recent pc games suggestions

[webgem]

Hi everyone, long story short I just got a new gaming(ish) laptop asus brand from best buy because my old one fizzled out under warranty. I wasn't really expecting this to happen, so I find myself wondering what games I should be playing with this thing. It has a ati mobility hd 5870, 6gb ram, and an intel core i7. I don't have a huge amount of time, so I'm looking for about 3 games that have come out in the last few years, one rts, one roleplaying similar to baldur's gate, and maybe one fps. If anyone has any favorites I'd appreciate suggestions, I'm just not sure how to approach digging through the last few years worth of games. I'll probably pick up starcraft 2 as the rts, since my inlaws and I basically play the original for all our get togethers, but anyway, hopefully this isn't too boring of a request, but I sure would appreciate suggestions thanks.

[Tono]

I recommend the Orange Box for all your FPS needs.

[warty goblin]

I recommend the Orange Box for all your FPS needs.

Much as I like Valve, I gotta say that Crysis eats the Half-Life 2's lunch, and not just in the graphics department*. The first half of the game is fairly near FPS perfection, although the second half is very disappointing. Good news is that there's so much to do, so many tactical options in the first half that you can play it upwards of a dozen times without it getting old, and simply ignore the parts of the game with aliens - although it's worth playing through the alien ship level at least once because it is a fairly amazing piece of art and level design.

*The physics are also better:smallwink:.

For RPGs, I'm perhaps overly fond of Drakensang: The Dark Eye, which looks good, plays nicely, doesn't require the memorization of several books worth of wanky background material, and has the general feel of the early Dragonlance novels. It's not the fastest-moving of games, but I find the atmosphere more than makes up for the slower pace. Also the system it uses (the Dark Eye) is very much different, and in my mind better, than the very D&D-esque systems used by most RPGs, with room for much broader, less specialized characters. Or perhaps a better way to put it would be characters that specialize in multiple things, even things outside what one could consider the archtypical. In my current playthrough for instance my best fighter is also best at harvesting ingredients from plants and animals, while my primary spellcaster doubles as the party's face while moonlighting as a secondary melee and and ranged fighter.

For RTS I'm awfully fond of Company of Heroes with the Opposing Fronts expansion, although Men of War has gone a long way to steal its place in my heart. The first plays fairly close to the traditional RTS model, but adds enough physics, explosions, absolutely brilliant voice-acting, and general awesomeness to be generally stellar. The second feels like that game you imagined when you were about twelve, held together with bailing wire and glue, and absolutely insane with terrible, terrible voice acting. But every soldier and vehicle on the field has their own inventory, the ballistics model is really quite good, and you can take control of a unit and play it as an action game.

[Phase]

Much as I like Valve, I gotta say that Crysis eats the Half-Life 2's lunch, and not just in the graphics department*. The first half of the game is fairly near FPS perfection, although the second half is very disappointing. Good news is that there's so much to do, so many tactical options in the first half that you can play it upwards of a dozen times without it getting old, and simply ignore the parts of the game with aliens - although it's worth playing through the alien ship level at least once because it is a fairly amazing piece of art and level design.

I'm sorry to say that I have to disagree with you here, Warty. Crysis, while graphically and technologically superior to Half-Life 2, is severely lacking in the story department. The level design was, in my opinion, meh, and the lack of enemy variety makes one sink into a single method of killing them, no matter how many times you go about it. I'd say that, for your money, the trifecta of Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress grossly outclass Crysis.

[Mtg_player_zach]

I'm sorry to say that I have to disagree with you here, Warty. Crysis, while graphically and technologically superior to Half-Life 2, is severely lacking in the story department. The level design was, in my opinion, meh, and the lack of enemy variety makes one sink into a single method of killing them, no matter how many times you go about it. I'd say that, for your money, the trifecta of Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress grossly outclass Crysis.

See, I think he should get the original half-life which is so much better than half-life 2, which dissappointed me. And if you want flashy high tech don't get crysis, get Metro 2033 which is excellent ( I was very happy with it).

[Phase]

Zach you are an awful person and you should feel bad. Support your fellow Valvees.

[SparkMandriller]

Like the only recent game I've enjoyed is Left 4 Dead. Everything else is just cutscenes full of bad dialogue/boring gameplay/genres I don't care about.

But maybe you like bad dialogue and cutscenes so you'll have more luck than me.

