What Game Came Close to being your Perfect Game?

[ObsidianJones]

This is a simple concept, but I have to say quite handily my perfect game came in the form of Darksiders 2.

If you know anything about me, I like Combos, I like Grinding for Levels/strength, and I like Loot. Nioh came close with this, but it's still stiff in the Soulsborne manner that the combat isn't as fluid as I like.

But being Death? Everything feels fluid. Every encounter feels like the ability to show off how I've grown from the last. And the loot. The sweet, sweet loot. I'm a self proclaimed Loot Whore. I'll admit I feel Nioh has a more robust loot system, but it does not give me Aerial Raves like I can pull off in Darksiders 2.

Also it has the Crucible. I love arena levels. Sometimes I don't care about the plot of the game. Sometimes, I just want to deal some damage.

Now some of the things that keeps it from being my perfect game is the setting. It feels like a 14 year olds wet dream. Or at least a digitalized Death Metal Album cover. It's not to my liking. And as I touched on, the loot could be more robust.

I only discovered Darksiders on my Switch, even though I had it for years on my computer. But hopefully there's a next gen experience that will put DS 2 to shame.

 

[Dreiko]

Sekiro for me, I think it's because I went into it with tempered expectations but yeah, I could think of nothing even slightly wrong with the game.

 

[Worgen]

My perfect game... hmm. This is a hard one.
I'm tempted to say Undetale, but I didn't really get into that one till about half way in. Once I hit that point, holy shit did it grab me, but before then I just thought it was neat.

Maybe Darksouls 3, I did play through it like 4 times and I enjoyed the hell out of it, but... I don't know, as much as I love it, it just doesn't really come to mind when I think perfect.

Freedom Planet... Nah, I really like it and its the first time I really liked a 2d Sonic type game, but while I enjoy the story and characters, it is told so amateurishly.

Starfox 64, getting really close. I love this one a lot, I loved it on n64, loved it on 3ds. One of the few games that I was able to 100% in just a few days and still really enjoy. But... I think I can do better.

World in Conflict, so tempting. I have a weakness for rts games and WiC does something that I don't usually see, its an RTS that is based around artillery and air strikes as much as it is ground/air forces. Plus it still looks really good and has a fun, if stupid story. But, again, I think I can do better.

Hollowknight. Another really close one that is right on the cusp of it. Its like if Metroid and Dark Souls had a baby with studio ghilbi as the midwife.

Golden Treasure: The Great Green. This is also right up there and there is no real good reason that it isn't the perfect game except I keep thinking there is one that is more deserving. This game had me from the demo and one of those few games that after playing the demo for a little bit I gladly paid the full price for and by the time I had finished it I felt I wanted to give the devs more money so I got the sound track too.

The really annoying thing about this question is that while I was thinking through this I think I came up with my "perfect" game but during the course of writing this I forgot it again, so I guess I'll have to wait till I can remember what game I was thinking of to finish this. All that comes to mind right now is snes era.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I enjoy stealth games, & Dishonored 2 came close as it provided the right balance of choice/challenge/exploration for me.

Total War is a series I've praised and ragged on a lot (and partly in both cases because no-one else does TBS/RTT hybrid gameplay as prominently), with entries that span the full spectrum of awesome to dogshit. The perfect entry is yet to be made, but from a pure fun & challenge perspective, I do think WH2 is the closest. Attila was good, but you were playing against the game itself as opposed to playing the game. Rome & Medieval 2 were good as well, but once you twigged a couple tricks about the settlement expansion, there was no real challenge in them. A perfect entry would be WH2's racial and mechanical diversity, Med2's recruitment system, a combination of Shogun2's and WH2's building system, Rome1's population linked settlement expansion system, all in the Iron Kingdom's setting, that'd be perfect from the strategy perspective. Still need to sort out the tactics side though.

 

[stroopwafel]

Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, Nioh 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario World, Street Fighter 2 Turbo. What is 'perfect'. As far as videogames go I enjoyed and replayed those the absolute most. Even when a new game is out I often get bored and replay one of these titles. xD

Some games just have that magic where, no matter how many times you play them they always feel fresh for whatever reason.

 

[gorfias]

I think one needs to write, games starting in gen 7. I loved Zeldas games into the 1990s. On Commodore 64, I played Ultima 3 and 4 which were, for the time, spectacular. Castlevania 3d blew me a way. The first 3 stages of 6 were being given away with new computers back in the day. Doom had 6 levels for demo too.

@ ObsidianJones You write of Darksiders 2. I have 1 on multiple system and I hope you find it spectacular. I think I do like 2 the best of the 3 but your review makes me want to put a lot more effort into it. I got stuck early on. Youtube may get me past the problem.

