Classic Computer Game Intro's

The Classic and still best MMORPG around World of Warcraft is going strong today in the private server community. Check out Turtle WoW if you are looking for a Vanilla+ experience! https://turtle-wow.org/#/home

The quintessential WW2 Shooter that started a once great franchise. I highly recommend that anyone that enjoys WW2 shooters with vehicles go play this classic!

One of the best Online Shooters ever, hands down! What a great couple of years before BF3.... From the Wiki: Battlefield 2 is a sequel to Battlefield Vietnam, with many changes to the popular gameplay of the original. Many of these new gameplay features were added to the game with teamwork and collaboration in mind. The new game engine includes improved physics, dynamic lighting, and more realistic material penetration. Battlefield 2 is a multiplayer video game played via the Internet or on a local area network. A single-player mode with three difficulty levels is included. Both player modes use the same maps and use Battlefield's conquest game mode. Single-player mode allows 16 computer-controlled players[10] while Internet mode allows up to 64 players. Players can choose to play as the United States Marine Corps, the People's Liberation Army, or the "Middle Eastern Coalition". Additional factions are playable through the expansion packs, such as the European Union. Progress in the game is made via promotions which allow additional weapons to be unlocked. By playing the game on ranked servers, players are able to add to their global player statistics. These statistics are used to award promotions and other achievements. In Battlefield 2, players are divided into two opposing teams (which factions they represent is dependent upon the map). The key objective in Battlefield 2 is to reduce the opposing teams tickets. Tickets represent an army's ability to reinforce their position on the battlefield; each team has only a limited supply of tickets, and each casualty on the battlefield reduces the number of available tickets. Control points represent key points on the map, and are represented by flags. Control points are Battlefield 2's spawn points, and one team possessing a significant majority of the control points causes the other teams tickets to gradually decrease, regardless of casualties. A round ends when one team's tickets gone, the round's timer ends, or if at any point a team holds no control points, and has no soldiers alive on the battlefield (meaning they are not present in any way on the battlefield). Battlefield 2's two game modes are Conquest and Cooperative. The only difference between the two modes is that Cooperative includes computer-controlled players, whilst Conquest allows only human players. Results from Cooperative mode do not count toward global player statistics.

Expansion to a good game that never did get a fair shake. From the Wiki: Plot: The campaign begins a few months after the events of the original, with Major Sarah Parker and her comrades looking to get a way off the planet Krig-7b, on which they are stuck. Battling through Order of the New Dawn stragglers and newly arrived Crayven Corporation forces, the initial missions focus on getting deep space communications working, at the end of which Deacon Jared Stone is apparently killed. Sarah avenges his death, but feels the situation is lost as the communications array was also destroyed. Help arrives in the unlikely form of an Order the New Dawn battlecruiser that suddenly drops out of hyperspace and destroys its Crayven counterpart. The cruiser then dispatches dropships to the planet surface for Sarah and company. The onboard superior, Cardinal Kila Balor, explains the reason behind the rescue: She would like to hire the aid of Major Parker to destroy a splinter faction, the Second Dawn, which is not recognizing the Order of the New Dawn's authority and is involved in a "dark conspiracy". However, the official Order forces cannot move against the faction directly, fearing open civil war. By supplying Major Parker with untraceable information and finances, she can fight the Second Dawn on their behalf in secret. Major Parker accepts and contact is made with the new faction, the Phoenix Mercenaries. After an eventful campaign across three different planets, Major Parker and her new allies finally destroys the Second Dawn and slay its leader, only to be engaged in a new adventure: Amongst the spoils of war, Major Parker finds an imprisoned Enrica Hayes, former director of Crayven forces on Krieg-7b and an antagonist of the original video game. In exchange for her life and freedom, Enrica Hayes reveals that Deacon Stone is still alive and is being held in a prison facility at Calliope's moon. Major Parker and her mercenary forces invade Calliope's moon in an attempt to liberate Stone. Cardinal Balor and her forces, who want Stone killed for treason take this opportunity to invade at the same time. Thus, a three-sided battle between Crayven Corporation, Order of the New Dawn and Phoenix mercenaries takes place, during which Major Parker rescues Stone. Cardinal Balor herself enters the combat zone but is killed. In a short scene that takes place afterwards, it is revealed that the mysterious "dark conspiracy" was simply a lie invented by a mysterious person called "M" who has mysterious agendas. The game ends abruptly in a cliffhanger.

