Your top 3 'Forever Choices' or How to appease an evil genie.

[SHR-51]

Some kid by the name of Al Adeen rubbed a thing he wasn't supposed to rub and now an evil genie is loose upon the world. This genie's so evil, he has it out for video games. He says that he will only leave Earth in peace if no person plays more than 3 video games for the rest of their lives. It's time to choose!

When the genie asked me, I responded with:
1. Warframe
2. Deep Rock Galactic
3. Slay The Spire

What would you choose?

 

[Brian Boru]

Assuming mods are allowed:

1. Civilization 4—massive customization, endless replayability.
2. Far Cry 6—huge map, loads of optional material, fair few fun story missions, plenty strategic and tactical choices.
3. Command and Conquer Remastered—5 games in one, fun campaigns, endless skirmish play.

 

[Colif]

Grim Dawn - So many possible character combos/weapon choices that I could play it forever
Torchlight 2 - with mods I could play this a long time - I have returned to it on and off a few times since I got it 12 years ago

I will have to think about a 3rd game as nothing stands out.

 

[Pifanjr]

Assuming mods are allowed:

1. Civilization 4—massive customization, endless replayability.
2. Far Cry 6—huge map, loads of optional material, fair few fun story missions, plenty strategic and tactical choices.
3. Command and Conquer Remastered—5 games in one, fun campaigns, endless skirmish play.

Where do you draw the line between a mod and a new game made in the same engine?

 

[Frindis]

1. Morrowind
2. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of The Kingdom
3. eXoDOS (7633 games) - The genie might be evil, but he is probably not smart enough to figure this one out. If he miraculously finds out, I'll say I was merely pulling a joke and chose Skyrim - Vagabond: 4000 mods to be installed through Wabbajack automatic install.

 

[Colif]

Where do you draw the line between a mod and a new game made in the same engine?

mods, historically, were free, new games in the same engines generally aren't.
That could be one way. (going to ignore paid mods as that isn't how it started, and should be resisted) (there is bound to be outliers that bend the rules)
mods normally need a base game to work from, new games are normally stand alone (once again, some games bend these rules)

My 3rd game would be something like Cities Skylines 2. A sandbox to make anything in. Others would say MIndcrap but I am not that creative... though given time... Or No Mans Sky, a game with no end.

 

[Brian Boru]

draw the line between a mod and a new game made in the same engine

Hmm you got me there, I don't have a considered opinion. Offhand thought is if it's on Nexus or ModDB or Workshop or one of the game-specific mod sites, then it's a mod.

You thinking of Garry's Mod or Zero-K or similar? I would regard those as separate games, not a mod. So I guess a mod for me is changing an existing game, not be(com)ing a new game. But that's just personal offhand ramble, not something I give much thought to.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Battle Brothers. Its a sandbox tactics game where every random map seed is different and there are quite a few different starts with interesting differences. The challenges are always the same though

Total War Warhammer 3. The Immortal Empire campaign with all DLCs apparently has 96 factions across 24 races. Keep me busy for a bit.

Elden Ring. Id get bored of this first, but Id want to have an option to play an action game sometimes, and there is PVP with invasions and co op that would keep things interesting a bit longer.

On another day I might pick Baldurs Gate 3 or Battletech in place of Battle Brothers.

Honsetly Id probably play way less games if I couldnt play something new whenever I wanted. This would be painful.

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Hard to draw a line between what mods constitute a new game for sure. Some mods completely rearrange games using existing assets to make new campaigns, and some use the base engine with new assets to make things almost entirely unique except for some basic gameplay.

 

[Pifanjr]

Hmm you got me there, I don't have a considered opinion. Offhand thought is if it's on Nexus or ModDB or Workshop or one of the game-specific mod sites, then it's a mod.

You thinking of Garry's Mod or Zero-K or similar? I would regard those as separate games, not a mod. So I guess a mod for me is changing an existing game, not be(com)ing a new game. But that's just personal offhand ramble, not something I give much thought to.

What's the difference between a mod that changes a game entirely and a developer adding an entirely new game mode? If the difference is that one is "official", then mod creators can just sell their mods to the publisher so they can be sold as official expansions.

One major thing to note in this scenario is that every single person on the planet has to make this choice. The entire game industry will have to pivot to only making new DLC/expansions for existing games or emulate Fortnite and become more like a platform for multiple game modes, probably using a subscription model now that they basically have a captive audience.

 

[Colif]

One major thing to note in this scenario is that every single person on the planet has to make this choice. The entire game industry will have to pivot to only making new DLC/expansions for existing games or emulate Fortnite and become more like a platform for multiple game modes, probably using a subscription model now that they basically have a captive audience.

There are not enough devs. Sure, there would be a lot of repeats but 8.2 billion x 3 is a lot of games... not sure we have enough devs to keep everyone happy...
Everyone will be too busy MAKING all the games to ever play any of them. Worlds economy based on making games to keep people playing them and not going mad. We would all starve to death... since everyone would be busy making games... no one left for all those other things.

