Games we obsess over

[Drowsy Emperor]

Nice, nice - keep them coming.

 

Also the Homeworld 3 up there ^ should probably be 2

Edited June 1, 2013 by Drowsy Emperor

[Agiel]

Nice, nice - keep them coming.

 

Also the Homeworld 3 up there ^ should probably be 2

Fixed. Freudian slip there Just a shame someone other than Relic now has the rights to the IP

[Raithe]

Hm, I have a few.

 

I literally haven't uninstalled Alpha Protocol since it first came out. - Although I haven't had a run through in about half a year.

 

Civ IV.

Sid Meier's Alpha Cenaturi.

VtM - Bloodlines.

Deus Ex - That's one that gets reinstalled, played through, taken off, x months down the line, put back on, uninstalled, wash, rince, repeat ad infinitum..

Kotor I & II keep turning up on my machine for some reason..

ME series I do keep puttering with..

Tron 2.0.  - Every now and then I just feel a need for that amusement.

NOLF 2.

Galactic Civilisations II.

AvP2 - Although that tends to be when a couple of friends all get in the same mood together and that calls for an old fashioned return to student LAN parties..

 

I used to replay the Privateer and Wing Commander games in ridiculous amounts. But haven't played any of those in a few years now.

[babaganoosh13]

- I have nearly every Sierra adventure game. The only one I'm missing that I know of, is EcoQuest 2 talkie.

- Ditto for the Lucasfilm Games/Arts adventures.

- All of the Tsunami adventure games until they went FMV. I only have Silent Steel of the FMV games.

- The Les Manley/Altered Destiny Accolade adventure games. Those ones I haven't played forever though, but man, back in the day.

- Numbered Fallout games, and NV

- I've played Ultima 4 I don't know how many times. More than the others combined, I think.

- The D&D Forgotten Realms games. Curse of the Azure Bonds leads that list.

- Darksun SL & WotR - moreso than even Curse.

- NCAA Football 10 - I can't get through a season of Madden anymore, but I've got more seasons logged on that game than any other.

- BioWare games probably have the greatest percentage of any game company that I've beat many times over. Obsidian is now pretty close to that.

 

Gotta go.

[Rostere]

By amount of playing time:

 

Hearts of Iron 2 (including all expansions, mods and so on)

Unreal Tournament

Civilization 2

Arcanum - easily the most replayable RPG I know of

 

There are of course lots of other games I enjoy immensely, but I never ended up replaying them as much.

 

A possible future contender for this list is CK2

[greylord]

_{Hmm, too many really to list I think.  However, some of the bigger ones}

 

_{Warcraft II}

_{Diablo and Diablo II}

_{Baldurs Gate II}

_{Icewind Dale}

_StarCraft

_{X-Wing Alliance}

_{Battlefield 1942}

_{Unreal Tournament 2004}

_{Dawn of War}

_{Sins of a Solar Empire}

_Freelancer

_{Neverwinter Nights}

_{Birth of the Federation}

_{Starfleet Command}

_{Starfleet Command Orion Pirates}

_{Act of War}

_{Star Wars Star Fighter}

_{SimCity 3}

_{SimCity 4}

_{Age of Empires}

_{Conquest Frontier Wars}

_{Starwars KoToR I and II}

 

_{More recently}

 

_{Mass Effect (entire series)}

_{Dragon Age Origins}

_{Alpha Protocol}

_{Tropico 3 and 4}

_{Torchlight I and II}

_{StarCraft II}

 

_{If you include Consoles...a few pop up}

 

_{Lunar series}

_{Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross}

_{Final Fantasy IV-VII, IX, and X}

_{White Knight Chronicles (I and II)}

_{BG: Dark Alliance I}

_{Champions of Norrath}

_{Justice League Heroes}

_{X-Men Legends I and II}

_{Marvel Ultimate Alliance I and II}

_{Dust to Daytona (what may be the greatest console racing game ever...IMO).}

_{Gran Turisimo (entire series actually)}

_COD

[Humanoid]

Can't think of all that many really. Privateer, Ultima 7/8, HoMM3, maybe MOO2. Even then it's usually not for extended stints, a few days is enough to satisfy the itch. I did spend almost $100 on a new joystick for Privateer as recently as 2011 so I guess that takes the cake. Civ4 is probably too recent to say I "go back" to it.

