75 RPGs for Attractive People

[Laddy]

A series coming up soon. 3 RPG's a week. Alphabetical order.


1. Anachronox
2001, PC, Ion Storm



A JRPG by a Western developer. Sounds strange? This is a strange game. Released with little fanfare, primarily due to Ion Storm's financial woes (Daikatana, anyone?), Anachronox was released to critical acclaim despite its quirkiness and reputation as being gimmicky. While the combat is not especially engaging, being a serviceable ATB-inspired turn-based system, Anachronox's incredible script, gripping story, excellent sense of humor, and loads of style and personality is what really sells this game as being sci-fi gold.

Easily the best aspect of this game is the sense of humor and wit, from the characters (a shrunken planet that decides literally every aspect of its policy by having the entire country participate in its newly-discovered democratic process) to the absurd plot points. Despite this, Anachronox's story and writing can carry a surprising bit of emotional power as well, with a later game sequence being especially heart-wrenching. I'd rather not go into too much detail as this game is best experienced blind (as I did), but you can pick it up at Good Old Games (gog.com) for $5.99. Do it; this game is excellent.

Pros

• Excellent adventure elements, rewarding exploration, investigation, and attention to detail.
• Very good quality writing and narrative, with very good sci-fi ideas and a sleek and original setting.
• Unparalleled sense of humor for the genre.
• Visually interesting, good soundtrack and voice-acting.

Potential Drawbacks

• Combat can be slow and limited in depth.
• Some skills and spells are hard to acquire as they depend on completing often complex tasks and quests.
• A bit buggy.
• Aforementioned adventure elements can be frustrating and obtuse for those looking for a more straightforward narrative.

[Fynn]

Sounds interesting! I don't think I qualify as attractive, though, so I probably can't play it...

[Mirage]

ur prety hot bro

[Cosmiccandy]

I'd like to take this moment to recommend any game made by Ion Storm ever. Thief Deadly Shadows is probably the best stealth title ive played alongside the likes of Splinter Cell:Chaos Theory. Deus Ex has recieved boatloads of praise already, so I wont harp on about it but im one of the few to actually enjoy its sequel. Its a crying shame that a lot of their games just bit the dust commercially.

Edit: Almost forgot about Daikatana. Its bad because it went through game development hell. Dont touch.

[Pike]

im one of the few to actually enjoy its sequel.

Invisible War you mean?

I've been wanting to play it forever but I can't get the damn thing to work on my computer. It always crashes after character creation. Too bad because I LOVED both the original Deus Ex and Human Revolution. Good gravy what a fantastic series that is.

Anyways yeah Laddy an Ion Storm game I haven't played? Gonna look it up for sure!

[Cosmiccandy]

im one of the few to actually enjoy its sequel.

Invisible War you mean?

I've been wanting to play it forever but I can't get the damn thing to work on my computer. It always crashes after character creation. Too bad because I LOVED both the original Deus Ex and Human Revolution. Good gravy what a fantastic series that is.

Anyways yeah Laddy an Ion Storm game I haven't played? Gonna look it up for sure!

Yeah, there are legitimate grievances levied at the game, but I really didn't understand why so many fans of the first screamed "BETRAYAL". It was a gluttonous resource hog of a game at the time of release and so levels basically consist of many mini-levels seperated by lengthy loading times, and ill admit the concept of universal ammo was kind of dumb, but the Deus Ex formula remains largely unchanged if you can look past these issues.

Unfortunately I can't help you get it to run on your PC because it just worked for me without having to do any troubleshooting or anything. I did have to get my PC upgraded just to play the damm thing back in the day because the system requirements were pretty steep for its time.

[Pike]

Well my fiance tells me it's worth a play-through and I trust his judgment because he and I have basically the same taste in games, so certainly no judging going on here! I'd love to play it. I really don't get why my computer won't run it because I just built a new one last year.

[Dignified Pauper]

I'm pretty attractive, but not attracted to this game. Next plz.

[Christmas]

Is anyone going to continue the rest of the 74?

[Quindiana Jones]

3 RPG's a week. Alphabetical order.