That written, I do not know if I've had more fun than Skyrim on PC with mods. Fallout 3 GOTY edition on PS3 comes close but modding Skyrim as I did made it a hoot that I will play repeatedly until someone makes a new PC game on par. (Dragon's Dogma is one I've started messing with).

Yep... got it on Steam... time to get back to it.


Dang it, now I remember why I do not play it here. Neither my 360 or Xbox 1 PC controllers work for some reason. Any advice is appreciated.
ITMT: I have it on PS4 too, so if I cannot get the controllers working on it, I'll play there.

 

[Silvanus]

Super Mario World might be the closest to a "perfect" platformer for me. Tight controls, cohesive overworld (rather than just level-select screens), loads of secrets, extensive endgame.

Bloodborne is perhaps my near-perfect action game.

 

[Bartholen]

Chrono Trigger, then Bloodborne, and most recently Hades. All unparalleled masterpieces. Hades is already game of the decade material. With Chrono Trigger it's the story, with Bloodborne it's the combat and atmosphere, and with Hades it's the sheer amount of polish put into every element of the game.

 

[happyninja42]

inFamous 1&2.

They pretty much did everything I wanted out of a game, and it's one of the few games that are purely single player story style, that I've gone back to replay, simply because I love playing it again. Fun premise, fun setup, good combat mechanics, you feel powerful yet not too OP early on. Good acting and supporting cast, compelling storyline. Just all of it works for me.

Homeworld 1 and Cataclysm. Great story, great writing, amazing music, compelling gameplay that sucks me into the struggles of the people in the game. Actually gave me emotional reactions at specific points, so that's always a high mark.

Those 2 duets of games, are the top list of my GOAT games on a personal level.

 

[BrawlMan]

Devil May Cry 3 & 5 - What holds 3 back is the late game level design and pacing, and the fact you can't style switch (Until the Switch version or PC Mods). 5 gave me everything I wanted: 3 playable characters that share the same campagin with their own levels, Nero with improved combat mechanics and weapons, and Dante at his asbolute peak. You can carry all of your weapons with you when unlock NG+. Gunslinger actually becomes super useful unlike in 3 and 4, but especially 3. Royal Guard is at its best and Dante has the most weapon variety out of all games. The only thing that keeps this from being near perfect is some of the levels get samey, and the DLC bullshit Capcom tried to pull.

Streets of Rage 2 & 4 - 2 for the levels, music, revamping the combat system, and upping the enemy variety. Then 4 came along and made it as if all the characters in 2 had arthritis. 4 is similar to 2, but even better combat that let's you juggle enemies and wall bounce them, a ranking system, dynamic music, harder difficulties you can choose from the start, boss rush, and 4 player co-op local only. 2 player is online only, but you can do 3-4 players online through Parsec and Steam Remote Play, Sure, most characters lost their ability to run from 3, aside from retro characters, but the combat has that huge risk/reward system. This game's problem that it was rushed, but ironed out with two patches, and the enemy and boss variety is lacking compared to 2 and 3. To make up for it, you have enemies doing more unique moves or tricks.

Rayman Legends - The best 2D Sonic game ever made unoffically. True platforming perfection with beautiful art and music. The only thing holding this game back are some of the gimmicky Murphy sections (that work best on Wii U, Switch, or PS Vita) and the lame bonus levels after beating the main campaing. Otherwise, this is the best 2D platformer of generation 7.

Sonic Generations - Sonic is completely distilled. It is a best of hits game. It's main flaw that is comes up a bit short.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Still my favorite Sonic game jammed with a lot of content. Main flaw, you need to get two games to get the complete experience.

Bayonetta 2 - Takes everything I like about the first game and remove all the annoying and obtuse parts. This game's only flaw is that they made Bayo's strength weaker compared to the first game. To compensate the fact that she has her own version of Devil Trigger. Try playing as unlockable characters like Jeanne and Rosa, you will notice the difference as their damage is what Bayo's was in the first game.

Shinobi 3 - Best Ninja game ever made. I hate the maze in the next to last area. The last area has some platforming hell too. That is all I got.

 

[SilentPony]

BloodBorne, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Bioshock 1 and Infinite, Mass Effect 3( the ending means its not perfect, but its close) and maybe Broforce.
And for some of these I'd like to say I can acknowledge people not liking them or finding fault in them, but I feel they either perfectly or almost perfectly executed what they set out to do, which I mark as distinct from being a faultless/perfect game for everyone.

 

[Xprimentyl]

[PROTOTYPE] (with the obligatory brackets,) The Darkness and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory; "perfect" in that they absolutely nailed what they set out to do, the two former being satisfactorily violent overpowered fantasy and the latter being the gold standard for stealth gaming.

