The Escapist's Favorite Games

[TheLastSamurai14]

If a current gen game is one of my all-time favorites, it won't be included in my all-time list, but in my current gen list instead. I will still denote which games of this gen are all-time favorites. Also, for the sake of variety, I will only be including one game per series, with the exception of Souls, HL2, Banjo, and Pokemon, since these are so similar to their counterparts and it would be difficult to decide between the two.

Current Gen:
Demon's/Dark Souls (second all-time favorite)
Planetside 2 (third all-time favorite)
Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (sixth all-time favorite)
Sonic Generations (eighth all-time favorite)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (ninth all-time favorite)

All-Time:
Final Fantasy IX (all-time favorite)
Half-Life 2 + episodes (fourth all-time favorite)
Metroid Prime (fifth all-time favorite)
Banjo Kazooie/Tooie (seventh all-time favorite)
Star Fox 64 (tenth all-time favorite)

Spoiler: My favorites in proper order

Final Fantasy IX
Demon's/Dark Souls
Planetside 2
Half-Life 2 + episodes
Metroid Prime
Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
Banjo Kazooie/Tooie
Sonic Generations
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Star Fox 64

Steam Playtime
Team Fortress 2 (850.7 hours)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (300.3 hours)
Fallout: New Vegas (80.4 hours)
Planetside 2 (67.7 hours)
Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition (53.3 hours)

 

[lacktheknack]

All Time
Mirror's Edge
Day of the Tentacle
Myst Online: Uru Live
Gubble
Geneforge Series

This Gen:
Mirror's Edge
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
The Sims 3
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Tropico 4

Most Played On Steam:
Civilization V (114 hours)
Batman: Arkham City (82 hours)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (78 hours)
The Movies: Stunts and Effects (63 hours)
Saints Row: The Third (59 hours)

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

This Gen:
- Bastion
- Journey
- Dark Souls
- Okami
- Portal 2

All time:
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Ico
- Metroid Prime 1&2 (don't make me choose)
- Phantasy Star Online
- Crash Team Racing

I don't really play Steam enough to show my 5 most played games in it unfortunately.

Honorable mentions? Catherine and FTL

 

[Skeleon]

Just play Sacrifice. You haven't really launched a swan-diving cow on a plague-spitting, winged horse cadaver until you've played Sacrifice.

Or if you want something newer, play Don't Starve. I'm enjoying my futile runs immensely.

Right, so to put it in the usual format:

All Time:
Sacrifice
System Shock 2
Arx Fatalis
STALKER Call of Pripyat
Leviathan: Tone Rebellion (my avatar says "Hi!")

This Gen, I guess:
Don't Starve
Fallout 3 and New Vegas (they count as one, right?)
The Binding of Isaac: Wrath of the Lamb
Warhammer: Space Marine
ZenoClash

These lists would probably be subject to change if I kept thinking...
Shall I create a "GOG, physical copies and indie bundles; no Steam wherever possible"-list?

 

[Smertnik]

This gen:
Bayonetta
Revengeance
Mass Effect 2
Portal
Bastion

All time:
SotC
Ico
Planescape Torment
Vampire Bloodlines
Psychonauts

Most played:
TF2
Dota 2
Killing Floor
Borderlands
Awesomenauts

 

[Strain42]

My favorite video game of all time is Legend of Mana for the PS1.

My top 3 favorite video game series are Megami Tensei, Pokemon, and Ace Attorney, with my favorites in those series being Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army, Crystal Version, and Trials and Tribulations, respectively.

 

[jebara]

Snip

Is the vanilla Persona $ really preferred? I'm just now finishing 3, and if I don't really need to keep my Vita just for golden that would be wonderful.

Everyone: Thank you so much for tossing in your games. The numbers are a bit all over the place so I'm waiting until another page or so to give a real tentative list. I'm actually excited to see what we as a community love the most.

That's just my opinion, a ton of people disagree though.
There is a lot of new extra scenes, but to me most of them were not that great with the exception of a few at the end, there is better commentary in battles, and improvement on fusion skills, there are some new activities such as gardening and bug catching but those are dumb, so who cares.
The main reason Golden is inferior to the original is because it is mind numbingly easy, so easy its ridiculous, all the enemies have been nerfed to hell, especially boss battles and characters are very easily overleveled, and this is on hard, now it feels there isn't any gameplay at all, its just filler in a visual novel.
I used to love it when I had to contrive a strategy for the boss fights in the original, I remembered getting my ass handed to me by the third boss so badly that I studied the boss, and started thinking of a strategy and made me gather Persona and items all for a master plan to beat her, and boy the satisfaction...
It was the best moment of the game for me, and doing the same for other boss fights, going to die only to study them then contriving a plan!
In the new one your always overleveled, bosses have more weaknesses/less resistance, and they usually avoid exploiting your weekness or making hard blows.
The only exception is Margaret, which can only happen in a second playthrough, beat her yesterday and damn...what a fight, it reminded me of the bosses in the original...got my ass kicked several times, contrived a plan and came back prepared for one hell of a fight.

