DescentBB

Are there any good single player games like HL or HL2? I don't like zombie stuff much but I do like sci-fi or fantasy. I prefer 1st person and not 3rd.

Thanks

For PC? For console? Recent, or are older games okay?

I would certainly be interested too.
It doesn't matter much to me what sort of system they're on unless they were released in the past three or so years. After my laptop's... experience... with Retrovirus I think anything released after that I'd only be able to play on my 360.

I would suggest Doom 3 right off the bat. I had a lot more fun there than even with the first 2 Dooms, but I seem to be in the minority about that... you've probably played it already and not liked it as much as me .
And of course there's the first Red Faction but you've probably already played that too, all things considered and you being in this community.

I'll probably get reamed for this, but honestly I've really enjoyed the Halo series single-player campaigns. Nice long sci-fi campaigns with a decent storyline, good characters, good fighting on foot and in ground/air vehicles as well. I'd definitely recommend them.

If you have an XBox console, start with the first game, "Halo:Combat Evolved" (best is the Anniversary edition if you have a 360). If you have a Windows PC, you can at least get the first two games and crank up the graphics.

Arx Fatalis, Gothic, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, The Elder Scrolls, Assasins Cread

It's for the PC.

I'd recommend Mass Effect 1-3, but it's 3rd person. The coop in ME3 is pretty snazzy if you like the mechanics of the L4D series ... sorta...

Bioshock might be interesting

I'll second Bioshock. It was without a doubt the best FPS game I have played since HL2 and Doom 3.

I think I'll try Bioshock. I've read good things about it also.

Foil wrote: If you have an XBox console, start with the first game, "Halo:Combat Evolved" (best is the Anniversary edition if you have a 360). If you have a Windows PC, you can at least get the first two games and crank up the graphics.

Can the disk hardcopy of Combat Evolved be upgraded to Anniversary? Is there an extra cost?
I only ask because there's a used CD store next to the University that's had a couple of copies for... probably two years now. I don't think they're going anywhere and so it would be pretty easy to get one cheap.

I might give Bioshock a try too. Come to think of it, I have a friend who has the (again) 360 version so I could probably borrow it from him to try for a couple weeks before I decide whether to buy it or not .

I still use laptop to play most of my games BTW (since most of them are so old). But my laptop has been running perfectly for at least four years and buying a console was a lot cheaper than buying a better laptop or trying to upgrade just for the sake of video games.
Not that I think anyone here would flame me about it .

I'll concur with the Bioshock suggestion. I was really enjoying it, but still haven't finished it... perhaps it's time to go back, whenever I get the chance.

Alter-Fox wrote:Can the disk hardcopy of [Halo] Combat Evolved be upgraded to Anniversary?

No. The 10th-Anniversary release is essentially a remake, a separate release for the 360. I think I got it for ~$15.

Definitely Bioshock, 1 and 2. I'm looking at getting Bioshock Infinite too.

Foil wrote:

Alter-Fox wrote:Can the disk hardcopy of [Halo] Combat Evolved be upgraded to Anniversary?

No. The 10th-Anniversary release is essentially a remake, a separate release for the 360. I think I got it for ~$15.

Ok thanks. I'll take a look on XBox Live once I have some money available.

I wouldn't call it as polished as the Half-Life series, but I played the hell out of Far Cry 2 despite its faults. Far Cry 3 has pretty good game play that addressed a lot of the faults in FC2, but the plot is one thing that is way worse than FC2. FC2 had forgettable typical video game writing, FC3 has actively terrible writing that is quite memorable just from how bad it is. I haven't played FC1 yet, but its in my queue to get to eventually, but I have a ton of games I bought but haven't gotten around to playing yet (Kerbal Space Program, Far Cry 1, Serious Sam 2/3, Saints Row III, Duke Nukem Forever, Retrovirus, Tomb Raider Underworld...).

I spend way too much time goofing around in Just Cause 2 though, too damn fun (but it isn't first person [unless you use the first person mod] so wouldn't fit on your list).

Krom, I played Far Cry 1 and it was awesome. Never finished it. I did try FC2 but once a FPS starts getting to complex (Crysis) in terms of having to use so many keys to do stuff I get uninterested.

You should finish Far Cry 1. The ending is sweet revenge. The ending in Far Cry 2 was a huge letdown after all that running around and besides, the color pallet was mostly a boring brownish wash. The fire was fun to play with though. I'm playing Far Cry 3 right now, it's kind of fun, for awhile. I like the fact that the wildlife can attack you, so you have to watch your back when prowling in the jungle or swimming in the ocean. Haven't got to the end yet, because I've been sidetracked playing Hitman Absolution and Sniper Ghost Warrior 2.

