BoB's Top 100 Games

[Synoptikal]

Gamer Confession:

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.

So glad I'm not the only one! Closest I've gotten is Skyrim, followed closely by Bejeweled! XD

But I enjoyed inFamous as well and to think I only picked it up in the compensation deal PSN offered because I didn't like the look of any of the other games, except LBP. :P

[Loony BoB]

Hahaha, that's how I got it, too.

[Inferno]

Gamer Confession:

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.
Just try NFS Most wanted, finish the game, and there you have it.

[Bolivar]

2009 was my first platinums with kz2 and infamous and killzone was a lot harder because you had to place in the top 1% of global players that week in multiplayer. I think the only thing I struggled with was finding a big enough group to slam down into but inFamous was otherwise pretty easy. I got the game and a guide for my birthday (along with the Chinese/English import of Demon's Souls ^_^) so I was able to just put a transparency over the map of the shard locations and just check them off with a marker when I got them. And yeah a lot of the side challenges were repetitive but they were so damn fun I didn't care.

InFamous is definitely a case where it might not be an unsurpassed artistic achievement in gaming, but it sure is one of my favorite games on PS3.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Only game I got all achievements for was Journey, which doesn't have a Platinum. I need to finish Infamous one of these days. I've never gotten very far before I get distracted by a different game and forget about it.

[TrollHunter]

But yeah, inFamous was alright. It was nice to have a sandboxy type game and a superhero type game that wasn't same-same - just sucks that Prototype was probably the better of the two released at the same time.

As a man who invested a ton of time into prototype I have to disagree with you here.
Prototypes story was terrible, the missions were samey as hell, the characters are more forgettable than those in commercials, and the graphics werent even that good either. Not to mention the stupid as hell difficulty spike after you got your powers back, which made the entire story mode lose all enjoyment for me.
The game is hilariously stupid fun though, I will give you that.
It's very easy to kill so much time with that game, and it's ridiculous enough to make your imagination work to think up the next stupid thing to do.
I loved prototype, but by god was it not really that good of a game.

[Del Murder]

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.
Gods, I hope that's true for most of us. Why spend all that time on one game when you can go play another game?

Only if I was in a position where it was not possible for me to play another game for the foreseeable future would I try to get Platinum on a game.

[NeoCracker]

I've platinumed Borderlands, Sly Cooper, and Dragon Age.

Only reason Dragon Age is Platinum'd though is my brother played on my account for a bit before finally making himself one. ;p

[Spuuky]

My wife has every achievement in Plants vs Zombies (which I assume is somewhere in the top 50 on this list, as it is otherwise rendered invalid).

[Depression Moon]

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.
Gods, I hope that's true for most of us. Why spend all that time on one game when you can go play another game?

Only if I was in a position where it was not possible for me to play another game for the foreseeable future would I try to get Platinum on a game.

It's incredibly easy to Platinum Tekken 6 though, so I think it's really based on the game.

[Pike]

Achievements are overrated. A nice bonus, but not anything that I go chasing.

[Bolivar]

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.
Gods, I hope that's true for most of us. Why spend all that time on one game when you can go play another game?

Only if I was in a position where it was not possible for me to play another game for the foreseeable future would I try to get Platinum on a game.

It's incredibly easy to Platinum Tekken 6 though, so I think it's really based on the game.

Yeah, a lot of games don't take "all that time" anyway, especially if it's a game love playing the crap out of.

I think Del has platinum-envy!

[Loony BoB]

I have never finished all the achievements on a single game. Ever.
Gods, I hope that's true for most of us. Why spend all that time on one game when you can go play another game?

Only if I was in a position where it was not possible for me to play another game for the foreseeable future would I try to get Platinum on a game.
I can't afford to buy as many games as you, I guess. :p There are a lot of games I would buy if I got the chance. The main reason I platinum a game, though, is because I enjoy the game a lot and feel the achievements will give me something to do to extend the gameplay time. It's just like completing any random mission in a game - you get given a goal/challenge and you do what you need to do in order to reach that goal or complete that challenge. I tend to finish a game, then look at the trophies/achievements I've not yet got and consider whether or not I feel they will be worth it.

For games like Uncharted 2 and Far Cry 3, trophies are what encouraged me to try out parts of the games that I would not have otherwise (ie, multiplayer) and I ended up having loads of fun with them.

[Del Murder]

I don't buy that many games, maybe 3 a year? I get them mostly as gifts or trades with other people.

[Loony BoB]

In that case, you probably just don't play games nearly as often as I do. xD There are few occasions I go "Oh, I'll not have the time to be able to Platinum this game I love because there's another game coming out in four months."

I very rarely get gifted games. :(

[Del Murder]

I'd get you a game as a wedding gift, but I was never invited. :foot:

[Loony BoB]

You were too! x(

[Shauna]

SO mean, not inviting people. :3

But, I will probably never play inFamous. I hated Prototype with all my being (slight exaggeration) and since neither of them seem to be heralded as a "better" game... it's just not something I can do. xD

[Bolivar]

InFamous is the better game :D

[Loony BoB]

63. Burnout Paradise
PS3, 2008

http://searchprogram.ru/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/s15f77d7693694030810eace4c901189870a85ef57.jpeg

The second consecutive 2008 PS3 game I got for free because of the PSN hacking debacle! Thanks, hackers! I profited from your antics and have yet to suffer from any fraudulent purchases made using my stored debit card information.

This is the best 'traffic racer' bar none for me. From the moment I went to select the game and Paradise City started playing, I was loving it. The introduction video, the free roaming, the excellent variation in roads to drive on, the epic crashes, the various race options, the licence system... oh man. This was excellence in racing for me. Danielle really loved it, too, and that's saying something for a racing game. The soundtrack was so good I downloaded it. My favourite races were the ones in which you total your opponents, but even slipping through traffic in a one-on-one race was great. Picking a different track than your opponent and still coming out ahead? Awesome. But taking the same track and being side-by-side and forcing your opponent to go head-first into traffic? Oh, hell yes. :D

Basically I enjoyed pretty much everything about this game despite not expecting much of it (hey, I did get it for free, after all). Racing games aren't generally considered amazing for me... this one was.

[WildRaubtier]

Yaaaaaawn. Next, please!

[Aulayna]

Good to see Burnout on the list, though Burnout 3 remains my favourite.

[Psychotic]

TAKE ME DOWN TO THE PARADISE CITY WHERE THE GRASS IS GREEN AND THE GIRLS ARE PRETTY

You should've got it for Xbox (I don't care if it's free for the PS3, bugger off) because the fun me, Dan, Steve and Quin had on free roam was insane. Especially like, you had the Dukes of Hazzard car and when you blared the horn it did this. General Lee Horn - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLjMRHiY0UU)

Imagine four of these in a line hitting a sweet barrel roll and blaring that horn. Amazing.

[NeoCracker]

I don't buy that many games, maybe 3 a year? I get them mostly as gifts or trades with other people.

This year I'll have played 28 new games, not counting games I've replayed that I missed out on in previous years. 21 of these games will have launched this year. :cool:

[DK]

it still makes me happy to think of arthurs rage that time you kicked his ass in a series, pauw. but yeah we had a lot of fun on this game, it was a blast, although after a while all it did was make me crave for a proper racing game. I found it difficult to get into the actual racing aspect of it without properly defined tracks with no traffic and no ability to actually race, or plot proper overtaking moves and trout like that. still a ton of comedy though.

