Most immersive games you have played?

[Jari]

WARNING: LINKS TO WIKIPEDIA CONTAIN SPOILERS

I don't know about you, but for me one of the most important attributes of a game is how immersive it is. How well it can suspend my disbelief, make me feel as I am the protagonist, not just controlling him. Thus it's probably not a surprise that immersive games are high on my "BEST GAMES EVAR!!!1111"-list.


One such game is Deus Ex, IMHO still one of the best games ever made. I'm not entirely sure why I find it so immersive, but I suppose it's combination of several things;

• It's very open-ended (as much as a game with such an extensive story can be) allowing you to choose your own approach.
• I like the story (even though towards the end it tries to squeeze in every X-Files cliche known to man and can put your suspension of disbelief to a test).
• Attention to detail (such as the news on the news terminals).
• How your moral choices affect people's attitudes towards you (killing people vs non-lethal takedowns).
• Decent enough voice acting (except for the meat head aka main character... but you'll learn to live with it).
• And last but not least; real world parallels. Many of these were unintentional - unless Ion Storm bought a time machine with all that money poured into Daikatana, since they materialized after the game's release. Regardless, they exist, and certainly add much to the experience. Without giving too much of the plot away, Deus Ex' story might be one of the few things in this world that actually benefited from 9/11. Very deja vu.

Anyway, I love Deus Ex to bits. It's that good. Much better than the consolized sequel Invisible War, which is a decent game too. I still recommend it to everyone who thinks they can stand the Voodoo3-era graphics. Which - IMHO - most of the time are just fine. The characters models suffer from low poly count and low res textures, though.




Second game of this nature is Fahrenheit aka Indigo Prophecy.

Very different beast from Deus Ex. This is not open-ended at all, but you'll get possibly the best script and dialog ever to exist in a game as a trade up. Unlike DX this is not a FPS/RPG-hybrid but rather an adventure game, or interactive fiction, if you want to call it that. Things that enhance the immersion for me:

• Story. Except the ending which is straight from Twilight Zone (it's not as bad as some people say, though), the story might be the best in a videogame. Ever.
• Dialog. Thank you baby Jesus! The characters actually say things people might say in real life.
• Characters. Thanks to the sane dialog, and motion capture, the characters feel very real.
• Motion capture. This game uses motion capture a lot. So much actually that even the action sequences are canned, and you'll just smash buttons in Dragon's Lair-fashion. And surprisingly, it works. They look great, very cinematic, and the button smash fest actually raises your adrenaline level quite a bit. But most importantly, the motion capture makes almost everything look so cool.
• Time limited dialog system. You'll have a limited time to pick your response, depending on pressing the situation is, this time might be very limited.
• Hot coffee minigame. Kidding. It's nice that they haven't shied away from adult themes, though. Even though some people claim that the protagonist actually scores too often in this game.

So...

Does immersiveness matter to you?

If it does, what games you have found to be the most immersive, and why?

 

[James Pond]

Dues ex I will agree with on pretty much everything you said.


Farenheit however.

The game was good up until the end. That SERIOUSLY ruined the game for me. :/

 

[Jari]

I take it that you agree with the GameFAQs writer who recommended quitting the game before the plot twists at the end? :-D

Awwww, they are not that bad, IMHO. Not enough to ruin the rest of the game for me.

 

[James Pond]

Its just the game seem to take the most retarded twist humanely possible.

the game before the end is awesome.  I loved the part in the prison when the power goes out myself, was awesome fun.

 

[Otokoshi]

Does immersiveness matter to you?

Absolutely, I've played just about every game genre out there.  For any game to keep my interest it needs a compelling story or great game mechanics.  Notice that I stress great not new game mechanics.  I've been enjoying a lot of the recent Sid Meier releases lately.  I got his updated Pirates (2004) game last year.  It has simple gameplay but is so addictive.  You can pillage the seas for booty to your heart's content!  :-D  When Railroads was released, I rushed out to get it.  Again, it's a simple sim but it is so much fun.  I really want to try out the multiplayer to it.  I just got to convince a friend of mine to go get a copy.

I guess in other words, great gameplay immerses me into a game.  Sorry, I'll get back on topic. 

How your moral choices affect people's attitudes towards you

This is one game component that locks me in.  I loved Deus Ex for this reason, and for the upgrade system. (How cool was that?!  :-D)  One of the first games I played that had this was Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.  Your decisions throughout every mission pulled you closer to either side of the force, until your climatic descision.

Recently, Vampire: Bloodlines incorportated this game mechanic.  I believe it was the best feature for the game, for a game with many flaws.  You could replay the game numerous times as different types of vampires.  One type could seduce any lady, or you could have them running in fear.  The interactions could either be realistic or hilarious, but it definitely immersed me into the game.

