Via PM, of course. Keep in mind, I've given several people links to abandonware sites for games that can't be obtained anywhere else, and always specifically told them NOT to download games that are on GOG. Don't worry, most people found GOG through those sites :P

If you have never entered Britannia in Ultima, I would recommend trying Ultima IV (here for free) and buying The second trilogy and VII from here at GOG. The first trilogy is really good also, but a bit dated (especially Ultima II.) They are sold at a fantastic price considering how much it would cost to try to get them on Ebay or anywhere else. Also grab the Worlds of Ultima games (not fantasy- one is like a 1930s pulp and the other one is Steampunk) for free here as well. (Do not get them anywhere else- here they are licensed and include excellent extras.) GOG has really done us a great favor by getting those for us.

Enjoy your adventures.

You could probably skip that altogether, trust me, it wouldn't harm GOG at all ;)

Well, thank you for all the replies everyone. But I should mention a few more things.

Firstly, I already own Morrowind (On Steam) which so many of you are recommending. And I don't really consider it the kind of game I'm looking for because of it's real time combat. Suppose I should have mentioned that I'm looking for a turn based style one, but I just assumed that was a given.

To those of you suggesting Eye of the Beholder, unfortunately I plan to keep all of my PC gaming strictly digital. So if it's not available on GOG or Steam then unfortunately it's out of the equation for the time being.

At AFnord specifically, I already own Ultima 7, Fallout 1 and 2, and System Shock 2. But I think I'll check out Silver a bit more, even though it's not exactly what I'm looking for in this thread it still looks interesting.

Now for the rest. Robinson's Requiem looks interesting, so I'll check that out. The Ultima Underworld games also, but I'm just slightly hesitant due to the very dated graphics. Even I have my limits unfortunately. But if someone can assure me that it fits what I'm looking for in terms of story and exploration and such then I'll give it a shot. As for M&M6, well, same deal as Ultima Underworld to be honest. And as for the Ultima games 1 through 6, honestly, I seriously doubt I could stick with those if I tried them.

Go grab Grimrock! because the game's rock!

What do you consider a good story?

Might and Magic 7 is great, it has an open world for exploration and a stronghold that you improve over the course of the game. MM8 has very similar gameplay with a different twist, you get to play one of the monsters and hire others as NPCs. Playing a troll was fun. I recommend both. Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition is also excellent with a ton of fan created modules. The graphics are excellent and you can spend hours just trying to decide which character to play, the rules are very immersive.

Good luck with your decision, you really can't go wrong.

On first reading your post I thought you were looking for predecessors of Legend of Grimrock, to appreciate what LoG has done. In that case, with Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder not available on digital distribution stores, I would have suggested Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos as an enjoyable dungeon crawler in the same vein, with a comparatively good story. Even though, as grimwerk already mentioned, Legend of Grimrock isn't really an improvement over these older titles, just a great hommage with modern graphics. The gameplay is essentially the same.

But then you wrote that you are looking for turn-based games, not real-time, and that rules out all of the above, including Lands of Lore and Legend of Grimrock, which is tile-based but not turn-based, it's actually a real-time RPG, too ... You really want Wizardry or Might and Magic then.

Oh dear. Okay, I may be confused on exactly everyone's definition of turn based then. The way I see it, LoG is turn based enough for me to call it such, because all the enemies only move and attack when the player does. Hence they're essentially taking their actions in turns as far as I can tell.

And to answer Mentalepsy's question: My standards aren't incredibly high for story. Really as long as it's well written and has a relatively compelling narrative then I'll be able to enjoy it. Obviously though I prefer it when a game goes beyond the standard and does something original with it's story, or has some kind of twist which isn't obvious or cliche.

Grimrock, like its predecessors, is not turn-based as you describe. If you leave to use the bathroom in an unsafe area, a patrolling enemy will beat you to death without any input from you.

Since the thread has ventured beyond first-person perspective, I'll recommend Avernum and Geneforge by Spiderweb Software. Both are excellently written and the enormous, carefully-populated maps really scratch the exploration itch. All of their games have large, free demos.

Ah. I did not know that. Well, they still look like fun games. lol

And as for Avernum and Geneforge, already own those. Just haven't played them yet. Same goes for both Neverwinter Nights games which I just realized have been suggested a couple times.


So far it seems like Lands of Lore is a good starting point for what I'm looking for. Then probably either M&M 6 or 7.

Well, it's not like they are terribly difficult to find if you know how to use a bit of Google.

Ultima 5 is surprisingly useable, at least much moreso than 4. Combat moves rather quickly, the use keys are not entirely obfuscated, and you usually have a rather clear indicator about your odds in succeeding at any given task. Helps that the graphics are rather crisp as well.

M&M7 would be nice if you're real deadset on that. How about Betrayal at Krondor? Played that yet?

Here's a list of grid-based RPGs on GOG: http://www.gog.com/mix/grid_based_1st_person_rpgs

Lands of Lore is always my first recommendation to anyone getting into this genre.