Recommend me some PC games

I'm looking for PC games appropriate for someone who doesn't have typical "PC gamer" taste. I don't like RTS games (I liked some back in the day, but have lost all interest in the genre). I hate MMO's. I hate flight sims. I don't like The Sims or anything like it; however, I do like certain "management" games, like Sim Tower. Although I do like RPGs in general, I really don't like the Diablo/Bioware style. FPS is pretty iffy; I like them, but single-player only (so if it's mainly good for the multiplayer, count me out), and only if they're "special" in some way. I loved Deus Ex for example, but did not care for Unreal Tournament.

So what do I like? Aside from the aforementioned "non-Diablo/Bioware-style RPGs" (which I don't expect to find many examples of) and "special FPS games", I dig adventure games, action-adventure, general action games, turn-based strategy (especially the Civilization series, and potentially anything resembling it), third-person shooters, platformers, puzzle games, 2D shooters, non-sim driving games, etc.

I own every console except the 360. If a game is available for a non-360 console, I favor the console version, unless the PC version is somehow way better. Mouse and keyboard control may be enough to qualify as "way better" depending on the game, but simply having higher-res graphics doesn't cut it.

The games should be recent or semi-recent (last 5 years or so). This is mainly because I'm running Vista, not because I'm opposed to older games. So the game can be originally older than that, if there's been a recent re-release or bundle or something. I don't want to buy a download (so no download-only games), but current availability of a download version probably indicates that the retail version will function.

Wow, that was a bit long. Anyway, here's my current PC collection:

American McGee's Alice
Civilization III Complete
Civilization IV Complete
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Defender of the Crown: Heroes Live Forever
Lemmings Revolution
Overclocked: A History of Violence
Portal
Republic: The Revolution
Secret Files: Tunguska
Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game
SiN Episode 1
Thayer's Quest
Best of Games: RPG -- 2006 release, contains six older games: Septerra Core, KnightShift, Another War, Gorky 17, Jack Orlando Director's Cut, and Gooka: The Mystery of Janatris. They're not all RPGs, but whatever. I mainly got it for Septerra Core.

I know I want World of Goo, Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, Crazy Machines, and 3 Cards to Midnight... that's about it. Help me out here.

I would have recommended "Serious Sam: First & Second Encounter", for the beautiful Egyptian/Mayan visuals and the "holy shit, did I just survive that?" encounters but:

A. more than 5 years old
B. mindless shooting compared to the likes of "Half-Life 2" and such.

"American McGee's Alice" was awesome for its atmosphere.

Eesh, I was gonna recommend Condemned: Criminal Origins, but that one's already on your list.

I'll have to second Rusty's recommendation for the first two Serious Sam games, if only because my name's in the credits. :)

Diablo/Bioware style? Those games play completely different on the PC. Diablo is a mindless and linear hack 'n slash while you can get through many parts of Bioware RPGs without fighting, they are pretty open ended, and the story/characters are much more developed.

System Shock 1-2 are similar to Deus Ex, and so is Strife but it's an old Doom clone. Not sure if Vista is compatible with DOSbox, otherwise I'd recommend more games.

You probably know about Half Life 2, best FPS I've played in a long time.

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Originally Posted by Devil N

I'll have to second Rusty's recommendation for the first two Serious Sam games, if only because my name's in the credits. :)

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This is rock solid truth.

I checked, he's there.

Trackmania nations is an awesome racing game.

You can download it free through steam and if you like it,
You can buy the full retail pack or the download version.

If you like racing... and hot wheels style stunt tracks, then
it is totally worthy of a download.

I'm a PC game guy myself so I hope this helps.

Heretic
Hexen
Hexen II
Painkiller + Expansion
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Warcraft III + Frozen Thrown Expansion
Call of Duty 5: World at War
Might and magic 6, 7 , 8 , 9
Heroes of Might and Magic 4
Quake 1, 2, 4
Ultimate Doom / Doom II
Mech Warrior 4 (Soon to be free on Tekmek.net)
Command and Conquer (All of them are good especially the Red Alert series)
Diablo 1 and 2 with expansion pack
StarCraft
Earth Siege 2
Lands of Lore: Guardians of Destiny
Post Mortem
Black Mirror
Jack the Ripper
Barrow Hill
Fallout 1 and 2
Duke Nukem 3D
Redneck rampage

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot these ones

Max Payne 1 & 2
Half-life 1 & 2
Dead Space

You need Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines & The Witcher, as excellent RPGs go.

