OT - Favorite games
 

I've started making my own mod nation, so I looked for units beyond Dom III, and than I remembered some games I used to play earlier,
What are your top 5 games besides Dominion? Here's my list,

Heroes of might and magic I,II,III, Heroes IV and beyond are crap.
Might and Magic VI,VII,VIII
Orion II
Alpha Centauti
and maybe Lords of the Realms II or Age of Empires.

And the two most played would be Heroes III and Alpha Centauri.

P.S. If anyone has an image I could use for a Phoenix unit that would be nice, since I wanted to use the Phoenix from Heroes III and it can't be found on the forum for some reason.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Well, for favorite games overall I would go

Company of Heroes
Oblivion
Battlefield 1942
AoE 2
Total War games

As far as games you could actually use for a Dominions mod...

Warlords Battlecry 3
Warcraft 3
Age of Wonders
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
LOTR Battle for Middle Earth

Edit: Oh, and I'll throw in Kohan 2 also

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

the kohan series
the europa universalis series
the disciples series
arcanum
nobunaga's ambition lord of darkness

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I am not very computer savvy....

However I DO still have Heroes 3 and can load it if there is a way to get the image off there.

I agree Heroes 1,2,3 (after that they are very poor)

Orion2 (I used to play that on TEN at 19.95 a month) and Still have it and load er up once in a while.

Civil War Generals 2

Lord of the Realm 1,2 (three just didn't get it)

Fallout1 and 2 (havn't tried 3)

These where simple games, but brought hundreds of hours of enjoyment to me. I wish sometimes that maybe we didn't have so many graphics and 'real time' games, I guess I didn't mind how realistic they where.... I just adjusted to the game.

Just an opionion

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

My kids are nuts about HOMM3. Over the past year they have played it far more than the newer glossier titles. Even more than the Wii or PS3 stuff. Gets trickier to load with each computer iteration.

MOO2 is also a mainstay at our house.

For LAN play Supreme Commander is a riot. Even the wife joins in with the 3 of us boys against
computer teams.

CIV4 gets played WAN with our "big" kids in other states. Another good allied game.

For War games I still fire up the old SSI games in dosbox. Mainly War in Russia and Clash of Steel. Occasionally Carrier Strike. Funny to see the kids hovering over my shoulder when the torpedoes start dropping. Sub-VGA, crappy sound, but they are RIVETTED... ;)

-ssj

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

If you haven't yet check out the Fall from Heaven 2 mod for Civ IV, a tonne of different races and units with excellent graphics there. It has a good downloadable manual so getting images shouldn't be too hard.

Light elves, dark elves, golems, dwarves, undead, demons, pirates, horse tribes, mystics, orcs, desert nomads, arctic types, arcane scholar types... you name it they got it

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

1. Lord of the Realm 2 (All time favorite if excluding Dominions.)
2. Oblivion (modded to the hilt)
3. Total Annihilation:TCC / Supreme Commander (spiritual successor to TA)
4. Dungeon Keeper 1&2 (Imp slappin' goodness! :) )
5. Age of Empires series (including SWGB which used the same engine as AoK)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I can't believe no one's mentioned some of my favorites:

1) XCom
2) Master of Magic
3) Imperialism II
4) Planescape: Torment
5) Betrayal at Krondor

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Master of Magic Dungeon Keeper and Disciples, I forgot about those games, good games, Starcraft also.

Than it's not just me. Cause I can't think of a single new/newish game that's actually worth playing or mentioning, it's all about the graphics now, better graphic better game for some reason.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

That isn't true at all. There are hundreds of relatively recently released games that are superb. Definitely not so true in the tbs world though, especially fantasy tbs.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Civilization (4 then 2 and 1 )
NetHack
Master of Magic
Arcanum
Daiblo II

Indeed Civ 4 Fall from Heaven 2 mod has a few nations which could be modded into something interseting.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I wouldn't agree Sombre, although I mostly play some RPG games and strategies mostly, and mostly turn-based strategies.
There are only a hand full of games that interested me in the last few years.

