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Post by harrypalmer on Nov 26, 2021 12:16:18 GMT
Half Life
System shock 2
Half life 2
Blade runner
Deus Ex
Unreal tournament
Quake 2
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Post by deekyfun on Nov 26, 2021 22:24:07 GMT
If I was picking games I thought were better than Dark Souls, I'd probably get down to 'that game you played at school where you hit each others knuckles as hard as you could with a pack of playing cards'. But setting that aside, my favourite PC games of all time? Hmmm.
In no particular order...
The Secret of Monkey Island: It would be odd for me not to include something from my beloved point and click genre, and this one is my favourite. The first one is my favourite. The second one is good, but there are some puzzles that feel a bit of the ropey-side. The third one is a beautiful cartoon, and introduces Murray the talking skull, but doesn't quite capture the same magic for me. I don't think the 4th one is the best because I haven't hit my head recently. Monkey Island just works for me - the characters, the story and dialogue, and puzzle design. I play it pretty much every year, so it has to be up there.
UFO: Enemy Unknown: An evergreen favourite, though you could argue it has been supplanted at this point by.... Open XCOM (Ha!). For me the first game can't be beaten. I love it's dark, menacing atmosphere and visual design. I love the management side of the geoscape, building a network of bases and soldiers who have seen things, man. I even love the UI. People hate the UI! I love the UI. I love it so much I would marry this UI, if I wasn't already taken (I'm married to Ultima Underworld 2's UI).
Sensible World of Soccer: This is, and always will be, the best football game ever made. Fifa is a joke game for balloon animals. Actua Soccer is what you get when melons learn to play football. PES is a dispenser. SWOS is distilled electronic football joy, a clicky red-and-black joystick masterpiece of lightning fast pace and streamlined arcade action. Then they bolted a management system onto it, and it become everlasting. All of football was in it. I could have sworn my local preschool happy-kickers was available for selection.
Persona 4 Golden: is now on PC so it counts. I have played through this entire enormous game 5 times and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. It was bold, bright, sunny and yellow before Cyberpunk 2077 came along and stole the colour yellow. JRPG, Social simulator, Visual Novel, that might be the definition of 'not for everyone' but it certainly is for me. I would hang out with those guys, if there wasn't a higher than average change that I'd end up being dead hanging from a telephone wire. Everything IS great at your Junes.
The Outer Wilds: It's not all old games, see? I promise I'm hip and trendy. Look at this TMNT bum-bag and the worrying sweaty areas on my global hypercolour TV-shirt. I'm down with the kids. Anyway, if you like modern films like Groundhog Day, this is that, but in space. After reading a lot about not reading about this game, I was quite intimidated by this one (not unlike with Dark Souls), and initially bounced off it a bit. But then it stuck. Or I got stuck into the curious mystery of its solar system, the stories of the past and the mysteries of the present. It's a first time experience that left me feeling an awe that makes me sad that I'll never quite feel it again, now its secrets are known to me. And in a time where I was finding a lot of things rote, and wondering if I'd ever feel bowled over by a game, it reminded me why I love video games so much, and how they can do things nothing else can. So yeah, on the list fo' sure.
Disco Elysium: This was a good year for games. As above, another incredible experience, but less about what video games and more about just the most incredible writing I've ever seen in a game. A story about finding redemption (or defiance) during the worlds worst hangover. And embracing failure, sadness, and in a beautiful, haunting, ruined world that feels lived in to the point that the characters are festering in it. The music is fantastic. The words sing. And as a meek Englishman, I thoroughly enjoyed apologising to everybody for everything.
Final Fantasy VII: A lot of people say you had to be there. Maybe you did have to be there. But I was there, dammit, and being there means this game is intrinsically part of my genesis into the possibility-space of games as a medium beyond simply smashing turtles out of their own shells and punching blocks. I am this game and this game is me. Some say the art has aged badly, and some say the art was always bad. I see cubist theatre telling a massive story and I wouldn't change a thing. The whole thing feels like a charming stage play to me. It's a series which is defined by the first one you play (with the exception of the poor sods who 'came of age' when FFXIII game out - sorry, you're a lost generation), so I understand people don't get it, but I will never stop loving this game.
There are more (there are always more), but I'm tired now... maybe later.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 26, 2021 22:28:45 GMT
Thief. It created a genre and no one has done it better. The Dishonoreds are good but the powers make them something different.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 26, 2021 23:31:16 GMT
deekyfun You must write more words, I like reading them. I totally agree with a lot of your points, by the way. Final Fantasy 7 had a very special atmosphere with an intensity I have rarely encountered since in other games. A lot of it actually was enabled by the poor graphics in my opinion (made you use your imagination more). Which is why I'm very doubtful that the remake will come anywhere close. The Dishonoreds are good but the powers make them something different. Which is why the best way to play (at least 1, haven't played the others yet) is without using powers.
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Post by Sarfrin on Nov 26, 2021 23:39:41 GMT
I like that that's an option (which I haven't tried) but nothing beats crouching in a dark corner while a guard walks past you inches away and then standing up and knocking them out from behind with your cosh. The light gem and shadows, that's what I miss. Styx came closest to that (and the uselessness of combat) but the tone was very different.
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Post by rwklau on Nov 27, 2021 0:32:27 GMT
Don't think these have been mentioned yet:
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate (the sequel lost some of the magic)
Possibly Minesweeper/Hearts/Solitaire (aka the games that came with old versions of Windows) in one slot.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2021 1:27:33 GMT
My clear top 3 would be - EVE Planetside RTCW / Enemy Territory Some time ago  |
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Post by harrypalmer on Nov 27, 2021 9:42:10 GMT
SWOS, UFO and monkey island should be in my list too, but I associate them more with my Amiga.
I know it’s not that great but I have a real soft spot for the X Files game too.
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Nov 27, 2021 10:08:35 GMT
Thief. It created a genre and no one has done it better. The Dishonoreds are good but the powers make them something different. I only went back and tried Thief Gold since I had rather enjoyed Dishonored. And it was very much worth it for me. Really liked the atmosphere and I had an easier time enjoying it than System Shock 2 or Deus Ex. Perhaps since it's more focused.
If anybody were to hold a gun to my head I would probably have to choose Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as my favourite game. Great atmosphere and music, a good character system that avoids overcomplexity, dialogue reactivity that consistently checks a good amount of different factors and - last but not least - a setting, lore and systems which support role-playing. Oh, and it doesn't even suffer from being overlong like most RPGs.
Additionally Far Cry 2, STALKER - Shadow of Chernobyl, E.Y.E. - Divine Cybermancy, Baldur's Gate II - Shadows of Amn, Planescape: Torment, Subnautica and Darkwood all seem like good candidates as well.
Other than that though there are just so many options and I have no clear criteria in mind why something should or shouldn't be included. There are just so many reasons why I enjoy games or why I appreciate them, but sometimes I can really respect something without enjoying it all that much. Or I simply feel like something is very specific and thus doesn't really deserve to be "the best" in general. Basically, it's complicated.
Some games that managed to evoke that good old "sense of wonder" in me: The Void, Pathologic, NaissanceE, Kairo, Fibrillation HD, Bokida - Heartfelt Reunion, Zeno Clash 2, Soma, Samorost 3 and others by Amanita.
Another selection of games where the story and sometimes atmosphere was really impressive: Cryostasis - Sleep of Reason, The Cat Lady, Amnesia - A Machine for Pigs, The Old City - Leviathan.
Some that I really enjoyed a long time ago: Freespace 1 & 2, Half Life, BioShock, Dark Reign, Diablo II, Medieval: Total War.
Honorable mentions: Perimeter, Alpha Protocol, Arcanum, Amnesia - The Dark Descent, Icewind Dale, Blackguards 1 & 2, Sacrifice, Reassembly, Shadow Warrior 2, Dishonored 1 & 2, Thief Gold, Metro 2033, Half Life 2, Endless Space, Torment - Tides of Numenera.
That's kind of complete I think.
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Nov 27, 2021 10:26:32 GMT
My list is predictably RPG-heavy (I'm counting Deus Ex as an RPG). Some have been ported to consoles, but I'll include them anyway
Deus Ex
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Baldur's Gate (mostly 1 but also 2)
Planescape: Torment
Fallout 1, 2, New Vegas
Witcher 2 and 3
Darkest Dungeon
Thief 1 and 2
Day of the Tentacle
Into the Breach
Invisible Inc
There's probably heaps more, but that's all I can think of right now.
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neems
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Post by neems on Nov 27, 2021 10:50:00 GMT
Stalker SOC. Also COP.
Defense Grid.
Split Second.
Not a great PC version, but I am generally fine with Dark Souls being the greatest game ever (I literally bought it four times).
Forgot Day of Defeat.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 27, 2021 11:14:04 GMT
If anybody were to hold a gun to my head I would probably have to choose Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as my favourite game. Great atmosphere and music, a good character system that avoids overcomplexity, dialogue reactivity that consistently checks a good amount of different factors and - last but not least - a setting, lore and systems which support role-playing. Oh, and it doesn't even suffer from being overlong like most RPGs. Surprised it took this long to get seconded. I guess it's more cult than I thought; it is technically a bit of a mess but totally makes up for it in other ways. Characterisation and voice acting are second to none. I'd never heard of VtM before so learning about the lore was incredible. Replayed it so many times as well |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 27, 2021 11:18:21 GMT
Not a great PC version, but I am generally fine with Dark Souls being the greatest game ever (I literally bought it four times). Personally think it's a weird choice for the reason you just said and its lack of wide appeal. Greatest PC game will always be Doom/Quake. DS doesn't say anything about PC gaming to me - it's a shonky port of a console game through and through. Doom/Quake had the whole deathmatch/modding scene and Quake is still best played with a mouse, even with the recent console port. An RTS would be a good shout for the same reason (doesn't work on console). Dark Souls gets more than enough love already that it really doesn't deserve the best PC game slot (not PCMR at all)
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Nov 27, 2021 13:45:51 GMT
If anybody were to hold a gun to my head I would probably have to choose Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as my favourite game. Great atmosphere and music, a good character system that avoids overcomplexity, dialogue reactivity that consistently checks a good amount of different factors and - last but not least - a setting, lore and systems which support role-playing. Oh, and it doesn't even suffer from being overlong like most RPGs. Surprised it took this long to get seconded. I guess it's more cult than I thought; it is technically a bit of a mess but totally makes up for it in other ways. Characterisation and voice acting are second to none. I'd never heard of VtM before so learning about the lore was incredible. Replayed it so many times as well It's right up there for me too (I put it in my list!), but it's just not a finished game. It'd be the best of all time for me if they had gotten to finish it, instead of the wet fart of a final third that it had at release. Troika were a bit like Obsidian. So damned talented, but their games were always cursed in some way. |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 27, 2021 13:49:31 GMT
Surprised it took this long to get seconded. I guess it's more cult than I thought; it is technically a bit of a mess but totally makes up for it in other ways. Characterisation and voice acting are second to none. I'd never heard of VtM before so learning about the lore was incredible. Replayed it so many times as well It's right up there for me too (I put it in my list!), but it's just not a finished game. It'd be the best of all time for me if they had gotten to finish it, instead of the wet fart of a final third that it had at release. Troika were a bit like Obsidian. So damned talented, but their games were always cursed in some way. The sequel seemed like an odd pitch considering the first game didn't get the treatment it deserved. A more polished remake would have been perfect; keep the audio for the characters and redo everything else. I thought the game was fine up until the final mission where it just went full combat. The first 2/3 hubs are easily the best part of the game though. Hollywood was so sleazy! |
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Nov 27, 2021 13:53:39 GMT
For me the rot started at the endless sewer section a bit before that. Just so, so dull.
But man it's a great game for the first couple of hubs. I can't think of any RPG where the class you choose makes as much difference as it does in Bloodlines.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2021 13:55:55 GMT
Stalker SOC. Also COP. Defense Grid. Split Second. Not a great PC version, but I am generally fine with Dark Souls being the greatest game ever (I literally bought it four times). Forgot Day of Defeat. Lutz and I swapped high scores on Defense Grid for a few happy weeks on EG way back when. Basically the very definition of great TD |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 27, 2021 14:01:21 GMT
For me the rot started at the endless sewer section a bit before that. Just so, so dull. But man it's a great game for the first couple of hubs. I can't think of any RPG where the class you choose makes as much difference as it does in Bloodlines. I think I had a high tolerance for the combat sections because the rest of the game was so good. I really enjoyed the third hub. The fourth was OK but definitely a drop off
Agree about the classes - felt like your interactions really change depending on what you played and gave you first hand insight into the different clans. The different dialogue options you got from skills didn't feel dull either. In fact, I preferred them to the combat options; Domination was amazing. Loved playing a Ventrue
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Nov 27, 2021 14:09:51 GMT
For me the rot started at the endless sewer section a bit before that. Just so, so dull. But man it's a great game for the first couple of hubs. I can't think of any RPG where the class you choose makes as much difference as it does in Bloodlines. I think I had a high tolerance for the combat sections because the rest of the game was so good. I really enjoyed the third hub. The fourth was OK but definitely a drop off
Agree about the classes - felt like your interactions really change depending on what you played and gave you first hand insight into the different clans. The different dialogue options you got from skills didn't feel dull either. In fact, I preferred them to the combat options; Domination was amazing. Loved playing a Ventrue
Just the absolute balls it would have took, to have a class where the concept is "ok, you are super scary-looking so you can't let humans see you at all". In a city that's filled with humans, so your game is basically skulking around sewers eating rats. What modern developer would even try that? It's so bloody ambitious, I really hope it gets remade some day. |
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Nov 27, 2021 15:04:58 GMT
If anybody were to hold a gun to my head I would probably have to choose Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as my favourite game. Great atmosphere and music, a good character system that avoids overcomplexity, dialogue reactivity that consistently checks a good amount of different factors and - last but not least - a setting, lore and systems which support role-playing. Oh, and it doesn't even suffer from being overlong like most RPGs. Surprised it took this long to get seconded. I guess it's more cult than I thought; it is technically a bit of a mess but totally makes up for it in other ways. Characterisation and voice acting are second to none. I'd never heard of VtM before so learning about the lore was incredible. Replayed it so many times as well If there weren't so many other games to play and replay I would probably be replaying it two times each year. But even so, I hope to get to my fourth playthrough next month. Probably a male Dementation-Malkavian. Perhaps I'll try to go Unarmed, though I'm not sure if that's even viable with a Malk.
It's right up there for me too (I put it in my list!), but it's just not a finished game. It'd be the best of all time for me if they had gotten to finish it, instead of the wet fart of a final third that it had at release.
Well, on my last two playthroughs I simply stopped after the Giovanni-mansion. There are a few worthwhile bits and bobs in there I think, but that's probably 5-10 hours that are mostly combat. Didn't mind the sewers though. That section isn't all that long.
Domination was amazing. Loved playing a Ventrue
My last playthrough was exactly that. Throw in Intimdate and I eventually ended up with a pretty nasty character. Dominate was also surprisingly flexible. Being able to hypnotize people instead of actually having to be competent at stealth was very nice utility. The choice of discipline is basically the main thing that has made combat more enjoyable for me than I have heard from most other people. Though stuff like Presence, Fortitude and so on are of of course not nearly as interesting as Dominate.
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Blue_Mike
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Post by Blue_Mike on Nov 28, 2021 3:09:25 GMT
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Post by andytheaverage on Nov 28, 2021 22:00:58 GMT
Most other games I've loved on PC are now available on console so won't bother including them. Now you made me curious. Multiplatform games are fine to be listed here, as long as there was a PC release. I was specifically thinking of games that were exclusive to PC for a while but are now on console too. I played Planetside 2 quite a lot and it was an experience that just wasn't available on console when it was released, but was eventually ported to the PS4. Disco Elysium is another, it's probably my favourite game of the last few years but you can buy it on pretty much every platform now. Same goes with some of the classic point and click games, the only real exception being Monkey Island 3. Then there's the general multi platform games that I just happened to play on PC e.g. Dark Souls, Dirt Rally, Rocket League. These have all been available on console since launch so don't really consider them to be PC specific games. |
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Post by RadicalRex on Nov 28, 2021 22:56:43 GMT
I think there's a lot of grey area there in what is a PC game and what's not. Take Dirt Rally, many of the enthusiasts play the PC version in their mancaves with 3-monitor setups. That may or may not be the definitive experience, but it is PC-exclusive.
Take Diablo 3, which was originally a mouse+key PC exclusive, but in my opinion it actually got better with its controller-controls console release. So is it a PC game or is it not?
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 28, 2021 23:01:07 GMT
That's why I say Quake - it's undeniably PC centric from a time when modding was fully supported and encouraged. The game is remembered as much for user created content as the base game itself
Maybe Warcraft 3 for similar reasons
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Post by 😎 on Nov 28, 2021 23:02:06 GMT
I hate to get all overly complex in this hard topic but in my mind a PC game is a game that’s available on PC.
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KD
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Post by KD on Nov 28, 2021 23:06:28 GMT
I can turn on iracing or flight sim 2020 on 3 or even 4 monitors, use multiple control devices and tablets/mobiles off secondary apps displaying data, while having other apps control it by voice and give feedback.
So could both be counted or flight sim 95 etc only? Hehe
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 28, 2021 23:08:32 GMT
I hate to get all overly complex in this hard topic but in my mind a PC game is a game that’s available on PC. Mm yeah but the best PC game of all time should say something about PC gaming or it's just the best game of all time. Talking about the article, not the thread itself |
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 28, 2021 23:17:15 GMT
Well, a console is just an underpowered PC, so...
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Post by Aunt Alison on Nov 28, 2021 23:21:39 GMT
So... Bloodborne is not a PC game even if the PS4 is just an underpowered PC (assuming the PC we're talking about is more powerful than the console we're talking about)
PC people are weird
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Nov 29, 2021 0:13:05 GMT
It's actually console games being weird by being "exclusive" by policy, not technical limitations. So yeah, the PS4 is an underpowered PC, but some games for it are still not PC games, because somebody in the console world doesn't want them to be.
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