What are your favorite games of all time?

Yeah... while the game looked interesting on it's own merits I don't think the X:COM title belongs anywhere near it, since it retains no game play elements from the original series aside from the most generic "fighting aliens" thing.

 

Anytime someone attempts to remake a good game as another game entirely it turns ugly. They tried to change the entire genre and people were not interested in what they were going to offer. X-Com is it's own genre. It really fits nothing else exactly enough for clarity. The majority of games that were made in the very long shadow of X-Com were bastardized pseudo-clones. They did little or nothing right and they sucked. Basically, the only real X-Com games were the very first two. Everything else tried, but failed. Some few failed before they even got to market. Good riddance.

I saw videos of the development demonstration of one of those abysmal failures and immediately thought I could enjoy starring at the ceiling more than playing it. A good FPS is a good FPS. A game that tries to merge an FPS with X-Com is doomed because so many of us love X-Com so much and will be not only uninterested, but pissed that someone 'Effed our beloved *Precious*... (Obvious Gollum voice...)

I think many of us would be pissed if we learned there was someone making a game designed after DoD that is no more than a cheap clone. The average gamer has no real life to speak of. They enjoy games as an escape as much as anything else. Mess with that and you invite our wrath.

I still have the original X-Com "Collection" that is two or three CDs in a jewel case. I never played Apocalypse more than a few minutes. UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep were uber. Apocalypse sucked and literally killed the series at it's prime.

But really, would it be possible to script in something akin to the Blaster Launcher for DoD using any or all of spells, wands, and bolts? Making waypoints for a projectile to follow would be awesome.

 

Totally happy to hear the FPS is NOT happening!
I am also a fan of X-com, the original was such an immensely cool and fun game to play, have fond memories of that.

I do however definitely disagree with your assertion that the rest is utter crap.

Ever heard of UFO:Extraterrestrials? http://store.steampowered.com/app/37030/
B-man's mod has received much praise and elements of that are worked into the upcoming UFO: Extraterrestrials 2, and he himself has helped development.
http://www.ufo2extraterrestrials.com/screenshot/1/

Give it a chance, I did and I am very happy for it, played this a lot.

 

I may have ignored it entirely since I bothered to play each of the horrible games in this series:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Aftermath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Aftershock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Afterlight

They sucked badly. I probably saw UFO and thought it was yet another horrible game like those three I was foolish enough to play. But the first one does look familiar. I may have played it.

UFO:ET2 looks great. I just hope the game is not in any way an awful pseudo clone like the UFO:After* series.

 

I actually really enjoyed apocalypse. While the Geoscape was thrown out in favor of the smaller cityscape, the heart of X:COM still beat in this game. They added real time as an option to the tactical combat which was interesting but it was an option you could ignore if you weren't interested. The generic funding relationships with world governments is replaced in Apocalypse with a complex network of companies who provide goods and services to the city and of course to you. The government is still in charge of your funding, so if aliens take them over you lose, but if Marsec or Megapol, the two largest arms manufacturers, get taken over you not only lose all access to their weapons and vehicles, they also become another active force for you to combat in the game. Apocalypse is a more complex game and one of the few I ever had to refer to a game manual for, but the pay off, for me at least, was huge

It had more detailed vehicular combat, during which your precious city could be ravaged and of course if you blew up some company's building while shooting at UFO's they'd expect you to cover the bill. You also have the option of investigating or raiding any building in the city. An investigation that turns up no aliens lessens your relationship with the respective company but if you found them it was good way to nip a problem in the bud. Raids were a way to earn money and equipment by stealing it from another company and to simply do damage to said company by killing their personnel and taking their stuff. Alternatively, if you really hated some other faction you could just bomb their buildings into the stone age.

Man I loved this game, but I've already written a wall of text about it.... I guess what I'm trying to say is not to write it off too quickly. It has some amazing mechanics, which admittedly take some time to get used to, but once you get going it's an amazing ride.

