Your Top 5 Pc Games

[ElectricSheep]

What are your Top 5 PC games? I'm not asking for Top 10 or Top 20 because I'm not interested in an empty enumeration, more the reasons as to why. So a bit more detailed answer than "because it's fun" or "I liked it" is welcome.

 

Lemme start by saying what *I* value in games. To me a good game gets something right; may sound trivial, but apparently isn't. Because if a game tries to be a Jack of all trades, instead of having some general focus, it usually ends up overall mediocre. And such a game, big but shallow in execution, will work for many ppl. To me, however, there must be some element that stands out and outshines unavoidable flaws and weaknesses.

 

So here goes my personal Top 5:

 

 

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (2007, Obsidian Entertainment)
Pros: writing, setting, soundtrack, atmosphere, characters
Cons: obsolete engine, poorly balanced skills and classes, comes as an expansion
Comment:
If there are games that can rival with good literature, it comes down to just two titles: Planescape: Torment and Mask of the Betrayer (and maybe Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen). As a DnD lover and everything undead fanboy I'm inclined to pick the second one. Instead of the Sword Coast, as pretty much any other DnD game, MotB takes the player to Rashemen; to tell a story of a cursed one who defied a god of dead to rescue the beloved one from the horrors of the Wall of the Faithless. An exceptionally well written story, characters and dialogues, unique setting and great soundtrack by Alexander Brandon - Mask of the Betrayer is a true gem of storytelling, that no BioWare game comes even remotely close to. It also offers a good deal of choices and multiple endings, which renders the replayability value high.

 

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002, Bethesda Game Studios)
Pros: exploration, setting, soundtrack, art direction
Cons: combat system, animations, linear to the bone
Comment:
Some say Gothic 2, but to me beating that game was like a path to repentance, a path full of cheap deaths and beginners traps rendered in a trial-and-error fashion. Which is why when it comes to exploration, Morrowind outperforms any competition in my personal league. I remember the shock: so, I can go, like, anywhere? But going anywhere wouldn't actually mean bat shit aside from freedom of movement, if not for the world: strange, mysterious and full of secrets. You could never know what lies in a dungeon: some trashy iron dagger, or a super rare Daedric artifact? Especially memorable and imagination inspiring were shipwrecks (why the fuck there are no shipwrecks in TES games anymore!?). I remember it was a beautiful summer back then - birds, sunshine and shit - but I couldn't stop hiking through that dark and cold tombs, looking for forgotten treasures. Too bad that never again would Bethesda deliver such a good game, ruining all the fun with retarded level scaling in the latter installments of the series.

 

Neverwinter Nights + SoU + HotU (2003, BioWare)
Pros: multiplayer and Aurora Toolset, gameplay, character creation, soundtrack
Cons: Aside from HoTU, rather uninspired SP campaign
Comment:
After beating this game I concluded it was OK and uninstalled it, making the exact same mistake as many before and after me. Thankfully, a few months later a friend of mine invited me to a server so I could discover the true magic of NwN, and that starts with the multiplayer. NwN is basically a dream come true to any RPG fan, as it allows you to build and manage your own persistent world. The game comes with the best toolset I had the pleasure to worth with (Bethesda's excel-like kits don't even come close) and built-in Game Master client. What else to want? And in case you don't like to play online, a world of fan-made modules awaits you. Character creation, based on DnD 3rd Edition, is very complex and quite nicely optimized given all the possible class mixes. Gameplay wise it's a really pleasure to play game that won't let you feel like you're missing toys. The brilliant in it's simplicity circular point-and-click menu deserves a separate mention, as it made spell casting and skill usage second nature.

 

Deus Ex (2000, Ion Storm)
Pros: multiple ways to beat every level, setting, atmosphere, story, soundtrack
Cons: linear for the most part
Comment:
Deus Ex is a negative monument of everything that's wrong with modern games: it has no QTE, no cinematics, no streamlined mechanics, just pure gameplay and probably the best level design ever in a game. If you're used to walk through scripted corridors full of cannon fodder to slaughter, then this game will kick your casual sorry ass. There's no one or even two ways to beat a level: it's up to you what path to choose, to kill none or leave a bloody mess, which also depends on how you progress with your character skills and implants. The noirish setting is cyber-cold and dark like a typical day at work in Batman's calendar (I will always remember that helicopter getting off in dancing lights and black shadow of the city in the background). Great game with a neat story, ripped-off by other game developers.

