The best games you never played

Per

Per

Vault Consort
Staff member
Admin
I spotted an interesting thread on the QT3 forum and thought we could do with a similar one here. The idea is to name games that:

1. Are comparatively widely played and well-regarded,
2. You have good reason to believe you could have enjoyed, and in spite of this
3. You have played very little or not at all.

This means you should not list games that:

1. Are obscure or not considered good games in their genre (no one cares that you played Blobs & Blisters I-VII but for some reason couldn't be arsed with VIII),
2. You had no reason to be drawn to in the first place (it's of no interest that you didn't play Starcraft if you weren't in the habit of playing RTSs anyway), or
3. That you played enough to form an educated opinion (this is not a soapbox for attacking games you don't like).

Don't just spout off game names; be sure to guess or explain why you never got into this game or that. Others may then comment and perhaps address any particular issues or concerns as appropriate. This way we get to laugh at people for their obvious lack of gamer cred, some may be impelled to go back and try something they missed the first time around, and it will serve as a nice discussion and recommendation resource all around.

I'll start with a bunch:

A few years back, I was set to try out Master of Magic, by all accounts an excellent fusion of Civilization and Magic: the Gathering. I procured the game, downloaded the manual and fan FAQ, then before character creation I checked the latter for any relevant hints or issues. I started reading the bugs section. It sort of went on. And on. And on. I mean, it really did go on. For pages and pages and many, many pages. When I was done with this strangely fascinating reading, it just seemed like there couldn't be much in the game that actually did work as advertised, so I never started playing.

I played lots of Civ, lots of Civ II, and lots of Civ III, but I never once played Alpha Centauri. The starting terrain seemed endlessly dreary, the tech tree was impenetrable, and I wasn't very keen on the idea of modular units. Hence I skipped from Civ to Civ II and didn't look back. I know there are people who claim AC was the best of the bunch precisely because it didn't just rehash the original.

I've never played Deus Ex. Just seemed like too much of a shooter. Although I played the System Shocks a while back, those were definitely on the fringe of how much shooteriness I can tolerate, and the theme appealed to me more.

In spite of enjoying games like Sam and Max Hit the Road and Grim Fandango, I never played Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle or the more recent Psychonauts. I can easily believe they are great games, I was just never that set on getting hold of them.
 
Alpha Centauri is great.

The best game I never played is all the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games. I'm so glad the new ones will be on console
 
Great topic idea Per !

I can say that I've played through most of CRPG's created after early 90s and I am definitely into genre. One franchise that has escaped my grasp though is Gothic. I remember installing the first part some years ago but first person perspective (then, today standards are different unfortunately) together with glitches caused by my old graphic cards successfully drove me off. And I haven't come back to it ever since.
 
I have played alot of Ogre Battle 64. It's prequel on the other hand. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen I never have. Or not much anyways but from what I've heard and seen it seems great.

I would love to have a copy but it's one of those SNES carts made out of platinum and rare-a-tanium.
 
I_eat_supermutants said:
I have played alot of Ogre Battle 64. It's prequel on the other hand. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen I never have. Or not much anyways but from what I've heard and seen it seems great.

I would love to have a copy but it's one of those SNES carts made out of platinum and rare-a-tanium.
Click to expand...


But what about those things people use on their computers that have old games on them?
 
Actually join in on Alpha Centauri, I tried it for like an hour, but it made zero sense to me so I stopped. Was expecting it to be at least a bit intuitive for someone who killed hours in Civ IV... Nope.

Also, Prototype. Hear a lot of good stuff about it, but for some reason couldn't set it up to run properly (without lag, and with recognizing my gamepad), and couldn't be bothered to look into making it work.

Unreal Gold - looked cool, and I think I played through intro and first stage or so, but then somehow stopped and never got back to it for whatever reason. Don't even remember what it was like, now.

Half-Life 2. Never got the game. Liked HL1, and played CS:S, but somehow never garnered the motivation to get HL2.
 
Per said:
Day of the Tentacle
Click to expand...
Me too.
I've played lots of the other LucasArts greats, but this one I've only started up once, and quit right after I had watched the intro, because I was too busy or something I think. Never went back to it. Dunno why.

I've heard lots of good things about Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, so I picked it up a couple of years ago when I found it by chance in a GameStop. Since then it's just been collecting dust on my shelf. I don't know why, but every time I'm reminded that I have it, I just can't be arsed to start it up. I don't think I've ever had the disc in the console. And I like survival horror games...

I borrowed ES3:Morrowind from a friend a couple of years ago too, but never made it past the very first town. I think it was because I died and had forgotten to save, so I just went "fuck it, not going through character creation again" and put it away.

