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pixelrender · 6 years

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Top 10 PC games of all times

Or more like top 11 or 12 games.

I’ve always played on PC. I call video games in general computer games. I’ve only played some 10 games on various consoles (I would inclued 1: Tactics Ogre).

This is by no means an objective list. They’re games which had the biggest impact on me, my life and thinking about games. I decided to include only one game per franchise. I guess the result tells a lot about me as a player and about my approach to gaming.

I’ll probably make another list like this in 2019. I don’t expect Heroes to change their position, but some other games might (my prediction are 2-3 games being new to the list).

1. Heroes of Might & Magic 3

If there was the only game I could choose to play in my whole life, this would be it. I spent years playing Heroes and I struggled not to include Heroes 5 on my list.

I like everything about the franchise. It’s multiple worlds, they it mixes knights and technology, being often corny. Heroes on their own are just the best strategy I know. There’s focus on everything and everything is good. There’s enough variance that I never get bored.

2. Kentucky Route Zero

It has the best writing in video games, that on its own would be enough. Yes, I’m sucker for everything resembling Lynch, but this is good writing for many reasons. It’s real post-modern literature.

It’s very pretty too.

3. Oxenfree

Oxenfree is like Kentucky Route Light. The story in it is also great and it had a great emotional impact on me, but it’s almost classic and supernatural stuff isn’t very subtle and there’s even some cheese.

But again it’s very pretty and the writing is great. I played it right after Firewatch and it pounded it into ground, so that’s why it’s here.

4. Tacoma

Honestly, I couldn’t decide between Tacoma, Gone Home and Firewatch. Firewatch had some great outdoors and I loved living as a forest guard, but the story was a fairly standart radio play. Some stuff in it was forced too. Like protagonist having tragic lifes.

Gone Home was very strong and I would recommend to play it before Tacoma. It completely changed my perception of games and what they can be. It’s soundtrack is better too.

After thinking about it for few days and reading some articles,

Tacoma is taking things so much further. It’s closer to modern immersive theatre than any other video game. It’s architecture is very clever and environmental storytelling is more important than in Firewatch. But it’s more visual than in Gone Home, which heavily relied on reading.

Overall, it’s very polished and subtle. The only I dislike is it being about AI (luckily it’s not the only theme of the game) and a sci-fi (I like sci-fi in general and Tacoma does it well, but it’s a theme, which is not for everyone). In this regard Gone Home takes the lead.

5. Ultima IV: Quest of The Avatar

I’ve never trully played any Ultima game. So, why is it on my list? It was a a complex and forward-thinking masterpiece and I adore so much about it. It’s not about fighting but about ethics and decisions. The game’s big as life in its options too and no other game even came close to reproducing it. Instead they focused on action. Only today, independent devs are returning to themes of Ultima.

6. The Sims 2

Heroes 3 and The Sims 2 were two games I played in my teenage years the most. I loved building houses and whole communities in it. I loved studying at University (and I love it in real live too). And it was a game I loved to watch. We played together with my sisters taking turns and hoping for our sims to become friends.

Later on, when I started playing games like Crusader Kings 2 I rediscovered something from it. In this case you’re building your realm. History nerd in me liked that aspect. But I lacked some less random things and possibility to be a normal working class sim.

7. FTL: Faster Than Light

In three words addicting, clever and stressful.

I’ve never finished FTL and I tried many times. I’ll return to it again. The random nature of it, together with gameplay is extremely compelling. Every event is a risk and every encounter might be your last. I died for gratitous reason. And they are all good stories I can share with other people, who played the game.

8. Dragon Age: Origins

Before I discovered Steam and indie games I was into Bioware a big time. I even attended Biocon. Dragon Age sticked with me more than rest of their games. It’s just fun to play and the world is very complex and fun to read about. I’ve never had an urge to read Mass Effect books but I did read books taking place in Thedas.

The story’s weaker than in Dragon Age 2 or Knights of The Old Republic but I felt more immersed and I enjoyed playing it more than any other Bioware game, especially fighting. Baldur’s Gate got close, tho.

I haven’t played Inquisition yet as I got sidetracked by a milion of small games. It’s one of my priorities and I hope that my laptop is powerful enough to handle it.

9. Little Party

Gone Home opened my eyes about possibilites narration in games offers. Little Party showed me that I can do a game like that.

It takes a fresh perspective and tegether with very pleasant presentation, it’s a game, which is not nerdy, which tells a short modernist story. Feelings are up to the recipient. And the game happens around you. You play as a mother of an artsy child. Your presence is almost an annoyance. It’s very slow cook game and I love everything about it.

10. Papers, Please

It’s slightly perverse to like playing Papers, Please. But again it’s a great concept and it tells a lot about its theme, which is totality, and about myself. Your decisions have real consequences.

