I'm looking for a game to play, but I'm not sure what I'd like because I particular details of games tend to turn me off. In fact, I find I don't really like many of the most popular games for certain reasons. I'll try to give examples of these types of details and a general idea of what I like. If you could give me some game recommendations and perhaps mention what you think I'd like about the game, I'd appreciate it. Feel free to skip over the games you never heard of.
I like games that deal with economics/economies, allocating limited resources, weighing positives and negatives of different choices, etc. The more complex, the better. But I don't like when there are easy options that are just plain better than the other options. Balance is key. I also don't like when the game quickly becomes easy just because I made good choices at the start. I also like sandbox, free-roaming games, and games where I am an not particularly more powerful than others but still can make significant changes to the game world as a lowly individual.
I've played Europa Universalis 2 and 3 and though they were really good games. There was a lot of viable paths to take, tough decisions to make, and it was well balanced. For example, winning a war and gaining land came with both bonuses and penalties, and a diminishing return that would keep me from dominated once I reach a certain size. It stayed challenging the whole game. Also the game is all about major choices, and the closest thing to micromanagement is ordering armies around during wars.
The Total War series of games are the opposite. The single player campaigns are extremely easy, since you can take care to overwhelm enemy forces so that you take few losses, specialize each city to make one troop type while the rest specialize in earning money so that you constantly have more money than you ever need, and you also can easily pick off one faction at a time while remaining peaceful with the others.
I thoroughly enjoyed the complex economic aspect of the MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea and I worked with others to create an efficient and convenient free market economy. Unfortunately, economic power was pretty meaningless for the RvR since everyone had plenty of money and could easily afford the ships they wanted for combat. Plus the Auction House was tedious to use if you were dealing in a lot different items. It needed more automated functions.
Patrician 3 was a fun single player sea trading game that also let you build industries and gain political position and new responsibilities as the game when on, but one thing that annoyed me was the lack of options for automating trade routes (as micromanaging becomes unreasonable as you create many fleets). But I did like how tough it was to satisfy all the needs in the game and how towns would grow and change economically based on supplies and business. Also, I tend to like games with that RPG element of starting small and working to become bigger and more well known, and having different reputation statistics (Patrician has a few, including world stats and a standing in each town).
I'm not a fan of most quests and missions. I've played Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, but never got into it. Running around fulfilling quests just didn't do it for me. I got a bit further in Fallout 3, maybe because I found the weapons more fun, especially with the need to conserve ammo, or maybe the post-apocalyptic non-magical setting was cooler.
I never got far in single player shooters. I got tired quickly in Halflife, COD, Bioshock, Mirrors Edge, and others. Though I remember I played pretty far into the old game "System Shock (2?)" so something about that was different.
I generally play shooter games just for the multiplayer. I get my enjoyment mostly from developing successful strategies, understanding the metagame, and helping through teamwork rather than depending on twitch-based skill. I played a lot of TF2 (and the old TFC), Wolf ET, BF2:SF, BFBC2, Mount and Blade: Warband, and DoD. Also, Mount and Blade single player campaign is pretty cool because it's free roaming, not quest-driven, sort of a sandbox game, and it has good RPG-style player and army progression.
I liked the old Bullfrog games like Themepark, Syndicate, Theme Hospital, and many more. The Sim City series is good, though I haven't played Sim City 4.
The Sims games were kinda fun, until it gets tedious with the maintaining friendships requirement for gaining promotions.
I think I've played both Civ 2 and Civ 3, and they were pretty good, well balanced, and constantly challenging, but it was a bit tedious, almost a grind, but not quite.
Capitalism 1 and 2 were fun, though I'd quit and start a new game once my company would become ridiculously huge and profitable.
I've played a lot of two Soccer/Football manager games: Championship Manager 03/04 and Worldwide Soccer Manager 07 (or was it 08?). It could be any sport, but I just like the complexity of constantly building a better team and adjusting tactics in games to counter the opponent. I like starting from the bottom and promoting a team to the top. I haven't gotten any of the newer versions because I didn't see anything substantial added to the games.
I've played a lot of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series from Koei on SNES/PS/PS2. Though they were poorly balanced games and often somewhat exploitable, I liked them. They seem to have a lot of personality to them, and it's more about people than it is about size and strength. I've been playing ROTK 10 on a PS2 emulator, and like that one because you play as a single free-roaming individual, so it's fun to do what you can to help a kingdom as an individual instead of being in control of everything.
I liked the Gran Turismo games for Playstation, but too bad they aren't ported to PC. I like tuning cars, trying to buy the best car suitable for a race, buying upgrades, maybe doing a bit a testing before a race to properly set up things like the gears and suspension. And of course racing and getting the cornering down is fun. I don't know if I'd like other racing games though, because I like the progression aspect more than just the racing.
