I've been gaming for at least ten years now. When I first started gaming, every new game I tried seemed new, refreshing, and all around entertaining. But after so many years playing games, I think I've reached a point where it's becoming extremely difficult to feel any stimulation from gaming. I've been trying for several months to "get the groove back," but the magic just doesn't seem to be there anymore.
I'd appreciate it if I can get any recommendations for games that I had not tried. The more addicting, the better. I want something that can recapture my interest, so that I can do some gaming during my free time.
Some games I played:
Of course, from Blizzard: Starcraft Warcraft 3 Diablo 2 +various custom maps for these games (i.e. DotA, ~blood/~madness, ~micro etc)
These are classics. I can still play them and feel a semblance of enjoyment, but it's only maybe 1-2 games max before I get tired of it.
Other Major Games: football manager 2009, 2010 Civilization 2, 3, 4 heroes of might and magic 3,4 elder scrolls oblivion (Got really into it, making mods/creating textures/3D modeling new weapons etc) Final Fantasy 7/8 GTA 3/4 (Grand theft auto) Neverwinter Nights 1/2 (Also got REALLY into it, making many maps, modules, scenarios) Sim City 3000/4k The Sims 4 Fallout 3 The Witcher (Enhanced Edition) S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Portal Half Life 2 (First Chapter) Alpha Centauri Rise of Nations (Thrones and Patriots) Devil may Cry 3/4 Left 4 Dead Mount and Blade Medieval: Total War, Rome: Total War, Medieval: Total War 2, Empire: Total War Fable Dungeon Siege 1/2 Call of Duty modern warfare 1/2 icewind dale baldur's gate 2 (throne of bhaal) planescape: Torment star wars: knights of the old republic 1/2 Command and Conquer 1/2/Red Alert/Tiberian Sun/Kane's Wrath/Red Alert 2 Warhammer 20k Dawn of War/Dawn of War 2 Company of Heroes Age of Empires 1/2/3 Spore
Latest games: Alpha Protocol Tom Clancy Splinter Cell Borderlands Dragon Age Origins Assassin's Creed Bioshock 1/2 Mass Effect 1/2 King's Bounty Divinity 2: Ego Draconis Street Fighter 4 Sniper: Ghost Warrior anno 1404
Some Minor Games: Stepmania (on Keyboard) Torchlight Nox Titan Quest Breath of Fire Severance: Blade of Darkness Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura (Kinda sick of the theme at this point) Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators Ur'Quan Masters Battlestations Pacific (flying simulations weren't my type) Jericho Risen Tropico drakensang Galactic Civilizations Sins of a Solar Empire Lords of the Realm 2 Sacred 2 Out of the Park Baseball (baseball version of football manager) Deus Ex
Korean/Japanese Games: The War of Genesis 1/2/3/4 (창세기전 1,2,3,4) Farland Tactics (파랜드 택틱스) Arcturus (악튜러스) Romance of the Three Kingdoms 10/11 (삼국지 10/11) Dynasty Warriors 2/3/4 (진삼국무쌍 3/4/5) Warriors Orochi (무쌍 오로치) Ys 4/5/Origins (이스 4/5/오리진) Legend of Heroes (영웅전설) Princess Maker 4,5 (프린세스 메이커 4/5) Several Japanese dating sims Feudal Country Ransu
Yes, I played princess maker/other japanese dating sims way back when I was a horny teenager. Sue me. -_-
Emulated Games using SNES/PCSX etc: Final Fantasy 4/5/6 Chrono Trigger Dragon Quest Raiden Seiken Densetsu edit: Final Fantasy Tactics
Sigh. I've been looking for some other good ones that I had missed. But I can't find anything else that captures my interest.
I've heard of Singularity as the latest "it" game. But I see that it's again the same old regurgitation of the FPS genre, only upgrading the graphics and leaving storyline/gameplay in the shithole.
Can anyone give me any recommendations of games that I missed throughout my life?
Perhaps it really is time for me to stop gaming...
Gaming is a great time filler. But most people stop playing as they get older, not because gaming is immature but because other things in life start to interest them or take up the spare time they used to devote to gaming - hi Mani
Hm.. WoW? I don't know. I'd rather not pay a monthly fee for a game. Much rather just buy a package.
I thought SC2 would be promising, but with the way it's been screwed over, I'm probably just going to go through the single player campaign and then be done with it - just enjoy whatever pro scene that arises as a spectator, rather than a player.