But more than that, I loved doing my job in it. And I’ve intentionally played other games like Papers, Please after it. It’s fulfilling to do your job properly

Honorable mentions:

Crusader Kings 2, Victoria 2, Castle In The Darkness, Firewatch, Gone Home, Half-Life 2, Quake 3, Baldur’s Gate, Civ V, Her Story

#heroes of might and magic #kentucky route zero #oxenfree #tacoma #Ultima #FTL #dragon age #tactics ogre

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himmel-arsch-und-zwirn · 7 years

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afrikaans anon again! do you have any advice for studying multiple languages at the same time? i'm taking a class for french and teaching sign language to myself but my goal is A Lot (i need to make a list, actually) and i'm considering beginning to study greek on my own right now as well (came here from your hp blog)

i’m currently (trying) to study way too many languages right now, so i’ll try my best to share what i’ve learned about language learning in the most concise way possible… imho it’s okay to take it slow when you’re learning multiple languages, take your time and get the basics down before moving on, push yourself but not TOO hard, y’know? Don’t worry about mixing your languages together, for the most part your brain is good at keeping them separate. Also don’t stress about forgetting a language if you have to put it on the backburner for a bit, for the most part there’s nothing that a little review can’t fix.

There’s a lot of seemingly-little things I do to make learning multiple languages easier, I’ll try to keep it simple and list what really helped me:

1. In my experience the closest thing to learning a language by pure osmosis is finding music you like in your target language and listening to it all the time, or being obsessed with some kind of media in that language. (ie a TV show, a band, literature, etc)

2. MAKE IT FUN! I can’t stress this enough. Love yourself. Making your studies fun and exciting will literally make it so much easier and you’ll learn WAY faster. Don’t force yourself to agonize over memorizing vocab sheets and conjugations. Finding a way to combine something you love with a language will really help and make studying and memorizing a lot less painful; after a while, the technical stuff comes pretty naturally

3. Immersion and consistency are really important, and theres a lot of low-effort ways to do this that really go a long way when you don’t have a class or a group to study with, or a lot of time. Even if you don’t understand anything, just listening to the language—music, watching news, having vlogs playing while you chill on tumblr or do homework will help you start recognizing phonemes and pronunciation, and eventually words, grammar, etc. before long you’ll find yourself understanding what’s being said. You can also set your phone, laptop, facebook, + any social media to your target language which will make sure you’re reading at least a little bit in your target language every day. I have my laptop and Facebook in German and my phone is set in Greek, and it helps so much especially if I’m too busy to sit down and study.

For learning a new alphabet or writing system on your own, it’s a bit more of a hassle and it’s pretty normal to be pouring your soul into it and not seeing results or improvement for months. Learning Greek was intimidating and confusing as hell at first, since it was the first time I’d studied a new alphabet, but luckily learning to read was the hardest part and everything else is a breeze—honestly it took me a couple months on-and-off and I’m still a slow reader. I’m by no means fluent, but I totally recommend studying Greek, especially if you’re a linguistics/etymology nerd or have plans to study Latin or Ancient Greek

For self-teaching, if you’re like me and don’t have anyone in your area to practice with you or any native speakers, here are some things that helped me:

1. Finding texts/books in your target language, and just reading them aloud to yourself will help you get used to pronunciation. Reading books in your target language will also give you a solid idea of your reading comprehension level and what you need to work on!

2. SING!! learn the words to your favourite songs and sing along. Sounds corny but it’s honestly so fun and helps you memorize vocab and pronunciation at the same time

3. Youtube has a ton of resources! Some of my favourite channels for linguistics and language learning in general are LangFocus and NativLang.. For Greek specifically, I’d start off with videos about the alphabet, and move onward and upwards from there!

I know a lot of people who have tried to self teach but gotten frustrated and given up. I think this happens because people try to learn a language through Duolingo alone—Duolingo, Memrise, Mondly, Babbel etc are great resources, but to get the most out of them, I think they’re best used as a supplement to immersion, and not as the only resource. (Right now Duolingo has only released the Greek course online and not through its app, which sucks for me because I only have a Greek keyboard on my phone. -_- )

WHEW. Okay, i think that’s everything. Hopefully I didn’t go overboard, I LOVE talking about languages and i can get a lil bit excited. Also keep in mind I’m just a kid on the internet, I’ve never taken a linguistics course and I’m not a language tutor, what works for me might not work for you, and I may be totally wrong about stuff. Also HIT ME UP if you want a study buddy or someone to practice/share resources with!! (especially if ur here from my hp blog, i need more hp friends…)!! Hopefully my rants help you out somehow, let me know if you need me to clarify anything!! good luck!!

#Anonymous #eep i hope that wasn't overkill #i also hope that made some sense #asks

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