What are your all time favorite games?

[Dark_Xerda]

Hello!

I'm sure im not the only one on these boards that has been asked this question before and for me personally its a very hard one to answer but thinking about it and making a list was a source of great fun for me also.

I'm interested in seeing what other peoples favourite games are and how they compare to my own.

I used a website called unikgamer (http://www.unikgamer.com) to order my lists because I like being able to compare with other uses on the fly and just found it more convenient than typing, feel free to use it also.

Here is the link to my profile (http://www.unikgamer.com/users/doubleagent-1333.html), criticism of my choices are welcome as are game suggestions ;P

Please excuse any errors as english was never really my strong point.

[ZaradAnNasr]

Bane of the Cosmic Forge my first ever computer RPG
Final Fantasy VIII the first one i ever played
DOOM/DOOM II "heaven wont take me, and hell's afraid I'll take over"
REBUILD Flash game, zombie survival.
most recent games just seem like gak to me. If I don't feel like its taking a long time to finish the game, without feeling like its taking a long time to finish individual tasks, i get bored, and quit.

[Winterwind]

Master of Orion II. Of all empire-building games, easily my favourite; so much replay value with all the different racial combos, and so much depth.
StarCraft I, StarCraft II. Both for the brilliant campaigns and for the whole competitive scene. I mean, it's a sport played professionally in arenas with tens of thousands of people watching - how cool is that? Not to mention, having so much strategic depth that, even after ten years, SC1 still kept changing and evolving.
WarCraft III. Completely different kind of RTS than StarCraft, with a very distinct and different dynamic. Plus, the incredible plethora of custom maps, that turn the game into something entirely else.
UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka X-Com: UFO Defense). Such an awesome mood, keeping your nerves on edge all the time. Thought turn-based strategy couldn't be scary? Think again.
Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat. Again, awesome mood, immersing into a truly fascinating sci-fi universe, with great music and so many, many different worlds to have your giant robot warmachines battle on; also, captured both the feel of how it is to sit in a BattleMech and the rules of the tabletop itself the best of all the Mech Warrior games, in my opinion.

[Vorpalbob]

I have played a lot of games, so I'll sort them by genres.

Role Playing: Tie between Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate. I just can't pick one. :smalltongue:

First Person Shooter: OpFlash-Cold War Crisis. I played the 'sequels', both ARMA 2 and Dragon Rising, and neither are as good as the original. Main reason I love this game? Sniping. Hard as hell to master, but sooooo much fun when you get good at it.

RPG Shooter: Deus Ex. Do I really have to explain myself? :smallbiggrin:

Real-Time Strategy: Blitzkrieg. WWII game with just enough micromanagement to keep me happy but not too much to piss me off.

Turn-Based Strategy: Football Manager (2007). Far and away the best sports game I have ever played. Certainly better than any EA FIFA title. Has a learning curve like a cliff, but the reward of watching your team perform beyond any expectations is like nothing else I have experienced in a game.

[Comet]

Planescape: Torment
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
TIE Fighter
Mechwarrior 2
XCOM
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Deus Ex
Persona 4
Shadow of the Colossus
Metal Gear Solid
Super Robot Wars Alpha 3: To the End of the Galaxy
Final Fantasy VI
Perfect Dark (and a honorary mention to Goldeneye for being the first)
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Bros. 3


I could do this all day, really, but I suppose I'd better cut it off there. No particular order, as far as preference goes, just sat there for a moment and typed in everything that pinged as legendary in my head and then sorted it roughly by platform and such. There are more, for sure, but I suck at making lists like this and would just end up listing every game I have ever enjoyed if I didn't stop now.

[Zevox]

Hm, you know, I have a list on my computer that was supposed to be my top 10 favorite video games of all time for just such occasions, but I've only ever managed to get it about half filled out before hesitating over any ideas I have for further additions to it. So, here's a top 5(-ish):

1) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES and Persona 4. Grouped together because of how similar they are, and on here for much the same reasons: the best damn writing, stories, and characters in video games. I can actually pick between them - Persona 4's improvements to the gameplay make it the superior game in my opinion - but really, I can't justify putting them on here separately due to how similar they are, and I can't leave Persona 3 off.

2) Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia. Like the Persona games, grouped together because of how similar they are, and on here principally because of excellent writing. Unlike the Persona games, I genuinely cannot pick between them.

3) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Yeah, predictable much, but it's as true now as it was over a decade ago, this is one of the best ever.

4) Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie. Again, similar games here for similar reasons. These two are just plain extremely fun, with very creative and enjoyable stages, abilities, and characters, and I'd put them as the only games to ever beat Mario at his own game (platforming). If you forced me to pick between them, I'd probably say Banjo-Kazooie, but that may mostly be the extra nostalgia I have for the original talking.

5) Dragon Age 2. Occupying the spot formerly held by Knights of the Old Republic, then Dragon Age: Origins, then both DA:O and Mass Effect 2 (I wasn't able to choose between those two). For both gameplay and story, it is Bioware's best game to date, although I do still have to give ME2 the nod for having the best individual bit of writing the company has done (Mordin's loyalty quest). With how consistently great the company's work is, it's never a question of whether I consider their games some of the best for lists like this, but only of which one is most deserving of the recognition, and at least up to this point, DA2 takes the cake. Given the company has been getting consistently better since the first Mass Effect (at least with their big-name, original creations), I'll be eager to see if their next game, Mass Effect 3, continues this trend.

Zevox

[littlebottom]

FF7... yeah go ahead, hate me:smalltongue:

i have a lot of other highly reguarded games though, but i shant bother posting them all.

suffice to say portal 2 is only the most recent game to enter the list of "favorite games" i like a lot of games....

[Athaniar]

In no particular order (mostly):

Mass Effect 2 (PC)
Probably my favorite game right now, at least until Mass Effect 3 is released this winter. Great gameplay, awesome story and characters, unsurpassed immersion. Honorable mentions: Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic (the originals, of course).

World of Warcraft (PC)
Warcraft is my favorite franchise (and probably the one I know the most about), and WoW has not disappointed me yet. That new content regularly is released for free is a major advantage.

Warcraft III (PC)
One must not forget the rest of the franchise, though. Awesome gameplay, very versatile editor, epic storyline.

GoldenEye (N64)
Still awesome after all those years. The remake is good, but there is still something special with the original. Maybe it's the cheats. Honorable mention: Perfect Dark. Excellent spiritual successor.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
That's right, I prefer Majora's Mask. Don't get me wrong, though, I love both games, but Majora's is the slightly better game in my opinion (thought it has been a long time since I played either).

Super Mario 64 (N64)
There is something special about the ol' 64. Super Mario 64 is still not far from being a perfect game. Who says everything is better now?

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Continuing with the Nintendo theme here. I don't play many fighting games, but I have played all SSB games, and they just keep getting better. Plus, the music! So much awesome music.

Age of Wonders II/Shadow Magic (PC)
Slightly obscure, but this fantasy TBS is definitely a favorite. The epic editor is a great plus. I hope they some day make a sequel.

Civilization IV (PC)
And this is my other favorite TBS. Civilization V disappointed me, probably because it's really, really hard to improve gaming perfection. Maybe it's Leonard Nimoy, maybe it's Baba Yetu. It's probably everything, though.

Age of Empires II/Age of Kings (PC)
The king of RTS games along with Warcraft III. Still very fun. Honorable mention: Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, (literally) AoK in space!

[arguskos]

Here's my top ten, ranked from 10 to 1. Might be a few surprises on here somewhere.

10. Super Smash Brothers series. Making multiplayer the entire game doesn't really work that well in most cases, with this series as the exception somehow. The gameplay is frenetic, the action is intense, and the graphics are colorful, adding up to something bizarrely enjoyable. No idea why, but it just works somehow, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

9. Chess. If I have to explain what chess is, civilization has failed somewhere. :smalltongue:

8. Metroid Prime. Exploration taken to new and beautiful heights, this stands as perhaps the pinnacle of the Metroid series, even 9 years, two sequels, and a pseudo-reboot later. It hit the perfect balance between exploration, combat, and atmosphere, and was truly exquisite to behold.

