What are /r/patientgamers' favorite Products & Services?

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Very nice website, I've been using it for a few weeks now. In addition to that website, I recommend using PCGamingWiki. There you find many fixes for the most games and additional tweaks for better performance or convenience.

While Before I Play is about giving ingame tips, PCGamingWiki is good for the technical side of games, especially for us patient gamers, who play a lot of old games, that may have problems on modern systems.

Don't ANYBODY start playing this game without installing the community patch for the love of god you will tear your eyes out with a spoon before you finish the unpatched game.

Seriously, this story is awesome, this programming is not. It was released largely unfinished and utterly unpolished, but the community patch takes that diamond in the turd and polishes away the turd so good you'll be crying with joy by the end of it.

You don't really need any other mods, and tbh I'd avoid any until you've played through at least once. Maybe X20 if you want it a bit prettier on your 4k hdr or whatever...

I would only lend a game out to someone I really trusted. So I didn't lend out my games very often.

I had a buddy Chris, who wanted to be a herpetologist when he grew up(PM me if this happens to strike a bell and anyone thinks they might be Chris). I knew he would take care of a game if I let him take it, although we often just played at each other's houses so we didn't have to borrow a game very often.

I remember once when I was younger, in grade school, I was playing NES games at another friend's house. His family was pretty religious so we were playing a bible game where you were Noah and you had to grab animals and throw them in the ark. While he was taking a turn playing I noticed a toy batmobile that was mine. I didn't want to embarrass him by confronting him about it, his family lived in the trailer park down the way and wasn't well off, so I just put it in my pocket and took it back home.

A few years later I found my batmobile. It was an identical model. I had actually stolen his batmobile. I had moved to a new state by the time I realized this and I always wished I could let him know what happened.

Fortunately buying old games from GOG pretty much guarantees that they will work out of the box. They're not always perfect, but any issues you have will very likely be solved by a quick visit to the PC Gaming Wiki

For example, I recently bought Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom (released in 2002) from GOG and thanks to the wiki I was playing it in glorious widescreen full HD resolution within 5 minutes of downloading it. Doesn't get much easier than that.

If you haven't already, try experimenting with mods. I would absolutely add a mod like this for something on your next playthrough. Also, keep an eye on this as it'll be coming this fall for a brand new adventure.

Carpal Tunnel Be Gone
I have used this for about a year. It took about a week of constant use to get comfortable. This particular one is made for larger hands. I have the rechargeable version. The charge will last for at least an eight hour weekend session. Also, it works while charging. (keep your charging cable nearby during important games)

Since using this mouse, my carpal tunnel/tendonitis symptoms have nearly vanished

If you don't like it, shop around, I strongly endorse the vertical mouse design. Edit: added link for rechargeable

Daggerfall is already a free download on Bethesda's site, for everyone else.

It was a brilliant game at the time, but the gameplay has aged very poorly, I am sad to say. The controls are clunky as heck and combat is not exactly enjoyable. The dungeons are repetitive nightmare mazes of twisty corridors and generic rooms and you WILL get lost, sometimes for hours. Some dungeons are buggy and can't be finished without cheating (no main quest dungeon, thankfully). Really, the whole game is full of bugs; glitching off the map is a thing, so much so that in the final patch the developers gave up and just added a shortcut to put you back on your last known on-map position.

That said, the plot is amazing and the way it's distilled in seemingly disconnected missions for this or that member of this or that faction is brilliant. The world FEELS huge in a way the series has never managed again. You'll constantly be sent to places you've never been before, and you'll have to ask your way around to find your destination, literally. Books mention legends that you can decide to track down to see if they're true, and in some case they are. You can and should devise your own custom spells tailored precisely to your character skills and quest needs. Seasons pass. Rumors hint at the alliances or betrayals of a hundred minor factions and a thousand local nobles that you'll never even meet. The world feels alive in a way that doesn't revolve around you. Unlike pretty much the entire rest of the series, there is nothing prophetic about you; you're just some random that gets to have a shadowed hand in the politics of the Illiac Bay at first, and later, as the plot reveals the full breadth of its scope, the History of Tamriel.

I very strongly recommend giving it a chance, let's say for a few hours. If you can stomach the dungeons, or maybe are content to cheat your way through them, then try and finish it. It's worth it.

The Ultimate Apocalypse mod is good fun for people who want more out of skirmishes, but sadly it doesn't work all that well with the campaign.

