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Post by Grayback on Apr 1, 2011 13:20:59 GMT -5
I decided to start a thread in which I could share with you my memories of some of the video games ( the ones that have left their mark on me ) I have played in my life. I will limit myself to PC games for now but I might talk about console games later. Of course, feel free to share your own memories of video games, this topic is by no means meant just for me and I would in fact be curious to hear your own experiences. Red Alert was not only the very first game I played on PC but it was also the first rts. It was 1998 and I remember that I didn't even possess a computer back then but my brother-in-law did and it was he who introduced me to this game ( I kept asking him questions about how everything worked and all but I was only 11 years old ) and with this first taste of PC gaming I knew I wanted to own a computer . Anyway, this game was amazing for its time and it made me fall in love with the real-time strategy genre ( well, not so much anymore today, I'm a bit jaded to be honest ). It had a great interface, good graphics, two very different factions and of course live-action cinematics which is a trademark of the Command & Conquer franchise. And let's not forget there were tesla coils, my favorite defense from all the rts I've played.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 2, 2011 4:11:02 GMT -5
First allow me to start this by suggesting all those who never played Fallout 1 or 2 to do it, as they are both great games. I chose to talk about Fallout 2 because it's my favorite of the two. I would also advise you ( if you haven't already ) to install the Fallout 2 Restoration Project as it makes the game even better by correcting a number of bugs as well as restoring missing content. The first time I played Fallout 2 was in 2001 ( Yeah, I was a bit late but better late than never )and this is truly the best post-apocalyptic rpg game I have ever played. You could do anything you wanted and act however you liked, from being a hero in a not so shining power armor to a sociopathic criminal or even a complete idiot ( which made for some laugh-out-loud dialogues ). Of course today it wouldn't stand much of a chance with his 2D pixelated graphics and I can understand that a gamer who played only recent 3d games would have trouble going back to what he would consider to be an ugly game. But even so, Fallout 2 will always have a place in my heart and I have yet ( after 10 years ) to find another post-apocalyptic rpg with such a great world, atmosphere and story.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 2, 2011 13:06:01 GMT -5
Deus Ex. Two words that when put together seem to awake great memories in my mind. What could I honestly say about this game that hasn't already been said so many times before ? It just did so many things right you easily forgot its few imperfections. To make a long story short, it was and still is an amazing game ! It combined so many different kind of games ( action, infiltration, rpg, adventure, you name it ) into something amazing when it could have been a complete failure. The story was full of more or less unexpected twists and the cyberpunk universe was just well thought out and developed, with many factions and interesting characters. Even before I owned the game, I played the demo again and again, each time trying a different set of skills and doing things differently and by the time I bought it ( in 2001, that was really a great gaming year for me ), well, I knew the first two levels by heart ;D. Every now and then I reinstall it and play it all over again and the thing is, it never gets old. Most recently was when The Nameless Mod finally came out and that was a great video game moment for me as well.
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Post by Karen on Apr 2, 2011 16:27:19 GMT -5
"Dues Ex" sounds like fun. I like reading these reviews!
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Post by Grayback on Apr 3, 2011 13:44:10 GMT -5
"Dues Ex" sounds like fun. I like reading these reviews! Once again, your kindness is appreciated Karen ( though I wouldn't call my writings in this thread reviews as they are too short and probably not objective enough ). If you continue like this, the thick ice encasing my heart will start to melt . The next game I'm going to talk about could easily be defined with one word : Epic ! This was a very difficult choice between Planescape : Torment and Baldur's Gate 2 but after careful consideration, I chose the latter. And I made this choice for two main reasons : 1) I played Baldur's Gate 2 before playing Planescape : Torment and 2 ) It was the first Dungeons & Dragons cRPG I played. I have no idea how many hours I have spent on this game but I know it's a lot more time than any other video game I have ever played. A single playthrough can probably last anywhere between 50 to 150 hours depending whether you did all the side quests or sticked to the main story ones. Baldur's Gate was already a pretty good game but its sequel improved on pretty much every aspect ( the gameplay, the graphics, the enemies,... ) and you really felt like you were a part of the world. You became more powerful over the course of the game and so did the monsters you had to fight. The story was very well told and interesting, continuing right after the events of the first Baldur's Gate. Not only that but the main villain, Irenicus, was so well developed, he had emotions, motives, all of which you discovered over the course of the game. And of course how could I forget to mention the amazing Minsc and his no less impressive companion Boo, the miniature giant space hamster ;D. It's funny but after writing this, I want to go search for my Baldur's Gate 2 dvd , reinstall it and play the whole game again. Oh well, let's finish this with an adequate quote from our ranger friend Minsc : "Shall we go? The butts of evil await my bootprint!"
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Post by Karen on Apr 3, 2011 14:44:55 GMT -5
( though I wouldn't call my writings in this thread reviews as they are too short and probably not objective enough ). If you continue like this, the thick ice encasing my heart will start to melt . Ice around the heart is bad for circulation also no review is objective, even if they try to be, and we wouldn't want objective anyway, I want to know which games are worth playing, keep up the good work!
