What are your favorite games of all time?

Any platform, any age, even board games and card games and drinking games count. But I am focusing on Video games, and in particular, PC games.

My answer is that my all time favorite is Dungeon Master 2. Second is probably Gothic 2 Gold. (Gold means it has the English version of "Die Nacht Des Raben". In English that is "The Night of the Raven".)

DoD is quickly displacing G2G though. I did play hundreds of hours in G2G though, so it is taking time. I think it will become second on my list in another hundred hours of gameplay. And no, the number of hours is not the only thing I consider. It is a major factor though.

DoD still has some problems that are the bulk of the reason it is not already #2. The biggest is the inexplicable CPU usage. I recently reinstalled G2G via the GoG (Good old Games) version and found it to use less CPU cycles/total CPU time than DoD by far even with all graphical settings maxed beyond what you can do in the game options themselves. But I am again getting off topic...

I will have to add to this list of favorites. And I will gladly explain what I enjoy about any game I mention. Please tell me what are your favorites and why? Thank you for your time. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Digglpocalypse.

 

How the hell did I forget Fallout 2? That is #2. G2G and DoD are fighting for #3.

 

#1 Dark Age of Camelot - MMORPG realm vs realm castle sieges were such incredible fun. It even had a few realm shared dungeons where you xp'ed at your own risk, never knew when that kobold shadowblade might backstab you. Awesome game.
#2 Fallout: New Vegas - I loved Fallout 1+2 for the lore, but found the games too tedious to play through. Fallout 3 was really good too, and did some things better than New Vegas but I still think New Vegas is the better one. Endless hours of fun thanks to the incredible mod community.
#3 Warcraft III / Team Fortress 2 - So hard to pick just a few games to list here, can think of a number more I would love to mention. Warcraft III was a fantastic RTS. Great gameplay but also had a strong story to go with it, and custom maps kept me playing it for years. As for Team Fortress 2, apart from the silly focus on getting hats, its a great team objective based FPS. With all the classes and hundreds of different weapons, its still somehow well balanced. I first played Team Fortress back when it was a Quakeworld mod, and the essence of it is still present in the current iteration. Much love.

Lists like these are always freaking hard to decide on for me. I'm sure I'm forgetting something or other. Ah well!

Runner ups: Ancient Domains of Mystery, Street Fighter IV+DLC's, Dungeons of Dredmor, Heroes of Might & Magic III.

Edit 1+2: Right, I was supposed so write something about these games too, not just list them. Also, runner ups.

 

#1: Ultima V http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_V:_Warriors_of_Destiny
#2: Age of Wonders Shadow Magic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Wonders:_Shadow_Magic
#3: BEAST (just because of the insane hilarity ensuing from accidentally killing your friend, again and again) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_(video_game)

EDIT: Don't feel bad for DoD though, it's VERY HIGH on my list
EDIT2: Also: it all depends on when you ask me I guess, I was in a nostalgic mood.
Could also say Skyrim and The Longest Journey and such...

 

The answer is problematic for me since my memory has been failing me. But just based on that I'll list what I THINK were my favorites, in no particular order. To be fair, I'll split these between board games and computer games, as well.

Board Games
1. Cosmic Encounter -- There's been several different versions of this game published over the years, but my favorite has to be the Mayfair Games version. I think most people would actually name the original Eon Products version, and it was truly excellent. But my only problem with it was that the rules were overly vague in some areas -- to some that is a good thing, but I prefer the more explicit Mayfair rules, as it gives rise to fewer arguments.

The new Fantasy Flight version looks pretty good, but I actually have not had a chance to play it yet.

2. Axis and Alies (and all of the variants) -- the Vanilla game is good, but very unbalanced when people actually know the game. Future editions addressed that problem well. But the best way to play are one of the tournament rules I've seen,, where you take turns playing the Axis and the Allies. There are also some REALLY good variants out there, my favorite which is "The World at War", which improve the game vastly. Almost every time I've attended a game convention, there's either been a couple of new official (such as Pacific or Europe variants) and/or unofficial variants of the game.

