City of Heroes. I had never played an MMORPG before (I had a chip on my shoulder about the genre after EQ1 'stole' 27 of my 30 clanmates in Tribes). But I was a comic book fanatic and I HAD to try this one!
After a frustrating learning curve I really got to like this game. I liked being a hero, I liked the gameplay, I LOVED the combat.
But the most surprising thing to me was most definitely the community. I had never been in a game where people were so helpful to noobs, and so willing to go the extra mile for fellow 'heroes.' The people playing this game wanted a real superhero experience! Even though the faces changed, you never had to go far to find a group of people on the same page as you.
How much did I like this game? I level capped 12, and had at least 6 others in the 40s that I was too lazy to cap to 50. I had 4 of my level caps VERY well equipped, and I had a player for just about any role on a team. It took a lot of time and grind, but it was worth it to fill the need for many, many task forces and important incarnate missions.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
Plot twist after plot twist, and all this before the age of YouTube.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
Shadowbane, I have never been a big PvPer, but there was something about that game
Shadowbane did it for me too. At first, it wasn't easy to like. The graphics were bad, the rubber banding lag, the cut throat nature of pvp and thieves not just stealing your runes but back stabbing you while you rest. There was no such thing as respecing, and every point you assigned had real meaning, you could gimp your character very easily.
It was a culture shock coming from AC to shadowbane, but there was something about the game that no other had. You could take to the forums, and there were real politics involved. If you went to the forums running your mouth, you could log on the next day and find bane stones on all your cities, you could find different guilds making alliances just to slap you for running your mouth on the forums. Your actions had real consequences.
And then there were evil bastages who would take over the entire map.
If I was a billionaire, I would remake shadowbane, with todays tech but the original character creation and game play.
Star Wars Galaxies, despite even with all the bugs when released, still to me a monumental mmo beyond its time. The community in this game was spectacular since we all shared the love for Star Wars!
Meridian 59, I kinda expected it to be something like Daggerfall (another good surprise game) but it was unlike anything I ever played and years before it's time. Too bad my old modem made the experience less then perfect.
MMO- BnS. Wasn't on my radar. Tried a couple weeks after it released and was hooked.
Single Player- Far Cry 4. I had played Far Cry and Far Cry 2. They were passable shooters, but the story and characterization in Far Cry 4 were really good. Very fun all the way through.
The biggest surprise for me, where I went from "that game will be dumb" to completely putting all non-essential life support functions on hold to play it... was EverQuest.
There were a few things I read about it that appealed to me, but I just loved the graphics and artwork in 2D games at the time. The 3D games I had played (shooters) looked terrible to me. In my mind, they were all low resolution pictures pasted on blocky squares roughly in the shape of a humanoid. So, I often referred to it as EverQuake.
I was totally sold on 3D RPGs and the game world from Day 1.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what
it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience
because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in
the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you
playing an MMORPG?"
SWTOR, guildies convinced me to try it during beta and I bought it. Funny, because I never finished watching a single Star Wars movie till the end. Though the game had a nice vibe and I kinda liked the Trooper. In the end I kept playing for 6 months. 4 months longer than any of my guildies. Guess you had not to be a Star Wars fan to like the game.
Many, many games have surprised me over the years - but it's getting to be quite rare.
Overall, I'd say WoW was the biggest surprise.
I'd sworn off the genre completely, and the beta did little to change that.
However, I still decided to play it cooperatively with my ex-GF - and the more I played it, the more I was surprised at just how absorbing it was.
The two most surprising things about it were probably the world design and variety of zones coupled with the instances - which I'd never heard of before. Those two things were absolutely amazing to experience back then.
But, most of all, I think it was the simple nature of playing cooperatively with my partner. I've never shared a game on that level before - and I probably won't ever again.
I'm not a fan of first-person games and generally don't like this style of game either but decided to commit to it. It took me 3 attempts to make it past the first zone (I got bored) but once I'd played 4 or 5 hours and made it to the second zone, I was hooked. I went full stealth and just got mega-absorbed in never raising the alarm.
Prison Architect
I'm old enough to remember games that looked this crap when they were considered cutting edge. I've pretty much exclusively avoided all indie / alpha type games and have never regretted it. However, a couple of friends played PA during their lunch breaks and, through watching, I became convinced it was actually worth paying. I wasn't wrong. The game took over my life for a month or two, only quit when my prison got too big that fast-forward stopped working.
Currently Playing: WAR RoR - Spitt rr7X Black Orc | Scrotling rr6X Squig Herder | Scabrous rr4X Shaman
EQ1 was the one that blew me away the most...My first experience with MMOs was UO and it was horrible so I went into EQ expecting pretty much the same result and I couldnt have been more wrong.
EQ1 surprised me the most, since it was my first mmorpg and everything in it was a surprise.
