[asyikarea51]

I have heard good things about NFS: Shift as well.

Please, no...

[chief1983]

The last good NFS was Porsche Unleashed, although I had the most fun with 3 and High Stakes.  Nothing like a good LAN match playing as the fuzz for a change.

[Mongoose]

I was going to suggest Burnout 3: Takedown as a great substitute for the NFS games, but it was apparently never released on PC.  Nuts. Still ridiculously fun, though.

[CP5670]

I have heard good things about NFS: Shift as well.

Please, no...

If you have something bad to say about it, let's hear it. I haven't played it yet.

The last NFS game I played was Most Wanted, which was excellent, but all the subsequent games before Shift are supposed to have been crappy. Shift has gotten more positive reactions on forums I go to, although it's a different type of game and closer to GRID.

I was going to suggest Burnout 3: Takedown as a great substitute for the NFS games, but it was apparently never released on PC.  Nuts. Still ridiculously fun, though.

The latest game, Burnout Paradise, is on the PC. That might also be worth checking out. I prefer non-realistic racing games over racing sims in general, and we hardly get any of them on the PC these days.

[chief1983]

Most Wanted was ok, but why the hell couldn't there have been any story development during the game?  All those cutscenes at the beginning and then no more until the very end.  Teh lame.

[CP5670]

A few more of them would have been nice, but who actually paid attention to the story? The cutscenes seemed to have been meant more for comedy value than anything else, and they delivered there.

[Fineus]

The one thing I didn't like was the AIs ability to massively rig the races and catch you up right at the last minute to take the win. I know the game is highly arcade styled but that was a massive issue for me.

[chief1983]

Fortunately that was a double edged sword, you could get totally screwed and still not end up that far behind.

[Mongoose]

Ah, good old rubber-banding.  That's been around since at least Super Mario Kart, and probably far earlier.

[CP5670]

The one thing I didn't like was the AIs ability to massively rig the races and catch you up right at the last minute to take the win. I know the game is highly arcade styled but that was a massive issue for me.

I see people bring that up frequently, but I never found it to be much of an issue. I only saw it happen when the AI had fallen so far behind that his marker had gone off the mini-map, in which case the game moved him to the edge of the map (which was still a long way behind me).

The only criticism I had was the randomness at the end of the major races, where you had a chance to get the pink slip. I always wanted that and kept replaying the races until I got it. The enemy cars often had advanced upgrades that you couldn't otherwise get until much later in the game. It would have been better if they gave you the car based on your race performance in some way, instead of the random drawing.

[SpardaSon21]

Is the original post still relevant?  If it is, I suggest Tyrian grab Dragon Age.  Best story-driven game I've ever played (which is really just KOTOR 1 and 2 as I haven't played any of the BioWare ones like NWN or Baldur's Gate).  I can't play the Baldur's Gate games as I can't stand 2d sprite graphics, and the NWN games just looked bland to me.

[Thaeris]

If you like good, old-school RPGs, look to the original Avernum trilogy. If you like really old-school RPGs, look to what Avernum is based off of, Exile.

[General Battuta]

Is the original post still relevant?  If it is, I suggest Tyrian grab Dragon Age.  Best story-driven game I've ever played (which is really just KOTOR 1 and 2 as I haven't played any of the BioWare ones like NWN or Baldur's Gate).  I can't play the Baldur's Gate games as I can't stand 2d sprite graphics, and the NWN games just looked bland to me.

The graphics in Baldur's Gate remain gorgeous to this day. Check out the widescreen mod.

[Scotty]

If you like Baldur's Gate, try Icewind Dale.  Same setting, little further north.

[Hero_Swe]

Oh, I agree, Clear Sky sucks. The consensus amongst reviewers is that Shadow of Chernobyl was a lot better. You will have to get used to the realistic ballistics model, however - until you get an assault rifle you'll be dying a lot. Quicksave quicksave! (Personally I think that just rather adds to the atmosphere.)

Just play the original: once with STALKER Complete and the Arsenal mod (I think they're compatible?) to get the original feel, and then again with Oblivion Lost to get the expanded crazy feel.

Dragon Age is apparently good.

Mods were excellent for this game because they made it what it was supposed to be like AND they fixed the stupid ballistic system they had

[mxlm]

If you like Baldur's Gate, try Icewind Dale.  Same setting, little further north.

Dude, Torment. How has Torment not been mentioned?

[SpardaSon21]

Is the original post still relevant?  If it is, I suggest Tyrian grab Dragon Age.  Best story-driven game I've ever played (which is really just KOTOR 1 and 2 as I haven't played any of the BioWare ones like NWN or Baldur's Gate).  I can't play the Baldur's Gate games as I can't stand 2d sprite graphics, and the NWN games just looked bland to me.

The graphics in Baldur's Gate remain gorgeous to this day. Check out the widescreen mod.

To some yes, they are gorgeous.  Me, I can't stand looking at sprite after sprite.  I can handle low-polygon models and low-resolution textures, but I simply can't stand sprites.

[CP5670]

I don't know what that game looks like, but a lot of early 3D games have not aged well at all, and 2D games of the same era look much better than them today. I think it was only around late 1997 that 3D games surpassed 2D ones to the point that they hold up better today.

I was recently playing a bunch of fanmade levels for Lemmings (Mac version with 640x480 graphics) and the game still looks reasonably good, despite being from 1992. It doesn't have that ugly, blocky look that characterizes many early 3D games, especially from the Doom and Quake 1 eras.

[Ransom]

To some yes, they are gorgeous.  Me, I can't stand looking at sprite after sprite.  I can handle low-polygon models and low-resolution textures, but I simply can't stand sprites.

That's a bit arbitrary. Art generally trumps technology in these cases, and there's far less wrong with the art in late sprite-based games than early 3D ones.

But more importantly I think an aversion to sprites is a terrible reason to miss out on the excellence that is BG2 and Torment. The terriblest, perhaps! Dragon Age is great, but BG2 is still the better game in many ways.

[General Battuta]

Seriously.

Think of the sprites as animated paintings. That should help out.

In many ways they still look better than 3D models. Mechcommander vs. Mechcommander 2 is a great example.