Trying to decide on game to play...

Zygoptera on 22/10/2008 at 22:20

Icewind Dale has a story and a very good one, though its primary focus is tactical combat with a wholly user made party. BG2 has a very good story too, it's a lot more overt in its presentation, hitting you over the metaphorical head with cutscenes etc, but even at the time it was cliche-in-a-box (yeah, not helped now by Bioware using its story elements over and over and over and over and over again) and elements of it made little sense- I've just lost my soul, fortunately I can wander around helping tree huggers etc for as long as I want with no ill effects...

And Fallout and Icewind Dale or BG2 have very little in common except they are both isometric RPGs. The gameplay and combat mechanics are fundamentally different.

demagogue on 22/10/2008 at 23:05

Speaking of "required playing" games, PC Gamer came out with its latest '(http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=194111) top 100 most loved games' not too long ago, and I think the list works as a good queue for which "essential" games to play, across time and genre (except maybe I'd add Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, No one Lives Forever, Another World, Call of Cthulhu, and Hardwar ... and Bladerunner and The Last Express).

Code:

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Deus Ex
3 Half-Life 2
4 World of Warcraft
5 Medieval II Total War
6 Portal
7 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
8 Hitman Blood Money
9 Planescape Torment
10 UFO: Enemy Unknown
11 Civilization IV
12 Bioshock
13 Eve Online
14 Thief II: The Metal Age
15 Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
16 Armed Assault
17 Anachronox
18 The Longest Journey
19 World in Conflict
20 System Shock 2
21 Fallout
22 Company of Heroes
23 City of Heroes
24 Mafia
25 Half-Life
26 Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl
27 Counter-Strike Source
28 Darwinia
29 Battlefield 2
30 Day of the Tentacle
31 Call of Duty 4
32 The Sims 2
33 Baldur's Gate II
34 Quake III
35 Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
36 Rollercoaster Tycoon 2
37 Crysis
38 SimCity 2000
39 Homeworld
40 Peggle
41 Psychonauts
42 FEAR
43 Dawn of War
44 Supreme Commander
45 Dungeon Keeper
46 Mass Effect
47 GTA: Vice City
48 Trackmania United Forever
49 Ultima Underworld ii
50 Alien Vs Predator
51 Audiosurf
52 Guild Wars
53 Doom II
54 Beyond Good & Evil
55 Diablo II
56 Ultima VII
57 Outcast
58 Masq
59 DEFCON
60 Day of Defeat: Source
61 Warcraft III
62 Gears of War
63 TIE-Fighter
64 C&C Red Alert 2
65 Tomb Raider Anniversary
66 Unreal Tournament 3
67 Championship Manager 2: 96/97
68 Command & Conquer 3
69 The Secret of Monkey Island
70 Uplink
71 Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
72 Ground Control
73 Far Cry
74 Frontier: Elite II
75 Syndicate
76 Freespace 2
77 Race Driver: GRID
78 SWAT 4
79 Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
80 Knights of the Old Republic
81 Silent Hunter III
82 Desktop Tower Defence
83 Lord of the Rings Online
84 Grim Fandango
85 N
86 Anchorhead
87 Enemy Territory Quake Wars
88 Combat Mission: Afrika Korps
89 Sam & Max Hit the Road
90 Crimson Skies
91 Rise of Nations
92 Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
93 Full Throttle
94 Fable
95 Just Cause
96 Sensible World of Soccer
97 Armageddon Empires
98 Sacrifice
99 Sins of a Solar Empire
100 Starcraft

Koki on 23/10/2008 at 05:34

I laugh at that list.

sh0ck3r on 23/10/2008 at 06:23

i was thinking of grabbing the orange box because i've heard good things about portal and wouldn't mind having hl2 just for a rainy day

what you guys think of HL2? I played it for a bit on Xbox and was not impressed...

Aja on 23/10/2008 at 06:42

I think it's brilliant, at times. It makes you feel like the most important person in a very convincing world, and manages to be quite atmospheric along the way.

june gloom on 23/10/2008 at 06:44

HL2 is one of my favourite games. That makes me a filthy heathen around here because it's "cool" to hate the game.

Malf on 23/10/2008 at 06:55

HL2 is one of the best linear FPS series ever.
Lots here will probably disagree, and that's fine.
It doesn't make them right however :p

june gloom on 23/10/2008 at 07:08

B-but linearity is bad! Not having a plot spoonfed to me through cutscenes is bad! Having only 2 vehicles when Halo has 4 is bad!

N'Al on 23/10/2008 at 08:27

Knee-jerking is great!

HL2 is great (Episode 2 in particular)!

Koki on 23/10/2008 at 11:43

Quote Posted by dethtoll

That makes me a filthy heathen around here because it's "cool" to hate the game.

Especially considering that when it comes to games you're so passionate yourself.