Need new addicting game to get into

[OVerLoRDI]

The Witcher 2

 

[dajeepster]

Everquest2 is now free to play... and in march, the original Evercrack will be f2p

 

[jacktesterson]

World in Conflict

Just Cause 2

Dead Island

Some games I've enjoyed lately.

 

[M0RPH]

Saints Row Third - pure fun

(Skyrim - overrated)

 

[rivethead]

Another vote here for Orcs Must Die.

To quote the main character....."Good Times. Good Times".

 

[CurseTheSky]

Trine. Possibly Trine 2, though I haven't tried it yet.

 

[thejunglegod]

Saints Row Third - pure fun

What HE said. Mindless Mindless fun. And so much joy. The reason video games were created for in the first place.

 

[Stuxnet]

Skyrim is an unimaginative, uninspiring, and contains the same recycled Bethesda crap as every other previous Bethesda game. Talk about beat a dead horse with a stick until it bleeds profusely and screams in Patrick Stewart's voice while it threatens to rape your corpse somewhere around Balmora I think it was the temple or something.

That is all.

I have to agree. I bought it and regretted it instantly.

 

[zebano]

SO...its hard to say if it's 'that good', but it's addictive. I swear I hate it, but I can't stop playing it. I walk away disgusted more often than not (even after a win) because there are so many assholes in that game. Guess I'm just glutton for punishment

This is a good way to describe it. The feeling when everything goes well is amazing but considering that should only happen roughly 50% of the time and you're playing 45 minute games the letdowns can be quite insane. That said I've been playing for 2 years and can't quit. I've been trying to get into Drakensang because I picked it up for $3 but the beginning is just slow and clunky. I've been playing Mini Robot wars with my son which is basically tower defense for kids (the latter levels do get difficult).

 

[thespyder]

I have to agree. I bought it and regretted it instantly.

I would hate to think that someone judged Skyrim based on initial impressions. The first couple of hours in game may "Feel" very much like Oblivion but there have been huge improvements. No longer do you end up with Borked characters simply because you didn't start out Min/Maxing with an excel spreadsheet maping out each level. The world seems (to me) more organic and decisions have weight and impact. There are billions of things to do and places to explore. And there are tons of smaller improvements.

Not saying it is perfect, or for everyone. Simply that initial impressions might not be as accurate, and giving the game a decent chance might reveal that this is a whole lot more than Oblivion 1.5.

 

[JamesV]

Ever tried Tropico? I just got the package with the first 3 games on Steam, and at first sitting last night, I played from 8PM to 1AM (quite addictive).

Terraria is another great game (indie), that has given me about 80 hours of gameplay for $10.

 

[Dankk]

I would hate to think that someone judged Skyrim based on initial impressions. The first couple of hours in game may "Feel" very much like Oblivion but there have been huge improvements. No longer do you end up with Borked characters simply because you didn't start out Min/Maxing with an excel spreadsheet maping out each level. The world seems (to me) more organic and decisions have weight and impact. There are billions of things to do and places to explore. And there are tons of smaller improvements.

Not saying it is perfect, or for everyone. Simply that initial impressions might not be as accurate, and giving the game a decent chance might reveal that this is a whole lot more than Oblivion 1.5.

While Ixelion did sound a bit harsh in his comment, I'm actually inclined to jump on the "Skyrim sucks" bandwagon too. Let's face it: When you buy a Bethesda RPG, you know you'll be getting a very large, shallow, and rather generic RPG experience.

I've played Skyrim for about 15 hours so I'm a little more qualified to talk about it (if you say "it gets better after 15 hours", then that's not really a point in the game's favor, is it?). The storyline is completely uncompelling, the voice acting is terrible, the characters are all 1-dimensional cardboard cutouts, and the combat feels like I'm waving around a Nerf bat.

The storyline is the worst offender for me though. I'm picky about RPGs in that I absolutely need good storytelling and good writing to inspire me to play it, otherwise I have no good reason to progress in the game.

Look at The Witcher, where the story is fantastic, unique, and quite honestly morally ambiguous. There is no "good or bad". There is no "I want to be an asshole, so I'll choose the evil responses." No, you're simply forced to make decisions and watch the consequences; whatever they may be. It's more of a "consequence system" then a morality system in this case.

