our Top 25 Video Games of all-time lists
- Thread starter Charlie Don't Surf
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1) Baldurs's Gate 1&2
I love RPGS (you'll see a lot of them) and this is the best one ever. With the mods, it's just awesome.
I count both as 1 because i still replay the whole thing at least once a year.
2) Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Best game in the series. i love turn by turn, i love medfi settings, the game was pure joy to play in hot seat or on the internet when it was new to play online. Necro Rules <3
3) Civilization IV.
the best game of the series and so fun and complex. I still can't beat deity
4) Planescape Torment:
Best story driven rpg ever
5) Fallout 2
Fallout 1 but bigger, better, faster, stronger which leads to...
6) Fallout
I Love the universe, the humor, the characters, i love everything about that game.
7) Daggerfall
Great sandbox RPG which i played a whole year despite the legion of bugs. Without the bugs, it might have been N°1
8) Jagged Alliance2: Guerilla
Turn by turn strat game where you hire mercs to overthrow the evil queen of a country. Mercs do level up which makes it some sort of rpg TbT game. replayed at least 10 times. I can still list my 10 fav mercs without even thinking.
9) Half-Life.
1st FPS of the list. Nuff said.
10) Knights of the old Republic.
It's a shame i couldn't put it higher really.
11) Kick Off 2
i loved playing this game on the amiga 500 with my best friend.
12) Shinning Force 2
<3 Bleu the dragon. funny yet very (at the time) strategically sound game.
13) Dungeon Keeper
Peter molyneux at his best
14) Mass Effect
yeah i know side quests suck. Still, the story and the universe is awesome. can't wait for 2
15) Soul Calibur IV
imo, the best fighting game ever made
16) Dawn of War
Space Marines own. W40K owns. as far as RTS are concerned, i don't think you can top that one.
17) Dawn of War 2:
i like the direction for the sequel a lot but online play has suffered a lot due to that.
18) Moonstone
On the Amiga 500, fun fights, gore and 4 players. what's not to like. could have been higher but the game was buggy.
19) Tekken Tag
imo, the second best fighting game ever made
20) Dragon Age
another masterpiece crafted by Bioware but not BG2
21) Fallout 3
Thanks Bethesda for restoring my faith in you after the pile of shit that olbivion was
22) Morrowind.
Great game. Honestly, it should be in the top 10 somewhere but i just thought about it and i'm not changing everything.
23) Privateer
Great game. Too bad they went crazy with the II who was probably one of the worst sequels ever.
24) Chrono Trigger
I don't like Jrpgs that much except this one.
25) Deus EX
Another game that should be higher.
ok. FUCK IT i give up. I forgot Xcom which should be N°1 or 2.
i also forgot company of heroes.
and Diablo II and Vampire the masquerade Redemption and Might and Magic VI. AAAAAAAAAH
Head asplode.
I love RPGS (you'll see a lot of them) and this is the best one ever. With the mods, it's just awesome.
I count both as 1 because i still replay the whole thing at least once a year.
2) Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Best game in the series. i love turn by turn, i love medfi settings, the game was pure joy to play in hot seat or on the internet when it was new to play online. Necro Rules <3
3) Civilization IV.
the best game of the series and so fun and complex. I still can't beat deity
4) Planescape Torment:
Best story driven rpg ever
5) Fallout 2
Fallout 1 but bigger, better, faster, stronger which leads to...
6) Fallout
I Love the universe, the humor, the characters, i love everything about that game.
7) Daggerfall
Great sandbox RPG which i played a whole year despite the legion of bugs. Without the bugs, it might have been N°1
8) Jagged Alliance2: Guerilla
Turn by turn strat game where you hire mercs to overthrow the evil queen of a country. Mercs do level up which makes it some sort of rpg TbT game. replayed at least 10 times. I can still list my 10 fav mercs without even thinking.
9) Half-Life.
1st FPS of the list. Nuff said.
10) Knights of the old Republic.
It's a shame i couldn't put it higher really.
11) Kick Off 2
i loved playing this game on the amiga 500 with my best friend.
12) Shinning Force 2
<3 Bleu the dragon. funny yet very (at the time) strategically sound game.
