Rakuru: You might also want to check out
backloggery.com. You can keep track of what games you're currently playing, make progress notes, and mark games as unplayed/unfinished/beat/completed. You can either just enter the games as you start them and use the site as a list of games you're playing or you've beat or if you'd like you can enter the games you want to play in the near future or even your entire collection.
Since keeping track of what games I'm playing and have already beat I seem to feel much less of an urge to go back and replay/restart games. For example, if I wanted to play the second game in a series but it had been a while since I'd played the first, I used to be tempted to go back and replay the first one and have a "fresh start" to the series -- but now once I have a game marked off as beat I feel more of a sense of closure and can move forward to tick the next game off of my list.
I also wouldn't worry too much about spoiling yourself by playing very good games first. I've played games with great stories and I've played games with incredibly cliche stories and at worse I'm just more likely to roll my eyes at a particularly overused trope before getting back into the gameplay than I was when I had less exposure to good storytelling. As long as the game doesn't completely hinge on story alone, there's potential for enjoyment.
I've just registered at backloggery, this is going to be very helpful, thank you. And thank you for the advice on order of playing games, it makes a fair bit of sense.
Klumpen0815: I wouldn't recommend starting with one of the games that have multiple protagonists at once (like Baldur's Gate, etc...).
"Fallout 1" (eventually followed by Fallout 2)
would be my advice.
Secondary: "Planescae: Torment"
And don't forget the HD/widescreen patches! Oh, heh. I've actually gone through and followed the sticky mod guides for every good old game that has one. Still, thank you!
Jennifer: I have a similar problem sometimes too. It took me forever to complete Baldur's Gate 1 (I would play it for a few days and then get distracted, come back to it a few months later and play some more, get distracted again, etc.)
I enjoyed Baldur's Gate 2 much more and when I got up to it I played it fairly straight-through without too many breaks. Then I stalled on the expansion again (it's much more combat-heavy than the main game and I got annoyed, but I keep meaning to get back to it).
I played Torment fairly straight-through though. It was much easier for me to get into than Baldur's Gate.
And I never finished Neverwinter Nights. I got up to Act 2 but really wasn't enjoying it at all, so I deleted it. I've heard the expansion is much better though, and I think you have to start a new character anyway, so I'm going to play the expansion eventually even if I never finish the main game.
So out of the games you listed (most of which I haven't played yet either...) my recommendation is for Torment and Baldur's Gate 2 (although for completion's sake you may want to push through BG1 first).
I would very much like to try Baldur's Gate I, then II, and then Planescape: Torment. More or less your suggestion, so thank you. Question though, what did you not enjoy about Neverwinter Nights?
