Your Top Choices for Best Games of All Time

[jazz1m]

Well, with the start of 2009 I thought it might be fitting to make a little video game list. These can be any video games from any genres (and of course from any time). When writing these up if you could note the name of the game, console and genre with a brief description of what makes it awesome. That'd be great. Guess I'll start:

1. Final Fantasy Tactics - Playstation, Tactical RPG
One of the reasons why I loved this game was due to its replayability. Different zodiac signs will give you different benefits on certain days. It was also completely different from all the other Final Fantasy games in terms of gameplay. I love turn-based tactics games because it really is about the placement of your characters and making sure you have the right blend of tanks and spell casters. The difficulty was at a right stage where you really needed to think carefully about your moves. Still one of the best Tactical RPGs to date.

2. Goldenye - N64, First Person Shooter
The ultimate in first person shooters, everything about it was done with great planning and multiplayer use in mind. The various modes that you could choose as well as characters made the game an ultimate party game. My favorite was setting it to one-hit kills and going around throwing knives at people. The N64 controller seemed like it was built for the game, even a person like myself who is pretty bad at FPS could pick it up and play easily.

3. Portal - PC, First Person Puzzle Game
One of the biggest surprises to me when I purchased the Orange Box was that Portal was the game that I kept going back to. The humor is well-timed and the idea of creating a physics based game where you can travel through inter-spatial portals is, well, certainly my dream. The game starts out fairly easy but the difficulty level increases later on. It's fun, quirky, short and most of all smart.

4. The World of Goo - PC, Wii, Mac Puzzle Game
I just discovered the gem of a game and it's really amazing. It's very strongly physics based and the main objective of the game is to use your goo balls to escape through various tunnels. There are a total of 20 puzzles each with different backgrounds and music. It's one of those great games that's just easy enough that you can figure it out pretty easily but also just hard enough to be challenging and fun each time. The gooballs you collect go to the goo corporation where you can make a tower and race to the top. Simply amazing game.

5. Zelda Ocarina of Time N64, Action-Adventure
This has got to be my favorite Zelda in the series. I really liked the fact that it was in 3-D, and for that time period, it looked pretty nifty. I also loved the fact that though the game was fairly linear, there were enough side quests to keep you from getting bored following the main storyline. It had great depth, the audio was superb and it was an overall awesome game.

6. Starcraft Mac, PC, RTS
Probably THE best RTS that exists. I mean, if a whole country adopts your video game as their national pass time that's a sign of greatness. This is probably one of the few games I keep coming back to and have just as much fun as when I first played it back in '98. The multiplayer is amazing and is really where this game shines, but the single player mode has a great storyline and amazing gameplay. Plus, you get a choice of three different factions: Zerg, Terrans, and Protoss each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Simply one of the best games ever.

7. Mario Kart N64, Racing Game
Need for speed got nothing on Mario Kart, still the most fun racing game in existence. Racing against friends, destroying each others balloon, there's a ton of fun to be had in multiplayer. And the greatest thing is that every time you race it's different. You try different tactics, get different weapons. The controls can be slightly touchy, but overall it's very responsive. The level designs are also a ton of fun, which each level having different obstacles and challenges.

That's my short list, what are your favorite games of all time?

[Inhuman Bot]

Only one thing comes to mind right away.

Mother. 3. - GBA, RPG.
"strange, funny and heartrending"

Mother 3 is most definately my favorite RPG. It has a great, different story, interesting, non-random battles, good charcters, and the excellent music tops the list off well.
If you have played this, and do not like it, you are obviously a Herctic, mutant and traitor.CLEANSE! PURGE! KILL! by the way.

Other mentions go to The world ends with you, Okami, and Beyond good and evil.

[king.com]

Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, played, loved it, played it 10 years leater, loved it.
Great epic feeling story, interractive part members, the first game where i felt a a part of the story, i felt involved, i felt connected to these characters.

Fallout 1 or 2: Legendary settling with some very funny moments and black humour, commenting on all of societies flaws and humanities failing and triumphs.

Deus Ex: Set an unparralleled standard for both shooters and adventure games. Required careful thinking and fast reflexes to achieve the most. Unfortunately it was look down upon because you require half a brain to play it.

Starcraft: for the same reason i mention above, doesnt get first because it started at the same time as the youtube generation, with their "ZOMG ZERGLING RUSH YOU *** LOLOLOLOL". Except for these few randoms, it consumed my brother and I for two years, and i will never forget some of the terran units :)

Portal: unexpect brilliance, just long enough to play, jsut short enough to finish, and great song.

World of Warcraft: im not a big fan myself but this game has changed the world as we know it, whatever your opinion is, to ignore this juggernaught is to ignore a 40m slab of cement between you and your computer screen.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Dwarf Fortress - Mac, PC, RTS/civic management game.

Gloriously buggy, utterly incomplete, still with ASCII graphics, but nonetheless, a possibly deeper and more complex game than anything else. Its still being in its alpha stage means that its growing all the time (the developer is currently coding location injury up to the level of differentiation of dermis, fat, and muscle layers), and it has a great community.

But what makes it awesome? It's sandbox. The developer puts variables into the system that he's coded, and just sees what happens.

Take elves, for example. Our stereotypical perception of them is of a dying, peaceful race, who don't engage in agriculture, cut down trees, or engage in aggressive wars. So, Toady (the developer) coded them as
refusing to use metal weapons (requires forging, which means burning wood)
immortal
only eating what they can forage, the better to avoid disrupting nature
not cutting trees


So what happens? They breed. After 500 years of running the world generation program, there's a lot of them. Their borders come up to those of humans, dwarves, and goblins. They see them cutting down trees, and offer them an ultimatum - stop logging or die. The other civilisation, quite naturally refuses to accede to these demands.

And then, well, you get messages like this:


Attacker: Force of 1673 elves, 451 losses
Defender: Force of 20 humans, all lost

The elves attack en masse - they never die in peacetime, so they easily outnumber all other sentient beings put together.

They cannibalise the corpses of those they kill (hey, they forage whatever they can get - and 1673 elves can strip a place of eatable plants quite quickly), thus incurring war from other more discerning civilisations. More food.

Soon, the entire world is stripped bare of all sapient beings, by ravening hordes of elves.

The best bit? All of this is emergent. It was never scripted by the developer, it's just the logical result of the traits he gives to elves.

Dwarf Fortress is an awesome, awesome game. It's a terrible, terrible mess, but, nonetheless, I'd defy you to find something better and funner of its genre.