[Loony BoB]

it still makes me happy to think of arthurs rage that time you kicked his ass in a series, pauw. but yeah we had a lot of fun on this game, it was a blast, although after a while all it did was make me crave for a proper racing game. I found it difficult to get into the actual racing aspect of it without properly defined tracks with no traffic and no ability to actually race, or plot proper overtaking moves and trout like that. still a ton of comedy though.
What was the Burnout (I think it was a Burnout game) we played that had the top-down, icy-roaded oval track? Way back when I think it was me you Danielle Elly Rory. Or was it with Squally and Lenna? Argh, I forget. Either way, back then! That game was awesome and it only juuust missed making my list.

EDIT: And Psy, this is the #1 reason I hope Xbone crashes and burns entirely - so that I don't have to consider which console which of my friends will be gaming on. The downside is I'll have less excuses to not get slaughtered by you guys. :shifty:

[Quindiana Jones]

Suck my ass, I said I could beat him in a race and I did. :colbert:

[Loony BoB]

62. Resistance: Fall of Man
PlayStation 3, 2006

http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/dir_1762/image_176257_thumb_wide620.jpg

Give me a long, cylindrical tunnel with melee enemies charging at me from either end any day, because when I have a gun with bullets that bounce off walls, this kind of tunnel is their deathtrap, not mine. Oh man, did I love the weaponary in this game! Auger rifles that shoot through walls, sticky grenades, weapons that if shot consistently at one target send out electric arcs to othe enemies, weapons that fire homing beacons for all bullets shot from that weapon, the Sapper which fires explosive bubbles which stick to any surface (including other bubbles, which can lead to all sorts of fun ways to test enemy A.I.) and my favourite: the Hailstorm which fires ricochet bullets which bounce off hard surfaces. If I remember right, you can have all of these weapons at once, no need for restrictive realism here.

What do you mean, there's more to this game than the weapons!? Okay, okay, I suppose the story is good (and somewhat unique), the characters decent, the environments predictable but good, the driving parts are fun and... oh, who cares, the gameplay for Resistance is fantastic (especially in multiplayer campaign) and the guns are what really made this game immense for me. I was so gutted when Resistance 2 game out with no multiplayer campaign (although it was still alright). Danielle and I have Resistance 3 but we haven't really got far into it, we really should sometime but I expect it'll be a while yet.

[Quindiana Jones]

You appear to have written Resistance 1.

Did you mean Resistance 3?

[Loony BoB]

Danielle and I have Resistance 3 but we haven't really got far into it, we really should sometime but I expect it'll be a while yet.

[Slothy]

Resistance was decent. The weapons were definitely cool, though I'd say just about everything else fell into good but not great territory. Respectable for a launch title though.

Shame Resistance 2 is one of the worst FPS titles I've ever played. Never bothered with 3 after that mess.

[Bolivar]

R1 was a reason to hold off on buying a ps3 when I played it. Interesting, but not great and it looked like a grey blur of nothing with splitscreen on an sdtv. I later played it all the way through and it was decent enough. I admire how it challenges you to use all the wacky guns in efficient and strategic ways, but thats just not what I look for in a shooter.

I enjoyed the second one a lot more because it was more tactical and atmospheric, the 60 player multiplayer matches with dynamic objectives were pretty innovative at the time and the co-op was similarly fresh and interesting. It brought it more in line with FEAR and Killzone but it became incredibly dated especially fast once the sequel to FEAR and a good Killzone installment came out a few short months later.

I tried the R3 multiplayer demo and it just wasn't up to the standard of FPS at the time...

[VeloZer0]

Resistance is actually one of the few FPS games I have ever enjoyed. I attribute that entirely to the wacky guns and the fact that you could hold all of them at the same time and chose which fit the situation the best. Gave it an RPG-ish quality on top of the lining up cross hairs game mechanic.

[Loony BoB]

61. Final Fantasy XII
PlayStation 2, 2006

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121113005925/finalfantasy/images/9/9b/Gilgamesh-and-Enkidu-FFXII.png

Final Fantasy XII is a game I love some things about and simply don't care for other parts. It's probably the only Final Fantasy game where I've struggled to really pay attention to the story. All those different judges and political this and blah blah that. I was never big on political shows - well, aside from Spin City, which probably sums that up. The second time I played it, I did pay more attention and kept up with things, but I've mostly forgotten it all... Still, despite the surprisingly uninteresting storyline (for me, at least, I understand it's amazing for others) I did enjoy the characters and I definitely enjoyed much of the script (particularly our good friends Balthier & Fran).

What really sold this game for me, though, was the actual gameplay value, of which there was huge amounts. Puzzle dungeons, monster hunts, creating equipment, sidequests, clan leveling or even pure exploration was often rewarded. Not just with goodies, of course, but with beautiful/intriguing new environments. And the Mandragora battle was awesome fun! Even the little achievements were a nice touch, considering the PS2 lacked any in-built achievement system. A good, solid game overall and capable of providing hours upon hours of entertainment. If only there were DataLogs, I might have bothered keeping up with the drama that was unfolding while I played. And, uh, maybe not get so worried when I got distracted by hunts (which was pretty much all the time :D).

Best character in the game, though, included in the image above. :smash:

[Quindiana Jones]

It's a credit to the game that it's one of my favourites ever (FFs and games in general) despite having some of the worst pacing in history. xD

Great gameplay, magnificent world, and wonderfully developed characters. Good choice, Bonny LooB.

[Synoptikal]

I STILL haven't completed FFXII. I just dislike the story a crapton. I couldn't get behind ANY of the characters. The side-quests didn't feel like side-quests and felt forced upon me and the battle system and gambits are VERY exploitable to the point where one can auto-level.

Don't get me wrong, I played quite far into the game (Pharos I believe). But with all I dislike about it, plus the fact that my PS2 is now broken, I don't see me completing it anytime soon.

[Bolivar]

Well this shouldn't have showed up before XIII but...

I don't think any game ever grew on me the way FFXII did. I was originally put off because of the bad plot pacing and the fact that it had nothing of what I usually look for in a final fantasy. But then I spent one playthrough just story and another playthrough getting everything (I cant remember which was first) and maybe another playthrough after that, all probably in the first two years of its release. Across the board, I think its very close to the perfect game.

The way it rewards exploration puts Western RPGs to shame...




:D

[Formalhaut]

XII is a game that definitely grew on me as well. My first play-through, I thought it was decent, but nothing spectacular. I played it again, this time using a guide so I got everything you could possibly find, and I was overwhelmed with how huge the game is.

For me, the side-quests didn't feel forced, they felt rather diverse and interesting. The mark hunting was great, and I wish you could repeat some of them!

The story, in and of itself, is fine. I mean, it wasn't exactly the greatest story ever, but it was perfectly acceptable. Where it fell down for me was the pacing. It was very hit and miss. After a strong start with Reks and the drama there, it then fell down slightly with Vaan and the rather mediocre opening with him. It picks up again when he invades the palace and with Balthier and Fran. But then again, it turns rather boring when you're traversing the Sandsea. In fact, I didn't really care for Jahara, or the Stilshrine of Miriam. After that, the rest of the story is probably paced well enough.

