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[Hangedman]

Also RM, Legion Saga 2 and 3 are also decent. Some interesting variations but still solid.

Also: all the various dungeon crawlers

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

the best i've played that has not been mentioned yet is exit fate, which takes inspiration from the early suikoden games (including some tiles from them, but most of the art is original). if you liked suikoden 1 and 2 you'd like exit fate

aside from that, yeah, check out craig stern's blog, it has a bigger list (although not an exhaustive one). you should also play some classic rpgmaker and ohrrpgce games, there are tons of them, most of which are bad but some of which are pretty good

[rdein]

space funeral

[Chef Boyardee]

Space Funeral
Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome
Knights of the Chalice (best Western RPG in the last 6 or 7 years!! One of the best ever!!)
Meritous
Rogue Survivor

There are many more but these are some of the best! But if you haven't already, you should go back and play some of the classics! Many are available on gog.com for less than $5.

Realms of Arkania: Star Trail
Gothic
Darklands
Bug Quest 3
Wizardry VII
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands

Also look out for Age of Decadence. There's going to be a real demo very soon and the developers are promising a lot. . . . . . . . . . .!!

+ support Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2 kickstarter when he launches it.

+ Grimoire. . . . if it really exists. 17+ years in development, perhaps the Holy Grail of RPGs?????

a lost rpg ronin. . . wandering the depths of heck . . . for more rpgs. . .

[mankoon]

I love space funeral 
Also Rainblood: Town of Death http://www.tigsource.com/2010/06/14/rainblood-town-of-death/
Need to get back to it.

[Jozape]

Despite people hating on RPGMaker, big time, there are quite a few gems around. Most follow the typical JRPG Route, so if you hate that kinda thing, you might want to stay clear. Otherwise, there's some treasure RPGs to be had here. Sadly most recommendations I could give are in german so probably not that much of a help to you.
You might try Eternal Eden, Exit Fate, Last Scenario, perhaps some Alter A.I.L.A. Genesis (was recommended to me recently, didn't try it yet). If you DO speak german try Vampires Dawn I&II or Unterwegs in Düsterburg. There's some crude humor in them but they're overall great games.

I can't speak german unfortunately, though I've never really like JRPGish games anyways so maybe not that big of a loss.

Also you could browse the frontpage using the RPG Tag, like so: http://www.tigsource.com/?s=rpg

Thanks, that was quite useful.(As is the indierpgs site)

Teudogar and the Alliance with Rome

Hey, that looks pretty neat just taking a quick glance at the screenshots. Looks like a U7 perspective/dialog system.

Knights of the Chalice (best Western RPG in the last 6 or 7 years!! One of the best ever!!)

Giving that one a try too.

Darklands

I have been thinking about buying Dark Lands(and Arcanum) for a little while now. I do want to go through some of the independent RPGs though, to get an idea of what's been done and possible in that space.

Also look out for Age of Decadence. There's going to be a real demo very soon and the developers are promising a lot. . . . . . . . . . .!!

Forgot about that one. Good to know.

+ support Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2 kickstarter when he launches it.

I've been watching Brian Fargo's twitter like a hawk ever since he even mentioned the idea of trying a KickStarter, actually. I've got a hundred dollars set aside for it already.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

I see that the Avadon developer has made a ton of RPGs in Spiderweb Software. What do you all think of those? Are they more like Icewind Dale? Baldur's Gate? Or Ultima?

i don't know if this part of your question has been answered already, but i wanted to mention that of the games you listed they're the most like ultima. but it's hard to compare them to any of those, since they are really their own sort of thing. they're *extremely* well written (probably some of the best storytelling in games i've ever seen) but also have really bad graphics, like, worse than programmer art. this is how bad the graphics are:



but if you can handle playing a game that looks like that, that game (geneforge 2) is one of the best rpgs ever made

[Soulliard]

I'll third The Spirit Engine 2. It's probably my favorite indie game of all time. The tutorial isn't very good, but stick with it. Once you figure the game out, it's fantastic.

I'd skip the first game entirely. It's nothing all that special, and it isn't connected with the sequel in any way.

[Jozape]

i don't know if this part of your question has been answered already, but i wanted to mention that of the games you listed they're the most like ultima. but it's hard to compare them to any of those, since they are really their own sort of thing. they're *extremely* well written (probably some of the best storytelling in games i've ever seen) but also have really bad graphics, like, worse than programmer art. this is how bad the graphics are:

*SNIP*

but if you can handle playing a game that looks like that, that game (geneforge 2) is one of the best rpgs ever made

Yes. I couldn't help but notice the bad graphics in all of those games(Avadon is okay). That UI in Geneforge 2 is quite...eccentric looking. I can endure that if the other parts are well above average though.

[Waltorious]

Yes. I couldn't help but notice the bad graphics in all of those games(Avadon is okay). That UI in Geneforge 2 is quite...eccentric looking. I can endure that if the other parts are well above average though.

All of the Spiderweb games (Geneforge series, Avernum series, Avadon, and the relatively under-rated Nethergate) have huge free demos to try before you buy the full games.  So if you are on the fence about the Geneforge titles, simply try the demos first.  I liked them a lot.

There have been great recommendations so far.  One game I would add, if you don't mind a JRPG-style game, is Master of the Wind.  It's completely free, quite long, and one of the best-written JRPG games I've ever played.  The start is a little slow but then things pick up.  Large download though, due to a lot of music files.

[ithamore]

Here's an old thread on Indie RPGs.

I'll also recommend the Secret of QWERTY: a hybrid of a typing game and an RPG.