7. Pokémon, the entire series. The series that practically MADE the Game Boy, and that's endured for like 15 years, Pokémon is still fun and addictive to this very day. Basically Charles Darwin meets cockfighting, Pokémon defies categorization and is still relentlessly fun.

6. Unreal Tournament 2004. This is, to me, the pure essence of an FPS, the simple and primal urge to just shoot dudes with all manner of fun explosives and firearms. With a variety of colorful modes and methods to kill people with, it stands as among my favorite games with pride. Also, Facing Worlds remains the best FPS map ever made for anything ever. :smallamused:

5. Sins of a Solar Empire. What might be the best example I know of a dynamic empire building game, Sins has appeal on the RTS level, on the empire builder level, and on the spaceship battle level, all of which are awesome and which makes it a diverse and enjoyable experience from game to game. Sins has a lot of replay value, and that's a real selling point.

4. Portal (haven't played 2, yeah, yeah, I know, shut up). Redefining the entire concept of a "shooter" and pushing physics puzzles to new and hilarious heights, Portal was a landmark of the gaming genre. I can't and don't want to imagine a world without Portal. It'd be a far bleaker one than this.

3. Starcraft II. Possibly the pinnacle of the entire RTS genre, Blizzard managed to take something excellent and make it better. How they did it, I have no idea, but I suspect illicit deals with Satan were involved. SC2 is a fine example of what a dedicated studio can produce.

2. Planescape: Torment. Kept from the top spot only by a less-than-ideal interface, PS:T is an interactive story in the way that many things claim to be but few things are. It took story telling to a new level, making everyone else look bad to this day. Absolutely fantastic story from beginning to end, including some excellent dialogue that just blows my mind, such as the crazyspoilerriffic one below.

"If there is anything I have learned in my travels across the Planes, it is that many things may change the nature of a man. Whether regret, or love, or revenge or fear - whatever you believe can change the nature of a man, can. I’ve seen belief move cities, make men stave off death, and turn an evil hag's heart half-circle. This entire Fortress has been constructed from belief. Belief damned a woman, whose heart clung to the hope that another loved her when he did not. Once, it made a man seek immortality and achieve it. And it has made a posturing spirit think it is something more than a part of me."


1. Baldur's Gate 2. To date, this is the only game I can play constantly and never ever tire of. I've put more hours into it than most people I know have put into gaming in general. It has voice acting that's on the spot, fantastic writing, fun and engaging gameplay, graphics that stand the test of time, and a story that is as immersive as it is epic (in the sense of "large, expansive, sweeping"). The best thing I've ever played, hands down, and unless God himself comes down from the mount and gives us something that literally dispenses joy and perfection, I am skeptical anything will ever unseat this one for me.

[Knaight]

1) DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
Normally, I don't even like puzzle games. This, however, is a hybridization of puzzle, tactics, and styles of fantasy that is simply amazing. There is no randomness, perfect information, and a lot of simple elements from which complexity emerges.

2) DROD: The City Beneath
This is almost as good as Rooted Hold, and the puzzles are better. Sadly, they felt the need to introduce obnoxious hub sequences.

3) Dominions 3
Its incredibly complex turn based strategy. That genre holds a special place in my heart, and Dominions 3 is among the best games in the genre, and certainly my favorite.

4) Lugaru
So, an action game made it on the list. One featuring anthropomorphic rabbits and wolves. Moreover, it is, technically a 3D fighting game. I should hate this, but the controls are actually smooth and intuitive, and it is really, really fun.

5) Battle for Wesnoth
You should know what this is, if not, look it up. It reached spot 5 on the backs of 3 very well put together campaigns. Under the Burning Suns managed to make elves awesome, which shouldn't be possible. Deadwater is all sorts of fun, and has a fairly decent story on top of that. Descent into Darkness managed to tell what was essentially a tragedy in a turn based strategy game, and it did so gloriously.