[Madame Adequate]

Slutlig Fantasi XII

Better than X-Com

LOL

[TrollHunter]

This was a game that truly rewarded those that explored the world. Hell, about half of the MASSIVE areas in the game are optional... and you wouldnt notice if you were just shown them. All the areas in this game are fully fleshed out, unique, and very memorable.
The skycity of Bhujerba, dalmasca, Nabreus Deadlands, the Pharos... ahhh need I go on.
The license system, though hated by many, is loved by me. It allows for SO MUCH customization, and if you're creative can allow for some extremely unique challenging and interesting runs.

Hell, even the bestiary is AMAZING. So much lore and history to read about. It's glorious.
This game never actually had to grow on me, I loved it from the start. I never understood the story as a kid, but I adore it now. I love me the political story FFXII wove, and all of the characters were beautifully written. Also, this games Cid kicks ass.

It definitely had flaws though. Late game magic broke the ATB gauge and as such became horrendously useless... and the story was SO easy to forget because of the pacing. Though I'm not sure how they'd keep a story alive in such a HUGE world full of side-quests and optional content. Also, many of the character designs were either impractical, silly, or overly sexualized. It always bothered me, but at least it was never was truly able to draw me out of the world.

It's easily the FF I invested the most time on, and definitely my favorite.
Is it a perfect game? Hell no, but it comes pretty close.
It's a very love-or-hate game, but if you give it time it may very well grow on you.

[Spuuky]

Well this shouldn't have showed up before XIII but...Why do you assume XIII will be on the list? It clearly isn't one of the 100 best games ever made.

Anyway I agree that the claim that this game rewards exploration is laughable, in light of games that ACTUALLY reward exploration. But compared to traditional JRPGs, it does. So that's (on a curve) good.

Gambits are a fine idea in principle but stupid in practice, since I could easily 'break the game.' I fought one dumb optional boss for over an hour without touching the controller. Just kind of watched it happen. After 10 minutes, realized it wasn't going anywhere and did something else while the health slowly drained away.

But this makes up for a lot in my book:

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[Bolivar]

This was a game that truly rewarded those that explored the world. Hell, about half of the MASSIVE areas in the game are optional... and you wouldnt notice if you were just shown them.

I remember in one dungeon, I discovered an abandoned train system that I never even knew about on previous playthroughs. It was filled with new enemies, items, and seemed to just go on and on. I finally had to turn back because there was so much more to explore, it could have gone on forever.

It was underneath one of the very first dungeons in the game. :eek:


Gambits are a fine idea in principle but stupid in practice, since I could easily 'break the game.' I fought one dumb optional boss for over an hour without touching the controller. Just kind of watched it happen. After 10 minutes, realized it wasn't going anywhere and did something else while the health slowly drained away.

This happened to me several times as well. On a subsequent playthrough, when I knew a lot more about the system, just by tweaking and reordering my gambits, I was able to cut down a 45-50 minute fight to a few short minutes.

The strategy and depth of the Gambit system is so brilliant and underrated it's not even funny.


Why do you assume XIII will be on the list? It clearly isn't one of the 100 best games ever made.

...

You heard it here first.

[Skyblade]

This was a game that truly rewarded those that explored the world. Hell, about half of the MASSIVE areas in the game are optional... and you wouldnt notice if you were just shown them.

I remember in one dungeon, I discovered an abandoned train system that I never even knew about on previous playthroughs. It was filled with new enemies, items, and seemed to just go on and on. I finally had to turn back because there was so much more to explore, it could have gone on forever.

It was underneath one of the very first dungeons in the game. :eek:

Isn't that the tunnel that leads to Zalera?



Gambits are a fine idea in principle but stupid in practice, since I could easily 'break the game.' I fought one dumb optional boss for over an hour without touching the controller. Just kind of watched it happen. After 10 minutes, realized it wasn't going anywhere and did something else while the health slowly drained away.

This happened to me several times as well. On a subsequent playthrough, when I knew a lot more about the system, just by tweaking and reordering my gambits, I was able to cut down a 45-50 minute fight to a few short minutes.

The strategy and depth of the Gambit system is so brilliant and underrated it's not even funny.

Gambits are a decent system. But they are not "brilliant". They have plenty of flaws.

You're right, though, they are underrated. But there's a reason for that, and it's because they help highlight everything that's wrong and broken about FFXII's battle system.

[Pike]

Higher than X-Com? Really? :( You cut me deep BoB.

I'm still waiting for the top 30 to be various incarnations of Football Manager.

[Jiro]

But yeah, inFamous was alright. It was nice to have a sandboxy type game and a superhero type game that wasn't same-same - just sucks that Prototype was probably the better of the two released at the same time.

As a man who invested a ton of time into prototype I have to disagree with you here.
Prototypes story was terrible, the missions were samey as hell, the characters are more forgettable than those in commercials, and the graphics werent even that good either. Not to mention the stupid as hell difficulty spike after you got your powers back, which made the entire story mode lose all enjoyment for me.
The game is hilariously stupid fun though, I will give you that.
It's very easy to kill so much time with that game, and it's ridiculous enough to make your imagination work to think up the next stupid thing to do.
I loved prototype, but by god was it not really that good of a game.

inFamous is much better storywise, but Prototype was a lot more fun gameplay wise (for me, at least). Nothing beats scaling a building like that.

Burnout Paradise is good fun too. What else came up. Final Fantasy XII has horrible pacing but it's an alright game. Uh. Yeah.

[Loony BoB]

Higher than X-Com? Really? :( You cut me deep BoB.
Given that there are 60 more games to go, I'd start getting used to this kind of thing if I were you. xD There will be games that will please you for being high, and games that won't... such is life! At least X-Com made it into my top 100, I don't think it made it for certain other people at all...

I'm still waiting for the top 30 to be various incarnations of Football Manager.
Nope, it'll be included as a series. xD Also, I've only played FM2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

[Jiro]

FM2013 is pretty good BoB. Pretty good.

[NeoCracker]

But yeah, inFamous was alright. It was nice to have a sandboxy type game and a superhero type game that wasn't same-same - just sucks that Prototype was probably the better of the two released at the same time.

As a man who invested a ton of time into prototype I have to disagree with you here.
Prototypes story was terrible, the missions were samey as hell, the characters are more forgettable than those in commercials, and the graphics werent even that good either. Not to mention the stupid as hell difficulty spike after you got your powers back, which made the entire story mode lose all enjoyment for me.
The game is hilariously stupid fun though, I will give you that.
It's very easy to kill so much time with that game, and it's ridiculous enough to make your imagination work to think up the next stupid thing to do.
I loved prototype, but by god was it not really that good of a game.

inFamous is much better storywise, but Prototype was a lot more fun gameplay wise (for me, at least). Nothing beats scaling a building like that.

Burnout Paradise is good fun too. What else came up. Final Fantasy XII has horrible pacing but it's an alright game. Uh. Yeah.

Prototype's wall scaling was better in terms of exploration and what not, but the wall climbing of Infamous was far superior in terms of giving you real options in combat.

And yeah, I'm in the lot that says Prototype doesn't hold a candle to Infamous in pretty much any way. :p

[Pike]

Also, I've only played FM2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

:|

I totally dare you to play the first one.