13) Dungeon Keeper
Peter molyneux at his best
14) Mass Effect
yeah i know side quests suck. Still, the story and the universe is awesome. can't wait for 2
15) Soul Calibur IV
imo, the best fighting game ever made
16) Dawn of War
Space Marines own. W40K owns. as far as RTS are concerned, i don't think you can top that one.
17) Dawn of War 2:
i like the direction for the sequel a lot but online play has suffered a lot due to that.
18) Moonstone
On the Amiga 500, fun fights, gore and 4 players. what's not to like. could have been higher but the game was buggy.
19) Tekken Tag
imo, the second best fighting game ever made
20) Dragon Age
another masterpiece crafted by Bioware but not BG2
21) Fallout 3
Thanks Bethesda for restoring my faith in you after the pile of shit that olbivion was
22) Morrowind.
Great game. Honestly, it should be in the top 10 somewhere but i just thought about it and i'm not changing everything.
23) Privateer
Great game. Too bad they went crazy with the II who was probably one of the worst sequels ever.
24) Chrono Trigger
I don't like Jrpgs that much except this one.
25) Deus EX
Another game that should be higher.
ok. FUCK IT i give up. I forgot Xcom which should be N°1 or 2.
i also forgot company of heroes.
and Diablo II and Vampire the masquerade Redemption and Might and Magic VI. AAAAAAAAAH
Head asplode.
Q
Qonas
Instead of a top 25 list, I went my top 10 and then my bottom 10.
10. Ogre Battle/Ogre Battle 64 (tie) - A FANTASTIC series of games that goes criminally overlooked. It combines war strategy with RPGs, allowing you to build armies of knights/wizards/fantasy creatures all with experience points and levels. You then march them on the field of battle against opposing armies. There are also unique hero characters that are recruitable throughout the game, most of which are badasses. The music is also outstanding and I regularly listen to both soundtracks.
9. Secret of Mana - Yay for RPG-action! Although I still refuse to believe the Sprite is a guy, look at the thing. Anyways, definitely iconic for any number of reasons. The combat, the music, the story, the music. Did I mention the music was awesome?
8. Baldur's Gate II - The single definitive PC role-playing game. It's almost comical now how every game after it hasn't even come close to scratching the surface of how good Baldur's Gate II is. Engaging characters (even the annoying ones have engrossing stories), your typical D&D PC game combat, a great atmosphere, side-quests and party interaction up the wazoo, and a great overall storyline.
7. Halo - Let me be upfront: I hate FPSes. Why? Sniping. I'd love to be able to play these games but the second I join, I'm sniped. Fuck snipers and fuck sniping. That said, Halo was AMAZING. Immense maps that you could explore every pixel of, an easy learning curve for chumps like me combined with the insane Legendary difficulty for people who can actually play, SUPERB music, and best of all: NO ONLINE MULTIPLAYER! Thank god! When this game came out, it was quite often the activity of choice after 501st Legion meetings. A couple TVs, couple XBoxes, all friends and no XBox Live jackasses with sniper rifles. Just plain fun.
6. Mass Effect - I tend to lower my nose at modern things. It's a conceit of mine, being a history guy who is also easily prone to nostalgia. But Mass Effect was an instant classic. Let me just get this outta the way, yep it has great music. Both Halo and ME surprised me with their soundtracks, as I normally loathe techno/electronica. But while Halo at least makes it sound symphonic, ME's sounds pretty much pure techno but the soundtrack is great. The combat is fun for a FPS hater such as myself; my "canon" run Shephard is a soldier with the Singularity power, allowing me to toss enemies into a mid-air black hole while I pump assault rifle rounds into them. Also, unlike apparently everyone else on the planet, I had zero issue using the Mako. It's just hover-and-shoot, easy as pie. And then, of course, there's the story. Love it, love it, love it and the conservation wheel/branches just makes things even better. I can't wait to see the improvements in ME2.
5. Earthbound - Quirky. Fun. Bats and frying pans as weapons. Hippies, fat kids, and zombies as enemies. Catchy soundtrack. For as negative and angry and abrasive as I am, Earthbound is the total opposite. It's the video game equivalent of a hug from mom, or homemade dinner from grandma. And it's awesome.
