Your favourite game: the explain yourself edition.

Well, there's been a lot of name-dropping of favourite games recently, but most people tend not to give any explanation as to why they like the games they like.

So, in this thread, name your #1 all time favourite game, and then give a few dot-points explaining why that game is your favourite. Remember, keep it relatively concise; most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Anyway, I'll start:

Braid

1. Definitely some of the most well thought-out/clever puzzles I've seen in any game.
2. Incredibly beautiful aesthetic - both the visuals and the music.
3. Regardless of how 'pretentious' some might say it is, I felt the story-telling was great - especially that part.

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

Final Fantasy IX

• Took all the best parts of prior Final Fantasies and combined them to make the best feeling one to date.
• Every character was awesome and the game had plenty of avenues to explore all their back stories.
• Beautiful art style that still holds up today.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

•  Everything Zelda OoT was, but with a freaky story that made the world you played in seem very sad and dark, but your actions really changed things around you.
• It remixed concepts, characters and ideas from other Zelda's into a mix that was both familiar and fresh enough to not be considered a easy port.
• Some of the best bosses and gameplay from the series, I still feel like I didn't explore everything and I've gotten all masks and hearts.

Video relevant: 

Demon's Souls

• because Demon's Souls
• .

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

1. The dungeons require just the right amount of puzzle solving, involve the items that you have picked up in creative ways and take the right amount of time without backtracking a million times.

2. The Light/Dark world dynamic is interesting both aesthetically and functionally. The art design and music on each side is charming in its own way, and jumping between the Light and Dark worlds to get around obstacles or to manipulate the other side still feels like a unique gameplay mechanic.

3. The amount of unique environs and secrets hidden around the overworld given its size still instills me with a sense of wonder.

Super Mario World

1. It's Mario.

2. It has a fucking cape. Flying that thing is an art.

3. 16 bit visual style wins hands down in any competition, it just doesn't get old. Plus the world map and level design is fantastic. Oh, and Kaizo.

Baldur's Gate 2. I've completed this game and it's concluding expansion over 7 or 8 times, yet every single time still feels fresh to me.

The amount of legitimately entertaining content it has is unbelievable, and there's not a single damn fetchquest (except for the one that happens to be a fantastic parody of fetch quests) or any waste of space whatsoever. Every time I play it I discover something new, and there's still lots of content I haven't even experienced yet (most of the unique stronghold missions for every major class in the game, for example).

It has the best balance of gameplay and story that Bioware ever had, as well as the best writing to boot. It's very "bookish", but not so much that you lose interest like some other games of its style. Even the romances here put Mass Effect and Dragon Age to shame.

I plan on picking up the enhanced versions when they come out too. I just can't get enough of it.

Creatures 3

1. I can breed, using Digital DNA a group of super creatures, that will go on to breed even better creatures.
2. I can edit the objects in the world using a programming language.
3. They learn to talk, and will listen to you, or not.
4. You can play with the eco systems in the spaceship.

Fallout 2

@Video_Game_King said:

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

Please stop.

@evanbower said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

Please stop.

I know; I'm a riot.

EverQuest

• My first MMO. And as such, it totally blew my mind in every possible way. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it changed my life.
• To date, it remains the only game where death actually felt scary. Feeling your palms start to sweat as you moved deeper into a dungeon was a great experience.
• Amazingly social experience, partly because of above. The camaraderie that developed with "your clique" within the guild and the friendships that came from that...they remain unmatched even now.

It has been ~7 years since I quit EQ and I still have Kelethin music as my ringtone and one particular spellhit noise as text message alarm. And everytime I feel nostalgic and go watch Youtube videos of EQ (like "Has anybody here seen my corpse?") I get all teary-eyed.

40 years from now when only the best and most emotionally impactful memories of my childhood remain - they will probably be about EverQuest.

Ninja Gaiden Black

• The most responsive controls in any action game.
• Incredibly deep, skill based combat system.
• Scoring system is a work of art.
• Magnificent boss fights and enemy design/variety
• Mission mode still hasn't been surpassed in terms of additional content.
• You get to beat up demons with a giant paddle

I could go on, but you get the idea.

World of Warcraft. I don't need to explain why World of Warcraft is the best fucking game ever made.

Team Fortress 2

• Lots of varied weapons.
• Classes have distinct roles.
• Many maps and game modes including custom ones.
• I thought of 3 bullet points without mentioning hats yet.
• It has hats.

@Video_Game_King said:

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

Bushwald Sexyface, of course.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

• Game play manages to combine multi-character tactical strategy with traditional turn-based RPG combat.
• Save the universe or kill your friends, the choice is yours...also have a lesbian alien love affair.
• Pazaak! Collect 'em all. Bleed suckers of their last credit.

