@ganymede said in General Video Game Thread:
TIE Fighter is one of those game game-changers, so to speak. It really was one of the first games I played which had Primary and Secondary Objectives for missions, and it was a fantastic flight-sim. It was better than X-Wing as far as playability, and it led to the very cool X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter game, which was very enjoyable.
Yes. I can remember the sense of wonder I had at that young age, watching my stepfather play TIE Fighter. He would give me an opportunity to play, coaching my super young self through things at my side? That was a fucking privilege! By that time I was already enjoying Star Wars as a new generation of fan, but it only made me all the more interested in the... everything to do with Star Wars. The Star Wars flight-sim games weren't my first dip in the proverbial PC gaming pool, that'll come in a moment. But TIE Fighter/X-Wing/X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter and even the Balance of Power expansion(I mean come on, throwing yourself at a Super Star Destroyer? Sploosh) are what made me love it all the more. In the films, often the space battles and dogfights are my favorite parts! So I'll always have love for those games and may very well pick them up someday in the future, because the nostalgia engines are kicking into gear.
They weren't my first PC game ever played though. Not counting random school, classwork learning-based games like motherfuckin' Number Munchers. TIE Fighter was played around the same time, but wasn't the first that I was exposed to. My stepfather and his brother were getting really into PC gaming at the time(hell, it was with them and their friends/coworkers that I had my first overnight LAN party) so I played what they played, basically. Command & Conquer was my first. It was my first RTS and first PC game. It has a special place in my heart. Which pains me, because it's fallen so far from grace. The story of the games became fairly cheesy, very quickly. Which isn't so much a problem, I can deal with cheese mostly. I bought Command & Conquer 4 a couple years back, super excited to play it, and made it through maybe three or four missions before I just put it away from my fingers. It just didn't have the draw like the early games did(and still do) for me. It had gone too far down the science fiction path for me.
I've been playing Total War: Warhammer II since it released and have been enjoying it. I enjoy a few of the different factions but seem to focus on the Dwarves, Dark Elves(cold one knights, yo), and High Elves the most. They're the groups in those worlds that I've always had the most interest in, so naturally I tend toward them in the game!
In more modern days what I really want is Warcraft 4. I don't mean some quasi-3d Warcraft III quasi-expansion. I mean a Tides of Darkness style RTS where I can base build strategically, army amass, and slugging match with a capable AI. That's all I really want. I don't need cut scenes. I don't need too much polish. I don't need polygon characters. I don't even need a super immersive story - I loved Warcraft: Orcs and Humans(the third game I ever played!) and Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness(and there's the fourth!) because they were engaging and at times challenging! When I need to focus on a task, I even put the Tides of Darkness soundtrack on because it's background noise that I enjoy but am so familiar with that I can not be distracted by it. So that's what I want: Warcraft IV.
