PC Games Recommendations

[Red Fighter 1073]

Hey, my brother's in college right now and wants a good game to play on his laptop. He's looking for more of an RPG kind of game. He said he was really interested in getting World of Warcraft but didn't really like having to pay a $15 monthly fee.

I was also thinking of getting him a Guild Wars game. How is that game? If you guys reccomend it, then which version?

So, any reccomendations would be great.

[Tophat]

If you want your brother to pass, do not buy him World of Warcraft. But hey in all seriousness if you have some actual willpower (of which I have none :D) then it's probabley not a problem.

You say he wants a RPG however WoW is a MMORPG, make sure you know the difference before going down that road. I've got no hands on experience with Guild Wars so I can't really advise on that one. If he wants to play WoW I presume we are ruling out single player games and he wants to play a game with other people.

Allthough again I have no firsthand experience with it, NeverWinter Nights 2 offers single player and multiplayer and I think that it has no monthly fee, however in the origional Neverwinter Nights downloading new Modules could
cost money so it might not be what you want.

Theres also the RaiRO Ragnarok server hosted by this website which is an MMORPG with no monthly fee.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I have Guild wars: Factions and the new Nightfall campaign. Factions was great and Nightfall is looking even better so far so I'de say go with that one. It won't swallow your life like WoW and it's more about the PvP side of things. Plus there's no "grinding", like there is in WoW so you can actually PLAY the game rather than spending all your precious time just to level up.

I haven't played the first campaign (Prophecies) but it too, is supposed to be very good, but that only has the six primary proffesions to choose from.

I'de definately recommend Nightfall and Factions though.

EDIT: Oh and of course, there are no monthly fees AT ALL! You buy each game and that's all you have to pay for. And if you get two or more campaigns you can merge them together, allowing you to take your characters to different continents and play through those campaigns.

[Meister]

Allthough again I have no firsthand experience with it, NeverWinter Nights 2 offers single player and multiplayer and I think that it has no monthly fee, however in the origional Neverwinter Nights downloading new Modules could
cost money so it might not be what you want.
Only the Premium ones, mind - there are hundreds of free user-generated ones. As such, NWN offers quite a lot of content for quite a notlot of money.

[Daven]

If he's looking for good RPG's I think I saw the complete set of Baldur's Gate games for a very, very low price. There's over 100 hours of engrossing, replayable fun right there.

[Meister]

Oh yeah, that's right - Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 plus all expansions, to be specific, and it ran me only €15. There's a set out for Icewind Dale, too, but all I know about that game is that it's similar.

Morrowind is pretty cheap these days, too. As are Gothic 1 and 2.

[Mirai Gen]

If you want Baldur's Gate series, go for Planescape Torment. Best storyline ever.

"Updated my journal."

[Melfice]

I gotta agree with Meister.

If you can find it, get Morrowind: Game of the Year edition.
Original game: Gigantic landmass which, if you want to explore completely, will net you a clock of at least a hundred hours. And then you're just exploring, doing mini-sidequests (The WHOLE game is one huge sidequest though) and finding loot.

Then there are the two expansions, adding another hundred hours of play-time.

Plus, if the game bores you, get some mods. There a a few essentials, like Better Bodies, Better Heads, etc. Beyond that, find a site that has a collection of mods (planetelderscrolls is my preference) and do a search.

Best of all? It'll only cost you $20 AT MOST!
I've heard of people getting it for as little as $6.

[Azisien]

NWN will be easy to run on a laptop, but keep in mind there are also two expansion packs for that game, where you get a *LOT* of content. And more than enough offline/online modules to play for the rest of your life.

I highly, highly doubt you could run NWN2, as it is right now (v1.02) on a laptop. It has pretty mean requirements if you want it "playable." However, I'm enjoying it more than its predecessor.

[Demetrius]

Anarchy Online is a free mmorpg, and is quite fun.

[Lord of Joshelplex]

Tell him to get RaiRO RO. Also, how is Guild Wars, I hear itsucks, but the only people who have told me taht havet played much of it and are WoW players.