Being a self-proclaimed World War II nerd, the Call of Duty series always gets me hooked in.  Both games give very smooth scripted sequences that give you the "Oh #%@!  I gotta get moving!" urgency.  Though anyone who has played Call of Duty 2, by the end you are tired of hearing the soldiers slang for Germans.  :-D

I haven't tried Indigo Prophecy yet, but I've heard it's really good.  I don't recall it having much of a shelf life here, but I might snag a copy from Amazon or GoGamer or something.

 

[Jari]

Its just the game seem to take the most retarded twist humanely possible.

LOL, I guess that's one way to describe it.

the game before the end is awesome.  I loved the part in the prison when the power goes out myself, was awesome fun.

Oh yes! I was so expecting to see Dr Lecter there. I think that the inspiration for that particular scene is pretty obvious.

Does immersiveness matter to you?

Absolutely, I've played just about every game genre out there.  For any game to keep my interest it needs a compelling story or great game mechanics.  Notice that I stress great not new game mechanics.  I've been enjoying a lot of the recent Sid Meier releases lately.  I got his updated Pirates (2004) game last year.  It has simple gameplay but is so addictive.  You can pillage the seas for booty to your heart's content!  :-D  When Railroads was released, I rushed out to get it.  Again, it's a simple sim but it is so much fun.  I really want to try out the multiplayer to it.  I just got to convince a friend of mine to go get a copy.

Oooh! I *heart* Sid Meier. First I played Pirates on Amiga, then Pirates Gold on PC and then the new Sid Meier's Pirates you mentioned. And they are all great! I remember when I was spending the night at my friend's place (I had sold my Amiga to him) and he just had got Pirates... I think that it was somewhere around 3 AM - after I'd been playing for three or four hours - when he says to me: "You really like that game, don't you?" and I reply "Did you say something? Oh! The game! Yeah, it's great."

Of course, my rather extensive Pirates-experience does diminish the replay of the latest Pirates a little bit; while it truly is an excellent game, it's also basically the same game as the previous versions, so I haven't played the last one that much.

Big fan of his railroad games as well. I've played the first Railroad Tycoon and Deluxe quite a bit, in fact it's been only few weeks since I last played the first one. I do recall a story similar to my Pirates-experience - I was playing the first one and I remember checking the time; it was about 11 PM. Next time I checked what time it was... the clock was showing 5AM. I was wondering why it had suddenly become so bright outside. :-D

I guess it just goes to show how addictive they can be.

And I'm totally going to try Railroads as well, of course.

How your moral choices affect people's attitudes towards you

This is one game component that locks me in.  I loved Deus Ex for this reason, and for the upgrade system. (How cool was that?!  :-D)  One of the first games I played that had this was Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.  Your decisions throughout every mission pulled you closer to either side of the force, until your climatic descision.

Recently, Vampire: Bloodlines incorportated this game mechanic.  I believe it was the best feature for the game, for a game with many flaws.  You could replay the game numerous times as different types of vampires.  One type could seduce any lady, or you could have them running in fear.  The interactions could either be realistic or hilarious, but it definitely immersed me into the game.

Being a self-proclaimed World War II nerd, the Call of Duty series always gets me hooked in.  Both games give very smooth scripted sequences that give you the "Oh #%@!  I gotta get moving!" urgency.  Though anyone who has played Call of Duty 2, by the end you are tired of hearing the soldiers slang for Germans.  :-D

I wonder if KOTOR (another great game, btw) got the dark side/light side-concept from Dark Forces II. I do remember playing Dark Forces II little bit, but not much. No recollection if I actually had a reason why it didn't interest me that much, though. :|

Bloodlines is something I've been planning to try. I have heard that it indeed does have flaws, but it sounds like an enjoyable game nonetheless.

Heheh, my WWII nerdness usually exhibits itself as a desire to play games like Steel Panthers (mostly the free World at War-variant these days), Panzer General and Combat Mission 2 (aka Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin)... B to B because that's the only CM-game I have, I'm sure that the rest are good, as well. Or IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, but I have to admit that it's been year or two since I last played it - I suppose it's because flight sims as a genre take same serious dedication to get into, if you haven't been playing any lately.

I haven't tried Indigo Prophecy yet, but I've heard it's really good.  I don't recall it having much of a shelf life here, but I might snag a copy from Amazon or GoGamer or something.

Just a heads up: the US release has been censored, it's lacking two sex scenes. Whether they are important to the game is another matter - indeed some people have said that there's too much sex in that game, and I have to admit that the protagonist's habit of scoring with almost every girl available does stretch the credibility little bit.