4. Final Fantasy IV - I have this theory about Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, which stems from both their amazing soundtracks. It really comes off like 4 is a re-telling of some mythological Celtic/Gaelic folk story while 6 is these giant sweeping epic opera. Anyways, 4 was my introduction to the Final Fantasy series as I never played 1 on the NES. Opening the game with a cutscene of airships to that badass pounding "Red Wings" theme was probably the best way to get me hooked, and I stayed through the whole story. And what a story it was. It still outshines 99% of video games nowadays for scope and storytelling.
3. Chrono Trigger - Magus. Frog. Ayla. The mute main character whipped by his love interest. There's really nothing I can say about CT that hasn't been said millions of times already. Love the story, love the characters, love the music, love the time-travelling airship, love it!
2. Seiken Densetsu III - A odd one to get to play, as you need to emulate it with the translation patch, but it's totally worth it. The ensemble of main characters are each gripping in their own way (though I've never chosen Carlie the cleric, and the knight from Fortuna is always my main), the music is second only to Final Fantasy 6, the gameplay gets a nice twist with the good/evil class leveling that allows for some nice party customization, and the story is stellar. It's much like a Mass Effect predescessor in that the story molds itself around the characters you choose/way you play. Amazing game that unfortunately never got to see American soil.
1. Final Fantasy VI - The single greatest video game of this or any generation. Bar none. Best soundtrack. Best characters. Best plot. This game, when I wasn't debating or preparing for the Marines, was my life during high school. There has never been a villain like Kefka, before or since. There has never been as many epic moments accompanied by appropriately epic music, before or since. There has never been such a deep, compelling ensemble of characters with no real main, before or since. And the story is so rich, deep, nuanced, it almost defies any explanation of its greatness. Simply the best.
Honorable Mention goes to basically every Zelda game out there, and Super Metroid, which are all clumped together after 10.
The Bottom 10, or Games Everyone Loves That I Hate
10. Gears of War - "GR HI I'M YOUR HERO WE'RE ALL SQUINTING HERE GRRGH."
9. Metal Gear Solid 2 - After reading multiple, multiple essays and dissections on Kojima's "artistic" bent and "plan" for the game.....yeah, it still sucks and still doesn't make any gah-damned sense. The fucking tanker bit in the beginning is the only part worth playing. The rest is idiotic (a gah damned VAMPIRE!?) and completely batshit insane.
8. Quake - Brownbrownshoothingsbrownjumpmissclimbbackbrownshootjump.
7. Kingdom Hearts/Kingdom Hearts 2 - My hatred for these games really lies in the rabid fanbase they've garnered, and the fact they worship and adore the shit-tastic Playstation Final Fantasy games while shoving the classic SNES ones aside. Fuck you Kingdom Hearts.
6. The Metroid Prime series - Metroid is not a first person shooter. Metroid is not a first person shooter. METROID IS NOT A FIRST PERSON SHOOTER!
5. Katamari Damacy - Rolling over crap with a ball to annoying ass music is not a good time. Also the space king dad person is creepy.
4. World of Warcraft - You mean I can pay 30 bucks a month to endlessly grind a character, participate in a dick-comparing contest of grabbing the best loot, deal with the no-brained mouth-breathing online community, and have the privilege of needing to shell out more money for each expansion just so I can keep up with the Jones'?? Where do I sign up?!
3. Assassin's Creed - I'm sick and damned tired of medieval Christian Europe, the Crusades, and specifically the Knights Templar being portrayed as one-dimensional out-and-out "bad guys" in everything. History doesn't work that way, not even in World War II where you had Hitler and Stalin (both "evil") on opposing sides. There is so much more to the Crusades, to the Templars and Hospitaliers, than "olol killz and plunder dem muslimz" but the fact this gets ignored drives me up a damn wall.
2. Chrono Cross - For as great a game as Chrono Trigger is, Chrono Cross is the total opposite. It's the floater your fat friend leaves in your toilet before he goes home.
1. Final Fantasy VII - The single most overrated piece of shit that gets polished of all-time. To start with, the plot itself completely rips off 6. Evil empire siphoning off magic from the world? Check. Amnesiac hero who gets used by said evil empire? Check. A "surprise" real villain who supplants the evil empire? Check. Gigantic natural "weapons" created from the planet to fight? Check. The quiet loner ninja, prince/princess, lifelong soldier, and sentient animal all in your party? Check.
