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What's your favorite PC game of all times?


chakkman

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* Thief 1 / 2 / Dark Mod: Let's just address the 800-lb gorilla in the room. Dark Mod is an absolute blessing on the gaming community. Thief 1 / 2 were genre breakers in the best senses of the word. How many collective hours did I spend waiting for a guard to finally move or to learn their route so that I could continue to ghost a level?

 

To, once again, add a little snippy comment: That only works partially for TDM, with all those complex guard routes, which make it impossible that 3 or 4 guards end up in the same room, at some times, while leaving other areas of the mansion or map COMPLETELY unguarded. Always has been a point of criticism in my book, but, mission makers seem to disagree.

 

The climax of that was that, in one mission (won't name and shame...), i blackjacked about 5 guards in the same room (kitchen), and then, after i finished the whole map, came back, just to see that another guard (!) was in the kitchen, alerted, because he obviously spotted the pile of unconscious guards on the toilet (!!). Really, it was just much better, and more playable, the way it was in the original Thief's. Fixed guard routes, which also makes more sense, when you think about it, because it is pointless to cross paths, unless there really is something of high value. Hope that mission makers may realize that one day, and stop with those unpredictable, and pointless guard routes.

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In the RTS sector I would say my facourite is Warcraft III. Never was able to finish Frozen Throne's final level, but loved the game anyway. Interesting story, good graphics (for the time) and level creating tools that were quite easy to grasp for beginners, but still flexible enough to spawn whole genres like tower defense (not sure if Total Annihilation Kingdoms war earlier; I got ot know tower defense through Warcraft 3) or MOBAs.

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So... Where was I? Oh yeah...

 

* Project EDEN: OK, I never liked the combat but, boy, did it scratch the itch of "urban exploration" for it's time. If only they had released the level editor for that game... Oh well.

 

* Midi-Maze: Back when there were computer clubs and you had to bring your own computer to the club in order to play multiplayer! Oh, those were magical times.

 

* Tron v2.0: As far as I'm concerned, that game is the only sequel to the movie "Tron." That game IS Tron. Yes, I know that people love the arcade Tron (and I played that, too), but Tron v2.0 is just... Tron. It is Tron the way that Tron was meant to be Tron. If only they had released a halfway decent SDK for that game... *sigh*

 

Project Hellgate: OK... Hear me out on this one. It is a pain to install on modern systems (and even more of a pain to uninstall) but the game took two great things (first-person perspective & action-RPGs) and made them even greater together. The lack of saves once you started a level was not cool, admittedly.

 

* Doom 1/2 & Duke Nukem 3D: Eh... They were good for their time. I can't knock them. However, neither one has aged well for me. Duke Nukem 3D had a lot of environmental interactivity for it's time and that was very innovative for the era (the occasional eye candy didn't hurt much, either).

 

* Ultima Series through 7: Wow. Elder Scrolls before Elder Scrolls was Elder Scrolls. I am so sad to see this series fade into obscurity (caveat: Ultima Online but that's not really Ultima). Back during the tile-based Ultimas, my Dad & I would map out the entire world on regular-sized graph paper looking for every secret 'whatever.' He'd then take the graph paper to work to shrink it down on the copier and we'd wallpaper an entire wall with all of the maps of the world and the towns.

 

** Bonus Mention: The Worlds of Ultima series (both of them, Savage Empire & Mars): So filled with awesome. It's too bad that the series never did well because I really enjoyed playing those games. Those games were nice.

 

There are just so many good games... Yeah, I can't list them all.

 

Oh! One more!

 

* Scorched Earth! How can I not mention Scorched Earth! And while I'm at, "Legend of the Red Dragon"... "Trade Wars"...

 

OK. I have to stop now.

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The climax of that was that, in one mission (won't name and shame...), i blackjacked about 5 guards in the same room (kitchen), and then, after i finished the whole map, came back, just to see that another guard (!) was in the kitchen, alerted, because he obviously spotted the pile of unconscious guards on the toilet (!!).

