What Game Should I Play Next?

Excellent suggestions everyone. Thank you very much!

I definitely feel like catching up the "classics", and any missed masterpieces from the past. From that list, I came up with XCOM, Alpha Centauri, Starcraft, Bloodlines, Gothic 1, and perhaps one of the M&Ms, World of Xeen?

Since I hadn't played a FPP game in while, that narrowed it down to G1 and Bloodlines.

Given the almost universal high praise for Bloodlines from the RPG community, I started it this weekend with the latest WESP patch using the basic install.

Even though the setting and roleplaying as a vampire doesn't excite me, I am finding the world, and non-player characters amazingly well crafted and entertaining! The dialog, facial expressions, and voice acting are pretty good, I think! I am playing a Tremere so I could focus on social skills and the thamauturgy discipline for combat. Also trying to play sneaky - using trance and aggressive feeding where possible. I am using unarmed now, and hope to transition to armed melee downtown, then ranged later. The music is very nice too - the game has a very Deus Ex atmospheric feeling, which to me is absolutely wonderful!

I just got downtown. My favorite parts from Santa Monica were the haunted hotel and the Warehouse. The psycho club owners rather annoyed me. I wasn't able to resolve their family feud to my satisfaction. One thing that also bothers me is that even though I have high persuasion, I can't seem to pass the conversation checks for the pissed off blood bank vendor. In general, it can be hard to tell if a persuasion check worked or not. The responses are sometimes ambiguous. Only had one serious bug - couldn't leave the elevator in club because it thought I had a weapon drawn, even though I didn't. Had to reload and replay a segment and the problem didn't reoccur. A minor issue: the opening of ammo crates and other interactive objects can be very finicky when they don't highlight easily

@Skavenhorde

I've played the Pool of Radiance quartet from the Forgotten Realms Archives. I haven't played the following: Hillsfar, Eye of the Beholder I-III, Dungeon Hack, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, and Menzoberranzan. Lots still there! If I were to pick one, what would you suggest? Would you consider any of these "masterpieces"?
 
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One minor tip: Do not, under any circumstances, apply patch updates during your playthrough. It can corrupt your saves.
 
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Dear Green Place
Thank you! What do you think are the key problems it fixes? I read through the readme, but not knowing much about the game, couldn't really understand the impact of various fixes.
 
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I never did anything but official patches and had zero problems. I guess I don't share BS's insistence on a user fix-pack. That said, I haven't fired up the original X-Com in many, many moons because I couldn't get it installed and running properly on a modern rig (this was back when DosBox was very new and arcane to use). I got my occasional fix replaying TFTD (X-Com2) for a few years until UFO:ET came out. After UFO:Extraterrestrials (a "tribute" that is close enough to violate copyright laws, IMO) was released, I didn't see much reason to fight with X-Com anymore.
 
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I downloaded it from GamersGate. It installed OK on XP and runs. Haven't played it though. GamersGate guarantees this version is Microsoft 2000/XP/Vista compatible (but not Windows 7). The comments from people are positive on GamersGate (except for a Windows 7 user). I should play it before XP beocmes outdated, I suppose. ;)
 
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@Skavenhorde

I've played the Pool of Radiance quartet from the Forgotten Realms Archives. I haven't played the following: Hillsfar, Eye of the Beholder I-III, Dungeon Hack, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier, and Menzoberranzan. Lots still there! If I were to pick one, what would you suggest? Would you consider any of these "masterpieces"?

I've played them all and can tell you without any hesitation to stay far away from Hillsfar and Dungeon Hack. Hillsfar wants to be an arcade game and Dungeon Hack wants to be Unlimited Adventures, but fails in every way possible.

The Savage games are nice. Not all that great, but not all that bad either. They improved the engine a tad bit with the these last two editions. Here's a mini-review from Home of the Underdogs. There are a few adventures for FRUA (Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures) that people have made that are better than these games.

Out of all of those the true masterpiece would have to be Eye of the Beholder 2. One is good, but 2 improves the game. Three is….well let's just face it 3 sucks. Sucks big time. I don't remember the details about that one at all other than I went to Myth Drannor and was bored out of my mind within a few days of playing.

EOB 2 combined real-time with a first person point of view extremely well. I would say better than Ultima Underworld, but I only played that one a few years ago (I refused to buy it when I was a kid because of the view). Here are a few reviews for it
Home of the Underdogs
MobyGames

A tiny review from Abandonia:
The second episode of the trilogy and, in my humble opinion, the best!

The game sets you on a quest to investigate the temple of Darkmoon. Strange happenings occur there, and the first scout sent to investigate hasn’t been heard from since, so off you go - make sure to be prepared for a vast adventure! You will venture through catacombs, slay the evil Clerics, hunt the Beholders (otherwise the name would be a bit silly) and finally confront the head priest of the temple!

I loved this game the minute I got it. The graphics were great at the time (and still are) and I still remember how I jumped at the ceiling when I was attacked from behind. The game starts out easily but gets tougher soon enough. The sound is somewhat lacking, but the musical scores are pretty nice.

If you like party-based, real-time RPGs, then this game is certainly a good choice!