 

[EvilRoy]

I would probably go with Dark Souls 1, with the asterix that I didn't play it until long after the PC version was released and modders had already done most of the heavy lifting to fix it. The combination of worldbuilding, beautiful environments and fantastic music really changed it from arcade interaction to an experience for me. I went in expecting to see the standard rotation (grassland, desert, forest, jungle, ice, fire), and although most of those were present to one extent or another I was really impressed with areas like "the sewer level" managing to be somewhat unique and also unsettling without being gross. The game is really good at bringing across despair and entropy in how nothing is gross or barfy or obviously confusing "decayed/desiccated/dead" with "that goop you see in the bottom of a dumpster with bones in it". Even Nito, who I would have reasonably excused as being a big disgusting thing based on what he is supposed to be, manages to carry a certain amount of dignity, readily expressing the concept of "First Dead" without being "Super Gross".

I was just very impressed with the fact that I was playing what's basically a medieval zombie game that manages to produce characters like Ornstein who exude pride, the Moonlight Butterfly clearly made to be beautiful and tragic, and Gaping Dragon as a display of FUCK, all in the same game.

On the other hand I really like monotonous tasks so maybe it should just be Satisfactory.

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

Darksiders 2 is a beast of a game, agreed! Though I think my reasons are quite different, less to do with loot and more to do with gameplay, earthy larger-than-life voice acting - especially the sexy main character voice - and general world layout that gives me zelda or soul reaver vibes. To be fair with the artsyle, it is based on a comic book, and if you come at it as a mildly tongue-in-cheek representation of religious lore, it fits far more neatly. Plus Death has some wonderfully dry humourous lines throughout that caused a chuckle. I think it's best not to take it more seriously than it takes itself.

To add own, 'spose I should try being cooperative for once;.

Horizon zero dawn
Inside
Tales from Borderlands
Bioshock (trilogy)
Mario Galaxies
Zelda galaxies
Metroid Prime galaxies (trilogy)
Perfect Dark
Bayonetta
GoT
?

 

[ObsidianJones]

*snips*

That's so odd, I never had any trouble putting a Xbox controller to my gaming laptop. They are seemingly made for them in mind. I would have to think then that it would be some issue with your drivers.

I'm sure you've looked at the forums before, but I really can't figure out what is wrong without being able to look at your controller or pc myself. And hell, even then, I might not be able to sort it out.

But given that they are two different controllers and possibly the same pc, I always go for the common link before anything else.

Xbox Support

support.xbox.com

I hope it works out for you. Possibly someone in the help section of the forums might have a solution for you.

 

[Neuromancer]

Disco Elysium was everything I wanted out an RPG and more. An intricate storyline, an interesting mystery, great aesthetics, good characters and interesting social interactions. In many ways it made me reminisce about Planescape: Torment, whose only weakness was having to be strapped into being a Dungeons and Dragons RPG and thus had to be confined within D&D2e's system, and of course have combat mechanics from said system. It is so refreshing to see a game with stellar writing again. Haven't played one since New Vegas.

 

[happyninja42]

[PROTOTYPE] (with the obligatory brackets,) The Darkness and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory; "perfect" in that they absolutely nailed what they set out to do, the two former being satisfactorily violent overpowered fantasy and the latter being the gold standard for stealth gaming.

Didn't play the last 2, but I did enjoy Prototype to a point. I didn't finish it, as I have a low tolerance for the amnesiac grumbly protagonist, but I really enjoyed how they had the story about what's going on, hidden in the DNA of random people involved in the conspiracy, and you learned it by consuming them and getting new little snippets. I thought that was a really neat way of dishing out the history of the character.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Didn't play the last 2, but I did enjoy Prototype to a point. I didn't finish it, as I have a low tolerance for the amnesiac grumbly protagonist, but I really enjoyed how they had the story about what's going on, hidden in the DNA of random people involved in the conspiracy, and you learned it by consuming them and getting new little snippets. I thought that was a really neat way of dishing out the history of the character.

Story-schmory; Prototype was my GOTY once I elbow dropped a tank from the top of a skyscraper.

 

[gorfias]

Story-schmory; Prototype was my GOTY once I elbow dropped a tank from the top of a skyscraper.

Wasn't sure if I had this or not and went to take a look... yup!
Did you play 2? Got that for PS3 while Sony still supported PS3 and Vita on PS+. Man I miss that.


@ObsidianJones asked at Steam about the issue, thanks! I should have tried that long ago. I looked at the Windows support link you included but that's mostly about not being able to connect the controller to your PC. Mine connects. Just gotta be able to play the game.

 

[meiam]

Perfect as in best or as in "as close to perfectly doing what it tried to do". Cause I think shadow of the colossus is damn near perfection but that's largely because of its minimalistic style, there's less things that can drag down the experience.