 

Fallout: New Vegas (2010, Obsidian Entertainment)
Pros: CQC, exploration, writing, characters
Cons: engine, animations, bugs, poor optimization
Comment:
This game called on their shit everyone who argued that an open-world game exclude multilayered quests design and meaningful choices. Not only that, but it's probably THE MOST choice oriented game ever created. You are given different options to resolve problems right in the starting town, your passive skills (PASSIVE SKILLS!) are of great use (and even your non-passive skills, like 'Explosives', can be of use in a passive matter) and your doings or misdoings have usually different outcomes. It's something Bethesda never understood: that building a character in a certain way, choosing skills and all that, is really fun if a game implements various opportunities to put them in use, so i.e. aforementioned 'Explosives' would determine not only your ability to throw shit that explode, but also your knowledge of that shit. In this game if you want to be, say, a spy, you don't have to pretend to be roleplay one, you literally can be a spy because the game mechanics allow you two. FONV also brings back some of the exploration and loot gathering values known from TESIII. Great game, too bad the engine sucks.

[dje34]

The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim

 

Because it is the most beautiful AND exciting RPG game so far, and I will always remember my first battle against a 'dragon' (actually dragons have 4 legs, so the dragons in Skyrim look more like wyverns which are some kind of dragons but not ordinary dragons ) as it was so epic and I didn't die.

For the little story I downloaded it at first for my little brother who is a fan of The Elder Scrolls series and finally I bought the Legendary Edition in order to use all the awesome mods making Skyrim surely my best gaming experience so far.

 

 

Diablo

 

I just haven't got enough fingers to count how many hours I spent on this game, waking up early in the morning and listening to metal until noon while playing this game, all this medieval environment and this leveling thing while slaying so much creatures for finally killing the Devil... and starting it again from the beginning, and again, and again...

 

 

S.T.A.L.K.E.R series

 

Being a 'random' guy trying to survive in a hostile land with so many weapons and armors and a realistic ballistic I just didn't find in other games, with the nuclear threat over your head and so many monsters and humans to kill, so many anomalies to avoid (or not) and the artifacts thing, all of this just gave me the illusion I was a living god trying to survive in hell. Once again, the mods improved the gaming experience so much that I just can't play without them now.

 

 

Carmageddon

 

When I wasn't playing to Diablo, I was playing to Carmageddon, so full of blood and violence and with so many cool vehicles, so fun to play with metal ! 

 

 

Call Of Duty : Modern Warfare

 

This game slapped me in the face right after the tutorial, the first mission felt so real with the boat drowning and the camera spinning with the boat, then with the two/three stories (Navy seals and S.A.S) and all the bullets sound surrounding my head, it was like I was on the front for real. This game also made me realize that on the real battlefield you have around 0.1% chance to survive. I hope I will never be in a war for real, that would be the end of me.

[Kaputzki]

Far Cry 3 - I have no cons for this. The game developers nailed everything right with that game, story the most.

 

Morrowind - You pretty much said it all. Combat was horrifyingly bad for me, but it's still one of my favorites.

 

Redline 2066 - Made in 1999 by Accolade, it was a brutally difficult game combining FPS with car weaponry in a post apocalyptic setting. Story wasn't shining but overall the game has no obvious cons for me (nostalgia too strong).

 

Dishonored with DLCs - Captivating game with a nice story and interesting combat, a bit too easy even on highest difficulty, the moral choice system sucked and the game felt a bit short. Still coming back to play it every few months.

 

Starcraft 2 - My favorite of all games. The story in the second game isn't as good as the first but the multiplayer, balance of 3 races and how challenging the game can be on both campaign and MP puts it on nm. 1 for me.

 

 

 

[...0...]

PC-Elder Scroll III: Morrowind solo game

PC-Bioshock 1 solo game

PC-Asheron's call 2 mmo

PC-Darkfall mmo

PC-Arma 2-DayZ mod(before hackers ruined it so early days)

 

Many more prolly equally good but these are my 5 always come on top.

 

 

 

[Userper]

Pc-Skyrim... (so many mods )

Pc-Deus ex HR (I just love the challenge of the stealth kills)

Pc-Star wars: TOR (Its star wars, online )

Pc-Baldurs Gate 2 (so many hours playing this... mostly loadscreens at the time though )

Pc-Galactic Civilizations 2 (the wide range options, for peace to all out war... its just breath-taking how immersive this game was for me    )
 

[jxm]

Only Five games to name? that really hard...but alright:

 

Baldurs Gate 2:

 

Top spot, no other could it be for me. The sheer amount of playtime you can have with this, and just the first time though. So many quests, so many wonderful characters, so many dungeons, fights, spells. You thought the dragon-fights in Skyrim can be hard? Try to kill Lord Firkraag without online-help and exploits...and ever went through a beholder-infested dungeon without proper equipment and spell-protection? Goodbye sanity .. and now you are ready to kill a baboon-headed superdemon

 

Really, no other PC-game ever had me so deeply addicted. The Addon was maybe a tad mediocre, but still did an okay job to finish the story (though the "rushed" feeling of it was still there ... and I would remember this many years after BG2 when Bioware made a certain space opera saga...). All in all Bioware at its finest, a highpoint in CRPG-history, as it combined accessibility and mainstream without sacrifing too much RPG-Soul...