I think the only traditional MMO I've played is Guild Wars. I played that one because I knew it had complex yet balanced PvP, and because you didn't have to grind to be the best in PvP. I got tired of quests quickly, so I didn't come close to beating the PvE stuff. Leveling to the max level was quick. And I actually unlocked the vast majority of the skills through PvP.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
I like games that deal with economics/economies, allocating limited resources, weighing positives and negatives of different choices, etc. The more complex, the better. But I don't like when there are easy options that are just plain better than the other options. Balance is key. I also don't like when the game quickly becomes easy just because I made good choices at the start. I also like sandbox, free-roaming games, and games where I am an not particularly more powerful than others but still can make significant changes to the game world as a lowly individual.
I've played Europa Universalis 2 and 3 and though they were really good games. There was a lot of viable paths to take, tough decisions to make, and it was well balanced. For example, winning a war and gaining land came with both bonuses and penalties, and a diminishing return that would keep me from dominated once I reach a certain size. It stayed challenging the whole game. Also the game is all about major choices, and the closest thing to micromanagement is ordering armies around during wars.
The Total War series of games are the opposite. The single player campaigns are extremely easy, since you can take care to overwhelm enemy forces so that you take few losses, specialize each city to make one troop type while the rest specialize in earning money so that you constantly have more money than you ever need, and you also can easily pick off one faction at a time while remaining peaceful with the others.
I thoroughly enjoyed the complex economic aspect of the MMO Pirates of the Burning Sea and I worked with others to create an efficient and convenient free market economy. Unfortunately, economic power was pretty meaningless for the RvR since everyone had plenty of money and could easily afford the ships they wanted for combat. Plus the Auction House was tedious to use if you were dealing in a lot different items. It needed more automated functions.
Patrician 3 was a fun single player sea trading game that also let you build industries and gain political position and new responsibilities as the game when on, but one thing that annoyed me was the lack of options for automating trade routes (as micromanaging becomes unreasonable as you create many fleets). But I did like how tough it was to satisfy all the needs in the game and how towns would grow and change economically based on supplies and business. Also, I tend to like games with that RPG element of starting small and working to become bigger and more well known, and having different reputation statistics (Patrician has a few, including world stats and a standing in each town).
I'm not a fan of most quests and missions. I've played Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, but never got into it. Running around fulfilling quests just didn't do it for me. I got a bit further in Fallout 3, maybe because I found the weapons more fun, especially with the need to conserve ammo, or maybe the post-apocalyptic non-magical setting was cooler.
I never got far in single player shooters. I got tired quickly in Halflife, COD, Bioshock, Mirrors Edge, and others. Though I remember I played pretty far into the old game "System Shock (2?)" so something about that was different.
I generally play shooter games just for the multiplayer. I get my enjoyment mostly from developing successful strategies, understanding the metagame, and helping through teamwork rather than depending on twitch-based skill. I played a lot of TF2 (and the old TFC), Wolf ET, BF2:SF, BFBC2, Mount and Blade: Warband, and DoD. Also, Mount and Blade single player campaign is pretty cool because it's free roaming, not quest-driven, sort of a sandbox game, and it has good RPG-style player and army progression.
I liked the old Bullfrog games like Themepark, Syndicate, Theme Hospital, and many more. The Sim City series is good, though I haven't played Sim City 4.
The Sims games were kinda fun, until it gets tedious with the maintaining friendships requirement for gaining promotions.
I think I've played both Civ 2 and Civ 3, and they were pretty good, well balanced, and constantly challenging, but it was a bit tedious, almost a grind, but not quite.
Capitalism 1 and 2 were fun, though I'd quit and start a new game once my company would become ridiculously huge and profitable.
I've played a lot of two Soccer/Football manager games: Championship Manager 03/04 and Worldwide Soccer Manager 07 (or was it 08?). It could be any sport, but I just like the complexity of constantly building a better team and adjusting tactics in games to counter the opponent. I like starting from the bottom and promoting a team to the top. I haven't gotten any of the newer versions because I didn't see anything substantial added to the games.
I've played a lot of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series from Koei on SNES/PS/PS2. Though they were poorly balanced games and often somewhat exploitable, I liked them. They seem to have a lot of personality to them, and it's more about people than it is about size and strength. I've been playing ROTK 10 on a PS2 emulator, and like that one because you play as a single free-roaming individual, so it's fun to do what you can to help a kingdom as an individual instead of being in control of everything.
I liked the Gran Turismo games for Playstation, but too bad they aren't ported to PC. I like tuning cars, trying to buy the best car suitable for a race, buying upgrades, maybe doing a bit a testing before a race to properly set up things like the gears and suspension. And of course racing and getting the cornering down is fun. I don't know if I'd like other racing games though, because I like the progression aspect more than just the racing.
I think the only traditional MMO I've played is Guild Wars. I played that one because I knew it had complex yet balanced PvP, and because you didn't have to grind to be the best in PvP. I got tired of quests quickly, so I didn't come close to beating the PvE stuff. Leveling to the max level was quick. And I actually unlocked the vast majority of the skills through PvP.
Thanks in advance for any recommendations.