@PenguinDust:

Man, I can't remember the last time he appeared on my blog, and I don't think he's gonna look fondly upon my Skyrim blog...

Earthbound

1. The setting is very odd for a game, 199x America though a Japanese point of view. You play as psychic kids. THATS CRAZY
2. The sense of humor is pretty great.
3. minutes you have to wait behind that waterfall.
4. It reminds me of my childhood.
5. SMAAAAASSH!!!
6. I really like the music and a whole lot of the games style
7. The ghost tears off your ears, mouth, eyes, and breaks your limbs. Rated KA for everyone.

I'd also consider Mother 3 up there. The story is uch better, some moments are way more impactful.

Nier

• an extremely beautiful soundtrack that cannot be surpassed.
• Super interesting characters who are endearing without being melodramatic and dialogue that feels really natural.
• A story that is adept at making you cry like a little child.
• a New Game + that adds so much that it is pretty much required, best use of NG+ ever made.
• seriously that soundtrack is dope as hell

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness

• Nostalgia. It's only been eight years, but I have fond memories of playing Disgaea through the night with a friend, laughing our asses off. It was unlike anything I'd played before with the dumb weapon descriptions and the way it poked fun at anime clichés.
• It's as big of a time sink you want it to be. Play through the story in ~30 hours, take a poke at the extra content you unlocked or grind in the Item World until you start questioning your life decisions.

Not much else to it. It was an experience.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

1. It's a very methodical, and slow-paced game, where you have to be stealthy, and quiet.

2. Sam Fisher is a likable guy, and a great hero.

3. The Night-Vision and Thermal Imaging is pretty cool. The Thermal Image setting makes you look like something out of Predator.

4. Finally, the gadgets. Very high-tech items that could belong in a James Bond movie, and they're fun to use.

NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis.

Simply because perfectly pulling off a one-timer is just as satisfying to me today as when I was thirteen years old on Christmas morning.

Super Mario Bros 3

• Really distinctive looks and sounds for all of the different worlds.
• Some of the best power-ups in any platformer, many of which you may only get once during a playthrough (Hammer Suit, Kuribo's shoe)
• Perfect controls.
• Tanooki suit.

@Video_Game_King said:

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

i have to agree with beach thunder. all i read was the word "Braid" then came straight to your post. still havn't read his bullet points. lol

Knights Of The Old Republic

• My first Bioware experience and boy did it deliver
• Great story even for some one who doesn't like Star Wars
• Great Characters
• Fun tactical combat
• The Ebon Hawk
• Hk is one of my favorite characters
• That twist man.

Super Mario World. Cause, duh.

Persona 4

• Genuinely interesting, unique, and well-developed characters.
• Social Link progression vastly improved over Persona 3.
• Intriguing mystery plotline.
• Funny.
• The best JRPG combat system I've ever played.
• Endurance Run
• Fantastic localization
• Great character design and style.
• Takes place in a modern, rural setting, which is pretty much never done elsewhere.
• No random encounters
• Deeply addictive day-by day structure.

@FesteringNeon said:

Demon's Souls

• because Demon's Souls
• .

c'mon, at least try write a little. why not Dark Souls, for example?

Terranigma

• You resurrect the whole world (our! world) and help it evolve
• The music is fantastic
• It teaches you about basic evolution and geography (I was 11 when the game came out so I had practically no idea about these things)
• Combat moves were actually fun (the slide move and the spam-A attack)
• You can talk to animals! (well, at least until you've revived the humans)
• The story is actually good (and kinda sad) and makes you think.
• Seriously, you revive everything from continents to species and then travel all over the world! It's f'ing epic!
• (It had been 4 years since A Link to the Past and we didn't get either FF VI or Chrono Trigger or Earthbound which came out around the same time so it left an extra special impression)

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

• This game has a great story with fun gameplay.
• Short but incredible.
• Great graphics/art style with a truly amazing dub.
• Saddest video game ever made... of all time.
• This game will destroy you emotionally at every damn corner.
• The atmosphere enhances the sadness.
• Most depressing video games of all time... I played it three weeks ago and beat it... I finally recovered.

Suikoden II

Great story that doesn't need "for a video game" as a qualifier.

Excellent combat system with huge variety of playable characters.

Very memorable soundtrack that blends nicely into the mood of the game.

Great pacing of gameplay, I never felt tired of being in a certain area or being on a particular story arc.

UFO: Enemy Unknown (XCOM: UFO Defence)

• Small/medium squad turn based combat.
• Layers of strategy in base layout, allocation of resources, location, etc., etc.
• Chryssalids!

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

• One of the Greatest star wars games to date
• cable tie on an AT AT
• great space and in atmosphere combat
• Brilliant story(i cant even remember it now though but i remember being really into it)

Im not really a big big star wars fan or anything but Star wars battlefront is maybe my second favorite game of all time, just a dumb class based shooter but was lots of fun in couch multiplayer

NBA Jam Tournament Edition

• HE'S HEATING UP!
• HE'S ON FIRE!
• BOOMSHAKALAKA!

Morrowind

• Huge world
• Extremely open, never funneled you into a specific path
• Giant amount of quests, to the point you're almost guaranteed to never do all of them
• Great for roleplaying
• Wonderful mods
• Very replayable

Banjo-Tooie

It's awesome.

@Video_Game_King said:

@BeachThunder said:

most people tend to avoid reading massive walls-of-text.

Then why is my blog as popular as it is?

May it be because of your ego?

Super street fighter 4.

Godlike.

I honestly can't pick one game out of my 20+ years of gaming to be my favorite. So i won't write any, but i enjoyed seeing what people have written so far.

@Carryboy said:

Super street fighter 4.

Godlike.

I'm not sure what those words mean, but rest assured, I won't change the title of my blog.

@Video_Game_King: My sides are splitting.

Persona 3: 
 
- great dungeon crawl style gameplay 
- awesome music 
- great characters and story 
- the best ending of all time.

System Shock 2

You get to beat robot space ninjas to death with a wrench.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

• Everything Zelda OoT was, but with a freaky story that made the world you played in seem very sad and dark, but your actions really changed things around you.
• It remixed concepts, characters and ideas from other Zelda's into a mix that was both familiar and fresh enough to not be considered a easy port.
• Some of the best bosses and gameplay from the series, I still feel like I didn't explore everything and I've gotten all masks and hearts.

Video relevant:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Yes, I'm beginning to think this game was top 3 for me; definitely my favorite zelda game by far.

Super Metroid 

1. Flawless controls.
2. Great atmosphere and a sense of loneliness seen in few games.
3. Some of the best boss battles I've ever encountered.
4. Still looks great to this day.
5. Tons of awesome weapons and hidden secrets.
6. Great ending with an emotional twist.
7. That poor baby Metroid. I still choke up a little every time when it sacrifices its life.
8. Seriously, I did shed a tear once because of that.

The Curse Of Monkey Island

• Wear a mask made of Tofu
• Voodoo dolls
• Become a demon chicken
• Dueling Banjos
• Die
• Learn what rhymes with orange

Pokemon Silver

• Came out at the perfect time for me; in primary school, close friends and older brother also owned it
• Felt like a whole crazy new world had been opened up with day and night cycles, berry trees, holding items, breeding, cell phones, new pokemon etc.
• Quagsire
• Beat the Elite Four, guess the games ove- OH SHIIIIIT
• Going back to Kanto where i'd spend so many hours before in Pokemon Blue, so many things have changed
• Encountering Blue and Red

I actually replayed it THROUGH TOTALLY LEGAL MEANS a couple of years back, still thought it had an amazing world even if the mechanics are understandably simple.

Xenogears

- Awesome music. Arguably some of Yasunori Mitsuda's finest.

- A deep, involving story that revolves around religion and psychology.

- Great combat that continues to be rewarding throughout the game

- Excellent cast of characters.

- Romance, yay!

- Nanotechnology, yay!

- Moar Science, yay!

- Martial arts, yay!

- Giant robots, yay!

- Big Joe, yay!

- Gratuitous drug use, yay!

- Sand submarine with its very own butler, yay!

- You like dem Chrono Triggers? There's about 20 winks and nods to it throughout the game including Lucca making a cameo and the Millennium Fair in Aveh.

- "We! Are men! Of the sea!"

- Seriously, that plot is dope as hell.

Final Fantasy Tactics

-Still the most satisfying and diverse job system in an RPG
-A story that is less about mystic bullshit and more about people, war, and the horrible shit done in pursuit of power
-Extremely challenging battles where careful strategy and a little luck are necessary to succeed
-Delita is still the most compellingly tragic anti-hero in any game ever

Super Mario 64

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

• This game has a great story with fun gameplay.
• Short but incredible.
• Great graphics/art style with a truly amazing dub.
• Saddest video game ever made... of all time.
• This game will destroy you emotionally at every damn corner.
• The atmosphere enhances the sadness.
• Most depressing video games of all time... I played it three weeks ago and beat it... I finally recovered.