Morrowind ?
The Yakuza series I guess? Granted I’ve only played zero, kiwami and kiwami 2, but it all seems to be completely sincere in its craziness. It doesn’t appear to pretend to be anything more than it is.
Battletoads
Ah damn I don’t have it. Is there some place where I could buy it? I’ve heard some pawn shops in Las Vegas might have it. I can call if necessary
Future Cop: LAPD for the ps1!
This game has so much nostalgia for me. It was the go to game because it had split screen.
Oh that was fun! I got the demo with a graphics card back in the day. Would never have heard of it otherwise.
My sister and I used to play this when we were kids in co-op and competitive mode and it was a blast! Probably one of our first videogames and it was kind of “Our game.” I just recently found out it was made by the same guys that made jungle strike and desert strike back in the nineties and I’ve been itching to play it again.
Chrono trigger
The announcer at gay bingo knows someone that named their kid Chrono. :(
I need to know what gay bingo is.
Imagine straight bingo turned gay
It’s the same as regular bingo except the announcers are drag queens and they dance between rounds. It’s awesooommeee
That’s sad. The characters name is Crono.
I played on the SNES, his name was “BUTT”
Nonono, his name was “FART”
Dark souls 1
Baldur’s Gate 3
A lot of folks are listing their favorite games but this is the one that truly fits.
- Unusually long development time by a studio known for DnD-simmiliar RPG games getting the next installation for the series that defined the genre.
*Cast voice actors for several years, ones that are still playing their characters on a variety of platforms.
- Just chock filled references to DnD lore, cute in-jokes, and faithful updates on old characters.
Everyone involved clearly loved it!
It got people not previously interested in DND to actually enjoy DND.
Unusually long development time
No joke, I installed the open-beta/pre-release years ago, played for a bit, and uninstalled it. When the actual release dropped, I had the most intense déjà vu about it all because I forgot that had even happened. I had to go back to my Steam library to puzzle it all back together.
Part of the reason development took so long was due to them using early release for the right reasons. They listened to the player base and changed the game based on feedback from the fans
The real question is what is Larian’s equivalent to Peter Jackson’s “Meet the Feebles”?
Divinity: Dragon Commander, duh.
Also, as a literal interpretation, it occurs over 3 arcs.
Lord of the Rings Online.
Morrowind
Age of Empires 2, despite being Microsoft owned, is easily one of the best strategy games of all time and has very clearly stood the test of time. It’s over 25 years old and people kept playing it a lot even before the HD remakes. I remember reading that the folks that made the 1st game often had to choose between “actual history or hollywood history” for some details, often going for hollywood because it made for a more fun experience.
I suspect Factorio might stand the test of time as well, and it’s clearly something made by someone who really understands the medium. I haven’t begun my factory yet.
The factory must grow.
Factorio is crack, the space age expansion also is great.
Puzzle Pirates, frankly. Made by people who knew what they were doing, were extremely talented, independent, although eventually tried to hook onto Sega as publisher, almost killed the game and then re-purchased the game from Sega to continue as “re-indie” devs. Still going to this day with a stable player base of a few hundred. The game itself is very clearly hand-crafted and every one of the (few) developers left their mark on it. Feels completed and polished.
red dead redemption 2 is missing from a lot of these
Game was truly a masterpiece
Im…not sure we played the same Red Dead Redemption 2.
I agree with them, that game is a masterpiece. Didn’t you love it?
Oh, yes, I agree with that part. I just don’t see the similarities to LotR.
I went for my horse. Left mission area. Mission failed.
Masterpiece? Really?
Sounds like a skill issue. If that ruined the game for you, I dunno what to say. Might be a replicant?
I did not understand the hype for this game at all. I liked the first one better to be honest.
Java modded Minecraft.
Thaumcraft, my love 😍
There are too many to mention.
