One that won't make me sick.

I'm thinking of getting URU.

But, as much as I sort of enjoyed playing the original Myst - the ending SUCKED.

Has anyone played URU? Is it in anyway playable or good?

Anything else you'd recommend? I'm not really interested in shooting things - that's what the playstation is for.

Things that involve at least some amount of puzzle solving are good. Things that can be stopped and picked up later at any particular place are good.

I'm not really an MMORPG kind of person.

I've been somewhat addicted to Bontago [bontago.com] recently. It is an interesting puzzle type game...reminds me a little of tetris and chinese checkers perhaps. It's free, and the fact that I got my wife to actually play it was quite interesting since she normally doesn't like 'video games'.

Other than that, I've played a ton of Kingdom of Loathing [kingdomofloathing.com], but I don't know how much you like silly puns and MUD style gameplay, so I'll leave that up to you to decide. I'm somewhat bored with it now that I've done everything in it that is currently available, but up until that point, it was a lot of fun. Fortunately as well, it can't possibly suck up as much time as a real game because you have a limited number of turns per day (although there are plenty of ways to increase the default amount...nothing like virtual eating and drinking!) This one's free as well (donations are nice for a useful item, but I didn't bother to get it and I turned out all right)

Lessee, that's about all I've been playing recently. I really enjoyed Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark, but if you don't like D&D or RPGs and sometimes a crappy interface, then it may not be for you. I thought the story was pretty decent.

Right now, for console (don't know if it is on PS2), everyone I know is raving about the Chronicles of Riddick. I hear it is just wonderfully done and it puts the movie to shame in comparison (although that's not particularly hard)

If I think of anything else, I'll post.

In Response to Grimicus (#17763):

Other than that, I've played a ton of Kingdom of Loathing [kingdomofloathing.com], but I don't know how much you like silly puns and MUD style gameplay, so I'll leave that up to you to decide.

You must not be a premium member. I recently Asked the Animals about a chef-in-a-box.

Bontago looks a little interesting. I'll see if it catches my fancy.

In Response to zamphir (#17764):

Ah, I guess I should look at ATA more often.

If you are just looking for a waste of time, I use Legend of the Green Dragon [happyapplefarm.net] at work to dull the pain of...well, work. It's a text-based "MMORPG". there really isnt anything MMO about it, except that there are a few message boards and that you can chose to go pvp with someone (who isn't logged on at the time). It isn't really good, but it's a decent waste of time. and free

In Response to DantePendragon (#17768):

Green dragon?

I was addicted to Legend of the Red Dragon in high school, back when I dialed into BBSes to play games. Badly, badly addicted.

I read about a paragraph of the "about logd" page, and decided I should never look at the link again lest I revert to my old ways. Good to know it's still around, though. :)

Because the only thing I ever play is my Super Nintendo, I suggest getting either a SNES or an emulator and playing Zelda: A link to the past. Assuming you didn't beat it twenty times ten years ago.

Tetris Attack is the only game I like better, but that's purely a puzzle game, though it's nothing like tetris.

Sorry, I know nothing about current gaming... I'm stuck in the mid-nineties.

In Response to porcupine8 (#17789):

I'm stuck in the mid-nineties.

You notice that I didn't mention any sequals after Myst... ?

In Response to zamphir (#17764):

Okay, Bontago is a bust.

I can't really play it by myself.

And it keeps crashing.

In Response to zamphir (#17795):

that's odd, it never crashed on me unless I quit out of it. I played a bunch of games against a computer player and did the tutorial to learn what to do. It was a bit frustrating until I understood all the controls, like mouse wheel for vertical movement. Without that, it would be impossible. I guess I should try to play other people online to see if it crashes more often then..

In Response to Grimicus (#17796):

Well, I'm running XP Pro, with a bunch of strange stuff installed.

So that may be why it is crashing.

I certainly wasn't playing against online players.

But I could not find out how to play against the computer? All I could find was the tutorial?

On the very few occasions I decide to play computer games, I usually see what Ambrosia [ambrosiasw.com] has to offer ...

I would expect, being a dedicated Mac user, you would know about them, but in case you don't: they run the gamut from addictive arcade-style, to side-scrollers, to larger, strategy-based games like Escape Velocity and Uplink. The one thing they don't do particularly well (yet) is role-playing games (they make them, they're just not that great).

In Response to zamphir (#17797):

Practice let's you choose 1 or more computer players. I think it's called practice because it is practice for playing online, but I think it probably should be called single player.

Sandbox I think is just for practicing your moves. Like trying to throw the god damn special items. Drag and throw would have been better than move and click in your color...sheesh. Oh well, I still have fun, and it's free.

In Response to tynic (#17799):

Ambrosia rocks.

I've been a fan of their stuff since Maelstrom first came out.

But, the only new thing they've put out is Aki, and I'm not a big Mah Jhong kind of person.