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Post by Grayback on Apr 4, 2011 13:14:48 GMT -5
( though I wouldn't call my writings in this thread reviews as they are too short and probably not objective enough ). If you continue like this, the thick ice encasing my heart will start to melt . Ice around the heart is bad for circulation also no review is objective, even if they try to be, and we wouldn't want objective anyway, I want to know which games are worth playing, keep up the good work! You made me laugh, thanks for that and I guess you're right, no review is truly objective. And here comes the game from which the inspiration for my pseudonym originated. Battle Realms came out near the end of 2001 ( As I mentioned before, truly a great year for gaming ) and was truly an innovative rts for its time. The four factions ( Dragon, Serpent, Lotus and Wolf ) were mostly Asian inspired ( The Dragon and Serpent clans in particular were clearly of japanese inspiration ) with a good deal of fantasy thrown in for good measure. I always had and still have a soft spot for video games using Asia's folklore and culture ;D. The game's graphics were colourful and pleasing to the eyes but it was the animation that truly won me over. I can honestly say I never got tired of watching my military units ( Note that in this game you don't "magically" create a military unit from nothing but have to send your peasants in the structures you want them to train in ) display their martial arts abilities. All the units and heroes had a good number of different fighting animations and that was a very welcome ( and well executed ) idea compared to the same basic attack found in most previous rts. There was one major drawback to this however, the large battles could really get chaotic, here's a little video to illustrate my point ( though there are only samurais, the Dragon clan elite unit, you'll still understand what I mean ).
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Post by Grayback on Apr 5, 2011 13:15:47 GMT -5
Sacrifice was one of those few pc video games that, while receiving praise from many game reviewers, did not manage to sell well to the public. There were a number of different reasons for that ( not enough advertising and a small developer team for example ) but mostly, I think the game came out at a bad time and people were not ready for such a unique computer game. The gameplay consisted of a mix between rts and action elements. You were playing the role of a wizard capable of summoning creatures to fight for him and casting defensive or offensive spells. There were only two resources, mana and souls ( you obtained those by slaying the enemy wizard's creatures and converting their souls in your altar ). I must say the graphism aged better than some other 3d games from 2000-2001 and the more powerful spells you could cast ( Tornado and Volcano are a good example ) still look awesome to me today. The creatures design was pretty weird, I don't know how the developers got those ideas but it certainly made for a very different experience ;D. The five different gods you could choose to serve ( and betray if that was your wish ) had very different personality ( from self-righteous to morbid and cynical ) and, more importantly, had great voice acting made by professional actors. And here's a video to see and hear the gods and decide for yourself which one you would serve in the game :
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Post by Karen on Apr 5, 2011 14:44:59 GMT -5
ok "Sacrifice" is one game I am definitely going to look into, I love games like that.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 6, 2011 13:14:32 GMT -5
ok "Sacrifice" is one game I am definitely going to look into, I love games like that. You can either find it on Steam or GOG ( It's apparently cheaper on GOG, $5.99 ) or, if you prefer to own a physical copy with the box, you could try on Amazon but it's gonna cost you more . There will be no video game memories from me today as I seem to suffer from a lack of inspiration.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 7, 2011 13:27:12 GMT -5
Medal of Honor Allied Assault was the very first Hollywood style fps on computer. Ever since it came out ( in the beginning of 2002 ), many other games have tried ( and some have succeeded like the Call of Duty franchise ) to follow this ( then ) new style of video games. What MoHAA did very well was to immerse the player in war ( in this case, World War II ) with the help of good scripting, beautiful graphics ( at the time of its release at least ;D ) and excellent sound use. It was a very intense game and managed to involve you in ways previous fps did not. The best and most well known example of this game's amazing immersiveness is the landing on Omaha beach ( recreated from the film "Saving Private Ryan" ). The first time I played this scene I was amazed ( and I died many times because it's a difficult level ) about everything that was going on around me ( explosions, the constant noise of machine gunfire, fellow soldiers dying, ... ), it was truly like watching a film except you actually controlled one of the characters. I'm going to post a video of the Omaha beach landing to end this post but please keep in mind that watching it feels nothing like actually playing the game.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 11, 2011 13:31:35 GMT -5
If the first Hitman could easily be considered as a diamond in the rough, its sequel was certainly a much more polished gem . It was and still is one of my favorite stealth/action pc game. Hitman 2 : Silent Assassin was divided in several missions in which your character, 47 ( the codename of the genetically engineered killer you play as ), had to assassinate one or more important person(s) ( meaning they were generally well guarded as you can probably imagine ). There was also a story but to tell you the truth, Hitman 2 was one of the rare games that I bought not for the scenario but mainly for the gameplay. Anyway, there were several ways to go about doing your assassination missions. You could in fact play the game as a shooter, killing all who stood in your way but that was not at all my way of playing ( besides, in the harder difficulty level, it's almost suicidal to use this approach as your enemies are more accurate and you can't save during missions ;D ). Hitman 2 was first and foremost meant to be played as a stealth/infiltration kind of game and so, you could use clothing taken from the bodies of your enemies ( don't expect those disguises to fool everyone though, especially if you're acting suspiciously ), hide the bodies so as not to alert the other guards,... you get the idea. My favorite weapons were the fiber wire ( present in all of the games from the Hitman franchise and used to strangle enemies silently ), the hunting crossbow ( a silent weapon equipped with a scope for long range kills ) and the .22 SD pistol ( a pretty powerful silent pistol ). I always tried to get the "Silent Assassin" rating in each and every level and, while it was hard, the feeling of completion when managing it was really rewarding.
