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Your personal top ten

Somberlain

Arcane
Zionist Agent
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
6,202
Location
Basement
Is this a thread where you update your .txts for shaming purposes?

Anyway, these games are ones I can and will play over and over again without getting bored. Also, they have very few flaws or flaws that don't annoy me (or can be fixed with mods).

1. Jagged Alliance 2
2. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
3. Thief Gold
4. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
5. Doom
6. One of the Trails games, can't decide which one
7. Metal Gear Solid 1 or 3
8. Resident Evil REmake
9. Deus Ex
10. Dishonored
 

cvv

Arcane
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Joined
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Kingdom of Bohemia
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HOMM 3: It is the Apex of a genre.

Have you played King's Bounty, Disciples or Eador?
I read that Kings Bounty Legends has the best combat of all.

That's King's Bounty Crossworlds. This game has twice as many units with ten times more stats, perks, abilities and strategies than all HOMAMs combined. There's only one reason people can claim Homam3 has the best combat - they haven't played KBC. A while ago I booted up Homam 3 again after like 10 years and I couldn't believe how flat and basic the combat is compared to KB. I couldn't get over it.

But apart from the combat KB isn't really comparable with Homam, there are no strategic elements whatsoever, it's a pure tactical RPG. As for straight up Homam competitors I rate both Disciples 2 and Eador higher than Homam 3.
 

Lemming42

Arcane
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
6,150
Location
The Satellite Of Love
Fallout: New Vegas - it's good
Tomb Raider 2 - it's good
Max Payne - it's good (2 is somewhat less good, 3 can fuck off)
Final Fantasy 6 - it's good (so are 1, 4 and 9)
Morrowind - it's good
Deus Ex - it's good
Half-Life - it's good (I keep going back and forth on this and sometimes I shit on it but honestly it's pretty much a perfect game, which makes me even more pissy towards it. Half-Life 2 can fuck off though)
Mount & Blade: Warband - it's good (played it to death, though, can't play it anymore)
EarthBound - it's good
Crash Bandicoot 2 - it's good

Special mentions to both Shenmue games and also heavily modded Skyrim, which seems to have consumed several hundred hours of my time without me noticing
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
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19,226
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Bjørgvin
There's only one reason people can claim Homam3 has the best combat - they haven't played KBC. A while ago I booted up Homam 3 again after like 10 years and I couldn't believe how flat and basic the combat is compared to KB. I couldn't get over it.

How is the AI in KBC? What's almost unique about HoMM 3 is the competent tactical AI.
 

cvv

Arcane
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Joined
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Location
Kingdom of Bohemia
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There's only one reason people can claim Homam3 has the best combat - they haven't played KBC. A while ago I booted up Homam 3 again after like 10 years and I couldn't believe how flat and basic the combat is compared to KB. I couldn't get over it.

How is the AI in KBC? What's almost unique about HoMM 3 is the competent tactical AI.

I don't think the AI is an issue in these games. At least not in the combat arena. There are relatively few rules and variables it has to consider. The overworld map is a different thing but again, KB isn't a strategy game, there isn't any overworld AI.
 

Lemming42

Arcane
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
6,150
Location
The Satellite Of Love
The unskippable 4-hour-long cutscenes alone are enough to ruin it.

The shooting itself is fine but most of the fun in Max Payne (for me, anyway) was the self-aware tone of the story, which is why I don't rate 2 as highly as 1 and can't stand 3 at all.
 

baturinsky

Arcane
Joined
Apr 21, 2013
Messages
5,536
Location
Russia
King's Bounty (any one) biggest problem is that it does not encourage you to play with different units. You find one setup that works and is sustainable (i.e. with resurrectors) and rest of the game is a routine.
 

Goral

Arcane
Patron
The Real Fanboy
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
3,555
Location
Poland
1) Sacrifice - The most unique RTS ever with some RPG elements, great plot and characters and amazing graphics that even today are stunning (if only due to superb art direction). One of the few games that I can play forever without getting bored (the other are AoD and Fallout 1). I would give a kidney for a sequel at least half as good as this godly game.

2) Age of Decadence - The most "fresh" and innovative RPG since Fallout 1 and the best game I've ever played (maybe besides Fallout 1 and Sacrifice but that's it). It allows you to experience the story from different POVs, has the best C&C system of all games and characters like Miltiades, Feng or Neleos

3) Giants: Citizen Kabuto - Another unique game produced by Interplay that deserves a sequel as much as Sacrifice. A gem among games.

4) Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive -
I never was Commandos fan. Didn't like the setting, didn't like the gameplay. That's why I was reserved and rather sceptical when I first played Desperados. But I needed only few seconds with it to change my mind. To my surprise, I was hooked from the get go and liked everything in it! The setting (it was always more sunny here and overall the game was more optimistic than Commandos), the music (it had one of the best music background I've ever heard in a game), actor's dubbing... EVERYTHING. But the best was the gameplay. It was constructed so that even beginners could easily grasp how to play it and at the same time it was interesting. Each time new playable character appeared we've had a chance to see their abilities in a way that continued the story flow.

