Nice! Thanks for sharing!! But its "Project Zomboid". ;)


KSP: Ruined every space game for me, except those who are ridiculously arcade and unrealistic everywhere. For example, it did not ruin FTL and SPAZ, but ruined X1-3 series, NMS, couple of 3rd space strategy games.

Ever play a game that was so good that other games in the genre just didn't cut it anymore?

Another example for me is Sacrifice ruining RTS games for me. Style, art, being directly on the battlefield... everything about it near perfection.

In terms of console/jrpg style games Anachronox and Chrono Trigger (which Anachronox was inspired by) spoiled me on those types of games. I very quickly lose interest anytime I try and play any of the FF games or other console style RPGs.

The Trails/Kiseki series. I was juggling Trails of Cold Steel 2 and Final Fantasy 15 at the same time and Final Fantasy felt kinda cheap cause it handled it's world and characters in a much poorer manner. Even though their budget is stupidly big in comparison.

Glad someone said this, I felt the same, and not just Oblivion, but Skyrim too. So many things that Morrowind did so well, that they abandoned in later games for no other reason i can fathom other than 'It is hard to implement'. Also other mechanics and stuff like the spell system, levitating, more customisable armour slots (why can't I wear a robe with my armour in any of the later games?!), and it seems it was the later games that began the horrible consolisation of the UI (even though Morrowind was released on the Xbox too).

To clarify, I can still play and nominally enjoy Skyrim, but it is always with that gnawing grumbling at the back of my head (and I've yet to not get bored of Skyrim and play it all the way through).

I wholeheartedly recommend you to try it. Let me give you a short summary:

- The first one is obviously most dated but still enjoyable even today. I recommend playing a dark path because it shows how your hero become evil and not start as evil which is kinda rare in RTS games.
- The second one has no story-driven campaign mode. Just a map with a lot of provinces. You pick your race and conquer everything. Hero leveling system is just enormous and most enjoyable here.
- The third has a nice campaign twist - you travel around the map and join battles as you reach them. Your options whom to aid and whom to attack are affected by your relations with various races. You can also pick side-quest battles to increase your experience or grab an artifact. Sadly, hero leveling system was significantly simplified.

So if you are into a total freedom of your hero customization Warlords Battlecry II is a good place to start.

I'm a bit on the fence. I generally enjoy RTS games (more), but e.g. right now I am quite much enjoying Fallout Tactics (in TB mode; it has an option for realtime mode too but I prefer having the ability to think my way through some of the harder battles; plus if I understood right in realtime mode some of the abilities might become irrelevant which I don't like (like Agility?), or maybe it was some of the skills/perks).

I see it a bit like a turn-based tactical game is indeed more tactical (maybe like you said playing chess or such), but RTS is more like commanding forces in an actual battlefield. You don't get turns in a battlefield but the action goes on all the time on both sides, and you don't micromanage each character by reloading their guns for them etc. In turn-based games you micromanage much more, as if you are playing yourself the full role of each and every soldier in your team, instead of merely commanding them vaguely to do something.

While it is not directly related to being turn-based or real-time (strategy game), quite often RTS games are about gathering resources and producing more units (and upgrading your existing ones). TB games are more about finishing mission objectives with a set number of units. Like in Fallout Tactics, I have six team members which I try to utilize in all missions the best I can, and make sure none of them die at any point. They are not cannon fodder like most units are in RTS games, even if you want to minimize your losses there too.

I like both aspects for different reasons. I like RTS games where I get to build my own base/town from a scratch and later destroy the whole enemy base. On the other hand, in Fallout Tactics I like the feeling that I know each enemy mutant I am able to kill (e.g. sniping them from afar before they can reach me), means I am one step closer to clearing the whole area from all baddies and finishing the mission. Unlike in most RTS games, the enemy is not constantly producing more and more enemies to kill so in that sense killing a single enemy unit has less importance to success in RTS games.

Secret of Mana ruined most RPGs for me. I know that Mana is technically an Action RPG, but that's just it. Compared to just about most other JRPGs, Mana makes them look like a totally boring slog.

How embarrassing :P Can't believe I called it Project Zombie! But in any case, no problem :)

And I get where you're coming from with KSP. It's hands down the best space themed game I've ever played. Weirdly enough it's one of those games I didn't expect to enjoy that much beforehand.
Ahh yes that's a real shame. I love both, but F2 is the clearly superior one for me. At least on most but not all fronts. F1 has a more authentic post apocalyptic atmosphere imo, without any of the big cities you find in F2. The Hub, though kind of big, is as run down and lawless as you'd expect a settlement Fallout's post apocalyptic world to be.
Perhaps just give it a few years until you feel like doing another Fallout playthrough, and then start with the first one. That's what I did a few years ago.

Thanks for the summary :) So many games so little time :P But I'll keep it in mind next time I'm in the mood for an RTS. Come to think of it I haven't played an RTS in quite a long time.

Yeah, I'm still a huge fan of Zak Mac Karken or the Indiana Jones games, mostly because of nostalgia (because at the time, seriously, those games were awesome. Especially with the physical documents put in the box and used as hints, like pr Jones' journal or Zak McK tabloid), but going back to actually playing them with the old "click on verb, then click on pixel" interface, or even worse if the inventory is involved?
Naaah, the modern point and click with their "all in one" interface made me lazy ^^

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 absolutely ruined Battlefront [EA]. I think this one goes without saying.

Star Ocean 2 ruined/ruins every JRPG. I still have the PSP umd as a trophy for 'best I ever have and ever will'. Too bad I can't play it :(

The Mount & Blade games ruin all games that claim that are sandbox RPGs (in a medieval setting to boot!). It's in a league of its own in my book.

Way of the Samurai (among others) ruins games that claim 'choice matters'. Yes, it's a short game per run, but different choices actually have different results.

Don't Starve aptly ruins all games that have 'survival' in their description. You actually strive to survive in this game, and in a non-scripted manner. When I see something like Resident Evil say 'survival' I always go back to this game and say NO, THIS IS A SURVIVAL GAME!!!1.

Great, great game! If you don't mind zombies and post apocalyptic settings, then also check out Project Zomboid. It's a likewise incredible survivor game, only much more focused on realism (the survival part, not the zombie part naturally). Building containers to collect rainwater, sustenance farming, raiding houses for anything from peanut butter to soda drinks, etc.
And if you don't mind ascii 'graphics' or simple tileset graphics then check out Cataclysm : Dark Days Ahead which to me is even better.

I have Zomboid all the way back when before they got rid of NPCs :( I can manage to play it for a little while but it just seems empty without them. Human players just aren't my thing in that game unless it's someone I'm in the same house.

I did enjoy ADOM when it was a free ascii game a LONG time ago, so I'll take you up on the recommendation of Cataclysm: DDA :)

Chaos Strikes Back. Every other real time "blobber" was an anticlimax after this masterpiece of diabolically directed dungeon design.

I played Age of Wonders games before Master of Magic. Admittedly I didn't give MoM the most serious try, but it seemed awfully slow (as in turns spent before anything at all happens) compared to AoW.

Master of Orion 2. I just love MoO1 too much, and it focused in the right things, while there's too much micromanagement in MoO2.