Might and Magic. The original, start of the franchise, game. I've been playing it since the late 1980s and I still have a (legally purchased) copy on my current computer. Aside from that, the original Final Fantasy that was released in the US for the NES. There are other games I really enjoy, such as Skyrim, Minecraft, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Alpha Centauri, SimCity (the original), and WoW; but the original Might and Magic and the first Final Fantasy for the NES were and are my favorite games.
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GasBandit
Staff member
Hm, that's hard to narrow down. Easier to pick one from each genre, I think.
RTS: Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance. Close second is Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War (the first one).. or maybe Company of Heroes.
MMO: it was probably Dark Age of Camelot, till EA ruined it. After that it was Warhammer Online... till EA ruined it.
Console/platformer: NES Contra. Though for a while, I couldn't get enough of Blast Corps on N64.
RPG: Skyrim. Definitely. Before Skyrim came out it was probably it's spiritual ancestor, Ultima Underworlds 1 and 2.
Driving: Burnout:Takedown, but paradise city comes close to making up for Takedown not being on PC. A close second would be Split/Second.
FPS: ... well, damn.. this is hard. I like TF2 like the OP, but I also like Left 4 Dead, and COD:MW (the first one), and Battlefield 1942, Unreal Tournament 2k4 will NEVER leave my hard drive.
Co-op: Saints Row, tie between 2 and 3 because 2 was a more robust game but 3 was a much less shitty PC port.
But I feel I'm not doing justice if I don't mention crazy stuff that defies genres like Minecraft, or old games that I only don't play anymore because my friends I LAN partied with are scattered to the four winds, like Serious Sam or Carmageddon or Mechwarrior.
RTS: Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance. Close second is Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War (the first one).. or maybe Company of Heroes.
MMO: it was probably Dark Age of Camelot, till EA ruined it. After that it was Warhammer Online... till EA ruined it.
Console/platformer: NES Contra. Though for a while, I couldn't get enough of Blast Corps on N64.
RPG: Skyrim. Definitely. Before Skyrim came out it was probably it's spiritual ancestor, Ultima Underworlds 1 and 2.
Driving: Burnout:Takedown, but paradise city comes close to making up for Takedown not being on PC. A close second would be Split/Second.
FPS: ... well, damn.. this is hard. I like TF2 like the OP, but I also like Left 4 Dead, and COD:MW (the first one), and Battlefield 1942, Unreal Tournament 2k4 will NEVER leave my hard drive.
Co-op: Saints Row, tie between 2 and 3 because 2 was a more robust game but 3 was a much less shitty PC port.
But I feel I'm not doing justice if I don't mention crazy stuff that defies genres like Minecraft, or old games that I only don't play anymore because my friends I LAN partied with are scattered to the four winds, like Serious Sam or Carmageddon or Mechwarrior.
Sly 2, honor among thieves. The first one was great, but it focused more on plat-forming than thievery. This game took it to a whole new level. Sneak attacks, pick-pocketing, making the side-kicks actual playable characters. It was fun.
Honestly? That would be a game we call Oh Hell. We of course have our own variation of it, but this (along with Pinochle) has probably occupied more of my time than all my hours of video game time combined. We sat down weekly to an 8-10hr stretch of either Oh Hell or Pinochle (or occasionally Canasta) for decades.
If I'm going to go electronic/video, though, my history of favorite games started with Dark Castle, then Starflight, then MoO2, then Riven, then Thief, then Age of Empires II & Diablo II. Warcraft/Starcraft are in there somewhere, but since I pick 'em up and put 'em down so often, they aren't anchored to any particular time.
Right now the fight is between Minecraft and Wizard101, with W101 slightly in the lead.
--Patrick
If I'm going to go electronic/video, though, my history of favorite games started with Dark Castle, then Starflight, then MoO2, then Riven, then Thief, then Age of Empires II & Diablo II. Warcraft/Starcraft are in there somewhere, but since I pick 'em up and put 'em down so often, they aren't anchored to any particular time.
