Stop Pupping Around, What Is Your Favourite Game Ever (and why)?

@bluefish said:

Me too; Halo CE is the game that got me back into console games after a sizeable hiatus.

I remember my wife and I had just bought a townhouse and had moved the boxes in on our first day of possession - I sat on the floor in the entrance surrounded by boxes, with only the TV & my new Xbox hastily set up and I played through most of the campaign that first night instead of unpacking a single thing.

For the longest time, my favorite game was Kingdom Hearts 1. I told myself that I don't think anything will surpass the feeling my younger self had playing that game. Even today I love it and have replayed it multiple times. The nostalgia only grew stronger every year. I kept giving games a fair shake of judgement as whether or not they could supplant it, even DOTA2 which I have been fiending lately, but I just couldn't give it the top spot.

And then I finally got around to playing a game called Dark Souls. I really don't think that one needs any explaining with all the talk and reverence it gets everywhere. I just finished it last week and after some thought, I easily put it into my top spot; EASILY. That game in its full package is something else. I did experience it on a PC so unstable framerates weren't an issue. To be fair, though, I did play on 30FPS the whole way through.

It's such an amazing feeling to have just experienced playing through my all-time favorite game. IT'S THE BEST TIME TO BE PLAYING GAMES!

Man, as painful as it is to admit, it has to be World of Warcraft. At least, what that game and the community once was in days of yore. That thing was not just a game to me, it was a goddamn lifestyle for a solid 5 years of my life. It's an entirely different discussion whether it was the game itself I enjoyed or the people who played it, but the fact of the matter is some of my best/worst moments and most triumphant/devastating memories come from my time with that game. I missed the Everquest train, so I had never experienced anything quite like that living, breathing video game world I would never have imagined being possible a few years earlier. It was surely a combination of the game losing its luster and me growing older (I played it through high school and shortly after) that diminished the magic, but I'll never forget the time I spent with WoW. It's a very silly thing to look back on in the modern gaming landscape where everything is always online and even single player games have connectivity of some sort. It's also a very silly thing to consider how much more productive I could have been if I never let that game take hold of me. Ah well. Video games, right?

The most bizarre thing about WoW is that you can never go back and recreate that magic. With a game like Halo or Super Mario World, you can always pop that cartridge or disc back in and play it again. Sure, it might not hold a candle to the first time you played it, it may not have aged as well as you might have hoped, but the experience is still true to what it once was. With a game like WoW... it's gone. After dozens of patches and several expansions and an entirely different group of players than the ones I played with, it can never be the same game. Unless they add a vanilla mode to the game and the gang gets back together for a reunion tour, my memory of the original WoW is lost to time. Funny, that.

Id put goldeneye up there too. Sure it may not have aged well, but it consumed so much of my time/life back then it would be remiss not to give it its due.

In terms of a game being everything I wanted it to be and my having few negative memories of it whatsoever: Medieval 2: Total War, the Kingdoms Expansion. I still remember some of my battles as the Teutonic Knights, and the insane supply chains I built up as the Byzantines keeping fresh troops supplied to the meat grinder that was the Holy Land.

My favorite game as a game I've spent countless hours on, beaten, and would still gladly play today... Mass Effect 2 & 3? That's two games, but I wouldn't play one without the other. I'd try to get out of playing 1 if I could justify it, though.

I'm bad with declaring a singular favorite anything "of all time" but if you were to point a gun at my head I'd probably yell something about Heroes of Might and Magic III*. No other game, save perhaps Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has been more influential for my tastes, but unlike KotOR I can still go back to it now and enjoy it without any sort of problem. Heroes II might be more charming and Heroes V more varied, but III has the advantage of longevity and nostalgia.

(*Other acceptable answers for "what is my favorite game" would include: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Resident Evil 4, REmake, Baldur's Gate II, Dark Souls 1, Mass Effect 2, Might and Magic VII, Super Mario World, Oblivion, Ocarina of Time, Temple of Elemental Evil, and Final Fantasy V)

EDIT: Eff it man, throw League of Legends on that pile too.

Vagrant Story, because it's the best. There you go.

Probably Duke Nukem 3D. Just gunning through those levels is the most satisfying experience I have had with any game. It also controls the best out of any other FPS i've tried.

The only game that comes a close second would be Shadow of The Colossus but it's been a long time since I last played it.

I made a top five list ages ago and my opinion hasnt changed much since.

Skyrim is much better mechanicly than Morrowind but that game still stands out as being one of the most unique fantasy games ive played in terms of it's setting.

