Top 10 PC Games

[Razaele]

So guys and gals, what's your top 10? Any genre or title is accepted! No matter how obscure! :smallbiggrin:

I'd post mine, but I'm still kinda thinking about it. Heh! :smallbiggrin:

[Dogmantra]

I have a top 5...

1. Morrowind.
2. Portal
-Massive gulf here-
3. Fallout 3
4. Auditorium
5. Battle for Wesnoth

[DeathQuaker]

Actual priority may vary, except #1 will stay where it is.

1. Planescape: Torment
2. NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer
3. The Sims 2
4. Civilization IV
5. Baldur's Gate 2
6. Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (I'll note that I got this years after release and played it very well patched, which I imagine made my gameplay experience quite different to some others')
7. Nethack
8. Might and Magic VII (come back, original M&M series, come back!!! Let's just forget IX and start all over!!!)
9. Fallout 3
10. Diablo II (has a sudden urge to reinstall...)

[Erloas]

Not to take issue with anyone elses list... but I don't think most of the Metal Gear Solid games nor God of War ever made it to the PC.

I don't really have a list, and I'm not going to try to put them in order. I'm going to list some that I don't necessarily think they were the best, but I had fun playing them and thats enough for me.

Fallout 1&2
Quest for Glory series
Privateer 1&2 (how a miss the all but dead space combat genre)
Sim City 2000&3000 (I was sort of done with these types of games before 4 came out so I never tried it)
Dark Age of Camelot
Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear (maybe 3 as well) Though 3 started some of the changes that I felt ruined what the franchise was, but it hadn't changed too much yet. While Vegas was pretty good when I tried it, they had "consolized" it so much that while some parts were great improvements, they also changed many of the aspects I found so great about the first ones. I think those were many of the same aspects that keep the games from being big with the normal FPS crowd. It was one of the few FPSs I finished the single player and one of the only ones I played a lot of online. I've never really been a fan of most of the "traditional" FPSs that every one else seems to get all hyped up over.

The Space Quest series, Zork series and Monkey Island series are kind of on the listThey were good, but I'm not sure if I would put them on the list or not since I didn't really play them much. But I did sort of play/watch them with a friend and really enjoyed the humor in them, but I never went and bought them for myself. Of course these all came out in about the same time period, when I was too cheap to buy games and wasn't pirating them. Fallout only escaped this same fate because I picked it up later in a cheap pack. Quest for Glory escaped this because my cousin got these and I was over there a lot more to play them.

I think there should be an RTS on here too, but I can't really pick one that stands out to me. I never did get into them competatively, and while I had a lot of fun with Age of Mythology and the many Command&Conquerers I'm not sure if anything stands out as the one to pick.

Portal was an absolutely brilliant few hours that I had a lot of fun with. However I think it was just too short to really belong as an all-time best game.

I have a feeling there are a few games that are simply slipping my mind right now.

[Theodoriph]

In no particular order...since ordering them is too hard for me to do. :smallsmile:


1. Master of Orion II
2. Morrowind
3. Deux Ex
4. Ascendancy (lots of problems with this one, but it was brilliant)
5. Bushbuck Charms, Viking Ships, and Dodo Eggs (ah...the childhood education games...this to me, was one of the best. How I hated Otto.)

...

I guess I really only have a top 5. Here are others, but they're not on par with the five mentioned above.


6. Max Payne
7. Sim City 2000
8. Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
9. Star Wars Rebellion (one of my first games...so it gets here based off of sentiment...although it is pretty good)
10. Freelancer

Honourable Mention: Diablo, Sim Copter

[Athaniar]

I'll try a top 4, and perhaps elaborate tomorrow.

1. Age of Wonders II: Shadow Magic (#1 TBS)

2. Age of Kings (#1 RTS)

3. World of Warcraft (#1 MMORPG)

4. Warcraft III (#2 RTS)

5. Knights of the Old Republic (#1 RPG)

6. Neverwinter Nights (#2 RPG)

7. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (#3 RTS)

EDIT: Added 2 more, and genres.
EDIT: Another one.

[Om]

In no particular order:

Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate
Half-Life (Can't decide between 1 or 2...)
GTA: Vice City
Civilisation II
Vampire: Bloodlines
Europa Universalis III
Monkey Island II
Day of the Tentacle
Alpha Centauri

That was surprisingly difficult to whittle down. Here are some that were on the original list before I remembered some old gem. I'm sure there's plenty more that I'm forgetting

Crusader Kings
Deus Ex
Victoria: Empire Under the Sun
Hitman: Blood Money
KotOR: The Sith Lords
Fallout 2
Doom


That means I just have to replace one of them with Onimusha 2Another game never released for the PC. You really haven't read the thread title, have you?

