GamezRGoodz

thanks

I would add to the list, the whole 'games in beta' (in name or not) issue.

i.e.the game can be bought but is not finished, and I am not referring to indie games at all.

Remember when games shipped as finished products? Continuing to work on a game that needs it is a good thing, but if your plan revolves around selling a game with really bad/unfinished/unpolished aspects... that is not good enough!

@rorie: It had not occurred to me how significant that is.

@boozak: The first few hours of Ninja Gaiden and Resident Evil 4 are still amazing for me.

Half Life 2 was one of the most immersive experiences for me. I was enthralled by that whole adventure. But I feel that it falls into a strange category of single-player games, that are amazing but one-time affairs.

Doom 3 and FarCry Instincts at the time felt so vibrant and alive. Now they feel static, empty and heavily scripted. I think Id and Ubi have improved their game play in later iterations, namely Wolfenstein the New Order, and dare I say Blood Dragon for all my 80s pop culture bias.

I wonder how much of our enjoyment is tied to the age we were at. Maybe someone in 10 years+ will say how important GTA V was for them and that they still enjoy it.

@jaycrockett: They have increasingly changed the identity of the Halo franchise. Its almost like from game to game it has changed developers; the vision for what Halo is takes a different form for each game.

@rebel_scum: You know I felt similarly at the time. The take-downs felt like they took away from focusing on the actual racing that I enjoyed so much in Burnout 2. I have since grow to enjoy how tactical those take-downs are in relation to increasing your boost meter. It keeps the racing engaging for me. It feels like a clever way to balance the races and mostly prevents anyone from completely dominating the race. For e.g. in a four man race the person in 4th farms 2nd and 3rd with take-downs to get more boost and then catches up with 1st place. Now in 2nd place they take-down 1st, at which point the car in 1st place falls behind, and has to work to get their boost meter back up and reclaim the winning position.

I also thought at the time that Burnout 2 had a better crash mode as the pick-ups seemed gimmicky to me. However, I now find that I enjoy the pick-ups as it creates a level of strategy that I feel Burnout 2's crash mode lacks. So overall, in comparing Burnout 2 to Burnout 3 I would say that I preferred the simplicity of B2 at the time, but now I lean more towards B3 with its added layer of strategy.

One thing I did not mention, and this is a peculiar occurrence, is that my three favorite games were all slow burns for me. Meaning, they did not grab me at the time as much as they do now. I progressively enjoyed them over time. I can appreciate how good those games are now in a way I could not at first glance. There is a nuance to quality of these games for me. I feel like other games have had the opposite effect on me, where my enjoyment decays overs time. Its strange and interesting.

Just some context to my post

So, I am posting this in response to two topics. Some of the comments made me think about my favorite games and perhaps what my favorite era of games might be. This is all completely subjective and dependent on a variety of factors. Nevertheless, I think I know what my favorite games are, and which period of gaming I enjoyed most. I was surprised at how specific it turned out to be.

I cut out many games from this list as I went back and played them. Its always interesting to see which games hold up. To be clear, I have played many games aside from the list I am about to mention. I was also taken aback by the games which I now realize, were great at the time but have not aged well, for me. Obviously this does not mean they are bad games. Please do not get too upset, this is all totally for fun, and everyone's list will be different for different reasons.

Here are some guidelines I used for myself. As far as DLC goes, I think that it should be included as part of the original release date you mention, as the additional content is usually as old as the original game, if that makes sense. Not a super important point, but worth mentioning I think. Also, these categories are pretty loose but It helped me narrow the list down. Genres can blend but my determining factor aside from the category applying to the game, was whether or not it scratches that itch, e.g. Mario Kart and Gran Turismo both have racing elements, are quite different, but both satisfy that same inclination. Furthermore, you are not obligated to use any of what I just mentioned. Without further ado:

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List

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*Racer*

Burnout 3: Takedown (Xbox, September 2004)

[Comments: I really thought Mario Kart 64 was my favorite racing game, but I just do not enjoy the items in that game as much as I enjoy the boost mechanics in Burnout]

{Runner ups: Daytona USA, Mario Kart 64, PGR 3}

_

*Open-world game with quests*

Fable (Xbox, September 2004)

[Comments: I include the lost chapters in this, even though it came out in 2005, seeing as how it was clearly meant to be included in the original game]

{Runner ups: Assassins Creed 1-4, Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim}

_

*Game with Guns*

Halo 2 (Xbox, November 2004)

[Comments: I never thought Halo 2 would be my favorite shooter considering how thoroughly disappointed I was with it at the time]

{Runner ups: Wolfenstein 3D, Ratchet and Clank, Gears of War}

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Closing remarks

As you can see all my favorite games are from the second half of 2004. I was amazed at the games that, whilst still important to me are not as good as I remember. My main reason for choosing the above three games, is that when I played any other game of that genre, I subconsciously missed the elements of my favorite game of that genre.

This was an interesting process for me to look back with a critical eye. I hope you enjoyed reading my answer. I look forward reading to yours.

Thanks everyone for your answers.

Based on some of the comments and another topic by a user I found interesting, I think I will create a follow up topic that occurred to me as being important;

Your favorite games and the years they came out, and any commentary on what you think that says about video games.

This is an intriguing topic of conversation.

I would mainly like to highlight the following:

I mostly agree with the OP. Newer games just don't excite me like they used to.

Here is an interesting conundrum for you; I have spent more time in video games of this decade, and enjoyed it far less that my previous two decades of gaming.

The nature of games nowadays seems to be geared towards them being played more but with less enjoyable gameplay. I spend a huge amount of time with them but they are not replayable classics that are still good after a long time. Leveling up and grinding seems to be the name of the game. Whilst these are not new concepts in games they seem to be more pervasive than ever, to me at least.

I wonder to what extent this change has to do with the people making games being of a different generation. My favourite games are from the 90's and 00's. Maybe games have changed...

How do you feel about Destiny 2 in comparison to Bungie's earlier games?