Never tried rfactor 2 - from what I saw, it seems better than rfactor 1 (which i used to race from time to time back in the day - mostly with a historix mod if I recall the name correctly but finally converted to GTR2's Power & Glory mod, because I liked GTR2's singleplayer mode, features and AI better) and the classic f1 looks stunning.

Just for the record, my other favourites are: Power & Glory (as mentioned above - love for classic cars), Nascar 2003 season (not a big fan of nascar races but I enjoyed this sim very much), Richard Burns Rally (for when I want to go WRC style) and GP500 (Still the best motogp sim). Notable mention: GP Bikes (very nice work).

So, how do you like the classic f1 stuff in rfactor 2? Do you have any previous experience with GPL and if yes, do you think I should give it a try?

"I'm a taffer", thank you for the giveaway!

Anyways, here's a list of games that blew me away:

Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat: One of the big 5 games that changed my blew me away. I love the simulation level combat in this game, and this game made me a fan of the Battletech franchise.

Freespace 2: The reason why I joined this website, along with other older games. Space combat at it's finest, and it's a testament that a good community can raise a game's lifespan.

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis / ArmA: Cold War Assault: I can never forget After Montignac. To me, it's one of the best missions in the game, without a doubt. Plus, this is the game that got me interested in tactical shooters.

Knights in the Nightmare: Ooooh boy. I was not prepared what Sting had to offer me. Bullet hell meets strategy meets RPG? Some call it complicated, I call it fun.

And this might come to a surprise to you...

Hoshizora no Memoria: This is a visual novel. I'm not joking. However, it's a really good one, with fantastic characters (The twins come to mind), it's good story, and the music. It's one of my favorite VNs out there, and if you want more visual novels, look at what KEY has to offer.

Other games that blew my mind away:

The World Ends With You (Would say that, but that's too easy)
Tales of Symphonia
UFO: Enemy Unknown
Jagged Alliance 2
Soul Nomad and the World Eaters

Dawn of War: One of my all time favorite games. It perfectly captured the Warhammer 40K universe

Dishonored: It was amazing how many different paths you could take through the level. What was even better was how attention wasn't drawn to them

I think nobody who seriously played this game (meaning without supershield "cheat" can ever forget this mission. That feeling of really being left behind with the invaders all around you. Snipers, patrols, tanks and even fucking Hinds...

Another very memorable mission is one shortly after where you try to reach the restistance and have to cross the island. The moment the cover blows and everthing goes to hell...

1) Heroes of Might & Magic III + AB + SoD
2) Planescape: Torment
3) Fallout (1997)

Yup those 3 are always first games on my pc whenever i reintall system or buy a new machine.

Doom
I got swept in Doom fever like everyone else in the mid 90s. After playing the shareware version, I knew that gaming would never be the same. A whole new genre and generation of games and gamers was spawned almost overnight by its success.

Super Marios Bros on NES
8 bit magic. Young kids these days take it for granted that they have 100 million bit systems and glistening textures all over the place. When the first 8 bit games came out, it was like a digital acid trip for everybody... after all, everyone up until that point was used to the blocky world of Atari simplicity. Going from Space Invaders and Pong to Super Mario Bros and Castlevania was probably the biggest leap there will be in gaming for a long time.

Mass Effect trilogy
For the opposite end of that WTF spectrum. No other gaming series has left me more drained, fulfilled and ultimately vastly disappointed. Usually a gaming experience is going to go one way or another on the satisfaction meter. ME took it in every direction possible, then crammed it into a spaceship and flung it at the sun at the speed of light. I think if I'm ever diagnosed with ADD, I'm going to blame it on Mass Effect.

Three words:

Richard Burns Rally

Here's what I wrote in the comment section of the Wishlist:

"Best.Rallygame.Ever.Period. ;)
(and, no - I'm not kidding)

I remember the despair, when I failed the nth time for a hundredth of a second in the Rally-School...almost wanted to ragequit.

But then I made it...I was allowed to drive the real rally - and all the stuff, Rally-school had taught me, was useful.

What an experience, what a fun."

Nothing to add to that.

;o)

UFO Enemy Unknown (X-Com: Enemy Unkown), the first XCOM, from 1994.

Civilization 1.

Heroes of Might and Magic 2.

Too bad the grapichs will scare away most people who haven't play those games back then.
I don't know about Civilization 1, haven't played it since 1995-1996, but UFO and HoMM 2 are great games, even by today standards. UFO graphics have aged, but the gameplay is fantastic. HoMM 2 is still looking good.

Garrett, I'm slipping!

Pet peeve of mine. UFO: Enemy Unknown or X-Com: UFO Defense. X-Com: Enemy Unknown is the PS version, while XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the 2012 one.

Garrett, I'm slipping!

I'm a taffer! Played one of the Thief games a bit years ago and didn't get into it, would love to give them another go now that I'm older and wiser.

Now... games that blew my mind, that is a tough one. There are so many games I've loved and enjoyed, but one's that have really made me re-evaulate gaming as a whole?

ADOM - I remember downloading this game (I don't even remember why) and not quite understanding it, finding it impossibly difficult and always dying. For some reason I persevered and the amount of depth wrung out of simple ASCII characters made me look at games in a new light. An absolute master piece of an RPG with so much to find and do, and a fantastic skills / levelling up system.

Mario 64 - I think this was the first proper 3D game I ever played. Looking at it now it's hard to see why it was so mind blowing, but at the time even those rough polygons were a complete revolution. A game that undoubtedly changed gaming, and I would say has still to be bettered in its genre.

Ocarina of Time - Same as Mario really but for a different genre.

Final Fantasy VIII - Not the best in the series by a long shot, but I think it was probably the first RPG I ever really played and got into, which led me to rediscover all the SNES classics and a whole new genre that has become my favourite.

Honourable mentions also go to - Dwarf Fortress, Final Fantasy V, Seiken Densetsu 3, Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem (Any of them really), Okami, Rogue Squadron 2 Rogue Leader.

Great question, and thanks for the giveaway :)


Edit: I seem to have forgotten the whole RTS genre some how... highlights for me being Age of Kings, Red Alert 2 and Dawn of War just for being generally brilliant really.

I'm a taffer.

Probably vanilla World of Warcraft. It was my 1st mmo and I really liked the previous Warcraft games / setting.

Thank you.

I haven't played a lot of GPL, but mostly the old Craftsman Truck Series and netKar Pro. I think rFactor 2 is closer to those than the new super grippy simulators. The old F1, F2 and F3 are very drivable, more so than their modern cars, if you ask me.
I'd tell you to try the demo, but it doesn't cover the classic stuff. They also have an endurance GT car from the 1960s in various configurations, and this one is also a great drive.

There is no licensed content, but you get Monza 10K, old Spa, classic Monaco, and some extra tracks are Aintree, Longford and of course conversions from GPL and others.

Keep in mind that the dynamic rubbering of the racing line makes a huge difference and the FFB is phenomenal.

That's the reason I never tried the demo, not interested in the new cars they offer. I suppose I could buy it and try the classic stuff and if I don't like it, there is a 7 day money back period. But I'm gonna wait for the price to drop, because I think it is too high for the content I'm gonna use (only classic f1 that is).. To tell you the truth, with GPL after all these years, I feel like home. Although many things evolved in the sim racing scene (features, graphics etc.), for some strange reason, I keep returning back to it. So, no harm done if I wait a little longer until I try rfactor 2.

As for the dynamic rubbering of the racing line, the first time I saw a video from the beta version, I was like :-O very nice feature indeed. So, thanks for the recommendation, I'll keep it in mind for when the price drops someday. :-) Off to check what classic addons exist already!

I rarely pay full price for something, but I never felt cheated, even without add-ons. Once you taste the force feedback and tweakability in the demo, maybe it'll change your mind. There are not many people online, so you'd have to find a league.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TWCX7-EURo

I really like Lienz too, and there's the Targa Florio.