 

I cannot find any of the X-Com games at GoG. Sad. I like their setup in that it does not require any work at all. I guess I can try using DosBox for my retail copies, but if I recall correctly, the "Collectors Edition" that I have cannot run in Dos mode, and relies on a awful port they made for Windows 95/98. I really wish they bothered to include the original binaries so I could enjoy them again. But I am uncertain where I put them if I have them still.

I checked again just now. It specifically says it requires Windows 95 or 98. And it is two CDs, not three like I thought it may be in a previous post. The first is UD and TftD. The second disc is Apocalypse.

I will see if I can find a way to get these to work in modern systems. But not right now. I have too many games to play at current. I may just have to play Apocalypse and see if I can figure it out.

 

Lol. I thought about that. But I usually try to avoid saying such things as it could be interpreted as myself suggesting piracy is acceptable. Not that I am implying that is what you said, mind you.

Since they are no longer sold, and I absolutely know I have a literal physical copy of the original, not to mention the modified bastard versions Microprose sold me as the Collectors Edition, I can and will download a copy of the original game files. And I have no doubt someone has explained exactly what version and how to configure DosBox for it too. But this is a project for another day.

I think UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep were on 3.5 inch floppies, so I probably threw them away years ago. I know I had a CD before the Collectors edition that had Apocalypse on it. But I have no idea where I could have put it. Even lacking the original media, I retain ownership and in the USA I have a legal right to one backup copy of any media I own a copy of.

On a completely different subject, what is up with everyone changing their Avatar images? Am I missing out on something I should know about? I have a few other images reserved if I should change for some reason.

 

I know you can get all of the X:COM games on steam, all properly DOS Box'ed for easy play, so I don't think they qualify as abandonware. While I still have my original disks somewhere I found it worth the money to repurchase the set so I didn't have fiddle with anything. I know you don't care for Steam Omni, but I figured it would be useful information all the same.

 

That is useful. Thanks for the advice. Next time I need to update a game via Steam and bother with the associated reinstall of Windows to a disposable partition, I will look into those games. Do you happen to know if they are available bundled together for a reasonable price?

I will re-enable Valve from my blocklist and go see if I can answer that last question. I will edit this if I find an answer worthy of posting.

*Edit* I found them easily enough. I may have to bookmark this link and check it every now and then.
http://store.steampowered.com/searc...&category2=2&advanced=0&sort_order=ASC&page=1

It would currently cost me $5 each to buy them. That is a bit much for those games seeing as this would be the third time I purchased them.

I also found this: It is the "Xcom Complete Pack". And it is $15 for the three I care about and the two awful games that I hate as much as anything I can think of, Interceptor and Enforcer.

 

Err so... I LOVE X-com but I'm still totally waiting for that x-com fps. I havent seen it cancelled, only pushed back thank god. I dont care if its a different setting or a use of the name. Its in the 20s, the monsters look awesome with some nice stuff imitating the old horror movies. Basically, this game looks KICK ASS for now. Not going to spit on it because its called X-com and that you cant create your base.
I would love to see a decent remake or sequel of Xcom 1 or 3 (I think the others are pretty much crap) but I doubt it will happen.

edit: i hate it too when they mess up with a good serie. I was angry at castlevania lords of shadow for fucking up the castlevania name and turning it into an american buffy the vampire slayers meets lord of the ring mess. But here ? I'm sorry but even if the gameplay is different I can still imagine this as a prequel to the serie. The style of the game makes sense as part of the same world.

 

I managed to pick up the complete pack during a sale for $5. Steam sales happen all the time, so if you keep an eye out, you can probably still pick it up for a reasonable price.

And you're right, Interceptor and Enforcer are both complete garbage.

 

Fixed it for you. The term 'abandonware' is a mere excuse. It is still illegal as any other pirated software, yet it is nowhere to buy legally. Hence the moral grey area.

 

Actually, abandonedware *IS* a legal gray area in the USA at least. I have literally never heard of anyone being charged with a crime for "Stealing" software that was not able to be purchased due to it no-longer being sold. People have been sued for such things by those crazy people who retain rights to the old software, but the case falls apart once you mention that it was impossible to purchase it.