Just wish the sequel was more like the original, or that the third game wasn't shit.

I adore the 40K universe and cannot believe we still don't have a 4X 40K game or a 40K MMORPG... or a decent story-based shooter... or looter shooter... or turn based RPG like Divinity: Original Sin... I could go on.

> not "Earth but with blue trees"

So I take it No Man's Sky is out?

Subnautica might be a good pick - Feels alien but believable

Second this, with shattered pixel dungeon being the most popular mod of the original source code. More items, traps and lots of quality of life improvements when compared to the original.

While it's not 100% the same, Freeciv is an actively developed and fairly faithful open-source clone of Civ2 that should run well on any OS. You can even play it in your browser if you want.

Mechwarrior Online. (On Steam)

It wasn't that good two years ago, but it has gotten really good since.

https://mwomercs.com/

Also, I believe there's a newer Heavy Gear game on Steam. And Paradox is working on a new Battletech TBS, much like Mech Commander.

https://www.paradoxplaza.com/battletech/BTBT01GSK-MASTER.html

Stardew Valley

The Hexcells series

SquareCells

Peggle

Plants vs. Zombies

Bejeweled 3

Hell, pretty much any Popcap game would be good. Also any game with "Solitaire" in the title is also fun and good for some mindless fun. Regency Solitaire, Zombie Solitaire, and Faerie Solitaire are a few of my favorites.

You might also enjoy some hidden object games. Artifex Mundi has a bundle that's expiring in about 17 hours here that you could pick up.

Shadow of Mordor is such a good game. I 100% that game even if I barely complete most games. Really good gameplay. Fallout 3 is really good, but it has aged somewhat poorly. Still a good one, but temper your expectations accordingly. It crashes quite a bit in modern PCs last I checked unless you patch it up real good. Make sure you check out the modding community's patches before you sit down and quit playing it in frustration.

Finally, you may want to check Backloggery Great site to track your backlog and the games you're currently focused in.

Edit: Final version of recommendation since it seems that the HB bundle will be the complete bundle. Here is what will be added at the end according to reddit: https://steamdb.info/sub/71559/apps/

BL1 Complete + BL2 Complete (all content including all 5 headhunter missions minus the cosmetics) for $15. If you want to play BL1 then this is the ticket :]

Nintendo games tend to hold their value for a long time. You may be best off buying them used, or just waiting for a sale, like the one going on right now (which does include Fire Emblem!). If you're okay with getting digital copies, though, you don't really have to worry about price going up, since there won't be any price increases due to scarcity.

Cookie clicker by orteil. http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/

It's way more complex than it seems to be at first. Also I really don't recommend on clicking that link if you are not prepared to get dragged into a years long addiction

There was a book written by the games writer talking about his personal experiences and the process of developing the game: https://www.amazon.com/Significant-Zero-Heroes-Villains-Fight/dp/1501129953

I'd keep waiting. The game was going for $30 before launch and has gone down to the $20-$25 area on multiple sites already so it shouldn't take long to go down to $10 or less. If you want to play it now you can go ahead and grab it though.

Edit: Just saw on /r/gamedeals that it's $19.99 at Indie Gala right now so you could save an extra dollar by buying it there.

Well, let's start with above the radar.

Honestly, the first thing that came to mind when you said this was the Fire Emblem series. They're turn-based tactical games in a fantasy world where your squads tend to be between 10-30 units instead of 4-5. I'm a fan of the DS remake of the original myself, but the series is vast and varied.

There's also the niche-but-well-known-in-that-niche Battle for Wesnoth which is Open Source.

If you have a decent rig, go ahead and install the STARTER Pack for Shadow of Chernobyl. Some people will tell ya to play unmodded, and you can and it’s perfectly enjoyable. I just think it’s even more enjoyable with better textures, shaders, and gun models is all.

Nope not in 4 years and the devs have said it never will.

That said jokes on them, game would easily be worth $30 or $40. The only big AAA games I've spent more time on than Factorio in the last 3 or 4 years has been Fallout 4.

It's modable, it's got multiplayer, it's got active development, it's got a proper demo on Steam which is rare these days.

The way I see it is that for $20 the game is always on sale.

I'd also like to add that vanilla Civ 5 has been going on sale for $7.49 ever since early 2013. It is going to take a long time for the complete edition to drop below $10.00.

