f13.net

Well, tomorrow-ish -- this weekendish at least -- I'm actually getting a new PC. Mine dates back to, oh 2003ish? 2002ish? 2004 at the latest. It's a decade old, basically.

Other than replacing a video card that fried, adding another hard drive at some point and possible some RAM, I haven't updated it. At some point we got an Xbox, which was way cheaper, and the bulk of my gaming has been on that.

To give you a feel of where I stopped PC gaming: I played Star Wars: Galaxies on this thing. I've played WoW through Wrath of the Lich King. I've played EVE. I remember trying Lord of the Rings: Online, back when you paid for it, but it ran very sluggishly and I never got too far.

My most recent version of Civilization is Civ 3. I have Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, which I love, but can't stand to play very long because again -- PITA performance.  I've played Rome: Total War and Medieval 2: Total War. I played Spore. I've played Gal Civ 2 (rather enjoyed that. It worked well on an older PC).

If it was available on Xbox of Xbox 360 over the last few years, I've happily played it there.

So what I'm looking for is: What, if any, games have I missed on PC over the last five or six years? Worth considering or getting? I'm very likely to try LOTRO, since it's F2P, as well as ST:O and ST:TOR -- again, you know, free trials and whatnot unless I really dig it.

Anything I should definitely try?

Also, as a secondary question: I've got some stuff from Steam and GoGs on my old PC -- I can just hit my account on both and reacquire them, right?

I can't recall ever seeing Morat posting in the gaming forums.  I'm not sure what to recommend.

You should play Blood Bowl with us though.

Minecraft!

Since you seem to dig strategy/civ, grab Civ 4 with the Back to the Sword expansion and get the Fall From Heaven 2 mod; for me it's the pinnacle of the genre thus far. A few years old, but if you didn't pc game during that era, it's new to you!

Games you may have played on console: Just Cause 2 and Saint's Row 3.

TSW, TOR and GW2 are all good mmo in their own ways.

And yeah, minecraft. It's magical.

Whats genres do you like?  RPGS: Fallout: New Vegas is probably my favorite in recent memory.  RTS - Starcraft 2 is good, but only if you are into that sort of thing.  Dawn of War 2 is probably a bit more accessible and easy to play with more RPG elements in the single player. Shooters - Team Fortress 2 is a must play.  MMORPG: Guild Wars 2 is the new hotness, but you've already said you want to try LOTRO, which is good.  

Things I'd put on a buy it when its cheap on Steam list:

Deus Ex 3
Borderlands
Skyrim
Fallout 3
Dragon Age (I'd suggest the first one but not the second one, but YMMV)

Stuff to try depending on your tastes:

DOTA 2 (or some other variation on DOTA like LoL)
Counter Strike: GO
Tribes: Ascend

For GoG it's no problem, you can just straight up copy the files if you don't want to re-download.  Steam is usually no problem, but some games have activation limits and stuff to worry about, and the first time you log in from a new computer Valve locks your account and sends a confirmation e-mail.

As for PC exclusives, they're pretty rare.  Most AAA stuff is released cross platform, outside the occasional MMO or RTS.  Starcraft 2, maybe, something like League of Legends or DOTA 2 if you're looking for that kind of thing.  Also there's obviously a ton of indie games if you want to hear more about that, but they're generally not the kinds of games you use to break in a  new PC.  What kind of game are you looking for?

I post, just rarely. Mostly console games for the last few years (except for EVE and WoW), and even then I'm like a year behind everyone else so by the time I have time to play it, it's been done and gone. :)

In general, if it's been released on Xbox, I've tried it. (Skyrim, Fallout 3, Mass Effect 1 and 2 -- still haven't done 3 -- Orange Box, Portal 2 -- not played it yet -- Draogon Age 1 and 2). Shooters I tend to avoid, othre than the consoleized ones -- I'm just kinda shitty at them. :) I think the only one I ever played to completion was Jedi Knight. And Half Life.

I'd like to try Team Fortress 2 on PC rather than Xbox. I suspect the game is..different. :) In a good way. Minecraft? Oh definitely. I've been dying to try that one, and the limited Xbox version didn't look so good.

