Please help an old and starving gamer

[1L19]

There is a baffling lack of Elder Scrolls on this list. But that's good news because BOY OH BOY have I got a new timesink for you. If you really want to experience everything from the beginning, play:

A little bit of The Elder Scrolls I: Arena
A little bit of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Make sure to patch it to hell with unofficial patches to make sure it's completely stable, and also, get a mod that allows you to run without consuming Stamina. Trust me.)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Get the Unofficial Patch for it like Morrowind. And get Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul or else deal with some TERRIBLE level scaling. And if you want to although I highly advise it anyway, in the Oblivion.ini, mod the zooming whenever you enter conversation so the stupid ass game doesn't do a complete closeup on all those AWFUL faces. *shudder* Or maybe even better yet, just get a mod that completely overhauls the faces.)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Once again, Unofficial Patch. You know the drill. But thankfully, that's all you really need for this game.)

Morrowind and up can be modded very extensively so keep that in mind, although, I would just play the games vanilla first before you start modding them so you know what you want and what will work well.

If you don't want to do all that though and just want the Elder Scrolls experience quick and dirty, just buy Skyrim, although I might heavily recommend going through the games in sequence.

-

Now, I can recommend a TON more games but I think I'll just leave it at that until you need more.

Skyrim I have on the above list and I've also played Morrowind. I honestly find those games kind of clunky (the movement, etc) but there is definitely a ton of content. It's also, probably, the fantasy theme. I just went to look at my list (I wasn't sure myself) and I have to go all the way down to the 7/10 games to Baldur's Gate 2 before I find a fantasy themed game. I must be biased.

Thank you Arnoxthe1 for all the information provided. You definitely went out of your way to help me out and for that I am very greatful. Thank you sir (or ma'am) and have a lovely Sunday.

 

[1L19]

Refund Dark Souls if you still can and wait to see if the remaster will be better ported.

I don't think Steam will help me out on that one. I guess I'm hoping for a patch to fix my very but I won't hold my breath. Thank you!

 

[1L19]

UnderRail - personal recommendation
Darkest Dungeon - going off list
Furi - left field

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Make sure to patch it to hell with unofficial patches to make sure it's completely stable, and also, get a mod that allows you to run without consuming Stamina. Trust me.)

Have mercy

Thank you Gauche for the recommendations. I don't know any of those three games so I'm looking forward to checking. Most appreciated.

 

[DrunkGilgamesh]

I made an account only to respond to this thread. Let's try some stuff you can really dig your teeth into once you learn the ropes :

Counter Strike : Global Offensive is missing from your list weirdly, and it's the top selling game on steam. Yet you have 200+ in L4D2. You'll enjoy the game once you learn the maps much like in L4D and TF2.

Europa Universalis III or IV is missing. You can easily sink 1000 hours into either and not notice.

Rainbow Six Siege for the same reason of Counter Strike and your love of L4D2 and TF2.

Cities Skylines if you like SimCity type games.

I find it hard to believe that OverWatch isn't on here too. Though it's not perfect, if you can dump 50 hours into TF2 or 200+ into L4D2 you'll play Overwatch for at least 50.

Valkyria Chronicles might be right up your alley though a bit too weeby. Watch some gameplay and decide from there.

Hotline Miami isn't here and that's impressive since it's so cheap.

Rogue Legacy might give you some kicks if you like metroidvania.

If you enjoy turn based combat then Darkest Dungeon might be for you.

Fable : The Lost Chapters is on PC now and it is a wonder piece of history that you should play if you never had the chance.

System Shock 2 isn't listed? Really? If you're around my age then you should have been old enough to play it when it came out. So maybe that's why. Regardless, it's on Steam now for really cheap and you can give it a go. It's very Deus Ex meets Bioshock.

No Star Wars : Knight of the Old Republic? Give it a try, it's pretty cheap now.

You might enjoy DOOM 2017 as well.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Roller Coaster Tycoon and Gratuitous Space Battles!

 

[1L19]

I made an account only to respond to this thread. Let's try some stuff you can really dig your teeth into once you learn the ropes :

Counter Strike : Global Offensive is missing from your list weirdly, and it's the top selling game on steam. Yet you have 200+ in L4D2. You'll enjoy the game once you learn the maps much like in L4D and TF2.

Europa Universalis III or IV is missing. You can easily sink 1000 hours into either and not notice.

Rainbow Six Siege for the same reason of Counter Strike and your love of L4D2 and TF2.

Cities Skylines if you like SimCity type games.