[Knaight]

Now to really start with the obscurity. Kind of.
1. DROD, Journey to Rooted Hold.
2. DROD, The City Beneath
3. Lugaru, the Rabbit's foot.(I see Overgrowth, the sequel, as kicking this down a notch or two on the list once it comes out)>
4. Lightnings Shadow. Its a simple game, but it takes priority over Brawl(which I own), as a multiplayer game. And it can field ten players. And its free.
5. Starcraft, but it isn't obscure. Specifically Brood War.

[Isak]

1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I
2. Diablo II + Expansion
3. Americas Army
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
5. Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos + The Frozen Throne
6. Star Wars Galaxies
7. Starcraft + Brood War
8. Everquest II + Expansions
9. Everquest + Expansions
10. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

[Theodoriph]

MMoRPGs should really have a separate list. Actually...really, there should be a single player and a multi-player/mmorpg list. =D

I prefer single player games, but if I were making a list of top multi-player games for PC...

In no particular order...

1. Halo
2. Diablo II
3. Red Alert
4. X-Wing v. Tie Fighter (I always like playing Star Wars spacefighter sims multi-player...that was the last one I played, though there was one more I think after X v. T)
5. Warcraft III
6. Unreal Tournament
7. Starcraft
8. Master of Orion II

From what I've heard WoW is good, but since I hated the controls/camera, I never played it for more than 5 minutes. :smallsmile:

[Triaxx]

Ten? I'll give it a shot:

1: Baldur's Gate 2
1: Total Annihilation
2: Baldur's Gate
3: Fallout 2
4: Supreme Commander
4: Age of Empires 2
5: Freelancer
6: Call of Duty
7: Sacred
8: Icewind Dale 2
9: X-Com Interceptor
10: Battle for Wesnoth.

Ah well, that's twelve, but there are so many good games.

[Cubey]

The lists presented so far show a disturbing lack of:
X-Com: Enemy Unknown/Ufo Defense
System Shock 2, though SS 1 was very good too
Freespace 2
Homeworld, arguably

Everything else I consider top 10 (probably more than 10 titles, actually) was posted already.

[NeonBlack]

In no particular order, except for the first:

1.- Tie Fighter
2.- Doom 2 - Hell on Earth
3.- Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn
4.- Planescape: Torment
5.- A random edition of Championship Manager/Football Manager, probably CM 03/04.
6.- Freespace 2
7.- Master of Magic
8.- Civilization II
9.- MicroProse Formula 1 Grand Prix, aka. World Circuit
10.- Cave Story.

Honorable mentions go to X-Com - UFO Defense, System Shock 2, Half-Life 2, Fallout, ADOM, Angband and variants, and Audiosurf.

[Myatar_Panwar]

I'll try a top 5.

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Half-Life 2
3. Oblivion
4. Mount and Blade
5. Diablo 2 (though I have still yet to finish...)

I'm relatively new to PC gaming, and I'm sure my list shows it. Though I am surprised at the severe lack of HL2 in this thread.

[Dogmantra]

1: Total Annihilation
10: Battle for Wesnoth.

I would say "marry me", but someone already mentioned Morrowind :smalltongue:

[Zen Monkey]

1. Planescape: Torment
2. X-COM: UFO Defense
3. The Sims
4. Baldur's Gate
5. Neverwinter Nights
6. Diablo
7. VtM: Bloodlines
8. Starcraft
9. Chaos Gate
10. SW: KotOR

Honorable Mentions (b/c I loved the console, never played PC versions):
Silent Hill 2
Tomb Raider 1&2

[Pronounceable]

Wooo, someone else knows of Lugaru!


And now for my completely and utterly objective (if you disagree, you are WRONG!!!) list of best games ever on PC in ascending order:

Exile 2: An awesome display of old school RPG goodness. The game that cemented the love of RPGs in me, which proves it's objectively awesome.
Dawn of War: For the glory of the Emperor!
Fallout: Fun times all around.
Portal: Quintessential quality over quantity game.
Baldur's Gate: Resurrector of CRPGs. And has Sarevok.
Tetris: May not be a strictly PC game, but none can deny it belongs in every top10 list about gaming.
KotoR 2: Even in its beta stage, it's awesomer than any game you care to name (except for those below).
Torment: Contains more awesome than any two on the list combined. Only surpassed on this list by the pinnacle of fun gameplay.
Dungeon Keeper: Best RTS ever. It may not have the greatest multiplay potential, best campaign storyline ever written, or the deepest abyss of strategic depth. But it's fun. With a capital FUN. Also contains the best narrator ever.
Doom 2: It's the Big Effing Game.