[tarbrush]

Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, played, loved it, played it 10 years leater, loved it.
Great epic feeling story, interractive part members, the first game where i felt a a part of the story, i felt involved, i felt connected to these characters.

Fallout 1 or 2: Legendary settling with some very funny moments and black humour, commenting on all of societies flaws and humanities failing and triumphs.

World of Warcraft: im not a big fan myself but this game has changed the world as we know it, whatever your opinion is, to ignore this juggernaught is to ignore a 40m slab of cement between you and your computer screen.

With you on Fallout and Baldur's Gate.

Also for your consideration, UFO Enemy Unknown and Civilisation 2. Civ 2 only stopped being playable when Civ4 came out many years later. UFO wasn't quite as good for replayability and had a couple of annoying flaws, but the first few times you play, it was amazing.

Both excellent games that were way ahead of their time.

[Corlindale]

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

No other game has sucked me in the way Morrowind did. The sheer scope of the world is simply amazing, the amount of stuff to do staggering. It was also among the first truly open-world games I played, and I really love the idea that one can simply ignore the main quest and choose to explore, or join any of a large number of guilds, with a great number of interesting missions connected to each.

The world also seemed incredibly deep and believable. I'm sure there were a lot more than a hundred different books to find, as one of my favourite examples, and most of them were quite interesting. They didn't have to add a single one, yet they put so much effort into something with little actual gameplay impact. The world itself was both beautiful and original - its plants and animals gave it a slightly alien feel and seperated it from many other fantasy games which usually just go with the "generic fantasy world"-look.

Talking believability, let me return to the Guilds. When joining the Mage's guild, the first couple of missions simply consists in being sent off to gather mushrooms and flowers, and other menial tasks - exactly what I would expect to be doing as a lowly apprentice in such a guild. No being sent off to direct confrontations with evil Necromancer-cults and similar from the get-go, as would have been many other games' take on such (in Oblivion it felt as if I did nothing but fight necromancers in the Guild, I liked Morrowind's scholarly approach to the mage's role much, much better). I really think this made a big difference for me with regards to suspension of disbelief.

Another thing was the dungeons. In Morrowind, when you stumbled upon, say, a burial chamber - it actually felt like a burial chamber. It didn't just feel like a dungeon created for the player to explore and loot.
The Dwemer Ruins in particular felt very distinct, and you really had the feeling that you were exploring relics of an ancient civilization - you'd often stumble upon incomprehensible books and notes, and weird artifacts of various kinds - once again things that were never necessary for gameplay, but gives SO much to the world.

In many way Morrowind seems more like a world than a game. As a world it was near-perfect, though as a game it of course had some issues - clunky combat, easily breakable enchantment and alchemy skills and a less-than-optimal interface in general.

[Dogmantra]

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Correct answer, you win one million pounds!

Runner up for greatest game ever: Portal. From the characterisation of the Turrets, to the catchier-than-breathing song at the end, it was just... excellent.

Honourable mention: It's honourable, because it was in my top 3 (it got kicked out by Fallout 3, but it's still at number 4): Auditorium (http://playauditorium.com/)
It's free too, which is cool.

[Person_Man]

I'd add Master of Orion II to the list. Probably the best turn based strategy game I can think of. Whatever happened to tbs and pilot games (Wing Commander, Tie Fighter) games anyway? Everything today is first person shooter, puzzle, or real time strategy.

[Artanis]

StarCraft: PC, RTS

The best RTS of all time, and Brood War did the impossible by making it better. It is also undeniably one of the two greatest games of all time, with what it did in Korea putting it above and beyond anything but Pong.


X-Com: UFO Defense (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown): PC, TBS

There are only four games that have ever really made me afraid. I don't mean just startling the player, which anybody can do. I mean making you feel true fear as your soldiers are hunted down, one by one, by a deadly, invincible enemy that you cannot see coming until it's too late. On top of that, both the tactical and strategic gameplay are amazing, and victory and defeat both hang by a thread on every choice you make.


System Shock PC, FPS

Another of the four games that has made me feel fear as the player is mercilessly hunted by legions of enemies through shadowy, broken corridors while ammunition and health deplete bit by bit. SHODAN is one of the best villains of all time, with just the right mix of evil, cunning, insanity, and omniscience to endure forever. And the gameplay was not just truly great, but revolutionary, letting you aim anywhere, with slanted surfaces and more resources than just health and ammo to worry about.


System Shock 2 PC, FPS

Nothing could top System Shock in the FPS category. At least, nothing could until System Shock 2 came along. Unlike most sequels, it took everything that made the original great, and made that even better, all while adding elements that add to the effect even more. And the moment you find out the face of your true enemy...


Honorable Mention: World of Warcraft PC, MMORPG

Not the best game of all time by any means, but definitely the best MMO and the undisputed greatest in that field, completely redefining everything that everybody thought an MMO was commercially capable of.

[Morty]

Planescape: Torment. No other game I've ever played had such an emotional, immersive story. It's probably the only game in which I haven't skipped any dialogue when replaying it, because most of it is so damn good, even many dialogues with completely minor characters.

[factotum]

TIE Fighter. PC, space combat sim

Well, the game starts off by getting +20% on the score just because it's a Star Wars game, but this is the one that just got everything right. Huge variety of missions that gradually revealed a story of betrayal in the highest ranks of the Imperial military. Ship controls that have never been beaten and which were cleverly used in the missions--for instance, one mission where your target tried to launch from a base and get away while you were still kilometres away, meaning your only choice was to divert all power from shields and guns to engines in order to catch him; then, of course, you had no power to fire your lasers and had to hope your guns would get enough charge to stop him before he jumped into hyperspace! If it would work on modern PCs I would happily buy this game again right now, 1994 standard graphics or not.

[Sneak]

Final Fantasy VI (SNES/Rom) - A great JRPG. You've probably heard all about it or played it already, so I don't think much more needs to be said.

Giants: Citizen Kabuto (PC/Mac) - A game combining various genres and adding a little spice of hilarity to the mix. An often challenging game with beautiful graphics (even now), an oddball plot, oddball characters, interesting gameplay, and hilarious dialogue.

Super Smash Bros. (N64) - Probably the best fighting game ever.

Mario Kart (N64) - Probably the best racing game ever.

Neverwinter Nights (PC/Mac) - Came packaged with terrible campaigns, but is made into a wonderful game by the huge, active community producing extraordinary modules and other custom content for the game.

