Games with heavy customization?

Geo

For the PS2 I'd like to recommend Dark Cloud 1 and 2. In both of them you are able to rebuild entire towns to your liking. I don't remember if the first one had this feature, but in the second one you can upgrade your weapons as they earn experience and transform them into all sorts of crazy inventions. You also get a Ridepod, which acts like a small-scale mech, that you can change all of its equipment.

The Xbox had a great mecha game called Phantom Crash. It also doesn't have nearly as many parts as Armored Core has, so if you like choosing what radiator your mecha has than you'd probably prefer Armored Core (Though you can buy and customize your music in Phantom Crash). However, I liked Phantom Crash much more than AC. AC felt really clunky to play for some reason while Phantom Crash was straight mecha vs mecha right away. There's a newer Phantom Crash called Steel Lancer Arena International (Usually abbreviated to S.L.A.I.) but I can't really recommend it. The story and feel of the original was much better.

If you like PC strategy games, you might like Dominions 3. The game is about the main god dying and all these pretender gods are trying to rise to his position by killing each other off and spreading their own dominion. There are three ages with around 20 nations in each that you choose to play (Including Aboleths and Illithids), each one with their own unique units and a couple unique spells. You create your own pretender god, even down to choosing whether it's a magical fountain or a mythical monster. Every unit you send into battle can gain experience and also afflictions, which include losing limbs, battle fright, or becoming mute. The game itself isn't very pretty, but it's pretty deep and has a lot to choose from.

If you don't mind untranslated Japanese games that can possibly lead to a very bad addiction, you might like Busou Shinki. Basically, you buy these toys and they come with access codes that unlock it in their online game. Sounds like a really bad scheme, but the toys are quality and it comes with a free one in the online game. You choose what equipment and armor the characters use and have them fight other people online. You don't control them, but rather alter their fighting behavior based on suggestions before the battle and a comment after the battle.

Endomatic

Are there any good Mech PC games? What was the last Mech Warrior? Was it any good? I have a really good machine, so something decent and fairly recent would be awesome.

Dehumanized

Endomatic wrote: »

Are there any good Mech PC games? What was the last Mech Warrior? Was it any good? I have a really good machine, so something decent and fairly recent would be awesome.

Mechwarrior 4 was the last one, from 2000-2002 counting the expansions. It was decent.

-SPI-

Geo wrote: »

The Xbox had a great mecha game called Phantom Crash. It also doesn't have nearly as many parts as Armored Core has, so if you like choosing what radiator your mecha has than you'd probably prefer Armored Core (Though you can buy and customize your music in Phantom Crash). However, I liked Phantom Crash much more than AC. AC felt really clunky to play for some reason while Phantom Crash was straight mecha vs mecha right away. There's a newer Phantom Crash called Steel Lancer Arena International (Usually abbreviated to S.L.A.I.) but I can't really recommend it. The story and feel of the original was much better.

I was about to suggest this myself. It has a great amount of customisation with all the parts, manufacturers and custom tuning and an excellent style to it. It kind of reminds me of JSRF or something, with it's hip future tokyo.

Just take the intro for instance. It just oozes
style

randombattle

Man AC4 is simple as it gets once you realize the secret to being good at the game is to NEVER EVER STOP MOVING EVER. You stop boosting you die, that simple.

also

Geo wrote: »

The Xbox had a great mecha game called Phantom Crash. It also doesn't have nearly as many parts as Armored Core has, so if you like choosing what radiator your mecha has than you'd probably prefer Armored Core (Though you can buy and customize your music in Phantom Crash). However, I liked Phantom Crash much more than AC. AC felt really clunky to play for some reason while Phantom Crash was straight mecha vs mecha right away. There's a newer Phantom Crash called Steel Lancer Arena International (Usually abbreviated to S.L.A.I.) but I can't really recommend it. The story and feel of the original was much better.

Speaking of Phantom Crash theres another pretty good game though it doesn't quite fit the super customize thing. How about good old Phantom Dust! Customize your psychic powers and kick some post apocalyptic ass!

LoveIsUnity

How has no one recommended Fallout yet?