[Mtg_player_zach]

Zach you are an awful person and you should feel bad. Support your fellow Valvees.

What? I said half-life was awesome. And my love of tf2 should be evident.

[Gamerlord]

Anti-valve propaganda. :smalltongue:
GRAVITY GUN. THAT ALONE MAKES HALF-LIFE 2 WORTHWHILE. :smallbiggrin::smalltongue:

[shadow_archmagi]

The level design was, in my opinion, meh, and the lack of enemy variety makes one sink into a single method of killing them, no matter how many times you go about it. I'd say that, for your money, the trifecta of Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress grossly outclass Crysis.

Agreed. I was originally planning to do a "no bullets, highest difficulty" playthrough my second time, but discovered that the GRAB function was so wishy washy that half the time I'd run up to an enemy and pound F and nothing would happen until he'd turned around and shot me and alerted all his friends.

[VanBuren]

Hi everyone, long story short I just got a new gaming(ish) laptop asus brand from best buy because my old one fizzled out under warranty. I wasn't really expecting this to happen, so I find myself wondering what games I should be playing with this thing. It has a ati mobility hd 5870, 6gb ram, and an intel core i7. I don't have a huge amount of time, so I'm looking for about 3 games that have come out in the last few years, one rts, one roleplaying similar to baldur's gate, and maybe one fps. If anyone has any favorites I'd appreciate suggestions, I'm just not sure how to approach digging through the last few years worth of games. I'll probably pick up starcraft 2 as the rts, since my inlaws and I basically play the original for all our get togethers, but anyway, hopefully this isn't too boring of a request, but I sure would appreciate suggestions thanks.

RTS: Company of Heroes
FPS: Orange Box
RPG: Mass Effect 2

[shadow_archmagi]

RTS: Starcraft 2
FPS: Stalker, Call of Pripyat/Shadow of Cherynoble
RPG: Rocket Propelled Grenade Man 2

Alternate suggestion. Probably best bought IN ADDITION.

[Triaxx]

Wow, Warty didn't suggest Far Cry 2? Surprising.

That said, you might want to wait a bit for Fallout: New Vegas, and get your FPS and RPG fix in one awesome package.

I haven't heard of any good RPG's lately, aside from the above, and no good RTS's on the horizon.

[Phase]

I would not wait for New Vegas if I were you. The sweet-talk and pomp of the presenters at GDC were all well and good, but I'm gonna wait until we see more before committing. No matter how it turns out, though, there's no way it will be as good at being a First Person Shooter as Half-Life 2.

[Dogmantra]

Personally, I found HL2 to be an okay shooter, but I would still recommend getting The Orange Box for Portal and Team Fortress 2.

I mean, Portal's one of the games that you pretty much can't NOT play and still say you're in the know about games.

[Erloas]

Well for what its worth, the games I've been having the most fun with lately have been Mass Effect 2, Borderlands, and L4D2. Though the last two are highly dependent on who you have to play with.

I'm not quite sure if I like ME2 more then ME1 yet, I haven't got far enough in 2 yet to see.

[warty goblin]

I'm sorry to say that I have to disagree with you here, Warty. Crysis, while graphically and technologically superior to Half-Life 2, is severely lacking in the story department. The level design was, in my opinion, meh, and the lack of enemy variety makes one sink into a single method of killing them, no matter how many times you go about it. I'd say that, for your money, the trifecta of Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress grossly outclass Crysis.

The thing about Crysis is that if you play it like Half Life 2 it seriously sucks. If you start poking around, doing crazy stuff with the crazy mobility that the nanosuit gives you, it turns into a whole new ballgame, one far more invigorating and liberated than Valve's titles. The difference is that in Half-Life I do stuff that Valve tells me is awesome. Crysis hands me a toolbox of stuff I'm likely to find fun, and tells me to go crazy; with a bit of creativity it is simply more fun. I never bothered to finish Episode 2, I've played Onslaught and Assault probably a dozen times now because there's enough depth it's worth coming back to them again and again.

The level design for example tends to have a lot of empty space so that you can maneuver, use the binoculars and plan ahead, and engage the way you want to. If that's up close and personal with the shotgun and SMG, go for it. If it's picking off dudes in Strength mode with the Precision Rifle or slapping the sniper scope on the assault rifles, go for that. Sure you can play the entire game using only armor and stealth, but why would you want to? It's efficient, but also boring.

[Thrawn183]

No love for Starcraft 2?