I find it hard to believe that OverWatch isn't on here too. Though it's not perfect, if you can dump 50 hours into TF2 or 200+ into L4D2 you'll play Overwatch for at least 50.

Valkyria Chronicles might be right up your alley though a bit too weeby. Watch some gameplay and decide from there.

Hotline Miami isn't here and that's impressive since it's so cheap.

Rogue Legacy might give you some kicks if you like metroidvania.

If you enjoy turn based combat then Darkest Dungeon might be for you.

Fable : The Lost Chapters is on PC now and it is a wonder piece of history that you should play if you never had the chance.

System Shock 2 isn't listed? Really? If you're around my age then you should have been old enough to play it when it came out. So maybe that's why. Regardless, it's on Steam now for really cheap and you can give it a go. It's very Deus Ex meets Bioshock.

No Star Wars : Knight of the Old Republic? Give it a try, it's pretty cheap now.

You might enjoy DOOM 2017 as well.

Haha DrunkGilgamesh well thank you for making the account. A few of the games you've listed I played so long ago that I didn't really think to list them. Played both System Shock and System Shock 2 with great delight. I don't miss the 90 degree turns but really fantastic games. Same with Knights of the Old Republic. I'm not a huge Star Wars fanboi but that was a fantastic game. I also loved Star Wars Galaxies (before they destroyed the skill system) but MMOs are for another day.

I've played CS and CS2 at least double the amount of time I played L4D and L4D2. I was a league player at one time and in fact the day Steam launched (STEAM_0:1:2707) we were banging on the signup button because the server browser completely changed with the steam launch. However I never did pick up Global Offensive so maybe I should look at it.

I didn't know there as a new Doom game out! I hope they didn't jack it up. Overwatch I looked at but it got banged pretty hard on Metacritic as far as the gameplay so I took a pass.I will though give it another look based on your recommendation. The other titles you mentioned I'm not familiar with (I've heard of Fable and of course Rainbow 6) so you've given me a lot to check out.

Thank you very much DrunkGilgamesh for taking the time to help out a fellow veteran. Very much appreciated sir. You've got me thinking about the old titles now. Maybe I should go back to Kingdom of Drakkar or Tdome][ MUD. I still play Nethack every day so it's not that much of a stretch!

Thanks again!

 

[Asita]

Given that you've got Don't Starve on there, you might consider Subnautica (technically still early access, but due for official release in a few days now). Long story short, you had to evacuate your ship over an alien world...a world that is almost entirely ocean. Your escape pod was damaged, but it still has a working fabricator which - given that you can find the right materials - can construct a repair tool, scanner, knife, other tools, and can cook the local fauna for you. Your first priority is to survive. Your second is to figure out what happened and escape the planet.

 

[1L19]

Roller Coaster Tycoon and Gratuitous Space Battles!

Thank you very much for the suggestions Silentpony. I will check them out!

 

[1L19]

Given that you've got Don't Starve on there, you might consider Subnautica (technically still early access, but due for official release in a few days now). Long story short, you had to evacuate your ship over an alien world...a world that is almost entirely ocean. Your escape pod was damaged, but it still has a working fabricator which - given that you can find the right materials - can construct a repair tool, scanner, knife, other tools, and can cook the local fauna for you. Your first priority is to survive. Your second is to figure out what happened and escape the planet.

That sounds great! My problem with Don't Starve is that you get to a point where you're like "ok what now" and I just lose interest. I've played to the point of having a base with a bajillion rabbit traps, good gear and weapons so can survive but after that it's just world challenges etc. The one you describe seems to have a bit more meat on it's bones and that would be great.

Thank you Asita!

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

RimWorld is a phenomenal time sink with a definite end goal.

Thank you very much for the recommendation Addendum_Forthcoming. Normally I wouldn't look at a sim but you said there is an end goal and it's a sci-fi theme so I might just give it a go. Most appreciated.

Keep in mind that it's not a real hard limit. You can continue on after you build your spaceship and get offworld. But the real joy is building up your colony. Suffering at the hands of the 'storyteller' as they inflict your colony with events that you have to survive and thrive through. It doesn't necessarily have to be sci-fi (until end game) in that you can have medieval-level colonies. But the "end goal" is always building yourself up to escaping.

It depends on your tolerance for micromanagement. It's one of those games where the entertainment bleeds through with the idea of building an efficient machine with ever evolving and changing parts.

You will start, restart, then start again trying to work out the mechanics. Trial and error. But to me and possibly yourself if you love games like FTL ... the randomness of opportunity and 'making do' with a bad situation coupled with the right amount of agency... I thought I'd suggest it. To put it bluntly, if you love the idea of socioeconomics ... this is like a playpen of exploring surprisingly deep ideas of the interplay between people, their environment, and access to resources and trade.