Sigh... Is there anything major that I missed, that I definitely should try out?
if you have a PS2 then I'd say you need to play Shadow of the Colossus. It's about 8-10 hours long depending how fast you figure it all out, but it's something that everyone needs to play.
Go out and get it for like $15-20, pop it in at night when you have some alone time, and enjoy. Easy to pace yourself since it's literally a game that consists of 16 boss fights and nothing else. Honestly, if gaming has lost its magical touch for you, this will bring it back over anything else right now.
If you're looking for a longer, more addicting experience then perhaps get into an MMO? Otherwise I'd recommend FFXIII as it really works that Square Enix magic -- it has an excellent sci-fi fantasy premise, great plot, intense battle system and has a really streamlined approach to RPGs. Not everyone's cup of tea but it might be the cure!
Err, sorry. I didn't mention it, but every game I played has been on the PC. I've seen FF9,10,11,12,13 as all being pretty interesting games. But I don't have a console, so I can't play them...
I can emulate PS2 using emulators, but my computer is too slow, I think:
Laptop Intel 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo Nvidia 9800M GTS 4Gb ddr ram 64Bit Vista
I've been told that this spec isn't good enough to run the PS2 emulator at full throttle. If I could, I'd have jumped immediately - there's a whole library of games to explore. But until I upgrade my laptop next year, I won't be able to play any console games.
breath of fire 2 sword of mana golden sun castlevania series earthbound/mother 2 legend of zelda games etc.
I personally enjoyed the megaman battle network series (1-6) a lot as well...
Platformers you got some classics like donkey kong 1-3 (SNES), mario 64, SMW2 yoshi's island, etc. Lots of good stuff.
Looks like most of your list is PC games.... Lots of stuff on SNES/GBA/N64 if you really want to play some games. :p Emulators for a lot of these things are now pretty good too. PSX emulation is lagging a bit behind though so... yeah.
On July 10 2010 15:18 eMbrace wrote: Oh, assuming you can emulate PS1 -- Final Fantasy Tactics is a brilliant game that will suck many hours away from your life.
Oh yeah, I played Tactics! It was great, while it lasted. I loved using the mathematician class. Holy (single target spell) on all enemies with no mana cost, every turn? Yes please.
2-D scroll based action games like super mario and zelda became really old though after the first fwe games...
On July 10 2010 15:17 eshlow wrote: breath of fire 2 sword of mana golden sun castlevania series earthbound/mother 2 legend of zelda games
These are all from SNES? Which system were these designed for?
If you want, you should play the original command & conquer games: original, red alert, tiberian sun and red alert 2. All of those games have pretty awesome single players.
Oh shit, forgot about them too. I also played all the CnC games. Oh, yeah... I also tried out Warhammer. The latest one (Dawn of war 2 chaos rising) was too much RPG for way little gain though. Not engrossing at all...
Also unfortunately, after final fantasy 6 and 7, most other Japanese style RPGs don't feel that attractive to me. I tried Breath of fire afterwards, but it was kinda crappy compared to FF6 and 7. Chrono Trigger was about the only other notable Japanese style RPG to capture my interest to the level of FF6 and FF7.
On July 10 2010 15:25 orgolove wrote: Oh shit, forgot about them too. I also played all the CnC games. Oh, yeah... I also tried out Warhammer. The latest one (Dawn of war 2 chaos rising) was too much RPG for way little gain though. Not engrossing at all...
Also unfortunately, after final fantasy 6 and 7, most other Japanese style RPGs don't feel that attractive to me. I tried Breath of fire afterwards, but it was kinda crappy compared to FF6 and 7. Chrono Trigger was about the only other notable Japanese style RPG to capture my interest to the level of FF6 and FF7.
BOF1 was ehh. BOF2 was much better. That's a SNES game. So is earthbound
Most of the other ones are GBA or GBA ports from other systems.
Zelda has stuff from all of the different platforms from nintendo, SNES, n64, GB/GBC/GBA, etc.
Play Dragonquest 8, but that is a really old school style rpg so i doubt you would like it.
Also Shadow of the Colossus as another person mentioned and Ico are definitally those rare games that are more art than a game. ( as in the gameplay itself is art, these games don't have a bajillion cutscenes, and I promise you will like them )
Heh. It's been such a long while since I ran emulators on my PC. I guess SNES and PS1 is where it's at though.