Nothing against campjacking (like to do it myself) - but think about it: Kitchens and rest rooms are really bad choices for piles of bodies. What if someone needs to pee or wants a snack. Choose your body pile locations wisely (dead end store rooms or really dark corners are best for this).

 

And yes, guard route grids are hard to get campjacker proof. But the dynamic routes most often are still better than in the ole Thief series.

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So... Where was I? Oh yeah...

 

* Project EDEN: OK, I never liked the combat but, boy, did it scratch the itch of "urban exploration" for it's time. If only they had released the level editor for that game... Oh well.

 

How could I forget about this one?

 

You are right; it was amazing as well and showed that Core Design was capable of other game designs as well. I liked the "go further down to find out more" aspect especially.

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Nothing against campjacking (like to do it myself) - but think about it: Kitchens and rest rooms are really bad choices for piles of bodies. What if someone needs to pee or wants a snack. Choose your body pile locations wisely (dead end store rooms or really dark corners are best for this).

 

Just think about it: What would you think as a wealth house owner, when most of your guards "take a snack" on their duty? I get that housemaids, and maybe the inhabitants would take a snack, but, guards? Really?

 

Also, that really doesn't excuse guards in many missions entering the same room at the same time as other guards. Sometimes, as i mentioned, 3 or 4 at a time. That doesn't make sense at all, and just seems a desperate way to create some kind of "random-ness".

 

Stealth gameplay lives from a portion of predictability. And, yes, that is unrealistic. Games don't have to be realistic to be fun to play.

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Just think about it: What would you think as a wealth house owner, when most of your guards "take a snack" on their duty? I get that housemaids, and maybe the inhabitants would take a snack, but, guards? Really?

 

Also, that really doesn't excuse guards in many missions entering the same room at the same time as other guards. Sometimes, as i mentioned, 3 or 4 at a time. That doesn't make sense at all, and just seems a desperate way to create some kind of "random-ness".

 

Stealth gameplay lives from a portion of predictability. And, yes, that is unrealistic. Games don't have to be realistic to be fun to play.

Imagine how absurdly boring guard duty must be. That should excuse all and any strolling around - including frequent meetings of more than three of them.

And probabalistic route options are also hard to get collision-free for obvious reasons. So the choice probably is about having non-overlapping routes or live with the occasional guard clusters. Still much better and immersive than original thiefs' static routes.

 

I never had the impression, that guard patterns in TDM are too unpredictable. Guards almost always visit places you expect them to visit. Would love to see some fuzzyness on the connection points of the virtual lines, the guards follow, so they do not always cut corners the same way. But then we would probably see AI circling before doors again...

Game AI is hard and TDM has the best AI i ever saw in a stealth game.

 

Most meat space guard routes are pretty predictable by the way. But you can't reliably blackjack real humans, shadows would not make you invisible, guards would not assume rats and you would probably best break into most places at daytime.

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Same for me but with Civilization 3. Never understood the cartoonish look they went with starting with Civ 4.

 

But nuclear Gandhi was not funny.

 

I've played Civ 1 - 5. I agree that Civ 3 is good but on the supply/demand graph of graphics / modded gameplay, Civ 4 is the most accessible for me. I keep trying to "get into" Civ 5 and I just can't. I don't want to get snobbish but the general trend of Civ games is to keep getting dumber over time (or, more accurately, they release the "dumb" base game and then, based upon all of the "Civ is getting dumber" outrage that follows, they patch the game back up to something partially resembling the previous game).

 

Why someone can't just make Alpha Centauri with updated graphics is beyond me.

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How could I forget about this one?

 

You are right; it was amazing as well and showed that Core Design was capable of other game designs as well. I liked the "go further down to find out more" aspect especially.

