Tropical Island Video Game Draft -- Pending playoffs

Status
Not open for further replies.
At one point in time, SEGA was ahead of the pack. What ever happened?


This happened Spike:
ShadowTheHedgehogWallpaper800.jpg
 
Sorry for the delay, needed to get on the right computer to get a screenie for my second pick. But this first:

Medieval_II_Total_War_pc.jpg


Medieval II: Total War - PC - 2006

Review
For those of you lamenting Sega's decline as a console, do not fear, they are still doing somethng right. Was going to go a much different way wiht this pair of picks, and hope that the other two I am passing here will still be there (likely given that neither involves button mashing) next time through. So, been a huge fan of the Total War series from the very beginning, and the only reason I waited so long to take one is because I could have been happy with any of them, all the way back to the first. But this was the latest (until early next year), and is just so damn nifty. Build huge armies, besiege catsles, sack towns, conquer Europe. But also bulild churches, assassinate people, get in spats with the pope, marry off your kids, fight Mongols on one front, then send a mission to the New Worlds and fight Aztecs...just damn nifty. But of course what this series has always had that NO other series has ever had is the epic battles. I've posted a couple of actual screenshots from the game. Not shots of a pregame movie or whatnot. This is what it actually looks like in game (and you better have a real system to run this one). Its every wannabe Sun Tzu's wet dream. And in a common theme on my strategy island, replay value is off the charts. Note I specifically want the expansion pack here too -- campaigns set in Dark Ages England, in the New World, etc. = juicy extras.

931592_20061106_screen002.jpg


931592_20060603_screen030.jpg


931592_20060603_screen012.jpg
 
Well crap, got messed up by a patch, and that screenshot is not going to be available until I figure out how to undo it, so I am going to push that game off to next round (and nobody gets to take it) and go a different way this time:

Eu3-win-cover.jpg


Europa Universalis III - PC - 2007

Review
And to complete the super world conquering pairing, the latest version of the other, lessser known, white meat of strategy gaming. This series has always been remarkable in a unique way -- the utter, incredible, over the top historical detail. By this third one, you can now play for over 400 years (and more than that with the expansions, which I am taking) as any one of 270 different countries around the world through the Age of Exploration. 270! All the way from great powers, down to the tiniest pincipalities. You can play as Luxembourg, or as Russsia (very weak at the beginning of the game -- just a fiefdom with Mongols to the East, Norsemen to the North etc.), or as Zimbabwe for that matter (in the second of this series I created a good sized Zulu empire). And the world consists of over 1700 provinces. Which is another !!. And the thing is they all interact. The diplomatic system is just amazing, and you can have relations going with 100 different countries at once. And they all have them with each other. Alliances, traditional hatreds, rivalries, Intermarriages. Going on all the time all over the world without you being involved in the least. Its like being dropped into a history book (a horrific thought for some) but given a chance to change things. Religion matters. Going to war without a cause matters. Who you marry matters. Internal stability matters. Everything matters, and its amazing how much each contry ends up acting like it did historically. For a history buff you can put yourself in the situations faced by any of hundreds of countries and see if you can change the way it turned out. And it all flows along in realtime (which you can slow to a crawl or even pause, so its a bonus not a hindrance to thought). Anyway, this will probably complete the strategy portion of my strategy island, and I am now all set to conquer, conquer and conquer again for eternity. If any of you are unfortunate enough to have an island within swimming distance of mine, just know that after a few decades of honing my skills I will be coming to take it from you with a brilliant pincer movement of two columns of sand crabs.
 
Last edited:
My next pick - a favorite whilst playing on an emulator in college:

Ghosts N' Goblins (1985) - NES

Gngarcade.png
 
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands - 1993 - PC

This was the first RPG type game (besides Ultima) I have ever played, and the first in this "style" which later let to Baulder's Gate 1 & 2, and Icewind Dale 1 & 2. So Dark Sun was the grand daddy of them all.