Diablo II was a great game, never menaged to finish it doe, if I recall correctly it was one of the top selling games of all times.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

My favorite non-Dominions PC games:

• Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
• PeaceMaker (try it!)
• Sid Meier's Pirates!
• Conquest of Elysium
• Master of Orion II

If you include other gaming platforms, I can add:

• any Zelda game
• Urban Dead (web-based MMORPG)
• iShoot (iPhone)
• Loot Wars (iPhone MMORPG)
• Tradewinds 2 (Palm)
• Westward (Palm)
• Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (Palm)

I spend way too much time playing games.... ;)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Do you have a link for Sid Meier's Pirates perhaps, I tried to find a while back on the internet without success. :)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Sure, here's my favorite fan site for Sid Meier's Pirates:
Hooked on Pirates!

If you check their Links section, they can guide you to all sorts of other Pirates websites....

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Spectrum - Lords of Midnight & Doomdark's Revenge, Tau Ceti, Jet Set Willy, Rebelstar, Atic Atac.

Amiga - The Chaos Engine, Civilisation, Laser Squad, UFO:Enemy Unknown

PC - Deus Ex, Counter-Strike: Source, Planescape: Torment, Medieval: Total War, Highway To The Reich

That's a pretty good representation.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Ah yes, favourite games. As i get older, i find my self finding it more difficult to find a game that keeps my interest longer than 5 mins. I don't know if it echos Executors sentiments, or if its me, but its nothing like the old days of gaming.

Top 5 (not including Dom3 as thats a given)

Civ series (I spent more time on Civ2 than...)

XCom (Great games - Enemy Unknown was a gem)

Operational art of War (oh boy, Nothing like a PBEM campaign fighting the entire Vietnam War or the the Eastern Front over 4 years. Truly epic contests!)

Titlebout (I used to have the boardgame version of this when i was a youngster, then the various computer versions took over - sports siming greatness)

Moo3 (With the Chocolate Mod. This game really deserves a second look by all. The modders have turned this one into an awesome space game experience... Great AI. Macro level decision making, Politics, Ship building, magic!)

My tastes of late seem to have shifted to the offerings of indie developers. Games like Armaggedon Empires ( the upcoming Solium Infernum looks really interesting)

http://www.crypticcomet.com/games/SI..._Infernum.html

and Westnoth surely deserve a mention.

As a side hijack to the thread, what are some peoples favourite indie games? I'd love to have more of them to check out.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I like Chess Titans and Mine Sweeper

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

A fair point. If you're going by time spent over the years, Tetris, Mine sweeper and solitaire probably rank pretty high.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I also can't remember any top-shelf strategy game in about 5 years.

Cossacks I (and especially American Conquest) — still unbeatable RTS;
C&C:Generals ZH — "quickplay" RTS;
Myth I-II — "pure" tactics;
Mechcommander I — x-tactics;

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

My bests:

Warlords Battlecry II (best RTS)
MOOII (best TBS)
Civ 4 (best game mechanics - I really like how tech advances uncovered strategic resources that alter the landscape, also the concept of culture was cool though similar to dominion in hindsight)
BG II (best rpg)
Diablo II (best turn off my mind and click game)
M&M 6 (most fun exploring a world game and you got love flying)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

For me:

Battlefield 2142 (whole series really)
Guild Wars
Oblivion
Star Wars Empire at War
Caesar 3 (4 is no where near as good)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

My bests (note that I've never been a too die-hard computer player):

Stragedy*: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on Wii. (the plot is pretty poor, but the battles are extremely well-designed and awakened my puzzling bones in a way I've never experienced before)

RPG: Baldur's Gate 2 + Throne of Bhaal + some mods (Final Fantasies have absolutely nothing on this, the battles are better, the chatacters are less one-dimensional, dialogue is actually good, etc....)

Action: Zelda: Twilight Princess (It's just so god-damned perfectly set-up gaming experience, at some points nearing to an artistic experience.)

Board: Agricola (I mean just whoopidy whoopidy damn. This is pretty damn well designed game. It never plays out the same as the last time. Even the solitaire version is good and addictive!)

*since nominating dom3 would be pretty stupid, I'm going for the second best.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Have you played any other Fire Emblem games, Burnsaber? I think Radiant Dawn is possibly the worst in the series. Not knocking your taste in games, I love Fire Emblem but that was the one title I couldn't finish. If you haven't played the others it only gets better and better.