Having played all the games previously mentioned, I'll second the suggestions for Fable or any Final Fantasy title.

BioWare RPGs have gotten a little too risqué for a pre-teen these days, in my opinion (i.e., ME, DA). KOTOR is still a great choice (maybe my first choice), but if he has Origin as well, Jade Empire (which might still have a free download deal going on in-client) has the same morality-based consequences and small romance subplot as KOTOR without the sex scenes. Both are incredibly fun.

As for Final Fantasy, I grew up on VII and loved it to death, it's what got me into RPGs in the first place. I really enjoyed both Tactics and Tactics Advance (no PC ports though, but Tactics is on PSN), the former having a more mature plot and the latter being geared more toward a younger audience. These two play a lot like Fire Emblem titles, so your son might wanna watch some Youtube videos first to see if he likes them.

edit: of the main series, I also enjoyed VIII and X, but they're all quite good.

I wrote an user review for this game 12 years ago. I summarized the whole thing as "The next generation RTS". You can read it here.

If you are a fan of the Alien movies then I highly recommend Alien: Isolation. It's a sequel to the first Alien movie. You play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley (main protagonist of the Alien movies).

Its been 15 years since her mother's mining ship, the USCSS Nostromo, disappeared and has recently been found. Completely empty with only the ships black box to tell the story. Amanda works a mining vessel like her mother and the ship has been called in to the space station that is slowly being decommissioned. This where the derelict Nostromo was docked, awaiting Amanda to retrieve it's black box. But the flight recording wasn't the only thing that came aboard from the Nostromo...

Alien, Alien: Isolation, and Aliens is my head canon trilogy for this series. Screw the rest and Ridley Scott trying his best half ass the franchise.

> This does not include a steam key, unfortunately. But it's a DRM free copy, so you'll be able to play it without logging into steam which could be seen as a good thing.

Buying directly from the developer gets you a Steam key and a DRM-free version. They also have 75%-off sales on their own page, although not today!

Buying from the Humble Store should also yield a Steam key and a DRM-free version.

it's still shit. there's still no real point to playing it and all the updates have just extended the time before you get bored.

>All I really want is a game I can explore beautiful galactic scenery

if that's all your after just play space engine which is free http://spaceengine.org/download/spaceengine

What, no link? OP's these days.

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/buy/c-c-the-ultimate-collection/pc-download/base-game/standard-edition

Edit: What the hell is with this game? Takes forever to launch, and keeps crashing on the load screens. I installed Origin for this?

It actually has, but I guess you missed it.

That said, I'd suggest getting the Digital Deluxe version as it includes some (but far from all) of the DLC, DLC that you can otherwise only buy for full price.

That said ... bargain season is coming. Your chance will come again.

Euro Truck Simulator 2. Never has driving a truck and managing a trucking company managed to be so fun. If you decide you like it, there's a mod called TSMap that vastly increases the world size.

Funny you mention this. The simulator genre seems to have undergone a small rennaissance in the last couple of years. While there are plenty of garbage "simulators" that are simply low-quality busywork, stuff like Euro Truck and OMSI (a bus-driving simulator) have found niches of success by being extremely detailed (seriously, in Euro Truck you can be fined for not using your turn signal properly).

Train Simulator [insert year here] is also excellent, but man does it have a ton of DLC.

I've also heard good things about Universe Sandbox, though I haven't played it.

The Football Manager series also has some rabid fans for those who like to micromanage.

If you don't want to replay the first two games, get a save game editor and recreate your ME2 save. If you don't do this, some characters from previous games will be dead in ME3. I did this when my SSD died and took my 100%ed ME2 save with it.

None of the PC versions of Mass Effect officially support controllers. There are a few fan mods floating around which add support, with varying degrees of success.

Even if you don't want to replay it right now, Mass Effect 2 is currently free via Origin's On the House promotion.

Ehh... I mean, it's no Windows ME, but there's plenty of people more than happy to stick with Windows 7.

And that's going to be harder and harder to do: Early 2016, Microsoft will reclassify the Windows 10 upgrade as a <em>Recommended Update</em> to Windows 7/8. That means a lot of people only interested in the normal bugfixes and security patches are going to wind up accidentally changing their OS.

I mean, that's one way to get people to switch to Windows 10.

Another is: "Hey. Free RDR, right?"

