Dungeon Keeper 2 is good in its own way but definitely lost some of its original magic.
There was an indie series called Overlord (I think, can’t quite recall) which tried to be a Cities: Skyline type homage to Dungeon Keeper. I played it many years ago and it did scratch the same itch so you might be interested.
“Buffy Oak. A small location where the people just sit around all day and enjoy each other’s company. They talk, laugh, and sing without ever arguing, drawing daggers, and dying in a gurgling rush of blood. A truly bizarre place.”
I need to try that after I make my way through Planescape. I started BG1, but it just didn’t jibe with me all that much, which apparently is true for a lot of people. I probably should’ve just jumped to BG2.
I ended up going back to the first one after I finished the second one. It has its charm, and a pretty good story. level cap and the difficulty is what makes it a bit hard.
I think the power curve of the 2nd one really hits when you started off with your character in the first game killing rats in a basement.
As an aside I started Seige Of Dragonspear reecently because it was really cheap on Android and I was stuck on a long bus journey. I think it’s actually pretty decent and potentially would be a good starting point if BG1 was too slow. So far the writing has been similar to the other two games albeit not quite on par. There is no tutorial on the mechanics or anything like that though.
Edit: One thing about BG1 is that it can be absolutely fucking brutal in an old school way. I was in Chapter 5 in the eponymous Baldurs Gate and a sidequest triggered where an NPC told me they had poisoned my entire party and I needed to follow them to an alleyway to get the cure. I assumed this was a ruse and my party was going to get mugged/jumped in the alley.
Fast-forward to 4 hours of gameplay later, 2 weeks of in-game time. I was on Chapter 7 on my way to confront Saverok and my entire party keeled over and died. Turned out they actually had been poisoned and none of my stacked saves went far enough back to go and complete the sidequest to avoid the poisoning. So I was totally soft-locked with no way to complete the game by conventional means.
I’m still sad the source code of IWD2 was lost and we’ll never get an official Enhanced Edition (for all my hate of Beamdog and their writing and fanfic insertion the updated engine and QOL work they’ve done is quite nice).
Baldur’s Gate 2 forever. 🖤
Dungeon Keeper 4 lyfe
Dungeon Keeper 2 is good in its own way but definitely lost some of its original magic.
There was an indie series called Overlord (I think, can’t quite recall) which tried to be a Cities: Skyline type homage to Dungeon Keeper. I played it many years ago and it did scratch the same itch so you might be interested.
Yeah dk2 was just… overly complicated and ugly. The story behind it’sfascinating, it really was a rush incomplete job.
War for the overworld was the spiritual sucession, it’s fantastic. But if your heart is for the original, keeperfx.
“Buffy Oak. A small location where the people just sit around all day and enjoy each other’s company. They talk, laugh, and sing without ever arguing, drawing daggers, and dying in a gurgling rush of blood. A truly bizarre place.”
Another amazing one.
Ohhh, and the original Diablo. Tristram was such a familiar place after a while.
I fucking love bullfrogs stuff so much. That and worldbuilders like Pharaoh, Rise of the middle kingdom, zeus, etc…
I need to try that after I make my way through Planescape. I started BG1, but it just didn’t jibe with me all that much, which apparently is true for a lot of people. I probably should’ve just jumped to BG2.
I ended up going back to the first one after I finished the second one. It has its charm, and a pretty good story. level cap and the difficulty is what makes it a bit hard.
I think the power curve of the 2nd one really hits when you started off with your character in the first game killing rats in a basement.
As an aside I started Seige Of Dragonspear reecently because it was really cheap on Android and I was stuck on a long bus journey. I think it’s actually pretty decent and potentially would be a good starting point if BG1 was too slow. So far the writing has been similar to the other two games albeit not quite on par. There is no tutorial on the mechanics or anything like that though.
Edit: One thing about BG1 is that it can be absolutely fucking brutal in an old school way. I was in Chapter 5 in the eponymous Baldurs Gate and a sidequest triggered where an NPC told me they had poisoned my entire party and I needed to follow them to an alleyway to get the cure. I assumed this was a ruse and my party was going to get mugged/jumped in the alley.
Fast-forward to 4 hours of gameplay later, 2 weeks of in-game time. I was on Chapter 7 on my way to confront Saverok and my entire party keeled over and died. Turned out they actually had been poisoned and none of my stacked saves went far enough back to go and complete the sidequest to avoid the poisoning. So I was totally soft-locked with no way to complete the game by conventional means.
I should do another run soon. Maybe add some more mods this time…
That’s my go-to “storyline” game. I have so many great (and terrible—thanks, Lich) memories of that game.
I picked it up on a whim, not knowing a single thing about it. Next thing you know, I’m collecting every Black Isle/BG game and spinoff.
I’m still sad the source code of IWD2 was lost and we’ll never get an official Enhanced Edition (for all my hate of Beamdog and their writing and fanfic insertion the updated engine and QOL work they’ve done is quite nice).