 

[NOTE - Just figured out what the whole MultiQuote thing was about - Sorry for the 2 posts that could've been one post]

 

PROJECT: Eden was great for me but, as I wrote, the combat felt as though some executive ran through the hallways, screaming and demanding that it be included to placate the action kiddies. Back when I thought that, someday, eventually, I would have enough skills to create my own computer games (pause to allow for poorly suppressed giggle-snort), I wrote a HUGE design document for my own version of PROJECT: Eden that was essentially P:E without the IP or the combat and with more non-combat RPG elements.

 

And, since I'm posting, I may as well add a few more games:

 

* Portal 1 / Narbacular Drop: Not Portal 2 (which I thought was overly long, had too many "large levels for the sake of being large" and introduced too many elements), but Portal 1's chief gameplay mechanic was simply awesome. How often had you wanted, while playing other FPS games, to simply create a door wherever so you could bypass some difficult section or get the drop on enemies? Portal 1 was the perfect length for it's gameplay mechanic; It never wore out it's welcome and ended just before it did.

 

* Prey (original release): Somewhere in Prey is a better version of Portal 1 but strapped to a conventional FPS shooter. I'd love to see a Portal clone with gravity flipping, size manipulation (OK, Prey used a mapping trick for the size thing but people can do size portals for real) and walking on walls. Portal 2 had adhesion gel, admittedly, before they took it out.

 

* Morrowind: I'm not going to go snobbish on which of the modern Elder Scrolls are best but, for me, Morrowind was just amazing in scope and depth for it's time. Yes, the dialog system sucked and some of the simplifications in the successive games are convenient but Morrowind simply felt as though you were in a forbidding land. You had to earn your fast travel and there was little hand-holding on the quests.

 

OK. I will stop now. Promise.

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One thing I especially liked about Morrowind was that you had do have a certain skill level to proceed in the guilds. The completionist in me likes it better the way it is in later Elder Scrolls games, but it was just better that you could not fight or sneak your way through the Mages Guild. This simply feels wrong. Still, I can see why they changed it.

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Yeah, they definitely did a lot of things so that the way you have taken doesn't have a huge impact on the things you can do in the game. I definitely can see why they did that, because it's a bit of a showbreaker, when you realize there are guilds, or things in the game that you cannot access because of a decision you made earlier in the game. After all, you can't know everything when you start the game, and, some things you learn after dozens, if not hundreds of hours. E.g., after 200 hours of playing Skyrim SE, i realized that you can actually move dead bodies... :laugh:

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I love The Elder Scrolls series. I've started with Morrowind when I was about eleven years old, and I'm still casually playing it to this day. The game has extreme depth and excellent world design. This game will always remain a huge inspiration for me! (I've played all of the games in the series, but I just love Morrowind).

 

A honorable mention: Heroes of Might and Magic III. An excellent strategy game with very interesting storyline and interesting yet simple character progression.

Edited by Snehk
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'What do I care for your suffering?'

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A honorable mention: Heroes of Might and Magic III. An excellent strategy game with very interesting storyline and interesting yet simple character progression.

Yes, that was the best hot-seat multiplayer game and also had a great single player experience.

Too bad, that the later titles of the series where crap.

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The fourth game wasn't as bad as people portrayed it. Sure it was rushed (like, extremely rushed), but it was an interesting game on it's own. It offered great level design tools, scripting and many other things that allowed it to be played as a quasi-rpg game. Every once in a while, I'm getting back to it just to make myself a short single-player rpg campaign and have some fun with it (You can also play it as a multiplayer quasi-rpg game if a scenario is built like that!). In addition, the campaigns were excellently written, Gauldoth's being my personal favourite. I greatly enjoy HoMM IV's character progression and all the various classes and sub-classes your heroes could get.

 

The fifth game felt more like a comeback to the golden formula of the third game in the series, along with some things taken from the fourth. I only played it during a time when I had no access to HoMM IV and earlier. It wasn't a bad game, just flat out dull compared to what was before. I haven't played any further games in the series, so I can't really tell anything about them.

