Best games of the last decade?

[Elliot Kane]

What were your top games of the Noughties? The ones that really blew you away and made you more happy to be a gamer than any other?

You can create your list to whatever criteria you like. I know I will! ;D

[Flix]

Interestingly enough all my favorite games are RPG's of some sort that were made in the 2000's - so see my lists in those "best of" threads for commentary.

My top 5 games of the 2000's (in order):

1)The Witcher
2)Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
3)Divine Divinity
4)Arcanum:Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
5)American McGee's Alice

[Hand-E-Food]

The naughty's were pretty bad for the most part. There was some new stuff towards the end of it, but a lot of it was remakes of what the previous year brought. Those that stood out for me were:

American McGee's Alice (PC): Beautiful art and story telling.

No More Heroes (Wii): Trashy storytelling and awesome gameplay.

Portal (PC): It got you thinking with portals.

Deus Ex (PC): High quality sci-fi RPG.

Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich: A great RTS RPG with a very fun story. I love the tutorial: "Here's how to walk... punch... throw lightning... throw a car... rip a lamp post out of the ground and smack someone into the side of a building with it..."

Mirror's Edge (PC): A beautiful game that makes you want to try just once more to get that trick right. Shame about the story, though.

Diablo 2 (PC): The most complete and thorough hack-and-slash game I've ever seen. I'm buying Diablo 3 as soon as it comes out based purely on my experience with Diablo 1 and 2.

Evil Genius (PC): What more could you ask for in a building game?

Divine Divinity (PC): A great quest-driven hack-and-slash. Reminds me of the good ol' Quest for Glory series.

Mario Kart (Wii): Great fun at parties.

Puzzle Quest (PC): A simple game mechanic with the gameplay to draw you onward.


EDIT: Forgot FFv3R

[Flix]

Ah, how could I forget Alice? List edited.

[Ubereil]

Planescape Torment (released December 12 1999, so it's still within the last decade! More importantly, I played it around 2002). Awesome game.

Arcanum. Great game.

Vampire:The Masquerade:Bloodlines. Awesome game (it's 9:12 in the morning and I'm in school so don't expect any flashy motivations).

Warcraft 3 - DotA. I played it for five years so it ought to count.

When I think of something else I'll get back to you. It might happen when it's no longer 9:12 in the morning.

Übereil

[Gray Lensman]

I'll just run down a few of those I found most memorable, since I may be missing some...

Baldur's Gate 2 (PC): The game that drew me back into AD&D for a while. Not a perfect game by any stretch, but still one of the games I most enjoyed playing over the past decade.

Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich (PC): A darned shame this game was never followed up on, as it gave a classic superhero experience.

Star Ocean: Second Evolution (PSP): An improved version of an old favorite of mine.

Knights of the Old Republic (PC): A good, well-crafted Star Wars adventure set in the days of the Old Republic, with lots of options for character development. And did I mention the awesomeness that is HK-47? ;D

Jade Empire (X-Box): Interesting concept, well executed, and actually a fun adventure.

Vampire: Bloodlines (PC): The game that established the PC as a vampire... and made the experience believable on every level. I normally do not like FPS-style games, but the strong execution of the RPG elements and intricate storytelling makes this one the rare exception.

Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures: Probably the best video game adaptation of the original trilogy I've ever seen, and I've played a few versions in my time.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (360): Because any game that allows you to play in the Marvel Civil War, tell the story far better than it was done in the comics, and let you kick the tar out of Iron Man earns style points by itself. ;D

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2): A complicated and challenging game, but with a deep and thought-provoking storyline and genuine character development and role-playing options. Indeed, the game rewards character development and interactions with your party through its Social Link system, which grants various abilities depending on how far your links progress. Persona 4 may very well be my favorite story-based RPG I've played since Xenogears, which is a rare achievement.

[Hand-E-Food]

Whoops! Forgot Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich.

[Elliot Kane]

My list is going to consist of games I have played to death and probably a bit beyond. Because that really cuts the numbers down and acts as a kind of quality control filter. There are a ton of games I really liked, but few I've played to the point of Necromancy. Moreover, these are games I will keep playing in the future.

These are the few:

Overlord. Unique, quirky and amazingly funny semi-RPG.

The Total War series. All of them bar Empire (Which I don't have) I have played extensively. Simply the best pre-modern age RTS games ever made.

Jade Empire. An excellent RPG, as long as you don't try the (Very poor) 'Evil' option.

Baldur's Gate 2.

Warriors Orochi. Utterly dreadful port of a cheesy fighting game. But I love it anyway! ;D There's just something about ancient Oriental warriors being reinvented as a modern frat pack taking on an evil god.

Prey. Best FPS I've ever seen. As proved by the fact that I actually LIKE it.

Final Fantasy X and Xll for PS2. Love both games immensely, despite the deep flaws in the plot of Xll.

The Witcher. Best single character RPG ever made.

SpellForce series. A great blend of RPG & RTS.

Dawn Of War. Original campaign, Soulstorm & Dark Crusade. All are good RTS games.

The Movies. Film studio sim. Sounds boring, but is an incredibly awesome game.

The Black Mirror. Adventure game, but atmospheric, challenging and all round great.

[mysterd]

RPG's
Planescape: Torment - 1999
Baldur's Gate 2 - 2000
Dragon Age: Origins - 2009
The Witcher - 2007
Fallout 3 - 2008
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - 2006
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - 2004
Gothic - 2001

Action Games / Shooters
STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl - 2006
FEAR - 2005
GTA: Vice City - 2002 on PS2; 2003 on PC and X-Box

Hybrids
Deus Ex - FPS/RPG - 2000
Bioshock - FPS/RPG - 2007
Borderlands - FPS/ARPG - 2009

Adventure
The Longest Journey - 2000
Shadow of Destiny - 2001 on consoles; 2002 on PC

Action/Adventure (AKA Survival Horror)
Silent Hill - PSX in 1999
Silent Hill 2 - 2001 on consoles; 2002 on PC

[SPS]

Elder Scrolls 3- Got me back into gaming when I was disillusioned.

