[Lawtan]

12) Age of Mythology & Titans Expansion

If anyone wonders what started me on mythology, the Strategy Game Age of Mythology would be it. AoM combines a moderately complex resource set/limit (Wood, Gold, Favor, Population, and Food) with a complex research tier set. (You chose 1/4 sides, 1/3 Major Gods, and 3 sets of 1/2 minor gods, plus technological research)

The sets are relatively creative, with all 12 different Major Gods having variation in the building appearances, 6 Wonders, 3 Titan beasts, etc.

You actually create a small set of villages, rather than just "build a base, slay the enemy, win". There's a simple economy/trading system, farming, houses, and (if I recall correctly) town influence. Even after a game over, it was fun to just continue building.

Now, as to the mythology, for the most part it was Wikipedia-accurate for the origins, stories, ect. of Heroes, peoples, units, and Mythological creatures. You could just access it from their description/information. That was how I first learned of Hercules (Not via Disney) and Perseus and the Nidhoggr.

Strikes against it would be yes, the game is polygon 3D with a skin over it, and yes, there are things in the campaign that you can't have outside of it (a pet peeve in strategy and FPS games in general)...so no, you can't host a game where everyone fights to release the Gates of Hades (though the game does have chaotic and neutral factions to compensate).

Finally, you can create your own maps in AoM. I am fairly certain someone did one for Carthage or Rome a good while back.

[Vincent]

13)The Star Ocean Series

Namely, out of them, I've played 'Star Ocean: The Second Story' and "Star Ocean: Til The End of Time" all the way through. Although I did play a bit of the new Star Ocean, "The Last Hope". I can pretty much say this series is one of the best I have so far.
Since my favorite one is 'Til The End of Time', it'd be easier for me to tell about that one. XD
But as for it, it's for the Playstation 2. It's in my personal top 5 games. xD I've played it countless times. Even going on challenge runs such as 'Use 'X' Character Only' or such.
I love the game's battle system, through and through. It's free-time based, you can run around, dodge attacks, set up yourself for a nice position to attack, etc. There's weak/strong attacks, where weak is fast, but weaker, and strong is slow, but can break guards. You can have up to four moves, a weak/short range, a weak/long range, and then short and long range for the strong attack button. The awesome thing about it is the ability to 'chain' moves together by using them back-to-back. Say, you had a kick that sends enemies into the air as a weak move, then you have a 'Triple Kick' that kicks them while they're in the air twice, then the final kick sends them sprawling back. If you do one right after the other, it gets a 50% bonus in power. It keeps going up and up til it gets to 300%. With quite a few unique moves for each character and like. 10-12 characters I believe, it's really fun just trying out new move combos on each one. x3

But that's just the battle system. XD Since it's my favorite part,I figured I'd just list that. If I realllly went into the finer parts of the game, I'd be here forever. XD Like, I can go on. Seriously.
But yeah. It's at least worth a try. x3 It's really fun.

[Lawtan]

14) World in Conflict Series:

This game ranges from a relatively in-depth campaign to a revolution in strategy games. World in Conflict re-imagines the Soviet Invasion of the USA. It's collector's edition even included a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Now, World in Conflict removed the resource system, and the "unit construction facilities" and instead gives you a limited budget with which to call in parachuted troops/vehicles behind allied lines. In addition, the maps/world has very interactable structures and terrain - you can have (and see) soldiers invading and fighting through buildings...and securing/guarding them afterwards. You can order in air strikes and helicopters to also level said buildings, or to blow up parts of the land (creating cover).

Multiplayer had a ranking system that rewarded those who played online more with a larger budget. :|

Singleplayer had a campaign of soldiers, depicted rather realistically. I don't want to spoil it, because it has some incredible tear-jerking moments mixed with "WTF, you Computer A-hole" moments (not a flaw in the Computer's AI) mixed with "camaraderie."

Some say Supreme Commander is one of the most complex Strategy games, but after playing it, Age of Mythology, and World in Conflict, I strongly urge you to play the latter two if you can.

[Vincent]

15 ) The Mana Khemia Series

This is always a rather lovely series to play. x3 It includes Mana Khemia 1 - The alchemists of Al-Revis and Mana Khemia 2 - The Fall of Alchemy.

Both games are similar in their own aspects, so I'm just going with both in one. XD Anyhow, the games take place in a school-like setting. As such, you attend classes that grade you based on the assignments given. Assignments range anywhere from 'kill this monster with a high chain hit count' to 'gather these items' or even 'make this item with a certain property.' If you do well on your classes, you get free time , and during free time, you can advance on character quests to get your relationships up.

