General Video Game Discussion Silver Version

[Mister_SGG]

I don't want this thread to die [again] but I really have nothing to contribute to this PC talk, being a console peasant for the most part.

 

[The Admiral]

Really? I thought it was closer to CRPGs like Baldur's Gate than anything. Then again I've played the older XCOM games, but not Shadowrun, so I can't say for certain.

Very possible. I'll have to give the XCOM games a look, since I own, I think, every XCOM game except The Bureau (and the DLC for Enemy Unknown).

Nethack

Nethack is very worth playing and can be played on incredibly low specs, but it has an amazing amount of depth.

If you're going to play it, you should learn it ahead of time and make sure you customize your options (e.g. turn off auto pickup). You can take a few playthroughs to learn that, of course.

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

Very possible. I'll have to give the XCOM games a look, since I own, I think, every XCOM game except The Bureau (and the DLC for Enemy Unknown).

They're pretty great. I haven't gotten very far into them because DOSbox is running them at like 300 percent the normal speed for me, unfortunately.

Nethack is very worth playing and can be played on incredibly low specs, but it has an amazing amount of depth.

If you're going to play it, you should learn it ahead of time and make sure you customize your options (e.g. turn off auto pickup). You can take a few playthroughs to learn that, of course.

Yeah, I should mention - there aren't many pick-up-and-play games on my list. After all, Dwarf Fortress is right beside Nethack in terms of depth and accessibility, and Ultima VII shares VERY little with RPGs of today. I really think that they're all worth whatever time commitment you need to learn how to play them and/or get good at them, but if you don't feel the same way I can pick out the ones that don't have a big learning curve.

 

[Rezzo]

Wall of text inbound:

I already rec'd Risk of Rain, which is a roguelike-style platformer game which starts out pretty easy but eventually gets massively intense. Other games I can recommend out of my Steam library (many of which you've probably played! Also many of which are pretty old.):
BioShock (I'd only call the first game a true essential, but the others are plenty fun too.)

Played, played and played. Infinite is one of the few PC games I own and sometimes the internal memory goes funny, so I might be pushing things a bit too hard

Borderlands (Not sure if I can rec the second, but that also ran just slowly enough from 60 fps as to be really annoying and heated up my computer something nasty.)

Played and played. Good games.

• Cave Story+
• the Commander Keen series (Steam has a really nice package of the first five games for about $5 US. Also, this trio of Commander Keen mods? Among the best game mods I've ever played.)
• Dear Esther (worth at least one playthrough for sure)
• Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
• La-Mulana
• Both Left 4 Dead games (assuming you have a group to play with)
• Rayman 2 and Rayman Origins (GOG re-ported Rayman 2 to work with 64-bit machines; the older version doesn't. No, I haven't played Legends yet.)
• Rogue Legacy (another roguelike platformer, but your progress carries over between runs in a few ways. It's also generally not as intense as Risk of Rain.)
• Saints Row: the Third and Saints Row IV
• the Sam and Max games
• Shadowrun Returns (a bit like the older X-COM games, as I'm to understand, so if you've played those, you probably have a good framework of how this works. Then again, I haven't played those yet, so I can't say for sure.)
• Space Quest (as with Commander Keen, Steam sells a decently-priced compilation of most of the games in this series.)
• Spelunky
• Starbound
• Terraria

These would all be new additions. Might check a few out in my spare time, especially L4D2 which I managed to grab for nothing at the last Steam sale

Both Portal games (obviously)

Played and played (obviously) (wait, did I ever finish the first Portal? Might have to do that)

There's a port of Worms Armageddon on Steam, as well, but I don't know how well the online multiplayer works, if you want it for that. And if you ever plan on playing large amounts of older games, Get DOSBox and ScummVM. Thankfully, both are free, but you probably knew that already. (Stuff like the Commander Keen collection runs on its own customized version of DOSBox.)

