ArtisanBreads

@theht: The Reapers themselves had promise but they did nothing interesting with them as villains or made any feel like a character. You're right on.

DA II had a pretty good main plot actually, it was a lot of stuff around it. I do agree for a lot of recent Bioware stuff that the main plot has sucked though (ME: 3, ME: Andromeda, ME: 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition all have bad main plots).

@theht: the first game has a simple structure but a proven one: have an established, nuanced villain you like to interact with. The other games completely botched this.

It also has a story that goes somewhere over the course of it. There are interesting character moments, memorable big moments, interesting politics. The entirety of 2 is a stupid diversion from what ME story is overall (one dumb goofy Reaper doesn't matter given what we see in 3), in addition to actually making me laugh out loud on the ending reveals.

Not a fan of calling the love for ME 2 group think. I think part is that it is a terrible game in its RPG mechanics but a lot of people who like it don't even like RPGs so they don't care. I don't get the admiration for it story wise and stuff (besides a few of the party members) at all though but to each their own.

The main plot of ME 2 is terrible and the RPG mechanics were ruined with it. It has strengths, but I think the first game is certainly the best ME game and I don't think it's that close. The story is so much better than the other 2 games.

For me it's XCOM:EU and Hitman up at the top, with Uncharted 2, Skyrim on a tier below, and then GTA IV, and Mass Effect 2 following things up on another tier. All were great on release but have issues and now none of those still feels that good to play (I do enjoy Skyrim still for what it is, and with mods I got the combat and stealth to actually be pretty damn good on PC). Pretty tough to decide there. I'll say XCOM but it's close.

Mordor, Mario Maker, and the Last of Us are very easy to scratch off the list for me. And a whole lot of great games I can think of not there... Just saying.

I haven't played it yet, but plan to, but I think Expeditions: Viking deserves a mention here. It's a historical Sim/RPG series. The first game, Expeditions: Conquistador, was really good and the second seems a bit less of a Sim maybe and more of an RPG. I've heard good things though.

The Great Whale Road is also a historical RPG with a similar thing going on that I haven't played, but looks pretty nice.

@dukeofthebump: I have switched to Lyft, which I have heard is much better for sure, if it still has some issues. I get it, I don't drive so I have to take what I can get and need to use it sometimes. I have been lucky to have Lyft around.

Ryan. He had a lot of great moments but I still go back and listen to old Bombcasts in a large part because of him. He was just so good at it and he is greatly missed.

Uber is a terrible company so please at least tip your driver well if you're going to use it.

Shenmue 2! Finish the fight!

The box art for this rerelease is fantastic.