[Malekith]

• Baldur's Gate 2 (around 50 times  )

Planescape:Torment ( 1 every year)

Icewind Dale ( 1 every year)

Icewind Dale 2 ( 1 every year)

Baldur's Gate ( 1 every 2 years)

Fallout 2 (5 times)

Fallout ( 3 times)

Sacrifice (10 times)

Warcraft 3 (3 times)

[Drowsy Emperor]

It'll be interesting to see what the "most played games on the Obs forum are"... I'll make a list later out of all the submissions here and make a ranking of those that show up the most

[Malekith]

It'll be interesting to see what the "most played games on the Obs forum are"... I'll make a list later out of all the submissions here and make a ranking of those that show up the most

  Now i feel bad that none of my most played games are an Obsidian product. Well, maybe Black Isle counts.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Malekith

[Tel Aviv]

I actually really struggle to replay games ...or complete them even. I've got a big problem. The amount of times I've started and restarted Dragon Age: Origins must number in the hundreds. I've yet to complete it.

[Drowsy Emperor]

As it stands, the most played games by Obsidianites are (number of occurrences in brackets):

 

Baldur's Gate II (10)

 

Fallout 2 (8.)

 

Alpha Centauri (5)

Fallout (6)

Arcanum (5)

 

Civilization II (4)

Civilization IV (4)

Alpha Protocol (4)

Dawn of War (4)

Freelancer (4)

Unreal Tournament (4)

 

Homeworld (3)

Civilization III (3)

Deus Ex (3)

Icewind Dale (3)

Icewind Dale (3)

Jagged Alliance 2 (3)

Mass Effect 2 (3)

Planescape Torment (3)

Thief 2 (3)

VtM Bloodlines (3)

Edited June 2, 2013 by Drowsy Emperor

[Drowsy Emperor]

Overwhelmingly RPG and strategy, with a single FPS (really surprised to see it was my favorite), 2 stealth/FPS (Thief 2, Deus Ex) and one simulation (Freelancer).

 

The most played RTS are Homeworld and Dawn of War. 

 

The most played TB strategy is the Civ series, along with Alpha Centauri. The votes for the Total War series were spread out, but they're probably the second most played.

[Malcador]

I don't do it all that often, but I'll replay Grim Fandango or Blade Runner now and then. The Civ games & SMAC I do play more often, although Civ 2 not as much anymore as I guess I've become used to the changes in Civ 4 (also can't find my CD for it..hm). A general list of others

 

Supreme Commander

Arma 2

CMI

Rebellion

Fallout 2

Deus Ex

[Keyrock]

In order of amount of time sunk into said game:

 

Neverwinter Nights (vast majority of the time spent in HotU and user made mods)

X3: Reunion

X3: Terran Conflict

Gran Turismo

Twisted Metal 2

Jet Moto 

ZAngband

Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion (vast majority of the time spent in the Shivering Isles)

Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind

Final Fantasy 6

Chrono Trigger

Starflight 2

Gradius

R-Type

Goldeneye

Planescape: Torment

Legend of Zelda

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon

GTA: San Andreas

Blaster Master

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link

Edited June 2, 2013 by Keyrock

[Piccolo]

These are the games I find myself revisiting again and again, even today:

 

Heroes of Might & Magic III

Medieval: Total War [the original, not the crappy sequel]

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Panzer General II

Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares

Lords of the Realm II

Europa Universalis II

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

 

That's a lot of II's...

 

I would list some multiplayer FPS and strategy games as well, but even though i've sunk tens of thousands of hours into them [literally], I think they're too dependent on the online communities at the time to be something that I could play again and again until I die. Once that online community disappears, the game loses its appeal and you're left only with nostalgia.

[sorophx]

man, either I'm getting old or what, but the only game I keep going back to is Fallout 2. and sometimes New Vegas. everything else is a one-playthrough deal for me.

 

hell, with most games I don't even bother to get to the end. still have to beat BG, MOTB and IWD 2, and I don't think I ever will...