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[Jiro]

Oh my that cover.

[Loony BoB]

I thought the first one was called Championship Manager? Unless this is an unassociated game you're referencing.

[Aulayna]

Pike and MILF's posts in this thread going forward:


why is this higher than XCOM

[Quindiana Jones]

That's their response to almost everything nowadays. xD

[Loony BoB]

Don't worry, there will be other games hey will be just as angry over the placement of (if not more so)... >_>;


60. Worms (series)
PC, 1995-2003

http://wizzywizzyweb.gmgcdn.com/media/products/worms-armageddon/screenshots/large-3-640x350.jpg

A friend of mine introduced me to this game back in high school and oh boy did we find all kinds of stupid things to do. It was all about the girders. We would slap a couple of girders high on the page, teleport some worms up there and completely destroy any kind of land there was left to stand on. And then? GIRDERS GIRDERS GIRDERS. GIRDERS EVERYWHERE. We would make sheep runs, we would mess about with the bungees, we would just piss around in the game in general. Sure, playing the game as intended is fun, but this game had so much more. And when we got bored we'd pick a random weapon and then see who could kill the other person first (usually a shotgun so it has some challenge to it).

You can do similar things in the 3D game but not nearly as amusingly - not saying the 3D variation is bad, though, I still enjoyed it and Danielle & myself played it a fair bit. But there's something about the old school games that just works so well! Anyway, I'm pretty sure that this is the highest placed artillery game on the list, and deservedly so. Scorched Earth, Gunbound, even Tank Wars were all fun... but c'mon. Worms.

[Skyblade]

Worms is indeed an awesome game. Kudos to you.

I wonder if we'll see a Lemmings on here.

[Loony BoB]

Lemmings was one of the last ten or so games I decided to cut in order to get it down to 100.

[Jiro]

Worms is fucking glorious. Great choice. I played multiplayer with a bunch of mates once and one of the guys decided to fucking mash x at the end of his turn so the rest of us ended up with suicide worms :(

[Loony BoB]

59. Mario Kart 64
Nintendo 64, 1996

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Mario-Kart-64-mario-kart-418059_500_350.jpg

The Kart game I played the most and loved the most. It was my neighbours and on rainy days unsuitable for outdoor activities, we would occasionally flock to his place for multiplayer runs on his N64. Mario Kart was one of those games and it was awesome fun. It didn't tend to mater who won, it was more about the great fun we would have on the way. Nobody excelled far beyond the rest of the guys, so it was always competitive and more often than not hilarious. I've played other Kart games but none really ever matched this one for me - perhaps it's the nostalgia, or perhaps it's just the great people I played with, but yeah. I don't recall which weapons were my favourite but a string of bananas was always good fun.

I think this is the highest ranking racing game on my list, pretty confident of that. This, Burnout Paradise and Wipeout HD are three racing games I don't have any issues going back to in order to play a few more games. I'm not a massive racing fan in general, but these games just did pretty much everything right in order to make an otherwise average genre into something that could entertain me for hours on end, for days on end.

[Jiro]

At least it's on here, right. Mario Kart 64 is pretty great and it still gets busted out at parties sometimes. It has been transformed into Beer Kart 64 though so yeah.

[Bolivar]

^ Together with Super Smashed Bros. and Goldschlager 007 you have the Nintendo 64 - the greatest drinking console ever made...

[Denmark]

At least it's on here, right. Mario Kart 64 is pretty great and it still gets busted out at parties sometimes. It has been transformed into Beer Kart 64 though so yeah.

I believe you mean "Drunk Driving"

That satisfying feeling when you hit someone as they're going over the jump in Wario Stadium :monster:

[Pike]

Oh man this is my favorite Kart racing game, no question. It had some tough competition from Diddy Kong Racing which was also very good but ultimately I think I just enjoyed MK64 more.

[Spuuky]

Oh man this is my favorite Kart racing game, no question. It had some tough competition from Diddy Kong Racing which was also very good but ultimately I think I just enjoyed MK64 more.I've gotta say, I'm not a fan of Diddy Kong Racing. I think that game did too many things wrong.

I still prefer Super Mario Kart to this one, also, but this one is good.

[Jiro]

At least it's on here, right. Mario Kart 64 is pretty great and it still gets busted out at parties sometimes. It has been transformed into Beer Kart 64 though so yeah.

I believe you mean "Drunk Driving"


It might be exactly the same game but it has a different name where I come from son.

[Formalhaut]

Oh man, Worms... Mario Kart... these deserve to be higher (lower?) on the list. These were great, great games.

[Pike]

I still prefer Super Mario Kart to this one, also, but this one is good.

Super Mario Kart was great, although funny thing, I never could go back to it after playing MK64.

[Aulayna]

Mario Kart 64 is great craic. Though I have a soft spot for Double Dash and 7.

[Loony BoB]

58. Dune
PC, 1992

http://www.cumberlandspaceman.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/dune-1992-virgin-games-pc-ornihopter-sietch.jpg

This is the game that people sometimes wonder about when they recall Dune II. "Wait, if it's called Dune II, what's Dune I?" This is that game, and it's completely different but still wonderful. I think it's probably one of the very first story-based video games I played and probably has a lot to do with why I love RPGs so much, despite not being even close to what RPGs are today. I hadn't read the book at the time, but I loved the story regardless - a new, mysterious world with ornithopters and Fremen and sandworms and houses and all that. At some point it started mixing in startegy along with the adventure apsect... in retrospect, this game was well ahead of it's time. I can't say a huge amount more as it was still a rather simple game (and it's been a long time), but yeah, quality game and deserving of a top 100 spot. Definitely overshadowed by it's younger brother, though!

[Slothy]

Though I have a soft spot for Double Dash and 7.

:Oo:

:screwy:

[Loony BoB]

57. Crysis
PC, 2007

http://cdn.overclock.net/7/7a/600x306px-LL-7af463d7_customtod3.png

First up, you snipe the guy with the binoculars from range so he doesn't catch you as you get close to the base. Then you go invisible, walk into the enemy camp. Break a guy's neck without him even realising you were there. Plant some explosives on a vehicle. Switch to strength, jump up onto a roof and grab a guy by his throat and throw him into a few enemies below. Sprint off at hyperspeed, they grab the car to follow you... you click the trigger. Boom! This game was awesome... well, until it got cold. There are two stages to Crysis - the extremely fun initial stage where you fight humans, and the boring, skill-based, unengaging second half where I got bored and stopped playing. The aliens didn't get angry or scared, they just felt like robots and I found them so incredibly dull. Not to mention that the reason people raved on about the visuals was because of the gorgeous landscapes and never did people rave on about the "amazing snow". :p The second part ruined both the fun and the aesthetics for me.

Still, oh man, roaming around a hot, tropical island jungle taking out donkey-brained enemies - this I just couldn't get enough of. So much fun. I really wish the game did better financially, particularly with multiplayer, because I really feel that it deserved a lot more attention than it got. Unfortunately it severely limited it's audience by making the requirements so high, but for those of us that were playing it... worth it. Well. Until that point I mentioned earlier in the spoiler. Everything before that was good enough for it to still be this high on the list, though.

