Best PC Strat Game Ever?

Shaderach · Post by **Shaderach** » Nov 14 2005

I've been on this earth for nearly 23 years now, and gamed for 17 of those ever since I got my first Atari for christmas... *sigh*

but due to a shameless love of FPS's and flight sims, my flirtation with true strategy games has been admittedly limited...

thus far I can only claim to have truly and exhaustively played...

Civ 1 & 2
Risk(both board and PC)
Age of Empires 2(more RTS than strat... but still)
and Medieval: Total War(1 entire semester of college down the drain...)

My copy of SR2010 arrived today, and I have the complete Europa Universalis II set in the mail as well... making up for lost time you might say.

I get the general impression here that most of you are far more experienced in the true strategy genre than I am, and as such, I would like to hear your opinions on the best PC strat game(s) ever... maybe a top 3?

Educate me, my venerable and wizened elders!

tkobo · Post by **tkobo** » Nov 14 2005

Harpoon, hands down.SR2010 is actually a better overall game,since Harpoon is only limited theatre naval and air warfare, and sr2010 offers so much more.
BUT harpoons got a ton of memories on its side

Second favorite is Emporer of the Fading Suns with NO AI house players, all humans.

Third favorite is SR2010.This will probably make number 2 slot (possibly even number 1 slot) if i ever get a lan game organized.

bergsjaeger · Post by **bergsjaeger** » Nov 14 2005

Well the top three for me be hard to choose.

I guess it be Warzone 2100, Supreme Ruler 2010, and the Command Conquer series. These games I have played more than any game I have or had. I guess the number 1 spot be between SR2010 and Warzone. Like how SR2010 keeps u entertained for a long time and as for Warzone I liked how u can design ur own units and see if they can destroy everything that gets in ur way.

Baloogan · Post by **Baloogan** » Nov 14 2005

I think harpoon... or fleet command.
Fleet command was... wonderful.

Empier4552 · Post by **Empier4552** » Nov 15 2005

Fleet command was great once the patches and such and user made mods were applied....out of the box i felt it was slightly lacking..on top of that it crashed alot for me

That aside it was a great game hehe..

I just wish another harpoon would come out..

but yes Id go with...SR2010, Harpoon and Fleet Command.

i dont know if i can really place C&C in the game genre i Mean it is RTS but its no where near in depth as the others..I feel like C&C and other base building style games are in a seperate grouping.

CptBritish · Post by **CptBritish** » Nov 16 2005

C&C Series all the way... but they kinda went downhill when EA bought Westwood out I used to love the proper cutscenes etc... But still good none the less

The Total War series... Simply Addictive...

Warcraft RTS Series I only played from 2 onwards... but I bet some of the Older and Bolder among us have touched the first one...

Also the Dawn of war Series is starting to make an impact... Have to see how far this can go...

Supreme Ruler 2010 would easly make my top 3 if the AI used its "stuff" properly but I suppose BG is working on that...

And yea RTS are strategy games... U have to plan your attack (sometimes), flanking can make an enemy sh*t himself and you have to look after your resources... Some basic things of strategy games (Can't think of more atm i'm hungover) These things are done in supreme ruler...

They are however different "Types" of Strategy there is no doubt but they are still Strategy Final Fantasy and WOW are both RPGs but they are a world apart...

tkobo · Post by **tkobo** » Nov 16 2005

WoW is NOT an rpg .

The marketing weenies will tell you it is.
The Devs will tell you it is.
Some people will believe them and think it is.

But it isnt.

"The Word is NOT the thing"- My favorite polish famous guy Al.

Baloogan · Post by **Baloogan** » Nov 16 2005

SR2010 should have more focus on naval combat that it does right now. The naval AI is ****** right now.

CptBritish · Post by **CptBritish** » Nov 19 2005

alright then instead of WOW read Diablo 2...

Diablo 2 and Final Fantasy are both RPG... Tho Diablo 2 tends to move towards the Action Game Genre as there is not much Commucation...

Sebastiaan · Post by **Sebastiaan** » Nov 23 2005

Diablo 1/2 Final fantasy are Japanese RPG (Action based)

Morrowind and Baldursgare can be considered real RPGs

Shaderach · Post by **Shaderach** » Nov 26 2005

Final Fantasy... action based?

I think you're a bit off-base there my friend...

And let's not get all excited and classify them as "Japanese RPG"'s either, lest we get ahead of ourselves and forget who exactly invented the genre...

The Final Fantasy series is every bit an RPG as Morrowind and Baldurs Gate are. The former just focuses on party-systems while the latter tend to make you strike out on your own.

hawk55732 · Post by **hawk55732** » Dec 14 2005

WoW is NOT an rpg .

Perhaps you could explain how its not an RPG. Im guessing you think that all games of that sort arent RPGs then.

Slash78 · Post by **Slash78** » Dec 15 2005

The Panzer General Series, PG II, Peope's General, PG 3D Assault and PG III Scorched Earth are all great strategy games.

tkobo · Post by **tkobo** » Dec 15 2005

Easy enough. Roleplaying is about putting aside youself, and being someone else.

Its about the moral decisions,personal attitudes, and decisions made based on the character you are pretending to be and their effects on that char and the world he resides in.

Fallout is an excellent example.

In fallout the quests you perform are aimed at defining your character , his personalty and the world hes in.Its full of moral decisions which impact the payer and his world.
The game design itself rewards consistant behavior.The games (world and character )outcome is based on those decisions

On the other hand, Wow, is nothing more than an exercise in character design.
The game ,the items in the game, the quests in the game are all about character design.Combat oreinted design,no less.
Do this quest, get this item or spell.Kill 5trillion of these ,get a level.

I cant think of a single moral decision based quest in WoW.

In wow the player and his character are rewarded for doing whatevers best for them at the moment, regardless of any lore or character personality.

Paladins running around best friends with evil embracing warlocks.

Warlock needs help completing his uber mount quest,here comes his friends the holy paladin and holy priest to help that warlock further embrace evil and summon yet more demons.

WoW is nothing more than people using an avatar to kill things and gain rewards,rewards based almost soley about power and design.
So that they can kill more things in order to get more rewards of power to further build the final design of the character.

It as much a roleplaying game as is SR2010.Which is to say ,it isnt one.

The story and the characters part (decisions he makes and their consequences) in it are the most important things in a roleplay game.

They are the least important things in WoW.Wow is all about character design.
Kill 5 trillion something-get a level -pick a new power.
Complete a quest ,get a new item (which is nothing more than another power).
Continue to do so,repeating quests as needed til you get the uber gear you want and finish your character design.

hawk55732 · Post by **hawk55732** » Dec 15 2005

Im not going to write a big article like you just did, im just simply going to say that i disagree with you. Our deffinetions of rpgs are simply differnt.