[AgentPaper]

1 - Warcraft 3 TFT
2 - World of Warcraft
3 - Portal
4 - Diablo 2
5 - Half-Life 2 (and episodes)
6 - Team Fortress 2
7 - Pharaoh & Cleopatra
8 - Baldur's Gate 2
9 - Total War series (they're all the same, really)
10 - Black and White

Edit: I have to disagree with tetris belonging on any top-ten. Never liked that game. I'd rather play minesweeper or solitaire. (and I don't much care for those either) I just don't see what's so interesting about it. It's a mediocre puzzle game at best.

Edit: Edit: I also am surprised at the lack of HL2 love. I'm not much of a shooter fan, but HL2 and the episodes are the only games that have had me on edge, full of adrenaline, scared ****less and out of ammo, and yet not being able to stop pressing forwards, crowbar in hand, vowing to NEVER come back to ravenholme again. (Why do I go back?)

[Dublock]

ok I love PC gaming and will post a full list later when I have time to sit down and think abut it over but I have to agree on something



Edit: Edit: I also am surprised at the lack of HL2 love. I'm not much of a shooter fan, but HL2 and the episodes are the only games that have had me on edge, full of adrenaline, scared ****less and out of ammo, and yet not being able to stop pressing forwards, crowbar in hand, vowing to NEVER come back to ravenholme again. (Why do I go back?)

That is the absolute truth for sure(expect I'm a big fan of shooters). I remember Ravenholme, oh boy...that was just a great game design. Although I have the Zero-point Energy Field Manipulator gun (AKA The gravity gun)

[onasuma]

Lack of love for the thief series (or at least 1 and 2) saddens me...

[Cristo Meyers]

In order of time lost sitting in front of the computer:

10. Space Empires 4: First real 4x game. Galactic Civilizations may have done it better, but Space Empires is still a real gem.

9. TIE Fighter: "How does it feel to be a legend?" Pretty damn good. Fond memories of doing a certain combat sim mission that would result in a 25 v 1 dogfight and spending all afternoon dogfighting rebel fighters.

8. Medieval 2: Total War: It just lended itself to metagaming up a full storyline for your family members.

7. Sins of a Solar Empire: Real time that doesn't play like real-time. Massive fleet battles and a relatively intelligent AI.

6. Civilization 3: Couldn't stop until I had a finished game for every civilization, including those in the two expansions.

5. KoTOR 2: Intro to KoTOR and Bioware in general.

4. KoTOR 1: The better of the two, in my opinion, but only because of the incompleteness of 2.

3. Spore: you can lose hours just creating critters and vehicles

2. Fallout 3: So much to do, so little time to do it all. You could spend afternoons just roaming the Wasteland.

1. X-Com: UFO Defense: entire days have been lost playing this game. I was the first in my group to actually beat the game, and I did it with a single trooper in power armour. (Admittedly, it was on the easiest difficulty, but still...)

[Muz]

In no particular order...
Deus Ex
Planescape: Torment
Baldur's Gate 2 (w/ Throne of Bhaal)
Curse of Monkey Island
Quest for Glory (series as a whole...though #3 was the weakest)
Civilization IV
TIE Fighter (XvTF had better graphics, but TF itself was a much better SP game)
Medieval: Total War
Warcraft III
Freespace 2

Honorable Mention:
KOTOR2 (oh, if only they'd finished it)
Vampire: Bloodlines (large world, got less fun toward the end)
Wing Commander 3 (great for its time)
Portal (fun, but too sort)
Spaceward Ho! (nostalgic value)
X-Com (good, replayable game, but missing something I can't quite put my finger on)

:smallsmile:

[The Blackbird]

This will be difficult, its hard to decide, I think I'll go with a top 5 and maybe update it later.

1. Unreal Tournament (Original)
2. Neverwinter Nights (Original)
3. Baldur's Gate 2 (On a lot of lists I'm glad:smallbiggrin:)
4. Halo
5. Chips Challenge (That old game is never bad to play:smallamused:)

[Knaight]

Wooo, someone else knows of Lugaru!


