Torment and Fallout 1 & 2 are some of my favourite games of all time. Recently I've completed Shadowrun Returns and that's put me in the mood for these very atmospheric, story-focused RPGs again. I just tried to play NWN2 again but just can't get into it because of the terrible engine, camera controls and general controls. It just feels clunky and stressful.

Can anyone recommend some games where you can just spend ages talking to NPCs or solving quests with dialogue? The kind of game where putting points into Intelligence or Charisma has effects beyond how many spells/skills you have in combat? They don't have to be visually similar to Torment or Fallout 1 and 2, as long as they have this kind of novelistic feel in terms of the dialogue and conversations.

Off the top of my head, the games I've already played that are along those lines (with varying degrees of success) are:
Arcanum
NWN1 and 2
Fallout 1 through to New Vegas
Torment
BG1 and 2 (as well as the other Infinity Engine games)
KotOR 1 and 2
Divinity II
Drakensang
Deus Ex and Human Revolution

You mention Divinity 2, but not Divine Divinity or Beyond Divinity.. did you try those?

Also, Vampire Bloodlines plays out very similar to Deus Ex in many ways (and I can highly recommend). You not only get persuasion, but also seduction and threat as dialogue options.

One from left field is LA Noire. Its not an RPG, but you do spend some time talking to people and you have to read their physical reactions and compare it to what evidence you have to determine whether they are telling the truth or not. Getting theses cues right yields more plot and clues.

Erm... Darklands ? Also, Inquisitor has lots of dialogue, but also lots of fighting too .

Gothic, baby!

They are not on GOG (yet, fingers crossed) but The Elder Scroll games are conversation heavy. I just started playing Oblivion and it's all questing.

The recently released Shadowrun Returns is a pretty good contender in the dialog-heavy arena, methinks. I've been reminded of Ps:T constantly while playing it.

You could try also: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Wonderful game, great dialog and story.

Oh, and Morrowind. Play Morrowind. Not as dialog-heavy as the above contenders, but lore-wise it is the champ. Amazingly deep setting.

Another vote for Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines from me. Although the setting and the story are quite different, playing VTMB I got that old Deus Ex feeling again. Great game, great game.

Betrayal at Krondor is not quite as dialogue heavy as the others, but it still has a strong story and there is still a lot of dialogue in there. I did not like the combat system though, but that is a matter of taste.

Also, Jeff Vogel's games might be worth checking out (Avarnum, Geneforge & Avadon are here on GOG, and Nethergate can be found on Steam & his own website).

IIRC, there's a lot of dialogue and lore text in Geneforge games and Avadon. There's even a diplomatic skill in the GF series for extra choices.

Thanks for the replies. I haven't played either of those so I'll check them out. I've played DD but not BD. I liked it, but it was more of an ARPG without any real dialogue choices, just the usual "Go here, do that, I need help" things. I know Larian said that isn't really what they wanted to do but they were pressured into being like Diablo. I'm one of the many backers for Original Sin. Yeah, I've tried to play that a few times but never got that much into it. It's become one of those games that I replay but get so ground down by doing the start again for the millionth time that I never get anywhere. I guess I just need to push through that and actually get into the content beyond it. Yeah, I played that but got a little annoyed at how you'd try to show a bit of doubt to the witness and instead Cole would be like "DON'T LIE TO ME YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Again, one I need to get back to and try to get over those problems. Is that really that dialogue-based? I thought it was more like TES where it's basically all free-roaming combat and the only dialogue is just lore lectures (which I don't mind, but I'm more talking about things like being able to trick the NPCs, lie to them, convince them etc.) or people asking you to do a task for them. I mean, most people in TES games just say the exact same thing as each other which is usually just "Hail, adventurer" and not much else. Also, I started to play Gothic 3 but it just wouldn't work very well. My PC is more than good enough to run it, it can max Skyrim and nearly max The Witcher 2 but ran that Gothic 3 terribly.

Same here, but once I realized that a game of that size, scope, and details is bound to have some issues, I had a lot more fun playing it. It felt very buggy and unfinished at first... but over time I started asking... how did they manage all of this????!!!?

Recommendations are difficult because we all like different things, so hopefully you will find something that you really enjoy.

FYI, did you try backing out of a lie? Cole goes off, "I know you are LYING!!!!! you KILLED HIM!!!!!" and then you can back out without providing proof and in a very soft voice he will say something like, "my mistake" and then its like he never said anything. ;)

Edit: BD is much like DD... its been a while, so I may have forgotten how different D2 is in terms of dialogue. I do know that the first two games let you affect the game world by your actions, but it may have been more physical actions than your dialogue choices.

removed, didn't see your TES comments ;)

Realms of Arkania 2 + 3 have a very solid conversation system. I think especially Shadows over Riva will be to your liking.

Now, to "properly" play those games I highly recommend starting with RoA 1. But this is more of an "Adventure group simulator" than a RPG. Don't let yourself fooled by the fake complexity, it is less complex than it looks. It is also very weak on conversations. It is still very atmospheric and my 2nd favourite game of all time (Roa 3 being my 1st fav and RoA 2 my third fav). ;-)

Problem is getting a proper version. AFAIK, GOG currently is the only option of getting the games in english. If you speak German by chance, get the German "Heldenedition" version.

Also, Fallout New Vegas has excellent dialogue. It is pretty much the continuation of Fallout 2 in 3D. Writing is better in every regard, and you can "opt out" of the weird stuff, which really helped me with atmosphere.
You can actually finish Gothic 1 without talking to anyone. And Gothic 2 by only talking to one guy. Conversations are not the focus of those games.

Age of Decadence is apparently a game in which combat is only a last resort (like in real life). Unfortunately, the game has been in development for a while and I have no idea when it will be out. It does have a public beta you can try to see if it's what you are looking for. I can't speak from experience though, I never tried it, I rather wait for the full game and form my opinion then.

You've played the best ones. What you enjoy from the lower tiers is anyone's guess, though the suggestions made already are good starting places.

I would say Gothic and Risen do not fit however. They're much more like Elder Scrolls in that the gameplay is more about exploration, combat and survival than conversation.

I have the trilogy on GOG, actually. I've never got around to playing them apart from when I spent about 2 hours making my party in the third game and then realised how late it was and went to bed. I also read one of the novels to get myself into the settings but for some reason or another never actually got around to playing it properly. Hearing them being recommended here has definitely motivated me to get around to playing them at last.

DaCostaBR: Sounds good. I'm downloading the beta now. Thanks for the suggestion.

StingingVelvet: Yeah, I thought that would be the case. With the lower tier ones it's more about just hearing the names and getting suggestions since their reputations don't precede them, unlike BG, Fallout, Torment and so on. It's quite annoying to google for, as well, since asking for "games similar to fallout" will probably find people on Yahoo Answers recommending Skyrim or RAGE.