127
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by tal@lemmy.today to c/games@sh.itjust.works

Curious as to what people think has the most replay potential.

Rules:

  1. The "desert island" aspect here is just to create an isolated environment. You don't have to worry about survival or anything along those lines, where playing the game would be problematic. This isn't about min-maxing your situation on the island outside of the game, or the time after leaving.

  2. No live service games unless the live service aspect is complete and it can be played offline -- that is, you can't just rely on the developer churning out new material during your time on the island. The game you get has to be in its complete form when you go to the island.

  3. No multiplayer games -- can't rely on the outside world in the form of people out there being a source of new material. The island is isolated from the rest of the world.

  4. You get existing DLC/mods/etc for a game. You don't get multiple games in a series, though.

  5. Cost isn't a factor. If you want The Sims 4 and all its DLC (currently looks like it's $1,300 on Steam, and I would guess that there's probably a lot more stuff on EA's store or whatever), DCS World and all DLC ($3,900), or something like that, you can have it as readily as a free game.

  6. No platform restrictions (within reason; you're limited to something that would be fairly mainstream). PC, console, phone, etc games are all fine. No "I want a game that can only run on a 10,000 node parallel compute cluster", though, even if you can find something like that.

  7. Accessories that would be reasonably within the mainstream are provided. If you're playing a light gun game, you can have a light gun. You can have a game controller, a VR headset and controllers, something like that. No "I want a $20 million 4DOF suspended flight sim cockpit to play my flight sim properly".

  8. You have available to you the tools to extend the game that an ordinary member of the public would have access to. If there are modding tools that exist, you have access to those, can spend time learning them. If it's an open-source game and you want to learn how to modify the game at a source level, you can do that. You don't have access to a video game studio's internal-only tools, though.

  9. You have available to you existing documentation and material related to the game that is generally publicly-available. Fandom wikis, howtos and guides, etc.

  10. You get the game in its present-day form. No updates to the game or new DLC being made available to you while you're on the island.

What three games do you choose to take with you?

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

First thought was Morrowind, Deus Ex, Tetris Attack.

Two mechanically-variable story-driven time sinks. One puzzle I can endlessly zone out to. Morrowind also has a comical amount of mods that can be activated at once, to stick to being "one game." Deus Ex has a randomizer... and even without that, there's always some secret that you've never seen. Always.

People saying Minecraft had a much better choice than Deus Ex, though. (Even if the "stranded on a desert island" aspect feels on-the-nose.) Sandbox titles are the ultimate time sink, and the sinkiest ones are just cloning what some Swedes threw together. Plus if it's on PC you can always code your own mods. (Cabin fever, or learn Java? Decisions decisions.) Morrowind has the same advantage, since the Construction Kit came with the expansion packs.

A racing game like Trackmania would also work in place of Tetris Attack: simple mechanical satisfaction with records to endlessly one-up. Become your own SummoningSalt video.

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Fallout 4, Civ 6, and Satisfactory.

[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 4 months ago

I love this hypothetical. I think mine would be:

  1. X-Plane 12 flight sim. Plenty to do and lots of variation between areas, weather patterns, etc. (Unlike MSFS, it is not a live service.)

  2. Automation: the car company tycoon game. It serves very well as a creative outlet when designing your own cars.

  3. Probably some strategy game. Old World? One of the Civs? Maybe Anno 1800, assuming I could get past Ubi Connect or whatever the hell they call it now. 😁

[-] grandkaiser@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago
  1. Minecraft with the gregtech new horizons mod pack

  2. Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead

  3. Rimworld with my current 300+ mod setup

I could easily sink another 10k hours in each of those games

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.run 4 points 4 months ago

BG3, Skyrim, and I guess minecraft. If I can choose a non-game software, then probably the requirements for something like Godot and some downloaded documentation and libraries instead of minecraft.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] Revan343@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 months ago

Obviously Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and Nethack

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] Ashen44@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 months ago

damn I might have time to finish a tenth of gregtech new horizons now!

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

I've been playing EU4 for over 5 years. Might as well take that one. Fuck it, I'll take 3 copies.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] iheartneopets@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Very cool question!!

-The Long Dark: I have hundreds of hours in this game across various platforms (maybe even a thousand-plus, all together?) and with the different settings to play with to change the difficulty in really interesting ways, I think I could easily sink another thousand. I'll leave the DLC behind, though, thanks.

