Why the lack of PC Sci-Fi RPG's?

[Faldarian]

It's an old game, might have even been a C64 game, but "Mars Saga" was a great sci-fi RPG. It's old, so it's going to be dated if you can find it, but it's a lot of fun.

I think it was also released as "Mines of Titan" or something like that.

I'd guess that you can download it somewhere, but my google-fu is weak.

[Defiant]

It's an old game, might have even been a C64 game, but "Mars Saga" was a great sci-fi RPG. It's old, so it's going to be dated if you can find it, but it's a lot of fun.

I think it was also released as "Mines of Titan" or something like that.
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It was also released for the PC. Made by the legendary Infocom.

[DuckofDeath]

Actually, I think the problem with Scifi Rpgs is they rarely move past the basic fantasy style rpg gameplay. There shouldn't be contrivances to make melee combat workable or techno "spells": instead of figuring out scifi versions of fantasy conventions come up with something new. Set a whole game in a cyberspace like Snowcrash, make a laser squad remake more like the original game but with an rpg component, make it more diplomatic so the combat model is less important, etc. AO was pathetic.

This is also why I sometimes get irritated with space combat sims/strategy games. Instead of redoing WW2 combat but in space it'd be cool to see something new. I haven't read much scifi in the last ten years, but some of the golden age authors had some cool ideas for space combat. I'd love to see them worked out in a game.

[Chaitivel]

Try Beyond Good and Evil by Ubisoft. It was developed for consoles, but there is a good ported version of it for the PC.

This is a very highly rated action/adventure - its only issue is it is a tad short. I'd play it again if I could figure out who I loaned it too (DOH).