Titanfall 2! Single player campaign is fantastic, and has some really cool things, like one section has you time traveling (same location but different times) at the press of a button to get through the level. It is one of the coolest levels I've ever played.

Spoilers in this article

Roller Coaster Tycoon and its sequel. If allowing unfinished roller coasters to be opened to the public, making people dissappear for in-game centuries in labyrinths or drowning visitors at will isn't evil, I don't know what kind of game you'd be looking for.

(If you end up giving the game a try, I personally recommend getting RCT2 on GOG and use the installed files to run OpenRCT2)

The other comment sounds flippant but it really has improved quite a lot, with headline features like basebuilding and exocrafts but also in a number of subtle but fundamental ways, like revamping terrain generation, resource distribution, and crafting recipes.

I would recommend looking at the update pages on their website: Foundation and Pathfinder

I just posted a link to http://howlongtobeat.com elsewhere in this post, but I think it’s a valuable enough site that I’ll post it on the top level. If you want a game with a manageable time limit, check it out. There are plenty of similar sites out there too.

You're going to be waiting forever since Origin isn't going anywhere. Origin is a good platform now if you're still stuck in the mindset of how it was when it started so go ahead and pick up DA2 in a sale. You can also grab a free copy of Jade Empire right now, another Bioware RPG.

Two indie games I didn't see mentioned:

Battle for Wesnoth: hex-map turn-based playstyle, recruit troops to complete objectives, lots of on-board campaigns as well as lots of mods and user-content to go through. I've spent years on this game.

Transcendence: space-sim rogue-like with top-down, asteroid-style controls

Factorio has had straight up performance patches in it's long long life. They have multiple times committed months of dev time to just improve fps by 1-2% that doesn't even show to the average user but is a great deal for the end game enthusiast. These updates pile up on each other making the game run absolutely great. Also their patch note explanation is top notch: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-366

Sorry about that. When i first started the page, it was on the thought that i'd target people similar to my girlfriend. But I see now that that's not always the case. I created a new page that's more inclusive. Thankyou for you feedback! Please let me know what you think of the updated version.

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32660802-Intro-Gaming-Significant-Other/

Hmm, this sounds a lot like Midwinter II: Flames of Freedom. I haven't played it, but the original Midwinter had a subversion element and that whole sandbox vibe, too. MobyGames has a bunch of screenshots.

Yes, you can carry your ME2 save over from Steam to the Origin ME3.

If you want DOOM, you can buy it from Green Man Gaming right now for $48 with the 20OFF promo code. That's probably the best you'll see all summer, but you can check /r/gamedeals once or twice a day in case something does come along that's cheaper.

You read that correctly. Just put the disc in your optic drive and PCSX2 will be able to read it. (If you're having trouble figuring it out, here's a forum post about it.) Alternatively, you can create an image file of your game and play with that.

The only issue with setting up PCSX2 is obtaining a BIOS image. These are easily available online, but are illegal to obtain that way. You can dump your own BIOS, but you need a modchip to do so.

Nintendo isn't the platform to go with if you want to get games on sale. There are exceptions, but generally their games only bump down $10-$20 over time, it's hard to find any good old Nintendo game for under 20 bucks like you often can with other console/PC games. Just for an example, this Fire Emblem DS game came out in 2012 and is still $40 from any retailer.

https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Emblem-Awakening-nintendo-3ds/dp/B00AKIPBNS

Your only real hope for buying cheap Nintendo games is eBay or getting lucky at the right pre-owned store.

Shadow of Chernobyl is excellent. Graphics are more dated compared to CoP, but you can always use the STARTER Pack mod to improve things (note: thos is built on top of ZRP that another poster mentioned).

Clear Sky is still okay, but it’s a very different game: There’s a lot more emphasis on fighting other dudes, as it takes place when the Faction War was in full swing. It’s easy to get bogged down fighting bad guys, when in truth you can ignore most of the local fights and just focus on the story.

Cave Story. It's just fun enough to play more than once.

EDIT (off mobile): You can download it for free, here! It's quite easy to install and it's an excellent game.

Given torment, Fallout on your list, Baldur's Gate I & II are an obvious choice. BGI is a fairly open-sandbox RPG with a central story thread and more side quests than main story and a ton of areas, but it can be a bit slow and rough at the start.

BG2 often makes it into being one of the top RPGs of all time (http://www.ign.com/top/rpgs/3 < #3 here, for example). Totally agree. I'm replaying the beamdog ipad port now when traveling.