In fact, and this is rather embarrassing, when I bought the game I did not realize that other people would be playing in the same world that I was. I logged in and after a few minutes I was like "hey, waaaaait a minute."
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
7 Days to Die completely surprised me like no other game ever.
Darkfall came close but 7DTD...wow.
what surprised me? 1. 'crafting' sure all games have that, but who has 'high action intense crafting'? 2. zombies...oh please so friggin tired of seeing zombies and i even hate the genre...but its fun in this game. 3. Loosing several hours of work to a zombie horde because of one small flaw in my base design is the first time I felt a true 'impermanence' in gaming. 4. save you file? no F you buddy you better get it right..
love it
Kerbal Space Program
1. A engaging, exciting, intense game that is based on reality and not intentionally killing something? and I learn real physic as well? get out!
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Comments
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
After a frustrating learning curve I really got to like this game. I liked being a hero, I liked the gameplay, I LOVED the combat.
But the most surprising thing to me was most definitely the community. I had never been in a game where people were so helpful to noobs, and so willing to go the extra mile for fellow 'heroes.' The people playing this game wanted a real superhero experience! Even though the faces changed, you never had to go far to find a group of people on the same page as you.
How much did I like this game? I level capped 12, and had at least 6 others in the 40s that I was too lazy to cap to 50. I had 4 of my level caps VERY well equipped, and I had a player for just about any role on a team. It took a lot of time and grind, but it was worth it to fill the need for many, many task forces and important incarnate missions.
The world is going to the dogs, which is just how I planned it!
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Plot twist after plot twist, and all this before the age of YouTube.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
The depth of the skills, slotting them and even secondary specs were great.
Shadowbane, I have never been a big PvPer, but there was something about that game
It was a culture shock coming from AC to shadowbane, but there was something about the game that no other had. You could take to the forums, and there were real politics involved. If you went to the forums running your mouth, you could log on the next day and find bane stones on all your cities, you could find different guilds making alliances just to slap you for running your mouth on the forums. Your actions had real consequences.
And then there were evil bastages who would take over the entire map.
If I was a billionaire, I would remake shadowbane, with todays tech but the original character creation and game play.
MMO- BnS. Wasn't on my radar. Tried a couple weeks after it released and was hooked.
Single Player- Far Cry 4. I had played Far Cry and Far Cry 2. They were passable shooters, but the story and characterization in Far Cry 4 were really good. Very fun all the way through.
There were a few things I read about it that appealed to me, but I just loved the graphics and artwork in 2D games at the time. The 3D games I had played (shooters) looked terrible to me. In my mind, they were all low resolution pictures pasted on blocky squares roughly in the shape of a humanoid. So, I often referred to it as EverQuake.
I was totally sold on 3D RPGs and the game world from Day 1.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Not really...heh.
Epic Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1
Kyleran: "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."
John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."
FreddyNoNose: "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."
LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"
Overall, I'd say WoW was the biggest surprise.
I'd sworn off the genre completely, and the beta did little to change that.
However, I still decided to play it cooperatively with my ex-GF - and the more I played it, the more I was surprised at just how absorbing it was.
The two most surprising things about it were probably the world design and variety of zones coupled with the instances - which I'd never heard of before. Those two things were absolutely amazing to experience back then.
But, most of all, I think it was the simple nature of playing cooperatively with my partner. I've never shared a game on that level before - and I probably won't ever again.
I'm not a fan of first-person games and generally don't like this style of game either but decided to commit to it. It took me 3 attempts to make it past the first zone (I got bored) but once I'd played 4 or 5 hours and made it to the second zone, I was hooked. I went full stealth and just got mega-absorbed in never raising the alarm.
Prison Architect
I'm old enough to remember games that looked this crap when they were considered cutting edge. I've pretty much exclusively avoided all indie / alpha type games and have never regretted it. However, a couple of friends played PA during their lunch breaks and, through watching, I became convinced it was actually worth paying. I wasn't wrong. The game took over my life for a month or two, only quit when my prison got too big that fast-forward stopped working.
In fact, and this is rather embarrassing, when I bought the game I did not realize that other people would be playing in the same world that I was. I logged in and after a few minutes I was like "hey, waaaaait a minute."
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Darkfall came close but 7DTD...wow.
what surprised me?
1. 'crafting' sure all games have that, but who has 'high action intense crafting'?
2. zombies...oh please so friggin tired of seeing zombies and i even hate the genre...but its fun in this game.
3. Loosing several hours of work to a zombie horde because of one small flaw in my base design is the first time I felt a true 'impermanence' in gaming.
4. save you file? no F you buddy you better get it right..
love it
Kerbal Space Program
1. A engaging, exciting, intense game that is based on reality and not intentionally killing something? and I learn real physic as well? get out!
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me