PC Games w/ storylines to get lost into and great environments?

Here's a few games I truly enjoyed (story mode and some of these arent PC but I want to give you an idea):

Zelda: Ocarina of Time (fav game of all time, best story/execution ever)
The latest GTA (tons of countless fun)
Halo 1 (well developed story and very fun shooter)
Bioshock (but only the graphics, gameplay was so repetitive and boring)
Unreal Championship 1 (most thrilling game ive ever played, because of its ultra fast pace)
COD2 & 4 (good story, thrilling game-play w/ the bomb avoiding and stuff lol)

I don't know, what would you recommend for me? I like games with great visual effects. I love night-time environments (all of these have them, I noticed), first person or third-person view is preferred.

All in all:

Great story and/or,
Tons of countless fun shooting and/or,
Good environment feel and/or,
Visual effects and/or,
Super fast pace to keep me on my toes.

I dont want:

Racing, turn-based, puzzles, sports.

But one thing I ask, please tell me WHY you like the game you're recommending!

 

Oblivion
Crysis

 

I thought Prey was a lot better than people gave it credit for. Great story, although somewhat depressing at times. Level design was also fantastic.

 

You should load up an emulator and play ChronoTrigger...never thought I'd waste some precious hours of life on an old RPG, but it was fun!

 

I'll second ChronoTrigger. That game alone turned me off all other RPGs including final fantasy. I tend to play it through at least once a year.

 

I agree on the Prey comment. I rented that game for the 360 when it came out and thought it was a decent game. My only problem was that if I got stuck somewhere I'd start to get sick switching the gravity around.

I'd say if you've only play UT1 to try either UT2004 for really cheap or the newest UT3. Also a big plug to Oblivion if you've never played. By the time you beat it you can get Fallout 3.

 

Mass Effect.

 

What's so good about ChronoTrigger? I'd like to say that, I'm a sucker for 1990 Nintendo / Dreamcast style games. Whenever I play a Zelda (handheld or console), I quickly fall in love with the characters, the mood, the twists and the fun gameplay. Can ChronoTrigger relate? C'mon, you sell it to me !

Why Prey?
Why Mass Effect?

Oh and UT2007 is on my list, for being so fast-paced. But I like slow games that develop as well .

 

Oh man, I don't know what it is about ChronoTrigger, perhaps my friend loving the game helped, but it was seriously a blast going through the story...even thought it's old school graphx...

And, the music is awesome (ocremix.org FTW!)

 

Not really recommendation but the thread got me thinking.


I'd have to pull up ol' Max Payne. Not anything amazing to look at now a days, buy man was it really something when it came out. The dream sequence was simply great.

It's the little things like that that can really make a games memory stand out. Very similar to Op Fashpoint's mission when you are stranded with no compass but i you look up you can actually use the in game stars to navigate correctly, now that's a good twist to a shooter.

I miss this kind of creativity in today's games.

Now..

If you've got the time Oblivion's pretty tight.
Mass Effect?

 

Brothers in Arms Hells Highway would seem interesting

 

Gears of war, very nice graphics and story played it on xbox360 !
GTA 4, awesome graphics and gameplay !

 

orange box no doubt, single player will last u quite awhile, its only 39.99 so worth it, TF2 OMG!!! or serious sam 2 lol that game was fun

 

I aggressively dispute Crysis. Crysis is a horribly written game. The environment's immersive but the story is straight out of a nineties Van Damme movie.

I love Oblivion, but if the OP is really interested in story, Oblivion's a dead end. The stories themselves - at least outside of the Shivering Isles expansion - are pretty dull. That's appropriate: Oblivion has a generic high fantasy sort of feel that I think they were going for.

I'm going to go ahead and add my votes to Chrono Trigger and Mass Effect. Chrono Trigger is my favorite console RPG of all time, period. Fantastic story, beautiful art, great soundtrack, and it's nice and short but rife with replayability.

Mass Effect is nothing short of breathtaking for me. Everyone I've introduced the game to plays it for hours at a time. The writing is hands down the best I have ever experienced in a video game, the graphics are beautifully cinematic, and the replay value is the highest I've ever seen outside of something like Tetris. I'm on my third play through right now, I have friends on their way to their second, and a friend's brother played through the game four times back-to-back. It's like playing an extended Star Trek: The Next Generation episode and it comes HIGHLY recommended.

 

i highly recommend the Chronicles of Riddick: escape from butcher bay, it's got all the things you want, it's atmospheric, action-packed, has a huge variety and the graphics and sound are still amazing even by todays standards....it's one of the best single-player games i've ever played, the game combines shooting, stealth, hand-to-hand combat and RPG elements all together really well, there are also many characters of whom you can interact with. the game takes place in a futuristic hi-tech prison and it really made me feel like i was there, if you really are looking for a game to immerse you in it's enviroments and settings, then you need to play this game...

 

People, what are you talking about? It seems, what you haven't play good games at all.
Thief, Fallout, Diablo: these masterpieces are soaring high above all games you metioned in case of atmosphere, for example.
Unfortunately, modern game industry generally produces an awful trash.

 

KOTOR 1 is amzing, it's made by the same people that made mass effect, it's last gen since it was out on the xbox 1 but it's still got alright graphics and the dialogue is amazing, much better than mass effect. It's also longer than ME giveing your around 40 hours of play.

Also you get to use lightsabers!!!1!!1

 

try the legacy of kain series for story

 

I agree, but only on Blood Omen

 

I can't believe no one mentioned Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.

 

the OP was asking for something with good graphical effects and 1st or 3rd person view. it's the year 2008, you need to realize that everyone has already played fallout and diablo to death

 

Yeah, way to read my preferences . Not really a big fan of helicopter view games (Warcraft, Diablo, etc.)

Mass Effect & Chrono Trigger is added to the list!

 

You guys also forgot Mafia, Jade Empire, KOTOR 1 and 2.

 

I said KOToR 1

 

Haha, "helicopter-view", no wonder I don't really enjoy them =)

 

Everybody sees something else when it comes to entertainment.

In a game I like to live and breathe the environment, to forget that I am facing a PC screen.

So much of the way there is the story, even more that the graphics. A good story will make you look over imperfections in the graphics ... I remember the first time I tried Diablo 2 ... I played for 10-20 mins ... thought the graphics were junk and followed with a quick uninstall (shift+del). For some reason (i think someone pushed me to reconsider my choice) I tried it again after a while .... but this time I took in all the story ... man did I like that game ... I don't remember exactly how many times I finished the game but I surely did it at least a dozen times ... a lot of brave mice perished in this ordeal...

Immersion in a video game is for me the most important thing when it comes to the pleasure I get from spending my time playing a game. For this reason there are games that I would still play today even after looking at the new gen graphics such as in crysis, games such as Max Payne ... I loved that game ... the whole feel of that never ending snow storm in New York, the cheap motel interiors, the dream scene, the comic book cut scenes etc...that did it for me ... and when MP2 came with more of the same without much improvement in graphics .... I couldn't care one bit ... I loved it all the way also with outdated graphics and all ...it made no difference at all. But for me ... the one that takes the crown jewel is Clive Barker's Undying ... there is no word that comes to my mind other than "masterpiece" it was just a stunning experience ... I have never played a game that had a story that even came close to the story in Undying ... I just don't understand how little known this title is ... nobody who has played it had any doubts that they just went through a fantastic experience yet people that played it are few and far between ... All I can say is this: if you ever have the chance to play the game and are interested in survival/horror fps DON'T miss it!

OK then ... enough of the "they don't make 'em like they used to" rant ...
Back to modern times and back on topic ...

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is your friend! A fantastic experience ... the way that I got sucked up into that one was unreal ... the immersion score is right up there with the best ... I had a fantastic time with this game ... from the campfire songs of other stalkers (in a disused bus station next to a mound of radioactive garbage) to the black and white visions of an abandoned research station (under the effects of the "brain scorcher") this game has it in spades ! And the graphics are not bad at all, and if you are really picky about them then wait a month or so until the prequel hits the stores (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky).

If you read through this list and liked some (or all) of the games described please feel free to suggest others that you liked !

 

Guild Wars!!!

 

Thanks for the insight Arthur, I appreciate posts that have some sort of explanation to the recommendation (as stated in 1st post, which apparantly stirfriedsushi here ignored lol).

To be 100% honest, I don't care about graphics anymore. At all. Ocarina of Time had flat doors that you could walk through, I didn't even realize it 'til I opened it up on PC (and it was more enjoying than ever).

I'll look up reviews/videos of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Thanks.

 

Since so many mentioned Chrono Trigger you may as well break out all the old school SNES rpg's as they are all very great in there own ways.

Square Soft was the best back then but a few other great titles to look at.

> Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past
> Secret of Mana
> Seikendensetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2)
> Final Fantasy 6 (FF3 in US)

For Playstation which runs on my emulator great

> Xenogears
> Final Fantasy 7

Those were the if you missed it I feel sorry for you they were so good games.

 

Anything made by Bioware; awesome stories and great style
Other good games: STALKER, Orange Box, Morrowind (it's a bit dated)

 

Portal !!!!

 

I am pretty much an RPG fan but of course the first thing I look at is Story then the gameplay then the graphics

I already played quite a lot of RPGs
FF series 7(One of the best),8,9,12
Suikoden series 1,2,5
Atelier Iris 2,3(never finished, data corrupted and PS2 got sold)
Star Ocean 3(I ranked this one as high as FF7 was)

I am still missing quite a few more RPGs to mention...I hope I can play new RPGs that can be ported to the PC like FF13 and Star Ocean 4, Tales of Vesperia.

