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Just curious what everyone's favorite gaming genres they have to play on PC. Games that you'd pick PC over console, or games just in general that you enjoy playing on PC. Don't choose all of them if you never or very rarely play them. Just would like to get an idea what the NBR'ers like to play in general.
rts and fps, those two genres are so much more playable on the PC however some games have a control scheme suited to a console plus i feel bad hammering away on my keyboard in a fighting game so controller for that and racing games (i'm always so bad at them no matter how you let me control them though i'm slightly better at them with a controller)
Interesting poll. It made me think about some of the genres I didn't pick, and
why.
Most particularly, the (flight/mechanized combat) simulations: I used to love these! MechWarrior, TIE Fighter, all of 'em! But I don't play these games any more because... the genre disappeared! Okay, sure, there's HAWX and other modern-warfare-settings games, but I find those settings droll... I can't force myself to finish such a game. Where did all the space sims go? What happened to innovative games where you pilot awesome war machines of the far future?
Perhaps they just stopped trying once developers realized the best space sim ever had already been made: Freespace 2.
It's also interesting how shooters seem to be the one genre to unite gamers. They're ubiquitous on all platforms, and the most popular on this poll. Why?
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the gameplay mechanics readily offer themselves up for clever innovation and fun, and it's far easier to immerse yourself in a world when you're viewing it from the first person. Are developers too lazy to try to invoke the same immersion through other genres? Perhaps. But the truth is that some of the best stories and most vivid worlds are portrayed through shooters - Halo, HalfLife, Crysis, Far Cry, and numerous others. There are comparatively few games of
any other genre that can approach some of these in storytelling, emotion, characterization, and
life. Including, paradoxically, most RPGs.
i'd have to say that when it comes to my PC gaming taste, i love me a good PVP'ing MMORPG or a competitive FPS game. add a dash of starcraft and it's chow time.
I forgot to add a vote for "other" - Adventure games. Kind've a shame considering I just saved my game and kicked out of Sam and Max Season 3 Episode 5...
Yes, I know there's an action/adventure category, which I also voted for, but these are action-free adventures I'm talking about: point-and-click style.
And speaking of adventure games and, as mentioned above, psychologically disturbing games, Darkness62 probably should have mentioned Sanitarium - generally considered to be a very good example of both. Also, @Darkness62 - how is The Void? I bought it on sale, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet...
X-Wing/Tie Fighter and Master of Orion finally managed to pull me into PC gaming away from the Sega Genesis that I loved. Mechwarrior 2 was incredible. My wife bought it for me for Christmas in 1994 (the first and only time she made the mistake of buying me a PC game), I unwrapped it, installed it and the rest of the Christmas presents stayed under the tree until June.
But what I typically play has changed as my free time has gradually disappeared...
And that's why I think FPSs are so popular...despite a few different wrinkles in each FPS, the basic gameplay mechanics and controls are very similar...the learning curve is almost non-existent...within a few minutes of gameplay, you have the basics down and you're progressing the story, finding better weapons and tougher enemies...
Meanwhile, back in the day on Baldur's Gate, I spent hours trying to decipher all the different classes' advantages/disadvantages and what skills I was going to assign to the character and reading through the 50 pages of spells trying to decide which ones fit my gaming style the best...and I
loved Baldur's Gate...just don't have that amount of time anymore...fortunately, BG's gameplay interface wasn't that difficult to learn, but good luck with some other RPGs and RTSs...
Right now, i mostly play on consoles. Shooters and RTS are the bane of someone without a mouse though so it's PC or nothing for those. I also play a few RPGs on PC and games that are either buggy on consoles or simply not available.
Shooters are what I play most right now, but I also do like the combat flight sim genre. I'm not sure what modern games, if any, fit in that category, but I do still break out the old Star Wars flight sims, as well as Descent and Freespace from time to time.
Other for Space Sim/combat/sandbox/rpg/big thingy
Big shout out to Egosoft's entire X series. Seems like they are currently the only people really making decent space sim/sandboxy games. I love all their games and I'm really looking forward to their
"The Next Big Thing".
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