Pick up Fallout or Fallout 2. They satisfy a lot of your criteria.

DisruptorX2

I think you'd like Silent Storm.

You can only create your main character, but you can completely customize your party, gearwise, and use tons of different tactics, from gunlines, to loads of heavy machine guns, to demo teams that blow everyting up.

Also, the environments are fully destructable. You can destroy entire floors. You can make tactics designed around shooting out walls and killing everyone on the other side. Or shooting out floors and lobbing grenades up or down the hole.

Renzo

If you have a PSP, I have to recommend Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Tons of monsters to slay, armor sets to create, weapons to forge, etc. I'm on hour 180 and I'm still hooked.

Bonus if you have friends who have PSPs and also may want to hunt monsters. Ad hoc for up to 4 people.

Boar

Titan Quest fits all of your criteria. It's Diablo, but prettier and set in the Ancient world.

Mr Ray

Endomatic wrote: »

Are there any good Mech PC games? What was the last Mech Warrior? Was it any good? I have a really good machine, so something decent and fairly recent would be awesome.

If you're going to get a mechwarrior game i'd recommend MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries. Its kind of an expansion I guess, but it works as a standalone game. I'm pretty sure its the latest in the series, but its definitely the best one i've played. According to the wikipedia article, if you get both the inner sphere and clan mech packs you'll have 109 mechs to play with.

redhalo

http://www.akithgames.com/EOW_game.html

I haven't had the chance to check it out myself yet, but this looks like pure awesome. Customizable mechs and zombies.

Dr Snofeld

Geo wrote: »

For the PS2 I'd like to recommend Dark Cloud 1 and 2. In both of them you are able to rebuild entire towns to your liking. I don't remember if the first one had this feature, but in the second one you can upgrade your weapons as they earn experience and transform them into all sorts of crazy inventions. You also get a Ridepod, which acts like a small-scale mech, that you can change all of its equipment.

Holy crap somebody else mentioned Dark Chronicle (which is European for Dark Cloud 2). The Ridepod and weapon customisation are what you're looking for. You can be cruising the dungeons in a little mech with a body made from a refridgerator and a fuel tank made from milk bottles. With chainguns. And rollerskates.

And yes, Dark Cloud 1 has the weapon customisation as well, but the town-building part is much better in Dark Chronicle, much more free-form.

Trevor

Saints Row leaps immediately to mind for character customization, only downside is that there isn't too many guns. Someone already mentioned it, but Silent Storm has a pretty decent amount of weapons and skills and a fairly robust character creator that might be able to scratch your itch.

acidlacedpenguin

did no one mention Deus Ex yet?

PeregrineFalcon

Dr Snofeld wrote: »

Holy crap somebody else mentioned Dark Chronicle (which is European for Dark Cloud 2). The Ridepod and weapon customisation are what you're looking for. You can be cruising the dungeons in a little mech with a body made from a refridgerator and a fuel tank made from milk bottles. With chainguns. And rollerskates.

And yes, Dark Cloud 1 has the weapon customisation as well, but the town-building part is much better in Dark Chronicle, much more free-form.

Do I need to play the first game to understand the second, or can I just jump straight into "Blow the living crap out of stuff in a mech that escaped from Junkyard Wars"?

zhen_rogue

Wizardry 8 fits 95% of your criteria.

I'd suggest one of your six characters should be a gadgeteer, which would allow you boatloads of 'turn-found-junk-into-crazy-weapons' fun.

Trevor

It doesn't hurt to have played the first Dark Cloud, but I'd say that the second one stands on its own. I don't remember if they stories interact in any way, so I doubt it's that important.

TychoCelchuuu

acidlacedpenguin wrote: »

did no one mention Deus Ex yet?

You don't exactly get to choose anything other than your skills and how much of an ass you are, which is par for the course in every RPG. Heck you can't even choose gender.

Dr Snofeld

PeregrineFalcon wrote: »

Dr Snofeld wrote: »

Holy crap somebody else mentioned Dark Chronicle (which is European for Dark Cloud 2). The Ridepod and weapon customisation are what you're looking for. You can be cruising the dungeons in a little mech with a body made from a refridgerator and a fuel tank made from milk bottles. With chainguns. And rollerskates.