I've recently done something to rectify a couple of omissions too. When The Witcher 2 was on sale on gog.com, it came with 3 free games (because I paid in Euros) and I picked up Gothic 2 and The Longest Journey, games that I have heard are amongst the best in their genres. So I'm playing through TLJ now, and it's really good stuff. Should have gotten my act together and played it sooner. Gonna check out Gothic 2 when I'm done. Hopefully. Unless I get distracted again.
 
Any of the Half-Life games for me, always wanted to, the concept interested me, even watched a friend of mine play a little, but never played any of them myself.
 
Great topic.
Well, let's see... A long one coming up.

I see many of the games are already listed.
On number one I guess I'd put Arcanum. Played very little of it, and though I like it, unfortunately, never had the chance to continue. Similar thing could be said for Icewind Dale, though I don't regret it that much. Baldrur's Gate II, I guess, though, to be honest, it never attracted me that much.
I regret never trying Deus Ex or KOTOR series. Former because I've never had a chance, and latter because I'm not that big of a Star Wars fan. Even so, I never had a chance to play it too, so that's another sad one.
Hm, from newer ones I'd say The Witcher II. It's unlikely I'll be able to play that one in a few years to come.
I kinda regret never getting into jRPGs, mainly because majority of those are and were for consoles.
I'd list many other "old" RPGs like Wasteland, though that would be overstretching it...
That would cover most of the RPGs, I guess...

Now, strategy games.
The list is a bit shorter, I believe. Company of Heroes, Men of War and World in Conflict I've simply never had a chance to play, though they are in my book, waiting on some shelf in game store.
I regret a lot for never playing any Civilization game for more than a few hours. Or any other Sid Meier's game.
I also kinda regret never getting into StarCraft much, which is weird and stupid, since I love WarCraft.

FPS...
System Shock (2 I guess), Half-Life series, Bioshock series and Portal series are the main ones. My biggest regret here is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Played only bits of it.
I'm not a big fan of FPS, so this is a short one...

That would cover most of it, I guess.
 
I could never get into Metal Gear Solid, try as I might I just can't stand playing them for more than a couple hours before shutting them down and go do something else, I am a fan of pastichy movies and shit, but I just can't play it, I mostly end up skipping most of the cut scenes. And don't you think that it's because I don't like to read, or I only like shooting things, I play Visual Adventures (and I love them) all the time, even the bad ones, and those games are all about reading and thinking. Sometimes they are about trial and error with nonsensical puzzles that you have to either start thinkign like the dumbass who tought it up or snort dust to even figure out, but still I just can't stand most of the dialogue, and self indulgent plot. A friend (who is a HUGE and I mean HUUUUGE fanboy of MGS) keeps telling to play them and that the story is awesome, I might be a little baised, because, honestly, I don't like Kojima.
 
My list would have to be:

STALKER
Baldur's Gate 1/2
Icewind Dale
Planescape Torment
Arcanum
Psychonauts



For STALKER, I want to like it. I really do.

I've tried to play it several times, but I can't seem to make it past 20-30 minutes of gameplay before uninstalling it in disgust at how bad the shooting is. Yet I still get the urge to reinstall it and try again, at least twice a year; always with the same results.


I've never played even Baldur's Gate 1, and I don't have a good reason why. I remember seeing it all the time back in Electronics Boutique as a kid, and being intrigued by the cool box, but I'd always manage to get something else. The same story applies for Icewind Dale.


I tried to play Baldur's Gate 2 once, and just really hated the tutorial for some reason. I feel like I should really like this game (I enjoyed NWN, and BG seems strikingly similar), but the tutorial left such an awful taste in my mouth that I never came back to try it again.


I actually played PS:T for about 20-30 minutes and really enjoyed it, only to never play it again. I'm not quite sure what happened there. The same thing happened with Psychonauts, where I played it, enjoyed it, and just never came back.


Finally, there's Arcanum. I can start the game with legendary enthusiasm, carefully creating my character for the epic adventure that lies ahead... and then the game actually starts, I'm given control of my character, and my enthusiasm dissolves instantly. It's like my problem with STALKER, but worse; because unlike STALKER's horrible shooting mechanics, I can't put my finger on what exactly I don't like about the game. By all accounts I *should* like it. I like the setting, I like the gameplay, and the story seems interesting enough; but below it all there's this deep dislike of the game. I've got no idea why.


VTMB would have been a perfect fit for this list as well, but I actually managed to start a game, stick with it, and beat it last month.
 
This is a rather tough one but if there's one game or series that fits into this category, it would be Splinter Cell. I don't know why I haven't bothered playing more of series. I am a huge fan of stealth games and played a good chunk of the first Splinter Cell. I enjoyed greatly what I played of it. Why o why I haven't finished it or bought some of it's sequels is beyond me.

