Birthday Money

OKay, I got some cash for my birthday and am looking for any good suggestions on new games to get. Games I own already: Sins of a Solar Empire, CnC3+kane's Wrath, Company of Heroes+Opposing Fronts, The Orange Box, Medieval Total War 2, COD2, SupCom, Crysis, KOTOR 1 and 2, Civ4+BTS+Warlods, Oblivion, Morrowind, and others just these are the ones I actively play. If anyone knows any good games to buy, please tell me! I don't care if it's older or brand new, I just want something for the summer. Preffered genre's are FPS, RPG, RTS, and Strategy. Any help would be greatley appreciated.

Currently looking at Mass Effect, worth it?

I don't see Call of Duty 4 on your list. Get that, Mass Effect, Rainbow six Vegas 2 or maybe Gothic 4.

I have RSV2 for the 360 and I think im also getting COD4 for the 360 too (my friends will kill me if I get it for the PC as they all play it on 360), but thanks for the suggestion.

If you liked Civ 4 and Sins... then give Galactic Civilizations II a go. It's a sci-fi turn-based game (in the mould of the legendary MOO2) and is excellent. Two good add-ons have been released too.

And NO DRM!


If you ever played Elite, give X3:Reunion a go too. It's quite old now, so should be pretty cheap. Still looks good and gives hours of gameplay.

It's quite different to Civ 4 - it's much more like Master of Orion 2.

There's probably a demo.

cod4 is over rated, all that people play is "hardcore" mode, and its more like noob spray fest mode

I don't think my dad would let me get a PS3 considering I already have a 360.

I guess you mean is it more quest/loot oriented or more story/character oriented? In that regard it's closer to KOTOR. However, The Witcher is in a class of its own. It is a fantasy RPG for adults in which your choices in the game have real consequences on the plot and are not always black and white. KOTOR was famous/infamous for its very simplistic choices (ie; kill beggar or give beggar money) but in The Witcher, you may give a starving band of elves supplies only to find out that they later kill groups of humans. The Witcher has a fantastic story line and is highly atmospheric. Also, the game's developer is releasing an updated version, known as 'The Witcher 2.0' sometime this fall. It will have completely reworked dialogue and some other significant improvement's on the original game's flaws. Best of all, it will be free to download for people who already own the game.

I will say that if you are the type of person who plays RPG's mostly for the looting, gear, and character customization, The Witcher may not be your cup of tea. But if you appreciate a great story, great atmosphere, and some really neat characters, The Witcher is more than worth your money! I've had so many 'wow!' moments with this game. To me, it's much more enjoyable than Oblivion. I think with the addition of the 2.0 patch, this game will create quite a legacy for itself and will take its place alongside some of the best RPGs released to date.

Also having played more of Mass Effect I am starting to see some big flaws in it... You know like cutting corners to save development time... More of Soap Opera then a Space Opera it would appear.

Bob

You did WHAT? I am impressed! I had the same problem and it took forever before some random combination of solutions did the trick.

Perhaps violating the 'good salesman code of ethics,' i'll make a little list of the major complaints people have had with the game:

• Long loading times--if you have a decent computer, they're really not bad...the issue has been improved significantly with new patches. On the system in my sig, load times occasionally approach 30 seconds.

• Restricted exploration--if you seek the open-endedness of oblivion ("hey, see that mountain in the distance...let's CLIMB IT!" ) The Witcher will probably disappoint. While there is lots of explorable area in the game, you can't simply visit any area at any time as in oblivion.

• Weak/Fragmented Translation--the original game was made in Polish, and in all honesty, the translation to English is not great. But it's not bad either, and though it falls short of eloquent, it does its job of getting the point across. Furthermore, the dialog is going to be completely redone in the aforementioned Witcher 2.0, which will be available as a free download to current owners of the game.

• Repetitive Character Models and Jarring Character Animations--there are not many character models for the different npcs. While all the major characters have their own skin, most of the villagers/townsfolk are recycled liberally. Also, during cutscenes, the characters sometimes make stupid looking gestures, like swinging their arms about. Both these issues are to be addressed in The Witcher 2.0.

• Menu/Interface--Yes it's clunky and kind of difficult to get used to. Again, it's going to be addressed in Witcher 2.0

• Combat System--this is only criticism depending on who you are. You don't actually get direct control of your character during fights. Instead, you have to move the cursor over one of your enemies and click when it lights up. If you continually string successful attacks, your character can pull off some pretty sick moves. I enjoyed this welcome departure from oblivion style hack and slash, but others have found it to be quite boring. If you think this will trouble you, you may want to watch some gameplay movies somewhere to decide for yourself.

That's about it. Some people will complain of bugs/technical issues, but if you have the magical talent required to run KOTOR2 with sound on Vista, nothing the Witcher can throw at you will stand in your way. I'm 50 hours in and haven't had A SINGLE crash!!

Also, you may want to try the demo, which consists of the entire first 5th of the game!