Basically the only thing original 7 has going for it is killing Aeris. Because that's fucking dumb and wasn't used in any of the previous FFs! She got stabbed; your party is repeatedly stabbed in combat. Use a Phoenix friggin' Down. Now in 4, there are in-game character "deaths" but they make sense. Porom and Palom turn to stone, the party tries the anti-petrify items and spells but they don't work. Cid and Yang both appear to sacrifice themselves, which seems no different from Aeris being stabbed at first but in both situations your party can not go back and reach them to cast or use anything. They are out of reach, and so out of care. Cloud's dumb ass is standing RIGHT. THERE. It's ridiculous.
Then, there's Sephiroth. A worse villain has never been conceived, and yet looking at the public reaction to Twilight I guess he hits a cord that resonates in society; America loves pale, thin emo douches. Why the hell is he a villain again? He wants to destroy the planet for mommy? Seriously?! That's all ya got? "Oh man this dude's dressed in black, walking out of a fire, and has a katana! Pants, wet." Give me a break.
The only bone I throw to 7 is, yep, it has great music. And it's here that I think people allow themselves to believe 7 is a good game. Most places and situations are surrounded by some damn good music, and as they remember the music was good they associate the event and then eventually the game as good. Oh, and FMVs. People love shinies. 7 to me basically says, give the people pretty pictures and they'll love it unconditionally.
10. Ogre Battle/Ogre Battle 64 (tie) - A FANTASTIC series of games that goes criminally overlooked. It combines war strategy with RPGs, allowing you to build armies of knights/wizards/fantasy creatures all with experience points and levels. You then march them on the field of battle against opposing armies. There are also unique hero characters that are recruitable throughout the game, most of which are badasses. The music is also outstanding and I regularly listen to both soundtracks.
9. Secret of Mana - Yay for RPG-action! Although I still refuse to believe the Sprite is a guy, look at the thing. Anyways, definitely iconic for any number of reasons. The combat, the music, the story, the music. Did I mention the music was awesome?
8. Baldur's Gate II - The single definitive PC role-playing game. It's almost comical now how every game after it hasn't even come close to scratching the surface of how good Baldur's Gate II is. Engaging characters (even the annoying ones have engrossing stories), your typical D&D PC game combat, a great atmosphere, side-quests and party interaction up the wazoo, and a great overall storyline.
7. Halo - Let me be upfront: I hate FPSes. Why? Sniping. I'd love to be able to play these games but the second I join, I'm sniped. Fuck snipers and fuck sniping. That said, Halo was AMAZING. Immense maps that you could explore every pixel of, an easy learning curve for chumps like me combined with the insane Legendary difficulty for people who can actually play, SUPERB music, and best of all: NO ONLINE MULTIPLAYER! Thank god! When this game came out, it was quite often the activity of choice after 501st Legion meetings. A couple TVs, couple XBoxes, all friends and no XBox Live jackasses with sniper rifles. Just plain fun.
6. Mass Effect - I tend to lower my nose at modern things. It's a conceit of mine, being a history guy who is also easily prone to nostalgia. But Mass Effect was an instant classic. Let me just get this outta the way, yep it has great music. Both Halo and ME surprised me with their soundtracks, as I normally loathe techno/electronica. But while Halo at least makes it sound symphonic, ME's sounds pretty much pure techno but the soundtrack is great. The combat is fun for a FPS hater such as myself; my "canon" run Shephard is a soldier with the Singularity power, allowing me to toss enemies into a mid-air black hole while I pump assault rifle rounds into them. Also, unlike apparently everyone else on the planet, I had zero issue using the Mako. It's just hover-and-shoot, easy as pie. And then, of course, there's the story. Love it, love it, love it and the conservation wheel/branches just makes things even better. I can't wait to see the improvements in ME2.
5. Earthbound - Quirky. Fun. Bats and frying pans as weapons. Hippies, fat kids, and zombies as enemies. Catchy soundtrack. For as negative and angry and abrasive as I am, Earthbound is the total opposite. It's the video game equivalent of a hug from mom, or homemade dinner from grandma. And it's awesome.