For 2d shooters, there's an awesome freeware game called Iji. I made a thread on it here somewhere.

I was going to suggest Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, but the price is out the roof!

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Jedi...0180065&sr=8-1

Maybe you'd like to buy my copy. :p

I'd go with the following PC games:

Sonic R
Call of Duty
Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
Star Wars: Jedi Knight III - Jedi Academy

All the rest of the stuff I would recommend is Multiplayer :/.

Only in the last five years?

You're cutting out a hell of a lot of good stuff by staying so recent.

Dang. Every game The Edge listed, I was going to mention. Well you mentioned you don't like MMOs, but Phantasy Star Online is still pretty good. I recommend Sanitarium and Almost any game listed here. You could try The Elder Scrolls Morrowind. Monkey Island is always good for a chuckle, and Freelancer if you don't mind space flight. Why do the games need to be so recent?

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Originally Posted by Alianger

Diablo/Bioware style? Those games play completely different on the PC. Diablo is a mindless and linear hack 'n slash while you can get through many parts of Bioware RPGs without fighting, they are pretty open ended, and the story/characters are much more developed.

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They're still the same overall style. Either way, I don't like either of them. I like Septerra Core, and I like Ultima VII (though it's too old). Neverwinter Nights just about put me to sleep.

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System Shock 1-2 are similar to Deus Ex, and so is Strife but it's an old Doom clone. Not sure if Vista is compatible with DOSbox, otherwise I'd recommend more games.

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I loved System Shock 2 at the time, but it might be too old now.

Dosbox does work on Vista, but I'm not really looking for games that old. I'm looking for retail copies of games only (including used), and I don't have a floppy drive.

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You probably know about Half Life 2, best FPS I've played in a long time.

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I've only played the first Half-Life. I wasn't a fan. I thought SiN was better.

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Originally Posted by Falxix

Dang. Every game The Edge listed, I was going to mention. Well you mentioned you don't like MMOs, but Phantasy Star Online is still pretty good. I recommend Sanitarium and Almost any game listed here. You could try The Elder Scrolls Morrowind. Monkey Island is always good for a chuckle, and Freelancer if you don't mind space flight. Why do the games need to be so recent?

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I do like PSO, but I was under the impression that the PC version didn't work anymore.

I played Morrowind on Xbox and hated it. Very dull and lifeless. I love the Monkey Island series, maybe the special edition or the new episodic series will eventually have a boxed release.

The games need to be recent because I've already had problems getting old games to work. Like I said, the game itself can be older if it has a recent re-release or is known to be well-supported, or something.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

They're still the same overall style. Either way, I don't like either of them. I like Septerra Core, and I like Ultima VII (though it's too old).

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The Bioware RPGs are pretty much based on Ultima 7. I'm beginning to think you haven't actually played any of the pre-NW games, which is Bioware in their prime. BG1 & 2 + expansions, Fallout 1 & 2. Planescape Torment...

Never liked HL1 myself, but that SiN game was pretty tacky in comparison. Only played a demo but I ended up getting stuck in a wall and didn't play it again.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I've only played the first Half-Life. I wasn't a fan. I thought SiN was better.

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Half Life 2 is different in a lot of ways, maybe at least find a demo to try out?


Also, if you don't already have them on other platforms, I'd sugggest the Silent Hill games, particularly 2 and 3 (unfortunately the original game wasn't ported to PC), some of th elater games are OK, but the first 3 are the best, at least so far.

If you at all like graphic adventure style games (like the old Lucas Arts SCUMM games, or Myst, or newer ones like Grimm Fandango), maybe look into the new Tales of Monkey Island game, as well as the high quality remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island.

Now that I mentioned it, I know it's older, but if you haven't played Grimm Fandango, I highly reccomend it.

