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The gothic screenshots you posted are broken images

elwoodblues

Halflife was probably the best computer game I've ever played. And I played a lot. SimCity 2000, AoE2, Quake 2, C&C: Red Alert, Unreal Tournament, Starcraft, HOMM3, Dungeon Keeper, Warcraft 2, Thief, System Shock 2, Fallout, Total Annihilation, they were all great. But Half Life stood head and shoulder above the crowd.

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What is C&C

also I'm only interested in single player. I don't care for multiplayer/online games.

wordsmyth

Deus Ex was a really good game. Anxiously awaiting Deus Ex 2.

Never played the first System Shock, but System Shock 2 was an excellent game and I really hope they continue the series.

Never played the first Half-life, but after seeing many trailers of Half-life 2, I will definitely be picking it up when it launches.

Never played the first Thief game, but Thief 2 is definitely one of my top 10 favorite games of all time and among my top 5 FPS of all time.

I'm also excited about Doom 3, even though I really don't expect it to be anything more than an interactive tech demo to showcase the game engine.

of all the upcoming FPS that I have seen, I am most anxious for Halo 2, but that game is probably the furthest one from release.

Has anyone seen screenshots or trailers for the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

If not, you should check it out... http://www.stalker-game.com

NonHomogenized

Let's see... other good games...

Call of Cthulhu, based on the Source (Half Life 2) engine will be coming out early next year. It looks pretty kickass.

Oni was a decent, and interesting game.

Red Faction (and Red Faction II) were both good FPS's, with some interesting plot twists. Oh, and it had some of the coolest weapons ever (If every game had the precision rifle, I'd be a happy gamer indeed.)

Alien Vs. Predator 2 was an incredible (and, in the opinions of some of my friends, spooky as hell) game. Not nearly long enough, but the three campaigns make up for it.

Except for graphics, Project Eden might meet your requirements (though I was less than enthralled with it, myself, it has many of the elements you wanted)

Also, I'm hearing many good things about Star Trek Elite Force II. It's not particularly philosophical, AFAIK, and I don't think it's all THAT open an environment, but it meets most of your other criteria.

Oh! I know! Duke Nukem Forever!
Bwa ha ha ha ha! Oh, ho ho ha ha ha! He he he.
That was a good one! (For those who don't know, DNF has been in development for close to eight years, has gone through at least 3 engines, and may still be cancelled)

That's about all I can think of, offhand. I'll see if I can come up with anything else (and I'll check out what other people mention, as a game of that sort sounds good to me, too )

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Wow! I certainly appreciate all the great advice!

I think I am going shopping now. BTW, half.com always has great prices

I bought System Shock 2 for $10 from them

Max

Calzaer

First ending I went for was the "New Dark Age" ending. But then again, I'm a pagan.

butswana

Deus Ex would pull a hard lock-up in the ventilation shaft after scuttling the ship. Even the devs couldn't figure it out. Good game though. Sucks that I couldn't finish it.

A Pumpkin Drifter

I chose the ending where the computer starts to run the world. Scary but cool.

Farren

Deus Ex was the finest computer game I've ever played, period.

Game mechanics:

I've been playing Morrowind recently and one thing I think SUCKS is combat. When you're unskilled, you can aim at something perfectly, plant 20 arrows in its forehead and not do any damage because you "missed" (on a random roll)

Contrast this to Deus Ex, where your skill with a weapon determined your reload time and the amount of wobble/recoil when you aim fire, which is exactly what your skill with a weapon would affect in real life. In Deus Ex, when you hit, you hit.

Sadly many, many games, especially RPG's which are still often written by guys who think emulating paper based RPGs is more fun than emulating reality, are crap, crap, crap in this regard.

Deus Ex showed the way, I'm surprised more RPG style games haven't followed.

Level design:

In Deus Ex there are a dozen different ways to complete every mission, each utilizing a different set of skills. Unless you specialise in being a gungho killing machine, many of these routes to success allow considerable deviousness and result in deepo satisfaction.

Warren Specter was apparently upset that you had to kill at least three people to finish DX1 and has stated that they will be thoroughly testing the game to ensure that there will be several ways to complete DX2 without killing a single person.

Open endedness:

Theres a scene in Deus Ex when FEMA comes for your brother. I tried to save him half a dozen times and eventually gave up, believing his demise to be an inevitable, scripted event and taking the escape route he suggested.

Every other person I know who played this game assumed the same thing. A year later, I came across a post on the Net claiming that not only could you rescue him, but he then figured significantly later in the game.

Deus Ex is the first game where a game company folded so many diversions and possibilities into the plot flow that the certainty I have as a developer that I have hit a "boundary" of a game (the edge of the matrix ) rarely crops up, which makes it vastly more immersive than most games.

and of course, the AWSOME plot:

I've played games like Anachronox and FFVII with and enjoyable and involved plot, but there's inevitably this cutesy japanese thing or such a surplus of overused cliches that I'd rather tear my head off my neck than actually read or listen to all the shite dialogs as quickly as possible. Click click click click click.

In this respect Deus Ex SHINES. The only other games that came close for me were Blade Runner and Grim Fandango, with Anachronox in distant fourth place.

Deus Ex honestly has an awsome plot and dialog. There are longwinded conversations that go on and on with barmen about the political and cultural ramifications of the Triads in Hong Kong and how rather than being simply criminals, they constitute a shadow government that keeps the legal authorities honest etc etc - and this is not even stuff that affects the game - just immense depth in the bit-part characters.

The plot itself would make an AWSOME serious science fiction novel. I'm not sure whats come of it but I read about six months ago that some hollywood heavyweights are making a movie based on DX. Frankly, I'm astonished it didn't happen a long time ago.

DXII. I CAN'T WAIT.

p.s. Interesting bit of trivia that may or may not be true. A friend of mine told me that Warren Spector (DX), Gary Gygax (D&D) and Peter Molyneaux (Bullfrog, Lionhead Studios) all play paper RPGs together, or used to.

[edited to add II revenue link]