[Gorgondantess]

you can play it upwards of a dozen times without it getting old

*snerk*. I played it once and it was already old. It's halo with a cooler suit- I got tired of doing silly stuff with the suit a half hour in, tried to utilize it the rest of the game but just got killed whenever I didn't set it to defensive when fighting or speed when running, and when I beat it bemoaned the loss of $50. At least half life has some gripping atmosphere.

As for the actual topic at hand: Orange box is a great choice. Really, everyone can find something to love in it.

[Triaxx]

No love for Starcraft 2?

None at all.

[Eldariel]

None at all.

That's a game worth getting an entire new PC for, frankly. Tho I guess OP's might be a bit low-end for it.

[shadow_archmagi]

D: my post was ignored.


The thing about Crysis is that ultimately all the tools you're given, you're given right at the start . Then you play through the same scenario over and over again. I had gotten bored of it by the end of my first playthrough because I had already tried everything I could think of. Played it like a shooter for the first bunch of mooks, then I abused stealthsuit for the second little town, and then I abused Speed and Strength for another bunch...

[warty goblin]

None at all.

At last, something we utterly agree on.

[Oslecamo]

That's a game worth getting an entire new PC for, frankly. Tho I guess OP's might be a bit low-end for it.

My comp with almost three years can handle it with medium graphics.

As long as I keep a winding fan working just near my computer to stop it from overheating...

TOTALLY WORTH IT! SC 2 RULES!

And it will only get better as people release mods for it with the galaxy editor:smallbiggrin:!

[Triaxx]

At last, something we utterly agree on.

I was beginning to suspect that might never happen.

[Mr. Mud]

No love for Starcraft 2?

Reinforcements have arrived.

Starcraft 2 was AWESOME in Beta, and even though I've wasted all my money on drugs and hookers music of late, and I haven't got SC2, it's still the best way to satiate my RTS craving. I really heavily recommend it.

And for the Baldur's Gate-a-like, you might want to look into Dungeon Seige, Neverwinter Series, and Dragon Age :smallbiggrin:

[Cespenar]

And for the Baldur's Gate-a-like, you might want to look into Dungeon Seige, Neverwinter Series, and Dragon Age :smallbiggrin:

Only Dragon Age can be considered as a Baldur's Gate-a-like, in my opinion. The others resemble Diablo more than they resemble BG.

[warty goblin]

Only Dragon Age can be considered as a Baldur's Gate-a-like, in my opinion. The others resemble Diablo more than they resemble BG.

Be fair now. The Neverwinter games resemble a sleeping pill far more than Diablo.

[Eldariel]

Be fair now. The Neverwinter games resemble a sleeping pill far more than Diablo.

Oh, come now, they'd have been great entertainment in the 80s when pipe runs were the in-thing.

[mangosta71]

Aye, I'd say Dragon Age for the RPG. Alpha Protocol is a good candidate for a FPS/RPG hybrid (RPG component is far better than ME2 imo). And sounds like you're already fixed on SC2 for the RTS.

[Myatar_Panwar]

Crisis is alot of fun and you should play it if able. But I would still say that HL2 was a far better experience overall. I'd rather not analyze it, its just how I feel.

I hate most RTS's. I am loving the hell out of SC2. Dawn of War 2 is great if you are happy just doing single player (which in my opinion outclasses SC2's single player in terms of game play, not in terms of out of mission interaction).

Dragon Age is great fun if you are into fantasy. Mass Effect and its sequel are great fun if you are into si-fi. Both are great games.

You didn't mention action games, but I have to say that Batman: Arkham Asylum was definitely my favorite game of last year, and everyone should play it at some point.

edit: Also Dark Messiah of M&M for your first person sword slicing, orc kicking, spell slinging needs. Also hot demon chicks

[Jahkaivah]

The difference is that in Half-Life I do stuff that Valve tells me is awesome. Crysis hands me a toolbox of stuff I'm likely to find fun, and tells me to go crazy; with a bit of creativity it is simply more fun.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c226/saxcsa/Garrys_Mod_Main_Screen-1.jpg

[deuxhero]

Vampire Bloodlines, Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape Torment, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and Jagged Alliance 2 are all a bit old, but you should play them if you haven't as they are all really good.

Mount and Blade is good for the 7 bucks Amazon offers it for (You may want to get Warband if you see it on sale for under 20 bucks, but the mods are really what makes M&B fun.)