I also agree about Serious Sam +SE, again older, but awesome (and with some nice Satire too, kind of like Duke Nukem, but moreso). That also reminds me of MDK 2, again, older, but one to check out if you haven't. (there's a good Dreamcast port too)

Some of the ones I like for the PC

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (its on the new dark athena release but haven't played that version)

Prey

Max Payne 1 and 2

Burnout Paradise

Neverhood

Grim Fandango

Spear of Destiny by Id Software
Powerslave by Lobotomy Software.

DosBox can help you run these games.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I do like PSO, but I was under the impression that the PC version didn't work anymore.

I played Morrowind on Xbox and hated it. Very dull and lifeless. I love the Monkey Island series, maybe the special edition or the new episodic series will eventually have a boxed release.

The games need to be recent because I've already had problems getting old games to work. Like I said, the game itself can be older if it has a recent re-release or is known to be well-supported, or something.

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Phantasy Star Online did have its official server dropped, but there is a private server, SCHTHACK being run. And even without that, it still works in offline mode.

I also know for a fact that Fallouts 1 and 2 work on Vista, as I currently have them installed. The only issue I ever had was the resolution, but that can be remedied with one of the various mods out there.

And While I'm here, let me mention some others, there's the first two Oddworld Games which I was completely taken by. As well as Rollercoaster Tycoon and the like, if you're into it. Then there's Cave Story, a free completely awesome Platformer. And those are all games that I know for a fact work well on Vista, so long as they suit your tastes. As for DosBox, I've had very mixed results using it, so I can understand your concern.

Starcraft. Best PC game ever.

Stronghold is an amusing mix of resource management, battle, and "mood management" (you have to keep your people happy or they start disappearing).

I cannot reccomend Stalker: Shadows of Chernobyl more than any game that is out right now. The game is just plain awesome. The prequal has better graphics than the first one and rivals that of Crysis with the proper card. Gameplay is similar to that of Fallout, but doesn't have a leveling system. A problem that is fixed now is the constant craching without the patches. I highly suggest the Priboi story mod if you get it.

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Originally Posted by Alianger

The Bioware RPGs are pretty much based on Ultima 7. I'm beginning to think you haven't actually played any of the pre-NW games, which is Bioware in their prime. BG1 & 2 + expansions, Fallout 1 & 2. Planescape Torment...

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I played Baldur's Gate 2 for a little bit, and it couldn't hold my interest.

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Never liked HL1 myself, but that SiN game was pretty tacky in comparison. Only played a demo but I ended up getting stuck in a wall and didn't play it again.

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The earliest builds of SiN were extremely buggy. This includes the original retail release, which was unacceptable. The patch took too long to come out, and when it did, it was the largest patch in history up to that point.

However, once it's all patched up (or if you play the version that was included in SiN Episode 1), it's an excellent game.

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

Half Life 2 is different in a lot of ways, maybe at least find a demo to try out?

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I guess. I dunno, nobody's given me a description of the game that sounded all that appealing. When I ask what's so great about it, I always get this fanboyish frothy-mouthed response with a lot of vague claims of grandeur. Meh.

Also, Valve games in general haven't really done it for me. Left 4 Dead was a disappointment. Team Fortress is meh, Day of Defeat is meh, Counter-Strike is meh. I did like Portal a lot, but that's it.

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Now that I mentioned it, I know it's older, but if you haven't played Grimm Fandango, I highly reccomend it.

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Grim Fandango was one of my favorites at the time, and actually, compatibility isn't an issue. It has a really strong fan community, and as a result there is a fan-made installer program that makes it compatible with Vista. However, isn't it like, really expensive?

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Originally Posted by Falxix

Phantasy Star Online did have its official server dropped, but there is a private server, SCHTHACK being run. And even without that, it still works in offline mode.

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I was under the impression that the PC version of PSO didn't work in offline mode. Perhaps I was misinformed.

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OMG AGE OF EMPIRES 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Falxix

I also know for a fact that Fallouts 1 and 2 work on Vista, as I currently have them installed. The only issue I ever had was the resolution, but that can be remedied with one of the various mods out there.

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Walmart and Target have a Fallout package that includes these 2 games, plus Fallout Tactics for $20. I believe if it works on XP, it'll most likely work on Vista.

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Originally Posted by The Sports Guy

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OMG AGE OF EMPIRES 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I loved crushing enemy civilizations as the Turks.