I love Lugaru. Its a great game. But since you know of it, have you checked out the Temple and Empire Expansions? Temple is worlds above the main campaign, Empire is better than Temple, except for it is really hard. On maximum difficulty, which I beat the default campaign on without too many problems, Temple without too many problems, and the Challenge mode without much, there have been a few levels where Empire was just impossible. For instance, they added a jump roll tackle to the wolves, and a level starts within range of it, with 3 wolves who are going to try it immediately. There are no weapons. Its a really hard level, the only reason I eventually beat it is because I mastered the art of leg cannon chains, running away, and death from above sneak attacks. Then a few levels later, you are fighting two wolves, both of which had a speed boost, in a forest, and you start in attack range. You get a sword that time though, so its beatable.

I don't suppose you preordered Overgrowth and have played around with the alpha versions they're giving out?

[Eldan]

Difficult. Really difficult.

The top two are certainly Morrowind and Planescape: Torment, with Torment being just a little better. Third Place goes to Alpha Centauri. But after that?

I have liked many games, but I can't think of any single one that just stood out as being better than all the others to me. There's a large and wide space left, where about two dozen different RTSs kinda stand on the same place, some with more or less city building than others. Medieval, dawn of War, the Anno XXXX series (one of my first games ever was Anno 1602. My parents didn't let me play games for a long, long time while all my friends had SNESes). The Civs are good, as are Baldur's Gate, NWN1 for the multiplayer and the Planescape mods, the Zelda games... really, I couldn't say any of them are really better than any other.

[Rutskarn]

1. The Orange Box. Shut up it counts.

2. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

3. Deus Ex

4. Freedom Force

5. Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich

6. Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

7. Sam and Max (pick an episode)

8. Left 4 Dead

9. Morrowind

10. Unreal Tournament (original)

[Battleship789]

In no particular order:

Tie Fighter (need to reinstall this, X-Wing v. Tie Fighter, and X-W v TF's expansion Balance of Power...and get a new joystick)
StarCraft
Pax Imperia
Age of Empires
Diablo 2
Doom 1 and 2
Thief
Warcraft 2 and 3
Dark Forces Series
Empire at War

[Martok]

In approximate (descending) order:

1.) Star Trek The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation
2.) Medieval Total War
3.) Shogun Total War
4.) Galactic Civilizations 2 (Ultimate Edition)
5.) Lords of the Realm 2
6.) Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
7.) Star Trek: Klingon Academy
8.) Neverwinter Knights
9.) Spaceward Ho! IV
10.) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic


As you may infer, I'm a huge fan of strategy games. Aside from that, RPG's are about the only other genre that I play to any significant degree -- Klingon Academy (#7) is definitely the black sheep on this list!

[Pronounceable]

I love Lugaru.

Me and a friend stumbled upon it on the net at his house. We both loved the demo and he bought it within the hour. Me, being the cheapskate I am, didn't. We finished the campaign that night, though it's been a long time. Still, it was awesome.

[Knaight]

You do know its free right now right? Plus as I said, Temple and Empire owns.

[Neithan]

Let's see...

Baldur's Gate
Baldur's Gate 2
Half-Life 2
Portal
Warcraft 3
Freespace 2
Tie Fighter
Diablo 2
System Shock 2
Homeworld

[Ghastly Epigram]

Off the top of my head...

Myst IV: Revelations (All the Myst games before it were great too, but this is the one I remember the best. Brilliant puzzle game with some of the best graphics I have seen)

Age of Empires II (Plus expansion. Making scenarios especially was fun)

Rayman (1, 2 and 3, all three are awesome. Platforming at its best)

Unreal Tournament (Original)

Dungeon Keeper (Not the hardest game ever, but loads of fun and atmosphere. Plus a level editor!)

Team Fortress 2 (Lots of style and charm and simply great fun)

Diablo II (Plus expansion. Dangerously addictive, but a great game)

Worms Armageddon (All the games in the Worms series are fun, but this one takes the cake for replay value, variety, strategic potential, and just being awesome. Improved immensely by playing with friends due to is turn-based gameplay)

Only 8 for now. Meh. :smalltongue: The 3 Raymans make 10!

[Jonzac]

Well top 10 is hard but I'll give it a shot...in no particular order

1. XCOM: Terror of the Deep
2. Falcon 4.0 (and all the following user mods)
3. Rowan's Battle of Britian (especially after the BDG mods)
4. Privateer
5. Dark Age of Camelot (and now Warhammer)
6. Rome Total War
7. Neverwinter Nights 2
8. Civilization (all of them really, I spent numerous hours on number 1)
9. Comant Mission Beyond Overlord through Afrika Korp Holy Crap I can't believe I forgot to add this one on the list. It was my 1:300 WW2 tabletop gaming on the computer and against other humans. I will always remember crushing a flanking attempt of Sherman III with a Hetzer and a 50mm Pak.

