My Favorite Games, Good and Bad
These are my favorite games, even though they may not be the best games ever. For some reason or another, they hold a special spot in my collection. [In no particular order.]
List items
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Has a lot of gameplay problems, but the characters and story (especially the actually impactful choices) are fantastic.
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My favorite game of all time. Virtually nothing is wrong, especially with the DS version.
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Giant robots, fast gameplay, great graphics, cheesy voice acting. What else do you need?
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Takes some serious time to get into, but rewards with an amazing story, great characters, and some of the platform's best music.
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Simple, fun, goofy, and self-referential. Just a solid, fun game.
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A surprisingly mature story, following the main character's entire life, including some surprising story twists in the second half.
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My first DQ game. A straightforward, classic JRPG.
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One of the best soundtracks in games. Not a terribly complex game but a fun one nonetheless.
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One of my first few handheld loves. Amazing music, a quirky story, and a baffling battle system come together in this world-hopping JRPG.
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The SRPG that made me fall in love with the genre. The original has plenty of translation issues, but the game's fantastic job system more than makes up for it.
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A simple, clean SRPG, vastly improving on the original while managing to add more content. Also a pretty good starter SRPG for anyone looking to start.
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On often overlooked entry in the FF series, there's a simple charm to it. Probably the most straightforward example of the job system. Also has one of the best FF songs, "Battle on the Big Bridge."
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It's Final Fantasy VI. If you haven't played it yet, do yourself a favor and give it a go. Highly regarded for a reason.
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Most likely my favorite FF game, though it appears to be the most divisive. Most of the characters a great, amazing music, the License Board, hunts, missions, the guild, etc. I can go on for days.
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Simple and well-produced. Fantastic music, clean graphics, superb voice acting. Maybe a bit on the simple side, but not overly so.
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What a Tomb Raider game should be. Fun, snappy, tons of collectables and unlockables. Also one of the few games that does couch co-op really well.
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I'll be the first one to admit that the game has more than its share of technical issues, but there was something that really clicked with me. Also, you can grow a plant that spits out sheep.
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Features some of the most heart-wrenching individual character stories I can recall, starting with a bang with the first character. A beautiful game with some great voice acting, blowing most of the other games of the time out of the water.
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Xenogears has problems, but the far-reaching story is ambitious, if not a little quirky. Solid music and an interesting battle system. I'd love to see an update eventually.
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Virtually perfect. The humor's still there, the co-op is fantastic, and the new gameplay systems added a ton to the game.
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Manages to improve on the first game's strengths while adding a great multiplayer mode. Might have been better with a quieter Isaac...
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Even though I strongly dislike many Rockstar open world games, RDR's real strength is in its story. The gameplay is incredibly solid, too. Would have been stronger with a better act 2, though.
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A hell of a try to make a different type of game. Not always successful, but worth at least one playthrough.
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Trimmed a little too much fat off of the first game, but left with a cut of meat that's virtually perfect. When you add all the DLC, it's an even better package.
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There's so much here I don't know where to start. Action game perfection. Really clicked with me, especially with the goofy story. And you turn into a panther.
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The Summer blockbuster of games in the best possible way. Amazing storytelling and acting. A fantastic game overall.
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Surprisingly great. Seemed to come out of nowhere to be one of the best of the year. Mark Hammill needs to be the Joker whenever possible.
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Seems to be hated by virtually everyone, but it's a solid game with beautiful visuals. Just don't play the ending-ruining DLC...
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Serial killers, a town covered in fog, and you still have to make band practice. One of the best JRPGs money can buy.
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Batshit insane and absolutely fantastic. Some of the cleanest gameplay of the series along with the craziest storytelling.
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A huge improvement over the first one. Actually includes a tutorial this time, alongside a much better card system. Metal Gear works as a card game, even if it didn't click with everyone.
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Persona 3 improved and perfected. So much is great and my first foray into the SMT series. So many surprising story elements blew me away.
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A huge improvement over the first game, making this one incredibly fun. Smooth gameplay, a much better demon system, and the cat returns.
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With all the DLC intact, Borderlands is a fantastic game. Some of the most fun I've had in a four player multiplayer game. Genuinely funny, too.
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You have to play this game. One of the best examples of how a 'casual game' can be a good thing.
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Manages to improve on everything from the previous games and adds a better-than-it-should-be multiplayer mode. Simply, an amazing game.
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Snake's origin story is great, but only the second time out. Lori Allan does an amazing job voice acting, too.
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The original and best. A deceptively solid game, getting deeper steadily. Needed a bit better opening section, with the action happening too fast for many gamers (including myself).
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Arcade racing at its finest. May be a bit too chaotic for some, but it absolutely clicked with me from the get-go.
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One of the few sim series that I love. One of the few games, unfortunately, where Codemasters falls on its face with the interface.
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Seriously divisive, but a game that I feel holds up a little better than its predecessor. A surprisingly fantastic game.
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One of my favorite JRPGs. Likeable characters, amazing graphics, a solid battle system, and a fun story. One of the most honest main characters in recent memory.
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A ridiculously fantastic game, one that I play at least once a year. An amazing soundtrack, too.
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Witty, great characters, great music. Tim Schafer strikes again.
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An unproven dev pulls off an update to a much-loved franchise and doesn't completely screw it up. Has an amazing sense of place and environment.
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I love games that mess with the player and there's no better example of that than Eternal Darkness.
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Should be on this list if only for the sheer amount of time it sucked out of my life for a year or so.
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Straight-forward action gaming like we saw back in the 16 bit era. Some of the best motion capture seen to that point.
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My favorite MGS game. Not only is it a clever remake of the first game, but manages to mess with a player's expectations of what a sequel should be.
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A solid (though not revolutionary) action game, with some incredible art design. Sadly overlooked as 'another God of War clone.'
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A sprawing, hubris-coated mess. Lack of towns is the least of this game's myriad problems.
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There isn't enough space in this small box for how amazing this game is. Valve does it again.
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The Guilty Gear formula gets better and refines the gameplay of the first BB. I'm a sucker for Arc System Works.
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I love visual novels and 999 is a pretty great one at that. Maybe craps itself by the end for some, but it's solid nonetheless.
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The original is still, in some ways, better than the sequel. It certainly has more likeable characters. If it only had the spitter...
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My favorite roguelike and one of the funkiest games ever made. The randomization makes this game priceless. Well, that and the Carrot Guy.
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I've never finished this game because of that damned level with two sand worms.
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