Another thing worth mentioning was how much I loved that crazy British bastard, Psycho. Danielle and I got a copy of Warhead to play later on, which was worth it just so we could actually be Psycho instead of boringface Nomad.


56. Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced
GameBoy Advance, 2003

http://www.rpgfan.com/previews/ffta/ffta-3b.jpg

I never did finish this game, but I did play it endlessly for a good month or so. xD I couldn't be too bothered with the storyline, I wanted to finish every single quest and level up all my characters and so forth. This game falls very heavily into the One More Turn kind of addiction for me... I think Penny Arcade sum it up quite nicely, really (see below). Anyway, someday I might actually finish this game, but I'm not rushed. It's got that kind of appeal that I know will last with me until I'm retired, and an aesthetic to match.

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215476712_bxkwB-L-2.jpg

[Pike]

Oh my god. I blame FFTA for why I quit caring about college. Because taking my Game Boy Advance to the library and marathoning FFTA was soooooo much more interesting than yet more studying.

[NeoCracker]

FFTA kind of bored me actually. :p

...Tactics isn't showing up on here, is it?

[Spuuky]

FFTA kind of bored me actually. :p

...Tactics isn't showing up on here, is it?


I've never played Final Fantasy Tactics.Of course, FFT really SHOULD be on a list of the Top 100 games, but oh well.

[NeoCracker]

Oh, must of missed that line. :p

[Spuuky]

Oh, must of missed that line. :pNo, probably not. It was from a completely different thread.

[NeoCracker]

Oh, must of missed that line. :pNo, probably not. It was from a completely different thread.

Oh, well at least I didn't go as Crazy as I had originally thought! :monster:

[Bolivar]

Of course, FFT really SHOULD be on a list of the Top 100 games, but oh well.

[Jiro]

FFTA is just all round an excellent game. Just. I don't even know how to describe it. It's great.

[Skyblade]

I don't necessarily dispute that. But FFTA would be higher on the list than FFT. :)

[Del Murder]

I loved playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced on my GameBoy Advanced.

[Skyblade]

I loved playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced on my GameBoy Advanced.

Del, I'm going to give you a Ciddie for best imitation of a spambot. :) If only you had links to a website selling said products, it would have been perfect.

But, yeah, FFTA is a phenomenal game.

[Loony BoB]

I own FFT (bought it earlier this year from PSN), but I want to finish FFIV & FFIII before I start taking on FFT because I'm anticipating that I'll just end up sitting there and playing matches non-stop and never play anything else.

Of course, FFXIV is taking up all my time so I've got exactly nowhere with FFIV at the moment. xD

[Jiro]

I actually bought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance twice because my original copy was stolen with my SP too. Just couldn't not own the game tbh.

[Skyblade]

I actually bought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance twice because my original copy was stolen with my SP too. Just couldn't not own the game tbh.

I bought it thrice.

Second copy was to get more save files. Third was because it was being sold for three bucks.

[Loony BoB]

Best I get back to finishing this off now that I have time again! Actually, I would have got around to it much earlier but I wasn't happy with the limited screenshot selection (ie, just the menu page) I could find online and had to remember to get one from Azar's YouTube video. Kept forgetting as I normally update this at work (where I don't have YouTube access)!


55. EoFF: Sick Irony
PC, 2000

http://www.aiyon.com/keke/sickirony.png

There's a lot to be said for inside jokes, people you actually know being in the game and having a half decent understanding of the person who created the game. It allows you to enjoy not only the game's story and gameplay but also the game itself. I mean... every little part of the game you get into, you can appreciate the thought behind it so much more. And Sick Irony had great dialogue and a lot of tiny little things that not everyone will find on the first playthrough. It genuinely does have replay value!

The level design wasn't perfect, the battles weren't the most challenging by any means, but it didn't matter. This game's enjoyment factor was created solely for those that like silliness, get the inside jokes and perhaps even those who like to learn a bit about EoFF. My favourite parts were definitely the more obscure things such as that in the screenshot above. That quote, for whatever reason, has stuck with me forever as the defining moment of Sick Irony. Silly, obscure and rather random but still able to put a smile on my face. :D

[Jiro]

I love that you have ranked this so high. Your criteria is skewed something fierce, but fair enough. Sick Irony was obviously before my time and I much prefer the BAoTW game as I get it.

[Loony BoB]

My criteria isn't unbalanced or anything - I'm ranking these games according to how much fun I got out of them, and that's what video games are there for - to provide people with something fun to do. This game (going by memory) probably provided me with more fun than any of the lower listed games.

[Psychotic]

I much prefer the BAoTW game as I get it.Thank you very much. :)

Sick Irony's comedy is still very good, even if you don't know the members. I think the RPG Maker community itself was a lot smaller then and had less resources. Some of the default resources and whatnot have always struck me as very ugly so I do have difficulty playing SI. No fault of BOU's, but I'm just an RPG Maker snob. :shobon:

[Jiro]

My criteria isn't unbalanced or anything - I'm ranking these games according to how much fun I got out of them, and that's what video games are there for - to provide people with something fun to do. This game (going by memory) probably provided me with more fun than any of the lower listed games.

Fun is excellent criteria to base things on, it just seems incredibly different to usual standards!

[Loony BoB]

You're right. How silly is it that in this world of entertainment, we review on mechanics more than fun?

[Pike]

You know at first glance I thought this was going to be about the sick irony that BoB is taking so long to update his list :p

[Jiro]

You're right. How silly is it that in this world of entertainment, we review on mechanics more than fun?

I hope you're not being snarky at me because I legitimately agree :p Jimquisition commented on it in one of his videos recently and it's remarkable how little emphasis there seems to be on fun.

Which is why you're allowed to put games like Burnout above XCOM. Personal enjoyment is pretty important!

[Loony BoB]

I wasn't being snarky, it was a genuine observation. :)


54. Grandia II
PS2, 2000

http://www.aiyon.com/keke/grandia2.png

This is one of those games that I will struggle to write something for because, despite remembering really liking it, I've not played it recently enough to remember it in detail. I do, however, remember that the gameplay itself was good and the dialogue/characters great. I remember particularly liking the character Millenia. I'll have to add this to the long list of games that are probably due me replaying them. xD This is a theme for the games in the 50's, I've found. Those games I adored but just can't quite recall in entirity enough to write out a second paragraph. =x

[Jiro]

I played the third Grandia game and loved it to bits, so I can imagine it was similar!

[Hollycat]

This is relevant to #55
Full playthrough of the game
w9mJ1uV1fkY

[Shauna]

I remember particularly liking the character Minfillia.

He name is Millenia. :stare:

I thoroughly enjoyed Grandia, and Grandia II. Definitely up there in my favourite games. :)

[NeoCracker]

I remember Grandia 2. It was pretty good!

[Loony BoB]

I remember particularly liking the character Minfillia.

He name is Millenia. :stare:

I thoroughly enjoyed Grandia, and Grandia II. Definitely up there in my favourite games. :)
Ahahaha, Minfilia is a major character in FFXIV, I obviously just got 'em mixed up due to playing so much FFXIV lately. xD

[Tigmafuzz]

I remember Grandia 2. It was pretty good!

Also the first one. They're both worth spending the time to play, which can't be said about a lot of games these days.

[Jiro]

I remember particularly liking the character Minfillia.