Ah, what the heck - it's summer, so I guess I can spend a weekend setting up some emulators and running the games you mentioned.
I hope they'll work for Vista 64bit. I don't understand how game developers screw up so badly nowadays - no matter how great the graphics are, if the story is shit, the game is shit, you know? Gameplay and story wise, old SNES games were so much better.
Also, too much FPS nowadays. literally 90% of the games being released these days are FPS or have FPS elements.
Rougelikes seem to be out of your list, and altough graphics are mostly ASCII they can have huge worlds and deep stories, and first and foremopst, they have a HARD mode on all the time, step lerning curves and one life per game (will delete savegame after dying).
Personal best is ADOM, and others are Nethack, Dungeon crawl, Incursion, ToME and others.
there are also others more "action" like rougelikes like Doom RL , Berserk RL, or Aliens RL (by Kornel Kislewicz)
And tehre is also the biggest sandbox fortress bulding simulation ever "Dwarf Fortress" with really blody battles, child labour, never sober dwarves, gigant doomsday devices, and magma. (try searching an Boatmurdered - let's play, its awesome).
Oh yeah! I actually have a set of links of roguelikes that I had promised myself to play, but never got to it. Thanks for the reminder!
I did try Dwarf fortress. It was fun - but once you re-create the emergency lava switch from Boatmurdered, you reach kind of an end, you know? Nothing can ever threaten you from land, and it becomes just text based management from there...
Fallout 1, 2 Baldur's Gate 1 (do it with a full play-through into 2) Planescape Torment (bar-none best story-driven RPG of all time) Mask of the Betrayer (first expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2--VASTLY superior to the default campaign) TES: Morrowind
Other genres: Company of Heroes (as much as this site derides RPGs that aren't Starcraft, this one's pretty good, and definitely some good fun at LANs) System Shock 2
Oh, I tried Planescape Torment. It was pretty good.
Morrowind.. ehh. After spending so much energy on Oblivion, I'm afraid to go back into modding into that game. Maybe when I was younger, I had the passion to spend hours to 3D model and make the texture of a new sword into just the right color, size, and looks - but not anymore...
Baldur's Gate 1? I already played 2 - and I thought about it, but 1 is just a lower level cap version with an unrefined engine, as far as I can see.
Yeah, I already played all the expansions of both neverwinter nights. I agree Mask of the Betrayer was excellent.
Shiet, I did try company of heroes. It was in the same vein as Warhammer 20K though. Meh.
System shock, never looked at it before. A quick google search shows promise, but I don't know if it'll run in vista 64bit. Is it good enough that I should go through the trouble of reprogramming the exe or finding a compatibility patch for it?
theyango forgot the game he plays 100% the most these days...WoW!
you should join and sign up on our server. the fee really doesnt add up to much esp given the time periods that ppl often play the game in, and if you're a big game (and customization!) enthusiast with a bit of time it sounds like a great fit.
also lol james rpg's that aren't starcraft? interesting...
On July 10 2010 16:05 duckett wrote: theyango forgot the game he plays 100% the most these days...WoW!
you should join and sign up on our server. the fee really doesnt add up to much esp given the time periods that ppl often play the game in, and if you're a big game (and customization!) enthusiast with a bit of time it sounds like a great fit.
also lol james rpg's that aren't starcraft? interesting...
Good job reading the thread. Someone recommended WoW on the first page, and orgolove respectfully declined.
On July 10 2010 16:04 orgolove wrote: System shock, never looked at it before. A quick google search shows promise, but I don't know if it'll run in vista 64bit. Is it good enough that I should go through the trouble of reprogramming the exe or finding a compatibility patch for it?
That depends on how much you liked Bioshock. There will be a reasonable amount of familiarity of the other to someone who's played one. I think SS2 pulls off the experience a little better, but opinions vary.
All right, another one to the to-do list. System Shock 1/2. I hope I'll be able to get it working. That's what I'm really worried about - I've been burned so much this past year, with the incompatibility issues between Vista 64 bit and many of the older games.
You cant miss out on half life 1 and fallout 2. Age of empires 1 and 2 are also awesome, Cossacks and all of the expansions can also be fun, and if you are looking for something a bit different, Sacrifice is a good game with a interesting playing system. If you liked Fable, you might like Jade Empire, I know I did. Also how was Neverwinter nights 2 ? I loved the first one and the expansions, but the second one looks different.