 

Morrowind:

 

I could write more or less the same as the above. A different kind of RPG for sure though. I still remember how intrigued I was when I first read some previews of the game and saw the first pics of Dark-Elves beside their Silt-Striders. I got fascinated in an instant. And even though my PC at the time was not able to handle the top-notch-watereffects at the time (the press was so excited about that, still funny to me^^) I still got sucked right into the world of the Elder Scrolls.

 

I still remember how I managed to use a levitation-effect to cross almost half the island before crash-laning right in the ashlands clsoe to the Ghostfence, or how much it creeped me out the first time I saw a disfiguered ascended Sleeper .... right there on a little hilltop, out in the ashlands during a vicious Sandstorm *shudder*

 

Though really enjoyable the game really became when I figuered out how to use mods. And when certain modders revamped the looks of chars. The moment I first saw the new faces possible for the chars was such a relieve *sigh* no more ugly faces. And the Addons were also a blast. Tribunal maybe a bit less stellar though, but meeting Almalexia and Sotha Sil was great. And Solstheim became my favorite place after Bloodmoon was released (still so glad to see it return in Skyrim)

 

The main quest however ... meh ... finished it only ONCE, just to see. Wasn't impressed. Dagoth Ur was lame, his dungeon a joke, well most dungeons were actually. we would need to wait until skyrim came around to see some actually well-designed dungeons...

 

Master of Orion 2:

 

This game. The best 4-x-Game ever created, sadly even until today. I could spend hours designing my ships, and how satisfying it was to see them perform in battles. Or how great to capture enemy-ships in battle, then destroy them to aquire technology. Creating powerful star-empires and show those damn Sakkra, Elerians and Meklons who the true lord of the Galaxy was, that just rocked and felt so good. And it helped a lot that this game had some of the best diplomacy ever in a game, with AI-enemies that mostly made sense!

 

I wish they'd make a MoO3 someday ... they did? No, they didn't, you hear that!!!!!

 

Medieval 2: Total War

 

Yeah, I really have a fancy for thousands of guys clad in iron and steel rushing at each other with bloodshed on their mind. Though vanilla-total-war wasn't that good for me, that drastically changed when mods came out. They greatly enhanced the actual game, and then they created whole new scenarios like a Middle Earth- setting or the awesome Warhammer-Mods. Seeing what was possible to do with M2-TW since its release is still stunning to me. And while I love almost all the total War Games, the Medieval one just needs to be on my personal list of the best games ...

 

Warcraft 2:

 

It was hard to think of the last spot to take, but I think I'll award it to WC2. Not just because it was a fantastic game for me, but also because it really made me a fantasy-fan in the first place. Games on the NES and SNES also paved the way somehow, but seeing Orcs and Humans fighting each other really was what made me read stuff like Tolkien and his successors for the first time. And the manual of WC2! I still have it around, and showing this to some young people today, they would just ask how that thing fitted into a slim DVD-Box ... yeah, DVD, right, as if ^^

 

Honorable mention award: Diablo 1, Command & Conquer, Dragon Age Origins, Fallout 2, Vampire Bloodlines, Sykrim, Mechwarrior 4,  Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect before it became silly nonsense, Jedi Knight series

[van_gelis]

Random order.

 

Deus Ex

Half Life 2

Fallout 3

Mass Effect 2

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

 

All,In their pc version of course.

[ElectricSheep]

 

Dagoth Ur was lame, his dungeon a joke, well most dungeons were actually. we would need to wait until skyrim came around to see some actually well-designed dungeons...

You've got to be kidding. I mean, hard not to agree that the end run was lackluster, disappointing and overall seemed rushed out, but Dagoth Ur was a badass villain through 99% of the game. I actually felt a lot of sympathy for the guy and would've probably joined forces with the Sixth House if not for that idiot Todd Howard, who had thrown that possibility out of the window (as well as many other great ideas) when he became the lead.

