Your favorite game, and why.

[stroopwafel]

Without a doubt Dark Souls(hey, I loved Demon's Souls way before it was cool ). Before that it was A Link to the Past. Dark Souls gave me that exact same feeling as playing A Link to the Past for the very first time which is the absolute highest compliment I can give to a game. But it only took like..ehmm..20 years.

 

[Vern5]

Gave it a lot of thought and I'm going to have to go with King of Dragon Pass.

But, Vern! Why this semi-adventure game when you own a plethora of exciting, action-packed, 3D games? Well, mostly because there isn't any other game like it. No, it's basic mechanics aren't unique; you are given a tribe of barbarians to manage and every now and then you are called upon to solve random events using text options. I'm sure there are other games that pull off the "text-based management" sim just as well as KoDP.

HOWEVER, I have to give this game a standing ovation because it is the only game I know of that can actually induce culture shock.

In order to actually succeed at playing King of Dragon Pass, you have to actually immerse yourself in the Orlanthi Barbarian culture. You have to think like an Orlanthi. You have to observe their bizarre customs and follow their strange laws. For example, raiding another tribe in the Pass is not a big deal. Sure, your clanmates might provoke the ire of whatever tribe you're raiding but, so long as any murder is declared out in the open and done in the open, no laws will have been broken nor customs violated. On the other hand, if you secretly murder an enemy, this is treated as the cowardly act of a criminal. Worse, if you kill a fellow tribesman for any reason then you will be branded a kinslayer and you will have just invited Chaos into your settlement. Note that this is magical Chaos. As in, terrifying beast monsters will burst out of your cow herds and start trying to kill you.

I could go on about the many different examples of how much culture one has to absorb in order to play but it would take all day. Suffice to say that this game has no peers. It is wholly unique.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Mass Effect 1. God I want another Mass Effect 1.

 

[bbchain]

FFIX. It's so fantastically done in every way, but so are other games. I can't explain why I love it so much, maybe I just played it at the right age.

I'll admit i went into IX expecting a cutesy story and forgettable characters and mechanics but I was absolutely blown away. It has by far the best character development of any Final Fantasy I've played. It's a mystery to me why nobody really talks about this game.

 

[Anachronism]

It's a tough question. ICO and Shadow of the Colossus are definitely up there, but if I have to pick just one, it probably has to be Baldur's Gate II.

The first one was the game which got me into RPGs in general and D&D in particular, and Baldur's Gate II improved upon it in just about every conceivable way. Icewind Dale II had better combat, Planescape: Torment had a better story, but it's a damned close call, and Baldur's Gate II does everything it does exceptionally well.

I've never felt the same connection to the characters in any other game as I did in BGII, though plenty of games have come close. Sure, there were fewer of them compared to the first game, but they had much more characterisation and made much more impact in the story. And let's not forget Jon Irenicus, who is, for my money, the greatest villain in gaming.

And while it was added in the expansion pack, Watcher's Keep is an incredible dungeon.

 

[bbchain]

Saints Row 2 is definitely my favorite in recent years. It has a world that feels alive and real and the detail volition went into to create it is amazing. I've put probably hundreds of hours into it and every time I play it I discover a new little secret that i never saw before. It's the perfect combination of the serious tone of the first game and the comedy of the later ones. The humor is all up to you, you can choose to play it straight or you could choose to play the entire game dressed as a hot dog wearing a traffic cone and raid gang hideouts with a UFO. The controls can be a little bit strange at times and the difficulty is a little unbalanced, but in comparison to other games of the same genre (I'm looking at you GTA) it feels very smooth. And at the end of the day it's just flat out the most fun I've had in a game. Even when I die repeatedly I'm never frustrated. It's always a good time.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Final Fantasy IX

Why? Because it did nearly everything right.

It's starts out as the most cliché fantasy story you can imagine: a princess meets a thief with a golden heart.
But as it keeps going it unfolds into something I hadn't quite seen before and haven't seen since.

- The environments are simply dripping with imagination - and despite being really low res for today's standards... They are still gorgeous.
- The characters themselves are both beautifully designed and well written, often going much darker and deeper than the art style or synopsis would have you think.
- Everyone ever complaining about women in games? As in "unrealistic standards of beauty" or "not having a significant role"? Well, this is the game for you! Equally divided genders (3 male, 3 female, 2... miscellaneous); a princess character that actually turns into a queen halfway through; a female general who is probably the best example of a 'female power fantasy' ever; a female character that isn't conventionally beautiful, isn't dressed in skimpy clothing (think water-proof knight armor) and still has an arc that largely deals with 'love' on one hand and 'duty' on the other.
- The fixed profession aren't as "revolutionary" as the materia- or junction-system, but it works: it's balanced and creates a logical connection between the role of the character and the way he/she/it behaves in combat. Also, in contrast to FF IV, every character is actually useful.
- The way you can configure your auto-abilities is pretty awesome.
- Best and most expansive chocobo mini-game in any FF-game ever.
- A serious lack of game-breaking moves (which is really rare in FF-games).
- The music is fantastic, bot in quantity and quality. The game passes through a slew of emotions and atmospheres - and for every occasion, there's a track. The composer (the great Nobuo Uematsu) also manages to make his songs have some sense of old school MIDI simplicity - until you see the music sheets, that is.
- Amazingly good pacing for an RPG. The only other RPGs I've played that could top this game in that regard would be the Shadow Hearts games.
- Last but not least, it just fits. All the aspects compliment each other and create a singular solid experience.