Persona 3 FES (or 4 really), Fire Emblem Awakening, Muramasa the Demon Blade or League of Legends. Its probably League due to the sheer amount of hours spent thinking or playing that game, I made money off that game for fucks sake, but I usually don't include it in these lists because it seems unfair. Not sure how it is unfair but to me it seems that way. The other ones switch position often

Hard to think of a Best Game, anymore.

I might say Deus Ex, because in a year or 3, I might play it, again. What that game was trying to cover, and to boot give you a tranq gun that in it's own way enabled you as the hand of God.

Also I loved Dead Space, Fallout 3 and now the Dead Souls. the beat goes on.

Killer7. There was nothing like it when it was released, and there has nothing been like it since. It's easy to dismiss it as one of those 'style over substance' type of games, but there is a lot going on underneath a surface. It features a mind-bending plot, most of which is left to the interpretation of the player, along with some bizarre commentary on the geopolitics between America and Japan.
Helps that the OST by Masafumi Takada is pretty killer please don't hurt me for that one.

I've not retreaded a game as much as Metal Gear Solid but Dark Souls is starting to eat up ground.

Could totally be The Saboteur. Not even a massive fan of the setting/ style but just love how it plays. Have spent hours running around blowing shit up while listening to podcasts.

Ori and the Blind Forest. Hands down. First of all I'm an animation nerd and Ori is one of the most gorgeous games I have seen in my life. I think there's really something to be said about a game that puts you in a place that you actually want to be. I get a lot more enjoyment out of that than I would if it was some non-descript "8-bit" dungeon jumper with the same mechanics.

I think this is a really subjective choice for me and I don't expect a lot of people to agree. I don't much like chess style games of strategy and planning. I like my games to translate my input 1-to-1 into feedback immediately. I like Mario and Zelda. I just like how that feels and Ori does it phenomenally well. It's like what you would get if you took Super Metroid and spent 10 years breaking down every animation and made sure there wasn't a single frame where you weren't in total control of your character. It's pure polish.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I put around 2,000 hours into that game. If I had a working GBA I would probably still be playing it.

Whenever this topic comes up someone pipes up with Deus Ex... and I'm going to be that someone this time.

The game has been superseded in almost every way by other titles but at the time I was absolutely blown away by how thrilling, involved, and cool it was. I still play through it every couple of years, and now I get to do it with the improved 'revision mod' graphics.

The Witcher 1

Here's why

The Atari ST port of Elite.

I was a year or two too young to get a lot out of the original game but by the time the re-release came around I was ripe for the taking.

I am elite, and bloody proud of it.

Hmmm Super Mario 64, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Portal, or Braid.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2

I wonder how many people will shared this with me, but for me it is the Legacy of Kain series, specifically Soul Reaver 2.

The story and voice acting stand up to me. The fact that they brought in people to record their lines together. A time travel story with paradoxes as a central theme. The theatrics of the cutscenes, the vibrant language and the lore of the world ...

The series doesn't hold up today gameplaywise, will probably never see a continuation or remake and was f'd in the a because of the free to play "Nosgoth", but man do I still love and think about it to this day. I still wish to find that game that uses that kind of storytelling and delivery. I see bits and pieces in some games, usually close to the end, but it almost always seems too hammy.

I replay Soul Reaver 2 at least once a year, I've analyzed it over and over, talked for years with people about it, memorized the lines like people like to memorize Resident Evil for it's funny delivery. One of the reasons I actually joined GB was that in one of the mailbags, Jeff and Ryan notice and seem pretty excited about Blood Omen 1 CD. I know it's a shallow reason, but it got me thinking "man, these guys are alright".

Other runner ups for me is: Journey (the emotions and music), Dark Souls 1 (the buttclentch), Undertale (the music and humor), The Longest Journey (again fantastic story) and Morrowind (the world). I'd also add Black & White 1 on that list for how unique it was for me.

I think having a definite favorite is not a bad thing, but do not let it hold you in the past. Give other things a try and remember, for growing gamers today, some new game will be their "Zelda" or their "Metal Gear Solid", don't besmirch it because those older games did it first and let's give game makers that grew up with your favorites a chance to shine too.

Definitely Journey!
The art and craft that went into it, the way the game sets out to do a particular thing and nails it perfectly, the way it makes you feel.... everything.
This game is a masterpiece, transcending the video game genre as a whole, and truly is art- in the best, purest and least pompous way possible.

Persona 4. I reached out for the truth and this game is THE TRUTH.

It's such a hard call, my top ten list has said Castlevania:SotN for quite some time now. But I'm not sure I can say that with real conviction. There are so many other games that play on different facets of my love for games. From a purely mechanical perspective, Bayonetta is my favorite game. From an aestethic perspective I might say Dark Souls. Looking at craftsmanship, vision and cohesion I'd say Journey. For the sake of simplicity, I say SotN because it carries many of my favorite things in the one product, and it was also an early and influential experience in my gaming life. Pretty much just a gut pick.

