New Gaming PC - Recommend me some AAA current gen games!

[babinro]

As per the title I'm getting a new gaming rig soon! *Hyped!* The new rig should be able to handle current gen games on recommended quite easily. While the title request stands I also have various questions about games I've had my eyes on for the past couple years and would appreciate some feedback.

Fallout 4
I enjoyed Fallout 3 for its side quests. I did not care for its combat system. To me the rad system felt forced on you and basically took you out of the game experience. It detracted from the game for me. Ultimately, the FO3 combat became a deal breaker that prevented me from ever purchasing New Vegas.

How is FO4's combat improved over FO3's?
Assuming its still 'bad', is FO4's side quests/story strong enough to still recommend it?


The Witcher 3
I'm under the impression that this is THE best sandbox game ever made, period. It's on the top of my list and this is coming from someone who generally doesn't like sandboxes. I'm drawn to this one because I'm told the storytelling and side quests are EXCELLENT. I'm pretty set on giving this game a chance but here's my question...

Is it worth getting BOTH Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 as someone whose pretty sick of sandbox games? Would anyone out there actually recommend Fallout 4 OVER Witcher 3?

If it helps give context I actually disliked Skyrim and was disappointed in my purchase of it. I felt the games combat system was archaic and the travel system wasted the players time. By that I mean I felt like I spend 80% of my gameplay getting to the fun and ultimately got bored and stopped playing because of that. Skyrims story didn't grip me either aside from the assassins guild set of quests.

Doom
I'm terrible at FPS games even in single player campaigns. I enjoy them for their story and fun gameplay. Half-Life 2, Bioshock 1&3 and some Call of Duty campaigns are among the FPS games I loved for these reasons. I actively disliked old school Doom games because finding keys for doors and backtracking for health packs sucked a lot of fun out of the games for me. I quite enjoyed Doom3 for a single playthrough but it wasn't fun enough to ever revisit.

I'm only really intrigued in Doom for PC because of the massive praised it received. Given the description of the type of FPS player I am above, would you recommend I buy Doom?


Dark Souls 3
I've never played a Souls type game, ever. I've watched an LP of DS1 in its entirety through Extra Credits. The game struck me as interesting but also VERY frustrating. LONG segments of the LP were cut because he'd have to travel several minutes to get back to a boss fight. I've also heard that bosses can take HOURS to beat for some players and the prospect of dying 50 times, traveling through the same 10 minutes of game play each attempt just to try again does NOT appeal to me.

I would NOT have purchased DS1 based on that LP for the above reason (I feel my time is more valuable than to deal with overly punishing death penalties for hours at a time). The same game with a spawn point right near the boss would make a world of difference to me.

With the above concerns stated, has Dark Souls 3 evolved enough to where it would suit a player like me? I was on the fence about the first one and I can only assume the other games addressed potential flaws of the first. Assuming the above was ever seen as a flaw to begin with...for all I know DS3 doubled down and it now takes 20-40 minutes of backtracking per death and bosses take days worth of attempts rather than mere hours.


Dishonored 2 & Rise of the Tomb Raider
These are 'sequels' to games that got a LOT of praise initially but the sequels had a quiet release from my perspective. Should I be concerned about buying these eventually? Where they basically a copy/paste of the originals with minimal changes making them mediocre?

 

[CritialGaming]

Fallout 4 - Not a technically powerhouse of a game. Not even a very good game period. If you are a Fallout fan, then I'd say go ahead and pick this up. Otherwise don't bother.

The Witcher 3 - THIS will test your pc absolutely. Ultra settings and hairworks on will put your new rig through the paces. Not to mention it is in my TOP 5 greatest games EVER MADE! I highly suggest this even if you are burned out on open world games, this game's story is good enough that even just going straight through it is a blast. Though you WILL get side tracked by all the cool shit in it. Not to mention you can now get this game bundled with it's 20+ hour expansion packs for like 40 bucks. This is INCREDIBLY worth it.

DOOM - This is another game that feels really badass to play on a high end gaming rig. It will also test what your machine can do. It's a pretty damn good FPS too. So if you don't wanna jump into the Witcher, then I also recommend DOOM.

DARK SOULS 3 - If you've never played another Dark Souls game before, I wouldn't bother with this one either. This is entirely a fan servicey Dark Souls game and I don't even think it's the best in the series. It's also not technically impressive so it wont really push your system to it's limits. I would give this a hard pass if I were you.

DISHONERED 2 - If you liked the first one, then this is more of the same. Also not technically demanding on your system either (unless you count memory leak issues).

RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER - Okay yes, this is more of the same from the reboot Tomb Raider. Except it's not only MORE Tomb Raider, but it is everything the reboot TR did, but WAY BETTER. The game is stunning, and will give you new GPU some stress if you crank those settings up. I'd say if you enjoyed the reboot TR, then this is worth a buy. It also comes bundled with all the DLC and a VR add-on as well. Definitely worth it in my opinion for sure.

 

[babinro]

I appreciate you taking the time CriticalGaming!

I'm not so much looking to truly push my new PC to the limits as much as I'm just looking for newer gen games that it can run now that I have a computer that can run them. Pushing limits is fun, but only if the game that comes with it is worth it.

You've pretty much sold me on Witcher 3 but that was the game I was most confident in to begin with.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is definitely on my radar. To me those games can often be one time playthroughs that you might revisit in a couple years or perhaps never again. Because of that I'm really just waiting for a significant price drop. Ideally the game and all DLC for $20.00 or less.

Hopefully a few others will chime in on this thread over time. It's a topic that's kind of all over the place so I'm not surprised its quiet, lol.

 

[meiam]

FO4, nice open world (some good verticality) kinda shit writing, go for exploration and some nice/okay gunplay with lots of weapon variation.

TW3: The main quest/side quest have good writing but most side quest are about as well written as your average wow quest (guy in village with yellow interrogation point on the mini map tell you there's been some weird noise in the wood, go there, kill monster) and the main quest is for the most part a bunch of unrelated side quest that don't really advance the plot. Combat is super generic and button smashing and suffer from low variety in enemies. World is beautiful but very repetitive too (90% is either forest, plain, water or generic medieval city). Everyone praise it, but honestly a lets play on youtube is the best way to enjoy it.

Doom: actually pretty easy so even if you're bad at FPS you shouldn't have a problem, there's some amount of backtracking involved since some level are semi open world, but it's a pretty fast game, both from a movement and gameplay point of view. There's a story and it's semi solid with some nice little things here and there, but this is about gameplay first and foremost. There's constantly little challenge throughout the game which keep the gameplay nicely varied.

Dark soul 3, not much reason to start there, grab the first 1 instead. If you really care about the graphic then you can start with it. Running back to a boss fight typically takes less than 30 seconds (nothing is forcing you to kill the enemies on the way to the boss and most level let you unlock short cut). There's overall very little difference between 1 and 3. DS is a series where you have to invest in the game to get enjoyment out of it, both from a gameplay (combat and exploration) and from a writing point of view. Nothing is feed to you.

Dishonored 2 is more of the same, but fairly short. Solid game, doesn't set the world on fire.

Maybe worth considering civ 6, since its a PC exclusive.

 

[darkrage6]

Some games I would recommend:

Nier Automata, Homefront: Revolution, Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, Mass Effect Andromeda, Watch Dogs 2, Mafia 3, Arkham Knight, Resident Evil 7. Ghost Recon Wildlands, Dying Light and Mad Max

 

[Imre Csete]

Titanfall 2's single player campaign is supposedly pretty good, I haven't played it myself, but if you liked some of the more fun FPS games you should look into it.

I have a huge backlog and I'm not really into AAA games nowdays, so I'm not in a rush to buy it, but Titanfall 2 peaked my interest.

 

[Hawki]

Of the games you listed, I can only comment on Doom. Based on your stated preferences, coupled with personal experience, I can't reccommend it.

On the gameplay front, Doom 2016 doesn't have nearly as much backtracking as the early Doom games, but you still need to scrounge up a bit of material. On the story front, the story is very "bleh." Not that anyone ever played the early Doom games for their story, but Doom 2016, while it has a story, has a story that's very haphazard and inconsequential. The characters are bland, and there's a constant sense of the material being 'thrown-in.' I mean, obviously there was some level of planning, but it's a feeling of "let's create a world" and more "what lore tidbit can we throw in that would be "kewl?"

Basically, it ain't no Half-Life 2 or BioShock on the story front.

Unfortunately, I can't really reccommend any other games - I tend to lag behind generation-wise, and most AAA games I play are on console. I'm thinking of getting my own gaming laptop for PC-exclusives, but at $2000, it's a long way off.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on the games I've played, as a primarily PC-based gamer so far this gen.

Fallout 4
It's a good game. You can put on a couple mods to make it better, for me it was light touching up of the interface, and a full-dialogue subtitle option, which took a lot of the guesswork out of replies. It will still feel like your decisions affect the story little, apart from what factions you join. The combat is MUCH improved, and the gunplay is really smooth and has impact. This is tremendously noticeable, but if you want to make a showcase out of it, download some skins/textures, and play around with some post-processing FX. They can make the game truly beautiful.

