Weekly Poll Ideas?

[DarthHelmet86]

Here is the place for you to offer us ideas for what the weekly poll should be about. You can just have a basic idea, or even a full poll listed with all the option written out already either way we want all the good ideas you have. Getting your poll up on the site is a pretty awesome thing so the better and the cooler the idea the more likely you will get some fame...at least amongst us cool people on this site. :OK:

[Fleabass666]

There is so much games on this site...

How about a poll for the most underrated game ever between those featured on the site (in all categories, or a specific one) ?

[Lulu_Jane]

That's a good idea Fleabass!

I'd also be interested to hear the flip side of that coin regarding the most overrated characters :D

[DarthHelmet86]

Selecting which games to add to the poll could be hard...might need a poll for it. But it is a great idea, maybe through a few games you think should count and then we can add some more we think, then have the normal "I think this on a post" option.

[Japo]

For this kind of thing we can make a nominations thread beforehand.

[TotalAnarchy]

1) What new indie games offer the best retro feel?
2) How do you like an old game to be rereleased on digital stores such as GOG, XBLA or WiiWare? The original version, no modifications/ The original with additional goodies such as soundtrack, wallpapers, dev commentary, artwork./ Almost an unmodified version with some in-game goodies such as additional levels, easter eggs, cameo appearances from other lovable characters/ Graphical remake/ Total remake.

[RRS]

Can I re-post the polls I've submitted for MobyGames?

[DarthHelmet86]

As long as we change them a bit. Having the same polls with the same options would be a bit obvious. But otherwise there is no problem with that.

[Tracker]

Which of the following (or the ones you have mentioned in a post) games would you like to see as a really good movie (In a dimension where Uwe Boll was subject to lynching by people with actual taste in movies)?

Legend of Kyrandia series
Monkey Island series
Sam & Max
Full Throttle
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Loom
Death Gate
Eric The Unready
Maniac Mansion
Quest For Glory series

[Tracker]

Which of the following stories would you like to see as classic point and click adventure games?

Star Wars
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Chronicles of Narnia
Dark Tower (Stephen King)

[Lulu_Jane]

Your favourite game that was so badly bugged on release that you're not sure how you managed to play it through.

Darksun Shattered Lands 2
QFG 4

I'll think of some others :p

EDIT: Suggestions from Mighty, daggerfall, elite 2, ultima 9

[Tracker]

Which game's music tracks would you like to hear arranged to a real orchestra/band/homeless guy hitting a frying pan with a stick?

Death Gate
Shannara
Loom
Discworld
Legend of Kyrandia

etc. (Games like Quake 2, Doom, or Callahan's Crosstime Saloon don't qualify to this list since their music tracks are either real, or have numerous covers on youtube, or are simply rip offs of real artists. shame one you, Doom.)

Feel free to suggest midi/Roland MT32 music you'd love to hear remade.

[Tomekk]

Your favorite classic FPS? (a.k.a, from the 90s) :rolleyes:

[RRS]

Feel free to suggest midi/Roland MT32 music you'd love to hear remade.
Speaking of which, I bought TIE Fighter Win95 re-release and they've converted some MIDI tracks to WAVE files using some cheap FM card! So what that the in-combat music was redbook audio, it was non-interactive, while the DOS release had iMUSE. I want my money back, Lucas!

[Tracker]

Speaking of which, I bought TIE Fighter Win95 re-release and they've converted some MIDI tracks to WAVE files using some cheap FM card! So what that the in-combat music was redbook audio, it was non-interactive, while the DOS release had iMUSE. I want my money back, Lucas!

Yeah, well, that was illogical from them. Especially with such a title. And MT32 is another similar problem, Death Gate had an awful MT32 to midi conversed OST which is, garbage (that's why I only uploaded the general midi tracks to the site). We won't even hear proper Roland emulation since the device's rom is copyrighted...

[Scatty]

There is, or maybe better said, was an official Virtual Sound Canvas software from Roland, which emulates the classic Sound Canvas modules from SC-55 to SC-88Pro, and pretty good at that. It's a tricky one however, you can't get it from Roland page anymore (only an update for it) and won't find it being sold anywhere as far as I could see. I doubt it's legal to download it from "unofficial" links however, it's probably still held licensed by Roland.

[Tracker]

Yeah, the classic case of "it's abandoned but you can't buy it anywhere because f... you"... not sure that canvas would be compatible with dosbox anyway. Well we'll wait. Not that I could code a proper one to use in DB.

[Scatty]

not sure that canvas would be compatible with dosbox anyway
It is. I'm using it for a long time already with great results in games. About 99.5% accuracy of the original Sound Canvas. Also the funny thing is, it even enhances normal MIDI files (not to do with any games) in Windows, when setting Roland VSC for MIDI Music playback.

[Tracker]

I need to look into this subject then. ^^

[RRS]

OK, my poll from MobyGames:

What's your favorite game setting?

Futuristic/Sci-Fi: unthinkable technologies, depths of space
Fantasy: magic and creatures straight from fairy tales
Contemporary: the modern world we live in
Historical: the world in the costumes of past epochs


I don't see any need for more choices, e.g. post-apocalyptic is sci-fi closer to contemporary, Star Wars is sci-fi with fantasy elements etc.