[Jozape]

Here's an old thread on Indie RPGs.

Thanks. That even had links to other useful threads/lists that I spent way too much time looking at. Too bad most of the games ceased development though or are on life support. PARPG looked promising in particular.

i don't know if this part of your question has been answered already, but i wanted to mention that of the games you listed they're the most like ultima. but it's hard to compare them to any of those, since they are really their own sort of thing. they're *extremely* well written (probably some of the best storytelling in games i've ever seen) but also have really bad graphics, like, worse than programmer art. this is how bad the graphics are:

*SNIP*

but if you can handle playing a game that looks like that, that game (geneforge 2) is one of the best rpgs ever made

What other ones do you think are the best of the bunch? I just downloaded like 20 demos, and other than Geneforge 2 I have no idea idea which ones I should go at first. I have played a bit of the Avadon demo now and that's pretty good, though I would have liked to have picked my gender for each class. Unless I'm a dumbass and somehow missed that option. Even better still would be a game with no classes.

All of the Spiderweb games (Geneforge series, Avernum series, Avadon, and the relatively under-rated Nethergate) have huge free demos to try before you buy the full games.  So if you are on the fence about the Geneforge titles, simply try the demos first.  I liked them a lot.

Same as above. Got any suggestions on which ones to start with?

[Waltorious]

Same as above. Got any suggestions on which ones to start with?

First, you should pick which series you want.  The Geneforge games are single-character rather than party-based, although in some of them you can recruit companions.  But the main conceit of the games is that you can create life through magic, so you can create all sorts of monstrous creatures to fight for you.  They've got an interesting world, tons of tough moral choices, and different paths you can take based on what kind of character you made.  A single character will be unable to go everywhere and do everything.  Most of them feature different factions to join, oppose, or betray also.

The Avernum series is a more traditional party-based RPG with relatively few tough moral choices.  But they are (like the rest of the games) really well written, and fun.  They take place in a giant underground system of caverns that is used as a prison by the all-powerful Empire on the surface.  But the people down in the caverns have made their own society.  These were the first Spiderweb games I played and I liked them a lot, although I have only played the first four of them.  You should know that the first Avernum game is currently being re-made by Spiderweb, so you might want to wait for that.  It's out already for Mac I think but not for PC yet.

Nethergate: Resurrection is a stand-alone that plays very similarly to Avernum, but is set in Britain, pitting the Romans against the Celts.  You can play as either side and get a very different game.  I only tried the Celt side but I enjoyed it a lot.

Once you've picked a series, which game to start with?  I personally like to get the whole story so I like to start with the first game in each series, but they are designed so you can pick up one of the later games even if you haven't played the ones before.  Each typically gets a slightly improved interface and slightly better graphics (most noticeable in the second half of each series).  I've only played the first three Geneforge games and the first four Avernum games so I can't comment too much.  I was a bit disappointed with Avernum 4 but everyone says it gets good again with the fifth game.

A final note: all the Spiderweb games are similar to one another in many ways (this is one of the main criticisms of their games).  So while they have a lot of games you may find you don't want to end up playing all of them.

I personally have a soft spot for the first Avernum game, possibly because it was the first I played, but it is also the roughest and there is a new remake coming.  For Geneforge, I liked the first as a scene-setting game but the second and third were probably stronger all around.

Other people recommending specific games as their favorites?  I hear good things about the later Geneforge and Avernum games that I havent played...

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

the avernum/exile series has a more traditional story, and is more complex in mechanics. geneforge is relatively simpler in mechanics, and the games are shorter than the avernum/exile games, and the story is more unique / interesting rather than generic. both have good writing, so both are about equal in that regard, it's just that one is more generic than the other. the strengths of the storytelling in all spiderweb games are the world-building and little details and writing, not the characterization; the characterization in those games is relatively bad (i didn't really get attached to any character or care much about them, but found the details of the world building interesting). avadon is the most approachable of all his games, because it's the newest and has a new engine that's streamlined, but it's also shorter than the others. it's a good entry point though, so i'd suggest playing through avadon first, and, if you enjoyed it, play through all the other games in turn (either avadon 1-6 or geneforge 1-5, in order).

[FRET]

Check out Bat Castle. It's by a well known member here on the forums.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hHzQu2Zmww
"This game is the most independent RPG" - Alex Porthead, creator of Bat Castle

[Jozape]

A final note: all the Spiderweb games are similar to one another in many ways (this is one of the main criticisms of their games).  So while they have a lot of games you may find you don't want to end up playing all of them.

As long as the campaigns are meaningfully different, I probably won't mind similarities in graphics, audio, or systems. Unless you mean the situations your character ends up in are overly similar.

Well anyways, I think I'll start with Avadon and then go through Geneforge. Hopefully the Avernum remake is out by then. Thanks guys.

[Aik]

Feel free to skip Geneforge 3 - it's quite bad.

Otherwise - Dark Disciples is good: http://www.dodgysoft.com/

This one is barely an RPG, but it has a lot to say about RPGs and is well written (also; lesbians), so I'm going to mention it anyway -  Embric of Wulfhammer's Castle: http://wulfhammer.org/

Prelude to Darkness is supposedly good, but I couldn't get past the bugs. Check RPGCodex's forums for information.

[forwardresent]

There's the Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves The World games, if they haven't been mentioned.

[The Monster King]

Check out Bat Castle.

wow i just played BAT CASTLE and my mind was B L O W N

[Waltorious]

Otherwise - Dark Disciples is good: http://www.dodgysoft.com/

The sequel is finished now too.  They are both free, by the way.