Best PC Games You've Never Played @ bit-tech.net

magerette

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In a slight change from repetitive Top Games of the year lists, bit-tech.net takes a look at some obscure and some not so obscure PC games from the past, whose look and feel may prompt a bit of nostalgia. They start off with Nethack:
We’re starting big and way, way back – back in the year my family got their first computer actually.[1985] Nethack isn’t so much a game as a gameplay style. Essentially a Roguelike, Nethack is a free open-source game that’s been continually upgraded and expanded since the concept first leapt into the mind of the designers like a Grue diving for a shadow....
...Nethack is mercilessly unforgiving on anybody who mistakes the simple graphics as an indication that this is a casual game though and the dungeon ruthlessly and constantly punishes players who don’t take the time to learn the basics. A common saying among the Nethack is that ‘the developer has predicted all’ and it’s something that certainly looks to be true. The possibilities for suicide and self-harm in a hardcore Nethack run are so extensive that it’s a reason to try the game in and of itself.
There's also a look at a selection of abandonware titles and lesser-known classics, as well as two somewhat less obscure rpgs. First:
Planescape: Torment – 1999

I didn’t play Planescape: Torment when it first came out because I was still far too engrossed in Black Isle’s other RPG classic, Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. When I did finally track down a copy of Planescape: Torment it was... boxed with two or three other games. I bought the whole lot for a song in what was probably the best investment I’ve ever made.

.... The focus of Torment therefore lies elsewhere – in conversation and inter-character relations...Your allies and foes in Planescape: Torment are intricate beings who come from all kinds of origins – a floating skull from the depths of hell, a Githzerai monk who wields a blade of chaos-matter and a chaste Succubi who runs a whore-house.

The thrill and genius of Planescape: Torment doesn’t lie in the action or the quests – but in the truly fluid nature of the player character and his demeanour...
and then:
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines – 2004

To some of you I’m going to be preaching to the choir here – I know more than a few regular bit-tech readers who are big fans of Bloodlines, but there’s still a lot of people out there who passed by this underappreciated wonder because of the reported technical issues. Those people need to be put straight.

Made by the most talented people from Black Isle when the company ran into financial problems and the developers fled to form their own company, Bloodlines is a classically gothic FPS RPG based in modern day Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, it was also the first game to be developed using the Source Engine and had a litter of bugs as a result – crippling itself with load times and stability problems. Thankfully, the game still enjoys a fan following ...[who].. have taken it upon themselves to patch the game up to spec, adding in features that were cut from the final release and reducing load times on capable PCs.

What we’re left with in the fully patched version... is a deeply adult game which tackles issues like sex, drugs and buggery head-on. Remarkably, the game didn’t generate the massive outcry you might expect though and for good reason...The key is that these elements are always featured in a reasonable context and never used just for the sake it. The smut and obscenity complement the game design rather than fight against it.
More information.
 
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That's a surprisingly good list of games (and even has a few on it that I haven't played yet which is even more surprising).

I can't see how some of them are on the "...but never played" list though. Bloodlines? Really? And Planescape Torment any RPG lover with a PC has played that. And if you haven't you should (the interface and graphics are very dated but the story/writing is the best I've seen in any game...ever).

I'd have to add a few little games to that list though (especially since they included friggin nethack).

Sorry, but none of the one's I'd add are really rpgs (but a few are more rpg than some of the games considered to be rpgs to come out recently).

Puzzle Quest - just play the demo if you haven't (I was amazed how fun it is)
Darwinia - see above
Dwarf Fortress - free game (not complete but still more complex than most games if you can get past the ugly ass ascii...which is hard to do)

And 2 shooters that I think most people overlooked/didn't try:
Deadly Dozen 2: Pacific Theatre - bargain bin ($10) ww2 shooter...but well worth the $10
Hidden & Dangerous 2 - my opinion the best ww2 shooter ever made (extremely unforgiving and not a run & gun type game though)

(My god I use alot of parenthesis)
 
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Wow, Realms of the Haunting made their list - one of my favorite games ever :D.
 
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Yay, Beyond Good and Evil getting some respect. IMO that's a contender for "most unjustly overlooked game ever." It looks beautiful, sounds beautiful, plays beautifully, is virtually bug-free, and has a pretty neat story and gripping characters too. Not a cRPG, of course, but if you're not totally averse to third-person action/adventure, you can't not love it.

Oh, and it has fantastic music too.
 
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Yes, Beyond Good & Evil is an underestimated gem, imho.

Gonna buy the low-budget-DVD version one day as well, because I don't want to use the 3 CDs.
 
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Arx Fatalis gets some respect with an honorable mention too.