And now the bad:
- I do not like the ending. Not one bit.
- The card game has no rewards. In FF VIII the card game was an over-powered game-breaking mess, which wasn't good. In FF IX the card game has no rewards whatsoever, which isn't good either.

 

[Candidus]

Probably Baldur's Gate 2. I don't expect it'll ever be knocked off its podium. Bioware is not and has never been close to the level of quality with their Star Wars or Dragon Age efforts, and while I expect great things from Obsidian and Pillars of Eternity, I still think the bar set by BG2 is just too high for a single installment of a similar game to surpass.

Taking just more recent games, Dragon's Crown would have to be my runaway favourite of the last year. I love the combat, levels, quests, cooking (especially online), and of course the character designs- the Amazon most of all. It's just perfect.

 

[McElroy]

I have to second the OP. Heroes of Might and Magic III. Almost infinite challenge, almost infinite replayability, almost no filler (unless you have something like 7 heroes on a constant resource-/troop-gathering run). I've played it so much (got it when it was new in 1999) I've got sick of it multiple times but always returned. Though I have to say I've never been too much into random maps.

The game is easy to exploit in some circumstances, but its beauty lies in its customization: you can easily avoid using the easy ways out and even give them to the enemy. Still some custom scenarios and even campaign maps can be nightmarishly difficult no matter what you do apart from truly cheating. My only complaints are the odd bugs and the scoring system which favors certain types of maps thus having barely any value.

Honorable mentions: Fallout 2, GTA: San Andreas, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader, Half-Life 2

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

System Shock 2. I remember when I was first into bioshock and I found out that it as Ken Levine's other game. I bought it when GoG had it on sale, and fell in love with it. It still scares me, actually, and I made the mistake of playing it in the airport with the sound off.

 

[Mithcha]

Toss up between Pitfall...2? I think it was on the Atari and GTA San Andreas. Pitfall I played for days and days and days and days and days and days...amazing game. Fucking crocodiles still give me bloody nightmares. Tried to get it to run the other day but the systems so old and frankly had such use that it just doesn't play nice anymore.

San Andreas was just a brilliant game to play, never seemed to get bored. Which is all I want from a game really. Though I'd have to give honourable mention to the original medal of honour and Tenchu and of course all the various arcade games over the years which kept my friends and I entertained and out of trouble (seriously, we would have been doing bad things if not for Mario and the other games that sat alongside it whos names have long since been forgotten).

Think I'd have to ultimately stay with Ataris Pitfall though, even though I can't remember if it was 1 or 2. Sadly I think if I did manage to play it know I'd A) suck and B) die of a massive headache on account of tech moving on.

 

[Lilikins]

Though I'd have to give honourable mention to the original medal of honour and Tenchu and of course all the various arcade games over the years which kept my friends and I entertained and out of trouble

I almost forgot all about the original Tenchu haha I had that on PS1 and always had to 'sneak' it...so my parents wouldnt see me playing it etc, and if they did I always had to go 'ulti stealth mode' so neither of them would see me doing the assassinations haha. I specifically remember that one merchant chap who was in the house who you had to execute and I ran around on the roof for 10 min until my father left the room so I could drop down and gank him haha.

 

[Feraswondervahnn]

Another Heroes 3 fan here! I've been playing the game since 99, have ALWAYS had it installed on the computer I've been using at the time. The game is simple on the surface, complex when you get into it, and can be incredibly difficult (particularly on Impossible difficulty) and despite there being a Heroes 4, 5 AND 6, I find those games just take away from the quality of 3, rather than improving it.

The two Expansions are great, but the Random Map Generator is the best thing about the game. It means there's always something new to take on. If you finish the campaigns and get bored of the Random Maps, there is also a spin off available on Gog.com for pretty cheap which follow the story of one character through 8 campaigns.

It was a tough choice though... Sacrifice, Dungeon Keeper and Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 all come damn close!

 

[Eve Charm]

I really like heroes of might and magic 3 and 4.

My favorite game ever though is persona 4 and persona 4 golden. Two best friends Pat said it best.