Soften up some castles and Town Centers with Trebuchets and cannons and finish things off with an Elite Jannisary Squad.

The only thing I hate about AoE2 is that they made ships so goddamn weak. In the first game I could count on my ships to secure the waves, and soften up those shores for a navel invasion. Now one lousy guy can take like 10 direct hits from *12 ships* and still live? 5-6 explosive ships to take down *ONE* ship? Whatever.

One of the best Adventures of the past five years is Telltales "Sam & Max - Season 1"

It comes in six "episodes" that together make for a full-length game. What's best is that you can officially download the Episode "Abe Lincoln must die" for free. I highly recommend giving it a try!

As for "Non-sim Driving Games", try Trackmania Nations.

Apparently my OP was too long-winded and people just skimmed it. Here's is a bulleted list of what I'm looking for:

-- Retail (boxed disc) releases only
-- Will run on my Vista machine -- either because it's recent, it's well-supported, or it has a recent re-release
-- No DOS, and no floppy disk games, regardless of the above
-- Isn't available for a non-360 console, unless the console version is much worse (explain how it's worse)
-- No RTS, MMO, racing sims, flight sims, "Diablo/Bioware-style RPGs", typical FPS, or The Sims

I know this is extremely picky, but that's why I need help.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Also, Valve games in general haven't really done it for me. Left 4 Dead was a disappointment. Team Fortress is meh, Day of Defeat is meh, Counter-Strike is meh. I did like Portal a lot, but that's it.

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I haven't played a whole lot of them in general, except for multiplayer, which was good. (I liked the old Team Fortress and Half Life Opposing Force particularly) Counterstrike's good too, but I'm kind of partial to the older ones. (back ~2002 there was a "computer club" at my middle school that met in the computer lab -filled with win 98 PC's, with LAN- more or less a computer gaming club)

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Grim Fandango was one of my favorites at the time, and actually, compatibility isn't an issue. It has a really strong fan community, and as a result there is a fan-made installer program that makes it compatible with Vista. However, isn't it like, really expensive?

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Wow, yeah, hadn't realized that, glad we've already got a copy (and there's the patch). Kind of like some other cult games. (I think even Silent Hill 1 is pretty high)

j_factor, I'm gonna recommend you stick with "Minesweeper".

Sid Meders Alpha Centauri and its expansion, Alien Crossfire.

Stuff was good and time sucking.

Might I also suggest Combat Arms, it is free and rewards you for shooting people in the no-no's. It is similar to CS, but surpasses it in many ways.

Get the motherfucking Neverhood.

Grim Fandango too, I guess.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Apparently my OP was too long-winded and people just skimmed it. Here's is a bulleted list of what I'm looking for:

-- Retail (boxed disc) releases only
-- Will run on my Vista machine -- either because it's recent, it's well-supported, or it has a recent re-release
-- No DOS, and no floppy disk games, regardless of the above
-- Isn't available for a non-360 console, unless the console version is much worse (explain how it's worse)
-- No RTS, MMO, racing sims, flight sims, "Diablo/Bioware-style RPGs", typical FPS, or The Sims

I know this is extremely picky, but that's why I need help.

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I'll stick with my recommendations of Starcraft and Stronghold. Starcraft fits all of your criteria except the last, and the last one pretty much rules out PC gaming. It is the best RTS ever made and is tons of fun (if you play against humans - I'm not big on the single player mode).

If you don't want to play against people, Stronghold is quite a bit of fun because it is technically an RTS, but it really doesn't play like a typical one. Instead of resource management, you're really managing your town, including food, resources, politics, religion, and other incentives to get your people to go fight for you. It makes for an interesting balance as you try and manage a city well enough so that they'll go out and kill for you. It is quite unique.

Any other game I could recommend is excluded by your list, which is pretty restrictive:) I'm not a big PC gamer, but you seem to have ruled out most genres which make up PC gaming....

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Originally Posted by sketch

I'll stick with my recommendations of Starcraft and Stronghold. Starcraft fits all of your criteria except the last, and the last one pretty much rules out PC gaming. It is the best RTS ever made and is tons of fun (if you play against humans - I'm not big on the single player mode).

