by jigenese
It's hard to make a list like this. It is hard to figure just how much I still like those games that I haven't played for nearly 20 years. Another reason it's hard: the good games that I've played very recently (Dark Souls, Bioshock Infinite, etc) still stand out, and the impression they made still feels stronger than some older games. Lastly, there are the games that I had forgotten about, but after looking at many lists of games, I was reminded just how much I loved them. What should I do with these? I feel that some of these may have fallen a bit on the list just due to the fact that I had forgotten that they even exist.
After this consideration, I decided to compare the newer games that I liked to the way I remember I felt about the older games at the time that I played them. I still remember the way I felt while playing some of these older games, and for that, many older games kept a very high ranking in the list.
Lastly, this is not a list of what games I think are the best or most well made. There are some games in this list that would not make my list if I had played them now, but the impression that they left on me when I played them is still strong in my mind.
Note 1: #1 is a tie. Yeah, I know I should just make a decision, but I just can't. There are very specific reasons why each is my #1.
Note 2: Many games in the back half of the list are games that I enjoyed playing with my wife or were so old that I just can't really remember how good they are, but I still have fond memories of them.
Note 3: In some cases I put an entire franchise in one position, but in other's I separate individual entries into their own position. To me, if a new entry in the series isn't significantly different from the others then it can be considered on its own. Case in point: each of the Final Fantasy games are very different from another. However, as much as I love the Halo series, there isn't that much of a difference between each entry. So, I combine some franchises together, and if there is clearly one entry that I enjoyed more than the others, I only note that one (see Mass Effect 2).
Note 4: This list is still growing. As I play more games and I remember some gems that I'd forgotten about, the list will continue to grow.
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After FFVI, I was completely consumed with thoughts of what FFVII would be. I read every article in video game magazines. The day it came out, I skipped school and went to the mall to pick it up. I live in, what was at that time, a very small town. The mall didn't have it.... I made the decision right there and then - probably the fastest decision I have ever made in my life – I was going to drive two hours to Salt Lake City to get it that day. I took off in my Mercury Tracer, that looked like a yellow M&M, and drove as fast as I could to SLC. Along the way, I was passing by another mall, when the marquee for the mall caught my eye, "Final Fantasy VII Here!". I cut across three lanes of traffic without looking (something I do regret now, looking back), and exited the highway. I ran in, bought the game and got the Cloud t-shirt. I went home and didn't stop playing this game all day and all night. My friends came over that day to see it, but when they left, I didn't follow them, I just sat there and kept playing. I did everything you possible can in FFVII. I played it through from the beginning to the end so many times in high school that I can't even count. I was completely consumed by it for a very long time (well into college). The only reason it isn't above FFVI on this list is because it isn't something I go back to like I do with FFVI (I play that almost annually). I love the world of FFVII. I love the characters. I loved thinking about and trying to understand the complicated, yet flawed, plot. This game was my life for nearly a decade, I can never forget it.
As a child, games were just for fun. I didn't expect much out of games outside of an interesting challenge, and some fun with friends. I never expected them to have a meaningful and lengthy story, a deep and complicated battle system, and moments that made my middle school self's jaw drop (see, the end of the world halfway through the game). FF VI was the game that turned this expectation upside down. I first saw this game at a friend's house and laughed at him for playing a game where the character's sword swings never even touched the enemies on the screen. Of course I was in middle school and had no money to my name, so when he was finished with the game, I took up his offer to borrow it without a complaint. I didn't know what I was in for. When did it hook me? I know the exact date, time, place, and moment in the game. It was Christmas Eve 1994. It was close to mid-night and after my family had gone to sleep. It was in my bedroom with my newly acquired TV I got from my dead aunt's leftover belongings. And, the moment in the game, was the scene in the room at the top of the tower, in Zozo, when you learn the secret of the Espers and Terra's true identity. I had completely forgotten that it was Christmas. At that moment, I didn't care at all about what presents I was going to receive the next day. I was completely consumed by this gaming moment. This is the game that made me a gamer for life. Because of this game, I haven't been able to stop playing video games even after several attempts (the longest was two years off). But, even then, I would listen to this game's sound track and picture the game in my mind. This game proved to me that the video game medium was more than just games, it was an art and a vehicle for telling incredible stories. There is nothing more that I can say about this game other than it is the best I've ever played... along with #2.