Diablo II (PC/Mac) - A decent dungeon crawl, made great by online play.

World of Warcraft (PC/Mac) - Even if you don't really like it or play MMORPGS, you have to admit...this game really changed the genre. Pretty much every other mmorpurger out that tries to emulate it.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64 - A great 3D adventure game. Classic.

Of course, I think my all time favorite has to be...

Tetris - 'nuff said.

[Kane]

Mostly posted before:

Final Fantasy Tactics.

Fallout 1&2. (I got them for Christmas, beat 1, playing 2.)

NWN 2

I almost forgot, PORTAL! PortalportalportalIt was a triumph...

Wish I could have played System Shock 1 & 2, and some of the X-com games. And tie-fighter.

Gears of War 2: It combines just about everything I've ever liked for shooter gaming into a single, beautiful game. [Tactical, reasonable story, varying gameplays in the campaign, bots, horde, etc.]

Half Life+Assorted sequels and expansions. I still remember and love the spore-launching catfish-type-gun-thing from Opposing Force. (It purred!)

I'll agree with Dwarf Fortress...

And that's all, off the top of my head.

[Tirian]

There are some good choices here so far. I'll just repeat them instead of reiterating them.

Portal: The cake is not a lie. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction. Yes, it's not long, but it's just the right length to tell the story that it wants to tell, which is what more story-based games should seek to do. It is fascinating to listen to the developer commentary tracks; it's really a self-referential game in the sense that they tooled the challenges in feedback to the beta tester's experiences, to the point that several of the key points in the game were developed so that people would be able to understand the game, not just enjoy it. This is frankly high on the list of Best Things of All Time.

The Sims: I think that every player of this game has had the experience of developing a character with a beautiful home, a high-paying job, and juggling dozens of friends with sparkling conversation and hot tubs and wondering "Why don't I turn off the computer and make something of my own life instead?!" If the highest praise for a simulation is making it want to experience the real thing, then The Sims deserves it many times over.

Ultima IV: As far as I know, still alone amongst RPGs. Instead of being about saving the world from an ominous evil, it is about leading the world towards a Utopian vision, and rewards a virtuous deed every bit as much as a magical sword. Also a fantastically intricate world design that the player has to figure out by piecing together interviews with virtually everyone in the world.

Star Wars: TIE Fighter: Yeah. Why is it that we've been putting out space fighting sims for the past fourteen years that aren't as good as the fourth one ever made?

Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle: We can disagree on the best of the LucasArts graphic adventures, but at least one of them should be on everyone's list.

The Fool's Errand: You know those fiddly little puzzle books that have a million dollar prize if you can solve the invisible riddle? Cliff Johnson wrote one that has no cash prize, but that can actually be solved, and it is a marvelous logical labyrinth. It is free here (http://www.fools-errand.com/01-the-fools-errand/index.htm). Again, one of those distressing games that has been out for decades but has hardly every been imitated (even by the developer himself, whose sequel has been a month away from being released for the past several years now).

A Mind Forever Voyaging: Like DOTT, there has to be an Infocom game here, and AMFV is my favorite. Like Portal, it's "easy", but it's really more about experiencing a moving story at a more visceral level because you are playing it instead of passively reading or watching it.

Katamari Damacy: Okay, a PlayStation title. A compelling holistic gameplay element, a mind-numbingly addictive soundtrack, and a story that starts with the silliness of Yellow Submarine and amps it up with the silliness of Japanese culture.

Kingdom Hearts: Hmm, well then another PlayStation title. Again, it's what outstanding games should be like, recapturing a dozen of the most beloved family movies of all time with hyper-credible voice acting, graphics, and music.

Myst: I'll throw this in to round it out to ten titles. An amazingly clean interface, sounds that are both natural and informative, including gorgeous renditions of the concept art to provide a sort of in-game walkthrough, and incredible use of environment to subtly change the player's understanding of what "winning" the game means by showing instead of telling.

[jazz1m]

Awesome!
I mostly do this so that I can see what great games I've missed (and maybe can help some of you guys find some games you've missed as well). Dwarf Fortress I haven't played, I shall check it out. One for the road

Dark Cloud 2 PS2, RPG
Talk about a sleeper hit, this is one of the better RPGs that doesn't have final fantasy in the title. Sure, it's all just a bunch of dungeon crawls, but it's freakin fun and has pretty much endless replay value. I say that not because the story is non-linear but because there's so much to do. You can complete every goal on the dungeon list, fish, play golf, mate your fish or put them in fighting tanks, recruit friends, make inventions, take pictures, upgrade your weapons different ways, there's just simply too much to describe. The graphics are wonderful for the time, if you like big-headed anime kids, the voice acting is meh, but the storyline is immersive and the gameplay is outstanding.

[Flame of Anor]

Riven

Awesome game. See my avvie.

[Eldan]

If I had seen this thread earlier, I would have been the one to mention Riven. I mean, I've played many games in my life, but none of them had such a dense athmosphere. Such a sense of wonder.
It contains a total of ... about a dozen people. I'm not sure on the exact number, since the generic guards at least could be the same people appearing several times. All except three of them don't speak your language. Some appear for a total of approximately three seconds. And it still managed to make the world great.
The puzzles. Oh my god, the puzzles. I spent an entire six month thinking about the hardest one in the game, I think. I was about twelve years old at the time, and would sit at the computer every night, walking from island to island and trying to find any clues I might have forgotten. And all this time, I was still interested, because the scenery was just so beautiful and I could never stop looking at the same rocks and sea and sky again and again, even if they were flat, unmoving, fixed images and you couldn't move your viewpoint back then.
Yes, I'm a fanboy. I still have the poster it was delivered with hanging on my wall. It's the only poster I've ever had in my life.
My only critisism would perhaps be that Atrus had a different voice in every one of the german translations, at least until exile. Didn't speak any english back then, and even if I had, english versions weren't available over here.

Edit: I should write more. This game always deserves more writing. Remember how I said Torment had a fantastic story and great characters? It had. But those of the myst series were just better. Really. Also, I always loved reading books and if there's one thing these games have a lot of, it's books.

[Illiterate Scribe]

Yeah, Riven was awesome. I think that the move into 3d, around Myst 4 actually hurt it - it removed the lovely panoramas.