Ground Control was a good game that came out at a bad time for it's lack of polish. The gameplay was solid, RTS in the late 90's/early 2000's at its best, but the lack of UI polish really hurt it IMO. From the Wiki: Plot Following the aftermath of the Third World War (known in the game as "The Sixteen-Minute War") in the 25th century, mankind successfully rebuilds and begins colonization of several planets across the galaxy, while the Earth becomes ruled by the Global Central Command (GCC) - a council of elected representatives, including those from mega corporations that rose to power following the fall of Terran nations. Despite treaties set out by the GCC, conflict between the various powers spearheading colonization occurs daily, often over resources and trade routes. By the time the game begins, two powers assisting in colonization efforts, the Crayven Corporation and a religious sect known as the Order of the New Dawn, begin vying for total control over a distant world known as Krig 7-B. Major Sarah Parker, an officer for the Crayven Corporation, is assigned by Enrica Hayes, a director in the company working aboard one of their starships, the CSS Astrid, to lead ground operations on Krig 7-B. During her assignments, Parker fails to rescue a defector from the Order called Bishop Delondre, but receives a data disk from him concerning an Order operation known only as "Project Garm". Later into her operations while protecting an important Crayven facility, her team successfully secure an alien relic called a "Xenofact", which prompts Hayes to order the destruction of Order bases that have secured other Xenofacts. Eventually, after the Order's warship, the WCS Clergy, is driven from the planet's orbit, Crayven forces successfully destroy the Order's last remaining base in the planet's northern polar region, and gain control over a Xenofact far larger than had been seen in their campaign. Satisfied with Parker's efforts, Hayes orders Crayven forces to begin mopping up any Order stragglers left on the planet. Seeking to prevent the corporation from achieving total victory on Krig 7-B, two officers of the Order, Deacon Jarred Stone and Paladin Magnus, Stone's CO and an old friend, rally surviving troops in order to conduct a series of daring, guerrilla-styled hit and run missions, against high value targets of the Crayven, despite concerns that they fight a losing battle without the assistance of the Clergy. During their strikes, Stone and Magnus recover important data, which details more about Project Garm, providing insight on Delondre's motive for defecting. Magnus soon disappears shortly after Aegeri, a "Great Cardinal" of the Order, arrives on board the WCS Retribution, with much needed reinforcements. While Aegeri questions some of the targets that Magnus chose, he soon directs Stone into continuing his strikes against Crayven forces. During an assault on a Crayven airbase, Magnus contacts Stone for a secret meeting, passing on Delondre's ID code, among other codes, so that he can fully access all of the Project Garm data. After the mission, Stone discovers that both the Order and the Crayven seek control over the planet's Xenofacts. Shortly after a well organized Crayven assault is countered, resulting in the Order securing a Xenofact, Aegeri and Hayes meet and declare a ceasefire, forging an alliance between the two powers and creating a joint task-force aimed at unlocking the secrets of the Xenofacts. Angered and feeling betrayed, Stone reunites with Magnus to stop the alliance gaining full control over the Xenofacts, but their hidden base is soon besieged by a large Crayven force, leading Magnus to sacrificing himself in order for Stone and their troops to be safely extracted by Parker, who had discovered that Aegeri and Hayes had met up weeks before the ceasefire was announced. Working together alongside Magnus' friend Cole, a Crayven operative, they quickly discover that the Xenofacts found on the planet were among many created by an alien civilisation more than a million years ago, as part of an ancient, galaxy-wide fail-safe system designed to counter an invasion, in which each Xenofact contains a powerful war machine within it that can only be activated from Krig 7-B. The group quickly realise that both the Crayven and the Order sought control over the system so as to use it to gain complete control over the galaxy, and that Aegeri and Hayes now plan to carry this out together. Seeking to stop this, Stone, Parker and Cole launch a desperate assault on the huge Xenofact, killing Aegeri while successfully destroying the artifact with DXT charges, which destroys the Retribution and sends both Hayes and the Astrid elsewhere in the system. While Parker, Cole and Stone celebrate their victory and saving millions of lives while trying to figure out how to leave Krig 7-B, Hayes contacts her boss in the Crayven Corporation and reports her failure at utilizing the Xenofacts, to which her employer remarks that there are still other ways to win control of the galaxy, as the Astrid drifts through space.