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Post by Grayback on Apr 12, 2011 13:22:55 GMT -5
Once upon a time in a galaxy far away, Monolith was busy making funny games that didn't take themselves too seriously. Then, for some reason, they started making games like Fear and Condemned who were much, much more serious. What happened I wonder, were the Nolf 1 and 2 games developers kidnapped by aliens and replaced by evil clones ? Okay, that was a terrible introduction, even more so because I'm being quite unfair, Fear and Condemned are both very good games in their own right . Still, it is true I miss the Nolf franchise and its unique humor. In this fps, you were playing as Cate Archer ( a woman being the lead protagonist in a fps, how often does that happen ? ), a kind of secret agent/spy working for Unity ( a secret british organisation dedicated to protect the world from chaos ) in the 1960's and trying to stop H.A.R.M from putting their nefarious plans to work. It's not just a James Bond spoof though, the game had many different inspirations and managed to make you laugh a lot with its gags. The graphisms were very good, the voice actors amazing ( some guards conversation are just, well, you have to play the game ;D ) and if that was not enough, the gameplay was almost perfect as well, combining classic fps action with a few boss battles and stealth missions. Cate also gained skill points she could spend in order to upgrade her abilities ( à la Deus Ex ). So, to give you a small idea of what to expect from Nolf 2, I'll post a video ( to be on the safe side and because I forgot to do it before, this video and the others I've posted here before and after are not made by me ) showing this game's version of a rail shooting sequence...
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Post by Grayback on Apr 17, 2011 13:29:38 GMT -5
While Red Alert was the first rts I played, C&C Generals and its add-on, Zero Hour, are the strategy games I spent the most time on. The reason for this is very simple : There is an amazing modding community around this game. Even today, more than eight years after the game ( and its expansion pack a few months later ) came out, there are still mods being developed. Generals was the first Command & Conquer game ( not counting Renegade which was a mediocre fps ) to feature real 3D as opposed to the isometric 3D used in previous C&C games. The graphics were quite good with well-made explosions ( the first time you witnessed a nuclear missile explode in the enemy base was really something ), flame and toxic weapons but it required a good computer to run smoothly. The three factions, USA, China and the GLA ( Global Liberation Army, a terrorist organisation ) were pretty distinct in their buildings and units. You were playing a general who gained experience over the course of the game and could spend generals points you earned to buy abilities and unlock better units. Zero Hour introduced the concept of specialised generals ( three per faction ). My two favorites generals are ( present tense, since I'm still playing the game every once in a while ) the nuke general for China and the toxin general for the GLA. To get back on the topic of mods, here are some of my favorites : First there's ShockWave, one of the most polished and balanced modification out there. Then there is also Contra, which is more about having fun with super units which, while incredibly powerful, are only unlocked once your general has gained enough experience. Finally, there's Remix Escalation ( I'm eagerly waiting for the next release of this one ) which has you choosing between different areas of expertise for each general ( for example, as the toxin general, you can either choose to specialise in acid or nerve agent and both have strengths and weaknesses ).
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Post by marle on May 14, 2011 19:24:54 GMT -5
Chrono Trigger I no longer play video games, but when I was younger there a period where I was almost obsessed with them. I even religiously read a few video game magazines. It wasn't typical for a girl but I didn't care. My favorite system was the Super NES and my favorite game was Chrono Trigger. It was just a really well-done role playing game - good controls, I liked the battle system and the game didn't force you into random battles. There was a lot of freedom to explore different places/time periods. The characters, storylines and landscapes were great - my favorite "world" was the desolate post-apocalypse future. I was also in love with the music. The cathedral music is my favorite and captures it well: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h-Io0cSywkMy online moniker is from a character in the game. I began using the internet during my video game obsession and chose this name because I like the way it sounds. Marle is the princess in the game (second from left in graphic) but I relate to Lucca the most (the one working on the robot). Chrono Trigger sample dialogue: Princess Nadia: What's this? Lucca Ashtear: It appears to be a humanoid robot. Incredible... I think I can fix it. Princess Nadia: What! Won't it attack us? Lucca Ashtear: I'll make sure it won't. Machines aren't capable of evil. Humans make them that way. Princess Nadia: Lucca, you... pity them, don't you? Lucca Ashtear: Let me get to work, okay? Ayla: [first sight of Frog] Oh yummy frog... for Ayla to eat? Frog: P-Perish the thought lass. Doreen: Am I a butterfly dreaming I'm a poet...or a bowling ball dreaming I'm a plate of sashimi? Magus: The weak always strive to be weaker... Gaspar: What happened to the kid with the punk hairdo?
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