[Eldan]

3D was quite gradual with the Myst series. Myst III: Exile had 360° Panoramas that you could scroll around in with the mouse and sometimes short movie sequences when you moved along a path. Myst IV: Revelation had them whenever you moved I think.
To my shame, I must say that I haven't been able to complete Myst IV to this day. Since I have vowed to never a) Use a walkthrough on the net or b) play the Myst games out of order, I haven't played End of Ages, so I can't comment on the graphics in that one, but I heard it's actually full 3D, which seems strange to me.

[Illiterate Scribe]

3D was quite gradual with the Myst series. Myst III: Exile had 360° Panoramas that you could scroll around in with the mouse and sometimes short movie sequences when you moved along a path. Myst IV: Revelation had them whenever you moved I think.
To my shame, I must say that I haven't been able to complete Myst IV to this day. Since I have vowed to never a) Use a walkthrough on the net or b) play the Myst games out of order, I haven't played End of Ages, so I can't comment on the graphics in that one, but I heard it's actually full 3D, which seems strange to me.

Yeah, I remember that Exile had 360 degree panoramas, but it was ultimately still 2d - just like a series of paintings. End of Ages is indeed full 3D, and it didn't work for that. If someone was to remake it with the Crysis engine and turn bloom up to MAX, then it might be ok, but as it stands it's actually a step down from Riven.

[Eldan]

Everything is a step down from Riven.

[JabberwockySupafly]

There are contenders on here others have mentioned before me, like Portal, Baldur's Gate / Fallout, and Planescape: Torment, so no need to justify them

Diablo (the first one) - The one that started it all. The first successful Isometric Hack & Slash RPG. It had a great combat system, stellar music, an interesting story & characters, and most importantly it had a brilliantly clostrophobic and sinister atmosphere. I remember the first time I played it, late one night with my headphones on. I opened a door and heard a wet, ghastly voice rumble "Aaaaah... Fresh Meat." Scared me so bad my heart nearly leapt out of my throat.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Terrible voice acting aside, this game completely redifned 2D gaming. Story, level design, and the music... OH THE MUSIC! *Nerdgasms*. I dare someone to find a game with a more solid musical score than this. This game took what Metroid was trying to do at the time, and perfected it. One of a handful of games from the PS1 era of gaming I can still go back to and play and not even realise that it's aged. The 2D sprites are beautifully crafted and nothing in the game ever makes me stop to reconsider the game is in fact twelve years old. None of the current run of Metroidvanias have yet to achieve the same level of perfection as their predecessor.

Katamari Damacy - Many would be hardpressed to find a game as enthralling as Katamari. It's quirky story, graphics, and music make it so memorable and the gameplay itself so addictively simple: roll a ball to pick up stuff to make it bigger to pick up bigger stuff. Sounds boring and repetitive but with the plethora of items, levels, and of course, those awesome Dokaka songs to keep you going, you can't help but appreciate the uniqueness of (na... nananananana) KATAMARI DAMACY! Great, talking about it makes me want to go play it now... Have to break out the PS2 after this post.

ICO & Shadow of the Colossus - Stunning visuals, moving orchestral score, and a clever premise: Hide a puzzle game inside of an action game. SotC and it's predecessor, ICO, are extremely unique games that are sorely overlooked on a lot of people's favourites or Best Games lists. because they simply haven't been played enough.


Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - An awesome RPG that tells a relatively original story of betrayal and revenge... or redemption, all dependent on the choices you make. It delivered on what some games (i'm looking at you, Fable) promised but failed to do. Sure it wasn't the most nonlinear game in the world, but your companions all had unique personalities and were affected by the choices you made almost as much as you were. Great story, great characters, an enjoyable combat & levelling system (good ol' 3rd Ed) and graphically pleasing at the time it was released. Let's not forget the top-notch voice acting. Plus, it has HK-47, by definition the greatest companion in any game. Ever.


Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - Originally, I was going to put Silent Hill 2 here, which is a great Survival/Horror game, but then I remembered this oft-overlooked gem. This game scared the Hell out of me. There is no way to describe the vast amounts of heart-freezing, pulse-pounding, mind-numbing, and other hyphenated words that describe fear scenes this game put me through. The thing that really set it apart from the other Survival/Horror games out there were it told it's story down the ages through multiple characters, it had RPG elements, and the most important part: The Sanity Meter. Your sanity was measured by a scale of green liquid. The lower this scale became, the more your mind subjected you to hallucinations. Walls oozed blood, you could hear women and children crying, or things skittering in the darkness. You would suddenly explode (not really), or walk into a room full of enemies that suddenly would disappear. And then, there's the infamous bathtub scene. Not to mention it would begin to make you think you were going mad with such effects as the screen going black and the word "Video" in the top corner, while sounds of your character dying are played; the game suddenly start "deleting" your saves instead of saving, or your character walks into a room full of enemies and the game says it can't find a controller in Port A. A comprehensive (but not complete) list of Sanity Effects can be found here (http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/file/913957/17705).

[Charity]

I'd add Master of Orion II to the list. Probably the best turn based strategy game I can think of. Whatever happened to tbs and pilot games (Wing Commander, Tie Fighter) games anyway? Everything today is first person shooter, puzzle, or real time strategy.

See now thats why we like PM, he just talks sense.
Love MoO2 (but for gods sake never be tempted by MoO3!)

I think my fav game ever is Micro machines V3 for the playstation it is the king of party games truely magnificently chaotic with 8 players.

I really liked the fly by mouse interface for Freelancer.

I love Bushido blade, hardcore fighting game with no health bar. I've had fights that last less than a second, and ten minute hammer and tongs crazyness, you really must check it out (though it's a bit dated these days)

Star control was a great game ( I had it on the old Sega megadrive but it was great on the PC also) and heck Star control 2 was no slouch either.

... there are too many really old coin ops that we played to death (gauntlet, 1942, defender, missile command) but it is difficult to grade those as the competition wasn't there to truely compare ... (though Kung Fu was ace)

[Enlong]

Wait, World of Goo only has 20 puzzles? So that demo is actually most of the game?

[Eldan]

Can't be. It's larger. I played all levels, and each world had up to ten puzzles.

[jazz1m]

Oops my bad, mistyped for some reason. There are in fact 48 levels (or at least that's what wiki tells me) I had just played up to 20 levels. Sorry for the confusion :smallsmile:

Also: Can't believe I forgot Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, amazing games, wonderful graphics innovative gameplay. Sanity's Requiem also very good and also sleeper hit of the Gamecube.

