I think Mass Effect 1&2 are going to be the next two games I play. I haven't ever really played an action RPG before, and frankly, it looks pretty amazing. Not to mention, i've always had a fascination for science fiction stuff, and this really does look awesome.

 

I second Bioshock 1 and 2. I also recommend Warhammer: Dawn of War, although, in my opinion, the expansions get progressively worse. I can't comment on the sequel.

Don't forget to take a look at the Mass Effect Faces Database, in case you don't want the generic Shepard face. Some of them are pretty good, especially Obama Shepard.

 

I have to suggest all the old school RTS out there. Age of Empires 2 is still an amazing game even today. Age of Empires 3 is also good but I prefer medieval empire building. Warcraft 1,2,3 are all good. WC1 is very hard to play today, because the graphics did not withstand the test of time. Everything is too pixelated to really be enjoyed anymore. WC2 is on par with AoE2 and I still enjoy both. WC3 is an amazing game and there are a lot of fun scenarios that you can play online similar to the old AoE2 custom scenarios.

I also got to recommend the command and conquer series. My favorites are red alert 1 and the expansion, but tiberium sun and firestorm expansion are amazing as well. I've played all the modern ones too and they are decent as well, but I prefer the Westwood Studios era games.

Sins of a Solar Empire is probably my most recently played RTS. I think another expansion just came out for it. The game is amazing with mass scale space battles. There is no single player campaign so it is all skirmish matches or online.

Halo Wars was surprisingly good when I completed it on my x360. It is the only console RTS that I don't loathe.

Lord of the Rings; War of the Ring RTS was decent enough and I enjoyed the campaign. It was slow going though, and I've never played it online.

I can't say anything positive about Starcraft to be honest, I dislike the games very much. My friend did get a beta invite for SC2 on Sunday, and it only lasted until Monday, and he told me that the 6 hours he managed to play was good enough to convince him to buy it when it comes out.

Other games; I don't play too many shooters on PC but I have played most of the popular titles on x360, and you can't really go wrong with any of them. Sure Call of Duty World at War was a let down, but it has Nazi Zombies which is one of the single greatest game modes ever, reminiscent of the old zombie survival flash games.

Demigod - a combination of Tower Defense and an RPG, so in that case it is similar to DOTA. That is also to say, a very enjoyable game to play.

As for my favorite game of all time; Deadlock; Planetary Conquest. The game came with my families old gateway 2000 computer back in 1995 or so. The graphics are still alright, the are reminiscent of basic Mario graphics which don't really change over time.

All the other games I would recommend have already been covered. I'm not really a graphics person, so as long as the gameplay is good.

 

Civilization 3 and 4 are the end all of games. Enough said.

 

Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (because it includes all the expansion packs). It's $50 on steam but it goes on sale every so often so you might get it for $30 like I did. I literally spent hours on that game just wondering around the map looking at the scenery and getting absorbed in the atmosphere of the game and it can get very immersive if you like that sort of thing.

Singularity: It's a new game, one that I pirated (and got a rather nasty email about it too), but I quite liked it. It's more or less your standard FPS with some horror elements to it until 1/4 way through, when you get a snazzy time-manipulation device that lets you do some snazzy shit. The endings are also quite win, no matter which one you choose. The only downside to it is that there are no subtitles (especially hard when everybody speaks in a russian accent) and it functions a bit like MW2 where it saves periodically at checkpoints, so if you ever wanna replay it you need to start from the beginning.

F.E.A.R / F.E.A.R 2: I'm in love with the F.E.A.R series. The first one is a tad dated but the graphics aren't too bad and you can pick up the whole set on Steam for $10. F.E.A.R 2's storyline isn't nearly as good as the first one but the graphics and AI are a little better, and there's some really win moments in it (especially the ending- you don't get much more win than that). It'll also lead you onto F.E.A.R 3, which is going to be awesome. They've got the nice graphics engine for the visuals and they hired some kind of fancy horror/sci-fi writer for the plot.

Crysis: I'm not quite sure how well this will run on your MacBook...it should look pretty sweet even on medium settings. Crysis is very interesting. The story isn't spectacular- it's not bad but don't expect any major twists- but the gameplay is really good and there's so many ways you can go about doing things. You can sneak past all the guards and pick them off one at a time or you can go in guns blazing and massacre them all- whatever suits your fancy.


I could name 50 more for you, but I stuck to FPS's and those four, imo, combine a mixture of decent storylines and interesting gameplay. The controls aren't too hard to get into and it's not one of those mind-numbingly difficult RPGs that take ages to get your head wrapped around. Fallout 3 will be the hardest to get used to but even then they dumb it down quite a bit compared to the old ones. The Witcher it aint.

 

Hm, I'm tempted to recommend newer games, but I really haven't played many, I was an old school TES player so I say Oblivion as a very bad betrayal to the franchise. I played Fallout 1 and 2 on release and think Bethesda ruined FO3. I've played bioshock, but it paled in comparison to system shock 2. That's about my experience with modern games.

So instead I shall give you a list of classic games, which gameplay wise, or story wise kick most modern games in the nads.

1. System Shock 2, play it, it's probably one of the most immersive games to ever come out. To this day it can still scare the pants off me. Successors, Bioshock and Deadspace. Both don't quite live up to it. Bioshock does do gameplay quite well, and Deadspace does ambiance well. Neither are as good as SS2 however.

2. Fallout 1, disregard the utter silliness and trite that was Fallout 3's systems and storylines, this is game where you can conceivably play as anything you want. Rather than " Talking hand with gun #3210." Much better written and much better plotted. Successors Arcanum, and Fallout.

Arcanum managed to improve on the character design system but declined in the gameplay aspect, while Fallout 3 pretty much butchered the canon series. Gameplay was slightly modernized, in spite of the the story going full handicapped.

3. Thief, anyone of them excepting 3. These are the BEST first person stealth games to ever come out bar none. Successors, any game with a stealth level, all of those suck in comparison however.
Sibling, Metal Gear Solid, it inspired the console TPStealth game. It's successors include Assassins Creed.

4. Planescape Torment, gameplay is crap, but it has THE best writing of any game to ever come out. And I can't really give much more of a reveiw other than to say, it's bioware style writing done right and more interestingly. Most of the characters are not cliche and all of them have 3d backgrounds.

5. Deus Ex, this is one of the best games of all time, one of the few games that managed to balance a linear story with non-linear levels. Successors, not allot can call itself a successor to this game, mainly the sequel, which completely ruined the games strong points in favor of a non-linear storyline. And Vampire the Masqueade:Bloodlines, which is a flawed gem. It manages to hold that title well enough for about the first third to half of the game, then goes almost completely to shit in favor of a run and gun, last third of the game.

6. It's a flawed gem, but Vampire the Masquerade:Bloodlines, it's one of the better things to come out in the past 6 years. The writing and story are fantastic. It also has the best voice acting I've seen in a game yet. Play through it until it starts to get bad, then start it again as a malkavian for the lulz.

7. Alpha Centauri or, really ANY civ game. They are all excellent and one of the only franchises that continues to put out games on par with the previous entries.

8. MoO2. A kind of counter point to Civ. It's still fun to play, even 14 years after I bought it. Successor, MoO3, which is still better than most with mods, without mods, it's anal leakage.

9. Freespace 2, this is the game that killed the space combat sim, not that it was bad, it's possibly the best space combat sim ever. It killed sales because nothing could match it.

10. Morrowind, Daggerfall is probably a little too old, ugly and glitchy to put on this list, no matter how fun it is just to hike through the MASSIVE world exploring. Morrowind is Oblivion and TES done right. If you can get over how bad the combat sucks, the story is one of the best in gaming and it's plot is twisted to the point where even people who have thought on it for years can't make truth out of the backstory. And that's a complement, the lore is engrossing and interesting, to the point where I had a save with a character who had collected all the books and notes in the game. I would pick a day a month and read through as much as I could.

11. Arcanum, it's still a better RPG than anything that's come since, the world is basically steampunk tolkien and it's where the game really shines, focus is on the conflict between magic and technology.

The games above are good only if you don't rely on "bling" shading, and 8024x8024 sized textures. And really, that's a stupid thing to judge a game for. Do you judge a book by it's cover or do you judge it by the things inside it?

Bioware games are good if you want mindless fun, but they get repetitive after playing more than 4 of them. Add in that they keep "Streamlining" mechanics. They call ME2 an RPG, when it's mechanics are so stripped down, there's roughly nothing but the dialogue, gameplay wise, to differentiate it from something like Gears. Add in that the character's themselves fall into the same archetypes EVERYTIME. The "I'm gonna bitch if you do something evil," archetype, the "I'm gonna bitch if you do something good," archetype and finally the "I'm just gonna bitch," archetype. And you can see why someone like me who's played all of them, can call them boring and bad for what they claim to be.