The Witcher 3
To answer your question, I generally play 2 big sandbox games a year, and last year, Witcher and FO4 were it. Yes, the sidequests are really written as well as you say they are. It's one game that also rewarded you with taking the time to tweak the video settings just how you like. It ran great for me without the hair FX, but depending on your rig, might try giving that a shot. Definitely a game to get really wrapped up in, taking the time to read about the various enemies and their weaknesses makes the game a lot more satisfying and rewarding to play.

Doom
This Doom is pretty simple. The core difference to other fast-paced FPSes is the executions that you have to do all the time, esp to keep your health up. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I didn't find it tore the pace up too bad. Graphics are actually amazing, but a game this fast doesn't give you that much time to lean back and enjoy it, like say The Witcher. It's pretty simple and linear enough that it shouldn't give you a headache. These days, a youtube guide to secrets and keys is only a few clicks away. There were some points where I got lost though. Overall, I'd recommend it though, it was such a blast and the weapons are hugely satisfying.

Dark Souls 3
Only played DS1, and that was an amazing though frustrating event. Not really a graphics showcase, sorry I can't comment more.

Dishonored 2 & Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a pretty easy, very pretty, somewhat 90's action movie cliche'd story but is lots of fun to play. It is really easy though. I found out that most of the upgrades that I was trying to grind for didn't even matter by the end, and I just shot and stabbed my way through it. Very well designed worlds and levels, though there is a bit of backtracking if you are a real collector. Looked amazing on my PC, so I'd definitely recommend it, it's pretty cheap these days and comes with everything. The Tombs are a must, though they're not all that difficult.

Haven't played Dishonored 2 (I didn't like Dishonored 1 enough to want more of it I guess) so sorry no comment.

If you're looking for more suggestions other than your own, just let me know, I'll have a look through my steam library.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Let me put it this way. I bought The Witcher 3 on launch day and I'm still playing it almost two years later. God knows how many times I've beaten it and it's quite a long game. IMO it's easily the best video game ever made.

I also bought Fallout 4 on launch day, played it for about 20h and couldn't take it anymore. After MGS V it's my biggest gaming disappointment in recent history. It's just not a very good game. Or at least it wasn't back when it was first released. Perhaps things are different now with mods and patches. At any rate I can't recommend it based on my experience with it. I don't know what Bethesda was thinking, but they managed to dumb down the RPG elements even further. And the introduction of voiced protagonist was definitely a bad choice.

Get Batman Arkham Knight if you have even the slightest interest in Batman. I don't know why some gamers think it's the weakest one in the trilogy because I think it's the best one. It's the definitive Batman experience. You don't get more Batman than that. And it looks freakin' gorgeous on maximum details.

 

[Mcgeezaks]

Fallout 4 is a great game and its combat is alot better than previous games, I also had problems with F3/NV combat to the point it almost felt like I had to use VATS to hit anything.

 

[stroopwafel]

The Witcher 3 and Dark Souls 3 without a doubt. TW3 is simply the best RPG ever made; stunning graphics, a huge and interesting world to explore, an incredible sense of place and authenticity, a cobweb of high quality side stories that makes even the most random side quest interesting and a truly great main story, relatively simple yet satisfying gameplay with a zoo of monsters to fight that each have interesting diary entries, sound design is through the roof with footsteps sounding different on almost any kind of surface and in general this being a 100+hour game(with all the expansions) you simply don't want to end.

Dark Souls 3 is actually a superb entry point to get into the series. The combat is more streamlined and the upgrade systems are way less archaic not to mention the game looks a whole lot prettier. The game starts on a high note and ends on a high note with pretty much no weaker moments. The atmosphere has a dream like quality which is actually amped up from the previous games thanks to the better graphics. The art design is insanely creative with the most imaginative and memorable enemy encounters. Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne also have the best melee combat of any game ever made in my opinion. I played all the games in the 'Souls' series but DkS3 and Bloodborne are not only my favorites but my most favorite games of all time as well.

Fallout 4 was pretty crap in my opinion. Ugly graphics, boring quests and uninteresting characters. As an open-world FPS the game can have have it's moments but it excels at neither; not as an FPS and not as an open-world game.

If you want a dose of mindless shooting fun Doom is your game. The game is incredibly fun while it lasts and don't overstays it's welcome.

 

[kurupt87]

FO4 - These games are for sandbox and modding to make the game you want. Story is there but ankle deep. Combat is better than previous entries. If you want to explore a world, great. If you want to immerse in a story and feel like you matter, not good. Skip.