[Fifthfiend]

Tell him to get RaiRO RO. Also, how is Guild Wars, I hear itsucks, but the only people who have told me taht havet played much of it and are WoW players.

And WOW players are the spoor of madness.

[Dwarfburg citizen]

Most of the reactions I get to Guild Wars are either:
A. This game is awesome!
or
B. Most boring game Ive played!

Ive been thinking of getting prophecies to see what its like.

On a related note: Its been one month since I kicked my WoW addiction! I feel so free now! Ive never felt better, its feels so refreshing not to play that damned game anymore! My grades improved but my social life has and always will probably be in the dumps but I go outside now!

[Bells]

Most of the reactions I get to Guild Wars are either:
A. This game is awesome!
or
B. Most boring game Ive played!

Ive been thinking of getting prophecies to see what its like.

On a related note: Its been one month since I kicked my WoW addiction! I feel so free now! Ive never felt better, its feels so refreshing not to play that damned game anymore! My grades improved but my social life has and always will probably be in the dumps but I go outside now!

I Heard things... about a sun out there... in the outised world... is it true that its flaming bright lights shine uppon all the land and it burns the eyes of those who dare stare at its greatness directly??

Also.. i'm still waiting for Granado Espada to be released in English... but i did Play Ran Online, which is free (Imagine highSchool with Power skills and monster + anime and you got the idea)

[Lord of Joshelplex]

And WOW players are the spoor of madness.

I tried the trial for WoW, I will never play it again, the people on there are such assholes it's disgusting.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

And WOW players are the spoor of madness.

I am SO sigging that!

A friend of mine plays WoW. He thinks it is the best thing ever. I play GW. You can imagine the arguements and dissagreements. I was even at his house last night while he was on WoW. He spent most of his time running around while his character kept doing some stupid "woo woo woo" emote. Then he started jumping up the arse of some dragon in Stormwind.

THAT is the calibre of player you find in WoW!

Personaly I find the whole game childish, which is why I play GW. If you want something more mature, with a distinct lack of noobs and no god awful grinding, play GW.

[Fifthfiend]

I am SO sigging that!

Glad you liked that.

Also, thread title spelling corrected. Two Ms, one C in 'recommend', it helps if you remember that its root word is 'commend'.

This has been today's Grammar Moment(TM).

[Lord of Joshelplex]

Is the community on GW like it is here, but not tiny? I have an a version to online games for fear of 1337 h4x0r2 that pwn n0065.

[Dwarfburg citizen]

Most game communities are pretty good, as long as you stay away from each game's respective circle of hell called their official forums. Every official forum is going to be nasty. You're better off finding a few friends that want to play as well and go with that.

[mudah.swf]

I recommend Phantasy Star Online if it has to be an RPG. But then again I don't play many PC RPGs. The servers are still running, only they're free now and a little more fiddly to get onto. And the offline game is kind of cool too.

(Not sure what the community's like, haven't been able to get online yet)

e: Got online, but chose a non-English speaking server *foreheadslap* Well I don't think it was English.

[Lord of Joshelplex]

Is PSO fee based?

[ZERO.]

Most game communities are pretty good, as long as you stay away from each game's respective circle of hell called their official forums. Every official forum is going to be nasty. You're better off finding a few friends that want to play as well and go with that.

I totally agree with you on this, man.

If you ever have the misfortune of stumbling into a games official forums please for the love of god just get out.

Trust me on this.

[mudah.swf]

Is PSO fee based?


Well, it was. But since the servers shut down I believe someone bought them or something and runs them for free.

*sorry for derail guys*

[Supreme Edgemaster]

I would say that if you can get a hold of it get him the baldur's gate collection. That series has one of the best storylines I've seen in a game in a long time and still today ranks in the top 3 for storyline in me.

p.s. sorry about the extra spaces, my spacebar sticks and adds extra spaces when I don't want it to sometimes.

[PyrosNine]

Is PSO fee based?