 

Dungeons in Skyrim are laughable; mostly never ending corridors filled with canon fodder. Even the potential eye candy aspect of hiking around through them is destroyed by the godawful lighting system; namely lights without sources and lights that don't cast light (I hate that fucking shit!). The traps are a nice addition, but the puzzles are just fucking insulting and I feel like an idiot having to put them together. Finally, there's really no point in exploring dungeons if there's no worthwhile loot to begin with.

 

In TESIII dungeons were more complex and often had secret areas (some accessible only through levitation spells) hiding valuable items.

[DeepBlueFrog]

Deus EX for the storyline.

 

Morrowind for the big slap in the face from an open world. First time ever I just sat down on a rock and watched the sun go down in a game.

 

Grim Fandango for the humor.

 

Baldur's Gate I and II for the storyline. I would love to see an Elder Scroll game in a truly expansive city, and not just 5 houses and a keep. That and I miss Boo.

 

Myst for the nostalgia of my very first PC game.

 

 

[FallenWarrior]

Morrowind

Baldur's Gate 2

BioShock 2

Might and Magic 7

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

[...0...]

 

 

Dagoth Ur was lame, his dungeon a joke, well most dungeons were actually. we would need to wait until skyrim came around to see some actually well-designed dungeons...

You've got to be kidding. I mean, hard not to agree that the end run was lackluster, disappointing and overall seemed rushed out, but Dagoth Ur was a badass villain through 99% of the game. I actually felt a lot of sympathy for the guy and would've probably joined forces with the Sixth House if not for that idiot Todd Howard, who had thrown that possibility out of the window (as well as many other great ideas) when he became the lead.

 

Dungeons in Skyrim are laughable; mostly never ending corridors filled with canon fodder. Even the potential eye candy aspect of hiking around through them is destroyed by the godawful lighting system; namely lights without sources and lights that don't cast light (I hate that fucking shit!). The traps are a nice addition, but the puzzles are just fucking insulting and I feel like an idiot having to put them together. Finally, there's really no point in exploring dungeons if there's no worthwhile loot to begin with.

 

In TESIII dungeons were more complex and often had secret areas (some accessible only through levitation spells) hiding valuable items.

 

 

But repetive and boring looking dungeons in morrowind was one of negative parts of the game, how many different looking dungeons in morrowind 4?

 

Oblivion was even worse.

 

I agree on skyrims dungeons and cannon fodder mobs and also insanely simple puzzles and easy play through but skyrim improved alot on many different looking dungeons some are realy amazing looking.

 

And as you maybe not know but after legendary difficulty patch was introduced plus mods making it even alot more difficult plus mods that give more diversity to mobs skyrims dungeons i prefer over Morrowind anytime and day.

 

Morrowind at the time when it was launched i was hooked and its my best game of all time but in the years when i played it again some things the starting to annoy me which was the dull looking and all same looking dungeons in morrowind but i forgive them at the time it was just awesome game.

 

Skyrim and with mods improved dungeons alot but puzzled should have been alot more challenging thats true.

 

AI mobs/npcs skyrim are terible.

 

Thats why i don't have skyrim in my top 5 its only good for me because of mods.

 

[ElectricSheep]

 

But repetive and boring looking dungeons in morrowind was one of negative parts of the game, how many different looking dungeons in morrowind 4?

There's no escaping the fact that dungeons in every TES game are made from pre-made blocks, so they all become repetitive in time. In TESIII, however, I didn't care about it as more important to me than the aesthetics were the potential findings. Repetitiveness started to annoy me in Oblivion.

 

Difficulty is not the only issue I have with Skyrim dungeons.

[Cynical Misanthrope]

This is a tough nut to crack, because older games had so much more content and they felt complete. No DLC/Early Access/Shady business model-bullshit etc etc, and in general it felt like developers/publishers actually cared about their games. So with that being said, only older games will be presented by me. Graphics means nothing to me (even tho my pc is powerfull, I take any old game with solid gameplay, story and just well thought in general over any new releases these days) Some games will share the same space, and you will notice why. Okay, here we go:

 

 

 

 

** Since I am to stoned and lazy atm, I stole a few things from Wiki **

 

PainKiller & Battle out of Hell (BooH is an expansion, almost large as the original game)

 

Pros: Soundtrack (ambient included), atmosphere, settings, exploration, combat.

 

Cons: I can't really think of any right now... I guess, you can call me a fanboy on this one, but I honestly can't think of any atm.

Only one thing I can think of is all Painkiller releases afterwards. But they weren't made by the folks who did the first 2.

Mostly they were just mods in the beginning that developed to a full game. But they suck ass and are worthless. Stay away from them.

(only plus is some of the soundtracks) However, they were published by the same company who published the first 2.