There are lots of people who don't play any games at all. I am only one in my immediate family who still does. So 1/3 of my family... so would be a lot of null choices. Not everyone plays so really choices would be best reduced to those who answer with at least one.

 

[Brian Boru]

What's the difference between a mod that changes a game entirely and a developer adding an entirely new game mode?

In practice, a mod can say take it or leave it, use at own risk etc. A dev selling a new game mode has a lot of legal consumer obligations, and a lot more to lose if it goes wrong or they mishandle the customer service load.

But I guess you're talking more about the philosophical aspect rather than the practical—on that I have no view.

 

[ZedClampet]

My favorite game would be Kill the Genie.

I honestly can't decide. I've made my list several times and deleted it. I have no other option that to kill, or be killed by, the genie. I assume that one insurrectionist won't doom the rest of you.

 

[BeardyHat]

Tough.
At the top of my list would be Vanilla WoW. I go through periods with it, but I always come back and there's something comforting about it.

The next two are tough, as I can't think of many or any that I want to or keep returning to. Maybe XCOM 2 with DLC.

After that I'm not sure. Maybe Heroes of Might and Magic 2 or 3? Battletech? Transport Fever 2? I'd have trouble choosing, but it would probably be one of those.

 

[Pifanjr]

Assuming that mods count and discounting how the premise would affect the future of video games, I would choose at least both Skyrim and Minecraft, both for their enormous amount of mods and because I can play Minecraft with my wife and kid.

The third choice is harder however. Total War: Warhammer 3 has a ton of content, but so does Crusader Kings 2/3. According to Steam, I have by far the most hours in Civilization V, which has so many settings to tweak there's always a new way to play, but I think Civ 4 has more mods that completely change the game. There's also Angband, which I've put quite a lot of hours in without getting close to winning and which has a whole bunch of mods/forked versions as well.

If possible, I would want to discuss it with my friends, to see if we could reach a consensus for which game we would pick to play together. I suspect it would be Crusader Kings 2, assuming we could come to a consensus.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Skyrim
Total War: Warhammer III
Mini Metro

They're not necessarily my favourite games per se, but the ones I'd get the most replay value out of.

 

[Zloth]

My favorite game would be Kill the Genie.

Yep, that's the answer. Given these jinn things are just spirits, we may need a little fluidity on what "kill" means, but it's the only real option.

Better to game on your seat than live on your knees!!

 

[SHR-51]

2. Far Cry 6—huge map, loads of optional material, fair few fun story missions, plenty strategic and tactical choices.

The other two I get, but Far Cry 6 is one I would never expect, as I wasn't a fan of it myself. Are you sure you wouldn't want to choose one of the previous Far Cry's?

Grim Dawn - So many possible character combos/weapon choices that I could play it forever

Grim Dawn! I have it on my list of games I want to get into and it's just sitting there, waiting for its time. Good choice, I'm sure it's almost infinitely replayable.

3. eXoDOS (7633 games) - The genie might be evil, but he is probably not smart enough to figure this one out. If he miraculously finds out, I'll say I was merely pulling a joke and chose Skyrim - Vagabond: 4000 mods to be installed through Wabbajack automatic install.

The genie might have been taken for a ride with this one. ****** considered himself smarter than he actually was.

Battle Brothers. Its a sandbox tactics game where every random map seed is different and there are quite a few different starts with interesting differences. The challenges are always the same though

Battle Brothers is one of my favourite games and one I considered replacing Slay The Spire with. Can't wait for Menace, their next game. If it's Battle Brothers in a sci-fi setting, I can already see myself putting hundreds of hours into it!

The next two are tough, as I can't think of many or any that I want to or keep returning to. Maybe XCOM 2 with DLC.

After that I'm not sure. Maybe Heroes of Might and Magic 2 or 3? Battletech? Transport Fever 2? I'd have trouble choosing, but it would probably be one of those.

XCOM and Battletech are solid choices. I don't get bored of them either.

[Mod edit: deleted 'Quote' around entire post.]

 

[Brian Boru]

Are you sure you wouldn't want to choose one of the previous Far Cry's?

FC5 is a 'better' game in the sense of more polished, but overall FC6 is more fun for me. To ensure you're glad you asked, here are notes I took while playing

World
Bigger by a lot
Lighting upped
Setting great
Atmosphere less
Soundtrack much less
Textures better
Fauna similar
Flora great, dynamic
Story same
Arcade gone

UI
Mini map much better
Corpse X gone = worse
Corpse auto-loot = better
Can't lose weapon = great
Cutscenes skippable = great
Launch & Exit 1-click = great
Photo mode on auto-drive
Random sounds & messages
Tracking unwanted targets
E key for:
Loot
Revive
Interact
Climb
Talk
Close
Use Mortar
Use Mounted Gun

People
Protagonist much better
NPCs more, better
Buddies much worse

Weapons
Ammo switching stupid
Specials worse than standard
Sidearm useless—no, DEagle!
Sniper not needed
Melee all gone exc machete