Walpknut said:
I could never get into Metal Gear Solid, try as I might I just can't stand playing them for more than a couple hours before shutting them down and go do something else, I am a fan of pastichy movies and shit, but I just can't play it, I mostly end up skipping most of the cut scenes. And don't you think that it's because I don't like to read, or I only like shooting things, I play Visual Adventures (and I love them) all the time, even the bad ones, and those games are all about reading and thinking. Sometimes they are about trial and error with nonsensical puzzles that you have to either start thinkign like the dumbass who tought it up or snort dust to even figure out, but still I just can't stand most of the dialogue, and self indulgent plot. A friend (who is a HUGE and I mean HUUUUGE fanboy of MGS) keeps telling to play them and that the story is awesome, I might be a little baised, because, honestly, I don't like Kojima.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that. I used to be in the same boat, and by that I mean that I used to be a huge MGS fanboy. They're not bad games by any means, but the part that gets the most praise is the lowest in quality. There was this one time when I thought Kojima was the greatest writer ever but I was naive back then. This was before I was exposed to greater things and to the material that Kojima "borrowed" heavily from. Blade Runner, Escape From New York, Crossfire by J.C. Pollock, Gattaca.

The ones I still regard highly story-wise to some degree are MGS1 and MGS2. The first MGS was only great because of the localization and a certain charm brought out by the voice acting, setting and music. Then here's the second game which was great not because of the story, but because of it's unique incorporation of the themes into the game that hinge on the fact that it's a video game and the actual message of the themes. The story is only second to the message it's trying to convey. After those two, the games declined in quality because of how asinine the majority of the fanbase is and Kojima's bipolar attitude.

All in all, Kojima is not a good writer unless ripping off other people's work. The one, somewhat, unique game he makes that is thought-provoking and it receives huge criticism by the majority of the fans.
 
I'm an old schooler and have not played any of the games, which are distributed via an online e-shops exclusively. My dirty habit is to have my own copy of disc, without need to be online during installation, activation or even playthrought. (Do not like Steam and such, boycotting it.)

So, FoNV is still on my list. I'm sure it's great story-wise game, but until the Beth-boys will decide to release some offline non-Steam edition, I refuse to play it.

Hm, there is also a Temple of elemental evil, which I haven't played yet.
Reason is simple, I have not heard about the game until last year. The fantasy RPG's with a turnbased combats based on D&D rules are my favourite genre and Troika was an excellent studio, so my expectations are pretty high.
 
Probably:

Beyond Good & Evil
Red Dead Redemption
Act Raiser
Icewind Dale
Deux Ex
Arcanum


As for Metal Gear Solid, I cannot talk about that game without my rabid fanboyism taking over so it's best left at that.
 
valcik said:
I'm an old schooler and have not played any of the games, which are distributed via an online e-shops exclusively. My dirty habit is to have my own copy of disc, without need to be online during installation, activation or even playthrought. (Do not like Steam and such, boycotting it.)

So, FoNV is still on my list. I'm sure it's great story-wise game, but until the Beth-boys will decide to release some offline non-Steam edition, I refuse to play it.
Click to expand...
You knwo yo ucan just buy a hard copy of the game activate it on steam, get the updates ONCE and then just play in offline mode, right?
 
Yup, but there is still problem with online-only patches, updates and so. Also, my gaming PC is not connected to the web and my online PC is a poor, slow working veteran. :)
 
You only have to login ONCE to get the patches and then never login ever again, patches come out like every three months or so.
 
Walpknut said:
You knwo yo ucan just buy a hard copy of the game activate it on steam, get the updates ONCE and then just play in offline mode, right?
Click to expand...

Except offline-mode often requiring you to go back online before you're allowed to access said games, even when the game in question is fully updated.

I'm a big user of offline-mode (It lets me hop on several of my friend's steam accounts, and play their games while they're still online); but it's still pretty buggy/unreliable in the current implementation.
 
I've tried to play it several times, but I can't seem to make it past 20-30 minutes of gameplay before uninstalling it in disgust at how bad the shooting is. Yet I still get the urge to reinstall it and try again, at least twice a year; always with the same results.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that, the game probably has some of the best ballistics I've ever experienced in a shooting game. The first game starts you with some of the worst weapons, though.

Hm, there is also a Temple of elemental evil, which I haven't played yet.
Reason is simple, I have not heard about the game until last year. The fantasy RPG's with a turnbased combats based on D&D rules are my favourite genre and Troika was an excellent studio, so my expectations are pretty high.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the Co8 Modpack, unless you really love bugs. It's one of my favorite games, I've probably replayed it over 50 times by now.


I'm also surprised at the number of people who never played IWD. I'd expect it to be pretty popular here.


Anyway, thinking of a few more titles... I never played the original L4D, because I was introduced to the series through L4D2.

Also never played any of the Elder Scrolls games, probably because I read that one article about how horrible Morrowind's RPG mechanics were. Back then, I was already a TOEE/NWN fan, and never bothered with the game.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top