Well, it was. But since the servers shut down I believe someone bought them or something and runs them for free.

*sorry for derail guys*

COUGH-SCHTHACK (http://www.schtserv.com/)-COUGH!!!....Ughh...my Ne'er do well likes and knows about lots of free stuff strain of the whooping cough is clearly kicking in.

The real problem there, is finding the torrent to the japanese multilingual installation cd for the pc version, or just getting Blue Burst, the GC version, the DC version, etc.

Of course, Gamestop might have any of those, and it's just a simple matter of patching (or if you're using the DC, or GC it's more like hacking) to get to the right server... OH MY LUNGS!

COUGH-SCHTHACK (http://www.schtserv.com/)-COUGH!!!

[Lord of Joshelplex]

COUGH-SCHTHACK (http://www.schtserv.com/)-COUGH!!!....Ughh...my Ne'er do well likes and knows about lots of free stuff strain of the whooping cough is clearly kicking in.

The real problem there, is finding the torrent to the japanese multilingual installation cd for the pc version, or just getting Blue Burst, the GC version, the DC version, etc.

Of course, Gamestop might have any of those, and it's just a simple matter of patching (or if you're using the DC, or GC it's more like hacking) to get to the right server... OH MY LUNGS!

COUGH-SCHTHACK (http://www.schtserv.com/)-COUGH!!!

o, this is a private server for the original PSO?

[Rick Void]

Heh, I was going to recommend Morrowind, but you guys beat me to it. Also, for those who like mods, Vampire Embrace, Realism, and Hunger really add to a part of the game that was sorely lacking. You just need to download 30,000 different programs to get them to run together properly. (Which reminds me, I need to find another one... grr...)

[PyrosNine]

o, this is a private server for the original PSO?

Yes, also for Episode 2 and the upgraded versions, just not that stupid card battle. It's also free, and arcadia is usually packed with other players. The only thing is that unless you're ruining everything for everyone else with cheating, it's allowed, so you'll find yourself fighting alongside Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Red Ring Rico who may or may not have a Dreamcast Shaped Mag or Angel Wing Mag.

[Lord of Joshelplex]

Well, I would reccomend a PC game, but my PC lacks the ability to play most games, so, I don't PC game it much. I would reccomendy RaiRO.

[Melfice]

Heh, I was going to recommend Morrowind, but you guys beat me to it. Also, for those who like mods, Vampire Embrace, Realism, and Hunger really add to a part of the game that was sorely lacking. You just need to download 30,000 different programs to get them to run together properly. (Which reminds me, I need to find another one... grr...)

30.000 programs?
If you get it from Morrowind Summit, or Planet Elderscrolls as it's called nowadays, you get completely updated mods.

So, that's Vampire Embrace, with a compatibility patch for Vampire Hunger and Vampire Realism (I think), in one download. Same goes for Vampire Hunger and Realism (again, I think).

At least, that was the case last time I looked 'em over.
Ofcourse, that still means you're downloading several mods, but it's more easily downloadable.

Anyways, there are tons of mods out there, striving to make your gaming experience more pleasurable. Go here to find the best ones, in my humble opinion. (http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/modcontrols/mods.asp)

[Rick Void]

I was joking. Sort of.

I've got a problem in Vampire Hunger III. You need MGE for the shaders and blood meter. Got it. I set it up like it describes. Check. I dowloaded TESAME so that I could resave the other mods, IE, get them lower than VH. Check. I have activated the necessary mods. (VH,VH enhanced, VH MGE 1.11 or later, VE, and all of VR (except for suran underworld and bloodlines, which I don't use anyway)) Start game. Yes to all to skip the things VH looks for that VE has but hasn't loaded yet. Load game (tried on new game too, does the same thing). Game starts. All texture come flying off of walls, ceilings, floors, etc and go flying around the screen. Does it in both first and third person views. Yes, I have MWSE as well, but MGE is being pissy and can't seem to find it, even when I put it A) in the morrowind folder and B) is running in the background.

Urge to destroy world, rising.