Hey, guys, I was reading a thread at the Order forum and I thought it would be cool to ruin Kharn's list by guessing the remaining five games from the current contents of his desktop:
Okay, so I'm pretty sure that the number one spot is reserved for RoA2: Star Trail, while the second spot will most likely be occupied by Fallout. Moreover, since Kharn seems to enjoy abusing the unwritten rules of Top 10 list composition, he will most likely lump both Fallout games together, which means we have to discern only three more games.
I think we can immediately eliminate recent titles like Dragon Age, King's Bounty, Borderlands and Geneforge 5 (or any Geneforge for that matter - Kharn may claim to enjoy them, but we all know he is secretly a graphics whore and would never hold an ugly-ass Spiderweb game in such high esteem). The same goes for mainstream crap like KotOR (like Kharn could ever love a BioWare game).
Furthermore, Kharn is not a big fan of adventure games, so we can safely eliminate Beneath a Steel Sky and Sanitarium (which he only started playing just now, anyway).
In addition to that, he publicly lambasted Gothic III, so it's very unlikely to appear in his list. We do know that Kharn is a fan of the original Gothic, but I don't think he is so enamored with it as to elevate it among his top five favorite games ever. Plus, I don't see a Gothic shortcut on his desktop, implying that Gothic isn't currently installed on his system and therefore very unlikely to feature on his list.
Dungeon crawlers and hack 'n slashers like Daggerfall and Mount&Blade are obviously too hardcore for our effeminate Dutch friend (his affection for RoA notwithstanding), so they are out of the picture, too. In fact, I'm rather amazed that he has Daggerfall installed at all and am willing to bet that it's just a sad relic of some half-hearted playthrough that got abandoned about two hours into the game.
So that leaves us with the following:
- Streets of Rage series
- Warcraft II
- Blood Bowl
- Betrayal at Krondor
- Pathologic
- an unidentified HoMM game
Of these, I'm most inclined to eliminate Blood Bowl. Though Kharn seems to be playing that game quite obsessively, I'd say it's much too recent to be a candidate for his favorite games list. For all his deficiencies as a game aesthete, Kharn could hardly be qualified as some trend-chasing console kid whose top five games always change to reflect the cover of the current issue of OXM.
The next game I would eliminate is Pathologic. Kharn may be a Russophile, but I doubt his gameplay experience in Pathologic was entirely unaffected by the game's glaring flaws, such as poor English translation and often tedious errand-based gameplay structure.
So we are left with four games, one of which is actually a series. Warcraft II and HoMM both have very polished and addictive gameplay and are rightfully counted among the greatest games in their respective genres. I'm willing to bet at least one of them occupies a spot on Kharn's list. Most likely Warcraft II, as I know he praised the shit out of the Warcraft series on more than one occasion.
Streets of Rage is a most puzzling presence on Kharn's desktop. We all know Kharn was a console kiddie in his younger years, and I strongly suspect he wouldn't have installed those old beat 'em ups unless he intended to replay them for the purpose of adding them to this list. Plus, the fact that all three SoR games are installed indicates a methodical approach - Kharn didn't simply pick up his favorite SoR game with the intent of playing it a bit for old times' sake. Instead, he intends to play through all three titles so he could give a better overview/juxtaposition. Overall, I'd say one or more SoR games will almost certainly make an appearance on his list (and again, Kharn will likely lump the whole series into one spot) - possibly spot 5, as SoR shortcuts are on top of the stack, indicating a degree of priority over other games on Kharn's desktop.
Finally, we have Betrayal at Krondor. A story-driven RPG with turn-based isometric combat, Betrayal at Krondor is precisely the kind of game Kharn would adore, or would have adored in his RoA-playing days. It is also a very probable candidate for the 5th spot - a game like that certainly demands a complete replay before an accurate and objective overview can be given, and it also demands a lot of time, which would explain why Kharn keeps delaying the next update.
Overall, here is my serious guess at Kharn's top five:
1. RoA2
2. Fallout series
3. Warcraft II
4. Streets of Rage series
5. Betrayal at Krondor
So, how am I faring?