TW3 - There is very little wrong with this game. A previous poster complained about lack of depth to the side quests, which boggles the mind. Sidequests shouldn't directly relate to the main quest, a sidequest is there to give you something to do and give the world depth. These do both, very well. The VA and script in this game are stunning, the incidental NPCs feel like their problems are real. The main quest is great. Get it.

Haven't played the rest.

 

[babinro]

Thank you all for the great responses!

FO4 - It seems like people are hit or miss on this game which tells me that I should buy The Witcher 3 and only after playing that through should I consider FO4 if I really need more a sandbox fix. That works for me.

DS3 - I'm starting to feel good about actually trying this game out. I may not be good enough to see it through but the responses give me hope. I'm curious how easy the game can be with baby ranged/magic builds? I've never seen any youtuber play DS with anything but pure melee focus. Apparently that's a point of pride or something. This tells me that magic/ranged is either easy mode OR that its just so bad its not viable (like in a devil may cry or god of war game)

Dishonored 2 - I'll pass on this one. As much as I loved the first game it also gave me my fill of that formula.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - I'm pretty sold on this one. I love me some Resident Evil 4/5 or Uncharted style games and people seem to confirm this fits right in even though it may not be a huge leap forward over the reboot. I'll just wait on a sufficient price drop/steam sale.

Batman Arkham Knight - I've enjoy this franchise quite a bit but I found myself mostly burnt out on it by the time I finished Arkham City. Years later I did pick up Origins for something like $5.00 and while I had a good time, it just confirmed that I was tired on the formula still. I've also heard tons of negatives about the excess use of the mediocre batmobile which turns me off on the game. Having said all that, this is one of those games I may pickup down the road. I'm sure it'll appear in a humblebundle package within the next year or more with a bunch of other games and by then I'll probably be ready to check it out.

Civ 6 - I've played my share of Civ 5 and I loved it. The thing with that game is that its so big and full of options for game play that I feel no need to buy the next entry. Basically, Civ 6 doesn't strike me as unique enough to where it feels like its deserving of my time.

Titanfall 2 - I saw an LP of this on The Sw1tcher and it was AMAZING! I'm surprised it left me because in terms of FPS games this seems far more interesting than Doom. I'm very much NOT an online FPS gamer though given my previous mentions of being bad at the genre. I'm the kind of FPS online player that randomly throws his grenades because that's the most likely chance I'll get a kill before I respawn in 10 seconds. It's just not remotely fun or satisfying for me to play at such a low level relative to others.

Mass Effect Andromeda: This was on my list but the media response to it has really killed my interest. Now I'm not a snob to where glitches will kill my enjoyment of a game. I bought and played Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim after all. But I'm also told the game suffers in terms of storytelling, mind numbing planet scanning and relatively boring environments. I'd probably have fun with the combat but I don't think that's enough to save this game for me.

Resident Evil 7: I've watched a lot of youtube videos on this one. It's had a TON of great praise but frankly, its just not the direction I wanted the series to go. Everything I've seen about this game for me is more fun to watch than it seems to play. I'm very much against the norm here, but I want more RE 4 and 5 style games...not the abomination that was 6 and not an outlast style game with minimal focus on combat. I lot of people love this change but it just wasn't what I wanted.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Dark Souls 3

It's a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, it's evolved in a way to be more accessible to new players. Runups to bosses rarely take longer than 30 seconds (sprinting past all the enemies is a completely viable tactic), and when they don't the boss at the end is usually so easy you're unlikely to require more than 3 attempts at best (cough Deacons of the Deep cough). The general consensus on the game seems to be that it's on the easier end of the series. Upgrade materials are plentiful, the bosses mostly easy, and the path forward always clear, unlike in previous entries. And no, deaths don't mean 20 minutes of backtracking, and the early game bosses (the very first one aside) are among the easiest in the series. Even losing all your souls isn't that big a deal, since grinding is always easy and a viable tactic.

But since I've played every game in the series, including Bloodborne, multiple times, I can't really say how accessible it is to new players. It does have a rather steep start (meaning the very tutorial level), a lot of the story and lore relies on the player having prior knowledge of the names and concepts being mentioned, and the combat being much faster can make it more difficult to new players. That said, if you've never experienced the series before, I'm quite sure you'll like it once you get the hang of it. There's simply no other game series right now that does "realistic" melee combat as well and with such variety. The atmosphere, when experienced for the first time, is also completely unlike anything else in gaming right now. Despite the first game doing it much better, DS3 still instills a good sense of danger, adventure and "you don't matter" in the player.