And the story is truly great. Unlike in Commandos, where you've had some missions practically not connected with each other, in Desperados everything fitted very well. As a result we've received a grasping tale about bounty hunters who were honorable and interesting. What's more it was constructed so well that you could finish most missions using various methods. The easiest way was to kill everyone and using that method you could race with other players and set a record for finishing the game (there is a timer in game which is another great thing and advantage over Commandos). But the trick was to kill as few as possible and when you could do that, victory was even more enjoyable.

That's not all however. The next step was to finish the game without killing anyone with a gun (not firing at all was very hard since otherwise it was difficult to lure someone unless it was night and they were more sensible/sensitive to sounds and running or Cooper's watch worked great). Using a knife, snake, dynamite, etc. And you could have finished the whole game using this strategy (besides last mission). But there was another step - to not kill anyone! I've managed to do that for 23 missions and only in the last one (obviously) and one before that I had to kill. This makes me very proud because it was very, very hard and time consuming to do that :D. Although I have to admit that at some places I had to use dynamite and throw it in a way to not kill anyone. I think the hardest mission using this kind of play was retaking Sanchez's hideout (taking out first guards was the hardest but not impossible).

Anyway, Desperados >> Commandos, it offers many more options, has better gameplay, great story (and in comparison to Commandos which has no story at all it's a HUGE difference), offers multiple solutions to finish missions (for example you can blow your way out by making a hole in a wall or you can snipe some enemies and cross the bridge and there are many missions like that), has really great, colorful characters, characters who aren't indifferent to you (you end up cheering up for them and sometimes you're sad when a tragedy happens), etc. etc. It's one of the few perfect games (besides it there is Sacrifice and Fallout 1).

5) Disciples 2 - One of the best strategy games of all time and one of the few games I return to every few years. It's a bit primitive (i.e. it's easy) but it's one of the most addictive games I know, a guilty pleasure.

One of the best FPS games ever and later one of the best TPP games ever. Also, possibly the best Star Wars game ever.

7) Aliens versus Predator (2000) - One of the scariest games I've played. Along with AvP 2 and No One Lives Forever it's an FPS with the best single player campaign. What's more, multiplayer is also superb.

8) Quake 2 on q2dm1 - Best map ever created. Quake 3 is great too and I don't know any better multiplayer FPS.

9) Starcraft and Red Alert 2 (and Total Annihilation) - best RTS games I know but if I had to choose one it would be Starcraft.


10) The King of Fighters '97 - Best fighting game ever
 
Last edited by a moderator:

anvi

Prophet
Village Idiot
Joined
Oct 12, 2016
Messages
7,549
Location
Kelethin
If I get a KB game, should I go straight for Crossworlds? I have Age of Wonders 3 but am kinda bored of it, I want something a bit different and more actiony.
 

hello friend

Arcane
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
7,847
Location
I'm on an actual spaceship. No joke.
Games that got me really, really IMMERSED(Tm):

Starcraft
Homeworld
Monkey Island 1
Monkey Island 2
Half Life
Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Diablo 2
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
The Longest Journey
Oregon's Trail 2 or 3 (Don't remember which. Maybe both)
King of Dragon Pass
Alien versus Predator 2
 

Carrion

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
3,648
Location
Lost in Necropolis
The shooting itself is fine but most of the fun in Max Payne (for me, anyway) was the self-aware tone of the story, which is why I don't rate 2 as highly as 1 and can't stand 3 at all.
Max Payne 1 was all over the place with its story, really. It was the type of a story you'd write as a 13-year-old (or at least I did): you start from a simple, clichéd scenario to kick things off (a cop getting his family killed), then improvise from that with no clear sense of direction (the cop kills some bad guys and always goes one step up the ladder to the next one), and at some point you read or watch something else and get new ideas that you also want to incorporate into your story (conspiracies, men in black, secret government projects, a huge corporation involved in manufacturing super soldier serum etc.) so that, in the end, you have this mishmash of every cool idea you could think of that is certainly fun but also pretty much a total mess. Don't get me wrong, I love Max Payne, and it's one of my most replayed games, but in terms of tone MP2 was really a much more focused and consistent effort all around, without losing its sense of self-irony or humour. Don't know about MP3 since it just doesn't seem at all interesting to me.

Still, Max Payne is first and foremost about killing people and doing it in the coolest and most satisfying way possible, and Max Payne 2 does that too much better without any doubt, fixing pretty much everything that there was to fix about MP1's combat, namely bullet sponge enemies, overly-scripted enemy AI and underwhelming death animations. MP1 does have more memorable and distinct locations (MP2 doesn't really have anything that could compete with the sleaziest and most run-down places from MP1), even if the quality of the level design is a bit uneven, but aside from that, the sequel is the better game.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
5,172
In no particular order:

Gothic 1/2 - Pick either and you can't go wrong, 1 has better atmosphere and setting, 2 is more polished and larger. Amazing games that managed to combine great exploration, fun combat and decent writing and character development into a rare all-around great RPG.