Okay, so I'm pretty sure that the number one spot is reserved for RoA2: Star Trail, while the second spot will most likely be occupied by Fallout. Moreover, since Kharn seems to enjoy abusing the unwritten rules of Top 10 list composition, he will most likely lump both Fallout games together, which means we have to discern only three more games.
I think we can immediately eliminate recent titles like Dragon Age, King's Bounty, Borderlands and Geneforge 5 (or any Geneforge for that matter - Kharn may claim to enjoy them, but we all know he is secretly a graphics whore and would never hold an ugly-ass Spiderweb game in such high esteem). The same goes for mainstream crap like KotOR (like Kharn could ever love a BioWare game).
Furthermore, Kharn is not a big fan of adventure games, so we can safely eliminate Beneath a Steel Sky and Sanitarium (which he only started playing just now, anyway).
In addition to that, he publicly lambasted Gothic III, so it's very unlikely to appear in his list. We do know that Kharn is a fan of the original Gothic, but I don't think he is so enamored with it as to elevate it among his top five favorite games ever. Plus, I don't see a Gothic shortcut on his desktop, implying that Gothic isn't currently installed on his system and therefore very unlikely to feature on his list.
Dungeon crawlers and hack 'n slashers like Daggerfall and Mount&Blade are obviously too hardcore for our effeminate Dutch friend (his affection for RoA notwithstanding), so they are out of the picture, too. In fact, I'm rather amazed that he has Daggerfall installed at all and am willing to bet that it's just a sad relic of some half-hearted playthrough that got abandoned about two hours into the game.
So that leaves us with the following:
- Streets of Rage series
- Warcraft II
- Blood Bowl
- Betrayal at Krondor
- Pathologic
- an unidentified HoMM game
Of these, I'm most inclined to eliminate Blood Bowl. Though Kharn seems to be playing that game quite obsessively, I'd say it's much too recent to be a candidate for his favorite games list. For all his deficiencies as a game aesthete, Kharn could hardly be qualified as some trend-chasing console kid whose top five games always change to reflect the cover of the current issue of OXM.
The next game I would eliminate is Pathologic. Kharn may be a Russophile, but I doubt his gameplay experience in Pathologic was entirely unaffected by the game's glaring flaws, such as poor English translation and often tedious errand-based gameplay structure.
So we are left with four games, one of which is actually a series. Warcraft II and HoMM both have very polished and addictive gameplay and are rightfully counted among the greatest games in their respective genres. I'm willing to bet at least one of them occupies a spot on Kharn's list. Most likely Warcraft II, as I know he praised the shit out of the Warcraft series on more than one occasion.
Streets of Rage is a most puzzling presence on Kharn's desktop. We all know Kharn was a console kiddie in his younger years, and I strongly suspect he wouldn't have installed those old beat 'em ups unless he intended to replay them for the purpose of adding them to this list. Plus, the fact that all three SoR games are installed indicates a methodical approach - Kharn didn't simply pick up his favorite SoR game with the intent of playing it a bit for old times' sake. Instead, he intends to play through all three titles so he could give a better overview/juxtaposition. Overall, I'd say one or more SoR games will almost certainly make an appearance on his list (and again, Kharn will likely lump the whole series into one spot) - possibly spot 5, as SoR shortcuts are on top of the stack, indicating a degree of priority over other games on Kharn's desktop.
Finally, we have Betrayal at Krondor. A story-driven RPG with turn-based isometric combat, Betrayal at Krondor is precisely the kind of game Kharn would adore, or would have adored in his RoA-playing days. It is also a very probable candidate for the 5th spot - a game like that certainly demands a complete replay before an accurate and objective overview can be given, and it also demands a lot of time, which would explain why Kharn keeps delaying the next update.
Overall, here is my serious guess at Kharn's top five:
1. RoA2
2. Fallout series
3. Warcraft II
4. Streets of Rage series
5. Betrayal at Krondor
So, how am I faring?