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'What do I care for your suffering?'

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The fourth game wasn't as bad as people portrayed it. Sure it was rushed (like, extremely rushed), but it was an interesting game on it's own. It offered great level design tools, scripting and many other things that allowed it to be played as a quasi-rpg game. Every once in a while, I'm getting back to it just to make myself a short single-player rpg campaign and have some fun with it (You can also play it as a multiplayer quasi-rpg game if a scenario is built like that!). In addition, the campaigns were excellently written, Gauldoth's being my personal favourite. I greatly enjoy HoMM IV's character progression and all the various classes and sub-classes your heroes could get.

 

The fifth game felt more like a comeback to the golden formula of the third game in the series, along with some things taken from the fourth. I only played it during a time when I had no access to HoMM IV and earlier. It wasn't a bad game, just flat out dull compared to what was before. I haven't played any further games in the series, so I can't really tell anything about them.

 

Yeah, it looks like starting with HoMM V they started to go for a silly cartoonish Pixar or Dinsey style which is the oppsite of the serious approach HoMM 3-4 had. At the same time HoMM 1 and 2 was cartoonish so I guess it depends on taste.

 

On the other hand it's also unpleasant to see cartoonish style graphics in Civilization 4-6, again with a departure from more grounded and down to earth graphics, style, design and music in Civilization 2-3.

 

Probably copyright holders can do whatever they please because people buy things anyway. Too bad they don't care to remaster good old games to make people happy.

"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Doom 2 as it started it all, Doom 3 cause it changed mapping a lot and Alien Isolation for a great story and fantastic gameplay with an unbeatable foe.

 

Honourable mention has to be TDM because it lets me map; but I really wish TDM would move over to Unreal 4.

I have an eclectic YouTube channel making videos on a variety of games. Come and have look here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/NeonsStyleHD

 

Dark Mod Missions: Briarwood Manor - available here or in game

http://forums.thedarkmod.com/topic/18980-fan-mission-briarwood-manor-by-neonsstyle-first-mission-6082017-update-16/

 

 

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Doom 2 as it started it all, Doom 3 cause it changed mapping a lot and Alien Isolation for a great story and fantastic gameplay with an unbeatable foe.

 

Honourable mention has to be TDM because it lets me map; but I really wish TDM would move over to Unreal 4.

 

Move to Unreal 4 just for graphic's sake? What about the rare possibility in games to make EAX/OpenAL work in a new game?

How many games by 2018 have reverb in sound? Considering that Unreal 4 is licensed and all that jazz, it might not have such capabilities or devs might not have permission to easily implement such things even it was realistic?

 

I saw only Thief games, a couple of simulators like Silent Hunter 3/4, some plane sims and that's about it to have such functionality.

Edited by Anderson

"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

badge?user=andarson

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Move to Unreal 4 just for graphic's sake? What about the rare possibility in games to make EAX/OpenAL work in a new game?

How many games by 2018 have reverb in sound? Considering that Unreal 4 is licensed and all that jazz, it might not have such capabilities or devs might not have permission to easily implement such things even it was realistic?

 

For the ease of use, better lighting engine (both real-time and static lightmapping), great UI-based controls for everything, and publicly available documentation. Porting would be huge amount of work though.

 

Most games have reverb, it's not an abandoned tech, it's just not the EAX, as it's basically dead. Recently, I finished DX: Mankind Divided, and it uses reverb in most places (big halls, sewers, tunnels etc.). When you die, you hear the echo of the cutoff sounds, depending on a location.

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For the ease of use, better lighting engine (both real-time and static lightmapping), great UI-based controls for everything, and publicly available documentation. Porting would be huge amount of work though.

