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Garple

The Best of PC Gaming

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I'm wondering what you guys think are THE must-play PC games from all eras, genres etc...which ones do you think make it well worth owning a gaming PC? What games would you present to me as your argument?

Basically, I'm interested in hearing about what the PC has to offer me that consoles don't. I'm trying to decide if I want to venture out into the PC world. I'm thinking about trying to find something really cheap (relatively speaking) on ebay so I have a capable machine that's not top-of-the-line, but is good enough to allow me to get a taste of what's out there. Or something like that. I'm really conflicted about the whole thing and I'm not sure PC Gaming is even for me...it's hard to tell because I'm not used to it and haven't had a lot of opportunities to try it.

Maybe you guys could give me a list of representative older games that I could easily get a hold of that would allow me to get a feel for what PC Gaming is about.

Also: The games discussed need not be exclusives as long as you feel they're better played on PC.

Have any of you made the transition from being mostly a console gamer to playing a lot of stuff on the PC? How do you feel about it?

Is there a good, cheap way to get started as a PC gamer? I'm skittish about making a huge investment on a serious machine only to find out I don't favor it as a gaming platform.

Anyone who's been around the forums a while knows I have a ridiculous inferiority complex about being a console gamer and numerous other hang-ups about PC gaming and I'm sorry for pushing it on you guys yet again. But I'm hoping maybe you guys can offer me the definitive guidance that will allow me to reach some conclusion on this and allow me to stop being so conflicted over something so trivial.

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  • Civ 4
  • The Dawn of War series
  • All valve games
  • Stalker
  • Unreal Tournament (1 and 2004)

To name but a few.

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Also...do any thumbs have an older PC or laptop they might want to sell that works well for a lot of games? I wouldn't be expecting it to run top of the line new stuff, of course, but I've missed all the great PC games so if it runs stuff from up to like '07 or '08 I'd be interested in hearing about it. or does anyone know a good place to get such a machine/have any suggestions? I'd be very interested in hearing if any thumbs have something lying around that they wouldn't mind getting rid of for less than $400 and I'd prefer buying something from one of you guys if anybody is interested because I feel I'd get much better information about what the machine is capable of. Naturally I'd pay all shipping costs.

If my questions and statements related to PCs and the gaming thereon, please let me know (well...don't actually call me stupid, please) because I'm a total babe in the woods in this area of knowledge but I want to learn. Also...if you guys have any links to websites that would give me a crash course in understanding the basics that a PC gamer/PC user should be familiar with or provide any other useful infomation, I'd be in your debt.

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[*]Unreal Tournament (1 and 2004)

I've been playing Quake III a bit...that's very comparable to Unreal isn't it? Or is it worth playing both?

Also: FUCKING MOTHER OF FUCK that game is insane for a newcomer to try playing online. I thought the Call of Duty games were rough in that regard, but damn...

Everything about it is so fast paced I get killed without having any idea without having any idea where my attacker came from and it almost never takes them more than one shot. and everybody's flying through the air all the time. I realize that tons of people having been playing this game and its predecessors for 14 years though, so I did know what to expect, and it's fun as hell when I play against bots. Do any of you guys still play these old shooters? I think we should do some Idle Sam HD on the X360 if anyone's down.

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Try Deus ex. I've played it for about 20 minutes of tutorial and was completly shocked when I acedantly threw a sniper rifle in some place and couldn't get it replaced. Also, you can get a cheap copy of Orange boy or Adiosurf on Steam.

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Echoing STALKER, either Call of Pripyat (which I admittedly haven't gotten around to play yet, but I've been told fixes most of the problems with the first two) or the original, which still holds up fairly well, especially if it's your first encounter with the series. Cheap, too. Just don't listen to anyone who tells you to install mods, vanilla all the way. At least the first playthrough.

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I've been playing Quake III a bit...that's very comparable to Unreal isn't it?

It kind of is, but it kind of isn't? They sort of do the same thing, but they both do them in very different ways. I'd say it's worth playing both.

I'd tell you to go play The Witcher, but I'm not sure if that would actually run. It's not the most optimized game ever.

Star Craft might look a bit too dated for you, but Warcraft 3 is still pretty good.

I also want to recommend The Longest Journey, if you've never played that before. It has some bullshit puzzle solutions, but overall it's quite fun (if you're into point and click type stuff). Dreamfall, the follow up to that game is also quite nice. That was on console too, so you might have already played it. You don't have to have played The Longest Journey to get Dreamfall, but it does add a lot. Familiar characters, settings, that sort of thing.

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System Shock 2. It's a bit fiddley to get working on XP but it worked for me eventually. So worth it. The phycic monkeys haunt me ever since i heard them in the demo way back when.

The Settlers 2. This is the oldest game in my collection that i still play regularily. I could spend all day watching the little people go about their economy building shizzle.

Grim Fandango. Robert Frost baloons.

All of Valve. Just get the orange box if you can't decide. Honestly, HL1 is showing it's age, but its still gleeful fun.

World of Warcraft. 11.5 million people can't be...

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I think recommendations should be more current, I would stay away from Deus Ex for now and Longest Journey isn't really going to give an indication of just what PC gaming has in store for you in the here and now. Once you are on board, you'll have those archive treats to explore.

If I think what really brought me back to PC gaming over the last 18 months, as a differentiated experience than I was getting from my console gaming, I would say:

Half Life 2 & Episodes

Dawn of War 2

Dragon Age

Torchlight

Civ 4

Try those out.

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Half Life 2 & Episodes

Dawn of War 2

Dragon Age

Torchlight

Civ 4

My dad's decided to buy a new computer in the next couple weeks. Maybe I can convince him to let me install a game or two on it since (although he certainly won't be getting a gaming rig) the newer hardware will give me a better chance of running the newer stuff. I've been meaning to buy an external hard drive, I could boot games off of that couldn't I? That said, I own Torchlight and it's excellent. I haven't played as much of it as I should though. I'll get back to that as soon as I can tear myself away from Just Cause 2. The faction and agency missions keep popping up, but I just keep 100 percenting the random military bases instead to prolong and savor the experience.

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I recommend you one of my all-time favourite FPS:

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way.

It contains shooting, sneaking, looting and plenty of humour. And the graphics are good looking up to today (especially the character designs).

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Machinarium

Warcraft 3

Diablo 2

Starcraft

Half Life 2, ep.1 & 2

Portal

Fallout 1,2 & 3

Stalker CoP

Dawn of War 2

Far Cry 2

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SCUMMVM makes it pretty easy to play all the great classic adventure games, which I attribute to key moments in my PC gaming life (Monkey Islands, Day of the Tentacle, and Full Throttle are my favs of those although the Indiana Jones games (and the first Sam & Max game) are also pretty fun. Grim Fandango is my favorite LucasArts game but wasn't written with SCUMM).

Also, I know it's old but the Doom and Doom 2 maps are still some of the best-designed old-school shooter maps out there IMO. I forget the name but there's a really solid opensource engine that adds mouselook and colored lighting and sprint interpolation to the old data files so you don't have to play at 320x120.

And everything else everyone else already said.

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Also...do any thumbs have an older PC or laptop they might want to sell that works well for a lot of games? I wouldn't be expecting it to run top of the line new stuff, of course, but I've missed all the great PC games so if it runs stuff from up to like '07 or '08 I'd be interested in hearing about it. or does anyone know a good place to get such a machine/have any suggestions? I'd be very interested in hearing if any thumbs have something lying around that they wouldn't mind getting rid of for less than $400 and I'd prefer buying something from one of you guys if anybody is interested because I feel I'd get much better information about what the machine is capable of. Naturally I'd pay all shipping costs.

If my questions and statements related to PCs and the gaming thereon, please let me know (well...don't actually call me stupid, please) because I'm a total babe in the woods in this area of knowledge but I want to learn. Also...if you guys have any links to websites that would give me a crash course in understanding the basics that a PC gamer/PC user should be familiar with or provide any other useful infomation, I'd be in your debt.

Hey Groucho, is $400 dollars your maximum? Give me your budget figure and I will put together the best PC for you from new within your range. It's much better to do it yourself, you get a lot more for your money usually. I could build it for you and then post it to you if you are in the UK. I have heaps of bits and bobs lying around that I could chuck in if it needs it.

Are you in the UK? I have a spare 19" flat screen (but CRT> Bigbacked) monitor that you can have for nothing if you need it too. For £500 I put a great PC together for Patters. Let me know.

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For £500 I put a great PC together for Patters. Let me know.

How many gb did it have?

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- Anachronox

- Little Big Adventure

- Settlers 2 (either original or 10th anniversary)

- Evil Genius

edit: oh, didn't see Settlers 2 was already mentioned.

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King's Bounty was a whole lot of awesome too. Chris Remo raved about it a while back and i picked it up on the Steam sale. unfortunatly, not having a console i'm a bit lost as to what the differences between PC and console gaming, apart from the cripplin pain that my soul endures when i try to play a fps with a gamepad.

Try and get Wizardry 8 if you are mad into RPGs. Hell, you can just make it into a party building game without ever actually playing the game.

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Dungeon Keeper 2

Sims 1 (yeah, I think it's fun to jerk around in it)

Populous (I still play this today)

Sim City * (Which version is the best? I dunno honestly, I never got into 4 because it had the same problem as the sims where you needed to create neighbours to do well; personally I still like 1)

Jedi Outcast (One of the best sword dueling games I can think of)

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Double on the "Where are you from" part. I'm sure we can help you out if you're near us in the UK!