You may have noticed I didn't mention Menzoberranzan. That one is a difficult game to rate. It has some annoying elements in it, but it's highly addictive. Especially if you like Drow. I found a review for it over at GameBanshee which pretty much sums up my opinion on that one. I'd say if you really like Drow then play this one before EOB 2. If not then go with EOB 2 because the interface, puzzles and combat are much better.

Don't get me wrong this Menzo and the savage games are good, but you asked for the best and EOB 2 is the best. :)
 
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Thank you! What do you think are the key problems it fixes? I read through the readme, but not knowing much about the game, couldn't really understand the impact of various fixes.

There are tons of optional things it can do but the defaults are best to use until you know the game better.
 
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This Westwood fangirl liked EOB 2 a lot... the first one was good, but the second EOB became one of my favorites. It's so LoL (or rather, Throne of Chaos is so EOB 2 ;) ).
Hillsfar is a different story, but I enjoyed that one too... back in the days. But it's definitely not in a league with the EOBs (1 and 2, I mean... No. 3 wasn't Westwood).
 
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There are tons of optional things it can do but the defaults are best to use until you know the game better.

From what I read there are some significant gameplay changes. Usually, what I prefer, is not to change the gameplay, unless it's so badly broken it's unplayable. Since I am unfamiliar with the game, I can't make that assessment. I'm looking for a little guidance on whether any of the fixes fall into the category of repairing critical playability bugs. I would leave minor annoyances unfixed if the fixpack also changed the flavor or nature of the game.
 
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I've been playing Bloodlines, and really enjoying it so far, although it's been a bit disturbing at times. It made me re-think my toughness when I thought it was making me nauseous, but it was a virus instead :p). Some VERY creepy environments have kept me riveted, in particular, the haunted hotel and the house on King's Way with the fleshcrafter and his headcrawlers.

Truly a masterpiece (although an uneven one with occasional bugs and rare game killing errors). The details in the graphics are fantastic, in general, and simply amazing in some locations: like one of the shops in Chinatown, and the prosthetics basement.

As JDR said in the Bloodlines database comments - the atmosphere , music, NPC spoken dialog, and writing is superb. The atmosphere is particularly notable - it reminds me a lot of Deus Ex. The talking head expressions are nothing short of amazing, and quite funny at times. Although, since I like to try out different dialogue options to get the most out of my play through to see what can happen, I could find no way to skip through VERY long spoken dialogs. This makes for a VERY tedious replay experience. Finally, I gave up on trying different things… Annoying…

I am really liking the experience system. No need for killing things and people for bonus XP. Yet extra rewards for doing quests sneaky and not killing anyone. Nice! This is very refreshing, as is the different (to me at least) "feat"-based character development system.

I've found this game about the sexiest yet. No nudity ala The Witcher cards, but it has lots of flamboyantly sexy characters and models. Also, the basic unofficial patch restores some suggestive animations in dark alleys that gave me a chuckle. Shame on wesp. ;)

I think I am near the end, and will pick up XCOM next!
 
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This makes for a VERY tedious replay experience. Finally, I gave up on trying different things… Annoying…
I wouldn´t worry about this so much, you need to replay the game with Malkavian anyway ;).
 
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I've played them all and can tell you without any hesitation to stay far away from Hillsfar and Dungeon Hack. Hillsfar wants to be an arcade game and Dungeon Hack wants to be Unlimited Adventures, but fails in every way possible.

I have to disagree about Dungeon Hack. It was not trying to be Ulimited adventures.

UA was a full-featured editor, which let people create their own adventures and share them. As such, you can find some truly outstanding crafted pieces of art available for download, and some really horrible messes not fit for wasting bandwidth on the next link.

Dungeon Hack was a first person rogue-like of sorts, featuring fully random dungeons. It is very similar to Eye of the Beholder in style, and you have a fair bit of control over what the dungeons will be like, but it is pure hack and slash. The random dungeons can be good or horrible, as luck takes you. nothing standout at all.

While I can't say Hack is a great game, or good, it is solid for a quick hack-n-slash run through a simple dungeon using AD&D-based rules.

I'm not sure what Hillsfar is supposed to be. I played it though, a good way through. Never beat it, but then I never could figure out if there was a plot or quest to "beat".
 
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Only after about 5 weeks, I finished XCOM:UFO defense. ;) Is that slow? I think I may have played a lot more conservatively than I had too. I was shooting down battleships regularly, and hadn't had a base defense or terrorist mission since the about first 2 months of the whole 11 month game duration (that's simulated, not real time). The last mission was a piece of cake. All 20 of my onboard troops had at least 61 psi strength and could mind control. Hardly needed to fire any weapons, and had no troop panics or losses.

Although I feel a bit tired of laggy low-fi UIs under DOSBox, I think I'll play World of Xeen next since I already went through the trouble of getting it running under DOSBox.

What sort of party should I create? I'd like one for completists - one that can do as many of the areas/quests/etc as possible with as much diverse gameplay as possible, too. I'd prefer a mixed party that may be more of challenge but more fun to play rather than a pure powergaming party. No purposely gimped parties, though. Suggestions appreciated. :)
 
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