From the criteria you set Dark Souls II would actually be your best bet, but it's last gen. Still a great game though, I have more hours in it than any other game in the series.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

DS3 - I'm starting to feel good about actually trying this game out. I may not be good enough to see it through but the responses give me hope. I'm curious how easy the game can be with baby ranged/magic builds? I've never seen any youtuber play DS with anything but pure melee focus. Apparently that's a point of pride or something. This tells me that magic/ranged is either easy mode OR that its just so bad its not viable (like in a devil may cry or god of war game)

Magic builds used to be easy mode, since it often allowed you to snipe enemies from outside their aggro range, and usually did high enough damage to not allow them to close the gap in time. In DS3 however, magic got hit hard with the nerf hammer, to the point where the consensus is that it's downright bad. If anything, using magic in DS3 makes you more vulnerable and the game harder. Not something I'd recommend to newcomers in the slightest. The sad fact about using melee in DS3 is that it's simply the easiest way through the game. Pick the Knight class at the start if you want an easier landing to the series, and try magic on further playthroughs.

 

[AD-Stu]

Don't think I've seen Deus Ex: Mankind Divided mentioned yet, that's well worth a look.

As for Mass Effect Andromeda, they've fixed a lot of the glitches with the latest patch, and you can skip the transition between planets now too (I think that was the biggest complaint, not the actual scanning itself which was pretty minimal). Mileage will vary on how boring the environments are though, and there's obviously been no change on the story front.

 

[jedisensei]

Mass Effect Andromeda: This was on my list but the media response to it has really killed my interest. Now I'm not a snob to where glitches will kill my enjoyment of a game. I bought and played Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim after all. But I'm also told the game suffers in terms of storytelling, mind numbing planet scanning and relatively boring environments. I'd probably have fun with the combat but I don't think that's enough to save this game for me.

I found the environments kind of neat, and they actually change as the story progresses, but the 2nd/3rd planets were to me lackluster and didn't showcase well. Whoever complained about 'planet scanning' is flat wrong -- this isn't ME2: resources are easily collected as you travel and even with minimal effort I have 10x the resources I need.

That storytelling, though...the pacing in the game is just plain awful; you can easily put 100hrs in and forget half of it. Dialogue is up to typical Bioware standards but the characters kind of lack the 'pull' of your Normandy crew, and the central tension ends up feeling like an afterthought, spread thinly over a slate of fetch-quests.

And this is coming from a guy who played the FULL trilogy through a dozen times over.

It's not a *bad* game, really, but it is disappointing, on many levels.

Anyway, back on-topic...

X-COM 2 is well worth a shot if you like tactical, turn-based RPGs. More forgiving than the last-gen X-COMs too, if that was a roadblock for you. Along those lines, but by no means as taxing on a new gaming rig, I recommend the Banner Saga games, and the latest entries into the ShadowRun franchise.

People are raving about PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, but that kind of game is not really my cup of tea. I liked the demo for Battlefield 1, and I've heard good things about the singleplayer campaign.

Finally, this being May the 4th and all, you can get Star Wars: Battlefront for pretty cheap...it's worth it as a graphical nostalgia-wank alone, for even the more casual SW fan...

 

[laggyteabag]

Fallout 4

I gotta say that I wasn't too impressed, but then again, im not too big on Bethesda games anyway. Frankly, it is the usual affair of "Ooh, look at this big world", but they haven't really put anything interesting in it. The game looks decent, and the combat is better than it's predecessors, but a lot of systems are still super janky. If you're looking for something to mod the crap out of, then Fallout 4, or Skyrim, are pretty solid options, but otherwise, I would avoid it.

Witcher 3

Im playing this right now, and let me tell you that this game is big. Like really big. Like FUCKING HUGE. There is so much to do, and the game is stunning to look at sometimes. The combat is easy to get into and reasonably fun, and the writing is really nice, too. I would say that Im not too big on a lot of the voice acting, though. This game is genuinely superb, and expect to spend a lot of time here.

DOOM

The shooting is solid, and it certainly looks the part, but I just wasn't as enthralled by DOOM as seemingly the rest of the world was. To me, the game was all about just funnelling you into more and more arenas, but once you have unlocked all of the weapons, your arsenal A) Gets kinda overwhelming, and B) Kinda repetitive. The game was alright, but the whole world fell in love with it, so maybe it just wasn't for me.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

I never actually finished this one, and maybe I should. I loved the first game, and this one just seems to be more of the same, but prettier. The gunplay is absolute ass, though - In my experience, none of the guns feel good to use, with the exception of the bow. The setpieces are neat, though if you aren't big on QTEs or kind or "RUN FORWARD BECAUSE EVERYTHING BEHIND YOU IS EXPLODING" sections, there might not be much here for you.