If you don't want to play against people, Stronghold is quite a bit of fun because it is technically an RTS, but it really doesn't play like a typical one. Instead of resource management, you're really managing your town, including food, resources, politics, religion, and other incentives to get your people to go fight for you. It makes for an interesting balance as you try and manage a city well enough so that they'll go out and kill for you. It is quite unique.

Any other game I could recommend is excluded by your list, which is pretty restrictive:) I'm not a big PC gamer, but you seem to have ruled out most genres which make up PC gaming....

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I actually own Starcraft (along with Brood War) already, along with a few other older games that I didn't bother listing. I enjoyed Starcraft at the time, along with a few prior RTS games like the original Command & Conquer. I've just lost all interest in the genre, for whatever reason. Maybe I just can't "keep up" with them.

And yes I know it's rather restrictive, but there's still plenty of room for games. It may sound like "he doesn't like anything" but I actually like a lot of stuff:

Adventure games -- Not dead yet, right? I love this genre. Overclocked was one of my favorite games last year.
Atypical RPGs -- I love Pirates! (which I have on Xbox), Septerra Core, and the Quest for Glory series, for starters. Where are the rest of the RPGs like these?
FPS -- I may have sounded a bit dismissive of FPS. Mainly I don't like multiplayer focused ones. I loved Deus Ex, Tron 2.0, Bioshock, and others.
Turn-based strategy -- Pretty much anything in this genre, including 4X (Civilization), strategy-RPG, even card battle games and stuff like Worms
Action-adventure -- You know, like Tomb Raider and shit.
Games in space -- Be it strategy, exploration (like Elite), mission-based (Colony Wars), or pure combat.
Puzzle games -- Both Tetris-style and actual puzzle-solving style. Lemmings, The Incredible Machine, World of Goo. More like this.
action, 2d shooters, platformers, driving games, etc. -- Surely there's something.

PSO was a good suggestion (I don't really consider it an MMO). Prey was a good suggestion. Alpha Centauri might be too old, but it was in the right direction. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Freelancer, and The Witcher are maybes that I will look into.

If you like adventure games you might want to check out the Sam and Max games, and possibly Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, if you're into the Homestarrunner cartoons.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

Apparently my OP was too long-winded and people just skimmed it. Here's is a bulleted list of what I'm looking for:

-- Retail (boxed disc) releases only
-- Will run on my Vista machine -- either because it's recent, it's well-supported, or it has a recent re-release
-- No DOS, and no floppy disk games, regardless of the above
-- Isn't available for a non-360 console, unless the console version is much worse (explain how it's worse)
-- No RTS, MMO, racing sims, flight sims, "Diablo/Bioware-style RPGs", typical FPS, or The Sims

I know this is extremely picky, but that's why I need help.

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Hmm, thinking of recent re-releases, if you like graphic adventures there's the Myst collection colpilation. (unfortuanely RealMyst not included...)

So, by "retail boxed disc" are you excluding dowload only games? Otherwise (as I mentioned a while back) for adventure games there's quite a bit, particularly the newer Telltale Games stuff. (Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island, plus there's "Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People" AKA SBCG4AP, if you know of www.homestarrunner.com )
A lot of it is episodic (rather like shareware games).

Also there's the Secret of Monkey Island remake as well. (again download) A great, beautiful, and faithful 2D remake of the original. (with the original 256 color text-only DOS version avalable via "VGA mode")

Edit, sorry I overlooked the last couple posts, still some elaboration to some of it.


j factor, seeing as you like adventure games, the not having "typical PC gamer taste," kind of threw me off a little, as I considder adventure games (particularly Graphic adventure) a key "PC genre," right up there with flight sims. (coinsidentally both Flight/space Sims and Graphic adventures being pretty much my favorite genres)

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I actually own Starcraft (along with Brood War) already, along with a few other older games that I didn't bother listing. I enjoyed Starcraft at the time, along with a few prior RTS games like the original Command & Conquer. I've just lost all interest in the genre, for whatever reason. Maybe I just can't "keep up" with them.

