Not a lot of games hold up to replays. What games have you played through several times, and had fun doing it?
Modern Games? I've got 400 hours in L4D2. It totally turned around my once very-negative view of multiplayer online.
X-Com: UFO Defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Enemy_Unknown)
I play though that game about once a year.
My UFC fitness game for the Kinnect?
Generally though i think the strategy games like AoE etc have best replay and the 1st person shooters the least.
Would a game like Civ IV count?
Historically? 'The Big Twos': Civ 2, MoO 2, Star Control 2, Sim City 2000, etc.
Lately? For me, Crusader Kings.
Used to be Europa Universalis, but from the sequel on the fantasy sandbox mode turned to shit with a ridonkulous tight ass European bias ("I thought this was fantasy sandbox mode? Why can't I play a Mali empire conquering France?..."). Hearts of Iron if you're into WWII, but I'm way over WWII.
Biggest thing on the map for me is Battle for Wesnoth, the free turn-based fantasy strat-sim with online community free to craft their own scenarios. And the scenarios can be full productions. Anywhere from 3 to 20+ maps, various units with their own advancement, possibly unique story arc units, different unit pixels, etc. And the story is free to be whatever the designer wants. Kinda like an open source turn-based Shining Force with the map tools immediately available. Love it myself.
I don't do 1st person shooters, like Counterstrike, or either God of War 3rd person camera behind, because of motion sickness. Rarely if ever play sports games for fun. Don't do real time strats, a la Warcraft/Starcraft (miss turn-based strats). And puzzle games are now just stuck in a creativity rut and glut of "me-too!"s.
So I'm not really a great help about what to play nowadays as I'm currently NOT the video game market. Oh well, it was bound to happen someday as I aged.
4X games, definitely. Civilization, Colonization, Master of Magic. Civ1 for simplicity, MoM for complexity. There is a threshold here, though; I couldn't get into Civ2 or Alpha Centaury so well. I prefer something more streamlined.
Games with a ton of good fan content. Thief and Thief 2, mainly (there are altogether something like 900 missions for them, four of those mine, and I think that number doesn't count The Dark Mod), but once upon a time, the Duke Nukem 3d community was bringing out tons of these innovative, fun maps. Unfortunately, level-building has become significantly harder with modern engines, but apparently, Minecraft fills that niche somehow.
And puzzles. I am usually not much into puzzles, but Microsoft had a game called Pandora's Box by Alexey Payitnov (who designed Tetris), and I must have replayed all those puzzles four or five times. Just the right balance between being challenging and being relaxing. Actually, my brother, Dad and Mom all loved it, which really makes it a unique thing. No other game did that. Unfortunately, I don't know where the disk is anymore, and it's not for sale at the moment. Maybe one day.
Hah! I envy you people and your, "game finishing."
I don't think I've ever finished any game I've ever gotten, yet I still keep them...
As far as replay goes, I've never really uninstalled Unreal Tournament 2004 or the Starfleet Command series.
Once I figured out how to hack the settings, C&C Red Alert did it for me. Loads of nonstandard units and mods floating around out there too. Generally anything I can hack and mod keeps me entertained, Civ 2 was another one, I set that up so it would only advance to the medieval age and played it as world spanning kingdoms and empires, and likewise at the musket age and classical age. Sometimes its more fun doing that than actually playing!
Come to think of it I haven't actually played a game on a PC in many years.
They're pretty bad games then, Butch. :D But that's design talk and probably not very useful for this thread. ;)
More on-topic...
Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries was pretty good for replay since it had a ton of missions and was less linear than the original Mech4 or its first expack, Black Knight. There's also the fact that Mech games have a ton of customization built-in, so really even the more linear ones offer a variety of experiences and ways to challenge yourself. Mech2 I've played through several times and it's always fun. The new Mechwarrior Online will offer full mech customization as well as persistent tracking of a faction's holdings and whatnot, so it'll have some focus on long-term play.
As others have said, Civ is super-good for replay value.
Supreme Commander (the first one) is extremely fun even if you just take Instant Action into account. Thousands of units onscreen at once + robots + nukes == awesome.
Freelancer was pretty fun, and has a theoretically infinite number of missions, but gets repetitive after a while. Despite being shallow compared to other space trade/quest games, it's still pretty fun and good for killing time.
Team Fortress 2 and Tribes Ascend (both free, though I've paid for the former) are my go-to FPS multiplayer games atm.