Actually I was unaware of everything except DOSbox, so telling me all this is definitely a help

Also, I kind of half-assed my recommendations list in my last post. So I'll do a better job this time. I'll also do my best to not repeat any of the ones you have.

• Doom
• Dwarf Fortress
• Bastion
• Ultima VII (and Underworld)
• SimCity 2000
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3
• Dustforce
• Touhou Project (the entire franchise is pretty neat, including all the spinoffs, and there's a ton of games in it)
• Fallout 1 and 2 (nothing like 3 or New Vegas but solid games nonetheless)
• Total Annihilation
• Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
• Europa Universalis III (check out all the Paradox games - there's a lot, and they're all really complex but highly rewarding)
• Blood
• Legend of Grimrock
• Nethack
• The Binding of Isaac

And these might be a pain with a trackpad, but there's also:
• Unreal Tournament GOTY
• Max Payne 1 and 2
• Quake 3 Arena
• Tribes 2 (RIP Tribes Ascend 2012-2012)

Plus emulation is always an option. So there's a lot of options.

Also, some of these are a little dated or notoriously obtuse (I'm looking at you, Nethack and Dwarf Fortress) but I can assure you they're all worth the learning curve.

Only played a few of these, most notably Sim City 2000 on the GBA which is a hilariously bad port. There was a certain way to glitch the game into giving you funds without even having a city in the first place. Also, for anyone who likes games like this, Theme Hospital is a strangely good game.

 

[Eternal Darkness]

So, in the spur of the moment, I decided to go from Windows 7 to some Linux OS. As of typing, I thought it was a brilliant idea

Does anyone know which games on Steam work with Linux? I assume all Valve games, but what else?

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

So, in the spur of the moment, I decided to go from Windows 7 to some Linux OS. As of typing, I thought it was a brilliant idea

Does anyone know which games on Steam work with Linux? I assume all Valve games, but what else?

WINE is a necessity, it lets you run .exe files on Mac and Linux systems. There are some issues but for the most part it works fine.

Natural Selection 2 is also on Linux and it's fantastic. Rookie servers can get kind of dull sometimes because usually you lose due to your team being really really awful but it's still tons of fun.

Only played a few of these, most notably Sim City 2000 on the GBA which is a hilariously bad port. There was a certain way to glitch the game into giving you funds without even having a city in the first place. Also, for anyone who likes games like this, Theme Hospital is a strangely good game.

I bought Theme Hospital on the spur of the moment when it went on sale in like November but I haven't really played it much yet. I need to get on that.

 

[Eternal Darkness]

Picked up DanganRonpa today. The first 5 minutes are a lot more detailed then the anime was, so I have high hopes already.

So happy to have a Vita, with at least 3/4 more Vita games in by April. Conception IIShut up, it seems interesting, Demon Gaze, and Final Fantasy X/X-II

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

IKARUGA IS COMING TO STEAM ON THE 18TH. YES. YES.

If you like hard games, shoot 'em ups and pretty visuals this game is for you. Also arguably one of the best third party titles for the Gamecube, now featuring new stuff like achievements and a two-player mode or something.

If you've never played Ikaruga before and you plan on buying this game prepare to get your shit kicked in like never before.

 

[Eternal Darkness]

It hasn't even been three days and they announce the sequel. I just finished the first chapter, too. Oh well, more fun for me, I guess.

Anyone who hasn't/ will not have the first one and have a Vita should go get it. It's amazing

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

In more happy videogame news, GOG is having their Valentine's day sale. Standouts include D&D games 80 percent off and 90 percent off multiplayer games.

Oh, and Dungeon Keeper Gold is free. Do not get this confused with the new mobile game - it's from the same guys who did Theme Hospital (Bullfrog), was Peter Molyneux's last game with the company, and is generally considered one of the best PC games of all time. It also takes less than 24 hours to dig out a room. You should pick it up if.. who am I kidding? You should pick it up no matter what.

Also, shameless plug: the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise is now on GOG also so you can pick up Call of Pripyat without any ridiculous DRM if that's interesting to you.