And yes I know it's rather restrictive, but there's still plenty of room for games. It may sound like "he doesn't like anything" but I actually like a lot of stuff:

Adventure games -- Not dead yet, right? I love this genre. Overclocked was one of my favorite games last year.
Atypical RPGs -- I love Pirates! (which I have on Xbox), Septerra Core, and the Quest for Glory series, for starters. Where are the rest of the RPGs like these?
FPS -- I may have sounded a bit dismissive of FPS. Mainly I don't like multiplayer focused ones. I loved Deus Ex, Tron 2.0, Bioshock, and others.
Turn-based strategy -- Pretty much anything in this genre, including 4X (Civilization), strategy-RPG, even card battle games and stuff like Worms
Action-adventure -- You know, like Tomb Raider and shit.
Games in space -- Be it strategy, exploration (like Elite), mission-based (Colony Wars), or pure combat.
Puzzle games -- Both Tetris-style and actual puzzle-solving style. Lemmings, The Incredible Machine, World of Goo. More like this.
action, 2d shooters, platformers, driving games, etc. -- Surely there's something.

PSO was a good suggestion (I don't really consider it an MMO). Prey was a good suggestion. Alpha Centauri might be too old, but it was in the right direction. Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines, Freelancer, and The Witcher are maybes that I will look into.

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So what you're looking for is hidden gems:)

I didn't realize you had SC, since it wasn't on your list. I figure anyone who hasn't played that should definitely try it. But I'm like you; I'm not big on the RTS genre in general. I loved SC, and tried other RTS's, then realized SC was the pinnacle and the others just didn't offer enough for me to bother with.

Stronghold is fun because it is atypical, but if you're burned out of the genre, you may or may not enjoy it.

One other game that I can recommend as being cheap and likely to fit your criteria is Oni. It's action-packed and has a nice mix of weapon and hand-to-hand combat.

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Originally Posted by kool kitty89

Hmm, thinking of recent re-releases, if you like graphic adventures there's the Myst collection colpilation. (unfortuanely RealMyst not included...)

So, by "retail boxed disc" are you excluding dowload only games? Otherwise (as I mentioned a while back) for adventure games there's quite a bit, particularly the newer Telltale Games stuff. (Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island, plus there's "Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People" AKA SBCG4AP, if you know of www.homestarrunner.com )
A lot of it is episodic (rather like shareware games).

Also there's the Secret of Monkey Island remake as well. (again download) A great, beautiful, and faithful 2D remake of the original. (with the original 256 color text-only DOS version avalable via "VGA mode")

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Yes, I'm excluding download only games. It's just this "thing" that I have. Sam & Max Season One was made available on disc (Wii as well as PC) afterwards, and Season Two will be available in such a fashion soon. I hope the same thing happens with Tales of Monkey Island and Strong Bad.

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j factor, seeing as you like adventure games, the not having "typical PC gamer taste," kind of threw me off a little, as I considder adventure games (particularly Graphic adventure) a key "PC genre," right up there with flight sims. (coinsidentally both Flight/space Sims and Graphic adventures being pretty much my favorite genres)

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I dunno, adventure games aren't that popular anymore. I'd say adventure games were a key PC genre, but not anymore.

Beyond Good & Evil.

/Thread

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Originally Posted by Knuckle Duster

Beyond Good & Evil.

/Thread

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That's available on a number of consoles...

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Originally Posted by sketch

That's available on a number of consoles...

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Irrelevant. It's on the PC as well, as is recent The Elder Scrolls Titles, Final Fantasy 11, Cave Story, A number of sports titles, Mirrors Edge, Portal, Half Life Etc. etc.

Even though it's not a genre he likes, I'll still go there:
My personal favorite 'newer' PC title is a 4X-like RTS Sins of a Solar Empire. It's one of those games that can eat entire days with it's 'Just 10 more minutes' addictive gameplay. Conquering solar systems and dealing with massive NPC pirate assaults is surprisingly fun. The single player isn't very 'plot heavy' and you can bribe and form alliances with different factions by trading requested supplies. Opening trade routes, sharing tactical information between planets routes, etc. It's not 'Too complicated' either.

The company doesn't believe in DRM, so you can easily download it to try it out, I highly recommend you do the right thing and buy it legit from them for the patch content, and online multiplayer.

You can micromanage your units completely 'zoomed out' to view solar systems and relying on the hud. You can also zoom really close to see ship to ship combat and planetary bombardment. It's really kick ass. It looks like homeworld, but it's better.