Christ this is difficult...
I think I'll go with:
- Planescape: Torment
- Grim Fandango
- Dark Souls
Planescape gets the number 1 spot for being the first game I think that really moved me at all. Admittedly, I was 10 years old and I haven't played it for many, many years, so I might find that actually the emotional punch is a little less impressive than I thought, but I don't think it would take away all the other great stuff about it; the absolutely fantastic story, the way that every character related to the story of TNO, the world which was so unlike anything I'd seen before, and how the writing brought it alive. As I gush about it, I can see how many shortcomings the game actually has. In a lot of ways, it was more reading than actual playing, but I always was a big reader. It also looks like ass and probably did when I played it, but hey. The time I spent playing it will never be taken away from me I guess.
Grim Fandango gets a place for having the absolute best ending ever, just so immensely satisfying and appropriate I guess. I absolutely loved it. I also loved the look of it, the mexican day of the dead thing which was both grotesque and endearing, mixed with an Art Deco that slowly returns to its roots in Aztec designs near the end. The high water mark is probably the Casablanca pastiche in chapter 2 (3?), without which I might never have watched the real Casablanca. The Characters - a good story always make you feel like you've become friends with the characters, and I sometimes miss my old friend Glottis. But most of all, I think this game stands out for being able to mix silliness with action, without the threat of the latter being diminished by the former, and also balancing comedy with pathos.
As for Dark Souls. it's probably the only recent game I considered particularly seriously. At first I thought I would say that it was on a purely mechanical basis. Learning to get to grips with the systems and the peculiar playstyle of it was very satisfactory and rewarding. But it's also the way it handles online interaction. I've got Xbox live friends now who I've gained from helping them with really tough bosses, or vice versa. I've got people on my list who I added after gruelling half-hour duels with them. At first the online component seems sparse and limited, but I actually think that it makes those interactions meaningful. Then I thought about the story, and thought, actually, it's a really brave experiment in storytelling, which may or may not have worked, I've yet to decide. Perhaps a little more information could be given, but people have pieced together bits of information from every corner of that game and discovered a fairly rich narrative - and one that subverts your expectations a bit. In some ways I think it asks questions about how we as players interact with games - to get what I feel is the "true" ending requires both a refusal to do what seems like the right thing on the surface, and also the courage to tackle obstacles out of order. But whatever, I know a lot of people hate the game. All I can say is that after buying it on a bit of a whim, it has consumed me more than any game since...well, Grim Fandango and Planescape.
There are A LOT of great games that I left out for one reason or another though. Infinity Engine games were my gaming bread and butter for a long time, and all of them have something to recommend them: Icewind Dale has great tactical combat and gorgeous environments, but the lack of story or character interaction precludes "top 3" status. The Bladur's Gate Games had great story and Gameplay, but the quality of Planescape's characters meant that Planescape won. The first two Fallout games took a lot of my time when I was younger, and kickstarted my love affair with post-apocalyptic fiction in general, but ultimately although all of its elements are good, no single one of them is as outstanding as in those other isometric games. All of these are games I've completed upwards of 50 times.
Then there's more recent games. The Mass Effect Series has had some of the most impactful moments in recent memory, but none of the games in the series has ever settled down to do everything right. First the gameplay was a bit rough, and as the gameplay got better the story got rougher. The first one probably remains my favourite for those great reveals - Sovereign, Vigil - as well as out and out forcing me to choose a team member to die, something they never really have the bravery to do again. Alpha Protocol is a game that I enjoyed a lot for being a little different, but just lacks the polish to be up there. The Witcher 2 was a great game, but totally loses it in the last act. Dragon Age took a lot of my time, but looked like garbage and played poorly on a console (Perhaps I would think better of the PC version?). The Original Deus Ex is a favourite of mine, and probably the hardest thing to not include on this list, but I dunno.
So yeah. Sorry, you're probs not interested in all that bumpf, but w/e
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