Edited June 2, 2013 by sorophx

[Bartimaeus]

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

Audiosurf

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Binding of Isaac

Donkey Kong Country 2

Half-Life series

Medieval 2: Total War

Planescape: Torment

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

[Woldan]

- Unreal Tournament 1999, played it daily for 4 years, played it least twice a month in the last 10 years. 

- Thief Dark project

- Thief The Metal Age

- Baldur's Gate 2 

- Icewind Dale 2

- Mass Effect 2

- Mass Effect 3

- Gran Turismo 1-5

- Skyrim

[Morgoth]

Too many to list, but in terms of addiction rate and games I regularly replay, it's a very short list:

 

Half-Life 1

Thief series (sans 3)

Dark Souls

[LadyCrimson]

[ ... ] everything else is a one-playthrough deal for me.

 

hell, with most games I don't even bother to get to the end. still have to beat BG, MOTB and IWD 2, and I don't think I ever will...

I'm getting that way more and more often. Sometimes I may want to replay/finish a game, or at least think I do - I may even load it and stare at a start screen do the tutorial bit for a couple minutes - but it just never ... quite happens.

 

I'm still waiting for the perfect cat/pet/animal/non-human Sim, something more interesting, with more purpose/concept than, say, "ZooTycoon." That's not what I want. Oh those lost hopes for Spore...

[Bokishi]

Off the top of my head, will list more later

 

KotOR

Skyrim

Dark Souls

SWTOR

HL2

GTA 4

GTA Vice City

Supreme Commander

Crazy Taxi

Doom 3

Doom 1

Duke Nukem 3D

Sonic the Hedgehog 1

Edited June 2, 2013 by Bokishi

[sorophx]

Sometimes I may want to replay/finish a game, or at least think I do - I may even load it and stare at a start screen do the tutorial bit for a couple minutes - but it just never ... quite happens.

exactly.

 

these days I keep noticing how I value shorter games that don't require weeks of dedication to beat. one weekend every couple of months is the longest I can endure before I lose interest in a game

[alanschu]

 

Sometimes I may want to replay/finish a game, or at least think I do - I may even load it and stare at a start screen do the tutorial bit for a couple minutes - but it just never ... quite happens.

exactly.

 

these days I keep noticing how I value shorter games that don't require weeks of dedication to beat. one weekend every couple of months is the longest I can endure before I lose interest in a game

 

 

Pretty similar for me.  I rarely replay games now-a-days.  I mean, if you want me to list some of my all time favourites I can do that, but the only game types I'm really interested in revisiting today are relatively modern strategy games.  So Civ, CK2, EU3.  I remember most of my gaming experiences, so replaying other types of games isn't as interesting since I'm already familiar with the game.

[Monte Carlo]

Rather than provide a list, maybe I can try to list the themes and values that make me obsess over a game.

 

All of the games I love have character and soul. I feel like the person who designed it knew me and what I liked. This is the 'X' factor that defies forensic examination, what some cultures call sympatico.

 

The vast majority of these games have great art direction. Not necessarily eye-candy, but certainly a style of its own that is distinct and easy to look at over long periods.

 

Music and sound. Easily the Cinderella of gaming, but one of the most important. Where would IceWind Dale be without the Kuldahar theme? Or Baldur's Gate without that absurdly bombastic but cool drum-laden homage to Conan? Or the VO from Company of Heroes, with your squads emoting pathos and humour in equal measure?

 

Gameplay that equally rewards but punishes is important. Games that are a b1tch to master, but are bountiful in pleasure once you start to learn. JA2 and XCom fall into this category. Games that aren't afraid to say 'learn me.'

 

Games with depth that isn't obviously apparent, the way that diplomatic units have multiple synergies in the Total War series for example, things that reveal themselves the more you delve.

 

Games that allow you to do cool stuff *the way you want* are also likely to make me obsessive.

 

Are there other factors? Sure. But having gamed for most of my life maybe only a dozen titles hit all of these sweet spots for me. Perhaps just under a quarter of them came from, or in close consultation with, the folks who work at Obsidian, one of the reasons I'm here.

 

Cheers

MC