My thoughts on Fallout 3 can be summed up by watching Shamus Young and 2 of his friends LP it. http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=7926 is the start of that. It acts as a long term review.

EDIT: Just to clarify I haven't played many current gen games, I do however play allot of them. In my day, you really couldn't sell a game based on it's multiplayer, IE how allot games are sold now. MW2 with it's 10 hour campaign is sickening to me. I tend to stay away from those types of games. I pretty much will play any game that claims to be successor to a game I liked, Bioshock, Deadspace, Oblivion, Fallout 3, ETC. Most of them aren't even close to worthy of the titles they claim.

 

Well, I just finished Mass Effect 1&2.

I felt the story was a lot more epic in the first game, I didn't do any of the side quests however. On the other hand though, I got frustrated with the poor inventory system, there was just too much stuff to keep track of. Too many items etc. I also felt the combat was quite strained, interesting, but a bit tiresome. Overall I love it however, I enjoyed it thoroughly, well worth the $20.

Now, 2 I'm almost the opposite in every respect. The story was decent, but way too short. I did all the side quests, got all the upgrades and it only gave me 20 hours of gameplay. Around the same as ME1 without the side quests. Now, while I thought the inventory system was too complicated in game 1, with like 8 different types of weapons, how the ammo was handled etc, I thought only 2/3 different types of weapons was pretty poor for choice. Overall, I enjoyed my time playing it, buy not as much as ME1. Can't fucking wait for ME3 though. Looks pretty awesome. (I'm also pissed I can't star over with the same Sheppard, but with a different class in ME2)

Now, I have a question concerning DA:O. I have it, started out as a mage, just got recruited by the grey wardens. However, my main gripe right now is that the combat system feels extremely awkward as a mage. Target selection is pretty annoying, and the spells all feel pretty similar. Does the combat improve, after the tower, or should I go back and pick a different class before I go on too far?

 

Stick to mage. If you play as the other classes you'll just die.

 

DA:O has a pretty different combat system. It was pretty hard for me too, in the beginning, and Mage Origin was my first. Trust me, it'll get better. The combat itself stays same, but you'll bet getter at it. And there are enough spells later on, IMO. Getting three actually useful party members helps alot XD

Besides, mage is the most powerful class by far. You can completely break the game with it. Of course, if you play normally, you'll have loads of challenges still.

 

Break the game with it? Go ahead and elaborate?

I'm on my first mission into the 'Kokiri Wilderness' or whatever it's called, and this shit definitely isn't easy. THe tactics thing is really confusing, and I can't be bothered spending ages trying to set that up. I've died a few times so far, and it's getting frustrating. I randomly get one shotted by some dudes with some ridiculously long range attack, no idea how to stop it.

Anyone got hints for me as a mage? I've been going down the primal tree for damage etc, though im wondering if healing could of been a better choice right now. I'm far more interested in immersion/plot than difficult combat, so I might lower the difficulty down to easy. :/

 

Remember WOW dungeons? Okay, same thing in DA:O. Seriously. Get a rogue for DPS and some CC. I chose the girl bard. Have Wynne as your healer and some CC. Things like mindblast and some entropy spells are good. Stick with a good tank. I thought Alistair sucked personally, but I held on to him until I got Shale. He comes with the DLC. Was free with my copy, not sure if you want to spend the money. When you level the tank, choose abilities that go for threat.

With the above set-up I played the game as rogue or mage. With the mage I grabbed at least one healing spell so I could help in a bind. I also grabbed one CC, but mainly went with DPS on the whole. Worked great on normal with only a few hitches. I did spend hours tweaking their set-ups, though, but before that I still did decent.

Advice during combat? Don't rush in with your mage. Chill a second and let the tank grab some shit. Then nail what he's nailing. You may need to micro the rogue and healer a bit in some fights, some are fucking brutal to be honest. Not sure about the one shots you keep getting hit with, though. Maybe more constitution?

Also, this little gem I used to respec ALL my characters, even changing their classes, like Bard to ranger. (That extra bear really helped.) Also, if I chose a power I didn't want, I would respec and try a new set-up. Did archer half the game in my Rogue, then went to dual-wield.

Here's the link.

My game did just fine with it, but I have a PC and not macbook, so don't know if it will work for you.

Hope this helps.

 

I found DA to be easy as a mage wearing leather armor, some mods make it funner.


