top 20: games

[SPS]

I did this a few weeks ago in the TV forum for movies so I'm going to try to do it again for games. So here we go:

Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind- This is one of the few games I could claim I was totally immersed in. I would just sit at my X-Box wandering the land of Morrowind and play it over and over again. This game got me back into gaming when I was disillusioned.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- This is as close to perfect as you can get. Sure the graphics suck now, but for a Zelda game the story is actually kinda good, and the gameplay is solid. The game that I go out of my way to play at least once a year.

Starcraft- Quite Simply the best multiplayer on the planet, and an amazing story for its time that made you care about the characters.

Half-Life- Good story and really fun gameplay. Sure the Xen parts were not great but overall it was well worth it.

Pokemon Sapphire- I liked this one better than G/S/C as it was just the most fun to me. Sure it is arguably the worst pokemon game of the series but I fell in love with some of the pokemon in it like Slakoth, Sceptile, Kyogre and Breloom.

Star Ocean 2: The Second Story- Potentially infinite replayability with the 80 different end scenes, hilariously bad voice acting, but solid gameplay and a truly epic storyline make this a forgotten gem.

Jet Grind Radio- A series that Sega has seemed to have forgotten about, though this game was amazing. Great graphics and challenging gameplay and a unique concept Jet Grind Radio deserves a sequel even though cel-shading seems to have died out I think gamers should give this game a shot.

Resident Evil 4- Capcom reinvented the wheel and it works. Still scary and very challenging. The Wii version is the best though just because killing zombies with the wiimote is so satisfying and it never gets old.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask- I actually think this game is better designed than Ocarina of Time. Its essentially Zelda meets Groundhog Day. Also probably the darkest storyline of the Zelda games too. Unfortunately the insanely easy final boss makes it fall short of Ocarina of Time in my book, but a very close second in the series.

Portal- Do I have to say anything? If you haven't played Portal go out and buy it right now. Its that good.

Duke Nukem 3D- Doom with attitude. I have fond memories of watching my dad play this at night. It really beat watching TV and what not. Plus one of the few games I could get my dad hooked on. Also One of the few games I get for whatever console its on.

Wolfenstein 3D- Nothing better than watching my dad kill Nazis, this was my dad's drug of choice before Duke Nukem, and Blake Stone. I also buy this game for whatever console its on.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas- This is as close to my dream game as I could get. Not a lot of handholding but enough, no annoying girlfriends or brothers but lots of stuff to do and some of the most fun missions in GTA history.

Super Mario Galaxy- Too new? Perhaps but every time a new Mario game comes out it gets on my top list as its just timeless. Plus I really enjoy the Bowser battles in this one. They feel epic.

Fallout 3- After I got done playing Morrowind I wondered when a game like this was going to come out, glad to see it was everything I dreamed of. You pretty much need the expansion packs though.

Ape Escape- Monkeys rule. Using the PS1 controller in inventive ways to catch monkeys is even cooler.

Fable: TLC- Just a fun game, need I say more?

Super Smash Brothers Melee- Best party game ever. Take that Rock Band!

Elite Beat Agents- This game almost supplanted Pokemon as my addiction. Just quite fun.

Diablo 2- It is really fun playing this in Lan parties and whatnot.

Those are my top 20, what is yours?

[Elliot Kane]

Of all time?!? Oh my... I may have to get back to you... there are a few that will certainly make the list, though, so I'll start with those:

(These are in no particular order, as all are very enjoyable in their own way)

1. Planescape Torment. I may possibly end up liking Dragon Age more, but I doubt it. PS:T has not only great characters and a fantastic story, but it has real pathos. Only the very best games engage your emotions to the extent this one does. Graphics may date, but a great story is forever.

2. Dungeon Keeper. The second one may have been a dreadful mess up, but the first was utter genius. The idea is so simple: you are not the hero, you are the villain, and you are out to conquer the world, level by level. A sort of humorous RTS, but also the spiritual forerunner of...

3. Overlord. You have the Dark Tower, you have the horde of minions... Can you conquer the world? And what sort of Overlord will you be? The blurb has it as 'will you be evil or REALLY evil?' but it's actually more like 'will you be good or evil?' And it's great fun, either way!

4. SpellForce 1 series. Not exactly a cheat, as all the games in the series tell a single sweeping story. Quite the best RTS/RPG hybrid I've ever come across.

5. Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge. The Command & Conquer franchise has been a favourite of mine since I first came across them. To my mind, the best and most well balanced game in the whole franchise is RA2 and its expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge, which continues the story. The perfect balance of action and story, with challenging missions and well balanced forces. Possibly the best 'modern times' RTS out there... Or semi-modern times, at least! ;D

6. Dragon Age. Having just finished it earlier today, I am already thinking about the approach I intend to take next time. As I was while playing. A game that inspires you to that is pretty darn fine indeed.

7. The Movies. It's a game about running a film studio and making films. Sounds boring as heck, right? Only it's not. It actually borders on genius. Give it ten minutes of your time and you will be hooked for life.

8. The Witcher. Because it's the best single character RPG I know of. It has story, atmosphere and your decisions have major repercussions on the plot, often in unexpected ways. Many of the side quests are not just fed-ex hunt and kill either and a lot of the decisions are 'least worst' rather than best. A great game.

9. Medieval Total War & Viking Invasion. Yes, the original, not the remake. I need one game to represent the series and for all the bells & whistles in the others, this is not only the one I've played most but also the one I've enjoyed most. I spent ages just beating my best completion times.

10. Kult: Heretic Kingdoms. Even though very few other people seem to have heard of it, it is a great little RPG, with multiple endings and some great ideas that are just plain different to other systems.

11. Diablo 2. It had to be on the list sooner or later, because it is quite simply the template for every other single character ARPG ever made and is still the best of them all. Plus I love it.

12. Sins Of A Solar Empire. Immense battles between huge fleets of starships in awesome detail. Nuff said, really.

13. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War: Dark Crusade. The DoW series has had its ups and downs (With Winter Assault being a notable low point) but at it's height it is simply the best space age grounf war RTS ever, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Dark Crusade.

14. Kohan 2: Kings Of War. One of very few fantasy RTS games - and one of even fewer that are actually good! Easy to get your butt handed to you if you're careless, which is always the sign of a good RTS.

15. Hexplore. VERY old party based ARPG, but hugely fun, nonetheless.

Hmmm... I'll add more later. Especially as putting 'Total War series' WOULD be cheating! ;D

[mysterd]

Geez...I dunno if I can compile a top 20....
But, I'mma try, so here we go....
IN NO ORDER...

PC Games
1.Baldur's Gate 2: Shadow of Amn
2.Planescape: Torment
3.The Witcher
4.Deus Ex
5.Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
6.Fallout
7.Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
8.Dragon Age: Origins
9.Shadow of Destiny
10.F.E.A.R.
11.Borderlands
12.Bioshock
13.The Longest Journey
14.GTA: Vice City
15.Mafia

I'll need more time to think on another 5...

[Gray Lensman]

A tall order for me, but here goes and in no particular order...

1. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2): My favorite RPG for the PS2. This has one of the most compelling and intricate stories I've seen in an RPG. It also forces you to maintain a careful balance between gameplay elements. Your decisions matter a lot in this game... and taking the easy way out is costly.

2. Xenogears (PS1): Would have been a near-perfect game if not for the way it was rushed to production, but the first half alone is still one of my favorite games ever made. It's an absolute crime that it was never properly completed or followed up on.

3. Planescape: Torment (PC): The gold standard of RPG's.

4. Dragon Age: Origins (360): A sweeping epic storyline with countless options and a real sense that player decisions have weight. Also offers one of the rare RPG casts where I didn't dislike at least one party member.

5. Star Ocean 2: The Second Story/Second Evolution (PS1/PSP): The best of the series, and to this day, still unsurpassed. A good real-time combat system, a fun space opera/fantasy adventure, and lots of replay options just add to the enjoyment.

6. Chrono Trigger (SNES): Another rare game where every party member character was well developed. Also another game where your decisions affect the outcome in noticeable ways, mainly due to the intricate time travel storyline.

7. Baldur's Gate 2 (PC): My most replayed RPG, probably due to the deep and involved setting and a wealth of sidequests. Also has one of the best RPG villains I've run across.

8. Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich (PC): A great offering from a series that ended much too soon.

9. Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (360/PSP): A personal guilty pleasure, I admit, but it's one I replay fairly often.

10. Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (PC): As a general rule, I don't care that much for vampires and hate first-person shooters. This game is the exception to that rule on both counts.

11. Zork Trilogy (PC): Yes, I admit it... I'm a sucker for old-school interactive fiction. This one got me into both gaming and interactive storytelling.

12. Star Trek: Judgment Rites (PC): Fairly old now, but still the one game that conveyed the charm of old-school Trek.

13. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC): A great epic saga that made Star Wars fun again... and the surprise twist makes it all the more compelling.

14. Final Fantasy Tactics (PS1/PSP): Another early PS1 game that has yet to be surpassed by any of its sequels.

15. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360): Because this game brings the superhero experience to life better than anything I've run across to date. It doesn't hurt to have the Batman animated series cast to play these characters again either.

16. Final Fantasy 9 (PS1): Probably the most balanced FF game that I've played, then or now.

17. Star Wars: Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight (PC): Another exception to the rule on FPS games, due mainly to a range of player choices and the way it brought Jedi combat to life. A good game for its time.

18. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (PS2): The game that redefined the Persona series. While not quite as good as Persona 4 on most levels, it's still a highly enjoyable game in its own right. (Though it's possible that the upcoming Persona 3 Portable could end up being a measurable improvement upon the original.)

After that, I pretty much draw a blank, so I'll have to get back to you on this one.

[Nero the Glorious]

Wow...this is a tough one.

1. Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen 100+ hours easy on a first play through.

A truly exceptional game that revolves around multi party combat. Essentially you form units of up to five characters (large beasts and constructs count as two) On each map you can deploy up to ten units. You capture cities and destroy enemy units on the way to the final boss of each map. The greatest part for me is character leveling.

For example, from a simple fighter (which is the base class for all male units with Amazons being the base for female units) can evolve into a knight, berserker, samurai, ninja, beast tamer, or wizard. (I don't think I missed any). After that each class can be further upgraded at least once.

This link is a chart to show you the male human evolution series (this doesnt cover beasts and female toons, nor angels and demons)

shrines.rpgclassics.com/snes/ogrebattle/classes/fighter.shtml

If you've never played it you can download it on the Wii virtual console, or you can find it on PS1 emulators (it was ported from SNES to PS1)

2. Grandia II Its been a while but 60ish hours the first time

This game has the best storyline of any game I have ever played. It is well done, was in large part voice acted (which was not ordinary at the time) and there are no characters the game could have done without. Each character was well created and woven into the storyline.

The combat system is similar to a turn based FF type battle but significantly better. The battle is real time and each character and enemy is on a wait/choose/act cycle. So more intense actions such as casting and special moves take longer to execute than a normal attack. The battle space is also 3d. The party is not stationary, they can be moved around the arena, which when fighting some bosses is necessary because they can use spells to gather your party together and use a supermove to annihilate everyone at once.


Ok so in this image you see a battle scene, if you notice the meter at the bottom, for the wait period your character...you guessed it, waits, when they reach the COM marker battle pauses and you issue a command, anything from defend to super attack, when the meter reaches ACT the character executes. What makes this system my all time favorite is that if you manage to do enough damage, or use a special "cancel" attack between COM and ACT the recipient is bounced back in the wait section with no action being performed.

3. Ogre Battle 64 55 Hoursish

Not as good as the original, but significantly better graphics. Core gameplay was maintained and improved upon, including characters gaining familiarity with others in their unit over time allowing for example mages to combine spells for massive AOE damage. Lots of fun.

After this its more of a crapshoot as far as rank goes so Ill just list them.

Medieval II: Total War
Rome: Total War

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Knights of the Old Republic

Starcraft
Warcraft II

Diablo 2: Great hack and slash, defined the Genre, great multi-player

Assassin's Creed

God of War III

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (I once went 156 - 6 with a sniper rifle, would have died less but I ran out of bullets 5 times)

Final Fantasy X

Ace Combat 5 - Excellent story, you actually lose a teammate during the game...I teared up a little.

Zeus: Master of Olympus - best city building/supply chain type game ever

Dynasty Warriors 4+ - Doesn't really matter which, they are all essentially the same, lots of mindless massacring of peons

...I am sure there are more but I am blanking currently

[mysterd]

Mar 31, 2010 2:20:46 GMT Gray Lensman said:

A tall order for me, but here goes and in no particular order...

10. Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines (PC): As a general rule, I don't care that much for vampires and hate first-person shooters. This game is the exception to that rule on both counts.

Well, that's b/c it's NOT a full-blown first-person shooter. It's more than that. Way more than that.

I'd say Bloodlines is more along the lines of a RPG/Action Game. Let me explain, since it is a genre-bender and blends a lot of elements of both genres - the RPG elements (decision-making and the character/stat/skill building) and the action elements (3rd person melee action games and 1st person shooter action games).

See, you don't have to play it as a first-person shooter - since you can pump your skills into other things besides firearms - i.e. brawling skill, hacking skills, sneaking skills, etc - and still get by without using guns.

Plus, headshots don't kill instantly - which is a common element in FPS's or TPS's (third person shooters).

If you use melee weapons or hand-to-hand combat, the game flips the camera automatically always to the 3rd person viewpoint. So, it's not even entirely a full-fledged 1st person game.

If you switch to a gun though, it'll take you right into 1st person viewpoint. So, it can't be a full-fledged 3rd person game, either.

It tries to be many things - making it up to the player how to play it.

[Gray Lensman]

Yeah, there are a lot of options in terms of combat as needed. You can also bloodsuck the humans you encounter to death as well (where it shifts to 3rd person, IIRC), which I kinda admit was cool to see the first few times I tried it.

[Elliot Kane]

Up to 14, now! Getting there... ;D

[Terrordar]

1. Diablo II:

I put this here because of any video game ever I spent the most time playing it.

2. Fallout II: Another great love of mine, I played through this game a dozen times. And killing Mr. Worf at the end of the game? Epic.

3. Dawn of War 2: My favorite RTS so far, its gotta make the list.

4. Final Fantasy 8: Though the format isn't my favorite, the story and how it progresses is fantastical. My favorite characters from the FF series are in the game.

5. Fable: The first fable is one of my favorite games, though I also like the second and I liked its features more, the first one is what got me hooked.

6. Left 4 Dead: Zombie Apocalypse has never been so fun.

7. GTA 4: Niko was fun to play and I love the orgy of destruction the game engine allowed on a realistic level outside of the PC's health.

8. Final Fantasy 7: Though I enjoy 8 more, Final Fantasy 7 was a spectacular game as well, and has easily the best villain of any FF games, who in his own right is sympathetic.

9. Mass Effect 2: An improvement over the original with a brilliant story.

10. Mass Effect: Well interestingly, its an amazing game with strong story. So there.

11. Dawn of War: The original and its expansions, very strong titles with removed much of my time.

12. Company of Heroes: Though I dislike its single player, which is the main reason why this isn't higher, it has some of the best multiplayer RTS action out there, better than most modern games, and I'm personally willing to bet a damn sight better than something like SC 2 >.>

13. Starcraft: Begrudgingly I put this on the list, as I view traditional RTS now with a level of disdain, it is still a fantastic title, and has survived so long for a reason.

14. Dragon Age Origins: A solid, fun RPG that is easily able to compete with almost any others. I thought more highly of it when I first got it, but I still think its the bomb.

15. Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Yep. Racing around to stop that evil butnik!

16. Ghengis Khan: For the Sega, it was surprisingly REALLY fun.

17. Rome Total War: extremely fun, though had a few technical issues. Still, my favorite in the total war series

18. Medieval Total War II: Much like Rome, only in the medieval setting.

19. Fallout 3: I begrudingly put this on the list, as its the first Bethesda game since Daggerfall that I actually give 2 [Censored] about.

20. Battlefield 2142: I played it lots. I like it more than the WW II titles in the series. So, yea.

[Flix]

Another best games list thread? Can I just copy/paste my old lists? Let me see....these are the games that captured my attention and held it for abnormal amounts of time - they occupied my mind even when I was doing other things, they demanded that I play them and then replay them obsessively...

I can't rank these in order, at some point they were all my number one favorite game

Fighting:
Killer Instinct
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Street Fighter 2

Console Sidescrollers:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 + Knuckles
Super Mario World
Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins
Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land
Super Metroid

RPG:
Divine Divinity
Dragon Age: Origins
The Witcher
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Action RPG:
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Sacred Underworld
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Dungeon Siege II: Broken World
Kult: Heretic Kingdoms

Action:
American Magee's Alice