As with many of these lists, you missed out on the classic gems Jagged Alliance 2 and the Gothic series. They are in my top5 games of all time, although, admittedly, they are getting a liiiittle outdated.
huh, how could I forget Gothic, I guess oblivion pushed them from my mind completely. Gothic 1 and 2 are awesome indeed, buggy like hell tho so watch out for that, and id just stay away from gothic 3 altogether.
On July 10 2010 15:17 eshlow wrote: Lots of good RPGs you haven't played....
breath of fire 2 sword of mana golden sun castlevania series earthbound/mother 2 legend of zelda games etc.
I personally enjoyed the megaman battle network series (1-6) a lot as well...
Platformers you got some classics like donkey kong 1-3 (SNES), mario 64, SMW2 yoshi's island, etc. Lots of good stuff.
Looks like most of your list is PC games.... Lots of stuff on SNES/GBA/N64 if you really want to play some games. :p Emulators for a lot of these things are now pretty good too. PSX emulation is lagging a bit behind though so... yeah.
Megaman Starforce 1-3(so far) were graet games also
On July 10 2010 15:48 orgolove wrote: I did try Dwarf fortress. It was fun - but once you re-create the emergency lava switch from Boatmurdered, you reach kind of an end, you know? Nothing can ever threaten you from land, and it becomes just text based management from there...
True that. But if you would like to try it once again, recently new "major" version improvement came out with a new army arc, medical care, and compleatly new underground with caves tunnels rivers and much more random Fun. (it's still somewheat buggy but is being worked on atm)
I would also strongly recommend FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2, the games are beyond awesome and i come back to them every once in a while. (if you would like to play them, there is a mod for FS2 to have whole FS1 campagin in its better engine)
Aaand on topic of space games, Homeworld an fully 3D RTS have an awesome and captivating campagin. Plus if you like it there is a squel too (i liked the first one better thou).
Personally I think you should try some rhythm games, if you haven't already done so. If you're into music (which pretty much everyone is), then they are pretty damn fun. If you're not, they will open you up to different genres and be insanely addicting, and simply fun to play over and over. You pretty much just do whatever to the beat of the music.
There are the western ones: guitar hero, rock band, dj hero, etc. that opened my ears to classic rock and some other tight music. Plus they are extremely easy to pick up and play with friends, which is always fun. Then there are the Japanese ones which get considerably more difficult, but are even more addicting imo: DDR of course, beatmania, pop'n music, jubeat, lumines, rhythm heaven (a lol game for DS), other bemani games etc. Usually it's mostly electronic music in these, but they can come from every genre and the songs are amazing, much better than I expected for purely music-game music.
I myself have been playing pop'n music like crazy these days, and I can safely say that at the highest difficulties it is the hardest game I have ever played (my gaming list is actually very similar to yours). So if you're into challenges..
I think you just aren't playing any of the games that seriously. I mean even AoE 3 can be a lot of fun if you really get into it. Theorycrafting can be a lot of fun, start by reading up on unit stats, then take a piece of paper or an excel spreadsheet and just make up some strategy.
Or maybe it's like sex with married couples. Try to keep yourself away from games for a month and then ride the withdrawl symptoms!
Well, I've been gaming for about 10-12 years myself, so heres my "top" list. Perhaps some of them will interest you?
- Quakelive - CS 1,6 - Legend of Zelda (all of them really..) - World of Warcraft (you wanted addiction, come get it) - Aion (it's fun for some weeks, but then I got bored shitless..) - If you can get a hold on a Nintendo 64/Gamecube a new world will arise. Mario/Zelda/Metro etc, a lot of good classics. - Guitar Hero/Stepmania - God of War 3 (ps3 tho) - Diablo 1/2/exp - HoN, LoL (lol)
Duuurg, just ranting out games now really. Perhaps your days in playing games are over T_T
On July 10 2010 14:47 Subversive wrote: Gaming is a great time filler. But most people stop playing as they get older, not because gaming is immature but because other things in life start to interest them or take up the spare time they used to devote to gaming - hi Mani
This.
Age and number of games played are generally inversely proportional. This is usually because as you get older, you 1) get far more interests as you're able to do more things and 2) because you're more capable of analyzing and criticizing games, which means you like fewer. It's normal and I'd say a healthy thing to do.
EPT
I've seen FF9,10,11,12,13 as all being pretty interesting games. But I don't have a console, so I can't play them...