 

Comment:

The game is inspired by such classic titles as Quake and Doom, with the emphasis on killing large numbers of monsters.

It was developed by Polish game studio People Can Fly and published by DreamCatcher Interactive.

Game rewards the player if exploring, and doing all kinds of stuff. Like, collect every coin, break every bla bla bla. Use only bla bla bla etc etc by giving the play a rare tarot card. These cards are what you can say a power-up that can be used 1-2 times per level. The power-ups comes in forms of slow motion, speed, extra ammo, ability to transform into a demon using less souls etc etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painkiller_%28video_game%29

 

Aliens Verus Predator & Aliens Versus Predator 2

 

Pros: Atmosphere, 3 campaigns for each race, Some horror elements, and a few jump scares.

 

Cons: Gameplay-wise, linear as fuck, and no character development. Not much exploration.

 

Comment:

Aliens versus Predator is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by Rebellion and published by Fox Interactive.

The storylines of the three player characters are independent of one another. As an Alien the player must defend the Alien hive from human marines.

When playing as the Colonial Marine, the player begins at a research station on LV-426 built to study the derelict spacecraft where the Nostromo crew first encountered the Alien eggs in the film Alien. The Predator character's storyline visits three different planets, beginning with the player hunting marines in order to recover a captured Predator ship and its occupant from a human military base. Aliens are accidentally released in the base and the player discovers that the humans have created an Alien/Predator hybrid by implanting the captured Predator with an Alien embryo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_%28video_game%29

 

Like its predecessor, Aliens versus Predator 2 allows the player to choose one of three characters. Unlike the preceding game, in which the storylines of the three player characters are independent and do not affect one another, the three story lines in Aliens versus Predator 2 intersect each other. The events of each storyline trigger events in the others.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_2

 

Evolva

 

Pros: Not a rpg by miles, but offers a few minor rpg elements. Quite interesting ones too! Atmosphere, squad based and at any time, you can switch "GenoHunter" to play with. When you use one GenoHunter, the others are AI controlled. You do not level up, but instead, when you kill enemies, you absorb their dna, and evolve new powers.

 

Cons: Offers a little exploration, but sadly, not rewarded. Not by much. Sometimes the coding for the other GenoHunters are bonky, and mostly it goes faster if you switch to them to complete an objective.

 

Comment:

Evolva is a third-person action game, released in 2000. The player leads a team of 4 "GenoHunters" exploring a planet; each of the GenoHunters can develop new abilities by incorporating and altering the DNA they've absorbed from the creatures they have killed. The GenoHunters will change their physical appearance (change colors, develop spikes or horns) based on the DNA they've used to mutate themselves. Your Genohunters can punch, jump, super jump, breathe fire, vomit flammable liquids, shoot explosives, scramble enemies brains and spawn small alien offspring that injure enemies. The game has 12 large, linear levels populated with alien insect-like creatures known as the "parasite guardians". There are different types of these alien creatures. In some of the levels there are "Bosses" at the end which your team of genohunters must defeat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolva

 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

 

Pros: Soundtrack (ambient included), atmosphere, settings, exploration, combat. And ofc the RPG.

 

Cons: Buggy as fuck (Unless you take the time to find all the unofficial patches)

 

Comment:

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is an action role-playing game. The game allows the player to choose one of several different vampire clans and progress through the game according to the different strengths and weaknesses of the player's character. You have the ability to play either in  first person and third-person perspective. The player character's ability to overcome obstacles is in many cases a mixture of player and character abilities, with character stats determining the effectiveness of actions, and player abilities determining whether or not the actions succeed. For example, the ability to move silently and avoid being detected is heavily influenced by the character's Dexterity and Stealth ratings; however, if the player does not stay in the shadows while sneaking past enemies, the character can still be detected. The player character increases in power dramatically during the course of the game through the expenditure of earned experience points on attributes, skills, and vampire abilities called "Disciplines". A multitude of items, weapons, and books can be found or purchased to make the player character even more powerful. Melee and ranged weapons exist in equal numbers, although only in the later stages of the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_Bloodlines

 

Half-Life (and Blue Shift, Opposing Force)

 

Pros: Atmosphere, settings, offers a weak exploration, mostly to refill ammo and health. And maybe a few weapons. Huge game with solid gameplay.

A few expansions were released, that offered to see the event through the eyes of an security guard (Blue Shift) and US Marine (Opposing force)

 

Cons: Linear as fuck, and no character development. Almost no exploration.