Can I cheat? There is no one game, but there are series of games that nothing else comes close and the reason I play video games.

Splinter cell games (excluding Conviction) Pandora Tomorrow is probably my earliest gaming experiences and one that made me realize I adore stealth. It's just pure fun and me having a slight case of OCD "trial and error" style gameplay fitted like a glove. I just love exotic locales and the tension it brings during tailing sections. Coupled with stellar soundtrack and amazing visuals it's just a joy to control Sam Fisher trough various environment.

Mass Effect 1 and 2 are nothing short of master stroke. It's just the sense of wonder and Space Odyssey vibes that gets me. The music when you first arrive to Noveria or first time meeting Archangel are so god damn good.

Witcher 1 and 3. Those 2 games speaks to me like no other game. The sense of dread and hopelessness , seeing poor and disease ridden people with their own problems . Actually caring about random dude and his problems instead of waiting for xp bar to fill and loot driven reward. Riding trough fields while Sun is painting the sky with orange . Experiencing chapter 4 in Witcher 1 was magical. A lot of this have to do how particular environments such as Vizima outskirts or White Orchard reminds me of my young days living in a village. Even the look of inns and decorations evokes that same feeling. It's all about sense of place, atmosphere , very personal motivations for Geralt, what he holds dear and how broken and human he appears at specific points in his journey just elevates the these games so much higher.

Yeah, probably got too passionate writing this thing...

Super Mario World. Symphony of the Night comes close, but Mario just nails everything. It feels great, the music's classic, the art is creative and eye-catching, it has my favorite progression design in the series, and it's never gotten old.

When I was a kid, it also had this mythical quality since I didn't own an SNES. So every time I got to play it, it was being in the presence of greatness. Wasn't til years later, probably post-2000, that I got my own version on an emulator. And that's when I really dug into and realized it's the best game. Ever.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It was the first rpg I thoroughly enjoyed (and finished), the first time I was completely immersed in a games world, with its huge cast of memorable characters and overabundance of stories small and big.

It's funny, touching and dark. It's also a special kind of crazy playing through it as a Malkavian the first time.

I've enjoyed other games more since and I return to other games more often, but a special place in my heart will forever be occupied by this game.

So you're asking me to choose between Dune 2 the greatest RTS ever, with best music, best sound, best graphics and best universe, Kyrandia 2: The Hand Of Fate the best point & click adventure game ever and Jet Set Radio the objective proof that the Dreamcast will forever be better than the PS2 ?

I cannot.

Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution. Maybe the first game the really awe me with sheer game design, it has a very diverse roster of characters that at the same time are very well balanced, has an extensive single player mode that has yet to be topped, and arguably still the best training mode in the genre. That game is the total package.

That said I'm generally more of a narrative guy, so I have to mention Persona 4 Golden is a close runner-up.

Planescape: Torment

This game creates a world and characters mostly through eloquent descriptions and yet those faces and places presence before me feels stronger than most games I've ever played. Planescape could be described as a novel with a game in it, but that's just because it knows its own strength: Its writing. Most of the games playtime, especially if you're a intelligence/wisdom/charisma-character, will take place in dialogue-trees, and these are some of the most finely crafted dialogues in gaming. Everyone oozes personality with often heavily emphasized accents that gives the writing just that extra charm. There's alot of side-quests to find and at each and every one of them you'll wonder what crazy character or event you'll stumble into next.

At the core of the game though, is the very personal story of your character, The nameless one, an immortal who seems to loose his memories every time he wakes up from a death. In the quest to find out how and why that is, you tour the city of sigil and parts of the outer planes, finding companions, getting to know them and this universe. As you go on you find out more and more about yourself and what you've done in earlier lifes, deeds both good and bad.

It's simply the most engrossing adventure I've ever gotten from a video-game. It blew my 16-year old mind when I first played it. And now when I replay it I feel that it was a miracle that I even got through it with how I built my character. Speccing wisdom, charisma and intelligence without becoming a mage to make use of those stats in combat. No, I was just a really damn smart dude who still just went around and hit things until they fell down with a club. Well... I mostly ran though. You can do that. =P

For the longest time it was Half-Life 2 for me. I played about a year after it came out when I was like 11. It was a game my father had received as a gift but he passed away before ever playing it. For that reason it still holds a special place in my heart. Also, it is just a really fucking good game.

Then came Fez. I lost about a week to this game, not much time, but I really, really enjoyed the experience. I fucking love the puzzles, the art, the music in that game.

Now it has to be The Witcher 3. Music, story, graphics, content, gameplay (I like the gameplay a lot). It is all amazing.