He name is Millenia. :stare:

I thoroughly enjoyed Grandia, and Grandia II. Definitely up there in my favourite games. :)
Ahahaha, Minfilia is a major character in FFXIV, I obviously just got 'em mixed up due to playing so much FFXIV lately. xD
I noticed this and was like "that's a coincidence". Huh.

[Loony BoB]

53. Alundra
PlayStation, 1997

http://oldgamesftw.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/alundra2012.png

Oh man, going through the screenshots of this game gave me such a nostalgia hit, and it's not the first time this year I've wanted to play the game. Last time I did get a bit of it done, but I would be playing this game so much if it were downloadable on PSN. Is it? Someone find out for me. xD

Anyway. For those unfortunate and unaware, this was what you played instead of Zelda if you didn't own a Nintendo. And it was awesome! I seriously loved the gameplay, the storyline, the terrible name places (seriously, what unfortunate bastard decided on those?), the general feel of the game... all good. The graphics and sound weren't terrible either, given the year. I always get the feeling I'll really enjoy the Zelda games if they're anything like Alundra, which I'm told they most certainly are. :)

EDIT: Unfortunately all the best screenshots I can find at work are located at lparchive, which doesn't allow for hotlinking. =x Another thing I recalled while going through the screenshots is the more, uh, sombre side of the story, which for those who have played it may go without saying.

[Shauna]

I tried Alundra, and I just couldn't get into it. I ended up roaming around with no idea what I was doing, then turning it off, never to play again. xD Maybe I should give it another shot one day...

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I downloaded Alundra from the PSN quite a while back, but I have yet to play it. Someday I need to get around to that as it looks quite fun.

[Loony BoB]

52. Batman: Arkham City
PlayStation 3, 2011

http://www.gamesht.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Batman-Arkham-City-Screenshot.jpg

This game was great - the massive world, the rewards for exploration, the endless riddles (okay, maybe a little too many, although I got them all eventually), the Catwoman antics, the quality story, the correct voice-acting staff, the dramatic events... this was great. It didn't capture me as much as I thought it would in the end, though - I can't remember exactly [i]why[i], either. Perhaps it suffers for me in the same way GTA games suffer in that there is simply too much to do! I definitely played the crap out of it and tried for some time to get all the various trophies before realising that there were too many and some would take too long for it to be even vaguely reasonable. And I say that as someone who Platinum'ed FFXIII.

I felt this game did so much right, though. Just can't place what it is about the game that didn't capture me in the same way as many other games as the mechanics, the characters and just the general gameplay were all top drawer. Perhaps it really is the "too much to do" thing, because I can't think of anything else. Sometimes I like to be able to have a little less going on, I suppose. Time to just enjoy a game. Better pacing, perhaps, would have done well? Either way, it's definitely deserving of being in the top 60. So is the next game on this list, and actually the next game probably deserves to be much higher and I'm saying this now as damage limitation for when certain people soon notice what I've put it all the way down at #51. xD

[NeoCracker]

The Arkham games are intense.

Can't wait for Origins. <3

But yeah, City was amazing. Ras was my favorite part of the game.

[Shauna]

Is Arkham Asylum higher up on the list? Asylum was better than City (I felt).

[Slothy]

I agree Shauna. I felt Asylum was a tighter, more focused experience. City was good, but I felt it didn't do as much as it could have with the more open world concept.

[Jiro]

I only played a bit of City at face's but I think the problem with City is that its open world has no life. It's just Batman and bad guys. I dunno. It felt off. But still a good game.

[Skyblade]

I only played Asylum, and I didn't get far into it. I remembering having some problems with the controls in the free roaming parts (camera seemed screwy), but I really just didn't like the combat. It felt...slow. Like I was controlling a tank, not a person. I've been meaning to go back and retry it.

[Loony BoB]

51. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
PC, 2002

http://static2.gamesrocket.com/ga/images/product_images/17384/images/screenshots/The-Elder-Scrolls-III-Morrowind-GOTY-Edition_nxw4d482cd400a39.jpg

I've been dreading this moment because I know people are going to lambast me for putting such a great game so far down on the list. On some level, I'm one of those people, but I can only go by how much fun I remember having when I played a game and sadly it's just been that long since I last played Morrowind. It ranks as the highest of the games that I struggle to remember everything about, and also (due to Pike's never-ending mentioning and praise) remains one of the games that I am most keen to replay should I ever find the time and enthusiasm.

That aside, this game is awesome. It was the combination of many things done right. The incredible lore, the excellent reward for exploration and likewise the reward for leveling up in that it opens up even more exploration opportunity. As a very, very big fan of games that reward exploration, this game naturally fitted well with me. I also liked the magic system, as if I recall it included not just walking on water but also the ability to fly, which is great. I can't remember anything about the story and I don't remember being overly interested in it, to be honest, but the world was just a wonderful one to walk around completing random quests in. I like that it didn't hold your hand too much and that you had to figure things out for yourself based on clues instead of saying "HEY YOUR NEXT STOP IS HERE LOL".

The environment, though, is the big thing for me and Morrowind just excelled so much in that regard where other Elder Scrolls games such as Oblivion did not. Morrowind had everything - mountains, swamps, beaches, volcanic areas, rolling hills, islands, lakes, the works. It was extremely well done, and I adored exploring, I adored leveling because it allowed me to explore more... it was just great.

Oh, hey, look, I'm half done. xD

[Bolivar]

Idk, the other TES games have all the archetypes you listed, while Morrowind's topography was immersion-shatteringly simple and fake. With the exception of Red Mountain, the world was unrealistically flat, and Bethesda put arbitrary fog in the game to hide just how small it really was. One of the last things you do when modding the game is increase the view distance, but it's a double edged sword in that seeing how close the major landmarks really are makes you feel like you're in an amusement park rather than an open world. It killed the wonder and curiosity of exploration for me, while Oblivion and Skyrim didn't need smoke and mirrors to assure you that you're in a fantasy world brought to life.

Of course the silt striders, the telvanni strongholds, the canals of vivec take care of that well enough on their own, perhaps to a stronger extreme than Skyrim's graphics can. Unfortunately, Morrowind suffers from the burden of being a video game, and it just doesn't have the gameplay to back it up. Even the simple act of moving is a painful experience, a problem modders have tried to solve since the games release over a decade ago and haven't quite figured out.

I beat Morrowind and Tribunal, so obviously that says something about just how strong the story and aesthetics are if I spent that much time with the game. But there are games that have everything Morrowind did along with fun gameplay to boot, some of which are lower ranked on your list.

[Loony BoB]

I never modded it so I never got the 'amusement park' feeling, but I never felt that it was a short ride from A to B. As for your thoughts on the topography and all that - Oblivion was, for me, one of the most boring landscapes ever. Sure, it had hills and whatnot, but I could travel for a very long time and still feel like I was in the same place. It suffered more then FFXIV 1.0 for having long zones where you can travel from one end to the other and have nothing change.

[Bolivar]

Well, I already admitted Morrowind has better diversity, but there's another inverse here. Sure, it had the wastelands, the swamps, the shores but I always knew what I was going to find there, and most of the time it was just more cliff racers.