From the Wiki: Story: R.A. Salvatore wrote the game's script,[3] which begins with Rannek, a human fighter, stumbling across a battle between two orc armies. As he comes to the aid of wood elves captured by the orcs, a half-drow, half-elf named Zhai and a sorcerer named Illius join the battle. Ultimately, Rannek, Zhai, and Illius are driven into the nearby Gemspark Mines by a dragon, Caminus. Inside the mines, they accidentally release the warlords Ygorl and Cireka from their imprisonment in a Demon Stone. The three escape from the warlords and decide to join forces to imprison them again. After evacuating the nearby wood-elf village of Cedarleaf, attacked by Cireka and her Githyanki soldiers, they visit Illius' mentor, Khelben Blackstaff, for advice. He says that they will need a new Demon Stone; one could be found in the possession of the Yuan-ti people. As the three leave, Ygorl arrives riding Caminus and attacks Khelben's tower. The tower is destroyed as the three escape. After they defeat the Yuan-ti and claim the Demon Stone, they go to see Drizzt Do'Urden, a drow that does not follow the normally cruel ways of his people, hoping he can help them find Cireka. He directs them to an abandoned portal in the Underdark, as that would be where she would feel most comfortable. When they find the portal, they also find Cireka and her Githyanki horde ready to make use of it. As the three battle the Githyanki, Ygorl arrives with his Slaad horde. Illius tries to imprison the two warlords in the Demon Stone, but Ygorl forces himself and Cireka through the portal before Illius can succeed. The three follow the warlords through the portal to the lair of Caminus. There, Cireka is killed by the dragon, and Ygorl flees through another portal. The three work together to slay Caminus, then pursue Ygorl through the portal. The portal takes them back to Gemspark Mines. After fighting their way past Ygorl's hoard, they use a portal that leads to Limbo, where Ygorl waits for them. There, the heroes engage in a final duel with Ygorl, ultimately slaying him. They are welcomed back at Cedarleaf as heroes. Here, Khelben Blackstaff arrives through a portal, having survived the assault on his tower. He brings them the king's thanks and the offer of the untamed land of Vaasa to be their own, he also mentions that the Githyanki would aim to retrieve the "Silver Sword", previously owned by Cireka, as it is an ancient artifact. However, Rannek concludes by saying: "Let them try". Gameplay: Players have control over all three characters and can change character at any time (after all three main heroes arrive).[1] There are many fighting moves, and players must use each character's skills to play the game effectively. Rannek uses a sword and breaks things with his gauntlets. Illius fights with a staff and uses magic (the game's most powerful ranged attack; the other two can throw knives (Zhai) or axes (Rannek)). Zhai uses two daggers and becomes invisible in shadows—this is useful for sneaking up on enemies and killing them. Bosses overpower characters in one-on-one fighting but can be defeated with the combined power of all three heroes. Although much of the game is hack-and-slash, there are several tasks that require the use of various skills.

I never had a chance to play this 1999 classic but it's box art always intrigued me as a kid. From the Wiki: Age of Wonders is a turn-based strategy game that takes place from an isometric perspective, which consists of hexagonal tiles. Units are arranged into groups (also known as parties or stacks) of up to eight units; a single such group occupies one tile. Cities occupy between one and four tiles, and other structures generally occupy a single tile. Units within the game have a limited number of movement points, which are replenished at the beginning of each turn. Two turn systems are used - sequential (or "classic"), where players take their turns in order, or simultaneous, where all players can move units at once. In practice, actions in the latter system are added and executed via a queue. The game has a single-player campaign, playable from two sides (more campaigns have been made by the community since release), and many maps, both included and user-created that can be played in Hotseat mode, over a LAN, on the Internet, or by email (PBEM). Up to 12 players can participate in a single game, depending on the map. Simultaneous turns are only available in single player and live multiplayer games; PBEM and hotseat games, and all combat, use the sequential turn system. Each player leads a certain race. There are 12 races available in the game, though not all of them may be present on every map, and of those which are, not all may be playable. List of races includes traditional fantasy Elves, Lizardmen, Humans, Goblins, Dark Elves, Undead, Orcs, Dwarves and Halflings, as well as several unique ones such as Frostlings, Azracs, and Highmen. Races, as well as units not belonging to any specific race, such as dragons and giants, have a certain alignment, which can be good, neutral, or evil. According to their alignment and certain other factors, cities and independent units of one race can be friendly or hostile towards another race. This can manifest itself in different ways; for example, an orc city is not likely to surrender to the elves, and if conquered, may revolt unless there is a strong military presence in it to oppress the population. Units of hostile races forced to fight alongside each other in a single group will have lower morale, and are more likely to desert. Race relations can be improved by acts of goodwill towards other races, such as upgrading their cities, or hampered by razing, looting, or migrating cities belonging to that race. Diplomacy can also affect this and even an alliance with one race might affect the relation of another race. There are also several spells which have a global effect on race relations.