 

Comment

Half-Life is a first-person shooter that requires the player to perform combat tasks and puzzle solving to advance through the game. Unlike its peers at the time, Half-Life used scripted sequences, such as a Vortigaunt ramming down a door, to advance major plot points. Compared to most first-person shooters of the time, which relied on cut-scene intermissions to detail their plotlines, Half-Life's story is told entirely by means of scripted sequences, keeping the player in control of the first-person viewpoint. In line with this, the game has no cut-scenes, and the player rarely loses the ability to control Gordon, who never speaks and is never actually seen in the game; the player sees "through his eyes" for the entire length of the game. Half-Life has no "levels"; it instead divides the game by chapters, whose titles flash on the screen as the player moves through the game. Progress through the world is continuous, except for breaks for loading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_%28video_game%29

 

 

 

 

[Veta]

This is silly ,trying to choose five games that is , it's like eating a nice meal and trying to decide which bite was better .

[jxm]

 

 

Dagoth Ur was lame, his dungeon a joke, well most dungeons were actually. we would need to wait until skyrim came around to see some actually well-designed dungeons...

You've got to be kidding. I mean, hard not to agree that the end run was lackluster, disappointing and overall seemed rushed out, but Dagoth Ur was a badass villain through 99% of the game. I actually felt a lot of sympathy for the guy and would've probably joined forces with the Sixth House if not for that idiot Todd Howard, who had thrown that possibility out of the window (as well as many other great ideas) when he became the lead.

 

Dungeons in Skyrim are laughable; mostly never ending corridors filled with canon fodder. Even the potential eye candy aspect of hiking around through them is destroyed by the godawful lighting system; namely lights without sources and lights that don't cast light (I hate that fucking shit!). The traps are a nice addition, but the puzzles are just fucking insulting and I feel like an idiot having to put them together. Finally, there's really no point in exploring dungeons if there's no worthwhile loot to begin with.

 

In TESIII dungeons were more complex and often had secret areas (some accessible only through levitation spells) hiding valuable items.

 

 

Bad Ass Villain? Oooooookaaaaayyyyy .... yeah, hum. Not for me really. I never cared for him much, as he hardly made himself present throughout the game. Yeah, those dream-popups, right. Well I never fell for his propaganda, so I also never had any real desire to side with him. Almalexia however was a bit more intriguing to me, mostly because you actually meet her before you kill her, and SHE was truly a bad-ass to fight in the end. Even Hircine was more "present" throughout his main quest, and damn the atmosphere on Solstheim was great. No, Dagoth Ur was, sadly, used beneath his actual potential as a main villain.

 

Now speaking dungeons:

If you prefer Morrowind's dungeon to Skyrim's, well, its a free world, one can believe whatever one wants to, but I do not see many arguments supporting this. Morrowind-Dungeons were a let-down. I cannot remember anything special from them. For example, Dwemer dungeons in Morrowind are a joke compared to the Skyrim ones (which feel like actual strongholds where people once lived, in contrast to the rusted factory-halls of Vvarddenfell. I mean look at Red Mountain?! The center of Dwemer culture, the palace of Dumac Halforc, housing Kagrenacs infamous labaratory? It's just a couple of very dark rooms with nothing in them! Biggest dissapointment back then I had...)

 

In contrast to Morrowind almost EVERY dungeon in Skyrim tells a little story, often even attached to quests. Hell, the one where the Dragon Cult committed suicide had more atmosphere than half the Morrowind-Dungeons combined. That's actually what I value more than if Chrysamere can be found there. Though I will agree that I'd have liked some more artifacts at set locations and hidden places as well (like in Morrowind the Aegis-Shield, the Dragonbone-Armour under the sea or the rings of Destagmer or Phynaster), because that was always a pleasant surpise the first time around (later one just visited spot after spot because some of these powerful items were so damn easy to obtain early on, which is a threat to balance and as I see it the main reason they sadly went away from this. A mistake I'd say, could have been handled in some different way...)

 

Now I totally value Morrowind, and I listed it and not Skyrim for a reason, though I am aware this is also mostly due to nostalgia on my part, because it was the first time I experienced a game like this. But really, I often don't get it why some people have so many problems to see past their rose-tinted glasses sometimes and cannot give credit where its deserved. Skyrim's dungeons have more soul, story, uniqueness, eyecandy and challenge (though some dungeons in Bloodmoon and Tribunal were very hard if done without a truly strong char), and the puzzles, so yeah they are lame like all puzzles are in almost all games (especially once you have solved them), but that's a minor issue to me. The lighting-issue I don't understand, so I'll leave it at this...

