True that there are many games I have yet to try, but of the games I have played, these are the ones I have truly loved. I even took some of them out to dinner and even proposed to one. Yeah, no, just kidding, I swear!
Roughly in order.
Quite possibly my favorite RPG of all time. It's certainly gotten the most play-time of them all (I still play it from time to time, in fact). It has a big nostalgia factor for me, being my first huge in-depth RPG. I love the freedom and huge variety of weapons, armor, quests, factions, and magic effects. I love the magic in Morrowind. And there is just SO much to do and discover. Even after years and years of playing it, I still find new things in Morrowind. It's incredible.
Since my early childhood, I've liked the Star Wars movies, but the KOTOR games are what really hooked me on the franchise. Bioware did an amazing job crafting one of the greatest RPGs of all time, with perhaps the biggest gaming plot-twist ever.
KOTOR II has massive improvements in interface, combat, and party member interaction over its predecessor, but its story feels a bit rushed and incoherent near the end of the game (LucasArts rushed production of the game for a holiday release). It's still a fantastic game, though.
It's not without its flaws, but no game is perfect. It's still one of the most fun games I've ever played. Add a bit of expansive DLC or a Super Soul Calibur V that significantly adds to the game and it just might be my definitive favorite fighting game ever.
In a way, the spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic. Mass Effect is a truly remarkable game that blends RPG and shooter elements in a very unique way. one of my all-time favorites.
So much awesome in one game. I don't know how many hours I've put into it, and I don't really want to. XD
Civilization... In space! Tons of different races to choose from, each with their own play style. Not quite as good as Civ, but still awesome, and with its own charm.
I daresay that this game has even outshone its illustrious predecessor. Behind Soul Calibur V, its easily my favorite fighting game. With both of those and BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend all out (and possibly Persona 4 Arena, haven't tried it yet), 2012 has been a great year for fighting games. Though I do miss the odd little minigame Tekken Bowl from the first. Maybe future DLC?
A fantastic turn-based strategy gladiator game that allows you to build your own school of customized gladiators in a fascinating fantasy world. It's one of the few games I'll go back to the original Xbox to play and though I've beaten it repeatedly, I never get tired of it. Simply one of the best games ever made, I'd love to see a sequel.
I didn't really expect Skyrim to be very good, it seemed as though Bethesda was over-simplifying things, but my low expectations were blown out of the water. It turned out to be one of my favorites, not quite on par with Morrowind, but far better than Oblivion.
Such a fantastic game. I still bust it out and play through every so often. Despite the extremely dated graphics, it's still my favorite shooter of all time.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms X was the pinnacle of the series in my opinion. It managed to both be a great RPG and strategy game at once, set in a period of history I am fascinated by.
With a variety of races and classes to choose from, a fun RTS system, a long campaign, and a map editor, Warlords Battlecry III easily takes it's well-deserved spot as my favorite RTS.
There are a lot of things I like better about the sequel, but I think I prefer the original Mass Effect overall because of the stronger RPG elements and ability to just find tons of new weapons/armor/whatnot. Still a fantastic game, though.
BlazBlue was often recommended to me by other fighting game fans, and after a few years I finally bought it, and love it to pieces. It's undoubtabley my new favorite 2D fighter. It has an undeniably odd, but intriguing story with undeniably odd, but intriguing characters. I don't think I've ever been excited to see what happens next in a fighting game's story before this one, so bravo, BlazBlue. The mechanics of the game are admittedly taking me some time to get used to (in other words, I suck XD), but it's still one of my favorites.
An oft-overlooked, but fantastic RPG worthy of Bioware's reputation. It features one of the most well-written stories in gaming. I wonder if Bioware has considered making a sequel.
The first Romance of the Three Kingdoms game I tried. The awesome blend of strategy and role-playing (and up to 8 multiplayer) made me love it. Besides, I loved to read all the officers bios and learn what happened in that time and all. I'm a history geek as well as a gamer geek. -sigh- I'm hopeless, haha.