[Dragor]

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - *snip*

Thoroughly seconded. Eternal Darkness gave the survival horror in games a short, sharp spank up the backside. I dread to think what would come out if Silicon Knights and the Silent Hill masterminds teamed up.

I speak for this game because of this: when I was younger, it scared me enough into stopping me from playing on the Gamecube, but at the same time I'd love to give it that play. Great voice acting, atmosphere, and while the combat wasn't stellar it wasn't bad either.

[13_CBS]

My list...

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

My most favorite RPG of all time, and one of my favorite games, period. The combat was fairly simplistic, yeah, but it was the mood, the setting, and the excellent dialogue that kept me totally immersed in the game, always wondering and wanting to know what this mysterious, yet somewhat familiar, place was like. That, and the music. Arcanum's music, which is mostly chamber music consisting of two violins, a viola, and a cello, especially rings true to my classical heart.

Tribes 2

My favorite multiplayer game of all time. It' a FPS that heavily focuses on jetpack management. The death messages alone could entertain you for a good hour, but what really made this game for me was a certain mod called Meltdown 2. Close community where most players of the mod knew each other, awesomely fun weapons, base building, even more death messages, and fast, hectic jetpack fun. Oooh, and voice splicing. "I got your awesome moo!"

Oblivion

Despite what many people say about this game, I've always found it to be quite fun, if only for the sheer amount of stuff you can do in that game. The NPC pedestrians felt more like real people than in any other game, despite the curious dialogue issues. Now, if only ragdolls weren't so ragdolly...

Team Fortress 2

This game came very close to matching Tribes 2. Fast, fun, and hilarious FPS hijinks. It was easy to pick up, and easy to improve upon my skills and become a decent player. The easy voice communications also made teamwork really fun.

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines

Yum, excellent gothic horror-esque RPG. Great lines, excellent setting, and lots of things to do.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Probably the best swordfighting simulator out there, and given how much I like medieval weapons, well...
Also, kudos to the developers on working very hard to make almost any object a potential weapon, and exploiting the Source engine perhaps even more so than Half Life 2 to embellish gameplay.

Mount & Blade

This is where I satisfy my "destroy and conquer" itches. Featuring one of the best mounted combat systems around, the game itself also indirectly led me to radically change my life. Oh, and it's good fun.

[Deathslayer7]

SC: as others have already pointed out

Diablo 2 (B-net only): I liked this when me and my friend played it. We had a lot of fun together. Kind of boring by yourself though.

Age of Empires 2: I'm a sucker for this game. I liked this version better than 3 and Mythology. It's a lot simpler and easier to use then 3, and I find Mythology just a rip-off of it. Haven't ever played the Civilization series though.

Chrono Cross: good plot with graphics. Enough said. :smallsmile:

Final Fantasy Tactics: is a good game.

Counter-Strike: fun game with friends. :smallsmile:

Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl: although I prefer melee better.

[Archonic Energy]

I really liked the fly by mouse interface for Freelancer.


Charity: remind me to bring my Joystick to the Meet... i've got a game you might like to see.



1. Final Fantasy Tactics - Playstation, Tactical RPG

2. Goldenye - N64, First Person Shooter

3. Portal - PC, First Person Puzzle Game

4. The World of Goo - PC, Wii, Mac Puzzle Game

5. Zelda Ocarina of Time N64, Action-Adventure

6. Starcraft Mac, PC, RTS

7. Mario Kart N64, Racing Game

That's my short list, what are your favorite games of all time?
1: not played. though i've disliked the FF games i've played.
2: waiting for the VC to release it.
3: Agreed.
4: Not played... yet
5: got it on the Wii's VC... now i understand what people were saying about it (still prefer the SNES' LttP)
6: Agreed
7: Prefered the SNES version... ahhh memories


Baldur's Gate 1 or 2,

Fallout 1 / 2:

Deus Ex:

World of Warcraft:

BG / BGII:SoA/ToB: ahh my old friend... THIS is the thing which got me into D&D.
Fallout / Fallout 2: Agreed.
Deus Ex: Agreed, looking forward to playing the new one... DON'T SCREW IT UP!
WoW: i've deliberatly not played this game, through fear that it may consume me like it has countless others.


Planescape: Torment.
Winner. no further posts are needed :smallwink:
i could fill pages on the subject of this game, but i won't.

ok my personal list
5: i'm torn between Half Life 2 & eps or Portal... i'll go with Half Life 2.
4: Neverwinter Nights / NWN2 & assorted add-ons
3: Bioware Infinity engine games.
2: Master of Orion II : Battle at Anteres
1: Planescape : Torment


[additional information to be added - god i miss multiquote]

[Mushroom Ninja]

Let's see...

Baldur's Gate I/II

Morrowind

Oblivion

Half-Life 2 (and the episodes)

Caesar III

There's probably some other stuff that I can't recall correctly right now...

[Player_Zero]

I don't think you can really say 'X is the best game of all time'...

I mean, you can have two excellent games that are in no way comparable.

Take, for instance, Planescape Torment. I think we'll all agree that the writing and story of this game are truly amazing. However, can you compare it to, taking another game choice given, Ocarina of Time? How would you compare them? By gameplay? By graphical design? By immersion? And if you do that thehn how do you rank each of the aspects of a games design relative to each other?

Answer: you can't as they are dependant on to whom you're talking. Some people like different aspects of different games. Therefore any ranking given by any specific person can only be appreciated from a similar frame of reference.

That is my over-explanation on a question which noone asked and a subject which is irrelevant. Thank you and good night.

[Joran]

Answer: you can't as they are dependant on to whom you're talking. Some people like different aspects of different games. Therefore any ranking given by any specific person can only be appreciated from a similar frame of reference.

That is my over-explanation on a question which noone asked and a subject which is irrelevant. Thank you and good night.

Correct. It is an inherently subjective question, so "best" doesn't particularly suit the question. Even a properly framed question is pretty hard to dissect like "most influential game". That said, it's pretty fun to argue.

The best game of all time is clearly Pong. Simple, elegant, and introduced video gaming to the masses.

The second best game of all time is clearly Super Mario Bros. It resuscitated the video game industry from the horrors of the video game crash.

The third best game of all time is clearly a tie between Wii Sports and Wii Fit. I for one welcome our new/(old) Nintendo Overlords. May their rule be more fruitful than their previous.

[Oregano]

Duck Hunt is clearly the best shooter ever.:smallwink:

[Llama231]

As a smash fantic, i say:
64! Melee!! Brawl!!! Melee!!!!!