4. Final Fantasy IV - I have this theory about Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI, which stems from both their amazing soundtracks. It really comes off like 4 is a re-telling of some mythological Celtic/Gaelic folk story while 6 is these giant sweeping epic opera. Anyways, 4 was my introduction to the Final Fantasy series as I never played 1 on the NES. Opening the game with a cutscene of airships to that badass pounding "Red Wings" theme was probably the best way to get me hooked, and I stayed through the whole story. And what a story it was. It still outshines 99% of video games nowadays for scope and storytelling.
3. Chrono Trigger - Magus. Frog. Ayla. The mute main character whipped by his love interest. There's really nothing I can say about CT that hasn't been said millions of times already. Love the story, love the characters, love the music, love the time-travelling airship, love it!
2. Seiken Densetsu III - A odd one to get to play, as you need to emulate it with the translation patch, but it's totally worth it. The ensemble of main characters are each gripping in their own way (though I've never chosen Carlie the cleric, and the knight from Fortuna is always my main), the music is second only to Final Fantasy 6, the gameplay gets a nice twist with the good/evil class leveling that allows for some nice party customization, and the story is stellar. It's much like a Mass Effect predescessor in that the story molds itself around the characters you choose/way you play. Amazing game that unfortunately never got to see American soil.
1. Final Fantasy VI - The single greatest video game of this or any generation. Bar none. Best soundtrack. Best characters. Best plot. This game, when I wasn't debating or preparing for the Marines, was my life during high school. There has never been a villain like Kefka, before or since. There has never been as many epic moments accompanied by appropriately epic music, before or since. There has never been such a deep, compelling ensemble of characters with no real main, before or since. And the story is so rich, deep, nuanced, it almost defies any explanation of its greatness. Simply the best.
Honorable Mention goes to basically every Zelda game out there, and Super Metroid, which are all clumped together after 10.
The Bottom 10, or Games Everyone Loves That I Hate
10. Gears of War - "GR HI I'M YOUR HERO WE'RE ALL SQUINTING HERE GRRGH."
9. Metal Gear Solid 2 - After reading multiple, multiple essays and dissections on Kojima's "artistic" bent and "plan" for the game.....yeah, it still sucks and still doesn't make any gah-damned sense. The fucking tanker bit in the beginning is the only part worth playing. The rest is idiotic (a gah damned VAMPIRE!?) and completely batshit insane.
8. Quake - Brownbrownshoothingsbrownjumpmissclimbbackbrownshootjump.
7. Kingdom Hearts/Kingdom Hearts 2 - My hatred for these games really lies in the rabid fanbase they've garnered, and the fact they worship and adore the shit-tastic Playstation Final Fantasy games while shoving the classic SNES ones aside. Fuck you Kingdom Hearts.
6. The Metroid Prime series - Metroid is not a first person shooter. Metroid is not a first person shooter. METROID IS NOT A FIRST PERSON SHOOTER!
5. Katamari Damacy - Rolling over crap with a ball to annoying ass music is not a good time. Also the space king dad person is creepy.
4. World of Warcraft - You mean I can pay 30 bucks a month to endlessly grind a character, participate in a dick-comparing contest of grabbing the best loot, deal with the no-brained mouth-breathing online community, and have the privilege of needing to shell out more money for each expansion just so I can keep up with the Jones'?? Where do I sign up?!
3. Assassin's Creed - I'm sick and damned tired of medieval Christian Europe, the Crusades, and specifically the Knights Templar being portrayed as one-dimensional out-and-out "bad guys" in everything. History doesn't work that way, not even in World War II where you had Hitler and Stalin (both "evil") on opposing sides. There is so much more to the Crusades, to the Templars and Hospitaliers, than "olol killz and plunder dem muslimz" but the fact this gets ignored drives me up a damn wall.
2. Chrono Cross - For as great a game as Chrono Trigger is, Chrono Cross is the total opposite. It's the floater your fat friend leaves in your toilet before he goes home.
