New to PC gaming

[American Gunner]

I played WoW for about a year almost 3 years ago, but went back to console gaming. I have both the XB1 and PS4, but am starting to grow tired of the same old games in the console space. I knew I needed to get a good PC for school and decided to grab one that would be good enough to get my feet in the door on pc gaming. I am planning on grabbing Broken Age, Gone Home, Civlization 5 (more for my wife), and Elder Scroll Online. Any other recent great pc only games that I need to check out?

 

[KeithTalent]

Any particular genre, or just anything?

KT

 

[American Gunner]

Any particular genre, or just anything?

KT

I don't care for survival horror so that is out. Other than that, I would be open to check out a lot of stuff. Just want something new.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

hl3
left 4 dead 2

 

[American Gunner]

Played left for dead 2 on console.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Played left for dead 2 on console.

didn't even know it came out on console. honestly it's hard to come up with a game that didn't also come out for a console when i think about it.

from this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PC_exclusive_titles

I would say roller coaster tycoon 3 and guild wars 2

 

[American Gunner]

I will probably get GW2 because I have a friend that has it. I may get some of the tycoon games too.

 

[Aikouka]

There are a lot of smaller, weird indie titles that can be a lot of fun, and they don't require a beefy PC to run. Always keep an eye out for the Humble Bundle... it's a little lame these next two weeks (the mobile-oriented ones normally are), but it just depends.

 

[American Gunner]

I had some credit at the dell store, and since I am saving everything I can for my upcoming move, I decided to just go with the XPS 8700. I know that a lot of people will probably snub their nose at me for it, but it at least got my foot in the door. If I end up liking pc gaming a bunch, then I can revisit the idea of building in a couple years and give this one to my wife or to my kids.

Here are some of the specs for it. I am hoping that it can at least run a lot of games at moderate settings. If it can run it higher than I guess that is a win for me.

8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz - 2 DIMMs
NVIDIA GeForce GT 635 1GB DDR3
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s

Edit: I know the video card isn't great at all, but I am already looking into a GTX 750 or 760 right now, since they aren't that expensive.

 

[sweenish]

CPU?

In any case, PC exclusive is a much shorter list than it used to be. If you like the RTS, Starcraft II could be worth considering. MOBAs are pretty popular, LoL or Dota 2 are the current big hitters.

It would be worth considering any multi-plat games from known developers/publishers going forward. And games that take mods. If you played Skyrim on consoles, PC is on another level, for example.

Any shooter benefits from the extra freedom that mouse/keyboard affords. It would be worth checking out some of the big boys: Titanfall, BF4(?), L4D2, CS:GO, Payday 2, etc.

A specific indie game that I always recommend is Dungeons of Dredmor. It's a rogue-like with a healthy dose of humor.

 

[American Gunner]

Whoops, sorry about that. Here is the CPU: 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor. One of my friends is playing Skyrim on PC and loving it, so I may look into grabbing that in the future too.

 

[Aikouka]

Whoops, sorry about that. Here is the CPU: 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4770 Processor. One of my friends is playing Skyrim on PC and loving it, so I may look into grabbing that in the future too.

The best part about a game like Skyrim on the PC is that it can be modded. That normally will require a bit of extra work on your own end, but when the game is all about exploration and junk, being able to tailor the world a bit can make it a lot more fun.

The CPU looks fine, but as you mentioned, that GPU is definitely not for gaming. I would be a bit worried about the PSU in your PC as it may not be designed for any higher-end GPUs (i.e. not enough wattage or not enough connectors).

 

[rivethead]

If you like RPGs....The Witcher series is PC exclusive. And if you like Cyber Punk shooters, Hard Reset was also a PC exclusive.

Neither of these are "recent" games, but since you couldn't play them on Consoles, they may be worth a look.

 

[KeithTalent]

If you like RPGs....The Witcher series is PC exclusive. And if you like Cyber Punk shooters, Hard Reset was also a PC exclusive.

Neither of these are "recent" games, but since you couldn't play them on Consoles, they may be worth a look.

I thought The Witcher 2 came out on 360?

KT

 

[sweenish]

I thought The Witcher 2 came out on 360?

KT

You are correct. And The Witcher 3 is also multi-plat. Only the first one was PC exclusive. It's a great game.

 

[Revolution 11]

First of all OP, let me congratulate you on returning to the PC Master Race. Embrace the enlightened attitude of PC gaming.

Now, it is very hard to give you a good list of what to play on PC. There are a lot of great titles, a lot of average games, and a lot of crap too. So here is a massive list of questions you should consider for this thread.

You should mention whether you are ok with older classic games or if you want the new titles. What genres do you have a specific interest in? Is graphics really important for you? How about story? Do you like strategy games or RPGs? Any game developers you like in particular? Do you like fantasy, or sci-fi, two influential genres? Do you like simulation games such as Arma for military simulation or flight simulation games? How do you like horror or mystery games?

Do you prefer robust singleplayer stories and campaigns or multiplayer-based games? Are you interested in any Free-to-Play games? Are there any franchises you would like to play in such as Star Wars games or a superhero game like the Batman Arkham series? Do you want to play in big, large-scale games or are you interested in smaller indie titles? How important is combat for you as a game element?

Interested in exploration and puzzle games? Do you like your games serious and grim or funny and self-parodying or thought-provoking and experimental? Interested in emulating older console games?

 

[American Gunner]

A lot of great questions. First of all, graphics aren't the most important thing, which is good because it looks like video card it nothing to write home about. I'm hoping that I can at least slap a nvidia gtx 750 in it to make it a little more powerful. I'm mainly looking for single player games, however I will be playing some mmo's on it. I also don't have any preferences as I love fantasy and sci-fi stuff. I'm not too worried with shooters right now, as I am really burned out on them.

 

[sandorski]

Minecraft with the Tekkit launcher and/or FTB Launcher for awesome Mods or just play vanilla.

 

[American Gunner]

My kids go crazy for minecraft.

 

[smackababy]

I'd suggest not being too adverse to revisiting some console titles on PC as well. There is a good chance they can be had for cheap and the different controls might be enough to make the game feel a lot different.

As far as other suggestions, I'd recommend Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. It is super cheap, old, and incredibly fun. If your kids love Minecraft, there is a very good chance they will love this as well.

Take a look at Dota 2 (it's free), Diablo 3 (also free until level 13 or something, enough to get a taste), and I know you said you didn't like survival horror, but the Metro series is really good and an FPS, so you're shooting monsters, not "surviving" as much.

 

[American Gunner]

Thanks everyone. I was a little worried about posting what my machine had in it. I thought I might get laughed out of the forum. I may go back and look at some console games I either played sparingly or missed.

 

[KeithTalent]

I am playing UnEpic right now and it is awesome. A platformer RPG which I believe is PC exclusive. Having a lot of fun with it. Vessel is also quite cool and very pretty to look at, but it's more of a puzzle platformer.

There are a lot of smaller games like that available, which I now know after creating my platformer thread, which could be worth checking out if you are into that thing.

I'm on a huge platformer kick right now, so that's all I've got for recommendations.

KT

 

[Fire&Blood]

PC only shortens the suggestions list a lot. If you want a different take on RTS, look into Banished.

I took a break from gaming for a few years and when I got back, this method yielded great results for me: I was checking out games I missed at metacritic and rather than just looking at games with highest critic scores, I looked into ones that had a good score but more importantly the user and critic scores were nearly in sync to avoid hyped titles and it worked great for me. If you are open to playing older games, especially since you are looking for strong single player, you are in for a treat.

 

[American Gunner]

Thanks for the input. I will check those out.

 

[BladeVenom]

FTL: Faster Than Light