Also, I think that the pokemon games are phenomenal, as well as the advance wars series, and civilization.

My first 5 years or so of video games was almost exclusively pokemon.

[Athaniar]

Some of my favorite games are actually N64 games. These include:

GoldenEye - It's just so good at satisfying the human need for violence in such an entertaining and thought-out way.

Perfect Dark - GoldenEye's spiritual sequel has an impressive storyline, to say the least, and the gameplay is equally impressive. Rare, please come back from the Dark Side and make a good sequel to it! Something with even more Skedar, hopefully.

Super Mario 64 - Does this really need an explanation? As a side note, it was my first ever N64 game (if I remember correctly).

Ocarina of Time - Masterpiece, truly a masterpiece.

Majora's Mask - An even greater masterpiece.


Other favorites to other consoles:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - It improves on the excellent gameplay and ideas of its predecessors, and those games were among my favorites, too.

Mario Kart Wii - Good and fun racing game (with good fun), but a defective Battle Mode, so a minor favorite, perhaps?

World of Warcraft - Best MMORPG ever. Further explanation is not required, I assume.

Knights of the Old Republic - The first (and only the first) KotOR is a true masterpiece in RPG, as is...

Neverwinter Nights - Note that I am still referring to the first part, created by BioWare, the RPG Kings. A note: You can actually play as, like, any race you wish, everything from kobolds and bugbears to black dragons and intellect devourers, thanks to a particularly useful code (not really cheating, since it doesn't give you any actual advantage).

Age of Empires II (Age of Kings) - THE real-time strategy game. Star Wars: Battlegrounds is also a favorite, since it's AoE2 set in the Star Wars universe.

Age of Wonders II - To continue a trend, THE turn-based strategy game. With the best editor I've ever seen.

Warcraft III - A strong contender to the throne of THE real-time strategy game. It appeals heavily to the micromanager in me, as well as having a really nice editor.

[jazz1m]

I don't think you can really say 'X is the best game of all time'...

I mean, you can have two excellent games that are in no way comparable.

Take, for instance, Planescape Torment. I think we'll all agree that the writing and story of this game are truly amazing. However, can you compare it to, taking another game choice given, Ocarina of Time? How would you compare them? By gameplay? By graphical design? By immersion? And if you do that thehn how do you rank each of the aspects of a games design relative to each other?

Answer: you can't as they are dependant on to whom you're talking. Some people like different aspects of different games. Therefore any ranking given by any specific person can only be appreciated from a similar frame of reference.

That is my over-explanation on a question which noone asked and a subject which is irrelevant. Thank you and good night.

Of course you can't be objective about best, but hey, I think most people have a lot of overlap. Most gamers will appreciate a great storyline, innovation, gameplay, replayability etc. graphics and sound are mostly secondary but they help. For me, what defines best video game is a game that everyone can appreciate even if they don't like the genre. There are people who don't like RPGs, but still can appreciate a game like FF VII.

[Grail]

Space Invaders
Tetris

[Altima]

Alpha Centaur/Alien Crossfire

Rome: Total War/Medieval 2: Total War

Total Annihilation/Supreme Commander

Planescape: Torment

NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer

BG1/2

KotOR1/2 (2 is better, but 1 elevated Star Wars games from 'crappy gimmicks' to real games)

Chrono Trigger

Shadow Hearts 1/2

Xenogears

Age of Wonders 2: Shadow Magic

Homeworld 1/2

I know, I know. It's blasphemous that I never jumped on the FPS/platformer bandwagon. *kills herself*

[Martok]

Shogun Total War and Galactic Civilizations 2.

In addition to being personal favorites of mine, they're true classics as well. The former game virtually created an entire sub-genre (while simultaneously revolutionizing strategy gaming), and the latter title rivals Master of Orion 2 for being the great turn-based space strategy game out there.

[Adeptus]

These are based on what I keep playing, not passing fancies:

1st price

Allegiance (feel free to click on my banner). Multiplayer 1st person space combat game from 2000. Totally free, and many of our players started with the beta in 1999. Addictive is an understatement:

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/8657/allegbackjw0.jpg

2nd place

Dominions 3. The third incarnation of a brilliant multiplayer fantasy strategy game. If you liked Microsofts Master of Magic, you'll love this one.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/DOM3/DOM3_page.html

3rd place

X-COM Apocalypse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM:_Apocalypse

The pinnacle of the much loved X-COM series for me. Brilliant story, and gameplay that has lost nothing. I recommend getting dosbox and playing through this gem of a game.

[Airk]

Hoooo boy. I love these threads because they give me the chance to ramble on about all the stuff I like that nobody else does. And some stuff that some people do. Like...

Okami: "A better Zelda than Zelda"? Dunno about that, having not played Zelda in years, but holy heck, this game is art AND fun. I have no idea what is wrong with Capcom that they disbanded the team that worked on this.

Kohan: Ahriman's Gift. I've never played a better RTS. Reduced micro, wide variety of units, subtle but meaningful factional differences.

Sacrifice: Weird and wild and really really clever without being obnoxious about it. Filled with personality. Not much of anything out there like it.

Sword of the Stars: Elegant, well designed space 4x that feels a lot like the original MOO to me, with excellent abstraction of non-essential features like colony management.

Puzzle Quest: Sure, it's little, and sure, it's Bejewelled at heart, but boy. I seem to have lost a lot of time to this game.

Ultima V: I'm going to vote for this one over the more experimental Ultima IV, partly because of the excellent remake Ultima V: Lazarus, and partly because of the steps that were made to make the world more alive, less black and white, and to make the game less repetitive (Ultima IV featured a lot of things that you needed to the do 3-8 times). Sure, it wasn't a quest for enlightenment, and there was, in a fashion, a "real" villian, but in the end it was all about the evil in men's hearts.

Tales of the Abyss: The finest JRPG I've ever played. Puts the Final Fantasy games utterly to shame in my opinion, with the combination of party chemistry, generally likeable characters, coherent plot and theme, and downright entertaining battle system.

Katamari Damacy: Yeah, pretty much what everyone else said. ;)

Crazy Taxi: I -hate- driving games, and I -love- this one. It's absurd, it's zany, has great, easy controls that still allow for a lot of skill, and oozes personality. Epic fun.

Radiant Silvergun: Top down shooting action at its finest. Even if some of my friends do refer to it as "epilepsy inducing game" due to the sheer number of blinking, flashing, sparkling things going on at once.