Battles are turn-based. Number 1 has a card gauge, number 2 has a sphere gauge, and they both work in the same manner. Imagine a row of cards, with three cards representing your allies with their faces on them near the start, with 2 faces representing your enemies after them. The cards move to the right, and whoever reaches the right first gets their turn, then their card is moved back on the card gauge. This makes it work as a turn-based battle system. What's unique about this, though, is timed attacks. For example, an early character has a 'healing echo' spell. If she casts healing, that character gets healed, and a time card for the 'healing echo' gets put on on the card gauge. Now, the card gauge moves along, giving turns as usual. Once the healing card comes up, It heals again automatically to the person with the lowest hp, then it goes back on the card gauge again for 1 more round before disappearing. Sound nice yet? It can create some intense battles where you have a bunch of attack time cards and the enemy has a bunch of attack time cards going on at the same time. Such as 'flare rain' where it rains fire down 3 times over the course of the fight, or such. It also helps plan when you need to attack or heal by noticing what turns come up when. If you see a bunch of attack time cards by the enemy coming up, it's best to heal in preparation.

Then there's the alchemy system, which this game is pretty much all about. You can make your own items from materials found in the dungeons. You can make healing items, more ingredients, bombs, weapons, armors, etc. Making these involves doing a simple mini game, and depending on how the 'game' plays out, you alter the effects of the item. Such as giving an ingredient item a 'Hp + (L)' factor.
This means if you use this item to forge a piece of armor, (where you can choose up to 2 factors to put on it) you can add a 'Hp + L' to it and improve your hp greatly. This allows for almost limitless customization of your characters. And their skills, as you can add skills from various items, as well. Such as that Flare Rain from before.

Making items fills out your 'Grow Book'. If you make a healing jar for the first time, it's card in the character's grow book opens up, and you can spend 'SP' points gained from battle to increase your stats. For examle, a healing jar might open up a card that gives Hp+, atk+ and def+. And you can spend sp to increase each one once before needing to make something else to unlock a new card. :3

[Lawtan]

16) Amnesia: The Dark Descent:

Adding to the "Alchemist" games, we have Amnesia. This game is one of the few to add a strong component to recent horror gameplay - the Sanity meter. This meter, while not as scary as some of the others (Eternal Darkness) in its effects, can add some real helplessness to the situation. Not only do you lack any means of self-defense (beyond a barrel, or Markiplier's chair), but also you have to avoid looking at your threats (and other things) lest you collapse, paintings change, and experience auditory hallucinations...while the nearest man-eating grunt is alerted to your presence/state.

It also has a rather strong storyline - akin to Lovecraft's madness, with a twist incorporated in. It is a rather solitary gameplay, unfortunately, but it's first person horror (With situations that require you to hide in the closet...and the still may get you...or a part of the game where the floor/water has a monster that you never see other than a splish-splash. The atmosphere is creepy, and the story ranges from sad to mad to creepfest.

Amnesia is another game with the ability to make custom stories/custom content, though I lack experience with it. It has allowed some creative modders to make trippy dreamworld-like games, exploring inside of the dark aspects of the mind, or alchemy, or the Cthulhu-like "Shadows"...along with minigames and other unique creatures.

I will say that Amnesia take a decent bit from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. They both have a mysterious Horror/Victorian Science Fiction styled game theme/story. The twist in both is similar. Also, Amnesia's sanity meter is a "watered down" version of Eternal Darkness's meter (which combined the hallucinations and harder gameplay with Creepypasta and 4th wall horror). However, Amnesia seems to have more of its own universe, whereas Eternal Darkness relied heavily on the Lovecraftian mythos. Also, Amnesia has better graphics, is more widely supported, and makes more sense. I'd consider Eternal Darkness the "test run" for Amnesia.

Amnesia, overall, I recommend as an introduction to PC Game Horror.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Alright! Think this is all updated now.

Thinking of two games here but not sure what to go with. Let's go with this one:


17. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube)

What's this? A GameCube game! It's hard to say much about this game because I think it really shines best on the first playthrough with very little knowledge of what's actually going on. As far as statistics go, it's a survival horror sort of game, with some detective work involved as you play a young women who's investigating her grandfather's mysterious and gory death.

That's all I'm going to tell you. Have fun!

[Quiet Man Cometh]

this threads existence, I shall break my own rules and add two in a row! *gasp* but it's a different medium of game so I'll say that it's sorta okay. ;)


18. Fury of Dracula - (board game) Fantasy Flight Games (remake)

The original was by Games Workshop and I haven't played it, but I loved this version but have only played it once. Like Talisman t's a game for people in for a long haul, with sessions taking several hours to get through. Experience with tabletop games is useful as the rulebook is pretty large and fairly detailed.

Essentially, the game involves 5 people or fewer. The characters (each from the book) and Dracula. One person plays Dracula and effectively guides the game, while the other players run the characters and try to catch him. Dracula's movements are made in secret, and planned a few steps in advance, while clues drop that hint to the players where he may be.