Blood Bowl is definitely on the list, it looks fun. :) Civ 4 sounds good -- I've heard about the Fall from Heaven mod, but without actually playing Civ 4 it's kinda nebulous what it adds. (Just from reading it here, it apparently adds fun).

I'm more a fan of the 4x games and RPG's. (I've got Planescape from GoG and plan to start that one soon. Have the BG's series. Never managed to finish the first one, but love the half I've done. I keep starting and restartign that one every few years).

RTS's? I'm a fan, but it's funnest in co-op. A friend wants me to get D3 to play with her, but I've heard "meh" on that.

Minecraft sounds pretty much exactly up my alley, other than the MMORPGs. I think Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 is the newest -- I enjoy that sort of simulation game, I'm a builder/explorer at heart and an RPG fan.

MMORPG's are hit and miss. I keep wanting to love EVE, but it only holds my attention for a month or two at a time. I enjoyed CoH, but realized half of what I was doing was making new heroes with new costumes because the game got kinda stale! WoW just seems to have the right mix of brainless PvE (PvP is fine -- in battlegrounds. I don't do world PvP. I don't like the stress) and exploration to keep drawing me back after breaks.

So, so far: Definite on Minecraft, probably on Blood Bowl, Civ 4 w/mods, and a smattering of MMORPGs.

If you like 4x, you might want to pick up Sins of a Solar Empire.

I've heard good things about that one, but had totally forgotten it. Thanks -- same people who did Gal Civ, right? (Speaking of -- the expansions on GC2 worth it?)

Borderlands 2, when it comes out (Sept 18)
Torchlight II, which it comes out (Sept 20)
King Arthur I and/or II
Warlock - Master of the Arcane
Pick an MMORPG: Rift, The Secret World, Guild Wars 2

Skyrim
Saints Row: The Third
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
World of Tanks
Crusader Kings: II

Civ4 + Fall From Heaven II is pretty much the mastery of Civilization, if that's your bag. As for action titles, the Batman: Arkham * titles are fantastic if you haven't played them on Xbox. Deus Ex and Saints Row are also worth playing.

If you're looking for a sim game Anno 2070 is a nice update to the city-building genre and Crusader Kings II is a great strategy/sim title.

Also, Just Cause 2 and the Assassin's Creed series are great if you like action titles.

GW2 since it's PC exclusive, hella fun, and has no sub. Even just for a few weeks if it doesn't grab ya.

Minecraft for damn sure. It's ok on the Xbox, but it's really a PC-focused ecosystem of mods, textures, etc.

Skyrim if you didn't play on the Xbox or want to check out the mods.

Diablo 3 for the ding-gratz though only really if you absolutely loved D2.

Starcraft 2 for a similar reason.

Sky mentioned Just Cause 2, and I agree. I'm sure a console controller is fine, but it's great for keyboard/mouse and does crazy destruction lulz even better than Red Faction: Guerilla.

I'd only recommend SWTOR if you really want to see the "Everquest with Wookiees" so many though SWG was gonna be, and only after it goes F2P.

As I was trying to say before we were so rudely interrupted by the server imploding, just get Civ4+FFH, Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim then watch for Steam and GoG sales. You'll pick up more than enough that way.

Not a bad idea. I was mostly aiming at games released over the last decade or so I might have missed -- any classic PC games I couldn't run and just don't remember.

I'll be reacquiring my few Steam games and transferring my GoG's stuff.

You aren't going to let your wife touch it are you?

Ha! No. I've not much experience with Windows 7, so I have to figure out how to setup shares again -- including the fun "My wife can see it from her vista laptop, but my son can't from any account, etc". Also plan to get one of those wireless home cloud storage drives -- only like 100 bucks for a terabyte -- and set that up, point mozy@home at it from my desktop and keep critical files backed up that wait.

I ended up with an i7 3770, a modest Nvidia card, and 16 gigs of RAM and went with Windows 7 Home Premium. Should be all I really need for the next several years.

Did it come with a discount coupon for Windows 8 or is it too early for that yet?

I didn't really check -- I haven't been watching the Windows 8 reviews, but Windows 7 seems very solid by all accounts. I can always pick up Windows 8 cheap through my work later, if I need to.

Your tastes seem more like mine than some others, so:

Don't get Borderlands - even at $2 it's a waste!

