New master-racer checkin in. Suggestions?

[sunsetspawn]

Well okay, not really all that new. My living room TV broke and I'm waiting for the soldering iron to arrive from Amazon, so I put together a comfy PC gaming area which I've been meaning to do for awhile but distractions. I'm working with a totally clean Q6600/8800GT w/ 4gigsoram and I need suggestions.

I've played Deus Ex and Gothic 2, and I've got Freelancer, Drakensang, The Witcher, Nehrim (Oblivion total conversion), Baldur's Gate 2, and Gothic 3.

What else should I get? And bare in mind that if it's available for the 360 I either already have it, am planning on getting it, or didn't like it anyway.

Pleaz halp!

 

[sky14kemea]

Moved to Gaming Discussion.

-Mod

 

[sunsetspawn]

I've never heard of Moved to Gaming Discussion, is it any good?

Oh, you mean it was in the wrong place. Wait a sec, I put it in the Role Playing Games forum, was that wrong? Unless that forum is for dressing up as the milkman and seducing your wife like a stranger.

Oh well, no matter, then I just need to add this...

I'm only really interested in PC role playing games. I mean, I do the actiony thing when I have to, but I keep accidentally dropping flares and mines in Freelancer, and I would always turn on the wrong augments in Deus Ex.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Try Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas for your RPG fix.

Skyrim is pretty good.


Don't ever buy anything from BioWare



Oh yeah, and Role Playing is for people who like to Role Play in real life.

 

[sunsetspawn]

Try Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas for your RPG fix.

Skyrim is pretty good.


Don't ever buy anything from BioWare



Oh yeah, and Role Playing is for people who like to Role Play in real life.

Been and done those two Fallouts on the XBOX, and I might eventually get Skyrim on the XBOX as well if enough people can convince me that they didn't completely fuck it up with level scaling like Oblivion.

I'm really only asking about PC exclusives here because...

if it's available for the 360 I either already have it, am planning on getting it, or didn't like it anyway.

How are the first two Fallouts? Have they aged well?

 

[ResonanceSD]

Skyrim fixes Level Scaling issues

The first two fallouts have not aged well. Not even slightly.

 

[bananafishtoday]

System Shock 2. It's hard to get through reputable sources. It's in copyright limbo, with EA owning the name and some random insurance company owning the dev rights, so it's been out of print for years. But should you... stumble across it, it's marvelous. There's a really active modding community that has made patches to get it working on modern systems. (I got it running on Win7 64-bit without issue. I'd recommend the SHTUP high-res texture pack, but warn against the mods that "improve" the character models, as they take a lot of liberties with the game's look and feel.)

It's from 1999, but I first played it last year and loved the hell out of it. It's really, really similar to Bioshock (or rather, the other way around.) But it relies heavily on RPG elements/character customization: you need to level up weapon classes, psi, hacking, or whatever to actually be able to use them, and the amount of points you get forces you to specialize, so every playthrough can be very different.

To quote Yahtzee, "System Shock 2's difficulty fell somewhere between 'challenging' and 'murderous.'" I first played it on normal, and it kicked my ass the first few hours. Even then, it didn't get easier because my character got a lot more powerful, but because I got a lot more careful. The difficulty serves the atmosphere superbly... I was really on-edge throughout the whole game because even the weakest monsters can kill you very easily. It's like that jump-scare "OMGOMGOMG" terror in Minecraft on hard difficulty, when you're doing your thing and suddenly hear a creeper hissing right next to you. That feeling happens in System Shock 2 all the damn time. It's an enjoyably oppressive experience.

Also, the plot's first-act reveal is something to behold. I mean, I went into the game knowing the spoilers. But despite that, and despite the 1999 graphics, the spectacle of what happened was jaw-dropping. I'd read exactly what was going to happen and when, but it still took me completely by surprise. The scene is masterfully crafted, and the game's oppressive atmosphere builds up to it perfectly. Such an incredible "Ho... ly... shit..." moment.

 

[Lazy]

SACRIFICE.

[HEADING=2]SACRIFICE.[/HEADING]

[HEADING=1]SACRIFICE.[/HEADING]

An incredibly smart, funny and bizarre game that succeeds spectacularly in almost every area and is unlike anything else you'll likely ever play. The gameplay has aged quite well and, somewhat uniquely among 3D games, it still looks pretty good even after 12 years, due in no small part to the fantastic art direction. Just be aware that the character progression is handled very differently from your standard level up system. You gain new abilities with every mission you take, and which ones you get depend on who you choose to work for. Exceptional performance and/or completing secondary objectives net you stat bonuses of your choice.

It's hard for me to describe in any detail without gushing all over the place, and besides that it's something that sort of has to be seen. You can buy it off either GOG (which I recommend) or steam for ten bucks, so I suggest looking it up on either site and seeing if it piques your interest (though if the idea of Tim Curry voicing a god with a balloon for a head can't accomplish that, you are a sad person.)

Also, no, the first two Fallout games haven't aged all that well. That said, if you can adjust for the overall clunky-ness then they're some of the best, most immersive RPG experiences around.

 

[Christopher Fisher]

You should check out Legend of Grimrock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzIiXx-8BHc

Torchlight 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUGY_0Mk3OA

If you haven't played it, I would also recommend Deus Ex Human Revolution and Kingdoms of Amalur, both of which are better on PC

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

How are the first two Fallouts? Have they aged well?

I played them for the first time just a couple of years ago and thought they were great but they are very clunky and unforgiving. The first dungeon in Fallout 2 will probably make you hate the game, but it gets better from there.

For modern PC-exclusive RPGs the Avernum games are pretty good and I hear Geneforge is similar but I haven't gotten around to playing them yet. The combat is turn-based on a grid and quite enjoyable. I'm not sold on the aesthetics, though, and they can be hard to move past. The games aren't ugly they're just a little... sterile? I'm not overly keen on the music either. Still an enjoyable experience.

Legend of Grimrock is a fantastic first-person dungeon crawl. It can be unforgiving, but it's rarely unfair and it's gorgeous to boot (which doesn't translate into it being a hardware killer). The Ultima Underworld games might be worth checking out, too, as well as their spiritual successor Arx Fatalis. They're somewhat open-world and very addictive.

The Torchlight games are incredibly fun Diablo-style hack 'n' slashers. The first one is XBLA, I believe, but the second is PC-exclusive.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Definitely get FTL. It's fucking fantastic. The kind of game where you just lose yourself in it for hours at a time.

 

[deviltry]

8800GT hardly qualifies for master race.

 

[DazZ.]

Free stuff you may aswell try:
League of Legends, also a decent into to the MOBA genre which is in a "boom" I feel may not be over yet.

Quake Live, basically Quake 3 played in a browser, fast paced multiplayer arena twitch shooter. Old school and delightful.

I want to say Planetside 2, but I fear a 8800GT may not cut it.

http://www.thefreebundle.com/
Then those, only heard (good) things about Nitronic Rush, but they're free so what the hell look at them.

Edit: Oh shit, TF2. Forgot that's free now. Get that.