I thought we already had a thread like this but I don't mind repeating. I'll try to pick some that haven't been mentioned yet.

X-COM: UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown
Star Control 2
Master of Magic
Stars!
Final Fantasy Tactics

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I did indeed forget MoM and Xcom. Rumors or a MoM sequel still linger.
-ssj

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I'd give a Special Award to Chaos Control, loads of fun sending your weird gangs everywhere (Killer Clowns anyone ?), I still play it from time to time. It has everything a classical tbs must have, but packed in a very fun background and a special sense of humor.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Actually, I haven't played the other parts. I was thinking of playing the Gamecube (Path of Radiance?) one, once I manage to get my dirty hands on it and some appropiate controllers. Perhaps the "freshness" of the Fire Emblem experience was thedeciding factor? Is the plot/characters any better fleshed out in the prequels? IMHO, that was the only thing that really bothered me in Radiant Dawn (well that, and the existance of "junk" characters, you really should be able to see the growth percentages in-game)

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I'm currently enjoying the new King's Bounty game. It's got a lot of what HOMMV should have had.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, I also forgot an obsure game that started a huge movement...

It was called Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (around 94)

And the second one Warhammer:Dark-Omen (around 97)

I took my online name Grudgebringer from that series From the GrudgeBringer Cavelry.

I also took my Pretender name on D3 from the same title Dark-Omen

Now Warhammer is a staple

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Here's a game I'm surprised no-one's mentioned: Fantasy General. It was in SSI's Panzer General series, and the only one in that series I ever really got into (but I admit that I'm not generally big on historical wargames).

Top 5
1. MoM
2. Fantasy General
3. <a href="http://www.lasersquadnemesis.com/">Laser Squad Nemesis</a> (anyone who likes Dom 3 and liked X-Com should check this one out)
4. The Perfect General (the QQP game, no connection to the Panzer General series)
5. Warlords II

I didn't list X-Com because LSN kind-of includes it, and I didn't list MOO 2 because it was always second in my heart to MoM. I also really liked the feel of the Disciples games, but I have my gripes with them as well (which I'll hold my tongue on). Ditto for Final Fantasy Tactics, the only console game I ever truly loved.

I'm pretty disenchanted with the productions of the big players in the games industry: EA, Maxis, Sony, Microsoft, and even Nintendo and Blizzard, but part of that is because almost anything describable with the acronym FPS, RTS or MMORPG gives me hives.

If you ask me, a lot of good games are being made, but they're indie or even freeware/open source. <a href="http://www.wesnoth.org/">Battle for Wesnoth</a> doesn't get me quite the way Fantasy General did, but it provides my hexmap TBS fix, and <a href="http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/">Endgame: Singularity</a> is like X-Com without the squad combat - and yes, it works. But I suppose I should take these thoughts over to the favorite indie games thread.:rolleyes:

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I love LSN, it's just a little too time intensive for me these days. I loved Warlords II as well, we have similar taste in games. :)

Burnsaber, I have not played the Gamecube Fire Emblem but I've heard it's very good. Both of the GBA Fire Emblem games are excellent. I think all the games have some junk characyers though.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

There is a third handheld Fire Emblem now. Keep meaning to get it...

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I was going to mention Fantasy General by SSI myself even though it got mixed reviews.

If you like that game get the semi-new game called Fantasy General.

VERY VERY similar but caution....don't expect to go through any scenario in one shot!!

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Fantasy General is a nice game, but it gets a little boring towards the end.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Oh, this Laser Squad Nemesis game looks cool.

And now I've also got a hankering to play Panzer General too (I liked it better than Fantasy General).

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Right now the games I have installed are...
SEiv, Dom3 and Dwarf Fortress
But normally atleast once a year I will install on my comp
Imperialism II, Warlords II, Crusader Kings, SNES Emulator to play roleplaying games
and every now and then I load up a Final Fantasy game on the PSII. Except for 9 and 11 I've got all the FF titles to play around with

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

If you love Laser Squad: Nemesis, you can check out their earlier work, they've been making that sort of game for about 30 years. Grab a Spectrum emulator, and check out Chaos, Rebelstar, Rebelstar II and Laser Squad. Only SP or hotseat MP and obviously much more simplistic, but they're still really playable today. It's amazing how much fun could be put into 48k.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Lords of Chaos (again by the Gollop brothers) is also worth a look for retro fantasy TBS.