Dragonshard was one of those games with an awesome idea but with a UI that really held it back. That being said, if you love cheesy storylines from the DnD universe I highly recommend this one! From the Wiki: Dragonshard combines aspects of real-time strategy (RTS), and role-playing games (RPGs).[1] Games take place on dual level maps divided into the surface world of Eberron, and the underground realm of Khyber. Units travel between the surface, and the underground through gateways that are fixed on each map. The surface map features traditional RTS gameplay: the player builds and develops base structures, gathers resources, and amasses, and upgrades an army.[1] Unlike most real-time strategy games, all units are available at the beginning of the game, rather than having prerequisites to allow their construction.[1] There are three player-controllable factions in the game: the Order of the Flame, the Lizardfolk, and the Umbragen.

I only ever got to try the Demo for this one once again but back in 1999 I thought it was interesting but I was left disappointed. I think it had to do with my expectation of this being Lord of the Realms II but with magical powers etc. This one was more of a Hero's of Might and Magic game and at that time I didn't understand that. I've recently tried replaying it but for me the interface and gameplay are just not there to keep me interested. From the WIki: Lords of Magic is a turn-based strategy Microsoft Windows game designed for Windows 95/98 by Sierra On-Line. The game was intended to combine elements of Heroes of Might and Magic II and Lords of the Realm II. The special edition also contains the Legends of Urak quest pack, a set of five individual quests that revolve around stories unrelated to the main plot of the game. Gameplay The world is filled with wandering monsters and fixed buildings filled with monsters. Lords of Magic is notably different from other strategy games in that it has only one map, with each faith starting at a different location. This results in a somewhat repetitive nature, counteracted somewhat by a supplied map editor. Throughout the game, players travel across the high-hantasy land of Urak (which is split into 8 distinct regions, one for each faith), building an army composed of archers, infantry, cavalry, and creatures. The overworld map gameplay is turn-based; here, players manage cities and move their armies. When beginning a battle, the gameplay switches to real-time. Champions and Lords can be equipped with treasures found throughout dungeons or from other factions. As the game progresses, many faithless marauding parties will attempt to disrupt the faith's economies and progress. There is also a loose diplomacy system that can be used to interact with other factions as well for trade or the exchange of research. The main goal of the game is to defeat Balkoth, Lord of Death, by any means necessary. After finishing the game once, players can begin a new game as Balkoth with the goal of conquering all of Urak. Story The game takes place in the land of Urak. The people of this world worship one of eight religions. Each religion has an opposite in the circle of life and the people of those faiths are bitter enemies. The atmosphere of the game is high fantasy, loosely inspired by the works of Tolkien, as well as Dungeons and Dragons. Balkoth, the lord of Death, has embarked on a campaign to destroy all other faiths in honor of the dark god Golgoth. The other lords scramble to expand their ranks to defend themselves against this dark threat but also to once and for all destroy their lifelong nemesis. Each faith has its own weaknesses and strengths. One of these considerations is that each faith's polar opposite (e.g., Chaos vs. Order, Fire vs. Water) begins the game extremely hostile to its counterpart. Diplomacy is possible between these factions but difficult. However, all faiths (other than Death itself, which strives for global conquest) have the same ultimate goal: to defeat Death. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