?I thought I had become old and jaded and cynical because I wasn't enjoying games like I did when I was a kid, playing stuff like Chrono Trigger and Xenogears and FF7, but it turns out games just got shitty over the years!?
? Pat

But yes I to have fell out of rpgs at the end of the ps1 and to the far end of the ps2 era because they just weren't doing it for me anymore and thinking It was more my fault for just not wanting to spend hours and hours playing a jrpg the way I did. Then this and hell ya 200 hours + on a good old school fighting style jrpg with an awesome story.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It sounds like such a simple question doesn't it? I don't think I can name a single favorite game but I can break it into a few categories and rattle of a few favorites.

3rd-person action - Just Cause 2. It's made out of fun. I almost said Saint's Row 2 but you can't blow up buildings and monuments in that.

FPS - Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I haven't played the original and I only played a bit of the second but the third really gripped me. Haven't played the directors cut yet but it has the DLC I never bought and fixed the boss fights.

Racing/Driving - Burnout 3. The early burnout games are great arcade fun after all and every other racing game I played that didn't feature cars being physically damaged just made me feel like I was being gypped. Then came Burnout 3 which wasn't as realistic or pretty as some others but had freaking Crash Mode. I miss this series.

Rhythm - Theatryhthm: Final Fantasy.

RPG - Final Fantasy IX

My favorite games do change pretty often too...I almost listed Shovel Knight but consider it to be too new to list as a favorite and I'm honestly thinking Duke Nukem 3D would be a better favorite FPS than DE:HR considering I haven't played the Director's Cut yet...

 

[the December King]

Another vote for the STALKER series; I'd quote you if I could, Chacharo, but something is wrong with my firefox. Or Flash, I dunno.

They are not perfect, but they have held me captivated for a loooong time. Also, something about getting yelled at in other languages is terrifying. I can't communicate with these gun-wielding bandits at all! HOW will this resolve?!?

Also, the various instances of spawned enemies and allies that make for fascinating encounters, some of which are over before I even get there. Clear Sky was a bit TOO heavy on this, as I felt like some of my agency was removed, but it was still interesting. You'd come around a corner and find, like, four dead, seasoned stalkers all piled on top of each other... and a single rabid rat wandering around! How in the Zone did this happen?!?

And talk about mood... man, the horrific feeling in those games was palpable!

The Chernobyl Diaries and Devil's Pass movies aren't revolutionary by any stretch, but I'll be damned if after watching them I wasn't itching to get back to the Zone.

 

[josemlopes]

The top favorite are the Timesplitters games, hard to say if its either 2 or FP that is on top since they have many pros and cons.

They are so varied and have so much longevity that I never got tired of them, at first it was just great design and gameplay but FP introduced such a good character and interesting story that its basicly the full package (FP does suffer a bit in mission design comparing to the glorious levels of 2). The humor, dialog and soundtracks are great and the gameplay is so fun it never gets tiresome even though its just about shooting dudes in the face.

Spoiler: And now a big list of other games that I like but arent up there competing with the first positions

Then other games are (basicly 2nd tier of favoritism)

Conker Live and Reloaded (only played the Xbox remake and it was probably the best looking game of the 6th generation, I know the swears are blipped but its still funny either way, also the multiplayer was fun with bots so fuck it)

STALKER (no hand holding, deep as fuck, effort to make you feel like you are a human being in extreme situations, etc...)

Saints Row 2 (so much variety, amazing map, the co-op and the comedy)

Psychonauts (world and characters so tightly put together you forget that its just a game and get invested in those characters)


And the 3rd tier

Unreal 2k4 (the mods and additional content help but damn, its just such a great arena shooter)

Battlefield 2 (by this point its kind of obvious that if it has bots it will be a game that will last me a VERY long time, but BF2 is still an amazing game, and the mods make it the peak of the series)

Battlefront 2 (Battlefield: Star Wars Edition, although it certainly is a bit more then that, the way its design does have a lot of effort to simulate the conflicts of the movies with the same amazing soundtrack, sound effects, enviorments and characters. To me its probably the game that captured the movies tone the best)

Republic Commando (the feels)

Mount And Blade: Warband (the true open world sandbox game that I wanted many years ago, it sure as flaws but it accomplishes so fucking much, I would like to see other games take some tips out of it)

Spec Ops The Line (to me it felt that even though its a story that brings a lot from pre-existing ones, and does have some flaws here and there, it was an effective way of telling that story and used the fact that its a game in the best possible way)




Other games I may add to my 3rd tier would be GTAV and The Wolf Among Us, so far they have been games that seemed to leave a big mark on me but its still a bit early to know how long that stays.

And I guess thats it.

 

[Lilikins]

The top favorite are the Timesplitters games, hard to say if its either 2 or FP that is on top since they have many pros and cons

seriously, when I read that, I just rememberd Timesplitters 2 on the gamecube and always playing that with my brother and my friend haha that has to be one of the most fun games ever....