What should I buy

[SnowFire]

You can get a pack that includes both Fallout & Fallout 2 for just 10 bucks (one of my roommates did). From what they said and a bit of fooling around myself, Fallout I is superior to Fallout 2, mainly because A) you are beggared beyond beggardom in Fallout 2 unless you ruthlessly steal everything off of everybody you meet, and B) It's too easy to die in Fallout 2- you get attacked by hordes of enemies who get a lot of criticals, and criticals are how you kill people in Fallout. Good old "bypass defense and put one right between the eyes." This may be realistic, but it's not fun to have to play a battle 7 times even with good health and great armor.

In the unlikely event that you can find Daggerfall (Elder Scrolls II) in the discount bin GET IT

Eh, probably better ways to spend your cash. But if you do get Daggerfall, by all means patch immediately before wasting any time at all.

[Tuberski]

Eh, probably better ways to spend your cash. But if you do get Daggerfall, by all means patch immediately before wasting any time at all.

I agree. It still has problems, but it IS better with the patches.

[Marid Audran]

Ah, Chowlett, the other lone contributor to the SMAC/X FAQ besides myself. Heed well my words and go and buy Thief: Gold right now!

For the role-player in you, of course, one can't go wrong with any of the Bioware/Black Isle specialties (Baldur's Gate I/II, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Fallout I/II, and ostensibly the upcoming Neverwinter Nights). However, my vote definitely has to go towards Thief. It's just such a revolutionary game and engrossing environment, taking the first-person-shooter genre and actually giving it a non-violent bias and unprecedented depth. Very sensory, sound-orientated experience. You play a thief, obviously, living by his wits, stealth, ability to hide in shadows and pilfer whatever he can find. Realistic physics and attention to detail is given in-game and with the plot. After SMAC I think Thief I/II are some of the best games ever made. And this is from someone who hates FPS as a general rule. By getting Thief: Gold instead of the original The Dark Project, you'll alo get all the extra enchancements and 3 Gold-only levels to boot!

It's also a pretty bargain at this point; you can save up for those board games you mentioned. Don't scorn it because it's not as new-fangled a game as some; superior games are timeless.

[tishco]

I chose HL 'cos its great, but runs out of steam a bit at the end

if there was a second choice: morowind, although for me i wouldnt play enough of it to be worth £30

GTA3 and mediaval total war are the games i am saving up for

[Chowlett]

I played a level and a half of a friends Thief a while ago - I had to give it back before I became proficient enough to actually get into the house with the scepter from in the cellar (as in, the house had the scepter, I didn't).

So the consensus atm seems to be that, if I buy an RPG, I should buy an older, budget one. That seems sensible - make sure I like the genre before I blow the big bucks...

[Sarxis]

Get Thief gold for sure, plus another.

[Sava]

Don't buy any of them, go on mIRC chat, and download them all.

[Chowlett]

I have never downloaded a commercial, still-published game, and I'm not about to start. Not in a public chat-room, anyway - who knows whaty I might get sent...

OTOH, I do know people with Thief (not Gold), and BG2 (and JK2, for that matter) who might be willing to, erm, lend me their CDs... Just for trial purposes, of course.

[Urban Ranger]

Haven't played it yet, but read that Morrowind is excellent.

Capitalism 2 is a good business strategic game, if you are into that genre. The price should have come down some.

[Footie Mad]

Get the first Baldurs Gate game for cheap if you dont have it, after that get BG:2 with the throne of bhaal expansion at a low price. Now you're set for hundreds of hours of addictive gaming )

[FrustratedPoet]

Chowlett: If you want Fallout 1 + 2 then just PM me your address and I'll post you my copy of them. I bought them for about 10 or 15 pounds and didn't like them, so you can have them for nothing. It's a budget bundle thingy with both games in the same box. It has nasty pdf manuals, though.
I think I still have them ... although I might have thrown the CDs out ... I can't get my hands on it until Tuesday anyway ... so we'll see, but if you're interested then just PM me. Since you're in Cambridge (that's correct, yeah?) the postage will be almost nothing for me so you can consider it an end-of-exams present if you like.
You could have my copy of Baldur's Gate 1 + expansion too if you like ... I'm never gonna use it.

I would also recommend that you buy Final Fantasy 7 for the PC ... it is bound to be in a bargain-bin by now ... if you can find any copies of it at all.
It's the best console RPG I've ever played ... except perhaps Final Fantasy 10 on the PS2, but I haven't finished that one yet so can't give a proper evaluation.

[Chowlett]

You serious? All 3 free of charge? I think I might take you up on that...

But I'll happily reimburse at least the postage if you like.

[FrustratedPoet]

Of course I'm serious.

If I'm gonna send you all of those games then I suppose the postage might cost a few quid since Baldur's Gate comes on about a million CD's (I'm not sure why it needs to) and it will need to be a reasonably-sized parcel. We'll see how much it costs me and make suitable arrangements.

Anyway, please feel free to PM your snail-mail addy to me and we can work stuff out. Like I said, I can't get them until I go home from Uni on Tuesday, and I'm not 100% sure I still have them (about 80% ), but I seriously doubt I'll ever want to play them so they'd only gather dust on my shelf if you don't take them off my hands.

[Chowlett]

Hmm, well, complications. The two shope I thought had Civilisation in them have both sold out (although Settlers of Catan was purchased about half an hour ago), which means I might consider Morrowind. Odd thing is that it's definitely out (HMV has a copy), but EB and Game don't - which is unfortunate, since I have an EB loyalty card, and a £2.50 voucher. And a 10% discount from being a student. I think some more option-considering, and then an inquiry of the staff as to whether or not they have it. And if not, why not?

Incidentally, the man who sold me Catan, who is quite knowledgable about these things, had apparently heard rumours of Sid Meier making a board game conversion of his Civilisation. Interesting...

[Pythagoras]

Id go with Torment, very much worth the price.