While the players are trying to kill Dracula, Dracula is also trying to kill them. I like this game over some other guided RPG-like board games because the "GM" has a legitimate character to play, rather than just running encounters. Movement rules, day and night cycles, and character abilities make for a lot of strategy behind the game play. Again though, it's not a short game.

[Lawtan]

Wait? Board Games are an option?
O.O

*Goes to grab Dad's old Hobbit and Blitzkrieg strategy Board-games*

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Of course they are! I think a lot of people don't realize what is available in board games if you look, though you generally need to find a specialty game storeor go online rather than look in a general place like Walmart or something.

[Lawtan]

I have two or three to add then. One was even the reason I found the Vassal Computer-boardgame engine.

[Den]

Originally Posted by Quiet Man Cometh

Explosions are good.

10. Cards Against Humanity (card game)

If you only play it once, which I'm sure might be all some people are inclined to. It's essentially this: a random question is pulled from the stack, and players answer it using the cards they have in their hand. It's a horrible, horrible game for dirty minds and makes you think things you would rather not have thought of, but it can be pretty darn funny. Mature content advisory, at the very least.

If you have issues with racy things or just...yeah...there's always "Bubble Talk." Same style of game but with pictures to which you add a caption from the cards in your hand. Much, much more family friendly.

One of my favorite things to do is introduce new players of the game and watch their reactions.


19. Cthulhu Gloom

This game ties with Cards Against Humanity in my very short list of card games I enjoy. The premise is that you have a family of five and you basically have to kill them off and make them as miserable as possible before you kill them off. The person with the lowest score after killing off their family wins. You can sabotage the other players as well by giving them positive point cards, among other things. Definitely worth playing at least once. I'm keeping my eye out for an inexpensive set for conventions and other things. And I really don't care for card games most of the time, so consider this an unofficial endorsement by me.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Haven't heard of that one.

Keeping with the card game theme, this is one of my favourite games in general:

20. Citadels (Fantasy Flight)

A European import, the premise of the game is fairly simple. There are eight character cards (without the expansions) and each round the players (anywhere from two to eight) selects their character role (in secret) for that turn. The roles determine turn order and what each player can do that turn. The object is to be the first to build eight buildings.

Rules are easy enough. For example, the Assassin always goes first, and can kill any other character, meaning that character's player loses their turn. The thief always goes second and can steal 2 gold from any character except the assassin (because the assassin's player is already known). Character selection starts with the King player (4th in turn order) even if the king was assassinated.

Strategy gets intense when deciding which character to pick, or trying to figure out who picked who. For instance, you can tell who the people in front of you in selection order picked by seeing which character cards are missing, as well as who the characters are that you are passing down the line, so you always have some basic info for guessing who's who. In the full eight player game, the second and second to last people to select characters always know who at least one person is.

Since the point of the game is to build, there are characters that can destroy buildings or allow you to build extra buildings. The Warlord goes last and can destroy any one building. The Bishop's only ability is to defend a player's buildings from the Warlord. A player about to win will likely pick the Bishop to avoid losing the building. However, that does them no good if the Assassin player decides to kill the Bishop, perhaps having guessed that's the character the winning player had.

It's a very fun for people who like brainy games.


Oh, and a note on Cards Against Humanity: apparently Apples to Apples is the G-rated equivalent.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

(Quiet is definitely not making me post in her thread. I am super social on the forums all the time. Everyone knows this.)

21. Bloodborne

Are you a masochist? No? Get out.

*ahem* Those of you who are left, Bloodborne is the best game on the PS4, that's all you need to know.

Okay, okay. It's a branch-off of the Dark Souls franchise set in the Lovecraft-inspired steampunk city/world of Yharnam. You play the role of a Hunter, trapped in the eldritch nightmare that has taken hold of the city, and must slaughter your way through terrifying enemies to find your way free.

Oh, and you die. A lot. It's a game mechanic. The combat is brutally unforgiving, almost every single enemy can kill you in two hits or less, most move extremely quickly, and they love to sneak up on you or jump at you from outside your field of view.

But dear God, is it fun. The controls are the most responsive I've ever experienced in an action game -- if you die, ever, it is 100% definitely completely all your fault. And this allows you to learn, adapt, and eventually become a total badass sheathing yourself in the blood of your enemies as you massacre all manner of physics-shattering horrors. (if you've ever seen the movie Edge of Tomorrow, the basic idea of the gameplay is pretty much that. Die, and die, and die, until you have every tiny movement of the enemy muscle-memorized and you can end them rightly.)