MDK2- Super fun, old as fuck

Neverwinter Nights (ymmv) - Was fun, but got boring, I never finished it

Knight of the Old Republic - Hell yes

The Witcher - awesome sauce, get extended edition

Fallout 3 - got bored, havent finished

Batman - Arkham Asylum - awesome

Bioshock 1 & 2 - yes

Torchlight - fun for 2 hours, repetitive as fuck.

Dawn of War 2 and it's expansion are surprisingly good. I'm about to start on Tropico 3 next.

 

GOOD MORNING TROPICO! I love that game. Got the expansion?

 

Yeah, installed it all in one go.

 

On a side note, do note install Tropico thinking it's a jump in and play. That game is fucking complicated as shit, with zero help from the tutorials unless you don't know how to move a fucking camera around.

I have construction offices, they pay good wages, and I've got a bunch of stuff queued to be built. And the fuckers just won't build it. What the hell. I have roads to it, I have an active logging camp literally next door.

 

Arcane Warrior / Blood Mage specializations. Yes, you're going to be a magic knight... On crack. This is an extremely specialized build, though, and you'd probably have to remake your character to make it viable.

Basically, you invest in sustainable spells that mage you nigh-immortal. Arcane Warrior has the game's highest resistances and defence, actually, as well as doing above average damage with swinging weapons. I tried soloing the game on Nightmare with one, and while it was very challenging, it was certainly doable.

What makes Blood Mage specialization so powerful is the ridiculously strong aoe damage + stun, and the fact that you use your HP to cast your spell instead of your mana. All of your mana is going to be used in sustainables, anyways. With the right gear, you can achieve ridiculously high HP regen.

But yeah, on your first playthrough, I recommend that you just stumble your way through, instead of min/maxing and running after the best item pieces available asap.

If you go the traditional mage route (which I personally enjoy much more than AW - it's strong, but boring), spells that I highly recommend are Fireball and Cone of Cold.

The best spell line in the game (outside of specializations) is Spirit Spells, because of the end reward - Crushing Prison. Get that one ASAP. You won't regret it.

When you get out of the beginner forest, I recommend going to the Mage Tower first. You get permanent stat boosts there equivalent of... 5 levels or so? As well as the healer. And it's easy, if somewhat tricky on your first time with the puzzles.

If you want to use Morrigan (use her use her use her), it might be wise to invest in the entrophy tree, for the CCs.

You can get Blood Mage specialization when you're in a situation when you have to go to the Fade, and deal with a Desire Demon. Do NOT kill her - seek to do a deal with her instead. Oh, and you HAVE to go with your main character.

Spoiler

Redcliff, not Mage Tower fade >_>

AW, you shouldn't have trouble finding, as long as you thoroughly explore the areas you visit.

About party composition... Well, when you know the game, the best party is four mages. Seriously. But a balanced group will do just fine. Just one thing - AI melee rogues are worthless. With AI, if you want a rogue, go bow. And it is worth having one around, for all the lock-picking. If you have DLC, Shale makes a powerful and cheap tank. That, and she's just adorable. Don't waste your mana and time on heals, learn to use recovery items.

And don't go easy! It's absolute faceroll.

 

Realistic, innit?

Problem with the construction offices (assuming they're fully staffed) is that they end up, by their very nature, in the arse end of nowhere. They drive out and get dropped off and build whatever halfway, then they clock off and unless there's a garage nearby they're going to be schlepping all the way back home, on foot, racking up a long list of things they're going to get done before they even think of stepping foot on a construction site again. So by the time that they walk allllll the way back home, gone to the market, visited the church and the medical centre and somewhere fun, and then start heading back to work, you've spent the last five minutes mucking with things.

And if you're throwing up a bunch of building footprints all at once, you end up with a half-dozen half-built buildings - all of which are paid for, none of which are paying for themselves. My rule of thumb is two construction sites per fully-staffed construction office, but fiddle until you work out what works for you.

(and what's the logging camp got to do with it? You don't need raw materials to build buildings, just cold, hard cash)

 

Nah I got stuff queued to be built right next to it, and the fuckers will ignore it. I got mad and turned it off. I even got a second one built, and they didn't do shit either. I tried juggling the priorities of the buildings, and nada.

I did fire them all and I got some folks who actually did some shit, but still took forever. Roads between them, etc. I assumed you needed a logging camp for material, either way, hell they weren't building that literally net door either =/

 

Yeah, they can still take their sweet time doing anything even if you've done everything right. Send El Presidente to the construction sites to speed things up so it takes less visits to get it done, and if it's really bugging you track down the individual workers to see what they're doing instead of working - it could tip you off as to what's wrong.

All else fails, turn up the speed.