And yes, Dark Cloud 1 has the weapon customisation as well, but the town-building part is much better in Dark Chronicle, much more free-form.

Do I need to play the first game to understand the second, or can I just jump straight into "Blow the living crap out of stuff in a mech that escaped from Junkyard Wars"?

The two games are completely unrelated plot wise. Some characters re-appear but in a Cid's-in-every-Final-Fantasy sorta way.

jothki

Any one of those space-based strategy games where you get to research individual components and then slap them together into full ship designs. Stars! is the only one that I've played and can think of off the top of my head, but I'm almost completely certain there are more.

Darmak

zhen_rogue wrote: »

Wizardry 8 fits 95% of your criteria.

I'd suggest one of your six characters should be a gadgeteer, which would allow you boatloads of 'turn-found-junk-into-crazy-weapons' fun.

Oh my god I love that game. Fuck yes, everyone should play this. Talk about a huge timesink, with tons of shit to do and with a lot of customization for your 6 person party (plus 2 slots for NPC's to join your party).

yalborap

Renzo wrote: »

If you have a PSP, I have to recommend Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Tons of monsters to slay, armor sets to create, weapons to forge, etc. I'm on hour 180 and I'm still hooked.

Bonus if you have friends who have PSPs and also may want to hunt monsters. Ad hoc for up to 4 people.

Just got this. Holy crap it's awesome.

I the Hunting Horn. "Oh, I need to play some notes! Might as well bash shit in the head in the process!"

Phoenix-D

redhalo wrote: »

http://www.akithgames.com/EOW_game.html

I haven't had the chance to check it out myself yet, but this looks like pure awesome. Customizable mechs and zombies.

Its good, but never gives you quite enough cash to really play around with.

Renzo

yalborap wrote: »

Renzo wrote: »

If you have a PSP, I have to recommend Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Tons of monsters to slay, armor sets to create, weapons to forge, etc. I'm on hour 180 and I'm still hooked.

Bonus if you have friends who have PSPs and also may want to hunt monsters. Ad hoc for up to 4 people.

Just got this. Holy crap it's awesome.

I the Hunting Horn. "Oh, I need to play some notes! Might as well bash shit in the head in the process!"

Awesome! Let me know how it goes, seriously. I'm always down to talk Monster Hunter.

IceBurner

Vagrant Story's Weapons and Armor combination tables require ~450KB of plain text to adequately list. This doesn't count customization via gems, changing the hilt/grip, building up any of 16 different affinities, or the fact that you get to name your stuff whatever you want.

You also fully control your character's stats.

Monster Hunter is also loads of fun and customizing your equipment made of monster bits is the secondary focus of the game (right after hunting monsters). Edit: Ah, I see you've discovered it. I wish the PS2 version of MH2 had made it, I had to import it.

yalborap

Renzo wrote: »

yalborap wrote: »

Renzo wrote: »

If you have a PSP, I have to recommend Monster Hunter Freedom 2. Tons of monsters to slay, armor sets to create, weapons to forge, etc. I'm on hour 180 and I'm still hooked.

Bonus if you have friends who have PSPs and also may want to hunt monsters. Ad hoc for up to 4 people.

Just got this. Holy crap it's awesome.

I the Hunting Horn. "Oh, I need to play some notes! Might as well bash shit in the head in the process!"

Awesome! Let me know how it goes, seriously. I'm always down to talk Monster Hunter.

I'm definitely enjoying my Light Bowgun at the moment, killing stuff and such.

Though, let me ask you this; how much room for going completely batshit grindhappy does the game offer? I mean, will it keep giving me non-plot-related quests until I surrender to no longer enjoying it, or is there a maximum that I hit before that?

IceBurner

They just keep on coming. You can play MH 'til you buy the farm, though ignoring your health to play games is not recommended.

I dunno how similar MHP2nd is to MH2, but there are "trainer" missions which let you check out all the weapon types in MH2, are they in the PSP ver and have you tried 'em? I ask because as a aavid MH1 gunner, I was floored by how cool longbows are.