I feel like I should say WoW, because of how big of an impact it had on me, both my "virtual life" and real-life.

But if I'm suppose to name a real vidya game, it's Half-Life 2. I can't recall every single second of it, but I do remember that it was already almost exciting to just install Steam as this odd new program and enter in my cd-key to download the game. It sure took it's sweet time with my terribly slow connection, but by the gods, it was worth it. Even with it's constantly stuttering audio, that intro alone with G-man speaking pretty much convinced me that the game would be something fantastic...and then that Barney reveal shot my joy up through the roof.

I don't think I can pick just one, like no one game stand above all of the rest for me. I guess Mortal Kombat or MK2 because they were the first games I ever played, they are what introduced me to games, and I spent a lot of time with them as a kid

I still need to play this. Like 5 times I have started the game, to get up to about the point where you get the fire dude or before that, and then stop.

Red Dead Redemption was for me the first open world game I had played where it actually felt like a world. For some reason, riding through a desolate wilderness on a horse felt more alive to me than driving a car through a busy city ever did or has in something like Grand Theft Auto. The story had its sill and stupid parts, but there was a heart behind it all the shone through the entire time I was playing. Those two moments where songs with lyrics start to play as you are riding through the country side, building up the anticipation of reaching your destination, plus that amazing end sequence with (decades old spoiler) the late title card was western as FUCK. And I mean come on, there is an achievement for killing every single buffalo in the game.

Man, that's a tough question to answer. If you'd asked me at the start of the year, it'd be Persona4 without a doubt (I don't think I need to explain why), but Steins;Gate (My User Review) is damn close.

I'd probably still go for Persona4 the Golden, but it's not a clear decision.

Knights of the old republic for me, changed the way i saw games and the type of games i played. Also love mass effect however kotor was my first bioware RPG and i think had a bigger impact on me. Close second would be Rome Total War, definitely the game i have played the most, incredible.and still very very good.

Final Fantasy 6

Played it when I was 13. First "True" RPG I played. I own several different version of the game. Would like to pick up the PC version but to much negative reviews. I still remember what I was eating when I beat the first boss.....burrito my mom made with Wolf Chili, cheese and onions.

@ktargo: I'm with you. WoW is easily my favourite game of all time for the same era and reasons you posted.

The only difference between you and me is that it is not painful in the least for me to admit it :)

Final Fantasy Tactics, original for the PS1. I love this game. I love the multiple job class system. I love that you can mix and match different job abilities, you want to do sweet jump moves like a Dragoon but have the sorcerer summons? You can. You can min-max the hell out of the game based on the zodiac bonuses and penalties. The battles are not super easy even when you reach max level you could mess up tactically on a random encounter and there was perma-death for the not story beat characters. I played this game for hours and hours. I would fall asleep in bed playing this game and wake up to play more before having to go to school. The systems in this game or as close to perfect for my taste as I have ever encountered. I find myself sometimes trying to find something modern that has the same appeal and always find myself disappointed and eventually playing FFT again and again.

Probably a toss up between Super Mario World and Street Fighter 2. I don't think there is the perfect game, or a single game that is objectively better than every other in every respect, but sometimes the planets align and the right mix of player, age, console, game and hype combine to make the experience extra special.

In my case, it was me being 10, a new SNES, a game that looked so MUCH better than everything else available to me, and not being able to play it for a couple months after I knew I had it there make the hype brew like it was a pressure pot...

Diablo II.

It's probably World of Warcraft.

Team Fortress 2 or WoW.

Pokemon G/S/C (2nd gen)

I have to go with World of Warcraft. In addition to meeting some great friends who I am still in contact with, it allowed me to keep a connection with my family and friends from back home when I moved away. I went through some immensely stressful times and WoW gave me a refuge of release and relaxation with loved ones that I needed to cope.

I don't play anymore and do not have any urge to play again, but it will always be my favorite.

FFT:WoL

It is, hands down, the greatest TRPG ever made. Besides the best-in-class job system, stirring music, and peerless art style, FFT has one of the most astonishingly unique storylines in terms of thematic content and the casting of heroes and anti heroes.

I can't really say there's one game. There's so many games that I've played both recently and in my youth that really made an impact on me. Games like Jedi Outcast, Half Life, Age of Empires 2, and the first few Need For Speed games really defined my childhood, and I probably count those games among my favourites of all time.

Donkey kong country

Neverwinter Nights has to be the game that is most influential to my tastes. I played it very early in my life and it was my first exposure to the Forgotten Realms and DnD in general. It scultped who I am. I am Neverwinter Nights. Ehh maybe it's Dota 2. Oblivion was really good too. Shit, man I don't know.