I know people will now say original P4 is not SMT Nocturne hard but it was hard enough to force you to think about what your doing, Golden is so easy, no matter what you do you will win in the end.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Snip

Thanks for the heads up! Incidentally, I've got 60 hours into P3P and my only complaint about it is that I haven't died yet. Not once. I actually told my wife it was "a visual novel with grinding between the chapters" when she got curious about it. If I can have a harder P4 then I might just now have a reason to sell my Vita and jump on the 3DS train. Unless there's crazy compatibility with the PS4...

OT: I've got the math 75% done, there's still some wildly varying tastes here! I'm on my way to work though, so when I get back this afternoon I'll let you guys know where we sit.

 

[EeveeElectro]

All time:
Kingdom Hearts 2 (probably this gen too, sure it came out in 2005)
Resident Evil
Final Fantasy VII, VII, IX, X.
Rayman
Crash Bandicoot
Tekken/various other fighting games.
Super Mario Bros
Pokemon Red/gold.
GTA I, II, II and Vice City.
Tomb Raider II and III.

This gen:
Batman Arkham Asylum and City.
The Walking Dead game.
Heavy Rain
Wet
Mirrors Edge
Little Big Planet
Minecraft

I don't use Steam.

 

[shrekfan246]

Snip

Thanks for the heads up! Incidentally, I've got 60 hours into P3P and my only complaint about it is that I haven't died yet. Not once. I actually told my wife it was "a visual novel with grinding between the chapters" when she got curious about it. If I can have a harder P4 then I might just now have a reason to sell my Vita and jump on the 3DS train. Unless there's crazy compatibility with the PS4...

Or, you know, he was just already good at the game because he'd played through it before on the PS2... probably multiple times from the sound of it. Never underestimate a person's ability to misappropriate things based on their personal experiences.

That's not to say Golden was particularly difficult when I played on Normal (the extra boss in Yukiko's dungeon was the one that gave me the most trouble) but while it does feature some rebalancing when compared to the original, I highly doubt that playing on Hard your first time ever through the game would leave it "mind-numbingly easy". Play through Devil May Cry 3 on "Dante Must Die" or -- for perhaps a more relevant example -- Dark Souls enough times and it'll seem easy to you too, after all.

 

[jebara]

Snip

Thanks for the heads up! Incidentally, I've got 60 hours into P3P and my only complaint about it is that I haven't died yet. Not once. I actually told my wife it was "a visual novel with grinding between the chapters" when she got curious about it. If I can have a harder P4 then I might just now have a reason to sell my Vita and jump on the 3DS train. Unless there's crazy compatibility with the PS4...

Or, you know, he was just already good at the game because he'd played through it before on the PS2... probably multiple times from the sound of it. Never underestimate peoples' ability to misappropriate things based on their personal experience.

That's not to say Golden was particularly difficult when I played on Normal (the extra boss in Yukiko's dungeon was the one that gave me the most trouble) and while it does feature some rebalancing when compared to the original, I highly doubt that playing on Hard your first time ever through the game would leave it "mind-numbingly boring". Play through Devil May Cry 3 on "Dante Must Die" or -- for perhaps a more relevant example -- Dark Souls enough times and it'll seem easy to you too, after all.

I'll give yeah the extra boss in Yukiko's dungeon, there is a glitch that makes one of his moves an insta kill(or so I heard it was a glitch), but the game has obviously been toned down a lot from the original, some bosses got weaknesses now, resistances have been toned down(ex: from absorb to null) and less exploitation of your weaknesses.. oh and don't get me started on those Golden Hands, they give so much experience you become ten levels ahead of every dungeon, I know I can choose not to fight them but that would be holding back which would be lame, I'm trying to level up and be the best I can be, if I actively choose not to take a chance to get stronger then what is the point of all the of grinding?
Even the Margaret fight which I praised was toned down from impossible to just hard, you used to fight her one on one and she would fry you for breaking certain rules(The rules part is kinda blurry,I might be mixing that up with P3, or maybe its for both) but now the rules are gone,and you fight her with your full party, but in this case I don't mind since its still challenging and fun in the end.

 

[MysticSlayer]

All Time:
Xenoblade Chronicles
BioShock
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time/The Two Thrones
Civilization IV
Super Smash Bros. Melee

This Generation:
Xenoblade Chronicles
BioShock
Fallout 3
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

 

[the_great_cessation]

All Time:
Ocarina of Time / Twilight Princess (Love the two about equally)
Shadow of the Colossus
Beyond Good and Evil
Majora's Mask
BioShock Infinite

This Gen (so far):
Bioshock Infinite
L.A. Noire
Journey
Heavy Rain
Batman: Arkham Asylum

 

[Daft Time]

All Time:
* Deus Ex
* Mass Effect
* Knights of the Old Republic
* Vampire: The Masquerade ? Bloodlines
* Morrowind

Yeah, I love my RPGs.

This Generation:
* Mass Effect
* Deus Ex: Human Revoloution
* Dishonoured
* Dragon Age: Origins
* Mirror's Edge

...and the tend continues.