I've been a Civ III addict for a while now. I just got the Conquests expansion pack which throws in a whole bunch of extra variables, plus 9 scenarios. If you're looking for something to play on your own, try that. I've wasted six hours or more at a time playing it.

zamphir...what's happened to you? You look almost, almost...human.

Weird.

In Response to Deathalicious (#17805):

You look almost, almost...human.

See. Now you've gone and twisted my arm.

I'm NOT almost human... I'm just drawn that way!

In Response to zamphir (#17803):

Aki [...] Mah Jhong

Just for the record, all of those tile-matching games out there which call themselves "Mah Jong" are not actually the true game-- they are really just variations of 'concentration'-esque puzzles. The only thing they have in common with true Mah Jongg is they happen to utilize the same set of tiles.

I've been looking in vain for years for a version of real MahJong to play on my Mac. I enjoy playing on YahooGames, but that requires interacting with other people. Most of the time, that's fine... but often i just don't want to put the effort into socializing, and would prefer to play with robot opponents.

All of my searching has been fruitless [Ha! Ha!] but if any of you ever come across a version of real MahJong which can be played on Mac OS X, SuperNintendo, or GameBoy Advance, i'd be thrilled to acquire such a creature.

I especially enjoy playing with my set of real tiles at home... but my roommate can only be cajoled to participate just so often. I'd be quite eager to part from my usual miserly habits and willingly spend a pretty penny on software which provides robot opponents with customizable skill levels, and table settings with optional rule variations, (e.g., 3Fan, 5Fan, et cetera).

Sixteen years ago, when i was in college, i had such a game on my i8086 AT&T PC6300, running on 256KB RAM and an 8-bit CGA monitor. It doesn't seem like it would be a very complicated game to program. However, no matter where i look nowadays, i find nothing comparable.

As an aside, what's the best hand any of you have ever built during a real game of MahJongg? I recently won this hand with 10Faans:



Yahoo uses screwy codes and abbreviations for their scoring. The way i would have calculated the score at the House of Pi [comcast.net] would be as follows:
+20 going out
+8 hidden pong honours (Fa green dragon)
+32 hidden kong terminals (9Wan heaven)
+16 hidden kong simples (4Wan lute)
+0 worthless pair (5Wan house)
+16 exposed kong honours (West)
+2 flower (south Orchid)
+2 season (east Spring)
x2 pong of dragons (Fa)
x2 kong of prevailing wind (West)
x2 all pongs & kongs
x2 all one suit of Wan with honours semi-pure
x2 season of own wind (East)
x2 winning with the Last Tile in the wall (Fa)
6144 = Total tile points
...which would be rounded to the table's maximum limit (we usually play 1000max) then East chair would receive double payment (2000) from all opponents, for a total score adjustment of +6000. Then after savoring this beautiful spread momentarily, East would retain deal and everyone would remain in the same chair for another hand.

Not being in the slightest MMO, many of Spiderweb Software's [spiderwebsoftware.com] games may be worth looking at.

The graphics aren't exactly brilliant, but they are turn-based (good if you have a habit of getting distracted mid-fight, as I often do) and very large. In addition, there's the occasional puzzle and the general sense of well-being that comes from successfully completing the many, many quests (which are conveniently listed in case you forget what you went to the goblin village to do).

In Response to Teledildonix (#17807):

See, I would have gone with something more like...

"Aki? Bah!

That's not Mah Jhong!".

In Response to zamphir (#17810):

Your way is elegant. Mine, however, is the way of a hijacker. Naturally, i must elaborate about my interests, experiences, fantasies, and desires.

You could try Yetisports [yetisports.org]. As a Yeti, you get to abuse penguins by various means in search of high scores. Stupid goofy fun.

In Response to porcupine8 (#17788):

For those that miss Legend of the Red Dragon, we've got one running over at lord.nuklear.org [nuklear.org]. It's swell.

Red Realm needs players badly!

Okay.

I still need a new game.

Has nobody played URU?

No offense, Grimmy, but Bontago is a one-trick pony, strategy wise. It just doesn't hold my attention.

Again, I'm looking for something that I can play, and then stop playing. While URU is sort of an RPG, I'm not really looking for an RPG, much less an ORPG or a MMPORPG - and this really does include KoL and Green Dragon and etc.

And I'm not running Mac, anymore. So, PC or things-that-run-under-Cygwin only.

In Response to zamphir (#17928):

Tycho ala penny arcade liked URU. That's all I've ever heard about it. If you look back in their news you can see where they talked about it...maybe 2 or 3 months ago.

Unfortunately you don't want to play an RPG or I'd recommend KOTOR [bioware.com].

Have you considered Free Cell? I hear that it comes installed on Windows.

Adventure games (like URU but not RPGs): Syberia, Grim Fandango, Longest Journey
Strategy games: Ground Control, Starcraft, Warcraft 3, XCOM:UFO defense
Action games: Metal Gear Solid 1&2
2d Platformers: Earthworm Jim, Metroid Fusion