In oblivion, I'd stumble upon an abandoned church being used by necromancers for messed up experiments. Or a wrecked ship with its dead crew still prowling is depths. Or an island fortress with an underground labyrinth where criminals hunt people for sport. I'd much rather have a traditional setting that surprises me every step of the way than a unique setting that throws cliff tracers and druegh at me LITERALLY every step of the way.

Although I can have the best of both worlds and play Final Fantasy XII instead :D

[Loony BoB]

Did a lot of that happen on Shivering Isles or something? I don't recall some of the stuff you're talking about in vanilla Oblivion. D=

EDIT: Actually, I remember the island fortress now. It was interesting but in the end still looked pretty much exactly like the rest of Oblivion. xD

[Spuuky]

Oblivion is a boring, dull, lifeless void full of automatons pretending to be shopkeepers. What a waste that world was. Skyrim was a bit better, but no, Morrowind's world is SIGNIFICANTLY better than both of them. The actual physical size is irrelevant when compared to the spiritual size of the world.

That's why Gothic games are better than Elder Scrolls games, of course.

[Madame Adequate]

Anyone who thinks Oblivion had an interesting or immersive world needs to get some standards holy crap. Yeah Morrowind is a lot smaller than the fog leads you to believe but so the hell what, it's all so superbly crafted that it doesn't matter. Plus, 'flat'? Yeah if you're in the Ascadian Isles and Bitter Coast maybe, but even the West Gash and Grazelands have big rolling hills and stuff, and most of the rest of Vvardenfel is so mountainous that making your way through the foyadas or gaining reliable levitation is a big part of getting around.

Games that had everything Morrowind does: TES III: Morrowind.

[Aulayna]

Morrowind is one of the most overrated games in video game history.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/003/193/1279052383758.jpg

[Quindiana Jones]

It's only overrated by MILF and Pike. Everybody else gives it exactly the amount of credit it deserves.

[Loony BoB]

50. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
PSP, 2007

http://goatpen.org/reviews/images/crisiscorereview1.gif

In VII, I really liked Cloud, really disliked Aeris and thought Zack was a random moron or something. In CC:VII, I really disliked Cloud, really liked Aerith and thought Zack was a moron. But a likeable moron! And yes, I differ Aeris & Aerith spellings depending on the game. I like Aerith. I don't like Aeris. It's funny how the same character can be so much more likeable in one game than another.

Angeal was pretty awesome too. Genesis... eh. I don't care for his poetry readings, and that's sometimes about all he has. I really, really liked seeing Sephiroth as a 'good guy'. But enough of the characters - the game! I really loved this game and I didn't even complete it. When I say that, I mean, I completed the storyline (which ends in one of the greatest dramatic moments in the history of FF), but I didn't do everything else in the game... notably the treasure hunt type things they have. I should have done more of them because they were pretty cool. I loved the Yuffie stuff, she was hilarious.

The battle system I vaguely understood, although never mastered. The story itself was surprisingly good, the music was good, the feel of the game in general fit the FFVII world perfectly. I know a lot of it might conflict with VII stuff because Angeal/Genesis weren't in VII, for example, but I liked how they played that out and made it work anyway. This, for me, was a great game to supplement an even better game. Which SE aren't great for normally, let alone the rest of the gaming world... so I'm happy.

[Skyblade]

If you "vaguely understood" Crisis Core's battle system, then you mastered it. If Square ever again makes a primary game mechanic based entirely on luck, I'm not going to be happy.

I mostly agree with your breakdown and assessments of characters, except that I never finished the game. I got about as far as the journey to Nibelheim, but then I gave up.

The game was at its best when it was handling the backstory of the FFVII characters. Who Sephiroth was, why he was a hero, how the Turks operated, how Zack and Aerith hooked up, what happened to Wutai during and after the war... This was all great stuff. The new characters in this part of the game, like Lazard and Angeal, were ok, but it was really the cast from the game that really drove it and made it awesome. Seeing why people looked up to Sephiroth, what he was like in a situation where he wasn't a psychotic world destroyer, that was all great.

And, best of all, there was Zack. Zack was awesome. Great writing, brilliant interactions with pretty much the entire team, good story and personality. Then he cut his hair. And I hated him from that moment on. He went from being a fun, enjoyable character with a rich personality to a brooding twit worse than Cloud in most of the Compilation games. That personality change pretty much sealed the deal for me, though I was already driven away from it by two other issues I had with the game. The first of which was the slot machine, and the second was Genesis and the game's "story".

The story of this game was horrible. Not only was it a retcon of FFVII, it was a completely unnecessary one. There was absolutely no reason for Genesis to be in the game. He didn't add anything, he removed layers of depth that the story might have had by giving you a clichéd villain. Everything about the events that occurred could have unfolded without him (since, y'know, he wasn't in FFVII, so we know he wasn't needed), and it would have been a serious character-driven drama instead of the farce with the monsters and the new big bad.

I loved the beginning of the game. When you're just living in FFVII's world, exploring Midgar or Wutai, meeting familiar faces (like Yuffie, who was completely in character), doing squats, meeting Aerith (and the brilliantly written relationship the two had), meeting Tseng and getting teased about your low pay grade... When that was going on, I thought this game was brilliant (again, except for the slot machine). Once the game stopped being about FFVII and started being about Genesis, though, I quit. It just lost everything that had made it great before.

[Madame Adequate]

ahahahahahaha

[Bolivar]

I think I just realized this entire thread has been one sprawling troll, at least starting from the FFIX placement.

[Slothy]

But that must mean he's trolling everyone, because obviously Crisis Core being on the list at all is laughable, but Morrowind is definitely better than Oblivion. I mean, he's trolling so many groups of people on so many levels that I don't even know how I'm supposed to feel about his list anymore.

[Aulayna]

ITT: People are still shocked by BoB's opinions.

I mean come on, this is the guy that said Soup is drink.

Why are you people even surprised anymore?

[Aulayna]

http://i.imgflip.com/42039.jpg (http://imgflip.com/i/42039)

[Loony BoB]

...they are better than Oblivion. How many of you have played Crisis Core? It was good! Oblivion was good, too, but Crisis Core was more interesting for me by some distance.

EDIT: Wait, I just re-read that pic. I never said Oblivion was better than Morrowind. Quite the contrary.

EDITRA: It's cool, we can all have opinions on things. Mine just happen to be right.

[Hollycat]

Those of you who don't like Crisis core probably didn't give it a fair chance or were too wrapped up in nostalgia to see the beauty that is CC. I'm not going to say the story was better than FF7, but it wasn't worse either. The gameplay was fun, the game itself beautiful, and the characters well fleshed out. Plus, swimsuit battles.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah nah CC might be a decent game but it's not as good as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Batman: Arkham City, Alundra, Grandia II, Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced, Crysis, Dune, Mario Kart 64, Worms, Resistance: Fall of Man, Burnout Paradise, inFamous, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Wipeout HD, SimCity, Streets of Rage, Star Control, Gothic II, Crash Bandicoot, Civilization II, Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit, Destruction Derby, Syndicate, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Jump 'n Bump, Wolfenstein 3D, Duke Nukem, Tomb Raider (2013), Final Fantasy IX, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Jeptack, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Brian Lara Cricket 2005, GunBound, Solar Winds, The Sims 3, Toejam & Earl, Mortal Kombat, Road Rash II, Operation Neptune, Commander Keen (series), or Dig Dug.