[houlio]

In no particular order:

Harvest Moon for the N64- It's the first game I paid for by myself, and I enjoyed every moment of it too

Jade Empire- I wish Bioware made more interesting settings like the one in this game

X-Com: UFO Defense, or whatever it's called- one of the few games that can scare me even after I know what I'm fighting

Civilization 4- good base game, and then there are the mods

Master of Magic- like X-Com above, there just aren't very many games like it

[Eldariel]

So many... Last time I did this list it was like:

Baldur's Gate 2
Chrono Trigger
Starcraft
Final Fantasy 6
Tie Fighter
Jagged Alliance 2
Civilization 4
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Medieval: Total War
Freespace 2
Master of Orion II
Master of Magic
Super Mario Bros 3
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn
Counterstrike
Combat Mission II
Close Combat II
Mass Effect
The Witcher
Megaman II

Now, I'd probably be compelled to add Starcraft II and perhaps League of Legends to the list. And I-War since I seem to be the resident I-War fanatic. And probably Grim Fandango and Half-Life (I just wish they still knew how to make FPSes; now we get stuff like Halo, Call of Duty and so on :smallfrown:) and Secret of the Monkey Island II too but I can't keep going on forever, now can I? Soon I'd be adding Max Payne, Shadow of the Colossus, Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Thief: the Dark Project and...yeah, I could keep on going forever. This world has a lot of Best games, okay?

EDIT: WTF? My list lacks UFO: Enemy Unknown? For shame. And Planescape: Torment, I guess. And Metroid Prime. And WTF

EDIT#2: Oh shi! Fallout 2, get in there; NAO!

[Remmirath]

Ten is too few, but I'll try and limit myself to fifteen here.

1. Baldur's Gate trilogy: I couldn't pick one; they all blend into one game to me, and that is my favourite game. There really is nothing about it I don't like, and it has all of my favourite things about RPGs. I usually play it once a year.

2. Icewind Dale: Has a lot of the same things I like about Baldur's Gate, but the story isn't as grand and it's a lot shorter.

3. Planescape: Torment: A rare thing to be so high on this list - a game that has very little replay value to me (my replay value comes largely from playing completely different characters, you see), but has such an amazing story, atmosphere, characters, and such that it's third place anyhow. I replay it at about the same rate I'd reread a favourite book - once I've forgotten enough of the details that it seems almost new again.

4. Icewind Dale II: Still much in my favourite style of games, but I don't like 3rd edition rules for computer games as much, it has a point-buy system, and it just doesn't have as good a feel to it as the first game does for me. Nevertheless, I do enjoy it a lot and replay it fairly often.

5. Dragon Age: Origins: The closest anything has come to my favourite type of game in many years, and I'm quite fond of it. Also has the distinction of being the first game where I actually didn't much mind having to take the NPCs along, because I actually liked almost all of them.
I'm not very fond of the activated ability based system, though.

6. Morrowind: I'm very fond of the setting, the story, and so forth - but I'm really not so fond of openworld games; it's by far my favourite of those. Not something I replay often, but I enjoy it a great deal.

7. Unreal Tournament 2004: The most fun shooter out there, in my opinion. Whenever I just want to go kill, this is where I do it.

8. Lemmings/Lemmings 2: I've spent hours and hours playing Lemmings over the years, and I still enjoy it. It's really the only puzzle game I enjoy, but man, I love Lemmings.

9. Commander Keen: Would have been my #1 game up until I was eleven or so, as in until I played Baldur's Gate. I haven't actually played it in years, but I could probably still finish any of them nearly in my sleep. I can't even say exactly why I'm so fond of them - I just am.

10. Duke Nukem: Pretty much the same story as Commander Keen, but a little less so. This only includes Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II; I was never really interested in any of the ones after those.

11. Knights of the Old Republic/Knights of the Old Republic II: I like Star Wars, and I like roleplaying games, so I suppose it's no surprise that I like these two. There were a couple years where I played them obsessively, and I'm still fond of them - but they have some large drawbacks to them as well.