Freespace 2: Move over, Wing Commander and Tie Fighter, this is hands down the king of the Space Combat Sim genre. Looks Gorgeous even today, large array of ships and weapons, capital ships that are both -large- and dangerous.

[Enlong]

*Ahem*

Tetris.

That is all.

[Xenogears]

River City Ransom. For the NES. Best Game EVER!

The voice parts were written instead of read (obviously since its NES) but it had some of the best lines ever. You basically went around town beating up every gang in the city in order to rescue the second players GF (seriously the default Player 1 was just the friend of the guy who had his GF kidnapped). Every time you killed an enemy they would fall to the ground, utter something like "BARF!" or "Mommy", dissapear and a coin would reappear where they were.

Despite the fact that every item either healed you, improved your stats, or taught you a skill the sheer number of things you could buy was amazing. I'll try to list as much basic stuff as i can remember: Shoes, Toys, CD's, Books, Excalibur, Food, Sauna visit(with 8-bit butts....), candy, and smiles. Yup you could buy a smile for free from any female shop owner.

The best part about the game was all the crazy stuff you could do if you just tried to. You could throw any weapon at the enemy (nothing quite like using brass knuckles as a long-ranged weapon), once me and my brother started playing baseball by throwing a rock at the other character who had a lead pipe. Did I mention that most deaths were caused by friendly fire? Then there was the always wonderful strategy of knocking your ally to the ground so you could throw them javelin style into every enemy on the screen. Sure you could just use enemies but why bother. Then there was the names of the enemy gangs. Awesome names such as: The Jocks, The Frat Boys, The Internationals, and the Cowboys. All with accompanying names for the individual members. The Internationals had names that were extraordinarily stereotypical for various foreign countries, The Cowboys all had Texan sounding names, Etc.

All in all it is the best game ever.

[Terraoblivion]

As anybody who has talked to me over the last week can attest to, the game i will have to say is Valkyria Chronicles. Despite how new it is and how i've only just finished it and haven't given it time to be put at a bit of a distance i feel confident to say that it is one of the best games i've ever played. I'm going to spare you my ramblings about why and just direct you here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102222) to the thread about the game.

[Geno9999]

1st; Super Smash Bros Brawl. 'Nuff said

2nd; Super Mario RPG. It put Mario, king of platformers into a world of RPG AND IT WORKS.

[Tom_Violence]

See now thats why we like PM, he just talks sense.
Love MoO2 (but for gods sake never be tempted by MoO3!)

I think my fav game ever is Micro machines V3 for the playstation it is the king of party games truely magnificently chaotic with 8 players.

I really liked the fly by mouse interface for Freelancer.

I love Bushido blade, hardcore fighting game with no health bar. I've had fights that last less than a second, and ten minute hammer and tongs crazyness, you really must check it out (though it's a bit dated these days)

Star control was a great game ( I had it on the old Sega megadrive but it was great on the PC also) and heck Star control 2 was no slouch either.

... there are too many really old coin ops that we played to death (gauntlet, 1942, defender, missile command) but it is difficult to grade those as the competition wasn't there to truely compare ... (though Kung Fu was ace)

Kickin' it old school as always - glad to see it. Micro Machines was the video game equivalent of the card game Snap, i.e. delightfully simple fun that usually ends in a fight. And Bushido Blade must be one of the best fighting games ever, even if some of the moves in it were enough to make one's opponent throw a hissy fit.


Oblivion

Despite what many people say about this game, I've always found it to be quite fun, if only for the sheer amount of stuff you can do in that game. The NPC pedestrians felt more like real people than in any other game, despite the curious dialogue issues. Now, if only ragdolls weren't so ragdolly...

Kudos to you for describing one of your choices for Best Game Of All Time as 'quite fun'. :smalltongue:

==

Anyway, my nominations are:

Neverwinter Nights - the original campaign was a bit of a dog's dinner, but the expansions were full of joy, and the online side of things was the best I ever have ever experienced. It revolutionised multiplayer gaming for me.

Knights of the Old Republic 2 - the first one was nice, if a bit 'meh' on anything other than the first run through due to boring characters and a very straightforward story. But the sequel is probably the best thing to happen to Star Wars since someone said 'how about some kind of laser sword thingy?'. The only game I've played that was better written was Planescape, and even then not by too many leagues. But I can't play that one too often as the actual gameplay is mostly balls.

[kyoten]

Marble Madness - NES, Puzzle(?)

Now THIS is a Gaming Champion!

[Qwernt]

Nethack

While both Larn and the original Hack are fabulous games, there is little that can compare to Nethack - though Dwarf Fortress, fortress mode is closer than most. I feel sorry for kids these days, who get caught up in their fancy graphics and cut scenes, but really aren't challenged by anything so deadly as the RNG. While I enjoy many "modern" games, Diablo and their ilk just can't give you the same kick that Nethack does. The fact that it is turn based, means above all that you can see your death coming... you know you have all the time in the world to come up with a solution to get out of it, but you never can. I mean, how many modern RPG style games have a forum where people proudly announce their first completion? Come to think of it, how many of those games would even exist without Nethack?
Pure and simple, for RPGs, nothing touches Nethack. Rogue was the briliant first step, and Larn and others are fun and fine, but Nethack is just so much more amazing.

For years I wanted Nethack version of Civ, and finally I found Dwarf Fortress - king of its genre.

[Tacoma]

For years I wanted Nethack version of Civ, and finally I found Dwarf Fortress - king of its genre.

When the King of your Genre immigrates, watch out! :P

I've noticed a lot of people offering games from 10, 15 years ago. And some are from within the last couple years. But the majority appear to be "old." That is, playable on computer equipment we would consider now to be quite out of date.

What does this say about current game companies? It's not always the same good company making all the good games. Maybe it's the designer? The members of the team? Why do we then care at all about what company produces the game when we should be tracking who makes them?

And perhaps, even if it's really all about the game designer and not the company, as an artist he creates only a few true masterpieces and everything else is forgettable. In the shadow of even his own prior achievements, his newest good game is seen as mediocre.

I know I've been disappointed by about 1 game in 4 that I've played and I'm a very careful purchaser. I read reviews, play demos, read the forums, watch the bug trackers. I wait until the launch issues are all solved by patches. I pick games with multiplayer support and modability because the community will keep the game new and vital. So to say that 1 game in 4 that I buy is a flop is really astonishing. It should be closer to none.