 

[ye-roon]

Well, now that we are talking about great games. Did anyone play Outcast? I loooooove that game. Its Linear yet you have all the freedom in the world and its one of the first games with high suffisticated AI

Or Z? Great RTS wich was actually pretty hard. Wich is what i want since i can play easy games all day.

Or what about zelda A Link to the Past, or Ocarina of Time. Those are notewhorty games. Or Command and Conquer. Oooooooh i can type and type there are so many great games, but i wont

 

[Jari]

Well, now that we are talking about great games. Did anyone play Outcast? I loooooove that game. Its Linear yet you have all the freedom in the world and its one of the first games with high suffisticated AI

Awww, sucks, I entirely forgot Outcast.

It really is a very good game, and very immersive game too. Plus it has an excellent soundtrack. It's still easily worth playing, if you can stomach the lowish resolution (I believe that the max is 512x384) - it does look blocky, but at the same time very nice in its own voxely-kind of way.

 

[James Pond]

if you can stomach the lowish resolution (I believe that the max is 512x384) - it does look blocky, but at the same time very nice in its own voxely-kind of way.

WTF!

thats one hell of a weird resolution o_o


Im gonna have a search for this now >_>

 

[ChaosControl]

I don't really think graphics matter, as long as they can show me what they want me to see...
Like, not when they want to show me a ball they show me a cube (like in FF7 in Costa Del Sol, the ball looks like a cube )

 

[Jari]

thats one hell of a weird resolution o_o

Young Padawan, you have never owned a Voodoo 1, have you?

Besides, it's not that weird, it's exactly half (or quarter, if you think total pixel count) of 1024x768.

Actually, there is a way to force Outcast to 640x480, but unless my eyes are going bad - and everyone in the Internets is wrong - it just stretches the 512x384 picture.

 

[James Pond]

haha, no, I went straight from my first PC at 14 using an ATi Rage Pro 2, to the computer I got for my 16th birthday, with an ATi Radeon 9600, to the beast I built earlier this year with money from my 18th with and ATi Radeon X800XT.

Always been an ATi man myself, not used anything else

 

[Fergus McMillan]

KOTOR most definitely. Holy crap, I got so in to that game (still am, actually). I can play it over and over and over again and never get bored of it. It's actually hard for me to play darkside because the game just draws me in and it feels like the unnecessary cruelty actually impacts people. I'm on my 5th playthrough in.. 2 months?

Second, I have to actually say FF7. Before I played FF7, I played beat 'em ups or cheesy adventure games on my old Genesis, or games like Cool Boarders when I first got my PS1. FF7 rolls along and BAM! Just hooks me. Never played anything like it. It actually made me care about the story and the characters, made me hate the villain, made me want to finish it not just to say I finished it, but because the end of the story actually mattered. I was eight when I first played FF7, and it's still my favourite game of all time. Not as immersive as KOTOR, though, with all its moral choices... but the story really hooked me.

 

[Jari]

Heh, I don't feel like playing a bad guy either, regardless of the game. I've noticed this at least in KOTOR and Fallouts, and I'm pretty sure that is has happened in other games too. I just don't like being mean to computer people. Or if you want more serious answer; they are immersive enough that violating my morals feels wrong, regardless that it's a game.

I'm thinking about posting a new topic, sort of 'list x best games you have played'-thing, and then calculate some kind of a scoreboard from the votes. But meanwhile, keep them replies coming.

 

[Kashmir]

Not exactly one of my favourite games, i havent even finished it... but Arx Fatalis is pretty immersive. Spell casting is pretty cool in it two, you have to do little hand gestures to cast or prep the spell. I would highly recommend it for fans of Deus Ex... i never finished Deus Ex either, but from what ive seen fans of Deus Ex are usually fans of Arx Fatalis as well

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II was cool, but i never got to try that manual light sabre control mod for it.

Homeworld series, the only strategy game that has a story more awsome than most other genres. Another game i would recommend...

As for up and comming games i would keep a look out for Bioshock if i was you.

 

[Jari]

Arx is pretty immersive, yes.

It also feels almost like a remake of the Ultima Underworld-games, it certainly uses lots of the same tricks. Both have an extremely interactive world, where you for example can cook fish on fire to make it stay edible for longer.

I haven't quite figured out why I'm not more enthusiastic about Arx, especially considering that I'm big fan of Looking Glass' games (which is what Arx most resembles). There's just... something. :| It still feels like a very good game and extremely immersive game, but it's been just laying on my HD for some time, without getting any playtime.

Heh, yeah @ Bioshock. I think that I posted once upon a time that it was on my list of games I look most forward to. It's being made by Irrational Games - people who made System Shock 2 - after all.