I guess I was into the flying thing for a long time and that cut out a lot of gaming time with other games. Plus once I finally found MMOs I find myself buying fewer and fewer games.

[Eldan]

I have sinned. I have sinned greatly.

Of course number one is not Planescape: Torment. Number one is and will always be the Myst Games. Riven particularily. Took me more than a year, but damn, I figured it out without help. Exile was a little faster. Revelation on the other hand... damn, even with a complete walkthrough, I can't get past that one puzzle with the monkey creatures and that monster down the stairs. Why the hell did they ever include timing? I play puzzle games because I don't have the reflexes or dexterity for anything else.

I might actually get a top ten together now...

1. Riven
2. Exile
3. Myst
4. Revelations
5. Planescape: Torment
6. Morrowind
7. Alpha Centauri

Still only seven. Hmm.

[UnChosenOne]

And there is my list:
1. Thief (1-3) I don't belive tell you why.
2. NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer One of best western RPG that I've played
3. Medieval 2 Total War
4. Rome Total War (+ both x-packs)
5. Splinter cell (1-3) Quite good sthealt game's but story is their weak point
6. Starcraft: Brood War Classic RTS
7. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
8. Diablo II
9. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (1st)
10. Blitzkrieg Best WWII RTS that I've played (and Warty goblin I've now played the CoH too)
11. Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition

Well as you see there is quite many of RTS at the list.

[archmage45]

Civilization II
Galactic Civilizations
Diablo II
Homeworld
The Sims
Kings Quest III
Baulders Gate
Neverwinter Nights
Dungeon Keeper

[warty goblin]

No particular ordering here.

Sins of a Solar Empire Takes the concept of the Total War games (blend of real time and turn based) and actually, you know, blends them as opposed to stitching them together into a sort of Frankengame. The impact of having battles happen in the same time frame as everything else is really, really hard to understate for me, since it makes the maps and game feel like a unified whole, rather than two or three seperate games glued together (see the Total War games and/or Star Wars Empire at War). People say it makes good on the promise of Supreme Commander, but that doesn't strike me as exactly true. SupCom was essentially an RTS that had big maps, a funky economy, and a deeper than usual zoom, Sins is actually grand strategy. The bit where it looks freaking awesome, has lots of spaceships, and understands that battles are more interesting when they take longer than five seconds helps quite a bit as well. Now if only I could afford Entrenchment...

Crysis, the first half Probably has some of the best level design of any FPS I've played. The simple scale of some of the maps is staggering, as are the obscene number of ways there are to engage (or not) the enemy. Crysis understands that I want to be badass, but handing me the moment on a platter of scripting just kills the experience for me, and so actually allows me to be unbadass. Truly a game I simply can't stop replaying, if only to see what happens if I jump over that building, punch that dude to death, run that one over, then shoot the third one in the face. Pity the second half of the game somehow manages to be as insipidly designed as the Call of Duty games, but somehow does a worse job of it.

Company of Heroes I have a theory of RTS games, which simply states that they tend to be better games the larger or smaller they are in scale relative to Starcraft. Starcraft for me occupies a sort of uncanny valley of game size, small enough to make high level strategy uninteresting but neccessary, large enough to make detailed unit management a pain in the ass but absolutely required. Where Sins is huge, CoH is small, and the emphasis the game places on terrain is truly wonderous. The random effects of weapons are just icing on the cake of intelligent units.

Galactic Civilizations II
I always liked the Civ games, but GalCiv clicked for me in a way they didn't. Probably due to the customization possible in the base game, the tongue in cheek humor, and the staggering depth of gameplay. Also the only game I've played where one of my key strategies is to choose a species that breeds like space rabbits with lifetime supplies of Viagra, and then basically hump my way to galactic dominance.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
I've always had a weakness for class based shooters, since I'm a fan of decision making in games, and you are pretty much hit with one before the game even begins. The asymmetric sides are a lot of fun, and unlike so many 'sci fi' games ETQW actually has science fictiony sorts of guns and abilities in it, just like they did back in the old days. Sure there are assault rifles, but there's also a gatling plasma gun, a personal teleporter and a sort of jeep that can smash tanks by ramming it. The game also managed to interest me in multiplayer through the objective based maps and emphasis on not just shooting people. Deathmatch was fine back when Doom was hot news, but for the love of god people, it's the twenty-first century. We can do better than a bunch of people hopping around half a square kilometer randomly shooting each other, and adding 'leveliing up' systems doesn't change the fact that the deathmatch horse is now very, very dead. Plus ETQW has really quite good AI, is well balanced and doesn't feature regenerating health.