Right now the fight is between Minecraft and Wizard101, with W101 slightly in the lead.
--Patrick
....what timeline is it playable in?
You dropped your mic before you could finish explaining why. Might want to get that checked out Juski, could be having seizures.
That tends to be what makes them "favorites" as opposed to the more objective "best."
I understand what Shego is saying. I've tried playing games I loved when I was younger and they just didn't hold up anymore. So they're not all time favorites. Others, however, I can jump into and love just as much now as I did when I was 12.
Also, I like hearing people's deeper reasons for loving a game. Perhaps they played it during an important part of their life, maybe they shared that game with a loved one, maybe it's just amazing because the story touched them, etc etc etc.
I realize a game from your childhood that was wicked fun is a favorite, but are you saying that's the only game you played when you were younger or was it the only one that was fun?
I realize a game from your childhood that was wicked fun is a favorite, but are you saying that's the only game you played when you were younger or was it the only one that was fun?
ElJuski
Staff member
wicked? What are you, from Boston?
Favorite games:
Armored Core 3 / Silent Line, since they're one of the best mecha games out there, with decent graphics, lots of customization, and a level of action I can actually succeed at (I generally suck at most games).
Robotech: Battlecry because it's like being in the Robotech series, my favorite cartoon as a kid.
Tekken 3 & 5 - an awesome fighting game, despite the incredibly cheapass end boss (fireballs, stuns, teleports - bad enough when it's Akuma in SF, but this is TEKKEN for fuck's sake!).
Soul Calibur series, awesome fighting game that I've enjoyed since the first installment, though I need to upgrade to a new system to play 4 and 5.
Resident Evil 4 - great graphics even on the PS2, lots of fun to play (and I don't mind the 'Press X to Not Die' events) and I've replayed it several times.
Persona 3 & 4: quirky but entertaining. They're something of a guilty pleasure but honestly I enjoy them a lot more than 1 or 2, which were at times rather punishing.
Final Fantasy XII: probably my favorite Final Fantasy. I really like the gambit system, since it takes the grind out of grinding, and it doesn't force in a stupid love story. I also like that while the hero of the story is Ashe, the perspective character is Vaan. I think it adds something to it, maybe it keeps the story from being purely about vengeance, which is initially all that Ashe was after.
Armored Core 3 / Silent Line, since they're one of the best mecha games out there, with decent graphics, lots of customization, and a level of action I can actually succeed at (I generally suck at most games).
Robotech: Battlecry because it's like being in the Robotech series, my favorite cartoon as a kid.
Tekken 3 & 5 - an awesome fighting game, despite the incredibly cheapass end boss (fireballs, stuns, teleports - bad enough when it's Akuma in SF, but this is TEKKEN for fuck's sake!).
Soul Calibur series, awesome fighting game that I've enjoyed since the first installment, though I need to upgrade to a new system to play 4 and 5.
Resident Evil 4 - great graphics even on the PS2, lots of fun to play (and I don't mind the 'Press X to Not Die' events) and I've replayed it several times.
Persona 3 & 4: quirky but entertaining. They're something of a guilty pleasure but honestly I enjoy them a lot more than 1 or 2, which were at times rather punishing.
Final Fantasy XII: probably my favorite Final Fantasy. I really like the gambit system, since it takes the grind out of grinding, and it doesn't force in a stupid love story. I also like that while the hero of the story is Ashe, the perspective character is Vaan. I think it adds something to it, maybe it keeps the story from being purely about vengeance, which is initially all that Ashe was after.
Romance of the 3 Kingdoms - 2 and 3. Great childhood memories and I still play it when I can. Basically, it's a thinking man's game. Strategy and insight on how to plans things ahead and how your enemies will behave is very interesting as every game runs differently. Sometimes your enemies are not the same. Betrayal from allies or officers can happen. Defeats have consequences in the realm. You can hire other officers, plant them elsewhere, really Sun Tzu's Book of War stands strong. Random events strengthen and weaken nations. You can form alliances to form joint attacks on mutual enemies or get the same in return. Build armies accordingly, every troop type has weaknesses and strengths.
