# Windows on my Mac: what games should I make a priority?



## Vintage Paw (Oct 24, 2011)

Finally installing Windows 7 via bootcamp on my macbook pro (mid-2011). Doing it primarily for gaming, obviously aware there will be some limitations, but that's fine.

My main game that'll occupy most of my time after December will be SW:TOR, but beyond that, I've put a handful of games on my list that I want to check out, but I want to know if there's anything I've missed I should add to it. I'm certain there will be, especially since I'm pretty much sticking to BioWare and the immediate environs.

So, on my list:

KotOR (and KotOR II)
F:NV
Skyrim
Jade Empire
Mass Effect 1&2 (my primary gaming for that is xbox though, so 3 I'm getting for that)
Possibly Morrowind
Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines
Alpha Centauri (if I can find it)

You can see from the list the type of thing I like, but I'm not necessarily limiting myself to RPGs. So hit me with your recommendations of must-have new, newish, and old school games that I'll be able to play — and state your case!


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## Epona (Oct 24, 2011)

If you've never played Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 they are both great party-based RPGs, and playing them feels similar to DA:O (in top down isometric view although you might not have had that option if you played it on XBox) in terms of controls. As long as you don't mind the aged graphics of course!

You can pick them up for just under $10 USD each from GoG which is a good place to pick up all sorts of PC classics DRM free and at a good price.

They also have Alpha Centauri for $6, look under S as its full title is "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri".


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 24, 2011)

Epona said:


> If you've never played Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 they are both great party-based RPGs, and playing them feels similar to DA:O (in top down isometric view although you might not have had that option if you played it on XBox) in terms of controls. As long as you don't mind the aged graphics of course!
> 
> You can pick them up for just under $10 USD each from GoG which is a good place to pick up all sorts of PC classics DRM free and at a good price.
> 
> They also have Alpha Centauri for $6, look under S as its full title is "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri".



Oh boy oh boy, thanks for that link 

Yeah, Baldur's Gate was tentatively on my list, as the seminal breakthrough title for BioWare, but I wondered whether it's one of those that you'd only feel the deep love for it you were around at the time, and if going back to that sort of thing now as a new player would be ... idk, maybe missing something. I might give it a go though. Since I am meant to be the BioWare cheerleader after all 

And they have Alpha Centauri????!!!!!?!?!?!?!?! That's my time until TOR releases sorted then


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## Ax^ (Oct 24, 2011)

Avoid the baldurs gate series unless you enjoy pure video game crack and have 100 hours or so to throw away

But if you must make sure to track down the mods that turn the saga in one game in bg2 engine,


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## Epona (Oct 24, 2011)

No problems VP!  Forgot to mention that all GoG games are digital download, but because they're all (with the exception of the Witcher 2) older games the files are pretty small so shouldn't cause a problem if you're on a limited monthly download type internet deal - if internet downloads are an issue then because they're DRM free you can always get a friend to do it for you and put the files on a disk or memory stick.

But yes about BG 1 & 2, they are both great games with the proviso that BG1 especially looks a little old now and it's all text dialogue of course, but if you don't mind that and are OK with the AD&D ruleset (sleeping to memorise or refresh spells rather than having a cooldown timer is the biggest thing I can think of) then I think you'll enjoy them for the classics they are.  BG2 carries straight on from BG1 with some of the same companions available so it's worth starting from the beginning, even though BG2 is IMO the better game and includes stuff like romances with certain companions (only 1 for female player characters though and only heterosexual, although I know there are mods out there that rectify that and open them all up to any player, a google search should turn something up).

But yeah well worth playing, see where it all started so to speak


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## Epona (Oct 24, 2011)

Ax^ said:


> Avoid the baldurs gate series unless you enjoy pure video game crack and have 100 hours or so to throw away
> 
> But if you must make sure to track down the mods that turn the saga in one game in bg2 engine,



Argh I didn't realise there was anything like that, I'll have to have a look for it myself!


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 24, 2011)

That website, Epona .... I could get lost in it 

One I spotted on there that I keep hearing good things about but know nothing of is Planescape: Torment. Sell it to me ....

(GoG seems like a good site too, looking at the About page makes them sound like one of the good guys ... their attitude to DRM and their belief in their customers heh )


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## Epona (Oct 24, 2011)

Planescape: Torment is an amazing game, one of my favourites. You play as a set character "The Nameless One" although you can develop his stats in any way you like (although I'd recommend going for high Intelligence and Wisdom to get the most out of the game, which would lean you towards playing a mage type). You start out dead and not knowing who you are and take it from there.

There is a ton of text dialogue in this game, some really long dialogues and conversations, if you don't mind doing a bit of reading then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it - the setting and story are superb.

Forgot to say it's isometric top-down and similar in controls to BG1&2.  Not particularly pretty to look at compared to modern games, but the story and depth of text dialogue more than make up for that.


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## Ax^ (Oct 24, 2011)

Epona said:


> Argh I didn't realise there was anything like that, I'll have to have a look for it myself!




They been around a while all player mods try wiedu or the bg world mods

Be pre warned  the amount of community release content that can be include with the bg world modification is massive

Although dark sides of the sword coast is enjoyable.


Tis just a shame a mod to switch PT to the bg engine never came to anything :/


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## Crispy (Oct 24, 2011)

Portal
Portal 2


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## Epona (Oct 24, 2011)

Also if you fancy an old (again top-down, party-based, text dialogue) rpg which is a little bit different from the usual high-fantasy setting, I can heartily recommend Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - it's quite open world in that although you are started on the main quest at the beginning, you can then go all over the place and do whatever other side quests you want or just go out into the wilderness between towns and beat the shit out of monsters, it's very freeform.

Where it differs from the D&D based classics is that there's a steampunk element to it - a world where magic is old and technology is new (think of a recent industrial revolution in a classic high-fantasy setting!) and they don't mix - magic interferes with tech and vice versa. The game starts when the airship you are travelling on crashes. Which path you take (magic/tech) will determine what companions you can recruit, in which locations you'll be welcomed or shunned, and whether you can use revolvers and travel on steam trains, or use enchanted swords and fireballs.

Absolutely superb game.


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 24, 2011)

Got both the Portals on my Mac already (still playing through 2, loving it). Oh, someone gifted me the original Deus Ex GOTY through steam, so there's that, too.

Planescape: Torment sounds like a go-er, then, thanks Epona. These all sound like great go-to games, for when the pace and polish of newer stuff starts to grate on me. As it often does.

Thank fuck these old games are that much smaller, so I don't have to go too big with my bootcamp partition XD


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 25, 2011)

Epona said:


> Also if you fancy an old (again top-down, party-based, text dialogue) rpg which is a little bit different from the usual high-fantasy setting, I can heartily recommend Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - ...



Sounds interesting ... thanks.

I'm going to be losing days, weeks, months, aren't I?

Can't wait.


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## Ax^ (Oct 25, 2011)

Oh system shock 2...


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 25, 2011)

Windows installation went flawlessly (I'm convinced it's a trap). Downloaded KotOR, downloading Jade Empire ... shall go from there. Of course if you have other suggestions in the meantime let me know


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## Epona (Oct 26, 2011)

KoTOR IMO plays very similar to ME1 in terms of basic gameplay - your character + 2 companions out in the field, your ship is your home base etc. I transitioned very easily from KoTOR to ME1 and I expect you'll find the same is true the other way around.

It is a great game with a great story, but be warned, your character runs funny. I reckon you'll spend the first couple of minutes giggling every time you move your character, it's like comedy ballet, but the story soon kicks in and gets you immersed so you don't notice it as much - but it is fucking funny


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 26, 2011)

She doesn't run as funny as John from Red Dead Redemption - now that's funny running 

I played through Taris in KotOR on my xbox a year ago, but never got much further. I've booted it up on the laptop and I'm sure I'll get right through it.

Just downloaded Planescape: Torment as well, nearly finished dl-ing ME1 so I can mod the heck out of it and have some fun. Will finish the JE download tomorrow.

(Slowly getting the hang of Windows as well, although it looks funny  and I can't work out what half the keyboard shortcuts are. I'll get there in time though, I'm sure.)

You know, despite all the suggestions, as soon as Windows had installed, I sat there utterly struck dumb and had no idea what to download. Spoilt for choice.


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## Epona (Oct 26, 2011)

Bloody hell, I reckon that lot should keep you busy for a while!

Let me know what you think of Jade Empire because it's the one I haven't played, and I'd be interested to hear what you think of it.


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 26, 2011)

I will  I hear lots of great things about it.

And yes, that will keep me busy. I tend to like to swap my games out, play whatever I'm in the mood for, so I'll no doubt be switching between them all for a while until I settle on something. Which is fine. So the more the merrier!

Also downloading Fallout: New Vegas as well. I didn't enjoy F3, but I was playing on console, so it will be interesting to see what I think of this.


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## Epona (Oct 26, 2011)

You might have more fun with New Vegas, I get the impression you prefer RPGs which are strongly story-driven and the story was not FO3's strong point.  The exploration was IMO more interesting than FONV by quite a long way and I like that a lot about it, but FONV (although still being open world and you can still do pretty much what you like), has a much better story, if a little unstructured in places, and many of the side quests tie in to it and also to which faction you support.  The companions also have their own story and a quest each, either to recruit them or to win their loyalty.


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 26, 2011)

Yup, I find story important to keep me interested. Once I've played through something once or twice, then the story isn't always as important, and the gameplay needs to hold up so I can play different builds, experiment, and so on. But yeah, I'm one of those who likes something vaguely linear to hold onto in my non-linear gaming worlds


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## Epona (Oct 26, 2011)

Cool, 'cos that's what I've kept in mind with everything I've recommended so far - for example I'm not sure you'd get along well with Morrowind because although it's my favourite game of all time and naturally I think everyone should play it and love it as much as I do, it really does throw you in at the deep end with no real story hook to get you started. It's pretty much "get off the boat, here's a couple of pop-ups to tell you how to control your character, now go fuck off and do your own thing in this incredibly rich world we've created, oh and there's a main quest you might want to have a go at at some point, but we're not even going to tell you what it is until you've gained a few levels, and if you wanted a sense of urgency you're in the wrong game. Off you go". Which suits me just fine, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 27, 2011)

dune 2 is good


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## bouncer_the_dog (Oct 27, 2011)

oh: http://dune.2.free.fr/Dune2_Play.html

its somewhat broken..


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 27, 2011)

Epona said:


> Cool, 'cos that's what I've kept in mind with everything I've recommended so far - for example I'm not sure you'd get along well with Morrowind because although it's my favourite game of all time and naturally I think everyone should play it and love it as much as I do, it really does throw you in at the deep end with no real story hook to get you started. It's pretty much "get off the boat, here's a couple of pop-ups to tell you how to control your character, now go fuck off and do your own thing in this incredibly rich world we've created, oh and there's a main quest you might want to have a go at at some point, but we're not even going to tell you what it is until you've gained a few levels, and if you wanted a sense of urgency you're in the wrong game. Off you go". Which suits me just fine, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.



Heh, well, Oblivion confounded me somewhat for that reason (although trying to play it on the 360 may have been my first mistake >_<), and Fallout3. But, I do seem to have a better relationship with rpgs on a computer, they just feel different, I can't really explain why. Perhaps a console engenders an air of "action, must do something, rah rah" whereas pc gaming can be an altogether more laid back affair 

I've heard such great things about Morrowind though, so perhaps I will give it a go. But, er ..... Skyrim will come first


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 27, 2011)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> oh: http://dune.2.free.fr/Dune2_Play.html
> 
> its somewhat broken..



Well, I was not prepared for that volume coming through my headphones when I clicked Play


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## Picadilly Commando (Oct 28, 2011)

Stalker

http://www.macgaming.ca/site/article/s.t.a.l.k.e.r.-shadow-of-chernobyl/

Brilliant game, I think you will like it going off your games list in your fist post )


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 29, 2011)

Ah, thanks. I love a bit of atmosphere, me 

I got Borderlands goty and Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines in the Halloween steam sale.

And now I've got windows on my mac, after all these years, what do I do first? Well, after loading up KotOR for a while? Play Mass Effect. The same game I've played over and over on my xbox for the last 3 years.

I'm nothing if not predictable.


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## Epona (Oct 29, 2011)

Vintage Paw said:


> ...and Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines in the Halloween steam sale.



Thanks for the heads-up, I've been wanting that game for a while but haven't had £15 spare - £3.75 though, I can manage


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## Vintage Paw (Oct 29, 2011)

All hail the gods of steam sales.


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2011)

It's bought and downloaded - because I'm playing Oblivion at the moment to get me in the mood for Skyrim, and then I'll be playing Skyrim for (hopefully!) ages and ages, it could be well into 2012 before I actually get around to trying it - but it will come in very handy for when I have a gap and wanting to try something else, I've heard very good things about it but never got it when it first came out.  Either I was busy with other games or "between upgrades" when it was released.  I missed some good games by being "between upgrades", Divine Divinity completely passed me by until recently, I got it free from GoG with my Witcher 2 pre-order early this year and it's a good solid RPG.


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## Picadilly Commando (Oct 30, 2011)

It'll be worth your while keeping an eye on steam over the next few weeks. A little bird told me they're going to be a lot more promotions on games to give Origin a kick in the balls... but I am not quite sure why that would translate to cheaper games, hey ho!


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