Currently playing "Tales of Destiny 2" on my Dell Axim then maybe Grandia, Thousand arms and some old PS1 RPGs. When the PS2 is already obsolete then I'll play great RPGs that i missed like Tales of the Abyss, redo Atelier Iris 3 and others(I havent researched fully on great RPGs on the PS2 yet)

Waiting for "The Last Remnant"

Other games that gave me a good story
Halo series 1,2,3
MGS1(havent played any of the new ones yet)
Dynasty Warriors(History is fun to learn)
Starcraft (Can't wait for 2)
Max Payne 1(Will play 2)
GRAW 1,2

I know i missed to point out a lot more games that I liked, Of course the games that I like are always finished.
Also people have different tastes... I do not like Mass effect and the gameplay of Company of Heroes, the fact that you leave the shooting to chance, kills the beautiful storyline.

 

Let's see here.

Well, Stalker obviously struck a chord with me; it's easily my favorite game that's come out, in the last couple years. Just as it is out of the box, it's a little boring, but with one of the couple of big gameplay mods (Oblivion Lost is my choice pick; I tried AMK but it just wasn't for me) it really adds to the atmosphere.

I tell you what, the first time you experience a blowout, using Dynamic lighting, is something to remember. Especially if you're like me and you're coming from running it on the very minimum settings, and it still chugs some.

That's when you can tell you've got a good game; when people are willing to play it on minimum settings, and it's still laggy on their old computer, just because it's so good.

Marathon is still king for me. I remember playing that, waaaaaaay back in the day, on a Power Mac 6100. Halo too, although that's newer, because it's sort of the spiritual grandchild of the Marathon series.

(You can go here --> http://trilogyrelease.bungie.org/ to download the full versions of Marathon, Marathon 2: Durandal, and Marathon Infinity, which was released as freeware to everyone back in '04. You can also go --> http://source.bungie.org/get/ to get the SDL version of Aleph One, which will let you run the Trilogy under Windows. There's also links to the hi-res textures/skys/shots packs there.)

 

Having just finished Mass Effect, I too highly recommend that one. Homeworld 1 and 2 are also up there if you can still find them.

 

deus ex! it's old, but the story and gameplay is just awesome!

 

Baldur's Gate shadow of Amn has one of the most engrossing stories, interesting character lineups and huge environment Ive seen.

Other than that, the never winter nights series is good

 

Top of the pile is Max Payne and Max Payne 2, one of the best stories of any game ever (I hope the upcoming film does it justice!).

Though I've never played them these come a very very close second, I've watched all 4 games start to finish and the story is just amazing:

Metal Gear Solid 1-4

This doesn't necessarily count as it doesnt have a story as such, but the most immersive game ever is Elite 2.

 

Fallout 3 will be released in the US on October 28 - and I can't wait!

http://fallout.bethsoft.com/eng/home/home.php?fbid=BhWhR3

 

+1 on KoTOR 1 and 2. The storyline was **** good and it really got you into the game. Things aren't what they really seem and you aren't what you really are in the game. Definitely gives you this look ->

 

So True XD, great action but the story was just so cliché

I found kotor 1 was better than the second one! But everytime a sequel comes around from games from bioware they "outsource" it to another :s Like neverwinter nights 1 I've played for so many nights over and over and over and OVER but I haven't done that with the sequel, maybe with their new expansion pack but I'm not hoping for it, same goes for kotor 1 and 2, the first played to death and the second really dissapointed me, it's not that I don't like change or so, but it just wasn't as good as the first one

SO TRUE :O second one wasn't really good though. Hopefully they'll make it up with their 3 part ^^

About Mass effect, it's a great game but I expected more of it, they made it seem like it was going to be a bit of a revolution in the genre but it was pretty basic stuff actually and the story was really predictive
Good? Yes! Overhyped? Also! Graphics were great, and the ship you flew in was so cool XD and the action is just really fun :O but somehow I have the feeling they could have done more with it...

Don't know if the OP want's to try rts but dawn of war II is coming around and OMFG I'm going to be soooooooooo addicted (as goes the same for diablo III XD)

 

For a little different, a little less known and older RPG's that concentrate more on the main character than a group, try The Summoner and Fable.. I think Fable will be more easier to find, The Summoner is from 2001 if my memory is right.

Can't wait for Fable 2 to be published.

 

Lets see. Some are
FFVII
Nox (sort of like Diablo)
GTA IV

 

Perfect story with perfect atmosphere but old graphics: The Longest Journey
Interesting story and good graphics: Fahrenheit

 

HL2 and episode paks for the pc.

great FPS. runs smooth on my Studio lappy