I like to know if you folks liked Witcher or Elder Scrolls. Never played either. I purposely stopped after Baldurs Gate due to wanting to concentrate on a new business. Obviously, MM6 and Baldurs are different but I enjoyed them both. With that in mind and the sale on, would Witcher or Elder Scrolls be worth a shot in your opinion(s).

Bob

Both, Witcher and ES play very differently from party-based RPGs, they are more Action/RPG and play in real time. Witcher 3 specifically requires beast of a PC, so keep that in mind. Morrowind and Daggerfall are definitely worth checking and playing.

There is Elminage Gothic with 72% off, which is a steal for this game. Turn-based RPG with first person view and tile based movement (like earlier MM games), fully focused on dungeon crawling. It is very underrated and overlooked game.

Another game I would recommend is Dragon Wars. It's rather interesting, being nonlinear without scaling enemies, having a slow power curve (your power comes from equipment and spells rather than high levels), and having a classless skill point system. It is turn-based with tile based movement, but is definitely not a dungeon crawler, and grinding is not necessary (and is only really useful if you lack an important skill anyway). Also, many puzzles have multiple solutions, escaping Purgatory (the prison town you start in) being the best example.

Also, I second the Elminage Gothic recommendation if you are looking for a challenge.

Morrowind is a fun game to play around in and experiment with the spellmaker. It is not a game if you are looking for a challenge, as there are multiple major exploits.

I also enjoyed both the Witcher series and Elder Scrolls series. But they are very different. Personally, I like the Witcher series better because it has a really strong sense of place and tone. Story and characters are very important. The first game is noticeably rougher than the later entries but I still liked it a lot. I actually haven't played the third one yet because, as Sarisio mentioned, it requires a beast of a PC, but everyone seems to love it and I'm looking forward to it once I'm able to upgrade my hardware. I highly recommend the series, especially if you're interested in good stories with interesting characters and tough choices, steeped in some excellent atmosphere. I also personally prefer playing in Polish with English subtitles, as I think the English acting is worse. Easy to do, with the versions provided by GOG (actually slightly harder to do with Witcher 3 for some reason, but still possible).

The Elder Scrolls series is an interesting one to follow. I've never played the first game Arena, but I've played all the rest. They've always had a focus on an open world where you're free to wander and do whatever you want, including ignore the main storyline. Over time they've been de-emphasizing stats and numbers in the interest of a "streamlined" experience, which some like because they feel more immersed in the world, but others dislike. There's also a valid criticism that while the recent entries have beautiful worlds to explore, there's not that much to do in them except enter yet another (mostly linear) dungeon and fight things, with combat that isn't even that interesting or fun. But I still had a lot of fun with the series including the recent ones.

Also, ever since Morrowind the games have absolutely phenomenal mod support, with mods available that do everything from tweaking little gameplay details to creating entirely new games. These really expand the games beyond the base that Bethesda provides and allow players to enjoy the games for years. The games also aren't strongly connected to one another, so it's easy to jump in at any point.

If your'e interested, here are a few thoughts on the Elder Scrolls games I've played:

Daggerfall: Used procedural generation to create an ENORMOUS world. Has particular nostalgia for me. I still think it's really interesting, but valid criticisms include the fact that the hundreds of towns don't really feel that different, and there's not much to do other than explore huge, labyrinthine dungeons pieced together from various building blocks. Also introduced (I think) the skill-based system for leveling, but there are a huge number of skills, many not that useful, and the system is fiddly. I still love it.

Morrowind: The most interesting world. Hand-crafted this time, with giant mushrooms, buildings hollowed out of huge crab carcasses, and other crazy stuff. Even the fact that it has the worst combat of the series and much of the map is a volcanic wasteland does not detract from its charm. Many players' favorite entry. Also, TONS of mods available.

Oblivion: Hasn't aged that well. At the time it had amazing graphics and one of the first truly convincing forests in a first-person game, but now the visuals aren't so impressive, and the world design is much less interesting than that in Morrowind. Also, bad voice acting with the same few voice actors across the whole game. But it has better combat than Morrowind (still not amazing), and magic feels better even though there are fewer types of spells to cast. There's more of an emphasis on following quest lines, either the main story or separate quest lines for each guild (Fighter's Guild, Mage's Guild, Thieve's Guild, etc.) Mods can make it more interesting, and the Shivering Isles expansion is much more interesting to explore.

Skyrim: More of an evolution of Oblivion, but I liked it better. Combat hasn't really changed much and is starting to feel stale at this point, but a beautiful world, slightly better voice acting, and a bigger emphasis on just exploring rather than following quest lines. Again, mods can add a lot. I actually haven't even tried the main story in this one yet!

OK that was probably way too much information, so I'll stop there.

Thanks all for taking the time. Elder Scrolls, Dragon Wars, and Elminage Gothic look like good ones. Witcher does look good but I won't be updating my machine for another six months.

Won't be able to play them for a while as warm weather is keeping me busy. But looks like some new games for the Yule.

Again, thanks for the input.

The first two games in the series can be played on less beefy machines. You still need a decent one for The Witcher 2 though.