 

Now, to let a true master have the last word and sum up my thoughts on all this: If you think Morrowind's Dungeons are superior to Skyrim's then: -------->

 

 

 

Now as this thread is about getting derailed I guess we leave it with the spoiler-hidden advice above, at least on my part its all said on this issue

[ElectricSheep]

Dagoth Ur was a mysterious figure throughout most of the game, a shadow in the dark. Player learned about him from old stories, legends and deeds of his followers. And every time I would look on the Red Mountain, I knew he was there, waiting for me. How pathetic is some random looking dragon showed in the very first minutes of the game next to Dagoth Uhr?

 

As I said, the final meeting and battle were lackluster, but that doesn't change everything before.

 

 

If you prefer Morrowind's dungeon to Skyrim's, well, its a free world, one can believe whatever one wants to, but I do not see many arguments supporting this. 

My will to believe something has nothing to do with it. As for the arguments, you didn't bring much of them.

 

Dwemer dungeons in Skyrim are actually a marriage of their Morrowind version with Ayleid ruins, so it's kinda strange you can't remember anything from them, and they look like anything but a living place. Well, unless Dwemers lived in corridors filled with traps and constructs. I liked the steampunk and rusty vibe of Dwemer dungeons in TESIII much better. There was no bloom or colorful fog, but that's how I liked it.

 

In contrast to Morrowind almost EVERY dungeon in Skyrim tells a little story, often even attached to quests. Hell, the one where the Dragon Cult committed suicide had more atmosphere than half the Morrowind-Dungeons combined.

I don't expect every dungeon to be attached to a quest or to tell a story, I expect it to be interesting to explore. Poor corridorish design and the lack of anything of interest to find can't be compensated by some background story. That said, most of the Skyrim quests are shallow and rather poorly written. On the contrary, any contribution from Michael Kirkbride to TESIII lore was top notch. While exploring the dungeons you could often find some interesting notes, diaries, books etc.

 

There was so many items in TESIII that I could barely remember their locations during my second playthrough, so it was not an issue. Most of them were found by chance anyway.

 

and the puzzles, so yeah they are lame like all puzzles are in almost all games (especially once you have solved them), but that's a minor issue to me.

There's lots of games with good puzzles, the aforementioned Deus Ex being one of them.

[Cynical Misanthrope]

I am surprised ppl has mentioned games like Skyrim. I mean, the default Skyrim (no mods etc etc) is actually pretty lame and fucking boring.

It's the mods that sadly makes the game 10K x better..

[pinky6225]

Top 5 games

 

Spacemarine - Brilliant game and the first time I'd seen a mix of twitch melee combat and ranged combat working well together since usually its a shooting game with 1 melee move or a fighting game with 1 weapon, let down slightly by its multiplayer hosting but even 3 years after release I'll still load this up to kill some orks

 

Master of Orion 2 - Still the yard stick against which other space strategy games are measured even though it is now approaching 2 decades since it was released

 

Baldurs gate 2 - Excellent story which was then further enhanced by modding

 

Master of Magic - Ye old game and one of the first I got (collection pack of 4 CD's that had about 20 games on - fully installed roughly 50mb) which combined magic with strategy and city building and I even still play it as I found it on the good ol games website

 

Planescape torment - Very text heavy game but also very novel and rewarding to play since it does pretty much everything differently from the traditional RPG such as having options/dialogue change depending on your character stats and finding ways around the standard die/reload mechanic you'd usually find

[...0...]

Ive played maybe more then 1000 hours Morrowind and maybe 1000 hours skyrim(1700 but most of it is making screensshots or tweaking) and i stand by my view on dungeons morrowind where copy pasted only 4 different style dungeons.

 

Skyrim have some awesome looking dungeons which is huge improvement over Morrowind and Oblivion.

 

Still morrowind is by far my most enjoyable and favorite game, don't mean i won't critics some areas of game that was not well done like combat and dungeons.

 

But  morrowind was my first open world rpg with awesome graphics at time and with total freedom my best adventure and exploration in any game ive played Skyrim don't come even close(But mods made Skyrim awesome for me which morrowind for me did not need to be awesome).

[ToJKa]

I am surprised ppl has mentioned games like Skyrim. I mean, the default Skyrim (no mods etc etc) is actually pretty lame and fucking boring.

It's the mods that sadly makes the game 10K x better..

 

If BGS didn't support modding like they do, their games would be on my "buy from a sale when you're desperately bored and/or have too much money" list

 

On topic:

Classic Doom games. 20 years old, and i still can't stop playing them.

Half-Life. A good combination of excellent FPS gameplay and atmosphere. I'd say storytelling too, but it doesn't tell, it lets you figure it out yourself Sadly the series was left unfinished.