-Red Dead Redemption 2: My favorite game of all time, even just as a cowboy-themed hunting and poker sim. If Baldur's Gate 3 and the stupid Guarma chapter didn't exist, I'd say it would be a slamdunk for best game of all time, period. I'm not autistic, but if I had a special interest, this would be it; it literally inspired my son's name.

-Elden Ring: In five years, maybe I could just figure out how to solo Malenia without cheesing my build, much less the final boss of the DLC :')

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] reinei@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Uff this started out for me as being "easy! Minecraft, Factorio and a third one!"

And then quickly and only devolved into an abyss of deliberation...

  • Do I take EU4+DLC+Anbennar because then I would finally have an excuse to actually learn and play this damn game? (Plus having base game and Anbennar basically doubles the replayability)
  • Do I take VintageStory so I can finally learn to actually play it well and start creating meaningful mods for it?
  • Should I take Noita or Caves of Qud? Should they be replacements for DF?
  • Is either of Civ V or Civ VI replayable about for me for this much time?

And from there the more basic questions:

  • Does any of the three games need to be entertaining enough to basically always run or could/should it suffice to simply rotate between them?
  • How much time would I reasonably want to spend playing vs creating?
  • Also am I allowed to spend some time basically daydreaming every day (aka the games are meant more to actually keep me sane rather than get people to recommend good games they have given thought and time to?) or should they/would I want them to keep me occupied basically 15/7?

So yeah, Minecraft probably still stands as there are way too many mods and building ideas for it to (probably?) become truly stale in a lifetime!

And Factorio because I still want to actually finish an AB run for once, or a SE run, or ... You get the idea. Buut the third slot would likely be a make or break for this whole endeavor and now it's back to square one again!

[-] optissima@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago
  • SSBM, I don't need an opponennt for tech skill
  • Bloodborne, if chalices aren't a live service?
  • Bowsers Fury, because I speedrun that and it'd be nice to have time to practice just that.
[-] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Skyrim, Factorio, and The Sims 3 or 4 (it really doesn’t matter which one.)

All of them are open-ended and player-led, so there’s not a single set-in-stone story to play through and get bored with. All of them have extensive modding communities and support. And there is a variety of gameplay styles, so there’s something to suit various moods.

And all of them are notorious for hooking players. Nobody ever decides to boot up the Sims because it sounds fun; They boot it up on a whim, then come up for air three months later, wondering what the hell happened to all of their free time. Once you get sucked into Factorio, you’ll start seeing conveyor belts in your sleep. I played ~600 hours of it in just a few months, and that’s considered newbie numbers; There are plenty of Steam users who have tens of thousands of hours played.

[-] Toes@ani.social 4 points 3 months ago

I'd select the following, noting that if I follow the rules strictly games like Gary's mod are disallowed because they are multiplayer.

  1. Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead This is a game that could theoretically be played forever. Following the rules strictly I'll be able to use the open source aspect to tweak it.

  2. Sims 3 Why not 4? Well 3 has more mature mods and expansion packs to enjoy. I'm less likely to be stuck with a big bug.

  3. OpenViva let's face it, I'm going to be really lonely and as I slowly drift into insanity a VR escape filled with waifus may be exactly what I need to hold on. Plus it's open-source and it's plenty of time to learn how to use blender.

[-] Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Dragon Quest 11

Age of Empires 2

Civ 5

[-] root@aussie.zone 4 points 4 months ago

Civilization 6, Cities Skylines 1 and Space Engineers

[-] Shirasho@lemmings.world 4 points 4 months ago

Factorio, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, and either Age of Empires 2 or Ship of Harkinian.

[-] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Genuine question. Do the Legend of Zelda 64 games give you replay value, or do you feel you have enough with the other 2 and want to bring a favorite?

[-] Shirasho@lemmings.world 3 points 4 months ago

Ocarina of Time randomizer has a lot of replay value for me. The game itself is secondary to the routing of getting items.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] The_Helmet_Stays_On@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Elden ring or bloodborne

Majoras mask

Baldurs gate 3

[-] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

I'm going to copy my question from another comment.

Genuine question. Do the Legend of Zelda 64 games give you replay value, or do you feel you have enough with the other 2 and want to bring a favorite?

For me it be the nostalgia. I played through ocarina of time so many times that I have it memorized but Majoras mask I have only played it a couple times. I love the music and the themes compared to wind waker or twilight princess.

[-] Cadeillac@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Thanks for the response!

[-] kibiz0r@midwest.social 4 points 4 months ago
  • Tetris
  • Descenders
  • Minecraft
[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Some kind of sandbox game like Garry's Mod or an open world crafting game.