Like most kids in the mid-90's, I bought some roller blades. I wasn't good at them. In fact the day that my friend's older brother offered to pull us as we hung on to the back of his Mom's mini-van as he drove it, just might be the only reason I discovered this game as a kid (it hadn’t been on my radar at the time). We got going about 30 mph and I crashed and slid for a while. I got road rash really bad and for the rest of the summer it hurt to go outside in the sun. So, I sat in my cool basement where my SNES was at, and a friend of mine let me borrow this game that I had never heard of, Super Metroid. I played the shit out of that game that summer. There is a reason that the Metroid formula of game play and map progression is still used in gaming to this day; it is addictively fun. From walking into the ruined space colony at the beginning to be met by a disappearing dragon, to the very end when you are rescued by the last Metroid and kill Mother Brain with her own powers, Super Metroid is the most creative and surprisingly playable adventure/action game of, not only its time, but of all time.
Once I heard the good news that this game was going to be the Castlevania version of Super Metriod, I knew I needed it. I went out on release day, picked it up, took it to my sister's house so I could play it with my brother-in-law, and after we sunk a few hours into it we got hungry and went in the kitchen to fix something. When we got back to the living room, I found to my horror that my nephew (age two at the time) had tried to take the game out and put it back in. The disc was only half in and when he closed the waffle-iron lid of the PS1, he cracked the disc. I didn't even react. I was in shock. So, we ran back to the mall to get another copy. We were lucky; there was one last copy left. This is another game that I come back to every few years. I think I own it on almost all of the systems it is available for and I still keep playing it over and over. Although Konami has released a few gems cut from the same stone, this one is, objectively speaking, is still the best. Outside of the agreeably terrible voice acting, there is nothing negative I can say about this game. Love it!
Now we come to the first game on this list that after my first sit down with it, probably wouldn't have made the list. But, after each subsequent play-through, I grew more and more fond of it and it quickly ran up the list. This game surprised me after I discovered its depth. From the seemingly empty environments, to its sparse, yet meaningful, plot, to the haunting soundtrack, to the challenging and tricky, almost puzzle-like, encounters with the colossi, this game is a masterpiece. There is good reason why this game is the first one gamers point to whenever anyone tries to argue that video games are not art. A masterpiece without a doubt!
Elden Ring is both objectively, and subjectively the best game of 2022, and possibly the previous 10 or 20 years. It’s that good. However, it didn’t start that way for me. When I first started playing Elden Ring, I didn’t like the open-world aspect of the game, and about 10 hours into my first playthrough I came very close to turning the game off and never playing it again. I am so grateful that I didn’t stop. My biggest complaint at that time was that the open world aspect stole the perfectly crafted experience that you found in the Souls-Borne series. However, I was wrong. As I kept digging deeper, Elden Ring revealed a carefully crafted world that provided countless challenging battle opportunities all throughout the entire game, even in the open world. As I mentioned, Elden Ring ruined gaming for me in 2022. However, I should reword that to say that Elden Ring ruined other gaming for me in 2022. Whatever I played just wasn’t as good as Elden Ring. Compared to Elden Ring, other games were too linear, their combat system too clunky and simplistic, the stories were too boring and uninteresting (with the exception of Tactics Ogre’s amazing writing and story). Elden Ring stands out above most all games in just how finely crafted every aspect of the game is. In particular, here are a few aspects that I would like to mention. Art Design: Although the graphics are amazing, it is the art style and art design in Elden Ring that very few games in history can even be compared to. Every little detail of each enemy, weapon, armor, building, really… anything is filled with details that tie into the lore and story. This has always been my favorite part of the Souls-Borne games, and Elden Ring outdoes all of its predecessors. The style, look, and capabilities of some of the weapons caused me to be giddy like a child. The harmonious patchwork of world locations, as seen on the horizon, filled my heart with a longing to explore every nook and cranny of the crampacked world. The uniqueness of many of the armor sets caused me to pause and admire dead enemies, NPCs, and even my own character as I dressed them up more for the aesthetic than the usability of the armor. Bosses: Let’s be honest, the beating heart of each Souls-Borne game is the boss encounters. The art design, music, combat, and item discovery in these games is second-to-none, but it is the boss fights that propel these games to another level attained by no other game I have ever played. Not just the unique and frightening boss designs, but the methodology of each boss encounter is the best in video games, and Elden Ring doesn’t hold any punches with its boss encounters. Childhood wonder: In the past, I often mentioned to others that I’m not sure if I will ever play a game again that will break into my top ten favorite games of all time. To my disappointment, my childhood wonder and excitement for a game has faded to middle-age jadedness, and it keeps getting worse with each passing year. A friend of mine told me that Persona 5 was her favorite game of all time. I found myself jealous that she was able to still have such a profound experience with a recent game that it overtook all other gaming experiences from a time when our childhood imaginations and wonderment added a perceived unattainable layer of enthrallment to a video game. I was jealous that I was beyond that point and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a game to that level as a jaded adult… Although Elden Ring will not take the top stop in my all-time favorite games list, I am happy to say that it will likely reside very high in the list. I found myself obsessing over Elden Ring like no other game in the past few years (except maybe FFVII Remake). I watched countless Youtube videos about Elden Ring’s lore. I was pulled completely in. I wanted to know more about the entire history of the Lands Between. I played the game through to completion three times with three different builds (still no sorcery - that’s coming). When I had a few days off for Christmas break, I could have started God of War Ragnarok, but I chose to start a new character that looked and was built like Guts from the Berserk manga instead. Along with 2020’s FFVII Remake, it’s been good to finally have gaming experiences that I count among the best that I have ever experienced. I hope I have more in the future.