A quirky, yet awesome and lovable game. One of my favorites.
Tidus's annoying personality drove me from the game early on, but after a while the game really picked up and now it is one of my absolute favorites. I really like the cast and intricate background of the world. Even Tidus grew on me. Sort of.
Soul Calibur II was the first game in the series I played and I played it like crazy, and when I saw SCIII at the store, I naturally had to buy it. The game was packed with so much awesome single player content, that alone makes it awesome. It was a fighting game that you could have as much fun with playing one-player as multi-player.
One of the best fighting games ever made. There is a lot I miss about SCII from the newer games in the series, and I sometimes go back and play it.
I had a lot of fun with Final Fantasy XII. Near the end, I kind of felt like it was stretching on longer than it needed to, but not too much. It was a great game.
A large cast of great characters, tag battles, pair play, and Tekken Bowl just make this game amazing.
I had heard only bad things about this game from friends, but perhaps out of some morbid curiosity to see exactly what was wrong with it, I borrowed it from a friend who wasn't too interested in it. I'll admit, it was really weird and hard to understand and get into at first, but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and keep playing. Once I got past the opening, things started to really pick up, and now I'm near the end of the game and loving it to pieces. I'll definitely pick up the sequel, and likely get a copy of the original myself in case I ever want to play through again.
The stealth system could still use more refinement, along with enemy awareness, but overall it's a fantastic game that provides an interesting story and characters along with very fun gameplay. And a unique co-op campaign that can be played offline. Win.
A great expansion to the original and one of my favorite fighters. I love the new additions to the roster, it was a breath of new life to the game.
I had played a bit of the first game at a friend's house, but only through the first few levels. When the sequel came out, I decided I had to get it. I expected it to be good, but I didn't expect it to be this good. Such a brilliantly designed game with a lot of clever humor. The multiplayer mode definitely doesn't work against the game, either.
Combines an addictive collection aspect as well as an RPG system for developing your captured critters. It's hard not to enjoy it, and the simple fact that I'm here unashamedly telling you that a Pokemon game is one of the best I've ever played is a testament to its greatness.
With the possible exception of the Pokemon game that also appears on this list, Golden Sun is the best handheld game I've ever played. A truly memorable RPG.
As a child, this was my favorite game. I'd play it every day on the old SNES and loved it to pieces. I haven't played it in years, save for one time that me and my brother dusted it off and beat it for old time's sake.
I love the innovations Nacmo has brought to Tekken over the years. I'm very much looking forward to the next Tekken.
One of my favorites as a kid, and still fun to play every once in a while. Gauntlet's brand of competitive co-op will never go out of style. I wish they still made games like this.
Though it falls markedly short of its predecessor, in my opinion, Oblivion was, by all accounts, a great game. I've gotten literally every achievement in the non-GOTY version of the game (and to be clear, I'm not the sort of gamer who tries to do that) and completed both the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansions.
A truly fantastic role-playing game. One of my favorites. But, what else would you expect from the RPG wizards over at Bioware?
A very underrated game. Mirror's Edge is a fantastically unique game that gets the adrenaline pumping as Faith extreme parkours about the city dodging gunfire and beating the crap out of SWAT team members. It can be frustratingly hard, but once you get into the swing of things you'll have a blast. Very sleek and stylish. It's like a new Porsche. Sort of. Okay, not really, but it's a great game.
My favorite racing game. I had a lot of fun with this game, with all the different racers to play as and just brilliantly fun racing system.
Such a fantastically executed fighting game. I haven't really played it since I got Super Street Fighter IV, but it's still one of my favorites.
This game is just awesome. Epic old strategy/RP game.
Best 3d platformer I've played. Fantastic game.
One of the most downright fun games ever made.
-insert teary-eyed smiley here- This is where gaming began for me. Such nostalgic awesomeness and the birth of the modern fighting game genre.
Improved upon the original Battlefront in nearly every way, one of my favorite shooter games.