An RPG to give myself a bit of story

Maybe a shooter or something so I could blow off steam when I need to.

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

Having actually run something fairly close to this experiment I think I can say Satisfactory, Subnautica and West of Loathing. Yes Satisfactory has the capability of being multiplayer but it's not exactly Fortnite.

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Duolingo - can learn languages yeah? I hope this qualifies. Not technically multi-player as you can't "play" with other people. I'd also learn a language or a few within 5 years. I think you can play it offline assuming you have the necessary files downloaded.

Binding of Isaac - a fantastic rogue like where every game is different but you keep progression.

Factorio - haven't played it, heard great things.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)
  • Europa Universalis IV - already have >900 hours, and my only constraint is time
  • Mount & Blade: Warband + mods - I loved vanilla, but haven't tried any of the mods; I almost put Bannerlord here, so I'd need to do some research on mods to decide, but as of now I'd go with Warband (I still like playing vanilla after a few hundred hours)
  • Stellaris - I haven't really gotten into it, but if I had all the docs and a lot of time, I'd probably love it

However, I play these very rarely these days because I prefer a higher quantity of shorter games to a smaller quantity of longer games. Since these are all PC games, I'd cheat a little and also build some of my own games/mods with my spare time. If you won't let me get away with that, I'll swap Stellaris for Godot + Blender and teach myself gamedev.

[-] MTK@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Skyrim to feel like I have freedom to explore.

Sims 3 to have social interaction and to feel like a cruel god at times.

Scribblenauts for my creative outlet.

Maybe minecraft? Since you can program a full computer in there therefore eventually I can emulate any game I want?

[-] shikitohno@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago
  • SMT III Nocturne
  • SMT Strange Journey Redux
  • Grandia I

The Shin Megami Tensei games have some replayability between multiple routes, NG+ and coming up with the perfect team. Grandia is just one of the first jrpgs I really got in to, and I still love the characters today.

[-] noseatbelt@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 months ago

Skyrim

Borderlands 2

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

I probably would have picked Mass Effect over Odyssey if you hadn't specified no series. There's really no point in playing just one ME.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io 3 points 4 months ago

- Little Big Adventure 2
- Total Annihilation
- Minecraft

[-] Omegamanthethird@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago
  1. Morrowind (This one is a lock. I can make a new character with different specialties. I can role play differently with a new character. I can join different guilds. And I can finally get around to modding if I ever get really adventurous.)

  2. Final Fantasy VIII (XII would also be a good pick since it has exploration. X is my favorite, but doesn't have as much replayability as the other 2. I thought about Tactics because I want to get around to it. But I'm not gambling on loving it.)

  3. Rogue Legacy 2 (I thought about the first one, which is a cathartic game for me. But I still haven't beaten the second and it scratches almost the same itch. Also thought about Jade Cocoon or Arc the Lad 2 or 3, which are similarly cathartic games for me.)

[-] thegreenguy@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 months ago
  • Cities: Skylines (would have picked the sequel but doesn't have that much content yet)

  • Kerbal Space Program

  • Minecraft (I guess it's the ultimate creative game)

[-] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago

Easy.

Diablo, Diablo 2 and D2 LoD. Done.

[-] Cyanobakterie@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)
  • Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
  • Elden Ring
  • Minecraft

Though I'm not sure with Elden Ring or Skyrim. If I have the modding tools I could make Skyrim into Elden Ring. But being offline would mean no "try finger but hole" or "fort night" in Elden Ring which downgrades the overall experience imho.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2024
127 points (95.7% liked)

Games

16845 readers
1294 users here now

Video game news oriented community. No NanoUFO is not a bot :)

Posts.

  1. News oriented content (general reviews, previews or retrospectives allowed).
  2. Broad discussion posts (preferably not only about a specific game).
  3. No humor/memes etc..
  4. No affiliate links
  5. No advertising.
  6. No clickbait, editorialized, sensational titles. State the game in question in the title. No all caps.
  7. No self promotion.
  8. No duplicate posts, newer post will be deleted unless there is more discussion in one of the posts.
  9. No politics.

Comments.

  1. No personal attacks.
  2. Obey instance rules.
  3. No low effort comments(one or two words, emoji etc..)
  4. Please use spoiler tags for spoilers.

My goal is just to have a community where people can go and see what new game news is out for the day and comment on it.

Other communities:

Beehaw.org gaming

Lemmy.ml gaming

lemmy.ca pcgaming

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS