Best PC Game that's not on the PC?

[Drinking with Skeletons]

We all know that there are games on the PC that aren't really PC games. They may be awesome in any number of ways, but they don't truly embrace the platform or the many nuances of the PC gamer demographic. However, the other side of that coin are the titles that appear on consoles that don't really feel like console games, or at least not as we currently define them.

To give an example and kick things off, I'm playing Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together for the PSP. Between the extremely elaborate, branching plot, achingly slow, turn-based battles, and miles-deep, Excel-like menus, the game is almost anti-console, and it is awesome. I don't know how well it has sold--I expect "poorly" would sum it up--but its the kind of title that would assuredly have made waves in the PC gamer market (or at least on RPS!) had it, y'know, been a PC game.

So what titles can you think of that exist on consoles which would be better-suited for and/or better-received on the PC?

[Pew pew LAZORS!]

Tons of little indie games and games from smaller studios that are only on Xbox and PS3 market, stuff like Noby Noby Boy and Double fine games.

[Gentleman Jim Stacey]

Red Dead Redemption and The Darkness for recent examples.

[Shane]

Hmm... Alan Wake is the first one that comes to mind. Then there's RDR, I really wish Rockstar were porting RDR instead of LA Noire to the pc.
Demon's Souls and the MGS series should have been on pc too.

And, oh god, there's Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, I really wanted that one to come to the pc.

[Xercies]

Fire Emblem and Advance Wars come to mind, bloody hell give me those with PC style graphics and I will be playing for years.

On another note Valkyria Chrinicles is kind of that game, unfortunately its not on PC. But it bloody is a PC Game!

[Colonel J]

Not so much better suited, but Rez would sell a truck-load if they released a decent port on Steam. One of the few games from my long-ago-sold consoletoy that I still have a hankering to play again.

It also puzzled me that Starbreeze never ported The Darkness for the PC. It's a largely on-rails FPS but dark & quirky and had some unique qualities, deserved to be better known than it was and may have been better received by a PC audience. I'd have preferred to play it on PC with Dark Athena quality graphics and KB-mouse.

[zuddy]

Demon's Souls and the Way of the Samurai series. Especially the Way of the Samurai series.

[Jeremy]

Same here Shane... I feel like LA Noire is the weaker of the two games to bring to the PC, and they probably would have had far better sales by bringing RDR over.

[Drinking with Skeletons]

Another one I'll throw out is the Monster Hunter franchise. It's not quite like any other game I've ever played, but the mix of crafting, grinding, skills, and stats is definitely PC-riffic. It's inability to really establish itself (outside of Japan, anyway, where it's absolutely HUGE) speaks to the disconnect between the game and its available audience.

[Colonel J]

Someone will be along in a minute to mention N64 G*******e.

Not me though, never played it, I could care less.

[Rii]

Someone will be along in a minute to mention N64 G*******e.

I doubt it.

[Xercies]

Yeah since there is already a Mod out there that tries to recreate it in a PC environment. Its actually quite good to be honest

[SirKicksalot]

Resistance. Primitive FPS in the vein of Duke 3D, Quake 2 and Unreal with insane weapons. That game would be a blast on PC.

The sequel properly fixed all the "PC-ness" of the original with retarded weapon limits, boring weapons, cinematic events, pace that is all over the place, shit narrative techniques, no level design, insta-kill invisible enemies, invincible enemies... and many other things. The amusing part is that it has glowing reviews, better than the first one's, yet the fans hate it and Insomniac is going back to the roots for R3.

[vinraith]

Etrian Odyssey 1, 2, and 3. Brilliant old school dungeon crawls with a few new twists, it's sad that one has to turn to a handheld to get this kind of gaming experience. Similarly, the Disgaea games, and similar turn based tactical RPG games, would be a natural fit for the PC and are genre that I, at least, sorely miss on the platform. Hell, in general a sizable percentage of what Atlus publishes would be very welcome on our big open platform.

[Althea]

Heavy Rain gets my vote. I'm sure I've heard that it was intended to be on the PC, but it didn't get done for some reason.

[CuervoJoe]

Red Dead Redemption without a doubt would be my vote for Best PC Game not on a PC, since it had a darker, more sophisticated story than the last GTA in my opinion, and the interactions with NPCs went beyond GTA IV. Seemed bizzare it wasn't on the PC really. Can't speak for LA Noire, since I haven't played it, but I like the fact Rockstar are trying out more interesting new IPs, just wish they'd bring them to PC, too.

[Vexing Vision]

Another shout for Double Fine - Brütal Legend's ill-advised RTS mode might actually be really fun on a PC!

[Veracity]

So-called SRPGs have been consistently successful, if niche, on consoles forever - probably more so than on PC, where Rebelstar descendants are not contemporary. People born in the nineties would see Future Wars as a console game on PC. I think the only way Tactics Ogre is a "PC game" is if you're making incorrect assumptions about what console games (always) are. Romance of the Three Kingdoms series I'd maybe count. It's simple compared to, say, Paradox stuff, but more grand strategy than I normally think of consoles doing. Some of them are on PC, too.

Agree with vinraith re: handhelds. I hate bloody handhelds. But these things are made primarily for the Japanese market, with localization elsewhere something of an afterthought, and they've supposedly all but lost interest in TV boxes, so we'd best get accustomed to them if we want to play these games. Which PSP is it you can plug into a TV? Maybe I should get one of those to sit in the drawer next to the DS I never use.

Strategy/tactics stuff I'm not hugely fussed about in terms of feeling pushed towards platforms I don't much want, though. Sure, I'd like Jagged Alliance 3, but it's not as if the PC's really underserved. King's Bounty, EU3, AI War and Frozen Synapse should keep me amused for the next several years even if nothing else turns up, along with playing HoMaM V (at all) and untouched Age of Wonders campaigns.

If there's anything I'm likely to get irrationally resentful about, it's XBLA and its also-rans. Not sure why, exactly - a lot of people would probably consider loosely arcade-inspired stuff primarily console territory. I suppose something about self-published shoestring budget stuff being platform exclusive for no really compelling technological reason irks me.

Not the thread topic, but the thing whose absence from PC most annoys me is brawlers, by far. Look at Devil May Cry 4! Quick, look away before any cutscenes play! Are these games too stupid for PC folk, or what?

@Xercies: if brown beards and pointy ears really make all the difference for you from blue-haired implied lesbians, maybe try Wesnoth.

[slick_101]

For me its Forza on the crapbox 360 one if the few games I'll play with a game pad

[Hensler]

Halo Wars. Probably wouldn't be all that good on PC (see Tom Clancy's Endwar) but it's where Ensemble belongs. Same with Civilization Revolutions.