[Scatty]

You might also eventually add Horror to that list (like for example in Resident Evil series, or Silent Hill), doesn't fit into any of the four categories I think.

[RRS]

Why? Horror is a story trait, not a setting.

Sci-fi + horror? Alien
History + horror? Bram Stoker's Dracula
...and so on.

[Mighty Midget]

Which game character would you like to have as the lead singer in your soon-to-be famous band? And do, please do tell us why.

The Duke (of DOOM fame)
Guybrush Threepwood
Pac Man
Avatar (of Ultima fame)
Larry (of Leisure Suit fame)
Tex Murphy
Beethoven (the St Bernard)
and more

[DarthHelmet86]

For the next poll I would like to do Lulu's idea of buggy as hell games but we need a few more games to add to the list. So far we have;

Darksun Shattered Lands 2, QFG 4, Daggerfall, Elite 2 and Ultima 9.

Two or three more games would be perfect guys so lets get thinking.

[RRS]

Fallout 2? (unsolvable quests, broken car etc.)

[Scatty]

Darksun Shattered Lands 2, QFG 4, Daggerfall, Elite 2 and Ultima 9.

Two or three more games would be perfect guys so lets get thinking.
Add Ultima 8 and Master of Magic to it.
Ultima 8 only received just one patch ever, and remained quite buggy at times as it is. So is Master of Magic, more than enough bugs even with the newest Insecticide patch.

[Tracker]

Which game character would you like to have as the lead singer in your soon-to-be famous band? And do, please do tell us why.

The Duke (of DOOM fame)
Guybrush Threepwood
Pac Man
Avatar (of Ultima fame)
Larry (of Leisure Suit fame)
Tex Murphy
Beethoven (the St Bernard)
and more

What about Spider Robinson from Callahan's Crosstime Saloon? In the game he's called Jake Stonebender, but he's actually the writer of the story, plus, he performs the songs in the game.

[Tomekk]

Your favorite real-time strategy games?

Dune series
Command & Conquer series
C&C: Red Alert series
Age of Empires series
Total Annihilation
Warcraft series
Starcraft series
KKND series
Earth 2140-2160 series
M.A.X.
Netstorm
Fragile Allegiance
Populous series
The Settlers series
Syndicate series
X-COM 3
Z

(I know not all of them qualify as actual RTSes, and I'll leave it up for Darth to pick the list :p)

[DarthHelmet86]

I totally hope one of the games I don't know is not really an RTS so people can go nuts about it. More posts means more love for the site...actually maybe I should do this on purpose. :perv:

[Eagle of Fire]

Since I've been asked to provide some help so the polls are not one sided...

Your favorite real-time strategy games?

Dune series
Command & Conquer series
C&C: Red Alert series
Age of Empires series
Total Annihilation
Warcraft series
Starcraft series
KKND series
Earth 2140-2160 series
M.A.X.
Netstorm
Fragile Allegiance
Populous series
The Settlers series
Syndicate series
X-COM 3
Z

M.A.X, Netstorm, Fragile Allegiance, Settlers and X-Com are not RTS.

I'd be tempted to say that Populous is not RTS either but that game is so old it was published way, way before the term RTS was effectively coined. Since there is no way to do orders while paused it might apply for RTS genre.

[Tomekk]

Truth be told, after I ran out of ideas I just browsed the Strategy section on the site with the tag "real-time". :ouch:

[RRS]

...and it shows.

You've missed important series, such as: Empire Earth, Ground Control, Dark Reign, Codename: Panzers, Blitzkrieg, Cossacks, Homeworld...

[Mighty Midget]

Perhaps it's safe to say that it'd be a major miracle if one guy here comes up with the Complete List of relevant games. There will always be games one either haven't played or have forgotten about, or just plain see differently than others do. Best to do what's being done above: Suggest more games to add to the list and let it be with that.

[RRS]

Surely it would be hard to please everyone, but when you try to make such lists, at least try harder. Maybe if he was browsing MobyGames lists, which have greater scope, the list would mention more important titles, and would skip ones which are irrelevant. Show some effort, people.

[Lulu_Jane]

Lord, this is going to be a showstopper of a poll...

[Mighty Midget]

I don't know. To me, it's not about having a more complete list. It's about "seeds for thoughts" or ideas if you will. Ideas can very well come in leaps and bounds from all over the place, maturing as others join the think tank. If someone posts an idea that makes me think, then it's a good idea. If someone posts an idea that doesn't make me think, it's not necessarily a better idea. That "who would you like as the lead singer" idea, it wasn't meant to be taken litterally but if a single person spun that idea around and came up with something greater, then I'd consider that post a success.

[Tomekk]

...and it shows.

You've missed important series, such as: Empire Earth, Ground Control, Dark Reign, Codename: Panzers, Blitzkrieg, Cossacks, Homeworld...

