Warcraft III, GTA III or Neverwinter Nights?

[rem715]

Its been a few months since my last puchase so I am allowing myself to buy a new pc game. I'd like something I can sink my teeth into. These three seem to be the most interesting and are getting glowing reviews. I was wondering what you folks would recommend. . . . I know you are thinking, it depends, they are all different and it depends on what I actually like to play. Well. . . I like all kinds of games. I've played a little Medal of Honor, a lot of Dark Age of Camelot (with its crack like addictive qualities), American McGee's Alice, Risk II, Sid Meir's Gettysburg, Unreal Tournament etc. I'm looking for something a little heavier in the strategy category, (gettin' a little sick of FPS' but I still have an open mind).

Any opinions?

 

[NeoMadHatter]

warcraft 3 is all about strategy. you can't win without one.

gta3 is fun but i have it for ps2. doesn't really have strategy but might be more suited for the games you listed you like to play.

neverwinter is classic rpg going back to the days of d&d. i didn't like it too much, but only played for a little while.

 

[CubicZirconia]

If you want strategy, out of those 3 Warcraft 3 is probably your best choice. Personally, I didn't like it, but thats just me.

 

[rem715]

Any recommendations Cubic? How 'bout Europa Universalis II? that looks like a game you could really spend some time with.

 

[EmperorRob]

I'm addicted to Warcraft 3. Of course I'm still addicted to Starcraft as well. I didn't like GTA and haven't played Neverwinter Nights.

 

[Maleficus]

GTA was nice for a week or 2 NWN was one of the biggest let downs EVER and WC3 is still going strong so i suggest Warcraft 3

 

[datalink7]

I like NWN... plus the potential for that game is huge. Plenty of good adventures are sure to come out.

Then War3

Then GTA3

But you can't go wrong with any of those.

 

[CubicZirconia]

Any recommendations Cubic? How 'bout Europa Universalis II?

Europe Universalis II is a great game. Very easy to spend large amounts of time playing. However, on the RTS side of things I suggest Empire Earth. I just got this game and I love it. The only thing I can compare it to is Age of Empires II. However, its so much more in depth than AoE II I don't really think thats a fair comparison. Unless you absolutely despise RTS games, check out the Demo. I think you'll like it.

 

[jema]

My vote is on GTA3 because Ive not had that much fun with a game in a long long time. My vote is a bit partial though since I havent played the other ones but they are not the type of games I play.

 

[Alex]

gta is fun but singleplayer and very demanding on your rig

nwn is very long and multiplayer as well. its kinda slow to start and is only for rpg fans cuz if not youll get bored.

war3 is fun, many campaigns, multiplayer but not all that its hyped to be. its an rts.

id say nwn if ya like rpgs or war3 if ya like rts.

 

[Rand]

I found the NWN single player campaign to be extremely disappointing, very linear and you had few real choices.
BG/BG2 + the associated expansions kick the NWN single player game all around.
There are a TON of user created modules coming out though, which should provide an awful lot of longevity.

I'd take BG2 + The Throne of Bhaal expansion over NWN any day though so far as single player is concerned. IF you can find a good DM NWN offers a lot of potential for some extremely fun multiplayer gaming. Unless you know of a good DM, or are willing to DM yourself you should probably pass on NWN though.
If you don't have BG2 and your at all interested in RPG's then it is an absolutely essential purchase. I've been playing it since it was first released late 2000, and I'm still playing and there is still an amazing degree of stuff I havent even touched in the game. The expansion adds a lot of gameplay also.

I'm finding GTAIII quite a lot of fun. It's a big game with a lot of stuff you can do with all the side-quests. I absolutely HATED GTA I & II... so GTAIII being enjoyable was quite a pleasant surprise. Also, I don't typically play non-sports/RPG's so the fact that I liked it at all speaks very strongly for it.

Havent played WarCraft 3.... if your looking for a strategy game though it's probably your best bet. I've heard it's an excellent game, and it's recieved glowing reviews.

You may want to consider Civilization 3... I'm finding it a lot of fun also. Plus it should satisfy some of your strategic leanings.

 

[Atrail]

NWN

 

[Whitecloak]

neverwinter nights

 

[rem715]

Thanks for all of the posts folks. I appreciate the recomendations. Its amazing to me how some games just don't "work" for people and while other games can sink their teeth into you and not let go. I remember trying to play Grim Fandango after it got these tremendous reviews and although I finished the game, I found it to be a frustrating experience with all those ridiculous puzzles. Then, on the other hand I tried Risk II, which had mediocre reviews, and I just couldn't put it down for months. I found the potential strategies you could use in the game to be fascinating.

Downloaded the Empire Earth demo as recommended and I will give it a shot over the next few days, that is, if I can find time to break away from Dark Age of Camelot.

Aaaah, so many good games, so little time to play!

 

[CrowDog]

I have all three and I would suggest NWN.

