nose on 1/12/2011 at 13:46

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I've been thinking of buying some new PC games. I want something which immerses the player continously with ease and brings forth strong feelings (a game which does that constantly is just perfect). The feelings can, but doesn't have to be in the form of a rush, it could also be something like a constantly present, scary, dreadful feeling. I prefer grinding, downtime and other boring stuff to be minimized as much as possible; it should often be exciting and surprising. And the quality experience should come from the graphics, sound and gameplay working together, not from story cutscenes and such. It's also good if the game has some complexity, if it's excessively simplistic it quickly gets boring. I'm not interested in games like Minecraft and Spore as they provide no emotional excitement. Only games which came out after the beginning of 2009 are interesting. Except for freeroamers which can go as far back as early 2007, fighters back to SSFII and RTS which can go as far back as the latter half of 2006. Not under 80% on GR or Metacritic (by critiques) for any game, not under 84% for FPS (excluding FPS freeroamers), not under 85% for RTS. If online is a big part of what makes the game worth it, it better still have quite an active online community which will remain active for at the very least another 3 years. If it's single player then I prefer it to have a total of 15 hours of gameplay or more.

So I've been looking at different genres. I would like to know which genres fit what I described in the first paragraph best, in general. RTS try to offer deep, complex gameplay but seem very spammy and boring overall. And you jump back and forth, its just not the same as the singularly focused experience of first/third person. There's quite a lot to chose from, but I think I would take something fast paced, tactical, really good like Company of Heroes 1, DotA, or SCII. So I'm wondering what some other good RTS are and if RTS sounds like a good genre, going by the first paragraph. Maybe I should just try chess instead, but then again that takes long to learn.

Then there's freeroamers. I'm looking mainly at Skyrim, New Vegas, Mass Effect and the 3 S.T.A.L.K.E.R games. I have not played the first two, but it seems to me (wrong?) Bethesda/Obsidian and Bioware appeals mostly to casuals, instead of thrill and challenge? There's mods, but the core game remains the same... Also, many battles seem very "messy" and at times very onesided. Haven't played any of the STALKER games either, but they're said to have challenge and an unique, engrossing and at times scary feel. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, does one actually feel very emotionally lively while playing them? Also, does Clear Sky really suck so bad in comparison to to SoC and CoP? I haven't so much checked Saints Row, GTA and the like but they don't seem to go well with the first paragraph?

I have the impression that SSF4AE beats out BlazBlue and KoF13 (should it come to PC that is) in terms of popularity, repetitiveness, online and overall quality, but what say you? I might as well ask the same regarding SF x Tekken and MvC3. MvC3 has many 'different' characters, but is it just me or does it often devolve into much overly drawn out spam, extreme animation and extreme combos, which would reduce depth?

Racing games, racing sims, flight sims. I know there are several of all of those and I haven't tried any of them, but am I mistaken to think they're actually not very exciting? Actually I would like to ask the same regarding "superhero" games like Prototype. Also there's singe player adventure/shooter/stuff like Assassin Creed, Bioshock, FEAR, dunno what to make of them though.

And finally FPS w/ multiplayer, which there is an humongous amount of, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, L4D2, TF2, BF3, MW3. Should I just get MW3 as it's "hot" and very quick way to get in at action, or check out something else? I mean, MW3 seems cool and tactical, you die real quick and often though, and something like that really puts a damper on things (or doesn't it?). Also the special abilities seem kind of generic, e.g. take up laptop and then have a missile land somewhere on the map killing someone. That doesn't matter if the game still manages to stay exciting and varied, but I can't help but ask if it makes things a bit less exciting. Actually I already tried MW1 quite a bit, never bothered to get good so I don't know how it feels to really be playing at your best while you're actually good, or which MW game is best. But I can easily aquire MW1 very, very cheaply.

I named quite a few different games as examples but if I missed some good games or genres then please do mention them!

For gaming in the next few years, especially with Windows 8, will 4GBs of RAM be a probable requirement? More and more seem to have 2GB as minimum, and 3GB computers seem unusual.

Is having a 64bit OS becoming standardized in the near future? Will it be a requirement for gaming and such?

june gloom on 1/12/2011 at 18:48

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just fyi, nose, do not listen to koki, he is our resident troll who hates everything

most of us only hate lots of things

Blue Sky on 1/12/2011 at 21:04

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Bioshock's a brilliant FPS (with some RPG elements in how you develop your skills) which fulfills some of the stipulations regarding immersive atmosphere and emotions, with gameplay, story and design all working hand in hand.

God knows how it meets your other criteria, though. Why not just play various things and see what floats your boat?

Sulphur on 1/12/2011 at 21:41

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Step 4:
Play everything. Look woefully upon the mountain of games you now own and realise that while there's always plenty of time to buy everything, there isn't enough time in the universe to play it all.

Sulphur on 1/12/2011 at 21:50

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Also, I realise that the only game you need to play is Psychonauts. Past the opening hour, it's pretty much everything you've asked for in the first paragraph, all the subjectivity behind such a perspective notwithstanding.

As far as FPSes go, I've yet to find one that's even remotely compelling emotion-wise while you're playing it. It's probably because all that shooting tends to get in the way of the drama. All of the FPSes I can think of have their narrative bolstered by cut-scenes or what have you. Even Max Payne, which is the most affecting shooter story there is, probably.

And RTSes? There's only one game that fits most of your criteria, and that's Homeworld. And of course, it's old, so it looks like ass today, so there's that. But it's everything else you wanted.