Divinity 2 Ego Draconis (not to be confused with Divinity Original Sin 2) had a quite similar feel to me.

It is important to know that these are books for computer scientists more than for software engineers. They are basically mathematics textbooks, about the mathematics of algorithms. They focus on proving theorems rather than implementing useful algorithms.

There is a book called concrete mathematics that is sort of an introduction to TAOCP. If you’re interested in the basics that may be a good place to start. It has a better title than TAOCP in that it explicitly mentions mathematics, but also an equally bad one because it’s very much theoretical rather than concrete.

Box art back then was more akin to book cover art: an artist’s interpretation of the content. It never disappointed me. I even miss it sometimes. I used to collect images of box art even without the games, because it really was art.

Gen X: don’t quote the ancient piracy to me, Millennial. I was there for BBS and Napster.

Press and hold the Windows key, then tap the R. Let go of the windows key. Type cmd enter. Type format C:\ enter.

Sadly they “fixed” this.

I knew booze was the only way to make using a Mac bearable.

I was very excited when they announced GW2. Sadly it is a very different game from the first one, and while I can still enjoy the story, it is not really a game for me.

I suggest you play the first, then decide whether you want more.

Is it password1?

I refuse to think of 2000 as anything but the future where will all have flying cars.

Yep it’s the stuff they throw at you without warning, or even trick you into viewing, that’ll scar you.

Opinions will differ, but generally people really like the first and/or third. The second was rushed, and it shows, mostly by a ton of reused assets and locations.

The first is more loved by hardcore or oldschool RPG fans. The third is more action oriented, generally a lot more colourful, and very much larger. Its combat is generally liked more than the first (except, again, by CRPG fans).

All three have memorable characters.

You can save and stop playing whenever.

The world is dark - especially in the first game. There is slavery, racism, demons, and a few even darker topics. There are optional sex scenes, but they’re rather clean. One of the demon models is rather skimpy. But in the third game you can pick your time in the game while kids are watching to be mostly fun with bright colours and some fantasy fighting. That might be harder in the first.

There are similarities with Mass Effect, but they do play very differently. The dialog system is very similar in 2 and 3, as are the companion interactions in all three.

I recently finished Mass Effect Legendary, a very nice experience. I’m now starting Andromeda and so far I’m enjoying it a lot. The game is gorgeous! Its flaws may start showing later, but for now it’s great - and it’s not like the other ME games don’t have flaws.

Gothic 1 is my all time favourite RPG. 2 is everything a sequel “should” be: bigger, some mechanics improvements without losing the core, and (with the expansion) callbacks to 1 and familiar characters. And yet it also lost some of the atmosphere. This is why 1 will always be my favourite.

Despite that, it’s still a great game, and many people’s favourite. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I started playing through the series a few years ago, having never played them before (I finished Origins a while ago and am now on a break).

AC2 is quite playable still - in fact all of them are. But there are some things that I would’ve liked to know beforehand.

The keyboard and mouse controls are bad. Unity is the worst here: I’d try to run from an enemy and suddenly the character would decide to jump onto a fountain and run around on top of it. AC2 has less of this, but the parkour can feel clunky.

There are too many collectibles, and they all get icons on the map. It’s hard to ignore these, but in trying to collect everything I started to resent the games. To a lesser extent, the same is true for trying to get perfect scores on missions, or doing all side content. The problem is that some of the side content is actually good, but some is just filler and you can’t really know in advance.

Something that bothered me a lot: often you’d get a new mechanic thrown at you looong before the main story introduced that mechanic.

Overall my advice is to play the game - and others in the series - by picking and choosing what you want to do, not by trying to do or see everything.

I’m going through Mass Effect 3 now. When I started the series I thought it seemed good, but I didn’t really understand why it was so very popular. And then the story picked up, and I understood.

Then the opening scene of 2 came, and that was amazing. What a way to start a sequel.

Now in 3 I feel like they nailed the atmosphere. I can’t wait to see where the story goes.

+1 for The Talos Principle, it’s a very good game - but be warned it is less accessible than Portal. Where Portal gives visual clues to solutions, The Talos Principle actively hides them. Especially the bonus stars can get very hard.

Pff, with traffic jams you can do that without ever leaving Brussels.

I thought this might be an interesting read until I saw the blurb with 4 hashtags and 4 emoticons in just 4 sentences.