12. Dragon Age II: I still like the setting and the NPCs and all in DA II, but I personally feel that the mechanical side of things took a huge slide backwards and replay value shuffled off and expired in a ditch somewhere, so... I really enjoyed it the first time through, but haven't managed to replay it (and I doubt I will manage to, unless I do something drastic like uninstall and reinstall in a different language. If that even works).

13. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura: I only actually managed to find this one relatively recently, but it's mostly of my preferred style of game and I enjoyed it quite a lot the first time through (enough to earn it this high of a place; we'll see about next time). The combat system is questionable, but it's not much worse than DA II's, and I put that game on here. :smalltongue: (<-- this is of course my opinion - I know such things are highly subjective.)

14. Half-Life/Half-Life 2: Very enjoyable and interesting, but I must admit that the combat is a little too slow paced and... well, realistic, for me. Perhaps it's odd that I prefer unrealistic combat in shooters and realistic combat in RPGs, but that's how it is. :smallconfused:

15. Neverwinter Nights/Hordes of the Underdark: Not for the main campaign, which so far I haven't even managed to make myself get through (although I do intend to - it probably gets better after a certain point and all), but for the modules and multiplayer aspect.

Didn't Quite Make the Cut: Hocus Pocus, Oblivion, Tron 2.0, Zork: Grand Inquisitor, other Zork games, Lemmings 3d, Populous: The Beginning, Mystic Towers, Koules, various Total War games, and Fallout.

[Partof1]

Pokemon, Super Smash Bros, the first Super Mario Bros, and Duck Hunt.

Simple as that. And Mario Party, when playing with my buds.

[Derjuin]

A few of my favorites:

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 - It's a dungeon crawler, but you play as pokemon! And it has an actual storyline, one that is pretty good. The ending is INCREDIBLY sad, though...

Dark Spire - Another dungeon crawler, this one has been kicking my butt ever since I started it; it feels much, much more difficult than 90% of the games I've played.

Ancient Domains of Mystery - Yet another dungeon crawler, this one is one of them ther' Roguelikes, y'see? So it's like the previous two, only if you die, you die for good, and the creator pretty much thought of everything when making it. Swimming will drench your spellbook if you don't protect it with a waterproof blanket, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. While I classify this one as really difficult, I've beaten it a few times (I think my high score list now has 11 victories and 89 deaths, plus however many deaths were pushed off the high score list.)

Shining in the Darkness - Whoa, another dungeon crawler! Imagine that :smallredface: this one has serious nostalgia value for me. I don't care if everyone else thinks it's crap! I still occasionally sit around and listen to its music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2mOlCNRe_o&feature=related). :smalltongue:

I would list Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart as favorite games, but...I get flustered with them far too quickly anymore to consider them favorites.

[king.com]

Roleplaying:
Baldurs Gate 1 + 2, Fallout 1 + 2, Deus Ex
Strategy:
Starcraft 1 + 2, Dungeon Keeper, Mechcommander, Warcrafts, Command & Conquer
Sim
Civilisation 4, Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries
Shooters
Half-Life 2, Battlefield 1942

[Balain]

Ultima 1 - 9, UFO enemy Unknown, Mech warrior 2, X-wing, Empire deluxe, Seven cities of Gold, Phantasie 1-3, Shadow of the beast 1-3

[Ashtar]

I don't know if I'm not very selective, or if my favourites are very wide... All these games I have fired up in the last 2 years, or would if I had a copy still available. Sometimes I watch long play videos of these old classics with a tear in my eye.