Neverwinter Nights 2 is pretty bad, but the expansion pack, Mask of The Betrayer is amazing.

[Calemyr]

One game that never gets any love that I've thoroughly enjoyed is Alpha Protocol. It has a lot in common with Mass Effect, except it's more based on stealth and manipulation than badass runs up the side of a tower.

The way the game works is a little different, however. You always play Michael Thorton, a new recruit to a super-secret spy agency. All of Thorton's dialogue is voice acted, but instead of selecting individual responses, at certain points in conversations you have the chance to select his stance in the conversation that follows: either suave, aggressive, or professional, and Thorton's dialogue changes to match the decision.

You also have a lot of leeway in how you resolve your missions, as well as what order you do them in. Tranq darts and martial arts and stealthy knockout moves allow you to take down enemies nonlethally, while shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, SMGs, and several variety of grenades and mines allow you to ensure they never get up again. While your dealings with your primary targets generally consist of "execute", "arrest", and "spare", your decisions effect the flow of the plot much more than in similar games. Sparing an arms dealer gets you money and a discount when buying gear, but also improves the quality of weapons the faction their allied with use. Making friends with a crime boss in one location allows you to call in favors from that crime boss later. Staying on the good side of a violent yet friendly sociopath convinces him not to sell you out to your enemies. Systematically pissing off an enemy agent allows you to goad him into fighting to the death rather than fleeing to ambush you later. In general, just about everything you do has some effect somewhere else in the plot in a manner far more intricate than usual for this kind of game.


It's not perfect, of course.
1) If the computer is taxed too much (I was once watching a DVD on one screen and playing the game on the other when this happened), the face textures on characters could flicker, but only in extreme cases in my experience.
2) There is some amount of texture pop-in, a small but consistent annoyance most fans of the original Mass Effect are familiar with.
3) You can't manipulate the bodies of dead or unconscious enemies, meaning that taking out one patrol is likely to alert another one in densely packed areas.
4) The hacking and lockpicking minigames are pretty interesting, but can quickly become very difficult and frustrating. Since failing most often triggers an alarm that puts all enemies on the hunt, it's a frustrating feature for those favoring the stealth approach to the game (such as myself). On the other hand, you are allowed to use EMP grenades to bypass the game if you have any handy.
5) The pistol is ridiculously effective. Besides being able to equip a silencer and tranq ammo, the power associated with the pistol skill is the ability slow time to a crawl and line up 3-6 shots with VATS-style leisure, all of which fire off the instant you're done. It's slow to recharge, but it's hard to justify using any other weapons beyond a pistol and martial arts.
6) The plot is pretty good, but the basic outline of it isn't all that unique. "Secret agent takes down corrupt corporation attempting to manipulate global events for personal profit" may not be original, but the story is told pretty well.
7) There are only four or five face models for the grunts in each faction, and those are factions that reveal their faces. Didn't bother me much, but I'm sure someone out there will be keeping a running tally of how many times they've shot "the bald guy with sunglasses", among others.
8) You're pretty limited on how Mike Thorton looks. His facial structure is set in stone, his hair is always black, and his skin tone ranges from "very pale" to "very tan". You've got several options for hair style, facial hair, eye color, glasses, and hat, though I personally found that "Styled Hair", "5 o'clock shadow", and "Half rimmed glasses" created too much of a badass appearance to consider any of the other options. You're basically playing Maes Hughes from Full Metal Alchemist at that point, and that's just too cool for words.

Those nitpicky details aside, I've played through the game twice now and found it to be very fun (although a little frustrating because I am a perfectionistic sneak and I screw up the hacking minigame way too often). It's definitely worth a look if you like the general feel of Mass Effect but would like more stealth and guile than run and gun.

[Cespenar]

Vampire Bloodlines, Fallout, Fallout 2, Planescape Torment, Arcanum, Temple of Elemental Evil and Jagged Alliance 2 are all a bit old, but you should play them if you haven't as they are all really good.

Mount and Blade is good for the 7 bucks Amazon offers it for (You may want to get Warband if you see it on sale for under 20 bucks, but the mods are really what makes M&B fun.)

Neverwinter Nights 2 is pretty bad, but the expansion pack, Mask of The Betrayer is amazing.

Seconding the entire post. Except for ToEE, of course, which sucked. :smalltongue:

[Triaxx]

No it didn't. Too much expectation of the original module, instead of the sequel module which is what it was based off, that actually sucked.