The Witcher
One of my dirty little secrets is that I really, really don't like managing parties in games. Their existance is generally tolerable (and only if they don't yack on bloody forever), but that's about it. Hence the traditional RPG is a fairly miserable thing to me, since they seem to mistake 'inventory juggling' for 'character development.' Enter the Witcher, which doesn't even have parties at all, thus representing a significant advance over Mass Effect where the party was simply irrelevant to anybody who knew how to aim the guns. The bit where the main character actually has a personality and isn't just a more chatty and inevitably orphaned Gordon Freeman wannabe is good. The part where the world doesn't revolve around me from day one, and actually feels like a lived in sort of place is better. The bit where I can go upwards of ten or twenty minutes without having to massacre the population of a small town and the major career choices don't seem to be 'hapless farmer' or 'XP sour- er, bandit' are best. Really this is what a CRPG should be, and I look forward to seeing what these developers do next.

Far Cry 2
Speaking of not having to massacre small villages every two minutes, here's another game that understands the way to make combat feel nice and intense is to actually use this thing called pacing. Despite what Infinity Ward may think, (good) pacing is not 'shooting bad guys, then shooting bad guys, then shooting bad guys, then..." That's boring, and FC2 knows that. Instead there are reasonably lengthy periods of time where, amazingly enough, nobody is trying to kill you. Keeping these interesting is the possibility (not the certainty) that somebody is, in fact, going to try to kill you in the near future, so you should keep an eye out. It's intense, and the changes of pace keep the action interesting. The bit where the game eliminates about 95% of the HUD is also pretty wonderful, since it actually lets me see the bloody thing, which looks very, very good even on my modest rig. The game also features pretty much complete tactical freedom as dictated by weapon choice, so if you want to snipe, that will probably work, as will charging in with an assault rifle, flamethrower and SMG, as will sneaking in with a silenced pistol and machete, as will blowing up the gas tank, cooking off the ammo stash, then shotgunning the survivors. You probably can't equip yourself to be able to do all of these things at any given time, but with the right loadout all of them are possible, and that's a very, very good thing. Also using a recoiless rifle to blow up a jeep, realizing that the backblast caught the grassland on fire and you are downwind, and hightailing into the middle of Bad Guy central about half a second ahead of the spreading wildfire is a very cool moment. Also kudos for a story more interesting than "Terrorists in Middle East, grr, nationalism kill!" although it takes probably longer than it should for what the game is doing with the narrative to become clear.

Half Life 2 and episodes
I really shouldn't like this game, since it's completely linear, but Valve, being messanic geniuses of game design, actually make it work. How I'm still trying to figure out, although I suspect the gravity gun and Alyx are key to this...

Oblivion
Had a lot of fun with this one, even when my computer sucked so hard I had to download special replacement shaders to be able to get the thing to run at all. Sure there's not much in the way of overarching point, but I've never needed anything like that to justify sinking a few hundred hours of my life into something, so long as I can decorate my house and stab some schmucks in the face. In fact this might be one of the game's greatest strengths, is that it doesn't inflict much you don't want to do on a person, and pretty much just lets you go with the flow.

Mount and Blade
Parties done right in an RPG, they really are just faceless drones used for killing swarms of people. Of course you are mostly a faceless drone who's sole purpose is killing swarms of people, so the working relationship seems fairly sound. Plus this means one can concentrate on killing swarms of people, which is a hellova lot of fun. Also how many games refuse to have any overarching story at all? Sort of makes other open world games look sort of weak sauce to me. It really takes the concept of sandbox and runs with it, pretty much plopping the player in the middle of a big ass map and handing over the reins.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Let's see...

I'm absolutely in love with the Total War games, though I don't own the first two (Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War), and the other three aren't actually all that good without mods, I might as well include the mods in there, in brackets.

So, at the very top, is Rome.


1. Rome: Total War (Mods: Europe Barborum for the SPQR era, Invasio Barborum: Ruina Roma for the fall of Rome)
2. Medieval 2: Total War (Mods: Chivalry 2 because it's very historical, and you can start at 5 different points, Das Heiligh Romisches Reich, for a very cool representation of the Holy Roman Empire, and Vacuus Lux Lucis, the last because I'm helping make it. VLL is a mod about Dark Age Britain :smallwink:)
3: Empire: Total War (No mods yet :smallyawn:)
4. Dorf Fortress.
5. Mount and Blade (Too many mods to count!)
6. Any Civ game.


um... I've taken up all my other games off of my comp to make room for all of the Total War games, so... yeah.