One forum member complained that these were all RPG titles, but of course some of them are Adventure. However, they are mostly horror titles and quite frankly I'm not interested. He may justify games like Vampire but he doesn't seem to stop to realize it may be the reason some of these may not have sold well.

Funny he doesn't mention Roach, the Kafkaesque adventure game where the player wakes up to find himself a roach. It was actually released twice.

Anywho, soapbox aside, I like these kind of articles. You never know what you are missing. We should do something like this sometime.

For example, a game I think could be worth mentioning is The Residents: Bad Day at the Midway. The Residents were a Psychedelic New Wave Avant Garde band from the 1980's. Their trademark look was eyeball heads dressed in tuxedos.

Bad Day on the Midway was an early attempt to explore new media and new creative marketing outlets and it almost feels like something KISS would have done. The Midway is like Bradbury's Lovecrafting tribute Dark's Carnival. BDotM is a bizarre Adventure Game where the player's alter ego can switch from character to character and as a player you feel like you are Being John Malkovich the way you hop back and forth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Day_on_the_Midway
 
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The ones on the list I really agree with as far as being 'lost' classics are Realms of the Haunting and Psychonauts.

But the one I'd add is Faery Tale Adventure II. This game had a clunky interface, kind of a dopey story, but boy it had a huge world to explore and some great quests and unique areas. This is one of those games where once you 'get it' and figure out how to play, about 10 hours in or so, it became about as enjoyable an action CRPG as one could find. Awesome game, IMO.
 
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I remember playing Faery Tale Adventure on the Amiga many years ago - never knew it had a sequel.
 
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Great list. Nice to see some great games on that list. Realms was also one of my all time favorites.

A lot of them were adventure games that didn't get a lot of love from the masses. I think Shadow of the Comet could definatly be on his list. A great adventure game, not sure how well it did commercially.

I tried playing Faery Tale but didn't get very far. The interface killed it for me.
 
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Bad Day on the Midway was an early attempt to explore new media and new creative marketing outlets and it almost feels like something KISS would have done. The Midway is like Bradbury's Lovecrafting tribute Dark's Carnival. BDotM is a bizarre Adventure Game where the player's alter ego can switch from character to character and as a player you feel like you are Being John Malkovich the way you hop back and forth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Day_on_the_Midway

Damn, I thought I was the only one who ever played that. It was a memorable game for sure.

I also played Gingerbread Man, which was sort of like a follow-up, also by The Residents. That was a big disappointment; focus on blinking lights and experimental music rather than characters and stories.
 
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Some nice choices in that article, completely agree with all of 'em.

But, they forgot to mention any RTS', so here's one from me: Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns. It's a great thing, and it has been overlooked (but not as much as some of the games listed in the article). And yes, it has RPG elements too, though it's mainly a RTS. Definitely worth trying out, though (also, don't mind the badly written wiki article, since it was mostly my creation :p).
 
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I loved Kohan 1. Not so much 2. I'm not so sure it should be on that list because if I'm not mistaken it did pretty well and was more known about than some of those on that list. It wasn't a blockbuster but wasn't doomed to obscurity either.

That being said I loved every minute of that game. Finally a RTS where you don't command every single little guy on the board. You have formations, moral, and real strategic elements. The only thing missing was RATS :)

If were talking old RPG/strategy games what about Sword of Aragon (Not Lord of the Rings "Aragon") Even today that game is better than a lot of the so called strategy war games. This is my all time favorite RPG/strategy hybrid game ever. :smitten:If you haven't played it do so immediatly, if you can handle the graphics.
 
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A lot of great games in there, nethack is a lot of fun, I am woundering how many watch lurkers that tried it??
 
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I thought I was the only one who ever played that. It was a memorable game for sure.

I also played Gingerbread Man, which was sort of like a follow-up, also by The Residents. That was a big disappointment; focus on blinking lights and experimental music rather than characters and stories.

I just found that they've been releasing "Timmy" videos on YouTube. Basically, they are voiceovers of a lot of stock footage.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=theresidents
 
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Hello all, new user here. A game I`m replaying right now is "Severance-Blade of Darkness", a fighting game with a few slight RPG elements. I love that game, the lighting and physics in that game are amazing for when it was made, and I think are better than many newer games. Playing The Witcher got me to remembering Severance, it has a combo system somewhat like The Witcher, but more complex. It`s a hard game to get proficient in, but very rewarding and tactically complex. Your enemies sneer at you and taunt you for cowardice, and it`s very rewarding to outwit them and clean their clocks. Very few potions in the game, you have to plan your moves very carefully. Great music also, very moody. Highly recommend this game.
 
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I loved Faery Tale Adventure 2! I think that was the first role playing game I had ever played. It took me some time to figure it out, but once I got into I'd just be addicted to it. Pity the game was buggy and unfinished.
 
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