An MMORPG (massively multi-player online RPG), set in ancient China.
Baldur's Gate is an RPG from BioWare and Interplay, set in the Forgotten Realms universe, using Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition rules. You play as a mage's apprentice in the city of Candlekeep during an iron shortage. Steel production is halted, tools such as farming equipment and weapons are scarce. Bandits roam the coast, seeking valuable iron, often over gold and jewels.
Drakensang: The Dark Eye was developed by Radon Labs. This is an RPG based on The Dark Eye pen and paper universe. Form a party from a selection of the various races and professions available in the lands of Aventuria. This is a slower-paced RPG with an emphasis on strategy and party balance.
Planescape: Torment is a top-down RPG made by Black Isle Studios (closed in 2003) and released in 1999. This game focuses more on the story telling (the 'role playing' part of RPG) than fighting. It has some really nice and funny dialogs delivered in both voice and text. You can avoid many combat situation by talking your way out of it. Which is pretty nice. The game received very high review scores but didn't sell too well. I was hoping for a sequel after I played through it the first time on my old junky computer way back when.
What can one say about Arx Fatalis? It's a 1st person RPG from way back (originally released in 2002) made by Arkane Studios (same folks who did "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic"). It was meant to be Ultima Underworld III but due to not being able to secure a license became its own game. I'm glad it's not tied to an existing franchise. It uses a skill based system as well as requiring the player to use mouse gestures to cast spells. The game is in the same vein as Morrowind/Oblivion but is much, much smaller in scale than either.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is the popular MMO from from Mythic, set in the Warhammer universe.
A "remote cousin" of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, King's Bounty : The Legend combines turn-based battles and real-time exploration in a lenghty singleplayer campaign.
The Chronicles of Spellborn is a MMORPG, developed by Spellborn International and distributed by Frogster Interactive, set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Spellborn uses the Unreal Engine, featuring a so-called European Art approach and contains notable contributions from Jesper Kyd.
Spellborn distinguishes itself from other MMORPGs by emphasizing the focus on story line, separating the look and the statistics of gear, integrating Player vs Environment and Player vs Player and offering combat that is fast paced and more reliant on player skill.
WOW is the blockbuster MMO from from Blizzard, set in their Warcraft universe. I did this DR the same week Wrath of the Lich King came out, so this could be considered the WotLK client.
This DR is out of date for the current state of the game (June 2014). Please see the entry for Pandaria.
Developed by Sir-Tech, Wizardry 8 concludes the Dark Savant trilogy and is the last Wizardry game in the series. Players can create or import a party of up to six adventurers. Another two additional NPCs can be recruited in-game from a selection of varied creatures. The game uses a first-person perspective with everything viewable except for the party. Combat is turn based and possesses a heavy strategic element. Characters develop with a unique combination of gaining levels and the usage of abilities and skills. This is a game directed at the hardcore RPG audience.