Operation: Flashpoint - Awesome game that unlike the Call of Duty/Modern Battlefied shit actually put the player into the shoes of a soldier. It let players navigate its massive open maps as an infantryman, tank commander, special ops commando, helicopter/plane pilot, and infantry officer. The combat was ultra realistic and interesting, and the scale of the maps and the realism constantly produced moments of unmatched immersion.

GTA IV/V - Really fun games about getting lost in very realistically rendered cities.

World of Warcraft - Yeah, it's shit now and has been for years, but there was a time during vanilla and TBC when it was the best crafted MMO experience ever done, and addicting like cocaine on a hot hooker riding a cat in a youtube video.

Europa Universalis 2 - Last one I played a lot, I am sure the newer ones are better but I haven't played them yet.

Dwarf Fortress - More for potential as of now, but since I believe this will be the greatest game ever, gotta include it.

Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight / Jedi Outcast - Excellently designed FPS/adventure games.

Hitman: Blood Money - The climax of that series, setting everything up as an accident felt so satisfying.

Fallout: New Vegas - Once modded for combat, the best of the new bunch.

Half-Life - Maybe a harbinger of decline, but the experience was amazing.
 

Lemming42

Arcane
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
6,150
Location
The Satellite Of Love
The shooting itself is fine but most of the fun in Max Payne (for me, anyway) was the self-aware tone of the story, which is why I don't rate 2 as highly as 1 and can't stand 3 at all.
Max Payne 1 was all over the place with its story, really. It was the type of a story you'd write as a 13-year-old (or at least I did): you start from a simple, clichéd scenario to kick things off (a cop getting his family killed), then improvise from that with no clear sense of direction (the cop kills some bad guys and always goes one step up the ladder to the next one), and at some point you read or watch something else and get new ideas that you also want to incorporate into your story (conspiracies, men in black, secret government projects, a huge corporation involved in manufacturing super soldier serum etc.) so that, in the end, you have this mishmash of every cool idea you could think of that is certainly fun but also pretty much a total mess. Don't get me wrong, I love Max Payne, and it's one of my most replayed games, but in terms of tone MP2 was really a much more focused and consistent effort all around, without losing its sense of self-irony or humour. Don't know about MP3 since it just doesn't seem at all interesting to me.

Still, Max Payne is first and foremost about killing people and doing it in the coolest and most satisfying way possible, and Max Payne 2 does that too much better without any doubt, fixing pretty much everything that there was to fix about MP1's combat, namely bullet sponge enemies, overly-scripted enemy AI and underwhelming death animations. MP1 does have more memorable and distinct locations (MP2 doesn't really have anything that could compete with the sleaziest and most run-down places from MP1), even if the quality of the level design is a bit uneven, but aside from that, the sequel is the better game.

Totally agreed that it seems like something written by a 13 year old, but that's why I liked it. You start out fighting mobsters in a subway and end up blowing up a giant underground secret research base while being chased by men in black, which is wonderfully ridiculous.

I can't remember the details of MP2's story but the whole thing felt way too dour and gloomy to me, compared with MP1's craziness.
 

Churrasco

Augur
Patron
Joined
Jan 30, 2011
Messages
144
Wasteland 2
Thief gold/2
Hotel dusk/Last Window
Mount & Blade: Warband
Fallout: NV
Age of Decadence
Tex Murphy series
Primordia
Soul Reaver series
Alpha Centauri
Freespace 2




















Sengoku Rance, because it gets lonely on a deserted island
 

Wayward Son

Fails to keep valuable team members alive
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
1,866,294
Location
Anytown, USA
  1. Might and Magic 6
  2. Icewind Dale 1&2
  3. Dungeons and Dragons PnP (&Derivatives)
  4. TES:Arena
  5. Might and Magic 1
  6. TES 3: Morrowind
  7. TES 2: Daggerfall
  8. Fallout New Vegas
  9. Wizardry 1
  10. Doom 2
  11. Doom 1
  12. Wizardry 6
  13. Dragon Age: Origins
  14. TES 5: Skyrim
  15. Wasteland
  16. Dragon Ball: Xenoverse (weab entry)
  17. Mass Effect (1/2)
  18. Civilization IV
  19. Rome: Total War
  20. Heroes of Might & Magic III
  21. Civilization V
  22. Mass Effect 3
  23. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
  24. Civilization Beyond Earth
  25. Akalabeth: World of Doom
Dishonorable Mentions (worst/most disappointing games I've ever played):
  • Dragon Age: Inquisition
  • Fallout 3
  • Destiny
Possible Changes:
  • Addition of Age of Decadence
  • Addition of Underrail
  • Addition of Thief: The Dark Project
 

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