Get Blood Bowl only if you have time for a multiplayer league (and if so get it for sure).
Crusader Kings II is great fun.
Minecraft is great.

What's the time costs of Blood Bowl? I know only the bare basics of the game -- never seen it played, never seen the mechanics, just read bits and pieces here and there.

I have time, it's more a question of is it "Raid time" wherein I need to have my ass in my seat at 7:00PM or forfeit? I know it's fantasy football style -- that I have time for! I can even handle draft equivilants. I just can't, you know, "be here at X time on Y date" on a regular basis.

Windows 8 is pretty awful, by the way. It provides no performance boost over Win7 beyond a quicker boot-up time and its UI is dogshit. It's also nigh-unusable for gaming if you have multiple monitors to boot.

Blood Bowl games take a little more than an hour on two minute turns, and you arrange that time with each opponent you face.  In our league that translates into one hour-and-a-half long game a week.  We keep other side-leagues going pretty frequently though and there is also the Feeder League if you want to play a game outside of tournaments.

It really isn't that time-consuming.  Mastering the game does, however, take time and there is a learning curve.  The game looks deceptively simple, but you realize over time that play can be tremendously deep, and it does take some commitment/patience. You'll lose a lot in the beginning, but when it all starts to click it is very rewarding.  Plus, there are teams for pretty much any preference, strategy-wise.  We have a lot of really good players here and they're also helpful/friendly enough to play with new players and give tips at the drop of a hat.

It really is fun if you like strategy, and I wasn't joking when I suggested it.  I've put in around 500 hours on the Legendary edition and I still look forward to every game.  It's what transformed me from a lurker into a poster a few years ago.

I can definitely recommend Blood Bowl. I've put over 100 hours into it, almost all of that in games with F13'ers. The hardest part of the game is finding the team that fits you. With 20 teams (soon to be 23 with the new edition coming out), that can be tricky, but the feeder league is good for that. And the multiple side leagues we have can also give you a better idea. Just get right with the idea you will lose about the first 10-20 games you play.

As far as scheduling goes, you can usually rely on just bumping into your opponent on Steam as long as you watch out for each other, but occasionally setting up a time frame in advance will be necessary, especially if your opponent is in a vastly different time zone.

Don't buy Windows 8 - it falls solidly into the Star-Trek-esque "Windows versions alternate between good and terrible" rule (3.1 = good, 95 = mediocre, 98 = good, ME = awful, XP = great, Vista = Terrible, 7 = excellent, 8 = what is this I don't even). Stick with Win7.

Hmm. My PC runs Vista and I'm used to its awfulness at this point.  I'm nowhere near ready for a new system. Hopefully, the worst of Windows 8 will have been fixed or we'll be on to Windows 9 before I am.

Hi Morat.  What is "bg series"?  Also, Borderlands is awesome fun!  Can't wait for Borderlands 2 to come out.  Except I suck at driving in it.  If I offer you a lift, don't get in the vehicle!  Although, chances are I'll run you down backing up to leave.  Accidentally!  I haven't tried Blood Bowl or Minecraft or any of those either.  I might though. 

Mr. Spellchecker thinks I want to play Mineshaft.  Why does he hate me?  Oh, and you are Mort.  How's DEATH?

Eh, Baldur's Gate. :) I'm actually looking forward to the HD remake. I love me some old-school RPGs. (I was thrilled to find Jade Empire on Xbox Arcade, which was an excellent use of five or ten dollars. Not that Jade Empire is that old school, being an Xbox original game -- but it's Bioware.)

The BG revamp isn't actually an HD remake by the way; it uses all the original untouched art assets, aside from the couple of new areas it adds. It's essentially a glorified iOS port with a new UI and some baked-in inclusion of some of the most commonly-used ease of use mods. It doesn't look bad, but upon learning more about it, I'm in no hurry to replace my original BG1 and 2 copies with the Enhanced Edition.

Hmm, has anyone recommended DA:O yet?

Yep. If it came out on Xbox 360, I probably have looked at it. (I beat DA:O like four times. I still haven't finished DA2. I just don't like the changes that much).  I'm pretty much aiming at PC-only, or wherein the PC experience is VERY different than the console version.