Edit: Oops, MHP2nd is the Japanese title for Freedom 2.

yalborap

IceBurner wrote: »

They just keep on coming. You can play MH 'til you buy the farm, though ignoring your health to play games is not recommended.

I dunno how similar MHP2nd is to MH2, but there are "trainer" missions which let you check out all the weapon types in MH2, are they in the PSP ver and have you tried 'em? I ask because as a aavid MH1 gunner, I was floored by how cool longbows are.

Edit: Oops, MHP2nd is the Japanese title for Freedom 2.

Yeah, I ran through 'em all. The bow's charging kinda bugged me. I'm experimenting more, though, and trying out everything. Maybe the Long Sword will work better outside of the training...

beauVSII

Carcharodontosaurus wrote: »

I think you should seriously consider Hellgate: London. Let's just run it past your requirements to show you what I mean;

Though you can pay to access extra stuff, the core game has so much damn content that you shouldn't get bored for a very long time.

The combat is pretty damn good right from the start, and only gets better as more powerful demons and weapons get introduced.

Given it's the spiritual successor to Diablo, the entire point of Hellgate: London is to kill vast hordes of enemies and taking the resulting loot.

Character customization is very detailed. Body shape, height, gender, hair, facial hair, face, skin tone, name, and so on.

Equipment customization is ludicrous. Weapon modification is more or less one of the core things you do in the game, with rare loot modifications providing even more options.

It's the definition of infinite playability. Because of the random levels, random loot, and random monsters, you can keep playing Hellgate: London almost indefinitely. Also, there's going to be a gigantic content patch soon, so the infinite is just getting more infinite.

Unfortunately it's only for Windows.

Your pipe dream requirement is also met handily by Hellgate: London. Seriously, there is a fucking crazy amount of modification that can be done to weapons. You won't turn a pistol into a tank cannon, but by just looking at the projectiles fired you wouldn't necessarily be sure.

As for SF and fantasy weapon combinations, you can play as a Cabalist for all of your magic needs, a Templar to beat up shit in melee, or a Hunter if long ranged technological slaughter is your thing.

So yeah, maybe give the demo a look and see how you like it.

Good to know, i installed it last night before i went to bed and am yet to play it, had a look at some video's today and wasn't too keen but looks like you have given me a bit of enthusiasm to play now!

Deathhead McCormick

IceBurner wrote: »

Vagrant Story's Weapons and Armor combination tables require ~450KB of plain text to adequately list. This doesn't count customization via gems, changing the hilt/grip, building up any of 16 different affinities, or the fact that you get to name your stuff whatever you want.

You also fully control your character's stats.

Finally, someone agrees. The only game where the things you hit literally define the nature of the weapon's aptitudes.

I've always loved Front Mission 3, and 4 is quite nice also to stay in the easy to find PS2 range.

Lawlzor

It’s not out yet and I don’t know the name but I remember reading about a game with its selling point being that you’re on a planet using 1000s of parts that can be used to make cars, guns, medical supplies est. It also had 4 player coops which I would imagine is made up of you squabbling over who gets the bolts and who gets the nails.

yalborap

yalborap wrote: »

IceBurner wrote: »

They just keep on coming. You can play MH 'til you buy the farm, though ignoring your health to play games is not recommended.

I dunno how similar MHP2nd is to MH2, but there are "trainer" missions which let you check out all the weapon types in MH2, are they in the PSP ver and have you tried 'em? I ask because as a aavid MH1 gunner, I was floored by how cool longbows are.

Edit: Oops, MHP2nd is the Japanese title for Freedom 2.

Yeah, I ran through 'em all. The bow's charging kinda bugged me. I'm experimenting more, though, and trying out everything. Maybe the Long Sword will work better outside of the training...

Jesus on a nutsack I'm getting my ass kicked by a pink gorilla.

...I do believe I need to get better equipment ASAP.