Plus the combat systems are surprisingly tactical and can prove brutal if you don't choose the right places to stage a stand or you pick the wrong people/wrong colony to attack by caravanning to a place.

The customizability of the storytellers also sells it for me.

Plus you even have FTL's sense of adventure. As not everything on a map is truly visible. You moght accodentally tunnel into a cave system you didn't know was there, or a hidden grotto esque valley full of useful resources, or claim a building left by some former colonists many years prior.

If you like a more survival horror set up, try Darkwood.

 

[Drathnoxis]

You have good taste, I love Nethack! I'll recommend a couple more roguelikes.

Have you ever heard of Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead? It's pretty fun. It's a more open world roguelike about a zombie apocalypse. It's being independently developed and it's free. There is a staggering amount of depth to the game, even a bit too much at times. You can craft a huge amount of items, deconstruct things for materials, build structures, mod cars, become mutated, install cybernetics, train your skills, need to find enough food and water to survive, get punched through a wall by a zombie hulk and die, and more and more. Unfortunately, it's not a game with a real 'win state', but I think it's a lot of fun regardless.

I also want to recommend Death Road to Canada. It's just a fun action roguelike, focused on short runs. You need to make the trip through zombie infested USA to the safety of Canada. It's pretty fun to play, and absolutely hilarious!

 

[1L19]

RimWorld is a phenomenal time sink with a definite end goal.

Thank you very much for the recommendation Addendum_Forthcoming. Normally I wouldn't look at a sim but you said there is an end goal and it's a sci-fi theme so I might just give it a go. Most appreciated.

Keep in mind that it's not a real hard limit. You can continue on after you build your spaceship and get offworld. But the real joy is building up your colony. Suffering at the hands of the 'storyteller' as they inflict your colony with events that you have to survive and thrive through. It doesn't necessarily have to be sci-fi (until end game) in that you can have medieval-level colonies. But the "end goal" is always building yourself up to escaping.

It depends on your tolerance for micromanagement. It's one of those games where the entertainment bleeds through with the idea of building an efficient machine with ever evolving and changing parts.

You will start, restart, then start again trying to work out the mechanics. Trial and error. But to me and possibly yourself if you love games like FTL ... the randomness of opportunity and 'making do' with a bad situation coupled with the right amount of agency... I thought I'd suggest it. To put it bluntly, if you love the idea of socioeconomics ... this is like a playpen of exploring surprisingly deep ideas of the interplay between people, their environment, and access to resources and trade.

Plus the combat systems are surprisingly tactical and can prove brutal if you don't choose the right places to stage a stand or you pick the wrong people/wrong colony to attack by caravanning to a place.

The customizability of the storytellers also sells it for me.

Plus you even have FTL's sense of adventure. As not everything on a map is truly visible. You moght accodentally tunnel into a cave system you didn't know was there, or a hidden grotto esque valley full of useful resources, or claim a building left by some former colonists many years prior.

If you like a more survival horror set up, try Darkwood.

Ok now you are scaring me but I'll still give it a look. Normally I'm like "Give me a shotgun and put me on point" but I really need to branch out and try some new genres if I want to avoid replaying Mass Effect 2 for the 200th time. Thank you again sir for all of the information and detail. I'm still interested.

 

[Nomen Nescio]

Not sure if it's up to your taste, but the "Sword of the Stars: the Pit" was an incredible timesink for me. It is a turn-based rouge-lite (meaning the progression is saved and shared between different characters/runs) in sci-fi setting that I've beat like maybe twice through the 446h of gameplay. It has plenty of predefined characters, that will have a huge impact over how you're going to plan the run and, just like FTL it have a definitive end. You can also to some extent customize each run, for example lowering the number of levels or passing first 5 levels entirely etc. It was unforgivably hard once, but now with all the addons and patches/balancing I feel like it became much more fair in punishing ones mistakes. You can get it dirt cheap both on Steam and GOG every other sale (from what I can tell it was 3.24$ on the last Steam sale) but I insist on buying the whole package.
It's one of those games, that you will give at the very best a strong 6 maybe even 7, but will surprisingly play much more than most of the 8-9 out there. If you'll decide to give it a try, do not look for recipes and schematics outside the game (wiki etc) as it takes away all the fun by robbing you from that feeling of progression - my friend learned it hard way and never came back to the game.
Con: real progression starts after normal difficulty wall - there's only like 50 recipes that one can unlock on easy.

Also, if you are willing to take a risk (because I can't see other strategies on your list, beside that Kings Bounty) you could try Stellaris. Though I would probably wait until it will get additional add-on and a price drop (maybe next xmas sale?). It differs from other 4x strategies out there, by being somewhere in between full fledged story campaigns of HoMM and the utter lack-off them in Civilization-like games. It has plenty randomly spawned events throughout a game and also a small story-like-arc that is based on a civics/traits of the civilization you've picked to play (you can also customize those and the scripts will still work). Those story-driven events were hand written by devs, so they don't feel "artificial" or disconnected like some of the content I've seen in other games trying to pull it out and are much more interwoven into your game, making it surprisingly easy to "role-play" instead of power leveling. Some of those random event are called "crises" and the name is self-explanatory (not much of a spoiler: one of them is suddenly spawning a portal from another dimension, through which your galaxy will be flooded with zerg-like aliens). Surviving one of them is easier now, than it was before, if only because in recent patch devs allowed to scale it's "strength". Unfortunately (if you're not into punishing gameplay) it is a game that even on easy, will not be a farming simulator like for example Civilization can be... Nuff said I beat it only twice.
Con: achievements are locked behind IronMan game mode (which limits the game to autosave every 3 months). It also is rather weak on the end goal side - there are far less wining conditions than in let's say Civilization. Basically - kill most of the opponents (or get them in you federation) and by "most" I mean like 60%. If I remember correctly.

I would also try to suggest Dungeon of the Endless: a little tower defense like game... but not quite. It's hard to explain - better check youtube and see for yourself. It has a cool sci-fi setting that it shares with other games from Endless universe, but you don't have to know any of it to enjoy the game. It can get very cheap those days and despite relative shortness of the single run it can be a time sink due to the amount of characters you could choose from and due to the randomly generated maps. It is also the only game on that list, that I have beat only on easy. It seems that games that I love do not share my feelings... ;(

I tried to focus on games you may have not tried or even heard, but for the finishing touch I will concur with every single person recommending you Prey. It's great as long as you WON'T approach it with "second coming of Shock series" expectations. In fact, the less you know and research about the game, the better the experience will be. There are some really neat twists both in the story and in the gameplay mechanics there. It was my personal GOTY of 2017 (admittedly I did not play many of the strong contenders but I will still remember 2017 thanks to Prey, just like I do remember 98/99 thanks to HL and Fallout 2). Divinity (and it's 2017 successor) is also worth a look, if only for all the shenanigans you can successfully pull off within the game mechanics: I killed one boss by hoarding many explosive barrels through the map, stacked them on a pile close to his lair, aggored him close enough and then sent a flaming arrow - took loads of time, but gave me a great laugh and sense of accomplishment that was nothing short from real RPG session. Story may be too silly though - it depends on personal taste.

 

[briankoontz]

I don't see the best Deus Ex game on that list, the original. Undertale is the best of the new-wave Meta RPGs. Morrowind is a must play. Heroes of Might and Magic III is the best game of that type and better than King's Bounty imo for that kind of thing.

 

[1L19]

You have good taste, I love Nethack! I'll recommend a couple more roguelikes.

Have you ever heard of Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead? It's pretty fun. It's a more open world roguelike about a zombie apocalypse. It's being independently developed and it's free. There is a staggering amount of depth to the game, even a bit too much at times. You can craft a huge amount of items, deconstruct things for materials, build structures, mod cars, become mutated, install cybernetics, train your skills, need to find enough food and water to survive, get punched through a wall by a zombie hulk and die, and more and more. Unfortunately, it's not a game with a real 'win state', but I think it's a lot of fun regardless.

I also want to recommend Death Road to Canada. It's just a fun action roguelike, focused on short runs. You need to make the trip through zombie infested USA to the safety of Canada. It's pretty fun to play, and absolutely hilarious!

Good deal Drathnoxis. Thank you very much for taking the time to share these two titles. I'm not familiar with either one so I look forward to checking them out. Roguelikes are definitely in my wheelhouse.

 

[1L19]

Not sure if it's up to your taste, but the "Sword of the Stars: the Pit" was an incredible timesink for me.....

I really appreciate all of the information you shared with your post. I took my time and read every single word and I wanted to let you know your time was well spent. Normally I am not into maintenance games but I do love difficult games and a high risk vs reward flavor. I will take my time and investigate every game you suggested with the exception of Prey. To be honest I know exactly jack and squat about that game so I'll keep my blinders on until I give it a go.

Thanks again Nomen for a lovely post and enough detail to really get me interested. Peace sir.

