When was the last time a game became your new favourite?

So, when was the last time you played a game and thought, "hey, you know, this is probably the best thing I've played"? And it doesn't need to be a new release, it could be a game from 20 years ago that you recently played for the first time.

For me, it has to be Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. I loved the original, and Rebirth is more of the same minus the Flash jank and plus a whole bunch of improvements/additions/rebalances.

Minecraft.

Well, Ocarina of Time will be likely be favorite game forever, but there have been a couple games of the past several years that entered my top 5. Those being Mass Effect 2 and The Last of Us.

Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2, and I played it at release, so I suppose it's been five years. It took the spot from KotOR 2, which remains in second--though it came close to regaining its former position after I did a playthrough with the Sith Lords Restored patch/mod.

Dota2. Had access to the beta early but didnt really care for the moba genre, too complex ect... and then it clicked, and steam claims ive now spend almost 3000 hours in that game.

Besides that theres only a few games thats truly hooked me the past decade, the few coming to mind is Bioshock1+infinite, FLT (advanced edition esp), Dragon Age Origins and South Park Stick of Truth.

I still think my answer to "greatest game of all time" still and always will be Fallout 2. I spend way too much of my teenage years doing stupid shit in that game, and i loved every second of it.

Probably Persona 4 in 2012 - I got absolutely sucked into the world for two weeks straight. Mario Galaxy gave me a similar feeling when that came out.

Dark Souls is definitely in a personal top 5 for me but that was far more gradual - went from liking to hating to liking to hating to eventually loving that game.

The Last of Us

Vagrant Story. I've played other great stuff since then a la Resident Evil 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metroid Prime, Uncharted 2, Dark Souls, the Witcher 2, Dark Souls 2, The Last of Us and so on but those aren't VS. I played through Valkyrie Profile 2 and thought it was pretty good and then the more I played it the more I realized there was virtually nothing wrong with the game so it must be better than I thought.

I considered it in the halo of finishing Uncharted. That game put a smile on my face. It might have become my favorite action game though.

Probably got close to this in Mass Effect 2. But now I'm at the point where I don't know if I can really compare Mass Effect 2 against Final Fantasy VI. They're so different and exist at different points in my life.

Quite recent actually. After the Goty deliberations, i got The Fall. I really wished I didnt hear Vinny' spoilers though. I think its going into my top 30 games ive played list.

Dark Souls cracked my all time top 3 in 2012. Persona 4 did too in 2009. If the trend of a new one every 3 years continues then I'll have another top 3 game this year. Considering I plan on playing my first Zelda(s) and FFVI this year then the outlook is good. I'll also probably try Dota this year, and I just bought RE4. I'm gonna play so many good old games this year!

@isomeri said:

@ulquiokani said:

Mass Effect 2.

This again. And it's not my favourite of all time but I'd consider Ni No Kuni one of my all time favourites.

I loved Sleeping Dogs and Persona 4 Golden. The RPG may actually be my favorite, but I'm not sure. There is a certain level of nostalgia with stuff like SMB3 or Pokémon Crystal for me. I recently finished Metal Gear Solid 3 and that game is certainly up there.

I've gone from Halo in 2001 to KOTOR in 2004 (when I played it) to Mass Effect in 2007 to Mass Effect 2 in 2010 to Red Dead Redemption in 2010 to Skyrim in 2011 back to the original Mass Effect afterwards.

I haven't seen a game franchise that trumps the depths of Mass Effect's world building. I think Drew Karpyshyn (the writer for KOTOR and for Mass Effect 1 + 2 as well as Baldur's Gate II) deserves serious respect.

Persona 4 Golden which I played in 2014 was an absolute delight. I'd already watch the ER, but still fund it tremendous, Fallout: New Vegas might be my favourite game of all time after having spent possibly more than 500 hours in that game, there's still things I've never seen.

I can't get enough of Far Cry 4. Far Cry 3 had just enough tiny problems to make me not fall in love with it like so many people did, but 4 fixes all of those and then some. It's a joy to play.

@isomeri: Agreed.

I enjoy a ton of games but I can't name one that I have more fun from start to finish with than Mass Effect 2. I've probably played through it six times by now.

Deus Ex. Think it was Half-Life before that. And before that it would've probably been Super Mario World or Mario 64. Aaaand before that would've probably been Mario Bros 3. Past that and it's all a blur of old video games.

Dota, and before that Battlefield 2, before that CS 1.6

The lows in dota are loooow, but the highs are hiiiiiiiiiigh. Not to mention the pro scene blowing up and being super interesting as well.

Mass Effect 2, Persona 4, Dark Souls and FTL all gave me this feeling at one point or another.

Probably Alan Wake and the Souls series. I just love the mood and the story in AW, also where it draws its inspirations from.

The gameplay is solid, but I would certainly love a more story focused Alan Wake. Regarding the Souls franchise I feel I don't need to explain much at this point...

Super Mario World.

Recently I watched some Michael Jordan and 90's Bulls DVD's, and when I look at good teams since then I go "well, they're good, but they're not the '96 Bulls." This is my thought on all other video games.

dark souls 2 was my fave,and then dragon age inquisition became my fave when it came out.before last year borderlands 2 was the best game for me,and then 2014 came.

Bioshock

Mass Effect 2

Uncharted 2

Journey

Are basically my favorite games ever made. So yes, my list has changed pretty massively over last gen.