IceBurner

Ohhoho, you've just met Babakonga ... or is it Congalala? Green or higher sharpness trumps attack power every time. If you're gunning, make explosive ammo and carry a full load of the parts needed to make more, along with the combo books. Scatter shot is useful for crowd control, and poison will help whittle down his HP if you keep applying it (BTW, Cephadrome goes down fast to a good poisoning, muhahaha!)

Man, the monster and equipment name changes between the languages have driven me nuts when I want to talk about MH, ever since I learned to read enough to play MH2. Off the top of my head, I recall

Ranpos::Velociprey
Genepos::Geneprey
Iapos::Ioprey
White Ranpos::Giaprey
Konga::Conga
Gizami::Hermitaur
Zazami::Ceanataur
Dos Ranpos::Velocidrome
Dos Fango::Bulldrome
Babakonga::Congalala
Gerios::Gypceros
Riorios::Rathalos
Rioria::Rathian
Gravimos::Gravios
Ganatotos:: Plesioth
Furufuru::Khezu
Miraboris::Fatalis
Oonazuchi::Chameleos

I'm missing half of them and that doesn't even get started on the weapons. Yea, I hate you Capcom for not localizing the PS2 version. All will be forgiven with MH3 though ... if you don't screw me over again, that is.

yalborap

IceBurner wrote: »

Ohhoho, you've just met Babakonga ... or is it Congalala? Green or higher sharpness trumps attack power every time. If you're gunning, make explosive ammo and carry a full load of the parts needed to make more, along with the combo books. Scatter shot is useful for crowd control, and poison will help whittle down his HP if you keep applying it (BTW, Cephadrome goes down fast to a good poisoning, muhahaha!)

Man, the monster and equipment name changes between the languages have driven me nuts when I want to talk about MH, ever since I learned to read enough to play MH2. Off the top of my head, I recall

Ranpos::Velociprey
Genepos::Geneprey
Iapos::Ioprey
White Ranpos::Giaprey
Konga::Conga
Gizami::Hermitaur
Zazami::Ceanataur
Dos Ranpos::Velocidrome
Dos Fango::Bulldrome
Babakonga::Congalala
Gerios::Gypceros
Riorios::Rathalos
Rioria::Rathian
Gravimos::Gravios
Ganatotos:: Plesioth
Furufuru::Khezu
Miraboris::Fatalis
Oonazuchi::Chameleos

I'm missing half of them and that doesn't even get started on the weapons. Yea, I hate you Capcom for not localizing the PS2 version. All will be forgiven with MH3 though ... if you don't screw me over again, that is.

I'm making some decent progress by now, getting a few actual missions done and got my first jewel for decorations.

So, let me ask you this; is there a list somewhere in-game or outside-of-game that tells me what all the skills actually correlate to?

Renzo

yalborap, pm me your email address and i'll send you almost everything you need in terms of online resources.

revolutionary bean

How about the Front Mission series?

Renzo

I think yalborap had a heart attack after I sent him that email.

vhzod

Has anyone said Mount and Blade? if so Mount and Blade! if not MOUNT AND BLADE
(www.taleworlds.com) too lazy to link it just copy and paste it god

Edit: Hey it autolinked it
Further Edit: Hey no sci fi or weapon customization guess I should have read more than half of your post... still mount and blade is awesome
Continuing edit: hey if you don't mind customizing mecha and primitive 2d graphics there's always Gearhead, Gearhead 2 (no idea what the link is)

Marty81

Heh, my recommendations were all practically in the OP.

Diablo II (try the Eastern Sun mod, it's fantastic and has tons of customization and weapons/gear upgrading abilities: http://homepage3.nifty.com/miyoshino/es/es3top.htm )
Morrowind
Oblivion

Those are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Kelor

BlueDestiny wrote: »

Off the top of my head:

Metal Fatigue

I'll recommend this as well. Giant customisable robots with a free RTS thrown in?


Try the demo out and see what you think, you play the second mission repeatedly with a bunch of different builds and see what works for you.

Your Combots can chop/hack/slice/blast off enemy robot components, which you can then either reattach to one of your current bots, or drag it back to your base to research and mass produce.

You can put jetpacks on them to and fly them up to the atmospheric layer as well once you learn the schematics.