AMIGA
Celtic Legends
Legend
Walker
Mega Lo Mania
North and South
Another World (Out of this world)
Flashback
The Chaos Engine
Xenon II: Megablast
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
Narcopolice
Rick Dangerous, Rick Dangerous 2
Lemmings
F-15 Strike Eagle II
The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck's Revenge
Eye of the Beholder
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
Pools of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Dark Queen of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, Treasures of the Savage Frontier
Dune, Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis
U.N. Squadron (Also known as Area 88)
Turrican

PC
Civilisation 2 -> Most immersive Civ game
Wing commander 2
Privateer 2: The Darkening -> Best space flight game with trading and scenario
Strike Commander -> Best combat flight simulator, the scenario gave the game a purpose
Heavy Gear 2 -> Best Mecha game
Final Liberation : Warhammer 40'000 Epic
MissionForce: CyberStorm -> Excellent turn by turn strategy game with mechas
Fantasy General -> Great fun fantasy strategy with unit progression and research
XCOM : Enemy Unknown -> Perfection in one game
Duke Nukem 3D
Counter Strike
Half-Life 2
Syndicate, Syndicate Wars -> Pure awesome, never equalled
Warlords Battlecry, Warlords Battlecry II
Fallout 1 + 2
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Starcraft and to a lesser extent Warcraft 3

NES/SNES
Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Super Castlevania IV
Secret of Mana -> Best console Action RPG (also has cooperative multiplayer)
Legend of Zelda, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Actraiser
Soul blazer
Super Mario (all of them) -> Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario World
F-Zero
Street Fighter
Final Fight
Ninja Gaiden
Metal Gear
Double dragon
Megaman (1->9)
Megaman X, Megaman X2
Area 88
Cybernator
Super Mario Kart
Others...The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Star Fox
Snake rattle and roll
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Kid Icarus
Contra, Contra III: The Alien Wars
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys -> Because of the intro, game was soso


MACINTOSH PLUS
Crystal Quest
Airborne!
Sub Battle Simulator -> Best submarine simulation game ever released. Full stop.
Dark Castle
Beyond Dark Castle -> Best game ever.
Pools of Radiance
World Builder
Dungeons of Doom
Quarterstaff: The Tomb of Setmoth
Gauntlet
Shadowgate, Deja Vu, Deja Vu 2, Uninvited

[Avilan the Grey]

I have to give two lists, one from the joy I experienced them at the time, and one after replaying them and comparing them to newer games.

So...

All time favorite list, as the amount of fun I remember having
Baldur's Gate II
Roller Coaster Tycoon II
Freedom Force
Civilization IV
Sims 3
Baldur's Gate
Fallout 2
Fallout New Vegas
Dragon Age: Origins
Transport Tycoon

All time favorite list without nostalgia filter
Mass Effect 2
Sims 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Dragon Age: Origins
Mass Effect
Roller Coaster Tycoon II
Sims 2
Baldur's Gate II
Freedom Force
Civilization IV

[Spartacus]

Well, I tend to like games that I can go back and play over again, so that may skew my results a bit, but here we go, in no particular order:

Starcraft 2
Team Fortress 2
Half-life 2
Final Fantasy Tactics: Advance
Final Fantasy 5
Final Fantasy 12
Custom Robo (Gamecube)
Rome: Total War
Goldeneye
Super Smash Brothers: Melee
UT: 2k4

I've not played many of the classics that people seem to remember fondly.

[ShinyRocks]

Shining Force I and II. I can't even ... I love these games so much. Replaying them on the Xbox Sega Collection has given me so much pleasure. The Circus music from Shining Force I is still some of the best video game music I've ever heard. If there were a new Shining game on any system, I would buy that system just to play it.

Grandia II. Brilliantly voice acted, looked gorgeous, great characters, beautiful music, EPIC plot, and, to this day, I haven't ever seen a better combat system in an RPG.

Skies of Arcadia. Some serious flaws, but its plot and its scale were amazing. One of the most complete worlds in an RPG I've seen.

Games that are probably ostensibly better, such as Tales of Vesperia, just don't do the same for me as these ones did.

Project Zero/Fatal Frame - various incarnations. Again, not perfect games but just creepy as hell, and the fact that you have to look at the monsters as they come to kill you in order to fight them is still a great conceit.