Really though, there are some parts of The Witcher that will really make you question your morals. Not to spoil anything, but if you were given a choice between supporting the game's equivalent of Israel (Strong army repressing others to ensure their civilians live comfortably), or Palestine (stripped of basic rights yet use terrorism to further their cause), which would you choose? And which friend would you kill for the other?

Compare that to Skyrim's "HURR DURR YOU ARE DRAGONBORN" storyline, and it falls flat on it's face. You might argue that the rivalry between the Imperials and Stormcloaks in Skyrim is similar to what I just described, but it's not... especially considering that your preference for faction has very little effect on the overall game, and that you don't even have to choose anything at all.

I've probably rambled on too much already, so I'll try to cut it off here. In my last few hours of Skyrim I made a goal to just kill everyone and everything with my bare fists, since I was going mostly unarmed. It gave me an actual objective in the game that was sorta fun for a while. Leveled up heavy armor and got to the point where I could pick up people by the neck, pound them in the face, and throw them on the ground. Wiped out a couple of towns this way.

I got pissed when I realized there are some NPCs that you simply can't kill; which is lame, because I thought the appeal of Bethesda RPGs was that you could kill people who were critical to the storyline. Morrowind let you do it. But I guess not Skyrim.

 

[aigomorla]

Saints Row Third - pure fun

u need to square the fun if u play with a buddy on coop.

This game was designed arround coop, which is why u square the fun when your playing with someone.

 

[thespyder]

I've played Skyrim for about 15 hours so I'm a little more qualified to talk about it (if you say "it gets better after 15 hours", then that's not really a point in the game's favor, is it?).

No. Absolutely, if you got 15 hours into the game and still don't like it, I would definitely say it is not for you. Which is perfectly fine. just the comment that got me was "I regretted it from the moment I purchased it" which left me feeling like 5 minutes after they booted up the game they had it pigeon holed and never looked any further.

And absolutely, Skyrim doesn't have an invested deeply moving and engrosing story line. It isn't about that. Nor do I think that the designers or developers intended to make something like that. Even the Fallout games, which have a significantly stronger focus on story, aren't as deep as some games out there. And I think it would be very hard to make a game with a deeply engrossing storyline AND have the kind of open sandbox world that we have with Skyrim. Not saying it can't be done, but my experience is either you have the openness or you have a more tightly directed "Story Path" to follow.

But "for me", I look to the entire Elder Scrolls series as just a great place to stomp around in and escape. I look for a fantasy realm where I can be an adventurer. someplace where I can kick around unearthing cool weapons and armor, fight dragons and undead, and generally "Live" in the world. I don't "Have" to be the sole protector/defender of the realm, the Chosen one doomed to lift the lofty concerns of the world on his shoulders, and can just be that thief who enjoys picking people's pockets and robbing them blind.

To draw an analogy, two of my all time favorite games are Baldur's gate 2 and Icewind Dale. Taking a look at these two games, they are basically the same engine, but are drastically different in their execution. BG2 had this huge engrossing storyline. And IWD was a dungeon romp pure and simple. And both are very fun in their own right, but if you go into one expecting the other, you are going to be disapointed. I would compare Skyrim to more of a IWD type game whereas Witcher would be more like BG2.

 

[zinfamous]

No. Absolutely, if you got 15 hours into the game and still don't like it, I would definitely say it is not for you. Which is perfectly fine. just the comment that got me was "I regretted it from the moment I purchased it" which left me feeling like 5 minutes after they booted up the game they had it pigeon holed and never looked any further.

And absolutely, Skyrim doesn't have an invested deeply moving and engrosing story line. It isn't about that. Nor do I think that the designers or developers intended to make something like that. Even the Fallout games, which have a significantly stronger focus on story, aren't as deep as some games out there. And I think it would be very hard to make a game with a deeply engrossing storyline AND have the kind of open sandbox world that we have with Skyrim. Not saying it can't be done, but my experience is either you have the openness or you have a more tightly directed "Story Path" to follow.

But "for me", I look to the entire Elder Scrolls series as just a great place to stomp around in and escape. I look for a fantasy realm where I can be an adventurer. someplace where I can kick around unearthing cool weapons and armor, fight dragons and undead, and generally "Live" in the world. I don't "Have" to be the sole protector/defender of the realm, the Chosen one doomed to lift the lofty concerns of the world on his shoulders, and can just be that thief who enjoys picking people's pockets and robbing them blind.

