Discussion Must play video games of the 2000s?

[beyondlogic]

I was wondering what games are considered "must play" or classics in the 2000s, since I was not alive or too young to be able to play these games when they released.

bioshock
dragon age origins with awakening pack ( xbox)

jak and daxter/ jak 2/ jak 3 if you want to complete the whole lot.

star wars knights of the old republic and kotor 2.

star ocean till end of time

fable 1/2/3

Steambot Chronicles​

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2​

persona 3 and persona 4

Dragon Quest VIII

 

[Order 66]

star wars knights of the old republic

Yes!! I love this game. played it numerous times on mobile. Always thought about getting it on pc and modding it to fix certain annoying bugs. (Specifically the Bastilla romance bug)

 

[beyondlogic]

Yes!! I love this game. played it numerous times on mobile. Always thought about getting it on pc and modding it to fix certain annoying bugs. (Specifically the Bastilla romance bug)

knights of the old republic 2 had quite a bit of content cut in the game but its overall still a good game.

 

[beyondlogic]

Yes!! I love this game. played it numerous times on mobile. Always thought about getting it on pc and modding it to fix certain annoying bugs. (Specifically the Bastilla romance bug)

on another note kotor remake is still alive and kicking but wont expect to see a trailer till like 2025-2026 since the company finally has assets again to get that ball rolling.

 

[USAFRet]

Unreal
Portal
The Quake followons

 

[35below0]

Jade Empire > KOTOR

Though if you like either of them, you will like the other because they are the same game/engine, just a different setting. Could Revan fight Drunken Monkey style? I rest my case.

Why do they all have guys with masks. What is it with masks anyway?

knights of the old republic 2 had quite a bit of content cut in the game but its overall still a good game.

Dull beginning but takes off after about two planets. Really strong once it gets going.

 

[Order 66]

As far as Kotor, I remember being so frustrated by the bastilla romance bug that I nearly quit the game. I actually did quit the game, because of a save bug that put me in an infinite loop of the you died screen, during the Darth Malak fight.

 

[beyondlogic]

As far as Kotor, I remember being so frustrated by the bastilla romance bug that I nearly quit the game. I actually did quit the game, because of a save bug that put me in an infinite loop of the you died screen, during the Darth Malak fight.

And that's why porting a game to android sucks.

Kotor was just a proof of concept that we can run games on tablet hardware lol.

 

[dos_box]

Always depends the genre. But ones that i would consider classics of all genres:

-Halo (1 + 2) [Remake can be bought on Steam together with part 3, 4 and Halo Reach]
-Battlefield 2
-Age of Empires III (AoE are a classic series, most classic part is however part II, but thats '99]
-Splinter Cell 1
-Unreal Tournament 2004 (or Unreal 1, but that is not 2000s, it's '98)
-Star Wars - Jedi Academy
-Far Cry 1
-Anno 1404 (and maybe 1701)

Those are all still worth playing imo. But not sure about Battlefield 2 and SW-JA if they are still worth it. All the others however i would still recommend today

 

[CountMike]

Mostly shooters and simulators, nothing you have to think much.
All of CoD and MOHA for instance. Variations on Doom and Wolfenstein theme, Duke Nukem, Serious Sam and the like. Considering that my first game was Pong, those were really good.

 

[Moonstick2]

Bioshock all the way.

Portal (then you'd really want to play Portal 2 and that was 2011).

Half-Life 2. I think you get even more out of it if you've played the original, but that's very dated graphically now and Black Mesa is a very good fan update so I'd recommend playing Black Mesa to get the most out of HL2.

Civilisation III. Massively enjoyable time sink. Some prefer IV though - there are a lot of differences between them.

Grand Prix 4. Even 20+ years later nothing comes close in terms of driver AI making it feel like a real race, and as for weather, you get an actual dry line gradually appearing when the rain stops, instead of the insta-drying tracks of EA's latest effort.

 

[beyondlogic]

Always depends the genre. But ones that i would consider classics of all genres:

-Halo (1 + 2) [Remake can be bought on Steam together with part 3, 4 and Halo Reach]
-Battlefield 2
-Age of Empires III (AoE are a classic series, most classic part is however part II, but thats '99]
-Splinter Cell 1
-Unreal Tournament 2004 (or Unreal 1, but that is not 2000s, it's '98)
-Star Wars - Jedi Academy
-Far Cry 1
-Anno 1404 (and maybe 1701)

Those are all still worth playing imo. But not sure about Battlefield 2 and SW-JA if they are still worth it. All the others however i would still recommend today

Jedi academy still one of the better star wars game especially dialogue and random death physics

 

[Order 66]

And that's why porting a game to android sucks.

Kotor was just a proof of concept that we can run games on tablet hardware lol.

It was actually IOS.

 

[bignastyid]

One game I haven't seen mentioned yet is The Elder scrolls III Morrowind and for some senseless violence Postal II.

 

[Cellie]

Pretty much everything I'd recommend already was, so I'll just recommend you take a look at gog.com, short for "Good Old Games". Stuff is going on sale all the time.

Games are DRM-free, no online activtation or internet required to play, so you won't find some from publishers who really really love DRM and refuse to part with it, and a few recent games engage in the dubious practice of trying to force you to opt-in intrusive data collection (Horizon Zero Dawn I'm looking at you), but it's not the site's fault.

 

[boju]

Half Life 2 previously mentioned and Eps are a must play.

Also Duke Nukem 3D 20th Anniversary 🤘 and Quake / Quake 2 also previously mentioned, all of which have been remastered.

Rage is also a lot of fun and interesting game mechanics.

 

[35below0]

Grand Prix 4. Even 20+ years later nothing comes close in terms of driver AI making it feel like a real race, and as for weather, you get an actual dry line gradually appearing when the rain stops, instead of the insta-drying tracks of EA's latest effort.

GTR2 might have a word about that. There is a variable weather mod for it too. Works like you described.
It's moddable as hell too. Just as well because due to the way licensing works, once SimBin's Porsche deal lapsed, all Porsche cars had to be "updated" out of the game.
Terrible.

How can a publisher keep paying for a license once their game is well beyond it's peak sales?

Anyway, GTR2 is the most realistic racing sim i've played and i'm fond of it. GT Legends is mostly cool because the Mini, Cortina, Capri, and Shelby Cobra are in it.
Race 07 is dated by now, but it's a good touring car sim. Also has some open wheel cars.

 

[35below0]

I forgot the game that might just be the coolest game of the entire decade. Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines

It makes all other games suck. Well, it did in it's day.

I revise my top 3: Psychonauts, VTM Bloodlines and AI War.

I'd like to point out that i hate vampires. By far my most hated trope/gimmick/whatever. Vampires are just the worst. And yet, Bloodlines is nothing but vampires.
What stands out is the voice acting. Something about people speaking like people instead of like a badly scripted low production drama. Characters also had pretty interesting side quests, and the game did very little hand holding. The masquerade gimmick was the only thing stopping you from slaughtering everything in sight. You could drop humanity or hold onto it.
It's also a plus that it handled the good/evil morality really well.
Sadly, it could not avoid featuring useless skills, like most RPGs couldn't. In addition, one of the endings was excellent but the others... ugh. Not good at all. So if the ending sucks, you got the wrong one!

I wonder if it would come across as too try hard maybe? To a younger generation. I dunno.
To me, Bloodlines slapped KOTOR and Deus Ex right out of the way. Wretched gamepad control issues and bugs aside, it was really badass in a way few games could be.

 

[punkncat]

The Warhammer stuff shouldn't be overlooked.

Instead of Diablo series you might like to take a look at Grim Dawn. Where it may not be "true" in relation to being a 2000's game it is almost exactly the same game, still being developed, and works on new hardware. Some of the older Diablo stuff won't play well on new hardware.

That can also be the case with Command and Conquer.

 

[35below0]

The Warhammer stuff shouldn't be overlooked.

Instead of Diablo series you might like to take a look at Grim Dawn. Where it may not be "true" in relation to being a 2000's game it is almost exactly the same game, still being developed, and works on new hardware. Some of the older Diablo stuff won't play well on new hardware.

That can also be the case with Command and Conquer.

Dawn of War was really great. I am hopeless at RTS games, but i wanted to try not to suck in DoW so much.
Dark Crusade was great.

 

[punkncat]

Dawn of War was really great. I am hopeless at RTS games, but i wanted to try not to suck in DoW so much.
Dark Crusade was great.

I liked everything up to Soulstorm. After that it just drifted farther and farther from the game I loved. I still keep it loaded just for nostalgia from time to time.

 

[TerryLaze]

Some of the older Diablo stuff won't play well on new hardware.

Huh?! Diablo 1 and 2 play fine, other than the super low resolution of course.

 

[artk2219]

Huh?! Diablo 1 and 2 play fine, other than the super low resolution of course.

Its more of an issue with the original disc versions of command and conquer, dune, red alert, and tiberian sun those old westwood titles need a little work to play on a modern pc. Or you can get them from steam and they'll work fine hah. Alternatively they're all available from cncnet, since i believe the licensing on those games is now open.

Command & Conquer Online - CnCNet

cncnet.org

 

[punkncat]

Huh?! Diablo 1 and 2 play fine, other than the super low resolution of course.

Perhaps just my own issue then? IDK

I tried various way to get them to load and play and even trying 'compatibility mode' they just refused to load. I have to say that it really upsets me to see what the Diablo 3 box set goes for now. I threw two complete sets away due to the issue loading. /grumbleforsure

CnC had an ongoing issue with the clock speeds such that the same would be over with your defeat shortly after loading in, things moving incredibly fast. That issue got patched, I think.

 

[35below0]

You might take a shot at the dxwnd utility. It may not force games to work as such, but it can force them to run in modes/resolutions they were not meant to. And sometimes that is the key.

There are other benefits. For example, Emperor Rise of the Middle Kingdom is playable but with dxwnd you can stretch it or capture it for recording/streaming. Old Tropico 1 and 2 also come to mind. I think Tropico 2 isn't even playable without it, but it might just be my PC.

It's not a user friendly process but it's always worth trying.