At the moment: Minecraft, Civ 4+Fall of Heaven and Blood Bowl -- along with a smattering of free trials of MMORPG's that have come out since 2006 or so, seem to be the consensus. :)

Oh, if you like old-school style RPGs, there's also the Eschalon (http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=eschalon) series as well as Legend of Grimrock (http://store.steampowered.com/app/207170/), both of which are really good.

So, Skyrim, then? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FujNzhs3TE0#!)


If you're into indie stuff, there's a TON of it on Steam.  Iron Brigade and Orcs Must Die are crazy fun if you're into the tower defense FPS mashup thing, there's the Digital Combat Simulator games or Take On Helicopters if you're looking at flight sims.  Arma II is pretty popular now, mostly due to the DayZ mod.  Mount and Blade if you want to see "mounted combat done RIGHT".  There's a bunch of point and click adventure games, from Gemini Rue to Telltale's catalog.  Also a ton of 2d platformers, from quirky weird stuff (like Aquaria or Noitu Love 2) to puzzle platformers (like Vessel and Offspring Fling) to the "super difficult but with checkpoints every ten steps" games which are apparently the new hotness (like Super Meat Boy or Dustforce).  Terraria is good if you haven't already tried it, though it doesn't hook some people, and I'd have to point to Cave Story+ if you haven't already played Cave Story.

Huh, I didn't realize DA:O came out for Xbox. I figured DA2 did just for how console-y it is (and I'm expecting ArenaNet to announce any day now).

I would also echo the Blood Bowl recommendations, it's a lot of fun against most people  :grin:

Dawn of Discovery is a cool game, if you don't want the sci-fi of the newest Anno. Mount & Blade Warband, HoMaM V, King's Bounty, Portal 1/2, TF2, Terraria, just naming some stuff from my steam library that's pc and mostly strategy type stuff or just realy cool.

Give The Secret World a go with the three day trial now.

But yep, Blood bowl is the worth every minute spent in f13.

Is world of tanks a possibility? It's pretty well constructed and an interesting application of f2p.

By the way, Andydavo isn't around anymore, Sky.  You can come back to us!

Blood bowl.
Tf2.
portal.
EVE.

That's about all you'll ever need.

Mtgo has quietly become playable again if you feel you have too much money.

DAO is pretty much the last bioware game before the change (for better or worse) and worth playing through for reference in threads about RPGs (also it is good).

Everyone is going to be playing the new UFO in a month or so. They seem to be doing well despite console versions.

Is 2003 recent enough that you played VtM Bloodlines? If you like RPGs you kind of have to play that.

Some people suggested Diablo. Fuck that. Play torchlight and soon torchlight 2.

Morat is so far behind in PC gaming that he has no need to pay 60 bucks for some triple A game.  He can play his backlog for months and by the time he's done they'll be on sale on Steam.

Probably the best answer of all!

Pick up a few of the old titles we mentioned to tide you over until December and then drop the hammer on the steam xmas sale.

That's for damn sure. Everything tripleA I've gotten since, oh, 2006 has been on Xbox with the exception of WoW expansions. (And I have, but have not PLAYED, Cataclysm. I took a break right before it came out and never got a chance to pick it back up).

Picking up old titles -- yeah, I plan to pick over stuff on Steam. :) Hey, the Total War games  -- I've got Rome and Medieval 2, are any of the other newer ones worth playing?

Fuck the Total War games.  Play Crusader Kings: 2.

(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1143749/SyphiliticBishop.jpg)

No. Never speak of them again.

What? I've heard near-universal praise for Shogun 2, outside of its load times.

CK2 is pretty fun if you're into that sort of thing! I didn't realize I was until I tried it, though.  :why_so_serious:

I know some people really like Mount & Blade, but I haven't actually played that myself, so perhaps other people can recommend which version is awesome, which mods are good for it, etc.

As someone who's been playing Mount & Blade since 2005, I can pretty safely say Warband is the one to shoot for. It's got the most mod support (though you should play it vanilla at first), the most people playing multiplayer on it (if that's your thing), and it's probably the best overall out-of-the-box M&B experience. Fire and Sword isn't bad, but it's kind of lackluster and cash-in-y. The Napoleanic Wars add-on for Warband I haven't heard much about.

There is no reason to ever buy the original M&B unless you're really jonesing for one of the tiny handful of mods that never got a Warband port.

The Sims: Making Hunchbacked Incest Babies.

I am pretty sure that's why I like it so much, yes.  :grin:

I'll bite -- what the heck is Crusader Kings?

I'm still jonesing for a game wherein I can build a castle, and pour molten lead on people trying to invade it. (And yes, I played Castle. Castles? It was back in very early 90s when "dots" were awesome graphics and games still came on floppies.)

The load times are SO bad that it makes me unable to recommend it. Which is a shame because the game really is quite good otherwise.

Stronghold is the game I think you want from that perspective, except I've heard that the latest one blows. Haven't played it myself.

I like designing castles. And then defending them. I find Tower Defense games fun, if a bit too frantic at times. I just...enjoy building defenses in depth.

Pretty much any RTS I'd happily fort up -- which, admittedly, is a losing tactic against people. Against Zerg rushes from an AI (or several) it's fine. In fact, friend of mine and I used to do co-op Starcraft or Age of Empires and he'd basically specialize in hit-and-run attacks and lead them back to whatever defensive monstrosity I'd assembled.

I find a deep satisifaction in funneling enemies into a choke point and absolutely shredding them through well placed fixed defenses. Let them break on my walls, against my seige tanks or catapults. And behind them, of course, I build up the giant-ass nigh-invicible units that cost an arm and a leg -- and then deploy them en masse.

What can I say? It's my style. I like a game that allows it.

I am also looking forward to playing Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 again. It runs on my current PC, just not very well. It's...vexing and distracting. I enjoy building things.

Minecraft I'm really looking forward to. (I realzie it'd run fine on what I have, but...I dunno. New PC, new games. :) )

Crusader Kings II is a medieval strategy dynasty game in which you have to make your line... well, do whatever you want your line to do. From surviving the infighting in the Holy Roman Empire, taking over England, fighting Holy Wars in the middle east, uniting Spain, sitting alone in your castle getting really really pious.. etc.

Though it is a strategy game with armies and kingdom laws, buildings, research, etc it plays almost like a RPG at times. The people (including your ruler, children, heirs, etc) have stats and traits (which you can then breed with others) and involves quite a few personal decisions like how to raise your children, if you want to commit adultery, etc.

This is really a crap explanation. It's fun, though.

I loved Crusader Kings 2, but the load times can get out of hand.  If you can see past its issues it can be a lot of fun.  It's essentially a feudal family simulator in which you control a European (or Muslim, with the DLC) dynasty from the date of the Battle of Hastings through to the dawn of the Renaissance.  There is no tactical level warfare like the Total War games; it's all strategy.  

The nice thing about CK 2 is that you do become very attached to your family members over the centuries and it's fun looking back through generations and generations of your virtual relatives...some of them paragons of the crusading spirit and others treacherous bastards hellbent on acquiring each others fiefs.  Towards the end of the game it usually devolves into a kind of cathartic bloodletting in which no one wins and you can barely stitch together a kingdom.  It is very engaging, at its best, and very frustrating, at its worst.  

It's a kind of strategy rpg, but without loot or dungeons and a lot more venereal diseases.

Did you play Orcs Must Die?  I guess it was on Xbox live also.  I liked the new King's Bounty, and especially its sequel. 

Did you play Plants vs. Zombies? Because if not, you should play that.  :why_so_serious:

Sort of like a Total War game with the tactical game scrapped in favour of a deeper diplomatic game and ridiculously thorough historical accuracy (at the start of the game, at least).  Or, the game wherein you learn that when the chips are down you're more of a raging dickhead than King John.  Me?  I have a one year old child in my dungeons.  One guy I threw in something like five or six times - I'm not stupid, I knew he was going to rebel the moment I let him out; I just liked the ransom money.

Also, I recently learned that children tend to inherit the culture and religion of the place they're tutored.  So I'm now sort of looking out for heirs to important Kingdoms that I can invite to Ireland, who I will i send back to their homeland as foreigners, incurring violent rebellions as the nobles rise up against their now foreign sovereign which will rip the kingdom apart and leave no clear line of succession.

The something aweful 'How the Hell Do We Play Crusader Kings 2?' (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3487258) tutorial is a good way to get started and get a feel for the game. While it's not a genre a lot of people naturally gravitate towards, it is a surprisingly engaging and fun game.

I'll have you know that I only consider it a "win" if the zombies can't even make it past my walls. Ever. :)

Never tried Orcs Must Die.

Crusader Kings does sound fun

Crusader Kings is awesome. It's a grand mal strategy game plus medieval soap opera.

Regarding the recent Total War games, yeah, Shogun 2 is great, but skip Empire and Napoleon. Tom Chick's review  (http://www.1up.com/reviews/shogun-2-total-war-review)featured one of my favorite tl;dr summaries in recent years; "Imagine you woke up one morning and the village idiot had built a cathedral. At which point someone vaguely recalls the village idiot was once a famous architect and it all kind of makes sense."

Aside from those. my votes would be for:

Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Red Faction Guerilla
Saints Row 3
AI War
R.U.S.E.
Dragon Age: Origins
Mount & Blade: Warband
Skyrim
Space Rangers 2 (older, still worthwhile)
The Witcher 2
X3 Terran Conflict
Civilization IV
Distant Worlds
Space Pirates and Zombies

Basically someone at Paradox read Game of Thrones and said "this needs to be a sandbox game."

And there was actually a pretty good Westeros mod for CK I.  The guy who worked on it decided not to make one for CK II, sadly, but I'm sure there is some group out there with the same idea.

There is one out now, but they're on version 0.3ish and it seemed sort of buggy when I tried it (0.2 I think).  It looks nice, though, and has promise:

http://citadel.prophpbb.com/topic1282.html

My game started with Robert getting killed by Rhaegar, so history sort of went off the rails right away, but it seemed fun.  The bugs I found were things like Kingsguard guys getting married, little stuff.  It did seem to basically work.

Pretty humorous since the inspiration for the Game of Thrones (including many of the spectacular instances of asshattery) came from historical accounts of The War of the Roses.

Ck2 didn't resonate with me as much due to the real time clock in a board game format. I much prefer total wars turns approach and actually fighting my battles

Don't listen to them. Empire is fatally flawed, but Napoleon and Shogun 2 are both good.

Just looking through my steam library for things not mentioned...

Audiosurf                 (it's a cheap gimmick, you run a spaceship down a track defined by your music collection)
Back to the Future     (it's a cute 'use A on B' point and click adventure. With Christopher Lloyd and a Delorean)
Bioshock                  (you seem old enough to appreciate it for System Shock nods)
Dawn of War II          (RTS, but with no turtling allowed - which is what you said you didn't like - try this anyway)
Deus Ex & Deus Ex 3  (Do not speak of Deus Ex 2)
Freedom Force           (FOR FREEDOM)
Puzzle Quest              (Bejeweled but more so)
STALKER                   (I doubt it has aged well and probably incredibly long, but whatever)
Sid Meier's Pirates!     (remake of the original, on steam for almost no money)
The Witcher              (It's too damn long, but at least it is another take on rpgs. Also boobies)

I have Pirates! :) I am quite old enough to have played the original, and I felt the remake captured it pretty well. The dancing game annoyed me, though and it was a bit crash-prone. I can't watch a tv show that mentions the Carribean (or the weather channel during hurricane season) without thinking "I've sacked that. I've marred the Governor's daughter there.".

My first RPG was, I believe the original Bard's Tale. Or possibly Space Quest I. Or Hero's Quest. (I'm fuzzy on the order). But I'm 90% sure it was Bard's Tale. :)

Well it certainly wasn't Space Quest since that wasn't an RPG!

Wow, I totally forgot this game existed.  Yeah, definitely should be played.

True. It was...shit, adventure? Not really a popular genre these days. Monkey Island remakes aside. Monkey Island was great. I miss the old LucasArts, when they made awesome games.

OTOH, as fun as Hero's Quest and the Quest for Glory series was, leveling up climbing was a bitch. Glad to see the back of that.

I climbed the shit out of that first tree in Quest for Glory.

Did anyone recommend the (newish) Sam & Max games?

I'll echo the Orcs Must Die recommendation.  I haven't played the sequel, but it looks good too and if it sticks to the same formula, I'm sure it's a winner.