The absolute #1 strength of the game is its atmosphere, and the way the gameplay ties into it. You see, there is an extremely complex story at work in Bloodborne -- and you are never told ANY of it. It is completely up to you to piece together the mystery of what happened to Yharnam, so in some ways the game gives back what you're willing to put into it. If you're just looking for some challenging hack-and-slash, it certainly has that on offer, but there is so much more beneath the surface, secrets layered upon secrets, all contributing to the chill-inducing unease that comes with every new insight (pun totally intended) you gain into the lore.

I don't want to spoil anything, but as you go through the game, doing different things makes your Insight stat go up -- which is your connection to the transcendental eldritch planes of existence upon which dwell horrors beyond your imagining, and as your Insight increases... you start to SEE things, things that were always there, watching you with unhuman eyes, while you were totally oblivious in your fragile human delusions.

...this game is amazing. I don't know what else to say. The mechanic of having to hoard your experience points (Blood Echoes) without dying even once (you lose them if you die) makes you genuinely horrified of what's lurking around each corner, but the deranged curiosity to look anyway is always present.

I'm gushing. Holy Cththulu am I gushing, but I don't even care! It's that good! If you haven't played it, and have any interest in supernatural horror, you're the real masochist for depriving yourself of this amazing experience! That's right! Go play it!

[Quirk]

Well I'm going to go for my all time favourite video game:

22. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas.

Originally it was for the PS2 and Xbox, but it's been released on so many different platforms since then. I own it on PS2, PC, Xbox 360 and PS4, so you can get it on every gen console.

It follows the standard route of GTA games, you know stealing and killing and reckless driving etc. It's a really fun game, probably the best in the GTA series in my opinion. The dialogue in the game is fantastic and there are so many really cool and unique characters in the game too. The missions are all pretty unique and interesting, there's no points in the game where you feel like you're in a lull. The storyline for the game is incredible and by far one of the most thought out in the franchise. Also the soundtrack for this game is absolutely amazing. I have the majority of the radio station songs on my phone haha.

Apart from the standard story missions, there's also plenty of extra things to do to keep you busy. In San Andreas there are a number of collectables to get all around the map. Los Santos you have to collect gang tags, whereas in San Fiero there's photo oportunities and in Las Venturas there's horseshoes. Also there's oysters scattered all over the map to collect. There's also a vast range of side missions ranging from trucking to valeting to vigilante and taxi driving. There's so many things to keep you busy in the game.

The only negative about the game (if you consider it as that) is the graphics. The game was released in 2004, so obvious the newer games in the franchise have vastly suprerior graphics, but that being said it's not something that puts me off. If anything, the graphics can be quite funny sometimes. If that's not something that tends to bother you, then I can't really think of anything else that's a down point in the game (unless of course it's just not your type of game anyway).

The game also has massive replay value! I can probably quote the game from start to finish I've played it that many times. I've had the game since 2004 and I'm still more than happy to play it 11 years later. It's definitely one of my all time favourites and I'd recommend it to everyone to at least give it a try.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

23. Until Dawn (PS4)

A bunch of teenagers go spend a weekend in a cabin on the mountains, and you know where this is going. ;)

You know when you're watching a horror movie and you can't help roll your eyes or yell at the TV at the dumb choices the characters make that get themselves killed? This is that, but you get to make those choices!

The game is a horror story that takes place on Mount Washington, BC (I've totally been there!) and as it says in the title, you need to last until dawn. I played this game for the first time with my niece while on holiday here, and it was quite the entertaining game to watch.

The game's signature mechanic is "Butterfly Effect" where the choices you make along with some event results affect the narrative of the story, along with what ultimately happens. The game is a mixture of decisions and quick time events (moments where you need to hit the right button on the controller in the right time frame to do whatever if it you need to do) as you try to survive the 10 hours until dawn. It's roughly in real time, and you control all the characters at one time or another, depending on the situation. There is a significant amount of replay value as different choices lead to different options.

I'd like to play it some more, but we've been distracted by Fallout 4. ;)

[Lawtan]

24. We Know the Devil (Visual Novel)

Remember the recent string of Magical Girl deconstructions? What about experiences in religious camps? Crystal Radios?

We Know the Devil is a visual novel that is surreal and distant. It breaks traditional storytelling by not going into the characters minds, but tells the setting and story through everyday dialogue and actions. The main choice you get here is that you chose which characters to follow, and that affects the outcome for four different endings.

I am putting this up due to the themes it crosses. It is rather good at showing what folk who don't fit in with strict religious upbringing and all may go through. Also, because one of the characters really got to me.

Criticism would be that, like many works, it does come across as a binary solution, and presents picking one side of the binary as if it can resolve one's troubles. (As opposed to self-acceptance therapy, which would have fit well in the character's efforts to deal with the struggles of juggling ideology and their sense of self)

It is short - a few hours at most.