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Must-play PC games for a life-long console gamer

if you don't know what a "Monkey Island" is yet, you must educate yourself. This should be your number one priority at the moment, make a note.
 
I was just about to say CS. If you can find it, go 1.6. that's where all the raging hardcore motherfuckers hang (or, at least used to when I played). You might die in the first minute and spend the next ten looking at the others playing for a couple of rounds, but that's all in the game homes.
 
If you just want to play some small games for some quick time fun, I suggest the realm of flash games. Personally, I play at kongregate, but there are a myriad of sites with more games than you'll ever play. And some of them are spectacularly fun. Otherwise, I agree with a lot of the games already posted, but I'd like to give an extra plug to Civilization. If you really get into it, it'll suck your life away.
 
Rez said:
Everyone should at least experience Counterstrike once. You might only play it for a minute or two then switch it off thanks to the immense rage it inspires, but any self respecting PC gamer owes it to themselves to at least try it. :lol
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I spent every lunch period my freshman year of high-school playing this game with 30 or so kids in the computer lab.

twas glorious.
 
How long does a Monkey Island game usually takes?
Also, I've tried to play Broken Sword on wii as my first P&C adventure game, and eeeh, it didn't click with me. So how different is this game from BS?
 
Gomu Gomu said:
How long does a Monkey Island game usually takes?
Also, I've tried to play Broken Sword on wii as my first P&C adventure game, and eeeh, it didn't click with me. So how different is this game from BS?
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Monkey Island is hilarious. I haven't played it, but as far as I can tell, BS is quite serious, no? Can you die in BS?
 
Yay!! I can help here:

Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Fallout 2
Quest for Glory (I-IV and maybe V)
The Secret of Monkey Island
Diablo (not II)
Star Wars: Rebellion
Ultima Online (wark)
Starcraft
Commander Blood (haah)
Grim Fandango
King's Quest series
Counter Strike (non Source :-/)
Civilization III
Age of Empires/II
edit:
and Loom. Loom too.

That's right off the bat, but there are always more.

Daggerfall, Quest for Glory, and Diablo are among my favorite games ever. Well, and UO.
 
Maybe it's not old enough to be a "classic", but get Civilization IV. It's the easiest to get into and it is brilliant, maybe the best game released this decade.
 
Little Big Adventure 1 & 2-- http://www.lbahq.com/download.php

System Shock-- http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,211.0.html

Terra Nova Strike Force Centauri-- http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php?topic=459.0

Tomorrow War came out today on gamersgate FINALLY :O-- http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=product&what=view&sku=DD-TTW

Evochron Legends-- http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronlegends/index.htm

Majesty Gold-- http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=product&what=view&sku=DD-MAJESTY


Spire said:
Maybe it's not old enough to be a "classic", but get Civilization IV. It's the easiest to get into and it is brilliant, maybe the best game released this decade.
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old enough, whatever, it's a classic.
 
Gomu Gomu said:
How long does a Monkey Island game usually takes?
Also, I've tried to play Broken Sword on wii as my first P&C adventure game, and eeeh, it didn't click with me. So how different is this game from BS?
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Monkey Island is infinitely better than Broken Sword. It's all about the humour, and the wacky puzzles/locations. The dialogue is great, and the voice acting (in the third game and onwards) is awesome.

I recommend starting with "The Curse of Monkey Island" (MI3), as it is the easiest of them to get in to nowadays. After you're done though, I highly recommend going back and playing 2 & 1.
 
Why is everyone freaking out about it being a netbook? You guys were recommending old ass games due to his specs anyhow. Pretty much everything mentioned he should be able to play reasonably except for probably orange box.
 
Audiosurf is an amazing game for the PC. It should run great on a laptop. Check it out on Steam.

If you're into RTS games, you should definitely check out Command and Conquer: The First Decade. You can get it for a couple of bucks and it should provide you with lots of hours of gameplay.
 
Rez said:
Monkey Island is infinitely better than Broken Sword. It's all about the humour, and the wacky puzzles/locations. The dialogue is great, and the voice acting (in the third game and onwards) is awesome.

I recommend starting with "The Curse of Monkey Island" (MI3), as it is the easiest of them to get in to nowadays. After you're done though, I highly recommend going back and playing 2 & 1.
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No, don't do that. He'll miss half the jokes. Having Big Whoop being a carnival makes no sense if you haven't played the first two. And Stan!

I think the first two are plenty accessible.
 
Joseph, what the best way to run Terra Nova? You need anything extra. I dont torrent so I'm not sure
 
legend166 said:
No, don't do that. He'll miss half the jokes. Having Big Whoop being a carnival makes no sense if you haven't played the first two. And Stan!

I think the first two are plenty accessible.
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He should be playing DotT if he wants the funny.
 
Joseph Merrick said:
dosbox with the cd or image mounted works great
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Wonderful. I've actually sent all morning trying to get BaK to work in DB. I think it might be cause I have Vista 64. Well I'll try TN when its finished loading.

I forgot how much of a pain DB was.
 
HK-47 said:
Wonderful. I've actually sent all morning trying to get BaK to work in DB. I think it might be cause I have Vista 64. Well I'll try TN when its finished loading.

I forgot how much of a pain DB was.
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Sucks, but I got BaK working in no time at all, you should get D-Fend Reloaded, it's a wonderful front-end for DOSBox and should help.
 
Kestastrophe said:
A good portion of the responses itt are valve games that are already available on console. SMH
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Hey I gave my adventure game rundown.

Also if anyone wants to recommend Quest games (never played any) I'll check them out if DB will let me.
 
I suspect going back to some of the older 3D PC games will be pretty tough. Stuff like Terra Nova and System Shock were amazing when they were released, but they have not held up well. It isn't just the visuals that have aged either.

On the other hand, I can still recommend Crusader No Remorse (and No Regret). While also dated in their own way, they are still a lot of fun to play these days and quite unlike anything else out there.
 
dark10x said:
I suspect going back to some of the older 3D PC games will be pretty tough. Stuff like Terra Nova and System Shock were amazing when they were released, but they have not held up well. It isn't just the visuals that have aged either.

On the other hand, I can still recommend Crusader No Remorse (and No Regret). While also dated in their own way, they are still a lot of fun to play these days and quite unlike anything else out there.
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I'm a guy who can put up with visuals and gameplay not being all there. Especially for a Shock game.

And I figured I might as well risk it with TN since its Looking Glass and I like to revisit it. It was one of the few mech games I cared for.
 
Kestastrophe said:
A good portion of the responses itt are valve games that are already available on console. SMH
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But they're so much better on PC it's like a brand new game. SMH

EDIT: Also, get Spelunnky. Totally free and not at all hardware intensive.

But so so so awesome.
 
Dwarf Fortress.

Of all the Ascii/Roguelike games out there possibly by far the most ambitious. You are not only playing one single adventurer, but a whole group of them trying to run a fortress which you build and defend yourself. You need to set up supply chains, care for your dwarfs (they want beer, cats, furniture etc) and work for you in the way you tell them to. There are nearly 60 jobs which your dwarfs have to take care of.
That may sound overly complicated but the most awesome thing about this game is that you can play it in your speed. If you dont want to you dont have to rush anything while contruscting your base. And even if something goes wrong you simply abandon your fortress, start another one in the same world and if you want to get to visit your old abandon fortresses later in a new game.
21erzth.jpg


If you arent set for 3D graphics I really advice you to take a look in these games. They are doing many things which wouldnt in "Bigger" modern games. Especially this game is so big that it will take you a 2-3 hours just to grasp what you are playing. But then it unfolds as no other.
It sets up a world from scratch, uses geological happenings to determine how the world shapes (rain, lakes, temperature, magma) and is developing all the time you are playing.
Do yourself (and all others too) a favor and give it a shot. Its perfect for a short blast of half an hour to an hour for playing it in between lectures or whatever.

Oh but be sure to get the graphical update as in the picture above or else youll be playing with Ascii graphics.
 
HK-47 said:
Hey I gave my adventure game rundown.

Also if anyone wants to recommend Quest games (never played any) I'll check them out if DB will let me.
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What you need to do is play Quest for Glory I/II/III/and IV.

PM me.
 
Top 3 you need to play:

Fallout 2
Max Payne
Diablo 2

And if you can find it:
No One Lives Forever
 
If you want old school; Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, The Longest Journey, Rise of Nations, Civilizations 3, Day of the Tentacle, Serious Sam: First Encounter, Undying, System Shock 2, Septerra Core.......I could go on for awhile here.
 
For Sierra games you'll probably need to use Dosbox + any script patches from sierrahelp.com ... they also have automated installers for certain games here

For LucasArts games (except the 3d ones) you will be able to use ScummVM

Best Point & Click Games:

Sierra
Kings Quest 6
Gabriel Knight 1-3
Quest for Glory 1-5 (QfG 1,2 were originally released as EGA/16-color games. QfG1 was re-released as a VGA but not 2. However, a fan-made VGA remake of QfG2 was released last year)
Police Quest: Open Season (could skip this one, but its the best of the Police Quest games IMO)

LucasArts
Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (FMTowns version)
Day of the Tentacle (sequel to Maniac Mansion)
Sam & Max: Hit the Road
Full Throttle
Monkey Island 1-4
Grim Fandango

I'd honestly say to stay away from Myst... that game has severely aged and isn't as fun as it was back then.

RPG:
Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters - this game is available for free now from sc2.sourceforge.net since the developers let it go open source... its not a traditional RPG, its a combination of Adventure, Action and RPG
Diablo 1,2 - personally I got bored of the gameplay by the second one but its something you should at least try

RTS:
WarCraft 1,2 - the campaigns aren't necessarily engaging, but I'd play each for a few missions just to see how they were
StarCraft & StarCraft Brood War
WarCraft 3

* Italicized games are strongly recommended
 
Costanza said:
ctrl + f "Guild Wars"

Phrase not found.

WTF GAF.

OP, play Guild Wars.
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nah, I'd recommend everyone to stay away from MMOs. (I assume) this guy is looking for games which defined PC gaming. MMOs are time sinks and the only MMOs which really were considered "the best" were Ultima Online, Everquest and WoW. And UO and EQ probably aren't the same as they were 10 years ago, so only WoW would be worth checking out. But I'd rather play Oblivion (a game with an ENDING) than WoW IMO.
 
infinityBCRT said:
nah, I'd recommend everyone to stay away from MMOs. (I assume) this guy is looking for games which defined PC gaming. MMOs are time sinks and the only MMOs which really were considered "the best" were Ultima Online, Everquest and WoW. And UO and EQ probably aren't the same as they were 10 years ago, so only WoW would be worth checking out. But I'd rather play Oblivion (a game with an ENDING) than WoW IMO.
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Guild Wars has more of a plot than Oblivion I'd wager. Both are good games, play them both.

You really need about 10 years to catch up on all the good PC gaming... and then you'll be 10 years behind. So good luck!
 
infinityBCRT said:
nah, I'd recommend everyone to stay away from MMOs. (I assume) this guy is looking for games which defined PC gaming. MMOs are time sinks and the only MMOs which really were considered "the best" were Ultima Online, Everquest and WoW. And UO and EQ probably aren't the same as they were 10 years ago, so only WoW would be worth checking out. But I'd rather play Oblivion (a game with an ENDING) than WoW IMO.
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Guild Wars has more in common with Diablo than World of Warcraft.

At least, in the structure of the game.
 
infinityBCRT said:
nah, I'd recommend everyone to stay away from MMOs. (I assume) this guy is looking for games which defined PC gaming. MMOs are time sinks and the only MMOs which really were considered "the best" were Ultima Online, Everquest and WoW. And UO and EQ probably aren't the same as they were 10 years ago, so only WoW would be worth checking out. But I'd rather play Oblivion (a game with an ENDING) than WoW IMO.
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Thanks for mentioning UO.

Because we all know UO was the beginning and end all of modern-"style" MMO.

No, UO is certainly not the same as it was 10 years ago (which sucks), but there are alternatives to play which are amazing with old rules in place. :)
 
vandalvideo said:
On a side note, why was I the only one who recommended Planescape? What is wrong with you people.
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It's actually mentioned 3 times on page 1, otherwise I'd have complained as well.

Anyway, OP, as a starting point play
Planescape: Torment
The Longest Journey (both)
Vampire: Bloodlines
 
JodyAnthony said:
Ultima

All of them (if you can get them to run. I can't for the life of me get UIX to run)
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IX is an abomination. Makes stuff like DMC 2 and Deus Ex: Invisible Wars look like great games
 
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