Deus Ex 1 is graphically painful but also one of the best RPGs ever made, IMO, as is Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast.

Thief is amazing! Yeah it really is unique in it's gameplay and atmosphere and stands up well today. Admittedly I wish you could get the original on Steam, I'm not a huge fan of the gold levels and wish they were played separately. Still a great experience, I am planning on replaying it soon.

https://www.moddb.com/mods/tfix

This is basically essential, uses the newest version of Dark Engine and there are some graphic mods listed there that are great as well.

This isn't exactly what you are asking about, but you should be aware of Xenonauts. I haven't played it (yet), but from what I've read, it's a more close spiritual successor to the originals than the new XCom games. It just came out, so it's still full price, but you want want to look into it eventually.

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault is now free on Origin

https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/buy/medal-of-honor-pacific-assault/pc-download/base-game/standard-edition

The game is nice enough, and you can't beat free!

Only time I really use guides is if I'm completely stuck on something AND it isn't a fun activity that I'm stuck on. Apart from that I never really use guides at all if I'm honest. Closest thing I use, I guess, is HLTB just so I know how long I can expect to be playing a game for.

EDIT: Started playing Terraria, god I feel like a massive hypocrite.

Kind of a bold statement to claim Playstation is most popular console in JP.

The Switch has sold more units in 26 weeks than the PS4 did in 59 in JP. There is a very inforrmative chart in this Kotaku article

https://kotaku.com/the-nintendo-switch-keeps-outselling-the-ps4-in-japan-1798691215

PS is not the only console that matters in JP far from it

I applaud your incredible patience.

IGN has a list of the top 100 SNES games, many of which have aged very well.

My personal favorites (mostly RPGs) include:

• Final Fantasy 2,3
• Lufia 2
• Chrono Trigger (everyone's favorite)
• Secret of Mana

The book ( Roadside Picnic ) is quite good too. All three are different stories, so there is no need to feel like playing/watching/reading one is the end.

I loved this game, but totally understand the issues you have with it. I disliked all the things you mention as well.

Just as a matter of encouragement: at one point you'll get a teleport spell to travel instantly to destinations you've already visited, which will help you tremendously with backtracking. Besides that there are certain creatures called Toko's who give you immense amounts of experience, which help cut down the grind.

For me overall, I did as you did. Played about 20 hours, left it alone for a long time, then picked it up again for 10 hours, then left it alone again for months until I was in the mood again. By then I got easier ways to travel and then I finished the game entirely.

Yes, it has the Time Trials DLC, a set of maps without any cityscape or buildings - just geometric figures floating in the sky. This makes it sound lazy and bland, but it's actually really elegant and well-made.

1. One that I've heard lots of stories about is there there are like 5 quick-travel systems in the game that aren't always clear, and that some players don't discover (actually, this list shows even more).

3. OpenMW is an open-source recreation of the game engine, and ought to let you set whatever resolution you want, and smooth out some of the age-related issues.

I would highly recommend getting it on PC, either the Steam or GOG version. They are both cross-platform so you can play with Steam & GOG players and there are tons of mods available on moddb.com.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.? It's not a full-blown horror game, but it has a few horror elements. It might be one of the most atmospheric and immersive RPG shooters I have ever played. I am playing with the complete mod right now. It fixes many bugs and improves other various technical aspects.

link to the freeware version of Cave Story.

link to the paid version of Cave Story on the Steam storefront.

The freeware version is the full game in its entirety and is 100% adequate, the paid version just has a few extra niceties. Everyone should have some Cave Story in their lives.

Please be aware: Cave Story+ is available on Steam/PC for a price.

You can legally obtain a free copy of the original Cave Story by downloading the game + translation patch from http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php

Get it digitally and play it on your Xbox One via backwards compatibility. The game just went on sale an hour ago for about $10. (Requires Gold membership)

Or

get the game of the year disc version that includes Undead Nightmare on Amazon for $15 plus shipping. link

Battletech released a few weeks ago. Kind of a spiritual successor to the MW games, it plays a little like Xcom except mechier. It's pretty fun, though it has its share of minor issues. Fitting out mechs for differing jobs and whatnot is always interesting and managing your company adds a nice layer of management on top of the turn based action.

If you're looking for something a bit more action-y, then Titanfall 2 has a solid single player campaign, though I can't speak for the state of the multi player.