So good.
They just launched ROTK 12 in Japan a few months back, every game is different from one another, one you can only play as rulers, some as officers who can be anywhere from ronin to emperors. Every fate is different.
I also loved the books.
So good.
They just launched ROTK 12 in Japan a few months back, every game is different from one another, one you can only play as rulers, some as officers who can be anywhere from ronin to emperors. Every fate is different.
I also loved the books.
You could make a game where it's just Simon Templeman rambling incoherently for hours on end and I would eat it up.
Oh wait, they did. It was called Legacy of Kain 2.
(Not an indictment of the whole series, I absolutely adore the original, Soul Reavers and liked Defiance...just LoK2 was not good. So not good they struck it from canon.)
Oh wait, they did. It was called Legacy of Kain 2.
(Not an indictment of the whole series, I absolutely adore the original, Soul Reavers and liked Defiance...just LoK2 was not good. So not good they struck it from canon.)
figmentPez
Staff member
Grim Fandango is my favorite game, hands down. The art style is perfectly matched to the capabilities of the game engine and computers of the era. The soundtrack is catchy and integrated well with the themes of the story. The voice acting is superb with hardly a dud to be found. The characters are charming and quirky. The puzzles are mostly fun, even when they're head-scratching. The control scheme left a little to be desired (though it would make GF ripe for a modern HD remake on consoles).
Overall, Grim Fandango is a gaming masterpiece, and it is a crying shame that it can't be purchased from Steam, GOG.com or any other service.
Overall, Grim Fandango is a gaming masterpiece, and it is a crying shame that it can't be purchased from Steam, GOG.com or any other service.
Pez, if I tried to agree with you more, I'd probably hurt myself.
Cajungal
Staff member
I love the Lunar games and Final Fantasy Tactics. I've always enjoyed the stories and characters in those games. When it comes to games I play with other people, I enjoy Left 4 Dead and Borderlands.
My favorite non-video games are Scrabble and Balderdash, because I love words.
My favorite non-video games are Scrabble and Balderdash, because I love words.
I'm absolutely crazy about Words with Friends.
Cajungal
Staff member
Oh man let's play!! What's your name?
It's an old Sega Neptune game. Unfortunately, all of the Neptune emulators here are infected with hive mind fragments, so if you get too many people playing off stream games, the internet goes all skynet on us. I like the game well enough, but you know, skynet bad.
As for the timeline, there's no singularity event to really describe it. There's just a bunch of small, odd changes. The money is the wrong shape, so you can't just swap cash between lines. And I swear there is something off about the atmosphere -- the whole darn planet smells vaguely like mustard.
Pokemon Red.
Why? Because I was 13 when pokemon came out. I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and remember reading about it as all the news was leaked before it was released. I remember going hungry at lunch time in school, saving my lunch money to be able to buy it. And I remember me and every single one of my friends always keeping our gameboys hidden on us, to sneak away and battle between periods, or to play after school in an empty classroom. And I was a pokemaster. I caught them all, I trained the perfect team, and even Dwayne who couldn't follow the rules of "fuck no you can't use your mewtwo that's banned and we know you game genied it anyway" couldn't defeat me.
Why? Because I was 13 when pokemon came out. I had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and remember reading about it as all the news was leaked before it was released. I remember going hungry at lunch time in school, saving my lunch money to be able to buy it. And I remember me and every single one of my friends always keeping our gameboys hidden on us, to sneak away and battle between periods, or to play after school in an empty classroom. And I was a pokemaster. I caught them all, I trained the perfect team, and even Dwayne who couldn't follow the rules of "fuck no you can't use your mewtwo that's banned and we know you game genied it anyway" couldn't defeat me.
FUCK YEAH!
I play through facebook, I'll send you a PM.
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