To clarify, if I was introducing someone to the Diablo series for the first time and told them they’d have to start on the first one. I wouldn’t want them playing the bare vanilla version. There is a Bezelbub mod out there that gives the game lots of QoL improvements, you’d be thinking you’re playing a build of Diablo 2 before its final version.
So, if I had to tell anyone what the best way to play that game would be, it is the Bezelbub mod. That was how I’ve beaten the first game anyways.
I prefer devilutionX for D1. If we’re talking about essential patches like this, killapps restoration patch for fallout 2 is also a thing to experience.
Quite niche, but sim racing, I will pick Assetto Corsa Rally as an example.
The definitive way to play is with a proper rig. 9nm+ Direct Drive wheel base, round wheel, a sequential shifter, handbrake and decent load cell pedals. Put it up on a nice ultrawide or triple screen and have an amazing time sliding through the forest. You can also do VR, for complete immersion as well.
Buuut that’s also the expensive way, you can also have a load of fun with a controller or cheaper wheel on a desk.
Mgs on a ps. With a memory card with konami saves on it. Iykyk
Also with a rumble enabled controller, but you need to wipe your memory of that feature so the magic becomes real.
Duke3D - would recommend eduke32 port. The High-Resolution Pack is quite nice, butperhaps some prefer the retro feel of sprites.
Factorio. It doesn’t matter how you are playing it, you are doing something wrong and that invalidates your whole base.
I finally properly started space age 2 days ago and feel like I know nothing again and have been cooking up spaghetti since
With headphones.
The first Kingdom Come: Deliverance was a great game and I think it should be played first, but I understand it’s old clunky and unoptimized. These days it should be played with certain QoL mods like unlimited saving, instant herb picking (no animation), richer merchants, and trough washing deluxe/clean Henry (honestly I don’t want to spend all my time going to the baths or looking shite). There are others, probably about 7-8 total, that I recommend but you get the idea.
Or you could embrace the vision, play on Hardcore with no map marker or compass, accept that travelling through war-torn lands is dangerous, feel the rush of galloping through the woods knowing a Cuman ambush could set you back 30 minutes, accepting that quests can fail, accepting that people will react to you stinking like blood and horse.
In the time since Quake released, common rendering systems and resolution options on monitors have changed. ID’s solution to put it back on Steam was some gargantuan monolith wrapper that might’ve used Unity or something, and ties to an online ID, so that it could release on consoles. The open source community’s solution was to take the original, open-source engine release, and port it upwards. Playing through the recent Quake Brutalist Jam 3, a map pack using a set of reinvented weapons and altered enemies, they recommend you use the “ironwail” source port, which even has a native Linux build.
I’m playing QBJ3 via Linux version of Ironwail right now, can confirm it works flawlessly. I think it’s something like 70 hours long? According to Vinesauce anyways. I’ve barely begun lol.
For League of Legends the definitive way to play is to not start. I swear I do not know of any other game that has such addictive properties while being so absolutely fucking awful. You don’t stop playing this game, You take extended breaks.
Friends don’t let friends play LeagueI found it incredibly easy to walk away from. Whatever it is that is supposed to be addicting about it it just didn’t fire on me at all.
I was the same way. Got about 20 hours in and just couldn’t get into it. I played with friends, bot matches, ranked, a variety of characters, and just never got the appeal. I really don’t have a competitive spirit, so maybe that’s the draw I’m not getting.
The chosen one!
Keep your talent hidden lest everyone side-eye you like this
Hahaha I’m also the kind of person who has never bought a single cosmetic in a video game. I think I just don’t have an addictive personality generally.
OK well that just makes sense. Cosmetics are so dumb. $25 to look different? Do you know how many games I can buy with that?
There are a host of open source remakes of old game engines that fix bugs and update them for modern systems as well as add support for higher resolutions and widescreen aspect ratios. Here’s a few off the top of my head:
- OpenMW for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This is probably the most famous one.
- Daggerfall Unity for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.
- OpenRA for Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn, Dune 2000, and (in pre-alpha form) Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 (the latter requiring extra fiddling with Github repositories).
- KeeperFX for Dungeon Keeper.