And FWIW Laser Squad was very good on the Amstrad CPC.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I like this thread, full of games I played and enjoyed.

Anyone heard of Out of the Shadows, that was a great early roleplaying game on the 48K spectrum, out about the same time as Lords of Midnight.

You wondered around random dungeons with a torch/lantern and each room had so many monsters to kill in real time combat, it was quite tense and frantic. Like when you ended up surrounded by trolls for the first time and dead 2-3 secs later, they used to hit for huge amounts of damage. Had Balrogs, dragons, giant spiders, wishes, magic wands, rods, a shop, teleport, pass through wall. Invisibilty, even you could not see yourself, so you used to bump into walls and take 1 hp damage, also the ring had a small chance of accidently falling off, no fun when nicking treasure from a room full of dragons! The was about a half a dozen quests to complete and each game had 500 random dungeon/wilderness areas.

Good fun.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

erm chaos overlords?

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Yes, LSN looks to be real good. I loved X-Com.

Anyone here play MMORPG'S? If so I would recommend Perfect World. It is free but there are ways to spend plenty real life money if you desire. Caution! 1.2 gig download. I love the game but it requires more time than I have to give.

Otherwise some of my favorite games have been Panzer Campaigns, Hearts of Iron II, Gary Grigsby's American Civil War, and now I am playing the old boardgame monster turned computer game.....War in Europe. Also like Medieval: Total War

I never really got into fantasy games until Dominions.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Guys, if you haven't tried Laser Squad Nemesis (LSN) then you're really missing out on one of the best TBS titles. I went back and took another look at it recently and I'm hooked solid (bought 3 subscriptions as gifts and we are having a blast with it). It's perfect for the more cerebral, busy crowd with its email-paced play and infinite subtlety. It's one of those chess-styled games that is very easy to learn but difficult to master (and there are a lot of masters out there playing in the uber tournaments regularly hosted). Great game and I obviously can't say enough about it.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Regnor...I only downloaded the demo, but man you are right!! This is a fun game and I can see where a person could waste a whole lotta time playing this one!!!!

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Strange, I bought the game about 3 or 4 years ago and couldn't get into it at all - it seemed like the combat system was much simpler/worse than in the xcom series (particularly apocalypse).

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Sombre, I had a similar reaction the first time I looked at LSN. But my first impression was approximately the same as dismissing chess because of the funny way that knights move. The first impression many people have of this game is the things that are *missing* from it. But after spending some time playing against much better players (and reading a couple of the more esoteric guides) I came to realize that there was a world of subtlety and nuance to the combat system that gives the game significant tactical and strategic depth. One of those rare games (like Dom) where your choices really make a difference.

Jimkehn, if you feel like playing a friendly noob game some time, send a Challenge to Regnor Vex (two words, spaced).

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Loved X-Com, don't like LSN.

Lacks atmosphere.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

Yeah, Xcom and LSN are very different games. It's probably not a good idea comparing them because it feels like comparing checkers and chess simply because they use the same gameboard. The games have the same developer and the artwork is similar, but that's about it. A game like Xcom is an experience, you against the AI and you are right, it is very atmospheric. I loved it and that was just one reason.

What I like about LSN is almost exactly what I like about chess: it's you vs. a human opponent in a game of tactics, strategy and wills. Like chess, it doesn't have much atmosphere and its appeal is defined almost solely by its gameplay. And of course, like any game, it won't appeal to everyone.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I recently DL the 'orange box' from steam and love it. Portal is quirky and fun. Half Life 2 has excellent story-telling and an atmosphere unlike any I've experienced since System Shock 2. Team Fortress 2 is just, well, wacky, violent, and encourages team work :D. Make of that what you will.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

I'll second that vote for Portal. Talk about atmosphere, I still carry around the end theme song (Still Alive) on my iPod lol because it's so hilarious and brings back such fond memories.

Re: OT - Favorite games
 

"We were going to throw a huge party for you, and we were going to invite your friend the Companion Cube. But he couldn't make it. Because you killed him."

priceless