I never got a chance to play this one when it was originally released but it's a good one! From the Wiki: Divine Divinity is an action role-playing game with a top-down camera angle and controlled primarily through the mouse. Its gameplay is focused on hack and slash combat and has significant similarities to Diablo, with features such as random equipment generation and a wide set of skills organized into archetypes. Unlike Diablo, Divine Divinity also features a significant amount of traditional computer role-playing game elements such as branching conversation trees, non-combat skills like lockpicking, pickpocketing, and bartering, and a reputation and disposition system to track how NPCs will react to the player. The game also incorporates point-and-click elements which allows the player to move and manipulate certain items in the world. For example, a barrel can be clicked and dragged to move it, revealing that a key is underneath it, or a hay bale can be clicked to spread it out and provide a bed for the player to rest. The skill system, which would become a staple in later Divinity games, allows a character of any starting class to learn any skill.[2] The system of attributes is also open-ended, allowing the player to develop their character in any direction regardless of their initial class.[3] Plot: Two thousand years before the game begins, those who sat on the Council of Seven in the land of Rivellon sacrificed themselves in the fight against a group of treacherous magicians, who had passed over to the dark side of magic.[4] To remember the Council of Seven, the "Divine Order" was founded to pass on the knowledge of the wise men to the next generations. At the beginning of the game, the player wakes up in a house in Aleroth, a town of healers. It is revealed that Mardaneus, leader of the town, has gone crazy, and the player is asked to help by traveling into the catacombs beneath the town to stop the undead mage Thelyron, who is driving Mardaneus mad. Once Thelyron is put to rest, Mardaneus appears to bring the player back to the surface. With the crisis in Aleroth resolved, the player leaves to explore, and is ambushed by a dragon rider, but is saved by the appearance of the wizard Zandalor, who explains that the player is one of three Marked Ones, and asks the player to meet him at an inn. Shortly thereafter, the other two Marked Ones are discovered dead, leaving only the player. The player is invited to come to Castle Stormfist, home of Duke Janus, a young noble who claims to be the Divine, a messiah prophesied to protect Rivellon against the summoning of the demon Chaos. The player is forced to do menial tasks for Janus, and no matter what they do, they end up in a dungeon, and have to fight their way out. Once free, Zandalor takes the player to where the Council of Seven met, and explains that in order to find the real Divine, the heirs to the Council of Seven have to be brought together. In doing so, the player learns more about the way events have been manipulated by the Black Ring, the evil organization dedicated to bringing the demon Chaos back to Rivellon; the orcs have been goaded into attacking humans, and the elves and dwarves are poised at the brink of war, until the player reveals the manipulation going on. As the new council members assemble to complete the ritual that will turn the player into the Divine, Duke Janus appears, revealing himself to be the Demon of Lies, in league with the Black Ring and seeking to summon Chaos. The council is attacked and a number of the members slain, along with the player. The player returns to life, however, with new abilities as the Divine, and is able to reach the fortress where the Black Ring is summoning Chaos. The Divine defeats Janus, but finds a baby who was picked to be the vessel of Chaos, lying on the summoning altar, and carries the baby out in their arms. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

I only ever played the Demo as a kid and always wondered why they slapped the "Total Annihilation" tag on the title. I always thought that a different title would have done better. From the Wiki: Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, or shortened to Kingdoms, is a real-time strategy game developed and released by Cavedog Entertainment on June 25, 1999. It was the last major title from Cavedog. An expansion pack, The Iron Plague, was released in 2000. The game was released with a book titled The Chronicles of Darien which contained the storyline, rules, units, et cetera. Gameplay: The game is played from a bird's eye perspective. Players choose between four factions - Aramon, Veruna, Taros and Zhon (As well as Creon, in the Iron Plague expansion), all of which start with a monarch, who is initially used to build structures and form an army. The monarch itself also possesses an array of spells which it can use to defend itself or turn the tide of the battle. While in single-player mode, victory is accomplished by following each scenario's objectives, multiplayer mode offers victory by the destruction of all the faction's units and structures or simply the monarch alone. Unlike Total Annihilation, players utilize a single resource (Mana), which can be generated and increased by building resource-gathering Lodestones in special locations. However, like in Total Annihilation, players can recycle debris/carcasses of fallen units and structures as well as natural objects of the map, like trees and stones, to acquire instant amounts of mana. Comparison to Total Annihilation: Total Annihilation: Kingdoms is the second installment of the Total Annihilation franchise. Although the game is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the original Total Annihilation, comparisons between the two games are inevitable. There are numerous thematic and design differences between Total Annihilation and Kingdoms. -A more in-depth storyline, told with cutscenes between missions, just as Total Annihilation had, but with more detail -A change from a futuristic to a fantasy setting -Simplified resource management, with just one resource (mana) instead of two (metal, energy) -Four sides at the start, as opposed to the original's two, with an expansion pack that added a fifth -While the original Total Annihilation has players playing through the Core or Arm campaigns separately, Kingdoms switches between the four groups, players playing each side as the levels progress. Unlike the original Total Annihilation, which has most of the units on its two factions virtually the same, other than in appearance, Kingdoms has very distinct characteristics between factions. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