MechWarrior 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Daggerfall
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Baldur’s Gate 3
The Longest Journey
Dark Souls
Civilization 2 & 4
Alpha Centauri
The Outer Wilds
Fallout 1 & 2
Alien: Isolation
Super Mario Bros. 3
Death Stranding
Doom (1993)
Phasmophobia
Psychonauts
X-Com: UFO Defense
The Witcher 1 & 3
Disco ElysiumThe first xcom game is still the best one. More units equals more fun
Death stranding is awesome
Thanks for mentioning Alien: Isolation! It’s my favorite game. After many years, I’m finally attempting a silent Nightmare low% run! I’m almost done with M16. Cheers!
I like your taste. These are some bangers lol.
If you haven’t, you should play Armored Core 6. It’s a FROM game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways.
But it’s also a mech game, and it feels like one, in all the best ways! Every button assaults your enemy, every motion feels fluid, fast, effortless - or huge, heavy, clunky - your mech is your mech, and many thoughtful builds can become OP. The customization is bananas. And yet - some fights will remain challenging.
With all sincerity, easy 10/10 game for me, I proceeded from NG -> NG+ -> NG++ directly, which is a first for me and I’m an oldish dude. AND I felt thoroughly rewarded by the end of NG++. It’s a literal perfect game, just unreasonably fun and well-crafted.
I’m going to have to try that game. I played a bunch of the original but I think nothing in between.
Pretty much same for me! Not sure if I played the actual first or just one of the real early ones, but that def drew me to this one. You should play it! I paid full price and would have paid double, knowing now how thoughtfully made it was.
Oh nice, thanks for coming back and replying!
Back on that day I did go check out the store page for it. It looks pretty dang good!
I’ve been spending all my free time busy with stuff other than gaming recently, but once there’s some down time due to completed projects or bad weather I’m going to look into this more.
I know that feeling so well, sadly.
Fortunately in my case it is spending time on things that I want to be working on, and which is therapeutic and healthy for me. Part of a realization in my mental health and “wtf is life” journey was that even though I think I want to have unlimited free time to just chill, having obligations that I enjoy and look forward to produces better results. After being medicated enough to have some energy and executive function of course.
I hope you get to do the same before long!
In truth, my drift from gaming stemmed from very similar self knowledge, I have such a wealth of ways I can spend my time (including with my kids when I can convince the older one, lol) with stuff that has small but accumulative impacts.
No shade on gaming, engaging with art and storytelling and just straight up play all have deep value and I’d argue all people need those things, but yeah. For me a few games in particular that end up feeling like “Chores Simulator XYZ” and which I almost consider a genre of its own (Stardew Valley, Valheim, TerraFirmaCraft MC were my few) helped me better understand my changing preferences. I’m like “why am I building this fake house and collecting the materials and etc. when my office, garage, and outside areas all look kinda shitty?” I have pets who like activity, I have projects and chores and people to see.
Now, I also do feel overburdened pretty often and my job is challenging and tiring, but yeah. By and large I just enjoy more IRL time spent these days, while also missing the former thrill of gaming with this kind of deep ache.
Edit to add: I should probably also say, I had lots to “escape from”, into fictions of various kinds, and I have over time built a life where that is no longer true, and so my time spent has also internally shifted toward more of a sense of gratitude in general, instead of thinking of things as obligations (though of course they 100% are, of the most critical kind) considering where I came from, and I also get how for many folks games can be some of the only pleasant experiences available.
Not Witcher 2?
Definitely not 2. Not for lacking of passion, though. They just didn’t pull it off.
Interesting take, what did 1 have that 2 didn’t? As someone who enjoyed 1 a lot, I found 2 to be a much more fun experience. 1 felt klunky for me mechanically speaking and just didn’t age well. Thematically and character wise I’d say they’re of similar quality for sure.
Here’s my thought process. We’re using two criteria, passion and longevity. The Witcher is clunky and weird and hasn’t aged well, but it’s also the reason The Witcher has become a global phenomenon.
The Witcher 2 was developed with incredible passion and ambition, where choices would have massive game-changing consequences. The problem is, I can barely remember any of it. I have long felt that it simply wasn’t a very impactful adventure. And then came The Witcher 3, which felt like an adventure with choices that mattered and a world that felt alive and lived in. It overshadowed everything else. And yet, without the first game, there would be no The Witcher 3. We might not even have all the books translated to english.
So that’s why I pick those two specifically.
I think I see what you’re putting down. Witcher 1 crawled so that 3 could run, and 2 is just kinda living in 3’s shadow. Perhaps I was late to the bandwagon, I played 1 first when 2 was just getting released, I was under the impression Witcher 1 wasn’t that successful (but not a failure)and that 2 was what really brought the witcher into pop culture.
Honestly I think they’re all good games, and by your reasoning I can see why you would say 1 over 2.
Half Life?
Without a doubt the Witcher games, and Baldur’s Gate 3. Probably Dragon Age too, but I haven’t played those.
Just a side note I wouldn’t necessarily put Witcher 1 on the same pedestal as witcher 2 and 3. You could enjoy it, thematically and story wise it’s spot on Witcher, but it’s pretty klunky mechanically speaking and really shows its age. 2 and 3 are Fantastic in every way though. I hear they’re potentially remaking 1 and I’m all for it if it’s in a style similar to 2 or 3.
Nah, Witcher 2’s combat was an improvement, but still bad enough I know multiple people who gave up due to seemingly impossible fights.
I remember having a lot of trouble with letho specifically
I did love Witcher 2. Played through twice. Besides the combat everything else was spectacular at the time.
Even Witcher 3 controls are quite janky. Especially with a controller. I played W3 after playing Uncharted 4 and the difference in character control was staggering. Felt like several generations behind Uncharted’s controls. Took me several days to get used to Witcher 3’s system.
It is absolutely janky in its controls. I have run around in circles before, trying to inspect something on the ground, and Im quite certain there was never any testing done at all for Roach, certainly not for the 7 1/2 minutes she takes to amble over to you when called, or approaching intersections, or mounted combat. But I do still today love the regular combat, and the world and story are staggering.
Yep tried to play Withcer 3 several times and gave up because of the ultra janky controls. I work in the industry and I just don’t understand how control schemes can still be so shitty when other games have nailed it as far back as N64. That’s not even counting how much I despise the overall industry shift towards prioritizing flowery character animations over player input, so your character always feels like there is a huge lag between player input and onscreen actions because your character is still doing the 4th twirl on his sword strike from the button you pushed 8 buttons ago…
In my opinion all characters in games should be as responsive as a fighting game when it comes to input and onscreen actions. I think the Ninja Giaden series nailed this down perfectly, compared to this level of responsiveness pretty much every modern game I’ve played feels like the characters are underwater.
I haven’t played the recent ninja gaiden games, but to me they seem more like hack n slash style games akin to Devil May Cry, which isn’t a bad thing by any means but I don’t know if that makes sense for the world that The Witcher is set in. Please correct me if I’m wrong there, as my only experience was a demo of Ninja Gaiden Black on 360 a decade ago.
What are your thoughts on a Dark Souls style of combat for the witcher?
It’s for sure more in the hack and slash style of game play, which I can understand doesn’t fit into the witcher world that well. I just feel there is a balance to be had. I have not played the any of the dark souls series yet but I have played Sekiro, and while I think for my preference it could be a bit more responsive, I feel it achieved a good balance and is very playable.
I haven’t played Sekiro yet, but it’s built from the bones of the Souls games and shares a lot of the controls just like Eldin Ring. I’d say the only major difference is you don’t have as heavy of an emphasis on parry/counter timing (although it’s still there) and stealth isn’t built into the games (although you can slowly walk up behind enemies).
To me, I think that style of combat is “grounded” enough to fit well into The Witcher. Geralt is faster and stronger than normal humans, but not extremely so and some noteworthy humans have given him a run for his money or whooped his ass outright. I think Soils Style combat could do a good job of representing that.
I can see what you’re saying, I may be looking back with rose tinted glasses. I don’t know what the best control scheme would be, but I feel like if it felt like a Dynasty Warriors hack n slash it wouldn’t feel right. Maybe something more akin to Dark Souls?
I am very much looking forward to that remake.