Dead Or Alive Xtreme. A terrible terrible game, but I don't even care. This is favourite games, not best. The joy of making pneumatic-breasted women look as hideous as you possibly can then making them play volleyball to the accompaniment of Night On Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky should NOT be underestimated. The sequel made it harder to use your own music, and harder to get the girls into ugly clothes, and therefore was just not right.

The Soul Calibur and Dead Or Alive series of games. I prefer 3D fighters, Soul Calibur is the one I'm best at, and enjoy the style of the most, and DOA has massive overblown endings soundtracked by Aerosmith. And also has Helena and Christie.

[d12]

In no particular order:

Alpha Centauri: Found it in the bargain bin at Best Buy years ago. Best $10 I ever spent on a game. :smallbiggrin: I like the overall presentation, what with the voiceovers for techs and base improvements, the unit customization, the factions, etc. And some of the voiceovers can get pretty funny too, like the one for the Hologram Theater improvement (I think--it's been a while). :smallbiggrin:

Sim City: For the most part, any of them would fit here, though if I had to pick one, I'd probably say 2000 was my favorite. I don't remember a lot about 3000 and I didn't care for the region mechanics in 4, though I liked the game overall (haven't played Societies). Used to be a total sucker for Sim City.

Oblivion: It came out when I was still kind of being introduced to RPGs in general (though a couple years after I started playing D&D), and I just fell in love with the exploration, the views, the interesting bits of lore you could pick up here and there, etc. And Shivering Isles added some fun new stuff too.

Fallout 3: Prior to 3's release, I didn't know much of anything about the setting. I tried it out and really liked the overall feel of the game and the environments. Also really liked the exploration again, which I would have expected, given the developer. And NPC's looked better overall than in Oblivion, which was also a plus. :smalltongue:

Mass Effect: After some initial issues with figuring out exactly how a few things worked, I just fell into this game. I love the setting, I like the characters, and it's probably the only game I've played where I actually had as much interest in the storyline as I did. Now, overall I do prefer the first game, though I did enjoy ME2 a lot more than I thought I would, so listing it as a favorite series would also work I suppose.

Civilization: Call to Power: What sets it apart from most other Civ-type games I've played would have to be the length of the technology tree. Civ 3-5 sort of feel lacking in comparison in that regard, what with always ending in the modern era. CtP wasn't afraid of going crazy and bringing in hovertanks, plasma destroyers, fusion power plants, space colonies, orbital bombardment, etc. Yes, a lot of that probably won't come up until the game is already pretty much decided, but I have a lot of fun with them regardless. The game also has it's own sense of humor that I've always enjoyed (televangelist units, lawyers, corporate branch units, some of the unit speech and wonder movies, etc).

[Cespenar]

Let me just say Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate II and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, because otherwise the list would take too long.

[Eldariel]

Secret of Mana -> Best console Action RPG (also has cooperative multiplayer)

Have you ever played Seiken Densetsu 3, btw? It's basically Secret of Mana 2 but was only released in Japan (until some PSX collection, I think). I found it even better than SoM; 3 different storylines in the same game gave it a ton of replayability too.

[NeoVid]

Fighter: King of Fighters '97.

RPG: Suikoden 1, and Mass Effect.

RTS: Guilty Gear 2: Overture (the only RTS I've ever liked, btw)

FPS: Team Fortress 2

MMO: City of Heroes, D&D Online

Other favorites: Katamari Damacy, Virtual World Battletech, and plenty of others from my 25+ years of video gaming that I can't remember off the top of my head.

[Lord Seth]

Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Escape Velocity: Override
The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions
NetHack

[Tvtyrant]

FPS: Team Fortress 2
RPG: Too many 2 count
RTS: Company of Heroes (before the massive nerf, I have a copy I don't ever let update to avoid the nerfing of the Germans)
Board Game: Othello! (or Twilight Imperium)
Fighter: Smash Bros and Street Fighter

[Ashtar]

Have you ever played Seiken Densetsu 3, btw? It's basically Secret of Mana 2 but was only released in Japan (until some PSX collection, I think). I found it even better than SoM; 3 different storylines in the same game gave it a ton of replayability too.

I know of it, but never played it. I did enjoy the later Legend of Mana on Playstation, but as I didn't possess a PS, I wasn't able to play much of it. -.-

I really enjoy the world, their visuals (and rabites!).

[Toastkart]

Planescape: Torment - wonderfully compelling and deep storytelling.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: Similar reasons.

Sins of a Solar Empire: Has a lot of everything. Giant Space Battles, empire building, and mods.

Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2: What a Star Wars game should really be about. Really sucks that 3 won't ever get made.

Mechcommander Gold: Really good campaign and mission editor, good mech combat, and lots of fun.

Final Fantasy Tactics: Great story, great gameplay.

Guild Wars: The best mmo because it was never really an mmo.

Mass Effect 1 and 2: Love them both for different reasons and what they share in common.

[Nero24200]

Alundra

Legend of Zelda (OOT)

Dragon Age: Origins

Yeah big fantasy fan here.

[Fri]

Grandia (the first one) is literally the game that mold me up to who I am right now, and I do mean literally.

But if I discount any nostalgia factor and whatnot, my objectively favourite game of all time would be Assassin's Creed 2. I dare to say that it's the perfect game for me. It combines cool and detailed setting, semi-alternate history, cool story, wide open sandbox without too sandboxy, and amazingly stylish action.

[Eldariel]

But if I discount any nostalgia factor and whatnot, my objectively favourite game of all time would be Assassin's Creed 2. I dare to say that it's the perfect game for me. It combines cool and detailed setting, semi-alternate history, cool story, wide open sandbox without too sandboxy, and amazingly stylish action.

I'll never forgive Ubisoft for screwing me out of that game for so long. Thank god they finally gave up on that ridiculous DRM so I can buy it with good conscience.

[0Megabyte]

In no particular order:

Chrono Trigger. No question number one. I mean, it's truly the absolute greatest video game of all time. Not the hardest. Not the longest. But just, the most fun. Certainly the best JRPG of all time.
Shadow of the Colossus.
Mega Man 2.
Persona 3. Probably the most fun I've had with a JRPG since Chrono Trigger. Which is saying something.
Resident Evil 2. I know 4 is great as well, but 2... well, it's just great.
Civilization 4. Played it more than anything else.
Portal
Final Fantasy Tactics. The story is really great, even if the original release had a terrible translation.
Half-Life 2.

Questionable:
Fate/stay night. The reason this is questionable is... does a visual novel count as a video game? Probably not, but it's awesome enough to break the rules of definitions just like every character in every Nasu story breaks every rule ever written down.

Really, some of the best I've played.

Honorable mentions: Final Fantasy VII, Ico, Portal 2, Chrono Cross, Resident Evil 4, Blazblue, Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front (not an actually great game... but one of my favorites anyway!) Pokemon for nostalgic value. Starcraft II. God of War. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature.

[0Megabyte]

In no particular order:

Chrono Trigger. No question number one. I mean, it's truly the absolute greatest video game of all time. Not the hardest. Not the longest. But just, the most fun. Certainly the best JRPG of all time.
Shadow of the Colossus.
Mega Man 2.
Persona 3. Probably the most fun I've had with a JRPG since Chrono Trigger. Which is saying something.
Resident Evil 2. I know 4 is great as well, but 2... well, it's just great.
Civilization 4. Played it more than anything else.
Portal
Final Fantasy Tactics. The story is really great, even if the original release had a terrible translation.
Half-Life 2.

Questionable:
Fate/stay night. The reason this is questionable is... does a visual novel count as a video game? Probably not, but it's awesome enough to break the rules of definitions just like every character in every Nasu story breaks every rule ever written down.

Really, some of the best I've played.

Honorable mentions: Final Fantasy VII, Ico, Portal 2, Chrono Cross, Resident Evil 4, Blazblue, Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front (not an actually great game... but one of my favorites anyway!) Pokemon for nostalgic value. Starcraft II. God of War. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature.