Recommended Games!

[Verdite]

Hey guys, i thought this kind of topic woulda been started already but i cant see one. Maybe im not looking hard enough?  So i thought id start one here.

Just post your favourite games or games you would recommend. You can include all kinds of games from mmorpg to puzzle based. Anything goes!

Ill start off with a few... People probably will have heard of some. These "reviews" are all based on my opinion and dont represent any of the games officially or professionally.

Blood will tell (ps2)

A strange game based around recovering the characters true body. You get benefits for each body part and demon hunting is a vital asset in the game. You can also find lots of swords in this game, and its a game that seems to have been overlooked somewhat. It is kind of Japanese based so alot of monsters etc are based around the Japanese culture. I am not sure if there are any western characters of items in the game.

Return to Krondor (PC)

An old game which is a sequel to the equally good Betrayal at Krondor. (DOS)
You start off with a squire and build up your team up. You find important NPCs along the way of the game who often join your party. Theres alot of item hunting in this game, and alot of randomly spawned battles. The best part for me is looking for items in the city of Krondor.

Might and magic VI, VII, VIII (pc)

Might and magic VI is an old school first person rpg. You create your own team and take them adventuring in a free form rpg where you can select quests and main quests at random. (Providing you meet the people etc.)
Again, its setting is Medieval, but there are some twists in the game that i personally like. This is an amusing game with lots of item hunting, and character building.
Might and magic VII is essentially an "improvement" certainly graphics wise, you have more options in this game and the interface is much easier to handle. You also get a castle.
Might and magic VIII is probably the most advanced of all the games, but i personally prefer VI. In this game you can hunt for more items, weapons etc and have more character options.

Mount and blade (pc)

Mount and blade is a great medieval game that mixes a good deal of rts and rp. I cant say much about it other than it is a very detailed, fun game to play with lots of mods to keep you going.

Well i hope people add to the list and maybe this list has been some help to anyone bored who fancies a new challenge.

Verdite

[AsusX2]

Well Dungeon Master and chaos strikes back is alwase a good play, Albeit very old. There are alot of different monsters and I love the spell cast system.
The dungeon siege's are good as well. D&D, Baldurs gate for the gamecube I found to be exceptionally fun as well.

[Holy_Diver]

Krondor is one of the few exploration based games produced by Westerners I can remember being really satisfying. My brother played all the sequels/follow ups I believe. The second seemed kinda like a step down visually at least to me, the 3rd I think was a more contemporary nostalgia milking production which you may or may not count as a sequel. The game play did not appear open in the 3rd game (ie. it was like the original PSOne Resident Evil, aka Biohazard, setups.)

Another game that set well with me was System Shock. A contemporary follow up to that was also made which I've yet to try (not expecting much) ...System Shock would even make an interesting Som game.

I'm really not a fan of contemporary Japanese themes (obsessions?) per say, but the Japanese generally know how to make a game that feels cohesive, and in the art dept solid. Where Western games typically are either oversimplified and inconsistent/unappealing visually or overwhelming and floundering. For example I picked up two big/questionable PS3 titles yesterday marked down to 17$. MGS4 and Fallout3. MGS4 so far has pleasantly surprised me, Fallout has been a bit of a disappointment (though I was not expecting much after trying Oblivion out on my 360) ...MGS4 seems like the most refined MG game yet / probably the most indicative of the series. The cutscenes are more bloated than ever, but otherwise even if you're not a fan of big budget games it's clearly a milestone of some sort in gaming history. Fallout3 seems equally ambitious and intriguing... I mean who doesn't want to navigate a nuclear wasteland, it seems innovative... picking things up with the right analog stick (something I'd just setup for myself for playing KF games) feels very intuitive. However the game itself is really a mess. The camera is a nightmare, the 3rd person avatar does not jump/walk as much as slide thru air and over things, the beginning scene where you're practically forced into a fist fight with a gang in the hallways (why is there only ever one dignified answer to your dialog choices?) is like flailing bodies just rubbing up against one another... without the pause/target feature being constantly fired it's completely unplayable. Fallout feels more like a simulation on rails that you're forced to play wearing mittens (I'm sure it might feel less linear if I ever get that far)

Don't get me wrong, the Japanese produce a ton of crap too, and esthetically 90% of Japanese games might as well come from another planet / dimension where the rules of good taste do not apply. But when it comes to gaming all else aside they seem to know what the hell they're doing... even the cheapass games (that don't exist outside Japan) are playable. On the other hand the poor Westerners just don't seem to know how to make playable games with more than 4 buttons (not counting keyboards) ...furthermore Japanese games are wacky as all hell, and world wide production quality is at an all time low, but that doesn't absolve/explain away why even the best assets in Western games have a way of just being ugly (proportions/composition anyone?)

Maybe I'm just trying to say Westerners as a whole are very weak on fundamentals. Even if you take a game that appears to be esthetically ok like Fallout here, it doesn't have legs to stand on... but then where is its Japanese counterpart? There probably isn't one. However an unplayable game is still an unplayable game. Kudos for experimentation, but next time save everyone the trouble and go back to school first please. (PS: I might yet play/enjoy this Fallout more but it's clearly crippled in so many depts and my personal tendency is to leave cripples to die by the roadside)

EDITED: Time well spent.

[Verdite]

I picked up MGS4 a while ago, played it for a few hours and took it back. I simply couldnt come to terms with the absurdly derranged psychotic creatures that randomly turn up (like something from spiderman or a cartoon like that) yes, its dangerous, mysterious, but doesnt it sometimes say to you... Power rangers?

I know people feel comfortable growing up and around possibly somewhat derranged cartoon characters who have an extra arm / leg to shoot a laser from, adding something new and promoting longevity until beaten () but MGS4 seems to have taken it too far. I just couldnt come to terms with those bosses which i knew id probably have to face off against later in the game.

I swerved fallout because the scenario isnt for me personally, i just saw it as being an oblivion with guns. Yes i noticed that in Japan the department stores have a huge array of odd looking games, though i think those games can often serve as a distraction to the workaholic.

Another recommendation id add (much to many peoples dismay possibly) is castlevania 64. There was a good atmos on that game, with interesting features, however basic! Possibly its just the nostalgia coming out.

Though i can highly recommend a game called "Planescape torment" possibly one of the best "weird" games by bioware, well worth a look into.

[dmpdesign]

Thief 3: Deadly Shadows...for the PC or xbox.

If you like exploration, this game really does offer up a huge play time.  Its not new, but the graphics aren't terribly out of date just yet.

Its more stealth kills etc (tenchu like perhaps) than straight up combat, but they did an extremely good job with the backgrounds, and your interaction with them.  The game focuses well on being stealthy, making sure you stay in darker areas, stay quiet etc.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of adventure.

I believe a 4th game in the series in the works.
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Summoner 1 and 2 for the PS2.

I think these may have seen versions released for the PC, but they were solid games for the PS2.  They offer up lots of hours of playtime and satisfying exploration and advancement.  Summoner 1 was more PC play style and Summoner 2 was a bit more action RPG like, but I really liked them both alot.

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I can think of a ton of cool games that were probably never mainstream, if you guys tell me what consoles you have and what style games youre into I can make some suggestions.

[Holy_Diver]

I could recommend so many games so I won't try. I do think MGS4 would've sold much better if you could control the cinematics like a movie (including table of contents) and there was an option to use 10x shorter movies instead (that's not a joke, I think there could've been two different sets of movies... one for people with shit to do, and the other for people who care... not passing any judgment on either crowd, but MGS4 is really like a game/movie hybrid, or extended video game trailer CGI movie)

I had the exact same reaction the first time the freaks were trodded out, but it's like Mega Man (aka Rock Man) ie. every MG game has these, it's both an inside joke and the essence of the series, so you gotta let it slide. I was a little disappointed it went the current Hollywood trend route of making them all black / visually interchangeable. I do think the games would probably be better without this, but then I wonder if it would still be MG. As usual the freaks looks scary, but their one weakness is bullets.

I would not be apologizing for MGS, but 4 I think redeems the series to a large degree. It's unusual I think for a sequel to feel so much more essential than the original. FF4 really captured the essence of FF I think (albeit worst gameplay ever) ...too bad 4 was not the magic number for KF.

[Holy_Diver]

Fuck it, speaking of Rock Man...

I happened to login to the J-PSN the other night and it was the first night Rock Man 10 was up and for only 1000yen (you know that had to be a promotional price, ie. 10) ....apparently it hit the Wii a couple weeks earlier and was going hit the 360 by the end of the month. I waited for it to pop up on the US PSN because I have a policy of not blowing yen on stuff I can buy with dollars, but for now I've settled with the demo (I haven't finished 9 yet... Wiley's Castle is insane) because it dawned on... PSN/Live/Virtual Console or whatever, has got to the be the best business model the industry has ever seen. Think about it, Capcom can get a small team together and produce this measly little title that would've been impressive in the 80s for probably next to nothing (compared to any contemporary blockbuster) toss it out on PSN which is pretty much impossible to crack for 10$ and you'd have to imagine in no time the cash flying in would cover the salaries of everyone that produced it and Capcom is reaping insane profits...

Of course on the flip side in theory any indie team could churn this game out and surely someone would notice its quality and it would sky rocket and that team would get the same kind of revenue influx as Capcom. But really I can't think of ever seeing an indie game that didn't look like cheap crap. And hell I'm sure a lot went into playtesting 10, and Rock Man deserves something of a legacy, and maybe Capcom is in the red and could use a boost, but damned if I don't feel like a sucker reflexively plopping 10$ into that coin shoot

[dmpdesign]

Bought and beat MM 10 in 1:07 minutes on normal mode today.

What I couldnt believe is how MFing long the credits were.  My god, like 100 people in the credits...I couldnt figure it out!?!

[Verdite]

Some quick piccies! First is Krondor second is might and magic 6, yes im getting beaten up but thats alright, its part of it. 

[Hguols]

I'm surprised no one has said Arx Fatalis so far.