The Games Everyone Should Play Before They Die

[KoolHndLuke]

Never had a clear favorite really because I play a rotation of games due to my short attention span. But the one game I've had for over 20 yrs now and keep going back and playing is Panzer General and PG 2. It's a really simple game design (not that different from Chess actually), but this belies a multitude of strategies that can be used and mechanics that make it challenging pretty much every time I play a campaign or scenario.

 

Sometimes I think older game designers had it right- you make a game that simple to learn and play, but also still challenging and rewarding even for very experienced players. It's the good strategy games that stand the test of time imo. But they lack the wide appeal of the flashy shooters and pixel boob bunny sims. So big studio game devs aren't interested.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by KoolHndLuke

[Lexi SubZero]

Deus Ex (2000)
The Legacy of Kain series (Blood Omen 1&2, Soul Reaver 1&2, Defiance)
Jade Empire
Ōkami
No One Lives Forever 2
Knights Of The Old Republic 1&2
...

[Vader666]

Anno 1602

Empire Earth

 

I still hope to see a game that's basically a merge of these two...

[Rdjazzd]

Hmm...

Let me think.

Fallout 1 & 2

Jagged Alliance 2

Heroes of Might and Magic III

[Honeycrust]

^ I second Jagged Alliance 1 and 2.  I was gonna post and mention it as well, glad another veteran hero did also.  Got a lot of hope for JA3 although it seems they are kinda half assing it in some ways... last I checked there were actually less mercenaries than JA2... seems a step back... although if they let you make unlimited amounts of custom mercs, that'll redeem that problem cause that could make the roleplaying aspect insanely high being able to make your own team of characters you can write their own backstories for.  The game deserves a release to honor the love and care put into the original two games.

 

Lately as well been playing Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord, it's a game I would want anyone to play and wants insane sword battles with crazy amounts of people and yet impressive graphics all at once.  The game is a crashy game though, have to save the thing every chance you get cause you never know when a crash could happen... very unstable at times, reminds me of a heavily modded Skyrim with how many crashes you get, usually just loading the game... once its loaded its mostly stable though can totally CTD and even on rare cases i had the thing bluescreen my entire PC always during saving... never had a game bluescreen my PC from just saving before yet Bannerlord somehow did it.   Even with unstableness, so addictive.

 

Here's a few bannerlord shots, so much fun to screenshot the action and the sloots in this game.

[Yinkle]

Hard to answer as time has taken its toll on my favourite games due to computing advancements, but if talking about enjoyment at the time I played it:

 

1 Half Life 2

2 Call of Duty 2

3 Manic Miner

4 Skyrim

5 STALKER 1

6 Far Cry 1

7 Fallout 4

8 Cyberpunk 2077

9 Guild Wars 2

10 Metro (all 3)

[2dk2c.2]

Fishburger and company (but especially FishBurger) thanks for this thread.

I very-recently purchased Cyberpunk 2077, and so far I'm clueless but I love the familiarity of it all.

Unlike that horse game which I still own but never play.

So I get it, I'm a criminal, at the behest of some people calling me. 

A fat guy is my friend, my neighbors look like gangsters, and I'm here instead of playing.

Beeeecause....if I were in such a neighborhood I'd move, I think, and find prettier people to dance with.

Does that come later?

Do I become Antonia Montana eventually?

I wonder if the zillion things I'm supposed to be doing are mostly unimportant.

I was hoping someone would type "Be sure to eat the GREEN Burrito" or something.

Being clueless in a game is fun, if a little scary.

I'm not into esoteric shit, hate chess, only learn history when I have to...

But I'm afraid to miss stuff in this game before it gets too old and boring to play.

[FauxFurry]

2 hours ago, 2dk2c.2 said:

Fishburger and company (but especially FishBurger) thanks for this thread.

I very-recently purchased Cyberpunk 2077, and so far I'm clueless but I love the familiarity of it all.

Unlike that horse game which I still own but never play.

So I get it, I'm a criminal, at the behest of some people calling me. 

A fat guy is my friend, my neighbors look like gangsters, and I'm here instead of playing.

Beeeecause....if I were in such a neighborhood I'd move, I think, and find prettier people to dance with.

Does that come later?

Do I become Antonia Montana eventually?

I wonder if the zillion things I'm supposed to be doing are mostly unimportant.

I was hoping someone would type "Be sure to eat the GREEN Burrito" or something.

Being clueless in a game is fun, if a little scary.

