What games do you always go back to?

[rowech]

For about 10 years or so, I would always go back and play an old soccer sim called One-Nil. There was Civilization as well. What games can you put away for a while but always return to?

[AgustusM]

OOTP
FOF
Civ

[SteveMax58]

Baldur's Gate (and the sequel/expansion packs).

As a matter of fact I used to play a full campaign (thru all versions) once a year or so for about 5 years. It's probably been about 4 years now since I've done it but my oldest son is almost old enough to play it. Might be something to fire up soon and get into again.

[-apoc-]

Imperialism II though I do not think it will run on Windows 7 so I might have to finally skip a year. I usually play it once a year for about a week.

[RomaGoth]

EHM 2007
Civ3 (until I sold it last year)
AOE 2

[FBPro]

OOTP
FOF
The Show

[jeff061]

Baldur's Gate 2/Throne of Bhaal, Fallout 1/2, Deus Ex, Under a Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive.

Those games seem to never ever get old. In fact, before I was able to get them running in Dos Box, I had a old workstation running Win 98 just for the Tex Murphy games.

[jeff061]

I also every once in awhile get the urge to play Beneath a Steel Sky. Not sure why, I never really loved it, but something about it resonates with me.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by SteveMax58

Baldur's Gate (and the sequel/expansion packs).

As a matter of fact I used to play a full campaign (thru all versions) once a year or so for about 5 years. It's probably been about 4 years now since I've done it but my oldest son is almost old enough to play it. Might be something to fire up soon and get into again.

Playing all the way through again right now thanks to GOG... BG1 through BG2:TOB with the same party. Still one of the best PC games of all time IMO, probably the 4th or 5th play through for me as well.

The other one for me is Deus Ex, usually go back to that game at least once every couple of years.

[EagleFan]

FOF 2007 always ends up in the rotation.

WoW would pretty much fit this mold as well. I have taken breaks from it but always seem to end up going back to it for (just one more quest).

The Civ games also fall into this category.

[rjolley]

Transport Tycoon Deluxe with TTDPatch, and now OpenTTD

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 once it goes on sale on Steam. I can't find the media for the last time I bought it.

The Civ games.

Fastbreak College Basketball, though I haven't had a chance to get into the new version too much

And my current goto 360 game is College Hoops 2K8, though NBA2K11 is growing on me.

[Big Fo]

jeff061, bhlloy, and SteveMax58 - I have never played either Baldur's Gate game but I know they are regarded as classics, BG2 especially. With BG2 now on GOG.com for a good price ($10, and BG1 has been on there for awhile at the same price iirc), I plan on giving the series a try sometime soon. My question is how important is playing the first game to enjoying the second? I've read that the sequel is better and that both games are very long (around 100 hours?), would you guys recommend playing the first game or could I just start with the sequel and not miss out on a whole lot?

[TargetPractice6]

I'd recommend starting with BG1 if you can in order to fully appreciate the story line. BG1 and BG2 play similarly, but there's just a lot more content in sequel.

[jeff061]

BG2 is the gem, but BG1 is still a good game that will get your feet wet and allow you to appreciate 2 even more.

I think BG2 has stood the test of time much better though. To the point that Dragon Age really disappointed me because it wasn't a copy of BG2.

[twothree]

Civ IV
Guild Wars

Civ IV knocked Civ II off this list. I know Civ IV and Guild Wars have only been around for five years each, but I think they both will be games that I can always go back to.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by jeff061

BG2 is the gem, but BG1 is still a good game that will get your feet wet and allow you to appreciate 2 even more.

I think BG2 has stood the test of time much better though. To the point that Dragon Age really disappointed me because it wasn't a copy of BG2.

I would pretty much agree with this, BG1 is a good game that is pretty dated and has some quirks that weren't in BG2.

If you want the full experience and story you would probably want to play both. It's definitely cool to take the same party (as much as possible, without revealing too many spoilers) the whole way through, or at least the same main character. BG1 also starts pretty slowly but will give you a much better understanding of the game engine rather than jumping in at BG2 with a much higher level character and wondering WTF is going on with all the spells, items and different options.

That being said, it will still take at least 50 hours to play through BG1 and if you don't have that kind of time, you can just jump in at BG2 and not feel like you missed too much of substance.

[cubboyroy1826]

FOF
FBCB
OOTP 6.5

[Tasan]

Masters of Orion, the original. Love that game, and it runs in Dosbox.

[Big Fo]

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. I'll play through the original first, it sounds like doing so would add to the overall experience.

[Bad-example]

FOF
Baseball Mogul
Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey

[SackAttack]

Anything Civ. Rock Band. the old Mario platformers.

[RainMaker]

OOTP 6.5
College Hoops 2K8

I also love the old King's Quest/Police Quest games and bought them awhile ago for cheap and occasionally play through them.

[Icy]

College Hoops 2K8 and while i have not played it for the last two years or so, UFO series can't get out of my rotation.

Steel Panthers is also an old game i play from time to time.

rjolley, how good is OpenTTD? i loved the original TTD.

[fantom1979]

Civ4
OpenTTD
Roller Coaster Tycoon 2
Simcity 4 (not sure why, I end up getting bored within 30 min)
World of Warcraft
Tropico

[Groundhog]

FBCB is probably the big one for me.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Thanks for the advice gentlemen. I'll play through the original first, it sounds like doing so would add to the overall experience.

Good choice if you think you'll have the time. As bhlloy said...BG1 might feel a little dated to you at first but if you want to immerse into the overall BG story it is a must imo. Hard to say why without spoiling anything but I would highly advise it if you have the time.

[ColtCrazy]

The Civ Series (seems to be a prevailing theme)

Knights of the Old Republic I & II - Just love those games.

Rise of Nations - Though I haven't played it in a awhile, I used to fire it up once every 6 months or so and play it for a few days. I haven't loaded it yet on the new computer.

[Balldog]

FBCB, College Hoops 2K8, and NCAA Football 07 (PS2) are the ones that come to mind for me.

[Thomkal]

<---still goes back and plays Angband and its variants, including yesterday.

[canadiancreed]

OOTP, and Eve Online for myself. Possibly wow and vgaplanets once in a blue moon

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by Icy

rjolley, how good is OpenTTD? i loved the original TTD.

OpenTTD is very much like TTD + TTDPatch with some added features. The differences from the original TTD and OpenTTD are here, while the changes between TTDPatch and OpenTTD are here. There are also various patches for the game that add additional features. The one I use is created by ChillCore, which is a combination of other patches.

If you liked the original, I think you'll enjoy OpenTTD just a much, if not more.

[Izulde]

FOF 2007
DDS:PB 1
Balance of Power: 1990 Edition
Revolution '76
Crusader Kings (to a much less extent than I used to, but still fire it up now and again)
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (Only because I haven't beaten it yet and every time I go back to it, I start over)
Dynasty Warriors 6
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms 7
Final Fantasy Tactics

[RendeR]

Sid Meirs Pirates
Civ
Original Halo
Trackmania nations

[Raiders Army]

FOF
Minesweeper
Hearts
Solitaire

[Toddzilla]

Mario Kart

[MIJB#19]

Sensible World of Soccer 1996/1997
Not widely known soccer game that was easy to learn, but tough to master when playing with a team of underdogs. The career mode is a little bit lacking, in that there's no activity between the AI teams and that players dont age. The game also forces you to retire after 20 seasons. Still, the game is relatively deep, considering with for that time (even still today) a tremendous number of playable leagues and up to date rosters. From time to time it comes back into my list of activities in a given week, especially when I'm a week off. I've actually recently picked up a gamepad solely with the purpose to be able to get back into SWOS - it's playable with a keyboard, but a joystick or gamepad is required to experience to the fullest. I haven't regained my late 90's form/early 2000's form, but I'd still like to pick up the challenge to guide San Marino to winning the World Cup, which is near impossible to achieve.

Next up would be The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The later on the SNES and the former through the GameBoy to SNES adapter. Followed by several other SNES games, most notably Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart.

[MIJB#19]

Thinking some more, I failed to mention that occasionally I go back to replay some of the Lucas Arts adventure games (Day of the Terntacle, Indiana Jones: Faith of Atlantis, etc) and the first two Broken Sword games.

And then there's the Heroes of Might and Magic series...

[MizzouRah]

FOF
HL 2
OOTP

[path12]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

<---still goes back and plays Angband and its variants, including yesterday.

Had my best character ever (L40) die due to carelessness earlier this week. I don't think I can fire this up again for awhile.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by path12

Had my best character ever (L40) die due to carelessness earlier this week. I don't think I can fire this up again for awhile.

yeah that's always rough, but ya know you will be back soon.

[Ben E Lou]

FOF2K7
Civ4 (hopefully Civ 5 will replace it with another patch or two)
FBCB
OOTPlatest

[Coffee Warlord]

Civ IV, Master of Orion (the original), Europa Universalis III, Crusader Kings, Sim City 4.

And since it was mentioned, Transport Tycoon sounds really fun right about now.

[lungs]

OOTP
FOF
EU3
Vicky 2
DDS:CB

[BYU 14]

TCY
Title Bout 2.5
BG II

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Civ4 (hopefully Civ 5 will replace it with another patch or two)

To slightly threadjack here, is it still the rough opinion of folks that Civ 5 needs a patch or two more?

[jeff061]

Seems to be. They've already announced a patch with a ton of changes.

http://www.thecompanyhub.com/oscar-m...ming-soon.html

[RedHawk00]

FOF2k7
Mario Kart, always a blast with friends
any LEGO game...

[tyketime]

I just bought both Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate 2 (from GOG). After installing them, I am getting terrible flickering and mouse problems making the screen not viewable. If any of you encountered similar issues, could you give me an idea of something to try to make the game playable? Thanks!

I should say that I am running Windows Vista with ATI graphics.

[Abe Sargent]

I probably spend about 75% of my gaming time these days playing series and games I already know. The rest are versions of games I know. I'm playing through UFO:ET right now, and it's almost exactly a carbon copy of X Com UFO Defense, with updated graphics and only a few gameplay tweaks. Does that count as a new game, or going back to those I know? I don;t know, but I do know that my gaming is mostly game series (Football Manager) , developers (Sid Meier), companies (Paradox), and genres (turn based strategy) that I trust.

[AgustusM]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

To slightly threadjack here, is it still the rough opinion of folks that Civ 5 needs a patch or two more?

have not been able to get immersed in 5 the way I have in every previous version. I do like a lot of the changes, but I feel like I spend 90% of my time fighting barbarians.