Okay... how are you going to fit all of that into one poll?:p If you can come up with a better list (seeing how you remembered titles I nearly forgot about, heh), I doubt anyone would mind. :)

[TheChosen]

Here's a good one I just figured out: Best cinematic platformer.

Prince of Persia
Flashback
Another World/Out of this World & Heart of the Alien
Weird Dreams
Blackthorne/Blackhawk
Heart of Darkness
Oddworld Abe's Oddysee & Abe's Exodus
Limbo
Impossible Mission (to some extent)

They all share a similar style of 2D platforming gameplay, with their own little quirks (like possession in Oddworld and cool shotgun-play in Blackthorne). Compiled this little list up with Wikipedia and its seems pretty solid, as I cant remember other notable one's.

All of these are playable on PC. I think Heart of the Alien too, but originally thats a Sega CD title but eh, might as well mention it too.

EDIT: Two other games came to my mind that someone might suggest: Braid and Shadow of the Beast. Braid however, seems more like a puzzle platformer, like Super Mario Brothers with rewinding. And while Shadow of the Beast has cinematic visuals, its more like your average action game.

EDIT2: And before anyone suggest Karateka, thats a beat-em up. Same style as Prince of Persia though.

Just but a Other option on the poll. I'd love to hear other suggestions people have.

[Japo]

Best game intro
Some options:

System Shock
Star Control II
Another World

I need more...

[RRS]

As I said already, I see little use for title-specific polls, dozens of people will be suggesting titles you haven't added.

Syndicate
Dune 2
X-Wing
Lands of Lore

Empire Earth, Warcraft 3 (if newer ones are allowed)

How about special awards, like "most educational intro"? I nominate Historyline.

[yoga]

All RPG of course.

:)

[bukimi]

What about general polls which don't need any game titles specified?

1. Storyline in a game:
a) is a must, I always read it carefully
b) is important, but only when presented in attractive way (cutscenes, pictures)
c) is a nice little bonus, all games should have at least some
d) isn't very important, game can be excellent even without any
e) slows gameplay, I always skip it

2. Riddles and puzzles in RPG games:
a) are good only when are hard and demanding
b) are good only when easy, for harder I refer to walkthroughs
c) are good only as a bonus (not needed to be completed to finish the game)
d) make me mad, I avoid games with many of them

3. For action games I prefer to use: (I like to play games which require)
a) keyboard only
b) keyboard and mouse at the same time
c) mouse only
d) other (pads, joysticks)

[RRS]

Yeah, I'm more interested in finding out people's gaming habits.

[bukimi]

Some more "habits" ideas I would like to see in polls:

4. When a game offers choosing or creating a character:
a) I prefer a warrior or other brute-force oriented one
b) I prefer a mage or other "magic skills" oriented one
c) I prefer a thief or other special/unique skills oriented one
d) I prefer a mix of my own, without any specialization

5. When a game offers a few difficulties to play:
a) I start with easiest one possible to get familiar with basics
b) I start with easy difficulty to have less problems with finishing a game
c) I start with medium difficulty - I trust it's most appropriate for first try
d) I start with hard difficulty, because games are often too easy
e) I start with hardest difficulty to be sure a game will be a challenge

6. If saving and loading a game is possible at any moment:
a) I save as often as I remember, preferably every turn or few minutes
b) I save often but try to avoid overusing it
c) I save only before more difficult moments and after them
d) I rarely save game
e) I try to play with as little saves as possible

7. I play:
a) single-player mode only
b) mostly/only multi-player mode
c) single-player first and multi-player when I feel proficient enough
d) multi-player first and single-player campaign after I get bored with skirmishes

PS. Maybe there is a way to place polls on main page of forum instead of "hiding" it in one thread?

[BranjoHello]

@bukimi
Most excellent suggestions, I hope all of them reach final stage. :OK:

[bukimi]

I'm not sure whether this one was already polled, but if not:

8. In-game cheats:
a) I never use them, rarely check if they even exist.
b) Cheats are fun! I use them for having fun after completing a game without them.
c) Cheats are a nice bonus. Sometimes I use them to beat harder parts of the game.
d) I use them as any other element of a game. Some of them just help to finish a game faster.
e) It happens that I enable cheats on the very beginning of a game and leave them on.

[RRS]

Again, very interesting question.

I used to cheat back when I was a kid (OK: teen). But I quickly realized that doing so to finish the game quickly I'm losing something important. So I stopped.

Nowadays I only resort to using cheat codes when I don't have savegames handy and I need to complete review or submit screenshots. Let's face it: built-in cheats were a tool for beta testers and reviewers.

[DoomYoshi]

Best game intro
Some options:

System Shock
Star Control II
Another World

I need more...

Axis and Allies had terrible AI and was unplayable except for the hotseat multiplayer. But that intro is amazing. Every now and then I go and plug it in just to watch.

[Tracker]

So many beautiful suggestions folks! :) I need to find some time to upload them. Unfortunately I'm not active anymore. :( Thanks for your help bukimi! And thanks everyone who tries to help. :D

[yoga]

Great!!

:OK:

[Dead Alien]

Worst villain or memorable villain in a game.