 

[1L19]

I don't see the best Deus Ex game on that list, the original. Undertale is the best of the new-wave Meta RPGs. Morrowind is a must play. Heroes of Might and Magic III is the best game of that type and better than King's Bounty imo for that kind of thing.

You know I did play the original Deus Ex game but it's been so long I didn't even think about it. It was definitely better than Human Revolution... at least in my opinion. Morrowind I've played but didn't really enjoy. I don't know Undertale so I'll definitely be checking that one out. I'm really not up for RTS but I'll give a good TBS game a look with a recommendation like the one you've given.

Thank you briankoontz for your insight and opinion.

 

[J.McMillen]

I don't understand how you'd think Dark Souls is keyboard only, it says on the store page a controller is recommended and it's available on consoles too. Unless you seem to not get it to work. The Witcher II the same. Like, controller is always better for 3D (non-shooter) action games so try them with one.

Prey (2017) maybe? I hear that's good.

I meant keyboard only rather than keyboard and mouse. I don't play any console games and I don't have a console controller. Most of straight FPS and FPS adventure games on my list work perfectly with a keyboard and mouse. I don't really care for a game that isn't properly ported for PC. Now if I was trying to play GTA or Madden on my PC then that's a different story but for games like Dark Souls and The Witcher the standard Mouse + ASWD combination should be the default.

Of course that's just my personal opinion.

I will be checking out Prey immediately and I really do appreciate you throwing out a title. Might just be my next favorite game.

The problem is that many games originally designed for consoles were also designed to be played with a controller. Many of them would not be playable with just a keyboard, and even K+M may require making adjustments. Especially since controllers have many analog features (stick and buttons) that games may have different in-game affects. Like adjusting your walking speed based on how far you move the stick, something a keyboard can't do. It's pretty important in Dark Souls as the faster you move, the more noise you make, making it harder to sneak up and backstab enemies.

As a fellow long time gamer I remember the days of Wing Commander, X-Wing/Tie Fighter, and Flight Sims. Do you know how much sympathy I would have for someone trying to play one of those games without a flight stick, and then complaining about the controls? Zero, that's how much. Controllers are not only inexpensive, it may be the one of the least expensive things you can buy for a modern day gaming rig.

 

[1L19]

I don't understand how you'd think Dark Souls is keyboard only, it says on the store page a controller is recommended and it's available on consoles too. Unless you seem to not get it to work. The Witcher II the same. Like, controller is always better for 3D (non-shooter) action games so try them with one.

Prey (2017) maybe? I hear that's good.

I meant keyboard only rather than keyboard and mouse. I don't play any console games and I don't have a console controller. Most of straight FPS and FPS adventure games on my list work perfectly with a keyboard and mouse. I don't really care for a game that isn't properly ported for PC. Now if I was trying to play GTA or Madden on my PC then that's a different story but for games like Dark Souls and The Witcher the standard Mouse + ASWD combination should be the default.

Of course that's just my personal opinion.

I will be checking out Prey immediately and I really do appreciate you throwing out a title. Might just be my next favorite game.

The problem is that many games originally designed for consoles were also designed to be played with a controller. Many of them would not be playable with just a keyboard, and even K+M may require making adjustments. Especially since controllers have many analog features (stick and buttons) that games may have different in-game affects. Like adjusting your walking speed based on how far you move the stick, something a keyboard can't do. It's pretty important in Dark Souls as the faster you move, the more noise you make, making it harder to sneak up and backstab enemies.

As a fellow long time gamer I remember the days of Wing Commander, X-Wing/Tie Fighter, and Flight Sims. Do you know how much sympathy I would have for someone trying to play one of those games without a flight stick, and then complaining about the controls? Zero, that's how much. Controllers are not only inexpensive, it may be the one of the least expensive things you can buy for a modern day gaming rig.

I hear you man but I don't have a game controller for the same reason I don't have a waffle maker in my kitchen. I don't buying/keeping stuff I rarely use. The example you gave about the walking speed makes perfect sense. I would say, though, if a game is ported to PC only to still need a game controller then it's not really ported to PC. Maybe, in this case, it can't be fully ported to PC based on the mechanics you mention and if that is the situation then maybe it shouldn't be "ported".

Oh and BTW.. Wing Commander was the absolute bomb.

 

[Bad Jim]

You might want to look at Deadly Rooms of Death. Despite appearances it's a puzzle game rather than a roguelike, but it is pretty fun. There's a Flash version on their website, but the full games are on GOG/Steam:

http://caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/FlashDROD/KDDL.html

Watch Day[9] play it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52jVROF_aDs