I first played this on my fathers work computer (Demo only) and my love of history met a great game at last! This game was HARD for me to play back then. This was so much fun back then and while aged a bit, it still is playable today. There is an updated version on steam but the original still plays on Windows 10 today! From the Wiki: Age of Empires (AoE) is a real-time strategy video game based on history, developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, and the first game in the Age of Empires series. The game uses the Genie Engine, a 2D sprite-based game engine. The game allows the user to act as the leader of an ancient civilization by advancing it through four ages (the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages), gaining access to new and improved units with each advance. Age of Empires requires the player to develop a civilization from a handful of hunter-gatherers to an expansive Iron Age Empire. To assure victory, the player must gather resources in order to pay for new units, buildings and more advanced technology. Resources must be preserved, as no new resources become available as the game progresses; for example, trees that are cut down will not grow back. Twelve civilizations are available, each with individual sets of attributes, including a varying number of available technologies and units. Each civilization has technologies unique to them, so that no civilization possesses all the technologies possible within the game.[6] A major component of the game is the advancement through four ages. These are the Stone Age (Mesolithic/Nomad/Paleolithic), the Tool Age (Neolithic/Chalcolithic), the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Advancement between ages is researched at the Town Center, and each advancement brings the player new technologies, weapons, and units. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

This game blew me away when I first played it. For me it was the first time I had a computer capable of playing a real 3D RPG and my favorite race....Dwarves! Many Friday nights in Highschool involved Lan parties with this game! From the Wiki: Neverwinter Nights (NWN), produced by BioWare and published by Infogrames (now Atari), is a third-person perspective computer role-playing game that is based on third edition Dungeons & Dragons rules, set in the Sword Coast, centering around the City of Skilled Hands, Neverwinter. Plot: The story begins in 1372 DR with the player character being sent by Lady Aribeth to recover four monsters needed to make a cure for the Wailing Death, a plague that is sweeping the city of Neverwinter. With the help of Fenthick Moss, Aribeth’s love interest, and Desther, Fenthick’s friend, the player character is able to retrieve the monsters. As he is collecting these monsters, he is attacked by mysterious assassins from the cult that is behind the spreading of the plague. As the cure is being made, Castle Neverwinter is attacked by Desther’s minions. He takes the completed cure and escapes the castle, with the player character and Fenthick in pursuit. When they catch up to Desther, he surrenders after a short battle. Desther is sentenced to burn at the stake, and Fenthick, despite being unaware of Desther’s true intentions, is sentenced to hang. The player character meets up with Aribeth and they begin searching for the cult responsible for the plague and the attack on Neverwinter. With the help of Aarin Gend, Neverwinter's spymaster, the player character retrieves diaries of dead cultists and letters from a person named Maugrim, which convinced Aribeth that the cult's headquarters are in Luskan. Aribeth goes ahead to Luskan, and the player character follows after speaking once more to Gend. After arriving in Luskan, the player character hears rumors that Aribeth is joining with the cultists. These fears are confirmed when he finds her meeting with Maugrim and Morag, Queen of the Old Ones. They seek magical relics called Words of Power. The player character retrieves all of the Words of Power except for one, held by the cult. He discovers that the words open a portal to a pocket world inside the Source Stone, where Morag and the other Old Ones are. He confronts Aribeth, and depending on how he handles the meeting, she either surrenders to the player character or he is forced to kill her. He then confronts Maugrim for the final word. He uses the words to enter the Source Stone and battle with Morag. After Morag's death, he escapes the stone as the world inside it implodes. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Zone66...I had the shareware version of this as a kid and I can't tell you how many hours I played on our old 486. The music in this game was and still is amazing. The gameplay is pretty simple by todays standards but back then it was amazing! From the Wiki: Zone 66 is a top down, multidirectional shooter released in 1993 for IBM PC compatibles as shareware. The game was created by a North American Demo Scene group called Renaissance, and was published by Epic MegaGames. The game shipped on a self-booting disk, so it could bypass MS-DOS and load into a custom protected mode environment. Plot: In the distant future, an ex-GSA pilot has been tipped by a stranger that his hometown is in danger, but by the time he reaches the city limits, a nuclear bomb destroys the city along with his beloved wife and baby girl. The pilot uses a ship on a landing pad to meet with the stranger at a certain location. When the pilot reaches the location, he finds the stranger is dying but obtains some vital information. The pilot then gets a fighter plane and heads to a group of islands to begin his vigilante revenge. As the pilot progresses from nation to nation destroying each base, the plot thickens and he begins to understand who and what he is dealing with and why the terrorism started. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Still fire this one up and play through a "Campaign" at least once a year. Can't beat one of the Original arena shooters. From the Wiki: Plot: During the Human–Skaarj war, the New Earth Government was formed. Mining was the primary method of financing the war, but was unpopular with the working class, who grew weary of the working conditions and the war. The humans were losing the war, and riots broke out. The Terran system was surrounded by Skaarj forces, but a government team destroyed their mothership, and the Skaarj withdrew. Afterward, mining incidents were on the increase, and efforts to deal with them were unsuccessful. The government then came up with the idea of giving the violence an outlet instead. "Consensual murder" was legalized in the year 2291, enabling people to fight to the death under organized conditions. The Liandri Mining Corporation worked with the government and organized leagues and public exhibitions. Soon, these matches became more profitable than mining, and Liandri formed a professional league to compete in a "Grand Tournament", the most popular event in the sport. The game takes place in 2341, fifty years after the fights were first legalized. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Warcraft 2 took what made Warcraft so much fun and made it even better! The graphics, story, interface and gameplay were all improved in this sequel! My friends and I played this for hours in the late 90's at lunch on classroom computers. So many good memories! From the Wiki: The Second War The First War brought the Fall of Azeroth, following the Orc campaign in Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The survivors of Azeroth have fled by sea to the Human kingdom of Lordaeron, and the Orcs have decided to conquer Lordaeron, in what is known as the Second War. Both sides have acquired allies and new capabilities, including naval and air units, and more powerful spellcasters.[3] In the Second War, the Orcs are successful at first, but the Humans and their allies take the initiative,[18] partly thanks to an Orc rebellion initiated by the warlock Gul'dan, who seeks to raise the sunken Tomb of Sargeras.[19] Eventually, the Alliance forces push the Horde to Blackrock Spire, but Anduin Lothar, commander of the Alliance, is slain there.[20] At the final battle around the Dark Portal in Azeroth,[18] the Alliance exterminates one Orc clan and captures the Orc supreme commander and the remnants of his forces. Hoping to avoid further invasions, the Alliance destroys the Dark Portal. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ https://rumble.com/user/Gamingpast30 https://parler.com/#/user/Gamingpast30 *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Warcraft One has and always will be my favorite Warcraft game. Not because it is the best or even plays well today, but more for the fact that it got me into the Warcraft Universe! From the Wiki: The Orcs originated from another world, Draenor, where the orcs, once a peaceful race, became bloodthirsty from the blood of a pitlord. However, their Warlocks remained aloof, devoting their time to the research of magic. The Warlocks noticed a rift between the dimensions and, after many years, opened a small portal to another world. One Warlock explored and found a region, called Azeroth by its Human inhabitants, from which the Warlock returned with strange plants as evidence of his discovery.[21] The Orcs enlarged the portal until they could transport seven warriors, who massacred a Human village. The raiding party brought back samples of good food and fine workmanship, and a report that the Humans were defenseless. The Orcs' raiding parties grew larger and bolder, until they assaulted Azeroth's principal castle. However, the Humans had been training warriors of their own, especially the mounted, heavily armed Knights. These, assisted by Human Sorcerers, gradually forced the Orcs to retreat through the portal, which the Humans had not discovered.[21] For the next fifteen years, one faction of Orcs demanded that the portal be closed. However a chief of exceptional cunning realized that the Humans, although out-numbered, had prevailed through the use of superior tactics, organization, and by magic. He united the clans, imposed discipline on their army and sought new spells from the Warlocks and Necromancers. Their combined forces were ready to overthrow the Humans.[21] _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Unfortunately I wasn't able to play the Command and Conquer series until Tiberian Sun but wow what a series! I still remember grabbing a number edition of C&C 3 launch day! Couldn't recommend this series enough! With the Remastered versions reaching Steam last year there is little excuse to not play these games if you love strategy games! From the Wiki: Command & Conquer was released worldwide by Westwood in 1995. The plot is set sometime in the near future where the Earth becomes contaminated by a mysterious substance known as Tiberium. A global war ensues between the UN-formed Global Defense Initiative to contain it and the cult quasi-state revolutionary Brotherhood of Nod, led by the enigmatic Kane, which seeks to harness it. Highly successful, it was followed by Command & Conquer: Red Alert in 1996 which is set in an alternate universe where the Soviet Union wages war with the Allies. Developed as the prequel to the original, the Red Alert series was spun off into a separate, lighthearted and comic series, while the original game and its sequels became known as the "Tiberium" series, retaining its science fiction and serious tone. The first game is sometimes referred to as Tiberian Dawn as a result. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