To draw an analogy, two of my all time favorite games are Baldur's gate 2 and Icewind Dale. Taking a look at these two games, they are basically the same engine, but are drastically different in their execution. BG2 had this huge engrossing storyline. And IWD was a dungeon romp pure and simple. And both are very fun in their own right, but if you go into one expecting the other, you are going to be disapointed. I would compare Skyrim to more of a IWD type game whereas Witcher would be more like BG2.

Yes, I think that's the thing you just have to accept with Bethesda games. I truly did not "get it" with Morrowind--not so much because I thought the story was weak (didn't really get far enough), but there was just too damn much to do, too many layers of stats and such to bog you down.

I very much "got it" with New Vegas, though (already loved FO 1 &2), and especially so with Skyrim. These games are built on an accumulation of little things--simply the various micro stories that you may stumble into, or may never experience. The main story really isn't that great, even though a good bit of the voice acting is really damn good.

Another game, which is quite good but for the opposite reason (and consequently pissed off a lot of people for the opposite reason), is Mafia II. Very beautiful world, great mechanics. Very engrossing story, however (even though it was directly lifted from every major mafia film since the 70s and cobbled together in some rather coherent manner), but very limited in terms of openness. I think people were angry simply because they wanted GTA in the mob world, but there really wasn't much to explore and do outside of the single story line. ....and there wasn't. Personally, I think it's a beautiful design and many gamers simply haven't, and may never, accept the fact that they can't have it both ways. Mafia works because it forces the story, which benefits greatly from the linear design. Skyrim works because it is fully open and you can hardly run out of things to do--but story easily suffers from that design. There are simply too many elements in that game that can conflict depending on the choices you make that making a completely coherent world that "remembers" all of your deeds on a specific playthrough is probably impossible.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

If you pre-order Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion (awesome 4x-RTS), you can probably play the Beta when it is released next month. The original Sins game won several GOTY awards.

 

[Jabberrwocky]

I also suggest Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I picked it up for $6.50 during the holiday sales, and have seen it for as low as $5, recently.

I have been playing FPS's since Wolfenstein 3D and felt like the genre had been pretty well exhausted, but I loved BC2. The classes, the progression, the gameplay and the graphics are great!.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age Origins, The Witcher 2.

 

[TripleAAA]

My vote is for League of Legends. I've played it essentially since the beginning, have played easily over 2,000 games and still find myself coming back to it after trying others games and genres.

I have to admit, after nearly 3 years, I'm finally starting to get tired of it a little but still have the urge to squeeze in at least one game a day.

I can't seem to find anything else I like lately. Might need to get onto Steam and look at Terraria and/or Tropico....what type of games are these anyways?

 

[zinfamous]

My vote is for League of Legends. I've played it essentially since the beginning, have played easily over 2,000 games and still find myself coming back to it after trying others games and genres.

I have to admit, after nearly 3 years, I'm finally starting to get tired of it a little but still have the urge to squeeze in at least one game a day.

I can't seem to find anything else I like lately. Might need to get onto Steam and look at Terraria and/or Tropico....what type of games are these anyways?

Terraria is awesome. a 16bit open world Minecraft-style creation game. You pretty much need to spend some time with the wiki to figure out what to do to get started, but it's a great game.

Tropico, which I haven't spent much time with (I keep quitting during the tutorial, realizing that I just don't want to get into the detail at the moment), is a dictator-style city management game. Lots of people love it. It's the type of game that I used to love, just not sure if it's my thing these days. :\

 

[SZLiao214]

Saint's row with a friend has been some of the most fun gaming I've done since Borderlands.

 

[Jabberrwocky]

My vote is for League of Legends. I've played it essentially since the beginning, have played easily over 2,000 games and still find myself coming back to it after trying others games and genres.

I have to admit, after nearly 3 years, I'm finally starting to get tired of it a little but still have the urge to squeeze in at least one game a day.

I can't seem to find anything else I like lately. Might need to get onto Steam and look at Terraria and/or Tropico....what type of games are these anyways?

I can't believe I didn't think of Terraria! That game is fantastic and very addicting. I can hear the sound of my gold pickaxe breaking blocks of dirt as I type this.

 

[Jabberrwocky]

Speaking of addicting, if you have not played Trine, I highly recommend that game. It is very well reviewed, and it just went on sale for $1.24 on Amazon:

http://www.cutrategamer.com/app/game-deals

Can't beat the price.