I'm find myself in surprise that no one has mention the Thief series of games. I found them filled with great fun. A man will say many crazy things off alone in the darkness of a dungeon.

TC, both endings of FC3 are pretty terrible, but the "bad" end is definitely the dumbest. Play one ending, watch the other on youtube. The real "meat" of the game play in FC3 is taking outposts and wanted dead quests anyway. To fend off the animals I usually pack either a silenced shotgun (mod required), or a flame thrower (the #1 most effective brand of animal repellant). I also don't walk along river banks, after I was happily avoiding pirates by walking along a bank one day and suddenly found myself stabbing my way out of the jaws of a crocodile...

And aye, FC2 was kinda like always looking through a pair of dusty sunglasses. There is a mod that clears out most of the brown wash and livens up the colors a good bit though. I played that game enough that I can find pretty much all 220 some odd diamond cases from memory (although I'll admit I have a pretty good memory for that kind of thing). It was one of the first "sandbox" games I'd ever played, and I liked being able to pick different paths to destinations and explore areas without feeling totally on rails like most games. Course I later graduated to Just Cause / JC2 which take the sandbox to a whole different level.

Krom wrote:TC, both endings of FC3 are pretty terrible, but the "bad" end is definitely the dumbest. Play one ending, watch the other on youtube. The real "meat" of the game play in FC3 is taking outposts and wanted dead quests anyway. To fend off the animals I usually pack either a silenced shotgun (mod required), or a flame thrower (the #1 most effective brand of animal repellant). I also don't walk along river banks, after I was happily avoiding pirates by walking along a bank one day and suddenly found myself stabbing my way out of the jaws of a crocodile...

I finally figured out that the flame thrower did the best job of discouraging the land predators, although you had to watch out you didn't get fried in the process of protecting yourself. I agree that the roaming around sandbox style and taking the outposts were the best part of the game. I did not like the boss fighting, which is actually similar to the fights in Hitman Absolution. Press this prompted key, then that prompted key in rapid succession................

Krom wrote:And aye, FC2 was kinda like always looking through a pair of dusty sunglasses. There is a mod that clears out most of the brown wash and livens up the colors a good bit though. I played that game enough that I can find pretty much all 220 some odd diamond cases from memory (although I'll admit I have a pretty good memory for that kind of thing). It was one of the first "sandbox" games I'd ever played, and I liked being able to pick different paths to destinations and explore areas without feeling totally on rails like most games. Course I later graduated to Just Cause / JC2 which take the sandbox to a whole different level.

What's the mod called? I might just reinstall FC2 and try it with a new look. I never did get around to finding all the diamonds though. The stupid ending bummed me out so much, I never went back in and looked. I also hated the constant respawning of enemies in an outpost once you left, after you just spent wads of ammo clearing the damn place out. At least in FC3, once you took over an outpost, it was yours for the rest of the game. Especially when you have to pay for your own ammo.

I still have JC2. Haven't finished it yet, but I do love that grappling hook. One can really get around to inaccessible places or perform the most creative kills with that thing!

http://www.moddb.com/mods/far-cry-2-gra ... ment-suite

There are a couple other graphical mods in that db, and some weapon/gameplay mods too. Gibbed finally cracked the data files a few months ago and made some modding possible, so that is why people finally started tweaking stuff.

tunnelcat wrote:...I did not like the boss fighting, which is actually similar to the fights in Hitman Absolution. Press this prompted key, then that prompted key in rapid succession................

Yeah, I hate QTE's. I haven't played any games that have them that wouldn't have been better without them.
Although I've only played two games that had them...

Have you played the "new" Black Mesa conversion mod?

Pretty impressive.

I want this really bad.
[youtube]rt4p9A-U4Ko[/youtube]

Duper, yes I played it.

Duper wrote:Have you played the "new" Black Mesa conversion mod?

Pretty impressive.

Yes, but I was surprised by how much they trimmed out of the "on a rail" segment and a couple other places. The voice acting was a little corny in places too, like when you get knocked out and the two soldiers are dragging you. I went back and played the original HL1 just to compare, and it was kinda funny because levels loaded so fast it felt like a seamless transition.

lol.. well considering it was made by a non-triple A studio ... basically Fans, it's not all that bad. There is an interesting postmortem some place that I read a couple months back. The lead goes into detail why some of the things were changed. I'll see if I can find it.

I... tried it.
I got stuck even earlier in the game (still On a Rail though) than I was in the original game. :sigh:

Borderlands. 1 or 2, it doesn't matter. They're both good.

RPG elements, character customization, and loads of guns.

Krom wrote:http://www.moddb.com/mods/far-cry-2-gra ... ment-suite

There are a couple other graphical mods in that db, and some weapon/gameplay mods too. Gibbed finally cracked the data files a few months ago and made some modding possible, so that is why people finally started tweaking stuff.

Oooooooooooooh! Nice! Gonna reinstall FC2 and finish my diamond hunting in living color. I still hate the outpost NPC respawns though.

Alter-Fox wrote:Yeah, I hate QTE's. I haven't played any games that have them that wouldn't have been better without them.
Although I've only played two games that had them...

That method's a copout. Maybe it's easier for the developers or something, but it's not as satisfying when you beat a boss through skill and quick thinking. What's funny is that they didn't do that method in every boss fight in FC3. There was that one with that HUGE Temple God that required some fancy arrow shooting and dodging just to stay alive.

I haven't played Far Cry but I think I've heard of it. And not just from you, TC.
Come to think of it both games I've played with QTEs are called [some noun] Unleashed. Maybe I should warn people to stay away from games with 'Unleashed' in their names . On the other claw, though, they were both fun, enjoyable games apart from the QTEs. Although they both could have been made better in other ways fairly easily.

I've looked at Borderlands a little bit and it didn't sound too interesting but maybe I should take another look...

If you just want to go diamond hunting, there is a super useful command line option that makes it a lot easier to explore and have a look around the game without constantly fighting patrols and outposts, just create a shortcut to farcry2.exe with the command line option: -GameProfile_IgnorePlayer 1 Then the AI will ignore you so you can walk right through an outpost or drive past a patrol and they won't shoot you, but be careful because they really totally ignore you, which means sometimes if you are in the wrong spot a patrol will run you over and kill you anyway (like they do with their buddies sometimes which is amusing to watch if you have ignore on). Course you could just use -GameProfile_GodMode 1 in addition to ignoreplayer to prevent getting killed accidentally (or from falling damage). Course it is also amusing to use ignoreplayer and then fire your weapon in one of the cease fire zones, and watch as all the AI follow you around trying to shoot you, but can't shoot you.

The total number of diamonds in the game if you add up all the main quests and tower assassination missions is exactly 1000 diamonds, which is also exactly the amount you need to buy EVERYTHING in the weapon shop.

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Alter-fox, perhaps you are talking about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed / II? They had some pretty annoying QTEs (in addition to the most overpowered star wars character ever, which turned it up to 11 in II, and then if you activated force fury mode it went over 9000).

Thanks for that. It'll be handy and save on ammo. But come to think of it, my own side has run over me in FC3. I think they have bad eyesight.

over 9000?

not to mention the fact that I like a S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Deus Ex: Human Revolution

One of my favorite free games is Nexuiz, when you're playing on a server with the grappling hook. Imagine spiderman with a rail gun, the game.

Oh. That. There was some CTF map where MD-1224 and I devised a way to do flag runs on a 10 second round-trip time by grapple-swinging around the outside of the level. It was pretty crazy.

One FPS shooter that I'm really enjoying right now is Painkiller. Came out first back in 2004, bought the black edition very recently on Steam for $2.50.

Reminds me hugely of the early days of Doom 1-2 IE: lots of different types of villans/demons vs one guy with lots of guns and ammo - and that's it. Great character design, very simplistic game-play but lovely rag-doll physics more than make up for that. (The gun that fires tree-trunk-like wooden stakes is VERY satisfying and very addictive) And at $2.50 for over 10 hours of game-play you can't lose.

sigma wrote:not to mention the fact that I like a S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Yeah, Deus Ex was great. I haven't really gotten into S.T.A.L.K.E.R. yet. Seems too depressing and gray, but I guess it's more relevant to you since the location is in your country sigma.

Just started Bioshock Infinite. WOW! The visuals are fantastic! A HUGE floating city. In DX11, the dust and clouds are jaw dropping! But the whole premise of the story is around a maniacal gray-bearded white prophet/preacher leader who's a whooping big racist. That theme is repeated throughout the game. Kind of shocked me when I first ran into it when I had to decide whether to throw a baseball at some poor tied up black person on a stage, or the stupid barker egging me to do it in a carnival scene. I guess it's to make me want to kill this guy and his followers more than usual.