GTA: San Andreas- Huge world, and my favorite sound track, and I didn't think it held my hand too much.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask- The best Legend of Zelda I have played. The darkest of the series and some great designs.

Portal- Best puzzle game ever!

Resident Evil 4- I love how this game plays on the Wii.

[mysterd]

I'm editing my earlier post.
Dragon Age: Origins most DEFINITELY belongs on this list.

[Nero the Glorious]

In no particular order:

Action/RPG/Action RPG (did we ever come to a consensus on ARPG vs RPG?)
Grandia II - Dreamcast - 2000
KotoR - PC - 2003
Jade Empire - PC - 2007
Assassin's Creed I/II - PC/PS3 - 2007/2009
Divine Divinity of course - PC - 2002
Diablo II - PC - 2000
Final Fantasy X - PS2 - 2001
Neverwinter Nights - PC - 2002
Dynasty Warriors 5 - PS2 - 2005 (I can't help it I love these games)
God of War - PS2 - 2005

Strategy/Combat
Ogre Battle 64 - N64 - 2000
Total War (Rome and MEII) - PC
Majesty - PC - 2000
Stronghold/Crusader - PC - 2002
Civilization IV - PC - 2005

FPS
CoD 4 - PC - 2007
MW II - PC - 2009
Perfect Dark - N64 - 2000

Other
Zeus: Master of Olympus - PC - 2000
Shadowbane - PC - 2003
Ace Combat 5 - PS2 - 2004

[mysterd]

Jan 14, 2010 19:38:57 GMT Nero the Glorious said:

In no particular order:

Action/RPG/Action RPG (did we ever come to a consensus on ARPG vs RPG?)
Grandia II - Dreamcast - 2000
KotoR - PC - 2003
Jade Empire - PC - 2007
Assassin's Creed I/II - PC/PS3 - 2007/2009
Divine Divinity of course - PC - 2002
Diablo II - PC - 2000
Final Fantasy X - PS2 - 2001
Neverwinter Nights - PC - 2002
Dynasty Warriors 5 - PS2 - 2005 (I can't help it I love these games)
God of War - PS2 - 2005

This is my opinion on difference b/t ARPG and RPG.

ARPG (Action-RPG)
Examples - Diablo series; Titan Quest; Silverfall; Torchlight.

You are constantly slaughtering enemies and can upgrade your character's skills like crazy; pick up all kinds of unique loot and switch them out like crazy. ARPG takes this element to an extreme unlike no other, normally - and it is done at a breakneck pace.

Regular RPG's often do have this element, but it's nowhere here as hectic as your usual ARPG and usually NOT the major focus of the game.

Often, ARPG's do NOT give you decision making skills on who to side w/; to be good, neutral; or evil; etc etc. Sometimes they do (see Silverfall) - though, it's usually nowhere as deep as a regular RPG (PST, Baldur's Gate 2, Dragon Age: Origins).

RPG
Examples - The Witcher, NWN: Hordes expansion, Morrowind, Oblivion, PST, and DAO.

Your decisions in the game radically change the outcome of the game's path; the outcome of a quest; the gameworld and its inhabitants; and especially the ending of the game. This IS the main focus of the game.

Sure, the ARPG elements of upgrading your character's base stats, abilities, skills, and also swapping loot out are often there, but they are normally in the background. Here in the usual RPG, these elements are NOT the main focus of the game - unlike the ARPG.

Strategy-RPG
Example - Freedom Force series.

In these games, usually the very strong element here is the strategy elements of a battle. Usually, you control a party - maybe of at least 3 or more. There's a heavy focus on these elements of pausing and giving orders and controlling your party in combat more so than anything else.

Sure, there's the ARPG elements and upgrading your character elements - but, those usually are NOT the focus of this game and they are NOT done at a breakneck pace. And there might be elements of decision-making to change the outcome of something, but those are often NOT in the majority here.

Here's what's funny...
A lot of games, they mix elements of many genres and really are RPG hybrids of some kind.

NWN 2 series, BG series, and DAO have both regular RPG elements and strategy-RPG elements more so than anything else.

Silverfall is a ARPG for the most part, but it has a very small bit of the RPG decision-making elements.

Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind and Oblivion) and Gothic series combine both the RPG and ARPG elements.

Dungeon Seige 1 combines both the strategy-RPG and ARPG elements. Dungeon Siege 2 is the reverse - as it uses more heavily the ARPG element here than the strategy-RPG elements.

[Flix]

You know, with the prevalence of so many hybrids, I used to argue that there was no distinction, just different variations along the same spectrum. Some games just emphasized different elements over others. Now, I'm not so sure.

[mysterd]

Jan 15, 2010 0:30:30 GMT Flix said:

You know, with the prevalence of so many hybrids, I used to argue that there was no distinction, just different variations along the same spectrum. Some games just emphasized different elements over others. Now, I'm not so sure.

Yeah, there's more and more hybrids, these days and age.

Some games like Borderlands are mostly FPS's, but it has those small ARPG elements.

Yeah, some RPG games like DAO are really strategy focused. If you try to say play it like your typrical ARPG - you're screwed. No chance in Hell.

[Flix]

Yeah no kidding. All this friendly fire stuff is kicking my team's ass.