Should probably knock out a Mechanic's FAQ if you're going to be going into that much detail.

Someone over on Gamefaqs has already done similar work with the child pairings.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/643003-fire-emblem-awakening/faqs/69047

What you misunderstand is that indie games tend not to have endless bloat because it’s expensive to make. And most indie studios can’t afford that.

Playing the odds, more plot-based indie games are completable in under 10 hours than plot-based AAA games.

That is not a controversial statement.

Check out a place like http://howlongtobeat.com for a ton of this info.

Flashpoint is an open-source archive project that way too few people know about. I've seen so many posts about Flash dying, and none about the great work that the people at Flashpoint have done to preserve it. According to their website, they've saved 80 000 games and animations.

https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/

From here, you can download the entire archive (532 GB), or you can download just the Infinity Launcher (2GB), which lets you download games on-demand. It's completely free.

Haven't played any ME games in years, but I do have experiences with ME2 and a bit of 3. If you have a decent laptop or PC, get them on G2A, it's only like 26 bucks which is a amazing prize for all the games plus DLCs. It also won't stay that way forever because it's a marketplace kind of site.

I enjoyed it, but it's a very polarizing game I feel. The detective missions are definitely the highlight of the game, but it has a lot of driving missions and shootouts that really just don't fit the overall tone of the game. Treat it like an interactive movie, and try not to look anything up to get the most out of it. Also, keep in mind that the "doubt" option was originally "press." So if you completely flip out when interrogating a witness for no reason, now you know.

Sidenote, the PC port of the game is locked to 30 FPS which you can fix with an external program. However, you'll have to remember to launch it every time you play the game.

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/L.A._Noire#High_frame_rate

Rogue-likes if you enjoy the game. The whole idea is to hook you with some neat mechanics and progression rewards so that you play the game (which is generally short-ish) over and over and over. But if the game doest catch you, it'll bore you cuz it's just the same stuff again and again. Examples: Faster than Light, Rogue Legacy, Crypt of the Necrodancer (all games i love, btw).

RPG epics, like Skyrim, Divinity: Original Sin, Dark Souls

Competitive multiplayer games like Starcraft 2, League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, DotA 2, Counterstrike: GO (some of these are free).

A good resource is this website which shows average game time for all different games:

http://howlongtobeat.com/

If you're worried it may be too scary, use this mod. The other cheat mods simply prevent the alien from spawning at all. This one allows the alien spawn to spawn as normal, but makes you invisible to it. You can still watch it go about killing other stuff, but can pretend you're just super good at hiding. I used it during my playthrough cos I'm a total wuss when it comes to scary games.

This is a good first thing to read from the pcsx2 site (pcsx2 is the program you'll use to play the games)

http://pcsx2.net/getting-started.html

Also Ngemu is also a good site for more info, for looking up game specific configs

http://ngemu.com/forums/pcsx2-forum.76/

There aren't really any 'minimum requirements' per se, but here are some questions to get you thinking.

• How much do I want to spend?
• Where am I going to put the tv?
• Am I going to use it just for gaming?
• How many bells and whistles do I want with it?
• What resolution do I want? (720p, 1080p, 1080i, 3k, 4k, etc.; most games operate in the 720-1080 range best; 3k and 4k are for movies generally and are slowly gaining popularity)

A few tips:

• to figure out what size tv you'll want- measure the length of the viewing area and then divide by 3, this will give you the maximum size. (e.g. 10ft viewing distance, 40in diagonal max length tv)
• stick to name brands you know and don't buy used, that way if your tv has any issues you can go through manufacturer's warranty.
• if it's a small space, a monitor can be a better alternative.
• if it's a large space, a projector may be more economical. (If you want to go the projector route, you'll want a quality screen or backing, otherwise there may be glare or the picture may not be as good as it could be.)

A great guide to get you started is here.

For anyone that already owns the collection or is new to the franchise come join us over at /r/commandandconquer some of the games in the collection do need fixes to work correctly and we can help you out with anything you may need. Also for any of the games older the Tiberium sun I'd highly recommend openRA. it a free re-release of the first 3 titles and dune 2000 that was completley made by the community. It's updated and offers many extra features over the base games.

> They can't get away with prohibiting non-appstore applications yet, but they might try this in the future ... Windows 11?

Windows 10 S, shipping real soon now.