The games I've loved most have been free. Not because I can't buy games, but because these are just better. These are:

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory FPS
Dwarf Fortress Strategy Sim / RPG
Nethack RPG
Spelunky Action Platformer
Allegiance Space Sim / Strategy

Others that I've bought were really great though. I got a lot of play time out of Battlefield 1942. It actually got me into FPS games. But there were so many ways it could have been better, so I don't count it as a truly great game.

Chrono Trigger RPG
Planescape: Torment RPG
Civilization II Empire Strategy
Morrowind RPG
Katamari Damacy Action Arcade
Zelda: Link to the Past RPG
System Shock II Survival Horror / Stealth FPS / RPG
Fallout I and II RPG
Freespace II Space Sim
Dance Dance Revolution Rhythm
Thief I and II Stealth FPS
Grand Theft Auto 4 Driving Sim / RPG
Deus Ex I Stealth FPS / RPG
Super Mario World Platformer
Ultima Online MMORPG (Although ... I never played OSI)

These games were ones that I consider masterpieces for the following reasons:

1: The game can be played for so long that the cost per hour for purchasing it is negligible.
2: The game is still fun. Whether for a new player today or a player who hasn't picked it up in five years, the game is still excellent.

For example, I bought Fallout 1 and 2 in a combined game pack for $10. I got a total of about 50 hours of gameplay for the first one and about 50 for the second. And that's me playing the way I normally play RPGs - trying to talk to everyone, do every quest, and get all the loot. Of course you can't do ALL the quests on one play-through ... point is, I ended up paying 10 cents per hour for that fun.
Last month I installed Fallout 2 and played through it in about 20 hours. Still a blast.

I would recommend anyone who is going to start playing games to work through those first. Once you have a solid understanding of what a good game can look like, you'll be less distracted by occasional eye candy.

[Joran]

I've noticed a lot of people offering games from 10, 15 years ago. And some are from within the last couple years. But the majority appear to be "old." That is, playable on computer equipment we would consider now to be quite out of date.

What does this say about current game companies? It's not always the same good company making all the good games. Maybe it's the designer? The members of the team? Why do we then care at all about what company produces the game when we should be tracking who makes them?

And perhaps, even if it's really all about the game designer and not the company, as an artist he creates only a few true masterpieces and everything else is forgettable. In the shadow of even his own prior achievements, his newest good game is seen as mediocre.


I'm going to guess that a substantial part of the reason we're naming games 10-15 years ago is because of simple nostalgia. We paper over the annoyances and like to think back to those better days. I get all misty about Duck Tales for similar reasons.

Another is that a lot of today's games are simple evolutions on a theme, rather than revolutions. Back in the early days, it was a new medium, so fresh new ideas could find fertile soil, but now the medium is starting to mature, so more games are incremental advances instead of wholesale sweeping changes. This leads to various different effects: industry consolidation, risk management, and creative stagnation. However, there are still a whole lot of games that were released in the last 2 years that will be considered classics in 10 years, Portal being one of them. In fact, a couple of influential bloggers declared the last two years among the best in game quality in the history of video games.

I'm going to toss out Rock Band as one of the best games in recent memory. It made me listen and think about music in a different way. That and it's a heck of a lot of fun to play.

[warty goblin]

A lot of the reason I think most people's favorite/'best' games of all time tend to older has less to do with any degeneration of the industry and more to do with a combination of nostalgia and simple probability.

The first point I really don't feel needs explanation, but I shall expound upon the second. In any given year there are only a couple of games any given person with reasonably high standards (defined as: not me when I was eight, when any game was the most awesome thing ever). Recent in games is also a quite short period of time- maybe two or three years tops, and new is measured in weeks.

So you pile up an older gamer's ten, fifteen or more years of gaming, and you've got maybe forty or fifty odd titles that make their best ever list. Take the cream off of the top and it's pretty easy to figure out that the odds of these games older are pretty good even before one weighs in with nostalgia. Particularly since I've found my tastes getting more and more refined (read: hard to please) with time. I know for a fact that games I used to flip out over I wouldn't glance twice at on a store shelf today, even though I can go back, play and enjoy them just fine because I know they are fun.


Anyway, my top picks by genre, according to my current mood.

FPS Half-Life 2 + Episodes: games so awesome I can only play bits of them at a time, and then have to break for a few months before continuing. Runner up to (the first half of) Crysis for allowing me to do the most crazy badass stuff ever.

RTS Company of Heroes: The first time I played this game I was left dazed and more than a little shell shocked. The second time the same thing happened. I've had the base game for just over a year now, and it's a rare month I don't play a couple skirmishes, particularly after I really got the tank/infantry/weapon team interactions figured out better. Runner up to Sins of a Solar Empire for making space wars fun, awesome and epic in scope again, as well as the first interface I've seen that actually gives me hope for the future.

RPG Tie between the Witcher and Mass Effect, both of which do flawless jobs of putting me in a nicely open yet defined role in their immaculately well rendered universes and letting me run amok. Kudos to Mass Effect for a serious, adult treatment of sex, and kudos to the Witcher for managing the same thing in a completely different matter, namely lots and lots of it. Runner up to Oblivion for the good times.

Turn Based Strategy Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. Would probably be Twilight of the Arnor, but I haven't had a chance to pick up the second Xpack yet. To me GalCiv2 takes the promise of the Civ games and actually fulfills it with an economy that I understand, solid combat, and a wonderfully huge tech tree that can really force some agonizing decisions. Besides, how can a game that lets you turn the interface bright pink and play as a race of adorable squirrels named the 'death fuzzies' who are bent on enslaving all life in the universe be bad? Runner up goes to Age of Wonders for letting me do really kooky stuff on the battlefield. I once had a strategy that was based around seducing frog riding lizardmen with dark elf dominatrixes* in the middle of battle, and how many games can say that?

Platformer: Tomb Raider Legend, but sort of by default since I really don't play that many platformers. It's a good game, and one I've had plenty of fun with, but would not make any of my non genre-specific lists of all time greats.

Indie PC Gem: Mount and Blade, without a question, for reasons described elsewhere. Runner up goes to Babylon 5: I've Found Her, because one so seldom finds games with good space physics, good Babylon 5 mods, and free, fully featured games, let alone all of them combined into one eminently excellent package. Now if only I was any good at it...

*Also one of the few times I was happy the game had such horrid graphics. There are some things better left to the imagination, so that the imagination can then ignore them. Humanoid lizards getting punished by dark elves with whips is one of these things.