Gameplay
Pick up ammo better
TPP in camp terrible
Chute better
Perk select very bad
Air drop launch direction off
Loot way too much manual
Checkpoints much too easy
Difficulty very uneven
Leveling way overdone, unclear
Buddies less help
Stats improved
Headshot crunch good
Enemies don't auto-attack
Healing automatic = worse
Boss fights far better, doable
NG+ great
PG 240 missions too similar

Quality
Buggier
Graphics better
UI worse
TPP nav awful

Libertad Mod
> excellent Resistance mod
Change time of day
Civilians Kill Limit Remover
'Pickup Outline' set to pink
2023-02 thread re mod

Dislike
Amigos underfoot.
Ammo changing ridiculous.
Camps TPP horrible movement.
Corpse indicators not in game.
Easier by a lot than previous FCs.
Launch to Game time.
Main island, no FT point for a long while.
Perk & Health systems a mess.
Sidearm—no indication if weapon is one.
Sounds popping all the time—meaning?
Tracking unwanted quests.

Like
Alt-Tab flawless.
Cut scenes skippable.
Ladder climb down is 1 slide.
Launch to Game unattended.
Libertad mod ***
Loot via run past *
Mini map is round again.
Peaceful enemy encounters.
Photo mode.
Quit to Desktop.
Weapons—always available.
Weather.
World best yet.
2023-05 post re Like-Dislike

Above isn't all valid now of course, as I've discovered things in subsequent playthrus.

 

[Colif]

Grim Dawn! I have it on my list of games I want to get into and it's just sitting there, waiting for its time. Good choice, I'm sure it's almost infinitely replayable.

helps to buy expansions, they all add new classes and areas to game.

 

[SHR-51]

FC5 is a 'better' game in the sense of more polished, but overall FC6 is more fun for me. To ensure you're glad you asked, here are notes I took while playing

World
Bigger by a lot
Lighting upped
Setting great
Atmosphere less
Soundtrack much less
Textures better
Fauna similar
Flora great, dynamic
Story same
Arcade gone

UI
Mini map much better
Corpse X gone = worse
Corpse auto-loot = better
Can't lose weapon = great
Cutscenes skippable = great
Launch & Exit 1-click = great
Photo mode on auto-drive
Random sounds & messages
Tracking unwanted targets
E key for:
Loot
Revive
Interact
Climb
Talk
Close
Use Mortar
Use Mounted Gun

People
Protagonist much better
NPCs more, better
Buddies much worse

Weapons
Ammo switching stupid
Specials worse than standard
Sidearm useless—no, DEagle!
Sniper not needed
Melee all gone exc machete

Gameplay
Pick up ammo better
TPP in camp terrible
Chute better
Perk select very bad
Air drop launch direction off
Loot way too much manual
Checkpoints much too easy
Difficulty very uneven
Leveling way overdone, unclear
Buddies less help
Stats improved
Headshot crunch good
Enemies don't auto-attack
Healing automatic = worse
Boss fights far better, doable
NG+ great
PG 240 missions too similar

Quality
Buggier
Graphics better
UI worse
TPP nav awful

Libertad Mod
> excellent Resistance mod
Change time of day
Civilians Kill Limit Remover
'Pickup Outline' set to pink
2023-02 thread re mod

Dislike
Amigos underfoot.
Ammo changing ridiculous.
Camps TPP horrible movement.
Corpse indicators not in game.
Easier by a lot than previous FCs.
Launch to Game time.
Main island, no FT point for a long while.
Perk & Health systems a mess.
Sidearm—no indication if weapon is one.
Sounds popping all the time—meaning?
Tracking unwanted quests.

Like
Alt-Tab flawless.
Cut scenes skippable.
Ladder climb down is 1 slide.
Launch to Game unattended.
Libertad mod ***
Loot via run past *
Mini map is round again.
Peaceful enemy encounters.
Photo mode.
Quit to Desktop.
Weapons—always available.
Weather.
World best yet.
2023-05 post re Like-Dislike

Above isn't all valid now of course, as I've discovered things in subsequent playthrus.

Wow, those are extensive! I have no more questions for you and yeah, I do agree with a lot of those, weirdly enough.

 

[DXCHASE]

I thought itd be easy picking a top 3 forever games, but i would get bored of my forever games if i could only play 3 personally. But if the genie was insistent then

Destiny 2
Skyrim (heavily modded with a optional full conversion kit)

and then if i had to pick 1 more and only play those 3, i would pick some MMO like WoW or Final Fantasy and say that so that way i could play through that whole game and grind out everything it has to offer.

 

[SHR-51]

I thought itd be easy picking a top 3 forever games, but i would get bored of my forever games if i could only play 3 personally. But if the genie was insistent then

Destiny 2
Skyrim (heavily modded with a optional full conversion kit)

and then if i had to pick 1 more and only play those 3, i would pick some MMO like WoW or Final Fantasy and say that so that way i could play through that whole game and grind out everything it has to offer.

Those are solid choices, you should be alright with them for at least several years until ZedClampet figures out how to kill an immortal evil genie