I enjoyed Terraria for a while, if it hasn't been mentioned yet.  It was best played online with a few friends, and didn't stick like Minecraft did, but it was pretty damned fun for two or three weeks..

I was just playing it again a few months ago and was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up. I wish I could sink the hours into gaming that some people around here do, there are just so many great games and so little time to mess with them.

Freedom Force was a great game. I'm feeling tempted to play it again.

Did someone already mention Walking Dead from Telltale? Apparently pretty darned good, except i don't watch the show and that kind of game isn't really my schtick.

I've played the first two on the PS3 through the PS+ service.  They're really good, and you don't have to be a fan of the show to enjoy them.

Oh, thought they were PC only. Broke the rule of the thread :-)

My new PC is up and running. Mostly. Having to wait on the monitor. :)

Currently I'm involved in the fun game of "reinstalling every program I use" coupled with "And what the heck was my username/password" on a half-dozen things.

And a good forty minutes called "Wait, where did I put that Truecrypt volume with my financial information?" (finally realized you could search in Windows 7 to return all files above a certain size, and I made it a sizeable volume).

Playing the "okay, what's my Steam username" game now as I'm trying to install it. Hopefully at some point today I can actually acquire Minecraft.

Not sure if these have been mentioned before:

Defense Grid: The Awakening...a sci fi tower defense game.
World of Goo...an awesome physics puzzle game.
The Tropico series...I've only played up to 3, not sure what 4 is like.  Very fun RTS.
Trine 1 and 2...side scrolling platformer.
Tales of Monkey Island series...updated version of the old adventure game.  Never played the original but from what I've heard only the graphics have been updated.

If you are looking for MMOs I would suggest World of Tanks, Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World:

WoT is a fun arcade type tank game in which you use xp and cash earned from each match to research, upgrade and buy new tanks ranging from the 1930's up to the 1950's.  Its F2P but you can pay to get a premium account (which lets you earn credits and xp faster) and some other stuff like premium tanks, gold ammo and consumables.  Only "pay to win" aspect might be the gold rounds but those are expensive and you don't see them much outside of clan wars.

GW2 just came out so its the new hotness.  B2P with a cash shop.  Pretty fun so far and great bang for your MMO buck.  Its your typical fantasy MMO with a few new twists and turns.

TSW is an MMO set in modern times where "everything is true".  Vampires, zombies, ghosts, mummies even the Boogeyman are all here.  Its combat is like most other MMOs with the tab targeting and specials on the hotbar.  However, the are no classess or levels and abilities are accessed using the skill wheel.  Great atmosphere and story and the cut scenes are often much better than those in SWTOR.  If you're tired of elves and dwarfs and mages in your MMO, TSW might interest you.  Pay no attention to the low Metacritic score (73%).  Its much better than that.  People that play and like it REALLY like it.  Its a p2p game with sub fees and a cash shop (100% cosmetic) and I believe theres a 3 day trial.

Tropico is a city builder, not an RTS.

So far I've gotten to the enjoy the fun of "Shit, i found three of the four disks.". On the bright side, so far everything I'm missing data disks for I can get on Steam or Good Old Games. I like having a variety of stuff to play, and by necessity -- it's all pretty old. :)

New games will probably wait until later this week. I think Minecraft first -- I've been tempted by that one for some time. And then eitehr STO or The Old Republic -- I've been curious about both.

That is a huge, huge, HUGE "your mileage may vary" point.

That said, ain't no reason not to give the trial a whirl. It's a pretty niche game, but it does some stuff really well, and if the stuff it does well are the things most important to you in an MMO, you'll like it a lot.

Considering how much Bioware spent on voice acting, TSW, IMO, got much more bang for their buck from theirs.  And yes, the sheriff's voice in Kingsmouth bothered me too. :uhrr:

I thought the voice acting in TSW was pretty good (I didn't actually mind the sheriff, because that is what people from New England sound like). But I need to feel like I have some agency. And in a cut scene, having an NPC recite quest text at my slack-jawed mute doesn't provide that. The cut scenes in TSW are what people were afraid the cut scenes in SWTOR would be. I don't dispute that some people like/don't mind that, I'm just saying the blanket "and the cut scenes are often much better than SWTOR's" is not any sort of universal truth.

TSW voice acting isn't really any better.  It's the writing and animation that are so different.