I can't recommend enough of Tactics Ogre : Let Us Cling Together, with the One Vision mod, which rebalances a lot of stuffs and adds nice qol features like simplified the crafting system.

If you're looking for newer titles try Fell Seal Arbiter's Mark or Himeko Sutori. Or even Pathfinder Kingmaker, since there is a mod that turns the game from tabletop rpg to turn-based much akin to Divinity Original Sin 1/2.

i'd suggest pirating it or getting a GOG copy but I'd also suggest getting the real africa mod. It makes the colors so much nicer and makes the game so much prettier with barely any FPS drops.

You've got dozens of great games you can pick up for under $15 each used. I was in a similar situation to you a year ago, where I hadn't played almost any console exclusives of the current generation as I had been exclusively playing multiplayer PC games.

If you go to http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/ps3?view=condensed&amp;sort=desc&amp;year_selected=2008 and sort by year and stay away from 2012 almost all of these games will be obtainable for under $15.

Always opt for GOTY edition if it's offered. It's usually only a few bucks more but it comes with the game's DLC.

Cheap "classics" everybody will recommend:

• Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas
• Bioshock series
• Mass Effect series
• Uncharted series
• Ico & Shadow of the Colossus
• Demon Souls / Dark Souls (both are very difficult and the latter is more pricey)
• God of War series
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Grand Theft Auto 4
• Red Dead Redemption (GTA4 in the wild west)
• LA Noire
• Portal 2
• Heavy Rain
• Bayonetta
• Assassin's Creed Series
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution

It's not "patient," but there's a new Battletech game coming out later this month.

Also if you're into emulation, you can use PCSX2 or PPSSPP to play some of the better Armored Core games on PC (AC3, Silent Line, and Last Raven in particular).

Yeah Prison Architect is pretty great. Though it's less about economic management than building and managing the prison itself.

All my favorites have already been mentioned by other people in this post except one. Dwarf Fortress' Fortress mode is technically a Tycoon style game, and it's one of the most detailed simulations of medieval life I've seen, combined with the fantasy of managing a dwarven fortress.

http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

It's pretty hard to learn but the simulation is so advanced it's almost more fun when things go wrong than when they go right, so I recommend trying to just play it your first time, and see what crazy stuff happens when you don't know what you're doing.

Nefarious sunk cost fallacy! I keep an eye on HowLongToBeat.com whenever I start a game so I can indeed know if the end is near, or if I'd have to play another too many hours of not-fun before the satisfaction of completion is a possibility or not.

• Steam games that are a good deal in general through gamestop
  
• Steam games that are the cheapest gamestop has ever priced them

Check out Veloren. Free and open source game made by people that got fed up on the cubeworld subreddit. It's actually really good and making rapid progress, including fluid physics so that you can have realistic flight when using a glider to jump off a mountain and soar across the plains.

transport tycoon deluxe, same makers of RCT. dig into it. there's an open remake that uses original graphics and gameplay and also a stand-alone version that you can download and play without the original game. https://www.openttd.org/en/

It's $1.74 on Amazon right now! Anyone who doesn't have it by now should get it.

And KB/M FTW!

Edit: Fixed to $4.99 :(

> DS games CAN be emulated but I absolutely hate the dual screen nature of emulated DS games, it just isn't nice to look at no matter how I tweak things.

Check out DraStic. DS is fantastic on Android, as the touch screen stuff translates directly.

Yeah, a postmortem on the project will be extremely interesting due to the involved parties.

Since you seem to have some interest on the insides of game development and just finished Firewatch, you will probably enjoy this podcast. It's with Sean Vanaman from Campo Santo and Amir Rao from Supergiant games discussion how creation process is on their respective studios. Pretty interesting!

Wikipedia to the rescue: Games of 2014, although it's all platforms.

I thought mobygames might do it, but it only gets down to the year. If that's good enough, check out:

http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games

Narrow it down with the filters, like "windows" for PC games and then by year.

I don't remember Origin having any big account hack in the past. Maybe you're thinking of the PSN or something else. Origin is a good client and your account should be secure.

Be sure to get Nox, the free On the House game currently on Origin. They have a new one every few weeks.

Have you been living under a rock? :)

They've been in the news a lot lately for doing it to people involuntarily, people who don't want the upgrade at all or didn't want to do it right now -- this guy had an upgrade start while he was playing a game and being watched by 130,000 people!