I probably should include the almost compulsory paragraph here; System Shock 1 & 2 certainly belong to the most immersive games ever, as well. The reason I didn't put them in my first post was that 2 has some elements of the game mechanics tweaked for game balance in a way that make them feel... well, just that. Instead of realistic, I mean. Primarily talking about the super quickly degrading guns. It's understandable, but it doesn't make it feel very real. I know that they can be patched to last longer, it's just that that would lessen the horror-aspect of it, and make it more of a shooter.

And System Shock 1... well, I suppose the graphics would be too much of an issue for most people these days. Great game, though.


EDIT: Grammar-fixxer-upper.

 

[Kashmir]

Arx is pretty immersive, yes.

Heh, i reinstalled it after that post... played for about 8 hours allready.

It had the potential to be a really great game, but has loads of control issues & naggles that just remind you your still playing a game with bugs... on my pc if i switch off v-sync the charater will run super fast in some areas.

There was said to be some time ago a official remake comming out under a different title, it was announced on thier website.

heh, i just realised its Dark Messiah: Might & Magic. Its through UBI as the publisher instead of JoWood, but the development team is still the same (Arkane Studios). Well not quite a remake in the general sense.

SS2 is yet another game i havent finished... hmmm, i havent finished much games have i.


EDIT:
Holy hell i cannot stop playing arx fatalis, its so much better than my initial opinion was last time i played it like a year ago. The games got more secrets in it than FF. And as a word of advice, dont ever try stealing from a ice dragon no matter how big your sword is (mines a huge two hander). I guess im going to be getting dark messiah after all, but not before i finish this.

 

[James]

KotoR.

Also Guitar Hero (I and II) - it's not so much as immersive as it is just further proof of how much I rock.

And the MGS series... the story telling is just so absolutely gripping that I can't help but feel like I'm Snake, Big Boss, or for that gruelling period of time, Raiden. By the time the game gets to the crazy stuff, you're already too far in to even question it - from an outside perspective, a lot of the stuff is pretty whack, but from an in-game, it's fairly logical. Of course, when you're about to clear the tanker and Ocelot shows up with a guest to his right, well... what the hell, Kojima?


As a side note, Jari, I understand your past here to a certain extent, insofar that I know you "ain't no newb", but for Christ's sakes - if you're putting sh*t in brackets, do you really have to make the font smaller too? The point of brackets is so that the reader understands that the text within isn't neccessary to understand the rest of the text - they're meant to be inobtrusive so you can continue reading if you so choose - making the text smaller catches the reader's eye and causes him/her to study the words more than they normally would have.

Plus, there is no denying that just using brackets in the first place and not making the font smaller is less work than what you're doing; granted, making the font smaller isn't a lot of work.

Maybe I'm just b*tching because I'm sitting back at a distance and don't feel like moving in closer to read your tiny font; it's harder to ignore because of how it actually stands out due to its small size.

Anyway, I'm just curious as to why you feel it is neccessary to not only write things in brackets (which I do - QED), but also make the font smaller.

 

[Jari]

Anyway, I'm just curious as to why you feel it is neccessary to not only write things in brackets (which I do - QED), but also make the font smaller.

Parentheses. Which are a form of brackets, true. Because I'm too lazy to form grammatically sound sentences with all the stuff I want in them, it's less work to put the extra stuff in parenthesis. I make the font smaller, because it makes it easier to ignore the stuff in parenthesis, especially if there's lots of text. Since it's not essential to the meaning of the text. Well, shouldn't be, anyway. I admit that sometimes I abuse parentheses in ways that they really weren't meant to be used.

Seeing that you are the first person in six years to complain about this, I'd suggest moving closer to your monitor (I can read the stuff just fine from a normal distance, with 1600x1200 @ 19" CRT - even without my glasses), or using an alternative style sheet, which might make the font bit larger... I think. Not sure if I increased the size. It certainly makes the forum look less fugly.

Or, if it really starts to bother you, there's a killfile for the forums, courtesy of yours truly. :-D




Just few words about the topic; MGS has always been a big no-no for me, as far as immersion is concerned. Because of the game mechanics. They just feel so... much like game mechanics, instead of an imitation of reality (to any degree). It really puts me off. I'm sure that the story is great, but I just can't stand the things I have to do to enjoy it.


EDIT: Forgetting words does wonders to your grammar.

 

[James Pond]

The thing that gets me is the current "split" down the stealth game genre, One side is MGS, other is Splinter Cell.

Now personally, I much perfer SC because it really is a true stealth game, where if you do happen to get caught, chances are you're dead, With MGS its sort of "oh noes, best hide in a locker until the silly AI gives up.


Thats not to say I didnt enjoy the MGS series....

Well, I only really liked MGS2.  MGS 1 was a bit annoying, and MGS3 was one of the most horrible games ive ever played.

MGS2 had one of the best story lines ive played in my time game, and the ending wasa true mindfuck