3. Fortress America: I actually love this game, and am disappointed that it was far overshadowed by "Axis and Allies" which was released in the same series. I've also often fought what I believe is a myth that it is a very unbalanced game -- played as a 4-player game, it definitely can be. But with one player playing all of the invaders, I think that it's actually pretty good. And I always have had fun with it.

4. Team Chess: This is a game that requires a minimum of 2 full chess sets, and a chess clock for each pair of chess set. Preferably you also have 2 players for each board (though I have played with rotating players in and out between games).
In the simplest form of the game, you have 2 teams of 2 players each. You set up two chess boards side by side on a table, and you and your teammate sit on one side of the table, and your opponents sit on the opposite side. If you are white, your partner must play as black. whenever you capture a piece, you pass it to your partner. Instead of a normal turn, your partner can place any piece he's received on the board in any legal chess position. If anyone calls checkmate, that whole team wins. Failing that, if you see your (direct) opponent has run out of time on his chess clock you can call "time". Then, both clocks are all checked, and if he's the only one who's run out of time, then your side wins. If there are clocks on both sides that are out of time, then it's a draw. Usually you start with 5 minutes on the clock for everyone, but to make the game more fun, you can either reduce or increase the time to balance for skill level. There's a few more rules and some variant rules but that's the basics.

Computer Games
1. Skyrim -- I've loved all the elder scrolls games. and if I'm only going to select one for my list, It will have to be the latest. I acknowledge that It's not a perfect game, but it's incredibly immersive and fun. And that's what is important. I could nitpick and say what each of the other TES games have done better or worse, but I'm not going to do that. Big Picture, my vote for Skyrim is a vote for the whole TES series.

2. Fallout 3 -- similar speech to the TES games. I've played Fallout 1-4, and even have played Fallout Tactics. The only game that I really did not like was Fallout: New Vegas (I know that someone else picked this as their top game, but I was unable to bring myself to complete it). Fallout 3 did not have as good a story or as much depth as Fallout 2 or 1, but what it did have was true immersion. I felt like I really was on the Washington Mall after a huge disaster. But again, I will say that my vote for Fallout 3, is a vote for the entire series (excepting Fallout: NV)

3. City of Heroes -- I no longer play this game simply because I got burned out on it. And as its an old MMO, the game has changed a whole lot since it first started. But it was fun, and I had more fun, not only because I loved the various supergroups/villain groups I was in and made lots of friends, but because grouping with different people/archetypes was always a unique experience. Plus, the community valued more than just min-maxing -- it valued people making unique builds, designing the most imaginative costumes, and so on. Plus, it was the first game I've played that actually made travelling between different locations, fun. I had a great time with it, but the first time I learned how to hover, I literally chased and tried to land on the zepellin (and hover is such a slow mode of travel) and was thrilled. The first time I got Superjump, I superjumped ALL OVER the place, challenged myself to land on the roofs of the tallest buildings, or bounce off of window ledges. Today, there are a few more games that try to do the same thing, (and succeed to a lesser extent) but imho, there's nothing like the first. It may or may not make you feel like a real hero or villain, but it certainly makes you feel super.

4. Lord of the Rings Online -- I list this mostly because of the newbie experience. And you haven't played Lotro if you've never started the game in the Shire as a hobbit. The game, itself, is good, but what it excels in is recreating middle earth.

 

NWN1 is probably the best modded game I've ever played.
Next up Dungeons of Dredmor.
After that probably Skyrim
And I play League of Legends with friends fairly often, and thats fun enough.

 

I too loved NWN1. That game had replay value like no other genuine D&D game on the PC before or after.

I was playing a mod set at some point years ago that allowed me to make a literal Lich character or one of a dozen different races besides the standard ones, it added dozens of classes too.

I wonder if it is still available. I may have to search for it later.

 

So many good memories. Picking favorites is difficult because different moods favor different games. That said, there are some which simply devoured (or continue to devour) so much of my time and have influenced my views on games in general that I think they are best suited for the "favorite" title. No PARTICULAR order here, mind.

1. NetHack. The roguelike that made me a roguelike fan. The staggering complexity, the unforgiving difficulty, and the intensely rewarding gameplay all catered to what I was looking for in a game. It kept me occupied for a LOOOONG time before something else came along to grab my attention.
2. Slaves to Armok 2: Dwarf Fortress. It took me a while to really get into this game, as the learning curve is nonexistent - it's a sheer wall with few handholds and many sharp pointy things at the bottom. But once I was in, I was in absolutely - no return. It still occupies my time, when I need to put Dredmor down for a bit for whatever reason.
3. Fallout 2. The original Fallout may have had a better story but Fallout 2 had pretty much everything else. I do strongly recommend that anyone interested in playing it download not just the official patch, but the unofficial patches made by Killap. Your enjoyment will be drastically increased by doing so.

Honestly I am too lazy to go any further, for now.

 

Ah! Another victim of Demogorgon! Welcome! I managed multiple Ascensions. The first of them took only about two years. I am proud of how quickly I managed that. Nethack is the parent of every real Roguelike in existence, even more so than Rogue, as odd as that sounds, it is true.

Fallout 2 was the best Fallout game they have made period. Tactics sucked badly. 3 was alright, but they should never have made it real time. NV was 3 with a new paint job.

Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project

 

Not gonna lie, I try to simply AVOID Demogorgon. (Note: KILL THE DEMON PRINCES FAST or they can and will summon him) The rest of the demon lords and princes are enough of a pain on their own. My one ascension was with a Valkyrie, arguably one of the EASIEST to ascend with. I got very lucky and found a number of magic lamps and wishing wands, so I was sporting a LOT of excellent gear before I even entered Gehennom.

 

My first was a Mage. They are also pretty potent if you are really lucky. Most others I played were in Slash'Em. There I tried to play a Monk. That worked surprisingly well. But soldiers with rocket launchers are almost as bad as Demogorgon. I disabled them entirely before I continued. (Since they could spawn on level one and rocket you to death in a single turn and there was literally nothing to do about it.)

 

Another two games I think really and truly deserve mention in my favorites:

Thief 2: The Metal Age - It's an awesome game, revolving around clever and discreet completion of objectives and not "KILL ALL ENEMIES". The first one (Thief: The Dark Project) is more commonly thought of and is an excellent game as well, but Thief 2 offered a few improvements and some new nasty surprises that increased the challenge.
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind/Tribunal/Bloodmoon - or as I like to call them, the last truly excellent Elder Scrolls games. Good stories and highly enjoyable free-roam gameplay, with scads of excellent mods available from a massive modding community and a good Construction Set if you are inclined to "do-it-yourself".

 

The entire Elder Scroll series was great. I even count the few oddballs that were not actually Elder Scroll games at all in the technical sense, The names elude me for the moment.

Arena was the first I played, and I played it a long time. Daggerfall was much better. Morrowind was hit and miss for my eyes. It looked better, but something felt wrong. I loved Oblivion. But the most recent, Skyrim, was underwhelming to me. Even more so than Morrowind. It looked great and has quests to keep you busy for ages. It was stable and very modable too, so I hope that one day mods will .

The entire Thief and similar games annoyed me. I probably never gave them a fair chance to show what they were before I uninstalled and moved on to the next game.

 

I just loaded the GoG version of Fallout 2, used the Killap's Fallout 2 Restoration Project, and then used the Fallout2 High Resolution Patch as well. I then had to set compatibility mode to NT4 (SP5) for the shortcut to start the game. Nothing else would work. I also unchecked the checkbox to run in 256 color mode. That is not needed or desired unless you skip the high resolution stuff.

But it is playing fine. Once in the game, click options and screen resolution. From here set your desired resolution and set it to 32 bit color unless your system is literally ancient. (It is usually quicker to render 32 bits as opposed to 16 or 8 bits per pixel on modern video cards.)

It will attempt to restart and probably fail when it does. But just open it again and it runs fine.

GoG gets all my zorkmids it seems...

*Edit* The changelog for Killap's patch is *Massive*. Wondrously well done. It installed via the executable installer and even properly detected the GoG path to use. Bravo!

 

True facts: The bio account auth server is down so you can do whatever you please with a slightly less than legit copy of NWN. And I don't feel bad about saying this because if bioware gets their shit together they can put their auth server back up .

 

It should be noted that the only reason DoD isn't part of my list is because I have been playing it for a relatively short time in comparison to the others. Make no mistake, I am very fond of Dungeons of Dredmor but I want to see how much time it can wring out of me.

Also: Neverwinter Nights has an EXCELLENT mod utility and a very large mod community... but I think the NWN original campaign was rather underwhelming. The Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark expansions offered much better campaigns, but the OC left a bad taste in my mouth that never went away.

 

Yeah, like I said: NWN campaign can go kill itself, but oh man, the mods. Also, the online PWs are great... 8 years on.

 

Warcraft III + Frozen throne-Honestly extemely well made, great graphics, great gameplay, great online game, limitless maps for download. WoW should never have been invented, instead that time and money would have been better placed in a warcraft IV. Revamped with playable naga, fell orcs,and others.... and have some insane demonic force unleashed to rip the world to shreds...make it so that everyone has to team up with undead...and then have an expansion where the undead form a pact with the demons. It would have been foolproof.

Guild Wars- As far as MMO's go. Guild wars wins. GW2 any1?

League of Legends- Dota and Dota 2 just dont seem to have a spark of interest in me. Played both Dota 2 didnt last more than 2 days in my book. I feel LoL is simply superior at what it does. Plus I get all the champs for free. What more could I ask for?

Elder scrolls- they win the best rpg award from me. Morrowind is my favorite-Skyrim lacks something behind all its pretty colours and oblivion is placed between the 2. I've played all in the series.

Regrettably I can't rate DoD as a favorite despite the limitless hours I will (and have) put into it. I view it more as a fallback to when I get tired of other games, or something to play when I dont have the time to play other games. It's loads of fun, but lacks a lot of the game-play elements that I look for in truly memorable games. It will be something I will play for an extremely long time simply because it's perfect at entertaining when everything else doesn't.

 

My personal favorite MMORPG is TomeNET. (No, I have no idea why they use that particular choice of upper and lowercase characters, but they do.)

I really hate almost if not all MMOs of every genre. But TomeNET is uber beyond comparison. It is the hardest game besides Nethack/Slash'Em I have ever played. And that should speak volumes about it. The plain text guide is ~700 KB in size. It is immensely complex, and cannot be learned in a day, a week, or even a month. You will spend years to learn most of the basics if you bother. But most people hate ASCII graphics. (Intentional Pun. Graphics. Pfft. )

If anyone wants to play this seriously, let me know and I will make a thread to discuss it in depth. But regardless of how adept you are in other RPGs I would *STRONGLY* advise against playing ANY sort of caster as your first character. Play an Archer if you must be ranged. Otherwise play a Warrior.

(And if you must play an Archer, learn how to make and use Macros in the game client. The Guide will tell you everything, but you will be 100 times more likely to survive if you make just the one simple shoot nearest monster macro than if you try manually firing at things.)

You absolutely will die however. The newbie dungeons have a chance of uber deep level uniques spawning right off the staircase and killing you so fast you have to check your log to see what instagibbed you. This has happened to me. Level thirty something Druid. Good equipment and mimicing a good monster form. Take the stair down into level one of the Barrow Downs dungeon since I need to hand a Scroll of Word of Recall to a trapped friend, and I am dead. Just like that. It was Gothmog, High Captain of the Balrogs. He killed me so fast I never even saw him.

It is a great game. But be wary of the challenge and the time it will consume.

Now this rant has gone on well past long enough. Back to the topic.