 

[tomatohater]

I bet, as we all have dismissed the Wii U, it'll sell thousands too (similar to the 3DS)

 

[Eternal Darkness]

Finished DanganRonpa the other day, and man, the anime ruined it for me. Still a great game and I plan on getting the sequel.

The what if scenario is a lot of fun, too, if really contrived

 

[Hydrohs]

Finished DanganRonpa the other day, and man, the anime ruined it for me. Still a great game and I plan on getting the sequel.

The what if scenario is a lot of fun, too, if really contrived

From the sounds of it the anime is better than the game turned out?

 

[Eternal Darkness]

From the sounds of it the anime is better than the game turned out?

Oh, no. The game is better in all aspects. It shines more light on peoples background and stuff. The trials are a lot of fun.

However, the anime ruined the plot and almost everything else because I watched it before playing the game. As a result, the game felt short, and kinda empty. It's one of those games with only one really good playthrough, then you're able to predict everything

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

Anyone have any good strategy recommendations in the vein of Jagged Alliance or XCOM? I've played Fire Emblem but I was looking for something with a little more depth like the aforementioned two.

Also - for anyone looking for a free shot of adrenaline try Cho Ren Sha 68K. Who knew a game with one background, literally no plot and pretty much one hundred percent vanilla gameplay could be so much fun.

 

[Hydrohs]

Are there even any other games like XCOM? I don't think it's a terribly popular genre.

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

Are there even any other games like XCOM? I don't think it's a terribly popular genre.

Jagged Alliance.

Those two are considered big-time classics by a lot of people but there aren't many games that play like them besides those two. Most SRPGs don't get into the same kind of depth where you pick your squad, allocate funds, arm your soldiers, etc. I know of Xenonauts which is explicitly supposed to be based off of old-style XCOM and that's it.

 

[Eternal Darkness]

Jagged Alliance.

Those two are considered big-time classics by a lot of people but there aren't many games that play like them besides those two. Most SRPGs don't get into the same kind of depth where you pick your squad, allocate funds, arm your soldiers, etc. I know of Xenonauts which is explicitly supposed to be based off of old-style XCOM and that's it.

Advance Wars, maybe? Made by Intelligent Systems, the people who did Fire Emblem, but there hasn't really been any games in that series for over 5 or so years. I don't know how deep it is, but I've heard people say it's most akin to a modern day Fire Emblem. Also, Disgaea for Playstation. I haven't really played either, but both are solid SRPG's from what I've heard

Also Devil Survivor, but you've played that right?

 

[Hydrohs]

Advance Wars is a lot of fun, the original one anyway. I never played any of the sequels. Maybe also try Civilization? It's turn-based strategy as well.

 

[Abstinence Pistols]

Advance Wars, maybe? Made by Intelligent Systems, the people who did Fire Emblem, but there hasn't really been any games in that series for over 5 or so years. I don't know how deep it is, but I've heard people say it's most akin to a modern day Fire Emblem. Also, Disgaea for Playstation. I haven't really played either, but both are solid SRPG's from what I've heard

Also Devil Survivor, but you've played that right?

Advance Wars is a lot of fun, the original one anyway. I never played any of the sequels. Maybe also try Civilization? It's turn-based strategy as well.

I have played Advance Wars and it was pretty cool, but it wasn't AS close to what I'm thinking of. The individual units weren't as important as they are in Jagged Alliance since you're training them from scratch and there's permadeath.

I have played Devil Survivor and that's a little similar but with a bit less linearity and just regular turn-based combat. I could never really get into Devil Survivor, to be honest - maybe I missed the point but it just felt like it being a strategy game at all was a little weird since it just used regular JRPG mechanics anyway.

Civilization and other 4X games aren't what I'm looking for, but they rock. On that same topic, shameless plug for an awesome game - everyone looking for a good strategy game in the vein of Civilization needs to play Alpha Centauri. Imagine regular Civilization (even made by the same guy) but in space, and you can automate your build queue. Which is actually really, really useful.