Persona 4.

1999. EverQuest. It might sound dull and cliché, but I don't see another game taking its place. A better question to ask me, is when did one crack my top ten. And I would answer, The Last of Us, in early 2014. Before that, Skyrim, 2012.

Persona 4 Golden became my favorite game in late 2012/Early 2013, and The Last of Us became my second favorite game in mid 2013. Good year.

Persona 4 - August, 2012

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Back when I played it for the first time in 2009. Before that I hadn't played much video games, but it was TimeSplitters 2.

I wouldn't say it's the best game I've ever played, but the most fun I've had in recent years has probably been with Ziggurat.
I also played Ace Combat 04 for the very first time about 5 years ago, and realized it's one of the best games I've played.

Fez is the last game that I completely fell in love with, it's in the top 3 of my personal "Games Of All Time" being sandwiched between Banjo-Kazooie and the Rock Band franchise. I loved Dark Souls 2 when it came out but the more I play/think about that franchise the less I want to play any Souls-like game ever again, so that doesn't count :/

I played Suikoden 2 for the first time in 2009 and absolutely fell in love.

Fire Emblem Awakening. Got it when it was first released and it's the only thing that goes in my 3DS. I still play it daily and never get tired of it.

The last game before that, like a lot of people here, was Mass Effect 2.

2009, System Shock 2. Before that it was 2008, Fallout 3.

Nothing's been able to knock Grim Fandango off its perch, and I doubt anything ever will.

Actual "favorite" favorite was in 2007 or 2008 for Super Mario Galaxy dethroning Ocarina of Time. But game being added to my favorite games ever list? Probably 2012 with Dark Souls.

I don't know if anything will ever knock Final Fantasy Vi off the top spot in my mental perch, there's the whole nostalgia where I was in my life aspect etc that likely will be impossible to replicate

but the last time a game entered my personal top ten was 2012, Dragon's Dogma. That game pretty much single-handedly re-ignited my passion for games.

I guess you could say DOTA 2 did so more recently, but imo it really did that the first time around back when it just a mod when I first played it in '05/'06.

I'm playing Suikoden 1 right now for the first time and boy is it good! If 2 is better it could be a contender for me as well.

2002. Morrowind. (Though I will say that Morrowind and MGS2 are both kind of interchangeable for favorite game status.)

Other games since then that have come close: Half-Life 2, Resident Evil 4, Persona 4, Dark Souls, Mass Effect 2.

@slag: Playing 1 is the best way to appreciate 2 because the sequel is such a categorical improvement. I can't think of anything about it that isn't better. It looks better, it plays better, the magic system works better, the animations are better, the army battles are more like Fire Emblem on a grid instead of just rock-paper-scissors menus, the music is better,the story is better, the world is grander, and on and on. Every single thing I can think of about that game is just better. And unlike so many JRPGs, Suikoden 2 doesn't have a slow start. Shit gets real immediately. I love, love, love it.

Vagrant Story

Honorable mention to Demon's Souls.

Hm, I'm torn between Diablo: Reaper of Souls and F.E.A.R.. The former just floored me with all the amazing improvements over the original release and how freaking fun it is. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game so much, and I've been going back to it on and off for quite a while now. Meanwhile, F.E.A.R. had absurd physics, a nonsensical plotline, and was just freaking marvelous. When I shot an ATC guard in slow motion, the "physics" kicked in and propelled his corpse twenty feet into the air and over the edge of the roof. I just stared in awe as he gracefully tumbled off the screen, his Wilhelm screen slowly playing in the background.

It was so charmingly stupid that I couldn't help but love it. Here is this game purportedly all about scaring the heck out of you, and yet you are a superhuman warrior whose defeated foes fly hither and thither from the might of your absurdly powerful guns. It's perfect. Well, the office building section is brutally repetitive, encompasses over half the game, has only minor variations between floors, and then ends with you fighting your way up four floors of parking garage while staring incredulously at the screen... but the asinine ragdoll physics and subverting of horror tropes with Norton Mapes kind of made it all worthwhile. It's one of my personal favorites now. I was rather sad when I loaded up F.E.A.R.2 a few days ago to finally see the next game and realized that enemies either crumpled to the ground or exploded from their gas tanks being ruptured. I kind of pouted. It just wasn't the same. Much better level variation, but not the same. :-P

As to my all time favorite, since people seem to be listing those: Max Payne from 2001. Just superb. Even when I was playing that for the first time, I knew it was my favorite freaking game. It just hit all the rights notes all the time. Superb.

@brodehouse: That clown was crazy yo. CRAZY! Best game ever... in World of Balance. Then World of Ruin sucked.

Probably Mass Effect 2 given how many times I've played it, but the way Mass Effect 3 ended left such a bad aftertaste for the entire series that I have a hard time divorcing the fun I had with ME2 with the frustration I had with ME3.

Whichever came out last between Crusader Kings 2 and Nier. I'd say football manager but i actually hate the game, I just play way way way too much of it.

I have no idea what my favorite game is anymore. I couldn't even make up my mind about top 4 of 2014 and I'd say they're all up there. (Yes, I fucking adore The Evil Within)

I reached Lakeside Resort (winter) in The Last of Us and I can't imagine a scenario in which it isn't one of the very best games I've played. Before that, I'd have to say the original Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite in 2013.

Mass Effect 2. Though it's no longer my top as it soured after 3.