And note that I said "Sued", not charged with a crime. The big difference for the few reading that may not fully understand is that if you are not charged with a crime, you cannot face criminal penalties. And the suing entity may only seek reparations for lost sales and legal expenses plus a ludicrous amount tacked on to bloat the legal expense for no real reason.

Ask a policeman if he has ever charged a person with software piracy and they will probably laugh. It is not the job of the police to protect software from being copied. Theft is what they could charge a person with for stealing software. And in most cases it is not worth investigating, much less bringing such junk to trial.

No-one is going to sue a person for downloading a copy of X-Com 1, 2, 3, or even all three. And the only way they would sue is if you were actually distributing it and they asked you to stop, but you continued.

If for example you downloaded a torrent of the games and were seeding the torrent for a week, and they even bothered to file a DMCA take-down notice, they would still have no real case against you unless they could actually prove you received the DMCA take-down notice and ignored it. And even then, it would still only be a civil lawsuit. Not criminal at all since the DA simply does not care for "Small Claims" cases.

That being said, in only a few cases the abandonedware term is abused. If the above example was Windows 7 instead of a game that is eighteen years old, it would be a different situation.

But we should not be discussing this nonsense here anyway. Not that I mind discussing it at all.

As I have said before, I buy any game I enjoy playing. Sequence is not being commented upon by myself however.

*Edit* Daynab Ninja'ed a post in there while I typed this mess.

 

I guess if both happen that wouldn't be bad, I was mostly happy because I thought they had reworked the game to be tactical turnbased squad like the old one. And that's SWEET!
But I googled it and it does seem a different project. Very happy with Firaxis's version. Still don't care about the fps, but your words peeked my interest, and it may be a good fps if I have time and am in the mood for such a game sometime ever.

Also: UFO: Extraterrestrials gold edition with bman's mod IS a really good 'remake', imo. But yeah, look up if you want the links.

 

Yeah firaxis' a complete different one, let's cross our fingers they actually respect the original thing...

 

Just remembered another old favorite, American McGee's Alice. Something about messing with old child's story and turning it into nightmare fuel just grabbed my imagination and never let go. Game play wise it's pretty standard platformer fare with some basic puzzle solving and combat, but imagery and feel of the game still stick with me. Of course it looks pretty dated these days, so it might be my nostalgia talking. I'm told that a sequel was put out recently but I haven't looked into it and have trouble seeing how they could pull it off without retelling the story entirely.

 

Alice in Wonderland was originally intended to be a horror story, Just because Disney grabbed it and ran off into even crazier places, that in no way changes the fact that the author was clearly drugged out of sound mind.

I hated that game though. Too damned many impossible jumping sequences.

*Edit* I struck-out the words that were in error. But I should remind everyone who has only seen the Disney remakes that the book was intended for everyone. Not just children. It involved extra-basic mathematics and history of ancient civilizations and intentional mistranslations that were used in parody of the real words from the original languages.

In reality, the book was literary nonsense. That is even what Wikipedia calls it.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
"It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre, and its narrative course and structure have been enormously influential, especially in the fantasy genre."

 

Favourite games of all time? Well, ain't this a tricky one?

I want to say Dredmor, but I can't. I've not put enough hours in, and I don't get "into" it like some do. I use it for fun and time killing, not for being the bestest adventurer/Diggle-hugger.

1. Unreal Tournament
The original. One of the best FPS games I've ever played. Good bots, good graphics (sort of, not so much now), a great variety of maps and weapons. Some of the best level design I've seen, too. My copy of UT2004 is tied to the... uh.. lovely Impulse, so I never have it installed to see if it's much better, but UT3 isn't a game I have any interest in. UT, the original, is the only one I truly care about. I grew up on it, and I love it for what it is.

2. The Longest Journey/Dreamfall
I can't separate them. I like adventure games... in theory. But in practice, I tend to get fed up halfway through due to moon logic puzzles and constant retracing of one's steps. But these two have a special place in my heart. Great characters, amazing soundtracks (especially TLJ), fairly good stories. I really can't wait to see if the third ever comes into existence.

Uh... wow. I got stuck there. I wish I had more favourites, but I'm too fickle/forgetful.