I'm not into esoteric shit, hate chess, only learn history when I have to...

But I'm afraid to miss stuff in this game before it gets too old and boring to play.

No. That kind of empowerment fantasy or even a rise-and-fall cycle would be out of character for the entirety of the Cyberpunk genre. The best that one can hope for is becoming Manny (or Womanny, as it were).

[KoolHndLuke]

On 3/24/2023 at 6:43 AM, Lucy SubZero said:

Jade Empire

Bought that game and let it sit for a year (I think) before actually playing it. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. 

 

 

On 3/24/2023 at 10:45 AM, Rdjazzd said:

Jagged Alliance 2

GF insisted I buy this and play it... thanks for reminding me. 

[t.ara]

The games which have the most "print -in-mind" were the older games.

I remember and never forget mafia, far-cry, hidden & dangerous 1-3, tomb raider up to anniversary, sims3, gtaIV...

 

As mentioned somewhere else here:

 

For FUN: GTAonline

For little less fun: RDR2

And for "second life area" I´d always choose SKYRIM-top notch soundtrack, top notch graphics, top-end NPC and fantastic possibilities to add custom new content.

(more is not necessary beside my musical job)

Sims 4 is sometimes also used for some architectural builds-not for the gameplay-lol

Edited April 3, 2023 by t.ara
"&" changed with "to"

[belegost]

Many people here recommended RDR2. I found it absolutely boring, unengaging and basically overblown with unnecessary features. And the story never really picked up to the point I got interested in it. I dropped it after mere 15 hours. I much preferred RDR1 which had more focus and tighter gameplay without all the unnecessary bells and whistles.

 

The only thing I comfort myself with is the fact I bought it on a really deep sale. Would've been really angry if I had paid full price for it.

[Ijakor2]

1. Packman

2. Battle Isle  1+2

3. Gothic 1+2+3

4. Schleichfahrt

5. Freelancer

6. Sim City

7.  Pirates

8, Homeworld 1 + Cataclysmn

9. Fallout 1-4

10 . Morrowwind, Oblivion, Skyrim

[Gulken]

On 3/28/2023 at 5:13 AM, Honeycrust said:

^ I second Jagged Alliance 1 and 2.  I was gonna post and mention it as well, glad another veteran hero did also.  Got a lot of hope for JA3 although it seems they are kinda half assing it in some ways... last I checked there were actually less mercenaries than JA2... seems a step back... although if they let you make unlimited amounts of custom mercs, that'll redeem that problem cause that could make the roleplaying aspect insanely high being able to make your own team of characters you can write their own backstories for.  The game deserves a release to honor the love and care put into the original two games.

 

Lately as well been playing Mount and Blade 2 Bannerlord, it's a game I would want anyone to play and wants insane sword battles with crazy amounts of people and yet impressive graphics all at once.  The game is a crashy game though, have to save the thing every chance you get cause you never know when a crash could happen... very unstable at times, reminds me of a heavily modded Skyrim with how many crashes you get, usually just loading the game... once its loaded its mostly stable though can totally CTD and even on rare cases i had the thing bluescreen my entire PC always during saving... never had a game bluescreen my PC from just saving before yet Bannerlord somehow did it.   Even with unstableness, so addictive.

 

Here's a few bannerlord shots, so much fun to screenshot the action and the sloots in this game.

I just wanna kindly ask, what mods were used in those screenshots?

[KoolHndLuke]

Any game you cannot quit playing. Three in the morning, still playing, haven't gotten any sleep, and need to get ready for work in two hours, lol. Bonus points for calling in sick it's so fucking good. 

[Guest]

If I had to make a suggestion, the Megaman X series up to X5. X6 wasn't good in my opinion and X7 was just fucking terrible. The rest were amazing, with the first one being my favorite game ever. I have a sealed version of the game in perfect condition on my desk that my girlfriend got me for our anniversary 3 years ago. Yes, I may be 24 years old and people may think that I don't know retro gaming, but I do.

[beefers]

On 8/30/2022 at 12:10 PM, fishburger67 said:

FO4 is one I replay a lot too.  Lots of people call it crap, but it is fun every few months, especially now with nothing compelling.

vanilla FO4 is ok but modded FO4 is fantastic.  It breathed new life into the game for me even with a 2GB cap on Xbox.  If anyone is interested, I can provide you with a list of mods I use to make the game so much better and allows me to play the way I want to.

[Reginald_001]

Ivy

Elden Ring

BloodBorne

HL:Alyx

Vertigo Remastered