Warcraft 3 I found no better than any other RTS game and its a little more frustrating.

GTA 3 would almost get my vote if it wasent so damn buggy and slow. If you have a PS2 play GTA3 on that...if not then wait for it to get cheaper incase you have performance problems.

NWN is fun and a damn good game, new modules are starting to emerge and I think it will have as much lasting power as WC3.

 

[dexvx]

war3 is definitely a different RTS game than most.

It is a very fun game with lots of strategy and map modifications. However, the strategy part of the game breaks down on anything past teams of 2 (3v3, 4v4, ick 6v6). The multiplayer aspect is battle.net and it is growing daily (25K ppl on weeknites when i first started playing has grown to over 35K). And yea, be warned, if you dont know how to play the game (since its a bit different from other RTS's), you will get frustrated on attacks and defense.

 

[rbV5]

How about Morrowind? The Elder Scrolls is pretty popular at my house right now.

 

[jema]

Originally posted by: CrowDog
GTA 3 would almost get my vote if it wasent so damn buggy and slow.

Have you tried it patched? still slows down a bit at times but it worked very well for me.

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: jema

Originally posted by: CrowDog
GTA 3 would almost get my vote if it wasent so damn buggy and slow.

Have you tried it patched? still slows down a bit at times but it worked very well for me.

I just used the no-cd patch and it runs beautifully at 1024x768x32bpp at max details with anisotropic filtering enabled. Havent had even a hint of performace problems since.

 

[techwanabe]

I found the NWN single player campaign to be extremely disappointing, very linear and you had few real choices.
BG/BG2 + the associated expansions kick the NWN single player game all around.
There are a TON of user created modules coming out though, which should provide an awful lot of longevity.

I'd take BG2 + The Throne of Bhaal expansion over NWN any day though so far as single player is concerned. IF you can find a good DM NWN offers a lot of potential for some extremely fun multiplayer gaming. Unless you know of a good DM, or are willing to DM yourself you should probably pass on NWN though.
If you don't have BG2 and your at all interested in RPG's then it is an absolutely essential purchase. I've been playing it since it was first released late 2000, and I'm still playing and there is still an amazing degree of stuff I havent even touched in the game. The expansion adds a lot of gameplay also.

I have to agree with you so far on the NWN single player game. BG2 was much much better. One of these days I'm going to remove and reinstall it without TOB and play it again. BG2 rocks.

I've been having a great deal of trouble with NWN in multiplayer mode... mostly joining a local game with friends. It seems to be very buggy and get corrupt game saves. We've wasted 4 entire evenings due to this. We are on the latest patch now and still happening. NWN is supposed to be at it's best in multiplayer but they have some fixing to do still!!!!

 

[Mavrick007]

I think you'll find that alot of people will really get into War3 more than NWN or GTA3 cause you can have a lan game and actually play an episode or so in a sitting as opposed to something that can last forever. Plus, Warcraft 3 will give you some practice for when World of Warcraft comes out (I think next year?).

 

[Rand]

I have to agree with you so far on the NWN single player game. BG2 was much much better. One of these days I'm going to remove and reinstall it without TOB and play it again. BG2 rocks.

I've been having a great deal of trouble with NWN in multiplayer mode... mostly joining a local game with friends. It seems to be very buggy and get corrupt game saves. We've wasted 4 entire evenings due to this. We are on the latest patch now and still happening. NWN is supposed to be at it's best in multiplayer but they have some fixing to do still!!!!

I havent played around with the NWN multiplayer component to much yet, it's disappointing to hear of problems with it. BioWare is typically one of the few vendors that is extremely good about releasing solid and working releases, with few if any bugs. I have faith they will fix whatever issues remain in future patches however.

The multipayer component really isnt worth much to me as I figure if I wanted a multiplayer D&D/RPG session I could just as easily go out and play REAL 3e D&D. Playing a session/campaign in real life is infinitely more enjoyable then any computer simulation could ever be IMHO.
For me, computer RPG's are purely a single player experience. D&D in real life more then adequately covers any 'multiplayer' desires I may have.

 

[Mem]

I've been having a great deal of trouble with NWN in multiplayer mode... mostly joining a local game with friends. It seems to be very buggy and get corrupt game saves. We've wasted 4 entire evenings due to this. We are on the latest patch now and still happening. NWN is supposed to be at it's best in multiplayer but they have some fixing to do still!!!!

Most of the problems are around the latest patch 1.21,most gamers are going back to the 1.20 patch since the stability on that patch is a lot better,infact at the NWN forums most people recommend you install the 1.20 patch and not the latest 1.21 version.I`m playing it at the moment with 1.20 patch and it has not crashed once ,BG2 is a better game(I did finish BG2) but so far I`m enjoying NWN,I also finished Morrowind as well.

 

[powerMarkymark]

Just do like me, get all three.....

 

[scottrico]

GTA3 was weak!!

NWN is the bomb!