- OpenRCT2 for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2.
- OpenTTD for Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
- OpenJKDF2 for Dark Forces 2 and its standalone Mysteries of the Sith expansion.
- Arx Libertatis for Arx Fatalis, though IIRC the version sold now integrates an older build of it; one without the fixes for glyph drawing - it’s worth upgrading for that alone as spellcasting is a nightmare without the fix.
- TRX for Tomb Raider I and II.
- Tfix, T2Fix, and the Sneaky Upgrade for Thief 1/2/3 respectively. These are mods, not wholesale engine replacements, but serve the same purpose.
These are just the ones I know of. There are probably loads more.
Edit: the Ur-Quan Masters for Star Control II. I can’t believe I forgot about this! Star Control II is one of the best and most influential games that most people have never heard about.
Really nice list. One can spend many hours on these games.
Speaking of Dark Forces 2 and Not about the Force Engine for the first Game? :0 you barbaric! Joking.
Yeah. Force engine fornthe First Game is top notch.
My bad! Every time I think about replaying Dark Forces I remember the sewer level with the dianogas and change my mind.
Oh god. I forgot…
XWVM to play X-Wing and TIE Fighter.
OpenXcom for the first two X-Com games (UFO: Enemy Unknown and X-Com: Terror From The Deep). This reimplementation is insanely good.
- It fixes all known bugs of the original X-Com engine.
- It works on modern systems, including Linux, macOS, Windows, and even Android.
- It has support for modern resolutions and aspect ratios.
- It allows you to use soundtracks from other versions of the game (e.g. look at the website’s “Extras” tab).
- It has mod support including a basic mod manager. And some of those mods are damn good.
- It runs flawlessly.
There’s really no reason to play the original DOS versions anymore.
Sounds good, but is it really still X-Com without the bugs?
I could argue that experiencing the Groundhog Day bug builds character but… no. Nobody should have to deal with that.
Admittedly, a few tactics like filling your base with laser rifles to make attacking aliens spawn unarmed no longer work. But honestly, an experienced player treats base attacks like bonus levels anyway so it’s not like much of value was lost. Besides, you also now get all the loot from big missions and not just the first 128 items.
Also, UFO now actually remembers your difficulty setting and doesn’t revert you to Beginner after the first mission. That’s different but better. I probably should’ve mentioned that separately in my first comment.
OpenJazz is okay, but even after all these years still doesn’t quite feel right
OpenRCT2 is 100% the definitive way to play Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2.
But I would never recommend a new player try OpenRA. The game has stellar multiplayer support but they just can’t figure out the campaign scripting at all. Go with the remaster collection instead.
Still? I haven’t played OpenRA in several years and assumed they would have fixed it by now.
Then again Red Alert 2 is even less supported than it was the last time I checked, so I’m guessing their focus is mostly on the multiplayer side of things.
Aaaaand saved. Thanks!
if you’re playing FFXIV, especially on Linux, don’t bother with the official launcher/updater. Use XIVLauncher, hell even use that if you’re playing on Windows. Updates a hell of a lot faster plus you also get the dalamud stuff which adds a few quality of life plugin improvements.
The definitive way to play Skyrim is to take a shot every time someone says “dragon”.
Recommending that might be tantamount to manslaughter. Better check with a lawyer first.
Quick question: Did you get the password and username fields mixed up when you made your Sopuli account?
That’s crazy talk! What kind of lunatic would make a password without at least 3 symbols?!
OK, what about “eat the same things your character eats”?
I would, but someone stole my sweetroll.
Stop complaining and finish your cheese wheels.
Only seventy pounds of cheese to go! That last fight was rough.
For Chrono Trigger, definitely don’t play the original SNES localization. No disrespect to Ted Woolsey, he was one man working on an unreasonably tight deadline and hard technical limitations, but the retranslation is much better.
Pokemon Red at 10fps on a gateway laptop circa 2004
Should I put the RAM back in?
Viva New Vegas for Fallout: New Vegas and the Unofficial Patch for VtM: Bloodlines are my go-to examples. Not a mod but Ninja Gaiden Black is the definitive version and much better than both Ninja Gaiden (2004) and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.