The Elder Scrolls and the new Fallouts potentially have a lot of replay value, but I find myself getting bored with them after finishing the main quests. If you're a completionist or just like fucking around, they'll do you good, though, and I have a few friends who enjoy playing just to see what sort of crazy items they can craft or hijinks they can pull off.
If you like sims, IL-2 Sturmovik has a ton of content at this point and the 10-dollar pack gets you all of the accumulated content for the original series (do not buy the spin-off title Birds of Prey or whatever it is). Not to mention it has a quick-mission builder. You could spend ages playing this game, but you really have to commit to learning how to fly if you want to get the most out of it -- the physics are extremely well done and demand competency.
Also, if you're a masochist who really loves space-trade games, the X series is prettymuch unlimited gameplay/stuff to do. But they're pretty mediocre in terms of design/production values, so I can't recommend them for everyone.
Oh, and I've only played it once, but Vampire: Bloodlines has several different endings/paths, as well as a completely different set of dialogue options for Malkavians. It's definitely a diamond in the rough, but when it shines, it's pretty awesome.
Quote from: Peregrin;558590They're pretty bad games then, Butch. :D But that's design talk and probably not very useful for this thread. ;)
Hell, why not? I love a good threadjack. Fire away.
Quote from: Peregrin;558590The Elder Scrolls and the new Fallouts potentially have a lot of replay value, but I find myself getting bored with them after finishing the main quests. If you're a completionist or just like fucking around, they'll do you good, though, and I have a few friends who enjoy playing just to see what sort of crazy items they can craft or hijinks they can pull off.
Which one of the Elder Scrolls is best for this sort of crafting or hijinking? I've heard Morrowind, but I'd like confirmation.
Dungeons and Dragons Online has more replay value than any other game I've ever enjoyed. It's been my primary computer game ever since it became free to play in September of '09.
Apart from DDO, I got alot of replay out of Moo 1&2, Civ 1&3 and Dungeon Keeper 1&2.
Quote from: The Butcher;558628Hell, why not? I love a good threadjack. Fire away.
Well, I won't go on a rant, but I'll say if you have some spare time, look up Raph Koster. He has a theory blog (very down to earth stuff, though, compared to most game theory) and has also written a book called
The Theory of Fun. He has some good articles on what makes games unique, and good games vs good media experiences, etc.
QuoteWhich one of the Elder Scrolls is best for this sort of crafting or hijinking? I've heard Morrowind, but I'd like confirmation.
Skyrim is definitely a smoother experience, and one of my friends has spent ages just mucking with the crafting system and making his own sets of gear, but I can't say how it compares to the details of Morrowind's since I haven't played Morrowind for any real length of time. Oblivion I've played a decent amount of but don't much care for, and I wouldn't recommend it, honestly.
Depends on your rig, too. Morrowind is older so it'll run on a lot of different machines, Skyrim is quite a bit more graphics intensive.
I'm not a big video game person. Never bought any kind of console, very slow to get new games. But there are several games -- Doom 1, Quake 1, Hexen 1, Heretic 1/2, Rune -- that I will play completely through every other year. ZDoom (which will handle Doom 1/2, Hexen 1, and Heretic) is also good when combined with a random level maker, like Oblige.
Right now, I'm running through Dungeon Keeper 2 again, looking for new ways to approach the old problems. I fiddled around a little with a random level maker for that, too, but it's very iffy.
Dominions 3 gave me a ton of play value; I'd still be playing but I switched laptops and haven't been able to transfer it over.
Pretty much all turn based strategy games have been good for me....Age of Wonders is pretty awesome, too. Right now I'm totally hypnotized by Endless Space, though it has a few flaws.
Quote from: Peregrin;558590If you like sims, IL-2 Sturmovik has a ton of content at this point and the 10-dollar pack gets you all of the accumulated content for the original series (do not buy the spin-off title Birds of Prey or whatever it is). Not to mention it has a quick-mission builder. You could spend ages playing this game, but you really have to commit to learning how to fly if you want to get the most out of it -- the physics are extremely well done and demand competency.
I've really been getting into Railworks (Which is currently aka Train Simulator 2012, but will doubtless change next year). I wasn't an "I want to drive a train!" kid, but... it's fun! You have to think in a very particular way to drive a train. It's completely different to a car, you have to plan much further ahead.
The Trains vs Zombies Halloween missions were also brilliant. A stealth mission? In a train? Why not.
