Games you can talk about forever.

[Padwolf]

OP, I am like you. For me that game is Silent Hill 2. There hasn't been anything that has ever come close to how brilliant it is. I doubt we will ever see anything like it again. Screw that HD remake. But since you've already gone through it OP...

Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King. Perfection. Love the story, love how lengthy the game is, and it is a massive world. Love the art style and how perfectly it fits. THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO! I'm 400 hours in and I've not completed the story yet because there is still so much to do. I have so many alchemy stuff to try out. So much treasure to find in the world. Many monsters to track down for the monster arena. If that game ever comes to PS4 I do not care for the price I am having it. And holy shitballs the music is incredible.

Final Fantasy XIV. As a WoW player of 10 years, I didn't think I'd find an MMO that went above and beyond WoW. XIV does. It's so nice and neat and the story is amazing. The story is so fully fleshed out, it has made me laugh and cry. The boss battles are amazing. The raiding tier is hard and the game is actually rewarding. There is no pay to win in it at all. The developers genuinely love the game and care about it. It has something for everyone.

Harvest Moon. I don't care which one. All of them are far too addictive and I get so deeply involved in my character and the towns it's madness. You know what? Don't get me started on harvest moon. Just play them.

 

[Jonbodhi]

Two games come to mind: Dragon's Dogma for positives, and Arkham Knight for negatives. And I suspect for the same reason: expectations.

I had zero expectations for Dragon's Dogma. Coming off yet another play through of Skyrim, I actually played a bit at first then turned it off because of the 'old timey' language it was using. When I went back I found myself amazed at the epic gameplay moments it was giving me; one after the other. Finally, after the much-hyped 'metaphysical' ending of 'Bioshock Infinite,' it was the humble Dragon's Dogma that gave me an ending that made me go 'whoa!' I had to interrupt a repeat play of 'Shadow of Mordor' when my PS4 copy of DD arrived and I'm loving it all over again.

Arkham Knight was a different story. I had nothing BUT expectations for this. I literally counted down the months, weeks and days until its (delayed) release. I avoided most previews so I could go in unspoiled as possible. I left work early and was there when the delivery guy arrived to place it in my hand! And...

I don't rage quit games. I came to the hobby fairly late in life and controllers cost money, and why SHOULD I beat that boss the first, second or sixth try?

I rage quit Arkham Knight at least three times, each one involving that damn car that they decided they were going to jam into every nook and cranny of the game whether it made any sense or not. Suddenly, the most competent man in fiction can't take a whiz without the Batmobile to hold his d***!

Some say: 'you should have known! It was all over the promotional material,' but, as I said, I avoided all that. Besides, if I'm buying the fourth game in a series (yes, I definitely count 'Arkham Origins') then why would I assume that a new, unrelated game mechanic would now, in the last installment, suddenly take up roughly 1/3 of the main quest, and be MANDATORY?

This isn't even touching on the hole-riddled story, or rushed, half-hearted side quests, one of which is so bad that everyone at the studio who worked on it should have their pay docked. Every expectation was crushed.

I wasn't just angry, or disappointed; I felt betrayed. The Arkham games were special to me. This series is what got me playing video games. Now I wonder if I'll ever trust them for another purchase.

 

[Xprimentyl]

I could talk about Inside forever. In fact, I WILL talk about Inside forever. I have played and enjoyed countless games in my +30 year gaming career; anyone of them at any time might have had a moment or two or several that stick out in my head, those moments that I would then recount fondly with my fellow gamers, but NO game has ever, as a whole, stuck in my mind like Inside does. At the end of the ?shockwave? chapter, I literally had to put the controller down and collect myself, just to take in the overwhelming brilliance of the game that far. And when it was over (love or leave the ending; I LOVED it,) my head was just bursting with thoughts on the implicit messages and imagery; the game transcended entertainment and became a vehicle for my imagination.

Even after multiple playthroughs and getting over the initial shock of it all, I then went to YouTube where I?ve watched (as far as I know) every blind playthrough of the game on offer just so I could watch other people appreciate the game and its myriad ?wow? moments as much as I did. There was one where the Let?s Player stopped at the exact moment I did after the shockwave chapter and just said ?I just need to take a minutes, and I don?t? care if people think this is weird, but these past few minutes?... They?re special.? And no truer words have ever fallen on my ears.

 

[happyninja42]

For me it would be the following:

Homeworld 1, Homeworld:Cataclysm

Infamous 1 & 2

For the Homeworld games, they were one of the few times that I ever genuinely remember giving a shit about what was happening in the storyline. Other games had been ok at it, but the way they had structured the narrative of Homeworld, plus that little novel that they disguised as an instruction manual all served to suck me hard core. Seeing the mothership on it's maiden voyage, with Adagio with Strings playing as it launches genuinely choked me up. I remember getting chills about it. This monumental achievement of this planet, dying, and the people know it. They unite their warring factions, to pool their resources, to make a ship, to hopefully find a new home for their people. Knowing it was a last ditch effort to escape their slowly dying world. And the scope of it, from a cultural point was wonderful to me. These people had reverse engineered intersteller travel. Something we consider scifi (mostly). They had it, this was their first ship. The galaxy had literally opened to them. Then when we return from our maiden test flight, to find our world destroyed, the entire northern pole on fire, and then you get a report that some unidentified ships are attacking the cryo trays, holding the last members of our entire species. I went from shock to genuine anger, and gleefully killed those ships to the last man.

Everything about their journey into the unknown was great. The music, the artwork, the stark vastness of the space you play in. All of it.

And then Cataclysm came along and did everything HW 1 did, but even better. From the villain, to the voice acting, to the story. All of it was just great. How Kith Somtaw grew from a disregarded mining kith, into the Beastslayers, and welcomed into the halls of the Great Kith, was just awesome. The storytelling of that series was just great. HW 2 dropped the ball, but holy fuck balls did HW 1 and Cata hit all of my "Yes Please" buttons about what I look for in a story.



Infamous 1 & 2 is more of the above. Great storytelling, awesome mechanics. I genuinely felt like a super hero in that city, and the little things they did to let the game world reflect your actions was just great. And again, the game made me actually give a shit about what was happening to the little pixel people. I remember clearly, one time a good samaritan flagged me down to heal a wounded person. I jump down to do that (playing good guy), and as the samaritan watched me heal the person, a random thug on a nearby rooftop takes a potshot at me. Unfortunately, he ended up missing me, and killing the samaritan. And I couldn't do anything to stop it, because I was in the healing animation, and couldn't interrupt it. I had to watch, helpless, as this guy just trying to help dies for his actions. And I was pissed. I chased that thug down and ate his soul (literally) for what he did. And I loved that the game was able to get that reaction out of me.