Besides, Circle of Eight makes it much, much better anyway.

[Tech Boy]

I think PC is superior, I am glad there are more PC gamers out there!

This list may be a little old, but, I think they are good games.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
For one, it is a great free roam game.
For two, you can mod all you want, it makes the game pretty flippin' amazing. I once road around on a dragon wielding a lightsaber.
Look up "oblivion mods'' sometime in youtube, there are tons out there.
This game has been out for a while, so you can get it and two expansion packs for $20 at Walmart.
Great deal.

Two Worlds:
This game was kind of beat up by people when it came out, but, it is a fun game.
It has a lot of free roaming, and the leveling experience is one of the closest to D&D that I have ever seen.
Some modding is capable, but not as much as Oblivion.
I got this for $15.

Assassin's Creed:
This game is absolutely awesome.
The sheer abilities that are capable in this game make it a great experience.
I got this at Wal Mart for $10 a couple weeks ago.
:smallbiggrin:

[Triaxx]

Just remember that if you do get the $20 version of Oblivion at Wal-Mart, you'll still have to pay for the rest of the DLC. It only comes with Knights of the Nine, and Shivering Isles.

[UnChosenOne]

Some games that I can recommend: S.T.A.L.K.E.R and its Expasions, Hitman Blood Money, DoW: DC (with Firestorm over Kronus), SCII, NWNII: MotB, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Planescape Torment (old game but still, It's the best CRPG ever relased) and Baldurs Gate series (old games but, well, BGII is the second best CRPG ever).

[Tech Boy]

Just remember that if you do get the $20 version of Oblivion at Wal-Mart, you'll still have to pay for the rest of the DLC. It only comes with Knights of the Nine, and Shivering Isles.



With all of the things you could do with the game, expansions, and the ability to mod, why would one want to purchase those things?

[Breltar]

STALKER series and NWN2 if you get both expansions (I'm not a fan of epic levels and like Storm of Zehir better) Lord of the Rings online is coming out as free to play at the beginning of September as well.

[Gamerlord]

With all of the things you could do with the game, expansions, and the ability to mod, why would one want to purchase those things?

*Raises hand*
:smalltongue:

[fknm]

Besides, Circle of Eight makes it much, much better anyway.
No, it doesn't- the only usable version of the Co8 patch is the one that removes all of the new content.

[Tech Boy]

*Raises hand*
:smalltongue:


Ok, Just curious, why did you purchase them?

I am honestly curious. I never purchased any other content, I just modded.

[Gamerlord]

Ok, Just curious, why did you purchase them?

I am honestly curious. I never purchased any other content, I just modded.

Knights of the nine was pretty cheap, and I was grabbing SI anyway. Also, I don't know how to mod, and didn't really trust other mods.

[Tech Boy]

Knights of the nine was pretty cheap, and I was grabbing SI anyway. Also, I don't know how to mod, and didn't really trust other mods.

Oh, I understand. We were mixed up. I thought you purchased the DLC stuff.

I would purchase the expansions, Knights of the Nine and SI.

Good man.


Cheers.

[Gamerlord]

Oh, I understand. We were mixed up. I thought you purchased the DLC stuff.

I would purchase the expansions, Knights of the Nine and SI.

Good man.


Cheers.

Knights of the nine IS the DLC technically, only in CD format.

[Smight]

RTS: Starcraft 2, Sins of a solar empire
RPG: Mass Effect 1,2
FPS SP: Half life 2, Stalker
FPS MP: Team Fortres 2 , Battlefield BC2
4X: Sword of the stars, Civilisation (5 is less then a month away)
(Elemental war of magic is still prety much unfinished but looks promising)

[endoperez]

If you like turn-based fantasy strategy games, there's Dominions 3, and the Fall From Heaven 2 mod for Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword. Buying BtS just to be able to play the mod is well worth the money, in my opinion. Elemental: War of Magic might also be good, but I haven't tried it yet and there are some conflicting opinions about it on the internet.

If you like Heroes of Might and Magic games, King's Bounty should be up your alley.

If you fancy a Diablo experience but don't want to wait for Diablo 3, try Torchlight.

[Forbiddenwar]

FPS Sp: Minecraft
FPS MP: Minecraft
Stealth game: Minecraft
Best Laptop game: Minecraft
Sandbox modding: Minecraft
Best free game: Minecraft
Best cheap game for under $15: Minecraft
Best game to play if interent connection is unreliable: Minecraft

What?
:smallconfused:
Why are you all looking at me like that?