[Theodoriph]

Another game that probably should have made my list in retrospect:

Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators

[Eldan]

Oh, I just remembered:
Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters.
A 2D space shooter about a galactic war.
Ok, that's a little unfair: the actual shooting is only a small part, mostly it's space exploration on an amazingly large map where you are just totally lost on the first three or so playthroughs. Features hillariously funny NPC races and still manages to make the enemy threatening and evil. It's around for free download somewhere.

[AgentPaper]

OMG dorf fortress. Although I can't quite add it to the list until the controls and/or graphics are better. (IE, simple sprites and mouse) Still, I would give it an honorable mention of 11th place, just from what it can do so far.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Well, although I am tempted tp put Ultima V forward, alas I played the Commodore 64/128 version of it. The PC version wasn't nearly as good.

So...in no particular order:

1. Darklands (Microprose) - probably the best of the DOS-based games I played. Mind you, I had to buy a memory extension to play it...

2. CIV (Microprose again) - the original. Great in its day and I still play it on the laptop when I have an early night.

3. Quake Series - particularly Q2, which I have set up with CRBOT and several computer players. Running around the place shooting at Daleks and the Sailor Scours is pretty surreal...

4. Diablo - It was a while before I brought it, but it lasted well.

5. Caesar III - The only world builder that I really enjoyed.

6. Diablo II/LOD - the only game I have ever played on a LAN, and the only game that has kept me occupied for - literally - years.

7. Neverwinter Nights (+ expansions) -

8. Ultima V Lazarus (Fan remake of Ultima V based on the Dungeon Seige engine) - Despite the bugs, a remake that kept close to the original game, but added a whole new dimension. Shame about the magic carpet.

9. Alpha Centurai - CIV in space with less micromanagement.

10. Icewind Dale (I and II) - the first team-based DND game that was really interesting to play. Brought back memories of the old gold-box series.

[Loch]

Kotor
Civilizations: Test of Time
Age of Empires 2
Morrowind
Oblivion

[Dogmantra]

Morrowind
Oblivion

You're allowed to like both?
Surely not!

[MalikT]

In no particular order:

Heroes of Might and Magic III (AB & SoD)
Deus Ex
Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic
System Shock 2
Fallout 2
Operation Flashpoint
Icewind Dale 2
Mass Effect
S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl
Starcraft
Diablo II

Can't believe nobody mentioned HoMM.

[Dogmantra]

Heroes of Might and Magic III (AB & SoD)
Can't believe nobody mentioned HoMM.
Have you tried the mod "In the Wake of Gods"?
It's rather good.

[MalikT]

Have you tried the mod "In the Wake of Gods"?
It's rather good.
I've played it, it has a couple of good features, but recently I got bored with it so I returned to original heroes. Didn't mentioned it because it's an unofficial mod.

[AgentPaper]

5. Caesar III - The only world builder that I really enjoyed.

If you haven't, you may want to check out Pharaoh and Cleopatra, as well as Zeus and Poseidon. They're made by the same people, are very similar, but are also different and fun in their own ways. Of these 3, Caesar was actually my least favorite, though I don't know which of the others I like more. One lets you build massive pyramids, while the other has the greek gods. (also atlantis, if you get the Poseidon expansion)

Also, on Sins of a Solar Empire, which I recently bought: No campaign?! Am I just missing something here? Surely there's more than just playing random maps and pre-gen maps?

[warty goblin]

If you haven't, you may want to check out Pharaoh and Cleopatra, as well as Zeus and Poseidon. They're made by the same people, are very similar, but are also different and fun in their own ways. Of these 3, Caesar was actually my least favorite, though I don't know which of the others I like more. One lets you build massive pyramids, while the other has the greek gods. (also atlantis, if you get the Poseidon expansion)

Also, on Sins of a Solar Empire, which I recently bought: No campaign?! Am I just missing something here? Surely there's more than just playing random maps and pre-gen maps?

Arg, how could I forget the old Impressions city builders? A plague on my unworthy self...

Nope, no campaign in Sins of a Solare Empire at all. There's the tutorial, and various random or non-random maps. Not to fear though, once you start playing games with more than about two stars, it's far more epic than any campaign, and you can actually play with all the units!

[Manga Shoggoth]

If you haven't, you may want to check out Pharaoh and Cleopatra, as well as Zeus and Poseidon. They're made by the same people, are very similar, but are also different and fun in their own ways. Of these 3, Caesar was actually my least favorite, though I don't know which of the others I like more. One lets you build massive pyramids, while the other has the greek gods. (also atlantis, if you get the Poseidon expansion)

Also, on Sins of a Solar Empire, which I recently bought: No campaign?! Am I just missing something here? Surely there's more than just playing random maps and pre-gen maps?

I did see Pharoah in the stores but decllined to by it as it looked like it used the same sort of engine as C3. Although I liked C3 there were some quirks that I really didn't want to spend money replaying in a different game (most notably the lack of control on how services were spread around the city ).

However, given your comments I may well give it a try.

[Eldan]

Pharaoh was extremely similar to Cesar in the basics, but it had some nice additions: periodic floods ment you had to really plan your agriculture, since the land started to deteriorate and monuments, well, I gave up the campaign at the third or so huge pyramid I had to build.

[Tensu]

Total annihilation kingdoms.

anyone who thinks otherwise (i.e. most people) is wrong and must be punished.[/fanboyism]

[Tam_OConnor]

1) Baldur's Gate II: See, when I'm still playing this game, after buying it when it came out...that speaks rather highly of the replayability and the number of quality mods released.
2) The Curse of Monkey Island: Lucasarts at its finest. Superb voicing, story, and art.
3) Medieval 2: Total War: The newest game on the list, an the aberration because it isn't story based. This one earns high point just on the gameplay.
4) Icewind Dale II: Not as epic in scope as BGII, and I was longing for character interactions, but very solid (except for the puzzle room in the Ice Palace. That was just aggravating).
5) Baldur's Gate: My gateway into D&D, and RPGs in general. I blame this game for everything. I have beat it once in all those years. Once.
6) The Secret of Monkey Island: What possible use is there for a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle?
7) TIE Fighter: Dogfighting TIE Defenders in a TIE Advanced, and winning? Epic beyond belief.
8) Knights of the Old Republic: Now, if Obsidian had finished KOTOR 2, that game would be here. I certainly like the item-building aspect better, but they didn't finish the bloody game. As is, KOTOR's story is glorious, even if my computer hated playing the cinematics. Once the Restoration Mod comes out, KOTOR 2 will be here.
9) Freedom Force vs the Third Reich: I have some problems with the storyline, and the Golden Age heroes are useless outside their chapters, but I think I like the story better than the first game.
10) Worms World Party: Another winner on the basis of gameplay.

Shockingly, I'm another Black Isle fanboy. Who would've thought it, on a D&D website?

[Avilan the Grey]

1. Sims 2 - The game I have spent the most time in, and kept coming back to.
2. Planescape: Torment - Would be no. one except for the limited replay value.
3. Baldur's Gate II - The only game I have spent close to the same ammount of time with as Sims 2.
4. Fallout 3 - I REALLY like this game. It is the one game I have played constantly since it's release last year.
5 Fallout 2 - First game that gave me a WOW! reaction for another reason than graphics.
6. Baldur's Gate I - My first real contact with a CRPG newer than Eye of the Beholder.
7. Diablo II - Hack, slash and fun.
8. Civilization 4 - The best yet.
9. Diablo I - Slash, hack and fun.
10. Civilization III - I was one of them who REALLY liked the idea with Culture.

Honorable mentions: Worms (all versions), Tetris, Duke Nuken 3D

[Winthur]

1: Baldur's Gate AND Fallout. Seriously, both give me so much fun, yet both are so different that it would be heartbreaking for me to choose a worse one. And I mean the whole series, not particular parts. Sue me!
2: StarCraft. Beautiful single player storyline and engaging multiplayer.
3: Diablo. Yes - the first one. It was the game that hooked me thoroughly. Multiplayer, although infested with cheaters, wasn't infested with Diablo II-style powergamers with whom hanging out just isn't fun. Just pick a bunch of legits, stick to them - and it will be worth it. Also, better atmosphere than Diablo 2, and more engaging. DITCH HELLFIRE. IT SUCKS.
4: Civilization IV. My favourite empire game.
5: Master of Orion I. The main attraction is: this game is so old yet it has so many masterpiece elements. It came up with the Council idea long before Civ III came (and has done it better than Civ IV). And the AI is also much, much better. More importantly - it works on my computer! Yay! :smalltongue: Only slightly lower than CIV.
6: Heroes of Might & Magic III. I think it's self-explanatory: this is just a great replayability black hole; it sucks you and you have no way out. And it's also a perfect game to play with friends.
7: LEGO Racers. This is the only game I managed to infest my mother with. And it's a really high praise. The sequel lacked... something.
8: WarCraft II. I missed it's golden age. But hey, the music was awesome, the voice of the Orcish warchief was awesome, and it had no failed 3D. Zug Zug!
9: Half-Life. Gameplay, atmosphere, graphics. What can I say?
10: Quake III Arena. Especially since it has been renewed by QuakeLive.