Homeworld. Pretty unique truly 3 dimensional RTS with rich backstory and excellent storytelling (Cataclysm doesn't count )

Fallout new Vegas. A BGS style sandbox game that didn't half-ass mechanics and storytelling. While the base game world is quite boring, the story DLCs make up for that.

...Can't think of a fifth one that especially stands out.

[Jerbsinator]

1. Bioshock

2. Half Life 2

3. Witcher 2

4. Warzone 2100

5. STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl

[gregathit]

I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who had a blast with WarZone 2100!!!  That game was freaking awesome!!

[Jerbsinator]

I'm glad to see that I wasn't the only one who had a blast with WarZone 2100!!! That game was freaking awesome!!

They don't make em like they used to anymore. Best rts game ever....imo.

[jordisslave]

On topic?

 

In no particular order:

 

Skyrim.  Never seen anything so expansive and variable, obviously you need the mods but, well, we're here, aren't we?  And this is top 5 PC games.  No other game has had me randomly pressing screenshot so many times with the angle of the sun through the trees, or visions like the mist around Solitude etc.  Beautiful.  And when not staring or perving (we are here, after all), arrows in NPC faces are still funny, and satisfying.  Currently on 4th playthrough.

 

Crysis.  Yes, the tank level is rubbish (better if you get out and do it on foot which you can choose to do), as is the penultimate escort section.  Those aside, having real choice about how you conduct your virtual genocide is fantastic, and seems to be becoming rarer in games.  Played through 3 times to completion, innumberable times up to penultimate level.  COD games could learn a thing or two here.

 

TIE Fighter.  Fast and responsive but complex enough to take ages to master, an engaging storyline (for a Star Wars product, anyway).  Too bad you don't really get the chance to shoot rebel scum.  Pirates and rogue Imperials, huh?  (Lawrence Holland, where did you go?)  Played through maybe 10 times, maybe more, it is an old game.

 

Need For Speed: Road Challenge (in UK) (High Stakes in the rest of the world, I think).  Loads of cars with genuinely different characteristics, plenty of tracks through some pleasant locales, obliging options menus allowing you to choose time of day, weather, direction, number of laps and opponents for custom races.  Things that should surely be standard in every arcade racer nowadays and aren't.  Also, the best force-feedback programming I've ever experienced.  My Thrustmaster something-or-other wheel responded to every slat when driving on wooden bridges.  And loads of mods.  THOUSANDS of cars and tracks to download from 1999 to the present day.  Played through it at least once every year since then.

 

Bioshock.  What's that?  A storyline for a shooter, written for adults?  No completely arbitrary evil?  Characters with coherent motivation?  Mandatory betrayal well-handled rather than shoe-horned in?  Actors who apparently wanted to do the job rather than phone it in?  I almost don't believe it.  Again, an opportunity to choose how you play, and again a stupid section near the end of the game.  Still, at the time Rapture was a stunning, unique and intriguing setting to explore, fight and die in though sadly diluted by Bioshock 2 (dual-hand gameplay was great but YTF was I there?  Did Adam grow back Delta's brain?) and the opportunity to expand it missed with Bioshock Infinite (1998 Mode?  Games had QUICKSAVE and 10 weapon slots in 1998).  Played through in full 6 times.

 

GTA... oh, wait, just 5 games?  Well, GTA.  Choose your favourite.  Just, GTA, man.

[arrow72]

In no particular order;

 

X-Wing Alliance. Most awesome experience I ever had in the Star Wars universe. Yeah, I loved KotOR and Jedi Outast etc, but to play a part in the storyline of the original trilogy was just amazingly fun. Still remember my first encounter with Vaders Super Star Destroyer.... damn that thing was huge.

 

Mass Effect. Back in 2007 when the series began it just took my breath away. The setting, characters and universe... wow. I can only try to cling to that memory, instead of the bitterness I still hold from ME3.

 

Neverwinter Nights 2 : Mask of the Betrayer. Just like the OP said. The story was just mesmerizing, captivating, compelling. Well... just great fun. With it Obsidian also fixed their "Rocks fall, everyone dies" ending to NwN2. In a manner I personally found far more satisfying than what BioWare provided for their last effort.

 

Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim. Loved Morrowind, got sick and tired of Oblivion. Didn't even pre-order Skyrim, just got it on a whim, and I've barely left the continent since.

 

Fallout 3. For fans of the first two, I can understand their disappointment. It's not really very similar. I loved it. Finally a real post-apocalyptic world. Desolate, crumbling, filled with craters, ruined skyscrapers, and those barely scraping by.