Time Played:
Eh, I don't have acess to Steam at the moment, so I'll just leave you with this:

* Eve Online - ~5000 hours. It's a conservative estimate.

 

[loc978]

hmm...

All time:
-Final Fantasy VI
-Baldur's Gate
-Fallout: New Vegas (which I still maintain was less buggy than Fallout 3 on launch... and was fixed completely, unlike 3)
-Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
-Unreal Tournament

This generation:
-Fallout: New Vegas
-Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
-Batman: Arkham... can't decide, so both of 'em. They're one game now, don't argue.
-Gran Turismo 5
-Killing Floor (because every list needs one multiplayer FPS... and for me, this was the only good one this gen. Heresy, I know)

Steam:
-Fallout: New Vegas - 571
-Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance - 224 (and I've clocked more with my hardcopy than my steam copy. Probably a lot more)
-Killing Floor - 211
-Terraria - 194
-Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion - 140 (also, honorable mention for best total conversion Star Wars mod ever)

 

[Eliam_Dar]

All time favs would be:
- Indiana Jones and the fate of atlantis
- Blues Brothers
- Prehistorik
- Doom 2
- Resident Evil 3 Nemesis
- Silent Hill 2
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Grimm Fandango
- Starcraft
- Warcraft Orcs&Humans
- Full Throttle
- Ragnarok Online


This gen, of the top of my head, according to what I own:
For PS3:
- Valkyria Chronicles
- Heavenly Sword
- Heavy Rain
- MGS4
- Demon's Souls
- Batman Arkham Asylum

Xbox 360
- Gears of War
- Halo Reach
- Brutal Legends (later I got this one for PC)
- Lost Odyssey

PC (Steam - Battlenet - Other services)
- Mount and Blade: Warband
- Rocksmith (love this baby with my bass)
- Total War Rome
- The Witcher series
- Half Life 2 and Episodes
- Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2
- Starcraft II
- Diablo III
- League of Legends
- Tera


I'm sure I am missing several

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

All time;
Twisted Metal 2
Kingdom Hearts 2
Far Cry 3
Gears of War 2
Devil May Cry 3
Bioshock
System Shock 2
Final Fantasy XIII
Silent Hill 3
Resident Evil 5

This Gen;
Gears of War 3
Bioshock Infinite
Twisted Metal (reboot)
DmC;Devil May Cry
Amnesia; The Dark Descent
Borderlands 2

Steam time;
Amnesia; The Dark Descent; 10h
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon; 2h (just got it)
Poker Night 2; 5h
Portal 2; 4h
Penumbra Black Plague; 4h

 

[Sir Pootis]

All Time:
Psychonauts
Deus Ex
Metal Gear Solid 3
LOZ: Majora's Mask
Banjo Tooie

This Gen:
TF2
Just Cause 2
FTL
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
WarioWare DIY

Steam Time: (I can't be arsed trying to get this one, sorry.)

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Snip

Or, you know, he was just already good at the game because he'd played through it before on the PS2... probably multiple times from the sound of it. Never underestimate a person's ability to misappropriate things based on their personal experiences.

That's not to say Golden was particularly difficult when I played on Normal (the extra boss in Yukiko's dungeon was the one that gave me the most trouble) but while it does feature some rebalancing when compared to the original, I highly doubt that playing on Hard your first time ever through the game would leave it "mind-numbingly easy". Play through Devil May Cry 3 on "Dante Must Die" or -- for perhaps a more relevant example -- Dark Souls enough times and it'll seem easy to you too, after all.

I understand that point, and I thank you for pointing it out (Poe's law makes me unsure if there was some bite in that suggestion...). The crux of my problem was whether or not the supposed easiness/added features truly justified keeping my Vita. Besides, like I said, I've never played P4 and have never once died in 60 hours of P3P. That being the case, Golden actually being much easier than OG P4 (allegedly) would make my decision a lot easier since I already find P3 easy.

Incidentially (and obviously), I do play Dark Souls, and have beaten DMC3 on Dante Must Die, so maybe the dude has a point, even though I've never played P4. Off topic anyway, but I don't like the idea of Dark Souls being a badge of honor the way DMC3 is. It's not hard, it's just a barometer for your level of patience and observational skills.

 

[Razentsu]

Well, here goes:
[HEADING=1]All time[/HEADING]

• 1. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
  2. Chrono Trigger
  3. Persona 4
  4. MELTY BLOOD Actress Again Current Code
  5. Tales of Symphonia

Spoiler: Honourable mentions

Honourable mentions:

• Tsukihime
  Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
  Phantasy Star Online
  Okami
  Super Smash Bros. Melee
  

[HEADING=1]Current generation[/HEADING]

• 1. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition
  2. Mass Effect 2
  3. Pokemon Black/White Version
  4. Tekken Tag Tournament 2
  5. Civilization V

Spoiler: Honourable mentions

Honourable mentions:

• Persona 4 Arena
  Dark Souls
  BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
  Ghost Trick
  The World Ends With You

[hr]

I had a tough time ranking and excluding games. I just had to give honourable mentions.