1. Final Fantasy VII - The single most overrated piece of shit that gets polished of all-time. To start with, the plot itself completely rips off 6. Evil empire siphoning off magic from the world? Check. Amnesiac hero who gets used by said evil empire? Check. A "surprise" real villain who supplants the evil empire? Check. Gigantic natural "weapons" created from the planet to fight? Check. The quiet loner ninja, prince/princess, lifelong soldier, and sentient animal all in your party? Check.
Basically the only thing original 7 has going for it is killing Aeris. Because that's fucking dumb and wasn't used in any of the previous FFs! She got stabbed; your party is repeatedly stabbed in combat. Use a Phoenix friggin' Down. Now in 4, there are in-game character "deaths" but they make sense. Porom and Palom turn to stone, the party tries the anti-petrify items and spells but they don't work. Cid and Yang both appear to sacrifice themselves, which seems no different from Aeris being stabbed at first but in both situations your party can not go back and reach them to cast or use anything. They are out of reach, and so out of care. Cloud's dumb ass is standing RIGHT. THERE. It's ridiculous.
Then, there's Sephiroth. A worse villain has never been conceived, and yet looking at the public reaction to Twilight I guess he hits a cord that resonates in society; America loves pale, thin emo douches. Why the hell is he a villain again? He wants to destroy the planet for mommy? Seriously?! That's all ya got? "Oh man this dude's dressed in black, walking out of a fire, and has a katana! Pants, wet." Give me a break.
The only bone I throw to 7 is, yep, it has great music. And it's here that I think people allow themselves to believe 7 is a good game. Most places and situations are surrounded by some damn good music, and as they remember the music was good they associate the event and then eventually the game as good. Oh, and FMVs. People love shinies. 7 to me basically says, give the people pretty pictures and they'll love it unconditionally.
I could not disagree with you about 7's music more. Most of it is absolutely awful midi garbage and completely inferior composition-wise to 4-5-6's music. If it wasn't for One Winged Angel's Carmina Burana knockoff no one would give a crap about FF7. 8 and Chrono Cross and even Xenogears and 9 had far superior music.
Just pirate it. No one will blame you for not coughing up $200 for a game you've never played. And once you're done playing, if you ever see an opportunity to get it for 20 or 30 bucks, you can pick it up.
Q
Qonas
Oh, 4/5/6 definitely have the superior music by far. In fact most of the soundtracks I gush about in my top 10 have better music. But I think 7's is good music too, just not the best. I'm a big fan of the regular boss music, the Shinra theme, that Sephiroth stalking theme, Jenova's theme, and obviously One Winged Angel (as much as that pains me).
J
JONJONAUG
Actually you can pick up Planescape Torment right now on eBay for like 20 dollars (it's the DVD reprint from a little while back).
Get it while it is hot.
Get it while it is hot.
You must not have played this game as it's completely the opposite of what's going on in it.
Glad to see someone mention Jagged Alliance 2 and Shining Force. I used to go over to my friends place just to play it. Great games.
I have a copy of Planescape: Torment around somewhere. I don't think I've played it for more than 10 minutes. However, I'm going to go dig it out right now. Thanks guys
I have a copy of Planescape: Torment around somewhere. I don't think I've played it for more than 10 minutes. However, I'm going to go dig it out right now. Thanks guys
I'm hoping to get the trilogy on Wii for Christmas. I played through the first two already, but hell, I'll play 'em again with Wiimote!
I'm hoping to get the trilogy on Wii for Christmas. I played through the first two already, but hell, I'll play 'em again with Wiimote![/QUOTE]
I'm hoping to get this myself. I think the only reason I never finished the first metroid prime is because I found the controls cumbersome, not so Metroid prime 3
I'm hoping to get the trilogy on Wii for Christmas. I played through the first two already, but hell, I'll play 'em again with Wiimote![/QUOTE]
I'm hoping to get this myself. I think the only reason I never finished the first metroid prime is because I found the controls cumbersome, not so Metroid prime 3[/QUOTE]
I never finished it because they make you search for all those stupid pieces of whatever at the end so you can get to the final boss. I hated that in MP2, but I did it anyway. MP1 (I actually played it second), I just didn't have the stomach for it. However, if I get the trilogy, the new controls will make up for having to treasure hunt through most of the maps.
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