4 Golden (Vita)
Q - Quartet (SMS)
R - Rayman 2 (DC)
S - Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS)
T - Tales of Monkey Island (PC)
U - UN Squadron (SNES)
V - Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)
W - Wave Race: Blue Storm (GC)
X - X (Game Boy)
Y - Yggdra Union (PSP)
Z - Zone of te Enders (PS2)

[touchofkiel]

Damn, don't remind me of N+! This is supposed to be the RPG sub!

[Bitter memories of N++ on PS4 murdering me last August...]

[Ack]

Oh dear, it seems I will soon likely suffer from this exact problem. I have several RPGs I am looking at to play. When I get to the final steps of Shadowrun: Dragonfall, I may just present what I'm looking at to you guys to see what you all think.

[Ack]

Hell with it, I guess I'll go ahead and put my upcoming choices out there just to see what might prevail from a little battle royale based around the opinions of the community. I currently have 59 RPGs currently not yet beaten on GOG that I don't have to mess around with to get running(to my knowledge). Of these, I have selected 17 potential games to try next once I am done with Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

Since I don't want to wear myself out on Shadowrun, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is not on the list. Neither are any of the mainline Ultima games, since I plan to play another one of those later this year, nor are the Bard's Tales/Dragon Wars since apparently GOG Galaxy is having issues with the mid-2000s release that gives you access to them. In most cases I've put up the first of various series. The Elder Scrolls is the only entry to appear twice since I've put in a lot of time into Morrowind but never beaten it, and because I see it as a major dividing line for the series.

Here's the list, folks. What of these do you think I should be looking into next?

Divine Divinity
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
Fallout
Gothic
Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition
Inquisitor
Lichdom: Battlemage
Might and Magic: Book One
Planescape: Torment
Silver
Soulbringer
Thunderscape
Torchlight
Ultima Underworld
Unepic
The Witcher

[MrPopo]

I'd say go Might and Magic to really get your old school on.

[Exhuminator]

@Ack

Fallout
Inquisitor
Planescape: Torment

These would be my top 3 picks. If you haven't played the original Fallout yet, make that your top priority. I think it's the greatest WRPG ever.

[Ack]

@Ack

Fallout
Inquisitor
Planescape: Torment

That's...interesting. I get Fallout and Planescape: Torment, but why Inquisitor?

[Sarge]

I haven't gone very far in it, but by all accounts, Planescape: Torment is fantastic. Just be sure to beef up that wisdom stat, it's a game far more geared towards dialogue and choices than combat, and most of the interesting ones require at least 18 Wisdom.

[Exhuminator]

"but why Inquisitor?"

If you mixed Baldur's Gate and the Spanish Inquisition together, you'd get Inquisitor.

The game took over ten years to develop, and has such a massive story it took three years to translate into English. Inquisitor has an estimated playing time of 100 hours, and includes more than 200 weapons, 80 spells and 7 types of magic, alongside over 90 types of monster to combat.

Crawl some dungeons and arrest some people, torture them to extract confessions, judge the sinners, and burn them at the stake.

[Ack]

Well, so far that's...

Fallout
Might and Magic Book One
Planescape: Torment

Yeah, I expected that...

Also Inquisitor and Lichdom: Battlemage via Fastbilly.