For me, I'd go with:

-The Half Life series (Might seem cliche but hell, it's perfect)

-ScummVM and all associated games (In other news, my friends brother just found a mint copy of Curse of Monkey Island in a charity shop last night for 50p, jammy bastard)

-Without knowing a preferred genre, it could be a bit hard to recommend, but if you give us a quick run down of what you like, it might be a bit easier!

-That said, here's a list I made a while ago which I think is pretty great.

-Dwarf Fortress is something that's really definitive of the PC. It's an incredibly rogue like game that's frankly the most indepth and most realistic sim I have ever had the joy of playing.

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How many gb did it have?

<Homer Simpson voice> Why you little :(

Contrary to popular belief, I am actually pretty clued up when it comes to hardware and balancing a system. I also have a pretty good handle on prices. Just because I know next to fuck all about software and download speeds does not negate my skills as a system builder. I taught myself overclocking too SO THERE :partyhat:

Company of Heroes is probably one of the best PC games ever imho, if you like RTS's. Also Fallout 3 if it hasn't already been suggested + Left for Dead + infinity, etc, in addition to etc etc, the list goes on and on :grin:

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I've been playing Quake III a bit...that's very comparable to Unreal isn't it? Or is it worth playing both?

Also: FUCKING MOTHER OF FUCK that game is insane for a newcomer to try playing online. I thought the Call of Duty games were rough in that regard, but damn...

Everything about it is so fast paced I get killed without having any idea without having any idea where my attacker came from and it almost never takes them more than one shot. and everybody's flying through the air all the time. I realize that tons of people having been playing this game and its predecessors for 14 years though, so I did know what to expect, and it's fun as hell when I play against bots. Do any of you guys still play these old shooters? I think we should do some Idle Sam HD on the X360 if anyone's down.

It's worth giving the UT2003 and UT demo's a shot. See how they run, they will probably be enough UT for most people.

You should be able to run most games from GOG, there is a hell of a lot of good PC games there, Blizzard has a decent digital store also.

Following your dad getting a new PC, has he got a budget, the newegg ones I pointed out could well be ideal, if you were to get a harddrive for games, I'd suggest internal, USB just won't cut it.

EDIT: He's American.

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You can run these games on old hardware no problem:

Ur-quan Masters is an awesome now freeware game that I played for the first time a year or so ago. Its slightly like 2D Mass Effect except there is a much stronger focus on dialogue and space exploration. I never finished it because I hit the time limit and lost all my progress, but I'm meaning to revisit it someday.

In that list Sombre posted, definitely check out Iji and Knytt. If you play Iji without killing any enemies the story changes pretty drastically, makes a second playthrough really interesting. Knytt is really subdued and beautiful to run around in.

You might be able to run Far Cry 1 too, that game was insanely scaleable. I played that recently and its definitely eclipsed by Crysis or Far Cry 2 but its still got interesting AI to fight. FEAR 1 is also worth checking out.

Max Payne 1 + 2 still play pretty uniquely, considering that must 3rd person shooters are the slower paced Gears of War style now. I liked the comic-book style cutscenes, they're one of the few cinematics that didn't feel boring.

These should all be pretty simple games to get into and play, and you should check out the hardcore pc games like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. You can't really prepare yourself for them, you just need to have a lot of free time to get used to the punishing aspects.

I think the games that got me into PC gaming in the first place were all multiplayer. Starcraft/Warcraft 3 custom maps, Battlefield 1942... I got into PC gaming when I was playing Gamecube games and that kind of multiplayer experience was completely new to me. Now though with Xbox Live and PSN this isn't really an issue. I think what seperates console and PC gamers is a DIY mentality (granted this is getting blurred, since there are people who mod xboxes and turn them into media centers and do crazy stuff with them). PC gamers want to have a lot of choice and decision making in their setup, while console gamers prefer to just plug and play. Even if you get a prebuilt system, you'll have to accustom yourself with Windows and have to canoodle it to get some games working. If you're into that sort of thing though, its intensely rewarding. The first time I built a computer, I overheated the processor because I didn't peel off a plastic cover. When I replaced the part and got it right though, seeing that Post screen for the first time was an incredible moment of triumph. I love playing games on any system, but having customizability and oodles of free time to twiddle with parts is the reason that I keep playing PC games.

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Here's some I consider to be "essential":

Monkey Island (series; yeah, even the 'bad' one)

Grim Fandango

Portal

Day of the Tentacle

Sam and Max Season Two (aka Beyond Time and Space)

Age of Empires II

Half-Life

Half-Life 2 & Episodes

Doom

Pfft...There's more, I'm sure. This is probably more up Remo's alley.

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For something that could absolutely not be ported to consoles (which I feel about 90% of the other games here could be or have been) is really good strategy or simulation.

The top two that come to my mind are the Total War series and the Silent Hunter series.

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