[Triaxx]

Supreme Commander is the best RTS since Total Annihilation. Supreme Commander 2 does not exist.

[warty goblin]

Supreme Commander is the best RTS since Total Annihilation. Supreme Commander 2 does not exist.

I like Supreme Commander 2, I can actually tell what the hell's going on with the economy

[Sylivin]

Oooh, I don't know. I very much enjoyed Supreme Commander but Supreme Commander 2 was very... neutered. The entire point of the game was unlimited resources, massive armies, and combined assults. The most recent game clipped the second part and it became smaller and simplified. Good for some people, but I enjoyed the complexity of the first.

Anywhooo.. for games, lesse.

If you like action RPGs I would go for the Mass Effect series as others have mentioned. You really don't need to play the first one to enjoy the second one. Fallout 3 or Oblivion are good choices for your "end of the world" or "weird medieval" needs. If you like classic RPGs that feel more like a tabletop game I would go for Dragon Age (noting the Bioware lovefest yet?).

The Orange Box is a good value, though Half-Life 2 is feeling its age compared to other newer console first person shooters. F.E.A.R. is a fun game (the original) for being both a FPS and for promoting a creepy feeling through the entire game - however, it is an older game as well. Crysis was all right and enjoyable enough, but I didn't like it enough to do another play thru. Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 are both fun games, but it really requires having at least one friend with you to fully enjoy it.

If I had to suggest a single shot FPS (edit: actually, an over the shoulder third person shooter) it would probably be Dead Space. It is a survival horror game that is a FPS at its heart, but with many of the survival horror aspects remaining. However, the game does not penalize you for having a favorite weapon and you can always spend "credits" to buy more ammo from the automated shops typically at the start of a new level. Just make sure to play it in the dark with the lights off the first time. I only jumped once or twice, but a permanent air of "creepiness" made the game very memorable.

Just noticed as I scrolled down to read what other genres people were putting in that this thread is a few months old. Bah, heck with it, I'm still posting all this crap I already typed out.

[Klose_the_Sith]

I've always felt that Call of Juarez is a greatly underrated game, so I'd personally suggest that if you want a game full of entertaining characters and wild west hijinx, but don't want to go in for another dose of the same gameplay Rockstar have been shipping for years. It's a cover-based FPS where every mechanic works and you get to feel like a total badass, but still get challenged.

It's just a shame the open-world sections get abandoned so rapidly ...

As for the RTS, you might as well get SC2. Personally I don't even play RTS's that much at all anymore, I'm filleting various Total War games these days for my strategery fix.


As for the actual topic at hand: Orange box is a great choice. Really, everyone can find something to love in it.

I bought the Orange Box, I tried the games, I beat Portal ... then sold the Orange Box to a second hand store because I'd barely had any fun with it at all and wanted it out of sight.

There was no part of it I loved.

[Forbiddenwar]

I bought the Orange Box, I tried the games, I beat Portal ... then sold the Orange Box to a second hand store because I'd barely had any fun with it at all and wanted it out of sight.

There was no part of it I loved.

You are a rare creature. Most, including nasty critics like zero punctuation (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/10-The-Orange-Box) have nothing but love for the orange box.

[Klose_the_Sith]

You are a rare creature. Most, including nasty critics like zero punctuation (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/10-The-Orange-Box) have nothing but love for the orange box.

Oh, I know :smallbiggrin:

Actually the reason I didn't enjoy the Orange Box was because for some reason I don't understand, Valves games give me motion sickness. It's never happened to me with any other form of media, but after trying to zip around the swamp on that hover-deelie, I literally threw up.

I just like sounding bitter and twisted :smallwink:

[chiasaur11]

Well, some folks are going deep into the depths of older games, might as well push it a bit further.

Deus Ex

and

X-Com. UFO Defense.

Old as the hills by PC gaming standards, but never matched. (although the new Deus Ex looks downright amazing. If the reviews are good, get that.)

Smart, lot of room for replay and improvisation, fun.

Play them.

[IthroZada]

The Witcher is a good fantasy RPG, I enjoyed it enough to be anticipating the sequel. The only thing you have to worry about is getting used to the combat system.

[Triaxx]

Why not with Supreme Commander? All you need are positive numbers.

Plus Sup Com 2 moved away from grand strategy. Instead of directing armies in the field, it's moving squads around. If I want to do that, I'll play Blizzard games. Everything got so oversimplified, except for bettering units, which requires research, that was blessedly absent from SupCom 1. It's not even an effective mechanic any more. It means that if I play online, it's all about the first and last levels of research and getting there the fastest. If I play the campaign, it's just one more thing I have to redo. EVERY SINGLE LEVEL.

And that's just not fun. It wasn't when StarCraft did it, nor when some levels of Age of Empires did it. It will never be fun. If I want better units, let me build better units. Period.

SupCom 1 had great micromanagement. It consisted of 'Attack this target'. You selected the target and let them kill it. Now I've got to stop and make sure everything is upgrading so I don't get left behind while trying to attack and defend and expand. And don't tell me 'realism' because in reality, there would be people to which I could delegate all these nagging little details.

[Mushroom Ninja]

I never bothered to finish Episode 2

That's part of your problem. The final battle of Episode 2 is, quite frankly, the most epicly awesome battle I've been in in any FPS. Ever.

[SparkMandriller]

SupCom 1 had great micromanagement. It consisted of 'Attack this target'. You selected the target and let them kill it.

You never fought Lobos? Dodging's important, your guys don't do that on their own.

[warty goblin]

Why not with Supreme Commander? All you need are positive numbers.
Because I do things, and they change the numbers, but I have no notion of how they changed them, why they changed them, or why doing this meant that the other thing I was building just upped and stopped. It was, to put it mildly, confusing as hell. Of course I only played the demo, so maybe this got rectified in the release and expansions.


Plus Sup Com 2 moved away from grand strategy. Instead of directing armies in the field, it's moving squads around. If I want to do that, I'll play Blizzard games. Oh let's not go that far. There are few experiences I rank as low as Starcraft - and the less said about Warcraft 3 the better. Warcraft 2 was actually fairly fun, but I played that forever and a half ago at a friend's house, when much of the appeal was it being far more violent than anything I was allowed to play at home. I'm really not qualified to offer up an evaluation of it's gameplay mechanics.



Everything got so oversimplified, except for bettering units, which requires research, that was blessedly absent from SupCom 1. It's not even an effective mechanic any more. It means that if I play online, it's all about the first and last levels of research and getting there the fastest. If I play the campaign, it's just one more thing I have to redo. EVERY SINGLE LEVEL.
Who the hell plays the campaign of any RTS? They are all universally horrible*, although I found SupCom 2's to be slightly less miserable. I think I got through maybe six missions there, which is close to a record.

*Exception, the Caranten level of Company of Heroes. Everything else still sucked.


And that's just not fun. It wasn't when StarCraft did it, nor when some levels of Age of Empires did it. It will never be fun. If I want better units, let me build better units. Period.

I honestly don't mind research. As a mechanic it forces me to invest in path A instead of Path B, which can be an interesting decision.


SupCom 1 had great micromanagement. It consisted of 'Attack this target'. You selected the target and let them kill it. Now I've got to stop and make sure everything is upgrading so I don't get left behind while trying to attack and defend and expand. And don't tell me 'realism' because in reality, there would be people to which I could delegate all these nagging little details.
Managing upgrades in SupCom 2 is pretty much utterly painless. I click the research button, I click the button to unlock the ability I want. Micromanagement hell this is most certainly not.

[SparkMandriller]

Because I do things, and they change the numbers, but I have no notion of how they changed them, why they changed them, or why doing this meant that the other thing I was building just upped and stopped. It was, to put it mildly, confusing as hell. Of course I only played the demo, so maybe this got rectified in the release and expansions.

Things which give you resources have a positive number associated with them. Things that take resources have a negative number. If you add everything up and have a positive number, your resources go up by that number every second. If you add everything up and have a negative number, your resources go down by that number every second. If you run out of resources things get slowed down until they're running at a rate you can afford.

It's... not that complex dude. :/

[warty goblin]

Things which give you resources have a positive number associated with them. Things that take resources have a negative number. If you add everything up and have a positive number, your resources go up by that number every second. If you add everything up and have a negative number, your resources go down by that number every second. If you run out of resources things get slowed down until they're running at a rate you can afford.

