I’ve been playing some Mount & Blade: Warband and Dwarf Fortress lately. Both good games I’d recommend for very different reasons.

If you’re tired of the current gen games and want something new, try out Dwarf Fortress. Learning how to play this game is a truly refreshing experience, because it eludes almost all the usual video game conventions. The presentation is very hard to get used to, even with graphical tilesets, because of the extensive use of the z dimension in a 2D game : following a flying unit in real time is nigh impossible, and multi layer constructions hard to visualize. The interface is frustrating at first, requiring that the player learns all sorts of hotkeys and menu navigation sequences that are not at all intuitive and somewhat inconsistent. The actual gameplay is good for the first few forts , but not that great after that, unless you’re a very creative person that doesn’t repeat working designs, and likes to try out new things or optimize them to the extreme. Really, the most enjoyable time I’ve had with this game was learning how to play it. Be warned, that can take a long time…

Mount & Blade : Warband is a good action game with some light RPG and tactical elements. Don’t expect a fantastic story or developed characters, there are none of that. Most of the game is spent walking around on the main map, but the frequent battles against enemy troops can be quite engaging and intense, especially in first person mode while playing on normal player damage.

About your list :

* Overlord : not that great
* Neverwinter Nights 2 : go straight to Mask of the Betrayer or don’t play it at all
* Gothic 3 : play Gothic 2 : Night of the Raven instead, much better in everything except game world size and eye candy
* Mount & Blade : try out Warband
* Planescape: Torment : if you decide to play it, stick with it for some time, it takes time for the story to catch on but it’s worth it
* Fallout 1 and 2 : if you don’t have time for both, play the first one, it’s shorter and better
* Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura : very good RPG but it’s quite a long term investment, because the game is long and if you’re like me, you’ll have a hard time not starting 10+ characters just to see how things turn out or play differently.
* Dragon Age Origins: Awakening : skip it, the DA:O expansions or DLCs have very little to offer that the original game doesn’t already, and what little story they contain isn’t worth it.

man, mount and blade is alright, but warband is where it truly starts to show some polish and shine.
m&b warband looks better, plays better and is more fun than the original by half. plus more cities and another empire

You should at least try Stracraft 2. On a lower difficulty level it’s quite easy and fun. And the story, while not original or anything, is at least entertaining.

Regarding your list: Fallout and Arcanum are some of the games i played multiple times and I still find entertaining, so I’m glad to hear there’s going to be a new convert. Planescape is on my to do list for so long and never got to play it – always sidetracked by the shiny stuff of the month :( Also, I can recommend Temple of Elemental Evil as a solid nice game, although it has some annoying bugs here and there.

DAO:Awakening – meh, found it worst than the original (and DAO did not impress me that much).

Currently playing:
Dawn of War II – Chaos rising, Eve Online and Desktop Dungeon.

Regarding your queue:
I played several of them. Or more like half of them.
Overlord is really nasty fun. It’s most lovely part is the Imps when you send them on “go and destroy/plunder/pillage this” and you sit back and watch… Wonderful! All in all it took me about 20h to finish the storyline the first time (yeah, kinda slow). But you can have fun playing it again with a different weapon for your Overlord… although the story is spoiled once you know it :/

Planescape: Torment
Man, what a story! And so many side-quests… I got kinda lost in it and quit somewhere in the middle or so. Now it’s here and smiling at me from time to time, tempting me to come back and try again.
Really great RPG!

Fallout:
I simply loved these. The first much more, the second was a bit weird in equipment and story in my eyes but definitely enjoyable. Oh, the broken bones while power-armored wielding a club…

Arcanum is in it’s way unique that you can get immune to magic/technology if you learn enough technology/magic. And there’s numerous little quests and searches to keep you busy for days!

I’m playing Metro2033 at the moment (game to the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky). It’s FPS which I’d normally not really enjoy but it’s very intense in story and presentation of the world. Works for me…

Lately, I have been wasting my time on Starcraft 2 and couple of other games. Starcraft 2 is good game, but damn difficult at the same time.

I would recommend you to try Penumbra games, if you already haven’t. And Amnesia. Damn great game also.

As for my gaming queue, I am playing Amnesia and soon replaying both Mass Effects. Going to buy the new dlc also.

Are you going to get the new dlc for Me2?

I’ve got a huge queue – the fault of multiple systems – that I’m working on but here are the in-progress:

Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Fallout 3 (PS3)
Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox360)
Lost Planet (Xbox360)
Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii)
Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube)
Xenosaga II (PS2)
Eternal Poison (PS2)
Devil Summoner II (PS2)

@Karthik menitioned Penumbra: Overture — that’s one certainly worth a try (the sequel Penumbra: Black Plaque is even better in some aspects, the third part is quite different, more like Portal).

The same team just released a new HPL based horror game — http://www.amnesiagame.com/#main — I’m like 2/3 and it is really immersive and the story is also very good. Indie games are refreshing and this one is done very professionally.

I see Minecraft was mentioned, but I’m going to mention it again. It’s already a fantastic game despite still being in the early stages of development. Imagine mixing together a roguelike and Dwarf Fortress (fortress mode), and then giving it a first person view.

To get a quick idea of what it’s about, watch this video: X’s Adventures in Minecraft, Episode 1. (And if that got your attention, a full episode list.)

While there is exploration (it’s an infinite world), Luke, you seem to also like having a story. With Minecraft you have to make that up for yourself, so maybe it’s not your kind of thing. But I’ve been having a lot of fun with it, concentrating more on exploration than construction.

Not playing anything at the moment, but I have a few games installed and waiting for me:

1. Penumbra: Overture
2. Jade Empire (Apparently the worst Bioware game ever. You could make fun of this.)
3. Dawn of War II: Chaos rising
4. Psychonauts; I left the game when I was 3/4 through.
5. Deus Ex: Invisible War
6. Thief: Deadly Shadows

I just finished my second playthrough of Mass Effect, two years after I first played it. I simply loved it, more than I did ME2. ME3 right now would be great.

I’ve been playing League of Legends almost every night FOR ALMOST 6 MONTHS now. Which is a record for me. I’m notoriously fickle when it comes to games. Other games that have captured my recent interest are Recettear, Worms Reloaded and VVVVVV.

I heartily second Spelunky- that game is DEEP. Also Mount and Blade is very much worth your time.

Let me know if you give LoL a try- I’ll be happy to play with you!

(Yipe, I had to re-post this without all the embedded links- your blog no likey the links :) )