Ah Resident Evil. I played each of these games for the scares, but the controls were so bad, that I never really went back to any of them. Then came RE4. Now there was a Resident Evil that had the scares and the controls were bearable, at the time, revolutionary. I played through this game from start to finish more times than I can even remember. I'm not a fan of the horror genre in games or movies, but this game hooked me and I couldn't get away for the longest time. It was a happy moment when my nephew told me a year ago that this was his favorite game of all time. It still resonates ten years after it was released.
Before you judge, let me just say, yes, you're right, I did back Laura up into a corner so I could look at her pixilated, oversize bosom. I mean, I was in middle school for crying out loud. However, once I was over my first viewing of polygonal boobies, I really got into this game. I didn’t have money at the time to purchase a PS, so my friend and I would pitch in each weekend to rent one and play a little more of this game. I actually had a PS memory card before I had a PS. I have played very few games since then that give you the same sense of discovery that the original Tomb Raider did (even all other games in the franchise). I still have fond memories of finding Midas' tomb and stepping on to the open palm of his statue, only to discover that the developers went to the trouble of animating Laura turning to gold and dying. Also, the moment the T-Rex first jumps out and I cried out, in both horror and elation at the same time, "This is the coolest game ever!" Yeah, and many more cool discoveries that I will always remember. Even the anniversary edition that came out years later provided a good romp through my nostalgia.
I was very skeptical going into this game. By the time this came out, the Metroid franchise had easily become my second favorite (second only to FF). But, boy did Rare pull through on their promise to make the first polygonal Metorid game. This game had everything you needed from a Metroid game; the iconic music, amazing boss battles, the map progression system based on item discover, and of course the Metroids. The final boss fight with Prime, could possibly be the best boss fight I have ever experienced. It was super challenging, very lengthy, and required you to push every button on that Game Cube controller in ways that were actually a physical challenge. I hope Nintendo can think of a meaningful way to revive this once wonderful franchise.
This could have been it. It may not have dethroned FFVI or FFVII as the best Final Fantasy game of all time, but it would have had a fighting chance if it wasn’t for a few things that held it back. What makes it more frustrating, both of these things are almost completely unnecessary in the game, or could have been easily changed. These two items are: 1. Vaan is a piece of shit and there is absolutely no reason for him to be in the game let alone the main character (pant pant). Okay, I’ve calmed down… a little. The Basch-Ashe story and dynamic was possibly the best main character relationship in franchise history (even better than FF X's Tidus-Yuna combination). But to my endless frustration, someone at Square doesn't know how proper story telling is done and put a whinny, ugly, uninteresting, irrelevant, twit in the main role. I have no idea what they were thinking.... What could they have been thinking???? 2. If they had used Basch and Ashe as the main characters, then they should also have used Gabranth as the main antagonist. It could easily have been the best story in FF history. They were so close, but dropped the ball royally. With those two major misses aside, I couldn't stop playing this game. The world was beautiful, the "coding" of the battle system was very interesting, the hidden enemies were fun to discover, and kept bringing me back over and over. I had to wind my way through a crowd of kids and mothers at the mall on Halloween to get this game the day it came out, but it was well worth it. Also, skipping class to come home and play, gave me my only "C" in college. haha I'm still holding out for a remake that loses Vaan and puts Gabranth as the main antagonist. It should have been the best ever...