You start out in this prison for gladiators, and you had to fight your way out of the pit and you could team up with an ogre or not (and kill him on the way out). I loved this game, and would still play if I could find a copy that works. I tried a couple torrents, but couldn't get it to work on my brand spanking new rebuild computer. Oh well.... At least I got Baulder's Gate, and IW Dale to work! Picking these games shows how big of a geek I am :D

shatlanfrd8.jpg
 
Seeing as how I missed out on SMRPG, I figure I should take its sequel to make up for it.

198849_43024_front.jpg


Paper Mario (2001) - Nintendo 64

Review

This is probably a better game than SMRPG, but for some reason I just prefer RPG. I feel lucky to grab this this low in the draft. Like the Wind Waker, don't let the cartoony graphics fool you, because this is actually a great game.

large.jpg


large.jpg

[yt=Paper Mario]vXTkSyIWos0[/yt]
 
Last edited:
Socom US Navy Seals - 2002 PS2 (with headset)

SOCOMUSNavySEALs.jpg


First game on the ps2 to use a headset. Even without the online features the game was great for that reason. When i first played it i couldnt get enough of walking around and telling my team to take out the targets over the headset
 
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (wii 2007)

Metroid-Prime-3-Corruption-wii-wallpaper.thumb.jpg


Sorry about the delay. Didn't have access to a PC till just now. Might as well finish off the prime series. All great great games.
 
Alright, I'm now going to take probably what I would have taken 1st or 2nd if I was drafting purely on preference. The game I am about to pick was horrendously underplayed and underrated.

250px-Eternal_Darkness_box.jpg


Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) - Nintendo GameCube

So, I could literally go on for hours about this game. It is exceptional in every way and possibly the best game for the Nintendo GameCube.

The story of the game is set-off partially by an alignment of the planets of the solar system. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED IN LATE APRIL 2002 (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/planets_align_020402-1.html). That's right, in late April 2002 Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars. Jupiter and Saturn were all aligned. There was some advertising of dangerously epic proportions that could've been had here, instead the game came out 2 months later and was barely advertised. It makes perfect sense then that Silicon Knights left Nintendo about a year later.

This game truly was ground-breaking. You play as 12 different characters whose stories span over 2000 years from ancient Rome, to the Middle Ages, to WWI, to the year 2000. Everyone's stories interconnect is brilliant ways that leave you dumbfounded by the end of the game.

But that's not even the half of it. Or the hundredth of it. This game invented insanity effects. During the game your character maintains a level of sanity (or lack thereof) and as you progress and face creepier and creepier areas, learn more insane things, and most damaing of all, fight more and more demons/zombies/beings/possesed people you become more and more insane.

The consequences of this are several unique insanity effects that can occur and do occur at complete random and vary depend on your level of sanity. Some of my favorites were the more subtle. A statue's head in a room, that was still before, might follow you. Your character might begin to mutter an inhuman language. The walls and floor might begin to bleed. More intense ones might be, your characters head could just fall off. On picking it up, it would begin to furiously ramble lines from Shakespear. You might begin to walk into the floor or pass freely through objects. Better yet were the ones that messed with you as a player. A bug, that wasn't there, might crawl across your screen. A psuedo "save failure" could come up proclaiming that your memory card is corrupt and is now being formatted. Sometimes, it would even pretend to turn your TV off (it got me the first time).

I need to stop here, as I doubt anyone is still reading as it is. I can't say enough about this game and I didn't even get to the extremely indepth story, fighting gameplay, and awesome magick system. Oh, and you can play this game over 4 times, one for each rune god. And its different every time. Perfect for a lifetime on an island. Has anyone played this game? Its the end-all of survival horror.
 
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) - Nintendo GameCube

Better yet were the ones that messed with you as a player. A bug, that wasn't there, might crawl across your screen. A psuedo "save failure" could come up proclaiming that your memory card is corrupt and is now being formatted. Sometimes, it would even pretend to turn your TV off (it got me the first time).

There was a game I read about a while back that also "interacted" with you - I think it sent emails and maybe phone calls were involved as well, but it has been years and I really can't remember the details (I never played it, obviously).
 