The Soundtrack to this classic ground breaking strategy game still graces my work playlist. Such a solid game still today, pick up the remastered version today! From the Wiki: Command & Conquer: Red Alert takes place in a parallel universe. At the Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1946, Albert Einstein prepares to travel back in time. He activates his experimental time machine to find himself in Landsberg, Germany, on December 20, 1924, where he meets a young Adolf Hitler just after the latter's release from Landsberg Prison. Following a brief conversation between the two, Einstein shakes Hitler's hand, which erases him from the timeline. Hitler's death prevents him from rising to power as leader of Nazi Germany, which creates a new timeline. Without Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union grows powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The USSR seizes land from China, India and then invades Eastern Europe, to achieve Joseph Stalin's vision of a Soviet Union stretching across the entire Eurasian landmass. In response, the countries of Europe (including an already-rearmed Germany) form the Allied Nations and start a guerrilla war against the invading Soviet Army. Over the course of the game's story, the Allies and Soviets fight for control over the European mainland in an alternate World War II. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

Diablo...so many good memories of playing the "Spawn/shareware" version on my fathers work computer(Our home PC was a windows 3.1 beast that lasted until 2001!). Diablo 2 was good but never surpassed 1 in pure enjoyment for me. From the Wiki: Diablo is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Blizzard North and released by Blizzard Entertainment in January 1997. Set in the fictional Kingdom of Khanduras in the mortal realm, the player controls a lone hero battling to rid the world of Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Beneath the town of Tristram, the player journeys through sixteen randomly generated dungeon levels, ultimately entering Hell in order to face Diablo. _____________________________________________ Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30/ *NEW* I am now a Humble Partner! Not sure what a Humble Bundle is? Check them out for great discounts and support charity at the same time! https://www.humblebundle.com/?partner=gp30&charity=3843

In the dystopian future of the year 2052, society slowly spirals into chaos. A lethal virus, the “Gray Death”, ravages the world. The only vaccine, “Ambrosia”, is in such short supply, it is only available to those wealthy enough and deemed “vital to the social order”. With no hope for a cure for the common people, riots occur worldwide and a number of terrorist organizations have formed. As a response, the United Nations has created The United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO). You assume the role of JC Denton, a nanotechnologically augmented UNATCO agent. After completing his training, JC gets slowly plunged into the world of augmentations, human misery, and conspiracies, determined to uncover the truth behind the real world order.

Such a great game! Really enjoyed lunch time in middle school and playing this on one of our teachers computers! Social Media links: Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/gamingpast30

One of the best Medieval Strategy games from the mid 90s!