Great Old Games

[Jed]

Somewhat inspired by the "games for my crappy laptop" thread, I'd love to hear from everyone what they think the absolute must-play PC games are. I'm most interested in hearing about strategy, RPG, space-trade/sim, and unique games. Less enthusiastic about FPS, adventure, other shitty genres, etc.

Obviously we have:

Fallout
Jagged Alliance 2
Wasteland &
X-Com: UFO Defense, for starters.

What other Must Plays are there?

 

[Greenskin13]

Now with flavor!

Plansescape Torment.

 

[Elwro]

Pirates 1
Civilisation 1
Prince of Persia 1
Doom 2
Blood
Monkey Island 1 & 2 (and 3 if you like it)

I'd consider Imperialism on that list, too... I'll think of some more.

 

[Jed]

I'm thinking along the lines of, "What top 3 or 5 games of each genre would I take to a deserted island"

 

[Spazmo]

In no particular order, just my three favourites

RPG:
Fallout
Planescape: Torment
Geneforge

FPS:
No One Lives Forever 2
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
System Shock 2 (it's more FPS than anything else, really)

Space sim:
Freespace 2
Descent: Freespace
Escape Velocity Nova

Adventure (fuck you, Jed, adventures rock):
The Secret of Monkey Island
Full Throttle
Grim Fandango

And a quarter-jillion other games I can't think of at the moment.

 

[rasta_kid]

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

What in the what?
I loved JA but it's nowhere near the top list. Of anybody.

Anyway, inpo:
Half-Life
Oni
Fallout
Virtua Cop 2 ( ha ha! )
Need for Speed 2
Warcraft 2
Deus Ex

There are too many for me to list but these are only off the top of my head.

 

[Jinxed]

Lets see...

Elvira 2
Waxworks
Lotus
Lemmings
Doom
Monkey Island 2
Indy and the fate of atlantis
Prince of Persia
Fallout
Space Hulk
Resident Evil
Road Rash - damn fine game after a few beers
North and South
System Shock 2
Silent Hill - not really classic, but hey
C&C
Tekken 3
Mortal Kombat 1, 2
Another World
Dune 2
XCom
Syndicate
Saboteur - An ass old game on ZX-Spectrum
Privateer
Elite

Probably a few more, but all I can think of at the moment

 

[Jed]

What are some of the games--like Wasteland--that are well worth revisiting for folks who weren't gaming until the mid-90s and who, though aren't that concerned with graphics, still have a hard time negotiating the interfaces of some of these older games?

 

[FrankHorrigan]

Not exactly old games but

Strategy - I really liked Medival Total War, you got an over arching turn based mode which controls the bigger picture and then real time realistic battles fought out in settings which are representive of the turn based map. It is actual a stratgey game too, as opposed to a tank rush, generic unit xx fest.

Space Sim - Combat wise Star Wars: Tie Fighter is probably the best game ive played, the combat requires skill, the story is logical and you get to be one of the "bad" guys, fighting for the empire. Space sim/trading wise i really enjoyed X2 The Threat, it has some serious flaws, the interface is shit and the story is pathetic, but if your willing to use your imagination a bit, it really feels theirs a virtual universe in space, the trading side is far more complex than elite too.

RPG - Gothic 1 & 2. I know alot of people dont like its real time action combat but they are both VERY immersive games. The game worlds are huge, the npc's all have daily schedules, their are tons of side quests, you can go anywhere you like anytime in the game world, the diaglogue is well written. I just really like both these games.

I'd agree with alot of the games people mentioned, though i really hated jedi academy, it was the penultimate result of whoring both the quake 3 engine & the dark forces franchise... Dark Forces 2 was the best for me.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Most of the older games ive played were awesome when I was little but now they dont hold much interest for me at all. The newer stuff that has been already posted it pretty much what I would agree with.

 

[Anonymous]

FPS:
System Shock series
Thief 2 (thief 3 is for whores and maylasians)
Aliens vs. Predator series
Doom 2
Shadow Warrior
Serious Sam series

RPG:
Fallout
Gothic series
Avernum series
Arcanum
GeneForge series
Mordor: Depths of Dejenol (I havent played the sequel, Demise, but it looks good)
(more action than anythingBlade of Darkness (it's fun, but pretty tough)


Strategy:
Medieval:Total War + Viking Invasion
Silent Storm
Jagged Alliance 2
Myth series
Panzer General
Civilization 3 + Conquests
Master of Orion 2


Adventure:
Sam and Max: Hit The Road
Space Quest series
Monkey Island series
Eric the Unready (text)
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (text)

Sim games:
SimCity 2000
Escape Velocity Nova
SimAnt

 

[Psilon]

Strategy: Civilization, X-COM UFO Defense, Red Alert 2, Master of Orion II, Master of Magic.
RPG: Daggerfall, Fallout, Arcanum, Geneforge, Wizardry 7 & 8, NetHack.
Space: TIE Fighter, FreeSpace series, TradeWars 2002 (if you can find other players), Wing Commander III.
FPS: Doom 1, Rise of the Triad, Unreal Tournament, Descent series.
Adventure: Basically anything from the SCUMM, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, or non-SVGA King's Quest (1-6) lines. The Longest Journey. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Leather Goddesses of Phobos. A Mind Forever Voyaging. Curses.
Simulation: SimCity 2000, SimEarth, SimAnt, Theme Park.
Miscellaneous: Worms 2 or Worms World Party. You Don't Know Jack 4: The Ride. Scorched Earth. SubSpace (now Continuum). Commander Keen.

 

[Anonymous]

Heh, once you finish a list, you always see someone else's and go 'oh yeah, I should of put that too'

 

[Jed]

Llama & Psilon are tied for post counts!

 

[Greenskin13]

I heard it through the grapevine.

Oh snap!

Am I close to anyone?

 

[EEVIAC]

Alter Ego. Download here. There's a male and female version, take your pick.

There was also a game for C64 called Rockstar Ate My Hamster. To this day its the only game where you could bundle Bryan Ferry, Cyndi Lauper, Phil Collins and Morrissey into a (horrible) super-group, manage them to chart success, then systematically kill them off, one by one, in wild publicity stunts.

 

[Psilon]

Wasn't the awfulness of the supergroup implied by its members, though?

 

[EEVIAC]

Well, its only Phil Collins that ruins the group really. Replace him with Bros and everything's dishy.

 

[Nicolai]

Fallout
Planescape: Torment
AvP
Blood
Doom 1 & 2
Freespace 1 & 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Dungeon Keeper + Deeper Dungeons
System Shock 2
Thief: The Dark Project
Day of the Tentacle
Sam & Max hits the road
Silent Hill ( 0: )
Deus Ex
Wasteland

and a bunch of other ones

 

[Anonymous]

Everyone always leaves out SS1

 

[Whipporowill]

Well, its only Phil Collins that ruins the group really. Replace him with Bros and everything's dishy.

The things we wish to forget... :shock:

 

[Nicolai]

I never really played SS1 much, anyway D:

 

[Psilon]

Aw, hell. I forget some other Origin classics: Ultima VII, and both Crusader games.

 

[Surlent]

Deus Ex

If for some unknown bizarre reason one would like play something else, then IMHO these ones are quality entertainment as well too:
Thief 1&2
Arcanum
Unreal Tournament
Warcraft3/TFT

(classics
Baldur's Gate 2/ToB
Icewind Dale/HoW/TotL
Hexen
Chronotrigger
Final Fantasy 4,5,6 and 7 (yes, it's true and I'm still Codex forum member)
Lost Vikings 2

 

[Spazmo]

Icewind Dale is a classic?

Ooookaaay.