They're still doing it (offering it for free), through July 29th, and really ... given how hard they're pushing it, I suspect that that date will be extended further.

(Now, are they still tricking people into it, forcing them into it? Probably ... though I don't understand why. The bad press would seem to outweigh any reasons for doing this on their part.)

low fov is the primary cause of the symptoms u r describing. low fov+low framerate = bad juju.

consoles have lower fov but the viewing distance is much greater for the avg tv, so its far more tolerable compared to the normal view distance for a monitor.

u need 2 increase fov.

things that u may also be getting that definitely dont help r: screen tearing and stutter.

check pcgamingwiki for each game as well as google, youtube, and steam forums for mods/community fixes 2 increase framerate, disable head bob, etc.

https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Borderlands

I use HowLongToBeat because not only does it give you an estimate about how long a game will be, but the website is compatible with all devices, which backloggery isn't. Personally I'd prefer a mobile app but this is a happy medium between the two. Usually when I'm playing the game I prefer to update my backlog through my phone because I always have it with me, and it comes in more handy when I'm on a console. If you want an easier time looking through your games on a phone I suggest HLTB over backloggery. I also like the fact that when I search games on HLTB it gives you the album art and little descriptions when you click on them, along with forum threads about the game and reviews from users on the site.

Check out r/gamedeals

Looks like there is an amazon offer of borderlands GOTY edition for like 8 bucks. people in the comments said that if you redeeem it before april 3th you will get the remastered.

Just an FYI i dont know if it works for remastered basing my info off comments

https://www.amazon.com/2K-Games-Borderlands-Game-Download/dp/B004M5HV5G/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=Borderlands+Game+of+the+Year+Edition+%5BDownload%5D+by+2K+Games&amp;qid=1554212608&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-fkmrnull

https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/free-games/trials

There is a 4 hour trial you could use to make up your mind.

As for it being worth $20, I'd generally say no, but if you're a huge Star Wars fan and could enjoy doing the same thing over and over like in other multiplayer shooters, it might be worth it. You might also consider putting in $10 extra and getting Origin Access for the year, though it looks like you wouldn't get the Ultimate Edition of SWB with Origin Access, just the base game, but it'd be a good way to play some of their other games if you were interested.

Also you can check the multiplayer population here. I've seen it down below 1,000 a lot on PC, with the 4,700 it's at now usually being the peak number for the day.

Also, Mario Kart DS has been $35 for nearly 8 years. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Mario+Kart+DS+-+Nintendo+DS/6916821.p;jsessionid=A132400ECF2EFF9E28D92C3EFF02D801.bbolsp-app02-169?id=1097579235662&amp;skuId=6916821&amp;st=mario%20kart&amp;lp=3&amp;cp=1

Either get it from GOG (the games they sell are patched to be compatible with Win10), or check out PCGamingWiki, got a lot of old games to work on modern systems using it.

I will say https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home is pretty much the saviour for many old games with fixes on how to get them to work. If you search for The Saboteur there you will find a fix for it. Thou I can't confirm if it works for the GoG version as I had the Origin but used that fix and it worked for me.

Started a handful of games this week just so they weren't sitting there unplayed.

Batman: Arkham Origins Quite the step down from Asylum and City, still a decent game but it just doesn't compare to Rocksteadys games AT ALL. Really hope Rocksteady are working on something.

Rayman Legends Masterpiece of a platformer.

Sleeping Dogs Only played like 30 minutes so far, but it seems promising.

Darksiders Not the game I was expecting when I loaded it up but not a bad game either.

Dragon Age: Origins Seems like an interesting premise, the combat is almost unberable so far though.

Grand Theft Auto V My first play session of this I was utterly astounded, but as I got used to the graphics, the gameplay and all the new stuff it kinda wore off and became just another GTA. Still a fucking masterpiece though.

Also if anyone wants to add me to your backloggery feel free to - link

I liked the site howlongtobeat.com and someone said the let you track your games too. So one night I started tracking my games to see how much I've completed, how big my backlog is and all.

I like it so far. Gives you a nice overview of how many completed, how many backlog, how many in progress and on which plattforms you have them.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout: 3 or Fallout: New Vegas, Dwarf Fortress (Free!) http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/, Grand Theft Auto IV , Mass Effect (1, 2), And if you like MMOs.. I guess World of Warcraft.