Other than that, I find I prefer short-form arena games these days, although I've played through the Arkham Wherever games a few times, and I still go back to Doom and Halo - Halo 1 has aged really well on PC.
Playing Alpha Centauri and King of Dragon Pass till today (both more than 10 years old) and discovering new things with each play.
If this isnt replay value, i dont know what is. ;)
My friend just reminded me of Vampire: Bloodlines. I'm now re-installing it. I still have fun with that one and Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries.
Most arcade games are perfect for replay, which is why they were so huge.
I LOVE Skyrim. It's easily replayable, as every build plays very differently. Also, with PC Mods, there are a ton of options not available to the console gamers.
Successful MMO's are very replayable, which is why they do so well. WoW, Lotro, the new Star Wars, City of Heroes, etc., will suck you in for days.
The Bard's Tale 1-3
Ultima IV
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Might and Magic 3-6
And I still play Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Been playing it a few times a week for about 13 years now.
Quote from: JRR;564453The Bard's Tale 1-3
Ultima IV
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2
Might and Magic 3-6
And I still play Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Been playing it a few times a week for about 13 years now.
Boy, Ultima IV takes me back to the days of Commodore 64.
If Jumpman could be emulated decently, and there was a way to plug in a joystick, I'd still be playing it.
Past that, I'm hard pressed to think of a C64 game I'd still play, though I'll appreciate some memory jogging.
Edit: Silent Service II, maybe? Haven't played a decent sub sim in ages, much less a fun one.
Quote from: Kaz;558407X-Com: UFO Defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO:_Enemy_Unknown)
I play though that game about once a year.
There is a remake in the works.
Civ 3 was my favourite iteration of the Civ games.
Europa Universalis II is always fun to replay, especially when you go counter factual and take over Europe with your Omani empire, or whatever.
Same goes for Crusader Kings.
I get a lot out of the Football Manager games, but you have to be into football (soccer) to get anything out of them, I would suggest.
Hearts of Iron III is an insanely complex WWII grand strategy game that I still don't fully understand - the replay value comes from figuring out how it all works. Victoria is good for that too. Actually, any Paradox Interactive game has good replay value, I would say.
Sim City (3 or 4) is effectively endless.
I play (and replay):
Knights of Honor
Star Trek Birth of the Federation
Heroes of Might and Magic III
amongst others, with the occasional foray into X-Com terror from the deep.
Current favourite is Knights of Honor. I dare say my Desktop can run the latest games at reasonable frame rates but there's nothing really out there to grab my fancy. The Total War Series lost my interest after the first Shogun Total War (which I loved, but won't play on my W7 Ultimate box, last time I tried). After that the series grew more bloated and system hungry. I recall playing Rome Total War on my previous computer. It was like a slideshow.
Knights of Honor runs fine on just about anything, including my laptop. be warned - it gobbles hours without you noticing...
Quote from: APN;566713I play (and replay):
Knights of Honor
Star Trek Birth of the Federation
Heroes of Might and Magic III
amongst others, with the occasional foray into X-Com terror from the deep.
Current favourite is Knights of Honor. I dare say my Desktop can run the latest games at reasonable frame rates but there's nothing really out there to grab my fancy. The Total War Series lost my interest after the first Shogun Total War (which I loved, but won't play on my W7 Ultimate box, last time I tried). After that the series grew more bloated and system hungry. I recall playing Rome Total War on my previous computer. It was like a slideshow.
Knights of Honor runs fine on just about anything, including my laptop. be warned - it gobbles hours without you noticing...
How's the AI on Knights of Honour? I love games like that, but usually don't like the AI - it's usually either too easy to win, or else made artificially difficult by allowing the AI to cheat and fiddle the system.
QuoteCiv 3 was my favourite iteration of the Civ games.
I found Civ 3 shitty as hell. Very narrow strategically, forcing you to keep creating more cities all the time to survive. Compare that to Alpha Centauri or Civ 4, where you can actually choose to play the way you want ( do I build a lot of cities? Or do I build just a handful but with strong infra-sctructure ? ). IMHO of course.
Quote from: silva;566724I found Civ 3 shitty as hell. Very narrow strategically, forcing you to keep creating more cities all the time to survive. Compare that to Alpha Centauri or Civ 4, where you can actually choose to play the way you want ( do I build a lot of cities? Or do I build just a handful but with strong infra-sctructure ? ). IMHO of course.
The biggest shock of dealing with the transition from Civ 3 to Civ 4 was that there were no more wars over saltpeter, since it was removed from the game.