 

Most games have reverb, it's not an abandoned tech, it's just not the EAX, as it's basically dead. Recently, I finished DX: Mankind Divided, and it uses reverb in most places (big halls, sewers, tunnels etc.). When you die, you hear the echo of the cutoff sounds, depending on a location.

 

But it's not open source is it?

"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

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Same here, although I don't think it's possible either. Even if we're only talking about assets, it's a different workflow for models, different materials that need textures to be created in different way (PBR/Disney BRDF vs. "classic" materials in idTech4). It would require a complete revamp and overhaul, which is tons of work.

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Same here, although I don't think it's possible either. Even if we're only talking about assets, it's a different workflow for models, different materials that need textures to be created in different way (PBR/Disney BRDF vs. "classic" materials in idTech4). It would require a complete revamp and overhaul, which is tons of work.

Aye, but the comparison of TDM to other standalone mods yields that it's better off to work on what we have. Black Mesa, Lost Alpha weren't built in a day. Neither was Rome!

 

Wesp's Unofficial Patch and KOTOR 2's The Sith Lords Restored Content took years as well. In the end the Unofficial Patch for Bloodlines made it to GOG while The Sith Lotds Restored Content got packaged with many bug fixes into Steam. For free.

Edited by Anderson

"I really perceive that vanity about which most men merely prate — the vanity of the human or temporal life. I live continually in a reverie of the future. I have no faith in human perfectibility. I think that human exertion will have no appreciable effect upon humanity. Man is now only more active — not more happy — nor more wise, than he was 6000 years ago. The result will never vary — and to suppose that it will, is to suppose that the foregone man has lived in vain — that the foregone time is but the rudiment of the future — that the myriads who have perished have not been upon equal footing with ourselves — nor are we with our posterity. I cannot agree to lose sight of man the individual, in man the mass."...

- 2 July 1844 letter to James Russell Lowell from Edgar Allan Poe.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wow I've played so many games it's going to be hard to remember everything. I have favorite games plus those that aren't necessarily great but have amazing expansive environments or unforgettable storylines that creep often into my mind when I'm just doing daily things. That makes a successful game in my opinion. All are PC games unless specified.

 

Tomb Raider (all the classic games)

Dishonored 1/2 plus DLCs

Assassin's Creed (especially the Ezio and Kenway periods)

Saints Row 2/3/4 plus Gat out of Hell

Styx 1/2

GTA 3/4/5 and San Andreas

Nier Automata

Fallout 3/4 plus DLCs

Bioshock Infinity

Thief 1/2/3 (not so much 4) and TDM

Bulletstorm

Carmageddon 1/2/TDR 2000

The Witness (and Braid also)

Talos Principle 1/2

Life is Strange 1/2

Shadow Man

Quantum Conundrum

Portal 1/2 (and also Qube 1/2)

Mass Effect 1/2/3 (not so much Andromeda)

Firewatch

Grim Fandango

Farcry 3/4

Halo (all games)

To The Moon

No One Lives Forever 1/2

Oni

Giants Citizen Kabuto

Startopia

Prototype 1/2

What Remains of Edith Finch

Kairo

Timescape

Little Nightmares

Inside

Obduction

The Solus Project

Scanner Sombre

Soul Reaver 1/2

Abzu

Human Fall Flat Holiday

Hype the Time Quest

Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)

RiME

A Story About My Uncle

Aporia Beyond the Valley

Get Even

Zero Escape Zero Time Dilemma

Chronicles of Riddick 1/2

No Man's Sky (updated with NEXT release)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I will give this a shot. No particular order:

 

  • Portal
  • Thief: The metal age
  • Kerbal Space Program

 

I know I said no particular order but I think the next ones should come after those three. Maybe these are honorable mentions.

 

  • FTL
  • Thief: The dark project
  • The Dark Mod
  • Portal 2

I have been playing games on the PC and before it was a thing my whole life. So there are A LOT of games to consider, these are just the ones that stuck with me even after years after playing; games that made a mark.

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