I select:

Star Wars for the Arcade (1983)

Ataris-1983-Star-Wars-arcade-game-featured-simple-vector-graphics-but-at-the-time-the-experience-was-mind-blowing,O-Z-94211-13.jpg


My favorite arcade game experience... cool vecter graphics, speech, the Force, and STAR WARS! Who did not play this game, honestly!
 
I select:

Star Wars for the Arcade (1983)

Ataris-1983-Star-Wars-arcade-game-featured-simple-vector-graphics-but-at-the-time-the-experience-was-mind-blowing,O-Z-94211-13.jpg


My favorite arcade game experience... cool vecter graphics, speech, the Force, and STAR WARS! Who did not play this game, honestly!

Dammit, dammit, dammit - my next choice stolen!
 
Pick #13: How was this game left standing? Really filling my music void here, as I was dissallowed my GarageBand pick. THis game spawed a franchise of games, and is easily one of the top five most influential games so far this decade. Totally reinvented the custom controller, and brought rocking out to a video game console. I select:

Pick #13 Guitar Hero (Playstation 2)

250px-Guitarhero-cover.jpg
150px-Guitar-hero-controller.jpg


[yt=Guitar Hero]SmWvNbLNaQA[/yt]

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero_(video_game)
 
Last edited:
Alright, I'm now going to take probably what I would have taken 1st or 2nd if I was drafting purely on preference. The game I am about to pick was horrendously underplayed and underrated.

250px-Eternal_Darkness_box.jpg

GREAT game. This makes me want to slap myself. Didn't even think to put it on my list. I beat it three times, one with each God. My favorite was Xelotath (sp?) but yeah.
 
My favorite too....I never beat it the fourth time as C'thulu....er i mean Montorak. I rummaged through and got the game out and am I'm thinking about doing it in the next few days.
 
I'm glad someone picked Ethereal Darkness. Any game that tricks you that your memory is corrupt, that your TV broke or makes you guy "is the room getting bigger or am I getting smaller" is ok with me.
 
My next pick:



Indigo.jpg



[yt=Indigo Prophecy]5lF-bR0K508[/yt]

Indigo Prophecy(aka Fahrenheit) (2005) - XBox


I really love this game because the gameplay is somewhat similar to my favorite game of all time(Shenmue II). Playing this game is like playing a movie. Good plot, great voice acting and good graphics.
 
My next pick:



Indigo.jpg



[yt=Indigo Prophecy]5lF-bR0K508[/yt]

Indigo Prophecy(aka Fahrenheit) (2005) - XBox


I really love this game because the gameplay is somewhat similar to my favorite game of all time(Shenmue II). Playing this game is like playing a movie. Good plot, great voice acting and good graphics.

One of my next 2 picks (hopefully) follows that same premise. I just love games like them
 
Adding another adaptable classic to my roster

61M9EA92PYL._SL500_AA280_.jpg


Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games - 1995 - PC

I've been a fan of this series since a friend of mine and I stumbled upon a demo of the original in a bundle pack of otherwise forgetablle games. It was like finding a signed Webber rookie card in a shoe box filled with cardboard.

While this one is not as in-depth and spectacular as JA2, (I'm still a little shaken the latter was taken so early) it does provided much the same thrill as its successor.

Interchangable Merc teams for hire with top down turn-based strategy in a variety of missions including more technical special-ops type stuff equals hours of fun.

And as is true with many of my picks before this one, the senario editor and mission creation options give this an unlimited replay value.
 
Last edited:
My next pick:



Indigo.jpg



[yt=Indigo Prophecy]5lF-bR0K508[/yt]

Indigo Prophecy(aka Fahrenheit) (2005) - XBox


I really love this game because the gameplay is somewhat similar to my favorite game of all time(Shenmue II). Playing this game is like playing a movie. Good plot, great voice acting and good graphics.

One of my favorites.

I just realized I overlooked it.

Great pick!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top