Quote from: silva;566724I found Civ 3 shitty as hell. Very narrow strategically, forcing you to keep creating more cities all the time to survive. Compare that to Alpha Centauri or Civ 4, where you can actually choose to play the way you want ( do I build a lot of cities? Or do I build just a handful but with strong infra-sctructure ? ). IMHO of course.
I just didn't like the feel of Civ 4 in play. Something about it just didn't sit right with me.
Quote from: noisms;566715How's the AI on Knights of Honour? I love games like that, but usually don't like the AI - it's usually either too easy to win, or else made artificially difficult by allowing the AI to cheat and fiddle the system.
It's ok - there seems to be a lot going on in the background, usually with countries being bribed to go to war with you. You can usually get a reasonable idea of what's happening or about to happen by looking at the countries allies, and who they are at war with.
The other countries also spy on you quite a bit, and scoot off with big chunks of money if you're not careful. That mostly stops when you install a royal family member as a spymaster (your own family won't betray you, but everyone else is more or less a potential enemy) and get them trained up to 5 skill stars.
I like it. It's got a cuddly look thanks to 1024 resolution and graphics are functional enough. Feels like an early 2000s game, which it is. It does have that 'grab' factor though, which I never got from the civilisation games (aside from the first one, on Amiga back in the dark ages)
I haven't played any PC games as much as I played Diablo and Diablo II, but I'd say the Baldur's Gate games were pretty good. LOTRO is a very, very good MMO.
Just bought Crusader Kings II. Think it was here or somewhere else that led me to take the plunge, but it was at a mark down price, so too good (and cheap) to pass on.
A lot of it depends on what genre you're looking at. Management/Construction games like Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft, and the aforementioned X series all have massive amounts of replay value -- if you have the time and desire to play them at all. But even Minecraft isn't for everyone, and many folk simply don't find it entertaining, while even X3: Albion Prelude and especially Dwarf Fortress are mindbogglingly difficult games to actually play and especially enjoy.
My brother could (and has) played Just Cause II for something like four hundred hours; if you're into Grand Theft Auto-style games but want something a little more explody, it's very hard to beat. Other folk... well, I don't understand Halo or Counterstrike experts, but they certainly exist. That said, some general ones :
Deus Ex. If you haven't played this game and can do FPS at all, you owe it to yourself to run through at least Liberty Island. It's not the end-all be-all game that its more diehard fans propose, but it's still damned good. Likewise, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines until at least the end of the Hotel.
Minecraft, especially with The Aether mod, and Terraria.
The Elder Scrolls, particularly Skyrim and Morrowind. They're fundamentally flawed games at a couple mechanical levels, but the sheer amount of content and variety of background is amazing. You will needs mods. You will want the mods. There are folk that have added entire new provinces worth of stuff through mods. So, both in terms of time spent playing through the game at once, and in total replays, they're probably going to beat anything that isn't an MMO.
Fallout : New Vegas and Fallout II.
Any one game from the STALKER series.
Portal (not Portal II). Not the gimicky voice acting and songs, although those help, but because it's the single distillation of level design that really needs to be there.
Homeworld : Cataclysm and Freelancer (or Freespace II mods). The peak of their respective, and largely defunct, genres.
Are all games that I could pick up and play, even if I'd beaten them the month before.
Okami, Legend of Zelda : A Link To The Past, Heavy Gear II, Front Mission III, Bujingai, System Shock II, and a Harvest Moon game probably go into a separate category; they're enjoyable enough to play more than once, but you do need time between playthroughs to keep them from becoming trite.
Portal 2 has the level editor, ergo potentially more replay value than Portal 1.
Quote from: APN;568242Just bought Crusader Kings II. Think it was here or somewhere else that led me to take the plunge, but it was at a mark down price, so too good (and cheap) to pass on.
If you like it, you'll definitely want to buy the Sword of Islam DLC, which is the meatiest by far of all the add-ons. It let's you play Muslim rulers and nobility whose mechanics differ from Christians in several respects. Also enlarges the map towards the southwest to incluse some sub-Saharan Muslim lands.
I seem to be spending quite a bit of time playing Civilization V:Gods and Kings. No two maps are the same, ever. So the game always plays out differently, and there are soooo many Civs to play. Just wish there was an accessible SDK to add in even more cool stuff. The Civ 4 SDK was awesome sauce for adding in bonus content!