It's... not that complex dude. :/

I grasped that part, I'm not a moron. My complaint with the system is that it allowed me to utterly slay my economy without adding anything - or really grasping what it was that I had done that caused all my factories to shut down - that felt particularly meaningful to the game. It's a system I'm sure I could come to grips with if I had the motivation, but absolutely nothing about the game inspired me. SupCom 2 allows me to get right to the important tasks of sending out legions of tanks to blow stuff up with much less fuss.

[SparkMandriller]

I grasped that part, I'm not a moron.

But that's all there is to it! How can you be confused by anything when you understand everything that there is to know?

[warty goblin]

But that's all there is to it! How can you be confused by anything when you understand everything that there is to know?

The bit where my income could be positive, and nothing was getting built?

Most the bit where I could deal with all that, or I could go play Battle for Middle Earth II. My taste runs towards the simple in my more or less conventional RTSs, dickering with economies shutting themselves down or how to place buildings for optimum resource generation doesn't interest me. I'll happily screw with that stuff for hours in a good city builder or turn based strategy title. In an RTS however I want an economy with just enough punch to make losing units hurt and building new ones less than automatic; whether this takes the form of resources or just giving me a set number of units at the beginning of the level doesn't really matter to me*.

*As long as the game is designed to be played with whatever you start the level with that is. I hate levels in games that are very much built around having expendable troops when I don't have any way to reinforce. Basically this means that I have to have a lot of options for keeping a unit alive (cover, stances etc), and combat needs to be a bit more involved than a hit point swap.

[Triaxx]

SparkMandriller: Lobos have cluster munitions. Dodging doesn't always help. And besides, when I have them out numbered four to one, it doesn't matter.

Warty: The world is right, we're disagreeing again. :D

It does not look so at first glance, but Energy is the more important resource. Without it you cannot produce mass, nor can you build anything. It simply stalls the economy. So a 4, or 6 to 1 ratio is generally needed, until you have shields, where it's 8 or 10 to 1.

I'm talking the 64 version, which had expanded unit limits and a much easier global construction menu. It was surprisingly awesome.

Obviously you missed the SupCom and Total Annihilation campaigns, which were awesome.

Versus choosing air, land or sea?

[fknm]

Obviously you missed the SupCom and Total Annihilation campaigns, which were awesome.
Sorry, but no. I loved SupCom, but its campaign was total garbage.

As for managing the economy, it's simple- if your numbers are positive, your income is higher than your expenditures, so you should either build more factories, upgrade some factories, or upgrade some mass extractors (which has the double-whammy of both costing mass and shutting down mining there). If your numbers are negative, build more mass extractors- do NOT upgrade your mass extractors, since you'll just stall harder. If you've given up too much map control to build mass extractors, you're probably boned, and should make a big push to get more territory. Mass reserves should be as close to 0 as possible- if you've got a Mass Wasted of more than about 15 at the end of a match, you did it wrong. Energy is easy- assign an early engineer to do nothing but build lines of generators, and you'll be fine there. Having excess here is actually good, since Overcharge is so useful.

[SparkMandriller]

The bit where my income could be positive, and nothing was getting built?

I think your game was broken then, 'cause that's not how things are meant to go. Unless you were building one of those superweapons that takes like an hour unless you have armies on engineers working on them. Were you building one of them?


SparkMandriller: Lobos have cluster munitions. Dodging doesn't always help. And besides, when I have them out numbered four to one, it doesn't matter.

They travel so slowly that you can get out of the way a lot of the time even with the cluster shots. But hey, ignoring them, what about Auroras? They're hopeless without you constantly shoving them about, they barely advantage of their range at all.
And y'know all the little things that micro helps with in every game ever are still in Supcom. Maybe less so when you've got like a hundred dudes fighting at once, but they're still there. Micro's still important.

[Triaxx]

fknm: I heartily disagree. While the three 'final' missions were very stupid, I thoroughly enjoyed 14 of the 15 remaining missions. UEF's next to last was very nasty to start. I ended up cheating in several Support Commanders to get the missile defenses built in time.

But all the other missions could be easily won with nothing more than a little strategic ingenuity. Aeon missions were terribly fun naturally. Especially the one where you jump onto the Cybran planet. There's a set of shipyards you can capture and then produce Cybran tech with. Nothing quite as much fun as tearing down their defenses with their own bots. Or mixing the two navies.

SparkMandriller: Easy, I just use a 3-1 mix of Aurora's and Flares. This is more impressive when you realize it's 6-8 plants all churning them out at once.