[Jiro]

Man anything you put after Morrowind was going to seem retarded but I guess I kind of follow. Crisis Core is fun. Morrowind is deep in your memory banks. Still doesn't stop it seeming incredibly backwards but I'll live.

[Hollycat]

Morrowind is so nostalgia driven it isn't even funny. The game as a whole is pretty good, but by todays standards the gameplay is bad, the interface worse, and the story just average.

[Spuuky]

Morrowind is so nostalgia driven it isn't even funny. The game as a whole is pretty good, but by todays standards the gameplay is bad, the interface worse, and the story just average.See, people like to say things like this to me. But the gameplay is legitimately better than Skyrim's - is Skyrim not up to "todays standards"?

By the way, I didn't play Morrowind forever ago. Unfortunately I missed it when it was a new/modern game.

[Quindiana Jones]

The base gameplay of ES games stays functionally the same, as well. It's never been very active or entertaining to just gently wail on some air until the picture in it died, but at least Morrowind made the experience slightly more challenging and enjoyable by having your skills actually affect your performance. I'm honestly of the opinion that Elder Scrolls games are pretty shoddy in terms of gameplay, and that their main - and most impressive - characteristic is the world. The best way to play them is as an NPC. xD

[Bolivar]

Morrowind is so nostalgia driven it isn't even funny. The game as a whole is pretty good, but by todays standards the gameplay is bad, the interface worse, and the story just average.See, people like to say things like this to me. But the gameplay is legitimately better than Skyrim's

The skill systems behind Morrowind's gameplay are more authentic in their RPG spirit.

But other than that... idk. There are no puzzles. The traps entirely consist of doors and chests that glow purple so you know what they are. The dungeon layout design lacks even an ounce of creativity. Stealth is a hollow mechanic. As is enchanting. And over a decade of modding hadn't been able to alleviate just how painful the movement and combat are.

Morrowind is a better designed setting. Oblivion and Skyrim are better designed video games.

[Spuuky]

So you're trying to tell me that you find that a flaw of Morrowind is its hollow combat, and poor dungeon design, but that Oblivion and Skyrim don't have this problem...?

[Bolivar]

More or less. They have great dungeons, filled with vertically tiered layouts, door switches, puzzles and traps, many of which you can turn on your enemies if you're clever enough.

I know Quin would disagree but I've enjoyed my melee characters in Tes4 and 5. Its all about getting into a rhythm with your dance partner, moving out of the way of their swings, blocking when you must, and waiting for just the right moment to attempt a critical strike. That's fun to me. I'll admit, when multiple enemies come into the picture, it tends to fall a part.

But there were so many other things that simply had better game design that I mentioned in my previous post.

[Quindiana Jones]

After playing games that actually had dynamic and stylish combat, it's difficult to go back to ES games. :(

It's why I pretty much always play an archer, because stealth and ragdolling are fun. :D

[Jessweeee♪]

Crisis Core was an enjoyable game. And when I'm not playing it and I forget Genesis was in it, it's a pretty darn good one.

[Elly]

some of y'all may find it laughable the Crisis Core's even on the list much less it's placement, but it's all a matter of perspective... personally i believe a tribute game like FFIX doesn't belong on the list at all due to it being just a tribute and CC belongs much higher... just my personal taste and opinion...

[Loony BoB]

Is Arkham Asylum higher up on the list? Asylum was better than City (I felt).

49. Batman: Arkham Asylum
PS3, 209

http://playstationer.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/arkham_asylum_gargoyle-580x326.jpg

I agree, Shauna. While City was certainly bigger, Asylum felt more focused, which to be fair wasn't incredibly tricky given how much you get thrown around the place in City. I liked the combat a little better, too, and I'm not sure why - I had a lot more fun in Asylum in that room where you're basically surrounded by 40 goons and spent ages trying to get that flawless fight in there. I can't even remember if I got it, but just going back in over and over after every little mistake is something I actually remember fondly despite the constant failure - it was sort of like playing a minigame, even though it was just the standard combat.

I think the story was a bit better, too, although (obviously for those who have played both) the ending wasn't amazing by comparison. It felt more realistic, which I feel Batman should, and I enjoyed getting the collectables. In City it felt like a chore after a while with the insane volume of collectables there were, but I think Asylum got it just right. Still, both are really good games... I just feel that this one is better.

[Shauna]

Yay!

[Loony BoB]

48. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
PS2, 2004

http://www.gamerstemple.net/vg/games9/001178/001178s43.jpg

I mean, I didn't even get to the other two cities. I just spent hours and hours doing the gang wars stuff, doing random quests and (more than anything) grabbing my dirtbike and making incredibly insane jumps around that south west region, I forget what it was called but I'm pretty sure it was a massive mining pit or something. This game was all kinds of fun and had no real start or end. I imagine that when I eventually get around to playing GTA V I'm going to seriously enjoy myself, big time.

A couple of criticisms about the game worth mentioning - well, one in particular. The two player sucked balls. I'm sure that whatever they have for GTA V is great, and I'm glad for that (assumptions are fun). The two player in GTA:SA, though, urgh. Horrible. We stopped very, very quickly.

Not much to say about this game overall though as it's been a long time since I played it and I never got anywhere close to finishing it or exploring the world. That's my second mild criticism - I don't like how it tried to get you to do everything at once. GTA IV was even worse for this (and before anyone asks, GTA IV is not on my top 100), but I probably would have done a lot more in SA if I didn't feel obligated to defend my territory all the time.

[Psychotic]

Yeah the two player was kind of gack, but at the time it was alright. And I mean alright. South West was Mount Chiliad my friend, which returns in GTA V.

Also I distinctly remember you having a huge moan about this game in my LiveJournal back in the day. In fact, just found the comment. " Sounds more like Tom Cruise than Al Pacino." :p Your cousin seemed to like it though!

[NeoCracker]

San Andreas? More like San An-BORE-us am I right?

...I'm just going to walk away now. :(

[Slothy]

San Andreas? More like San An-BORE-us am I right?

...I'm just going to walk away now. :(

I agree to an extent. The opening sections in Los Santos were quite good, and there were some good parts later on, but for the most part once you're run out of Los Santos things meander far too much and seem largely disconnected from the story the first part of the game sets up. And by the time it gets back on track it seems like more of an after thought. And this is to say nothing of their being almost nothing to do in the third city. You kind of show up, do a mission or two, then head back to Los Santos to wrap things up. For the amount of content it had they might as well have just removed it.

Vice City was a much better game in that sense. It didn't waste a bunch of time puttering about in the country side or with useless cities. It grabbed you by the balls and never let go.

[Quindiana Jones]

I liked the blind guy who repeatedly kicked your ass at computer games.

[Loony BoB]

47. Final Fantasy XIII
PS3, 2009

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leh5f97pVz1qbodpu.jpg

I don't care if it got a "terrible" score of 83 (critics) and 7.7 (users) on Metacritic, I really liked this game. The highlight for me would be how well we got to know the characters. Perhaps with the exception of Fang, I really feel like I got to know each of the main characters in this game to a notable degree. Not just a case of "this is my story" but also a case of their personality. This is probably a product of the improved voice acting (I know some people hated Vanille, but I didn't mind after I got over tennis grunts), the snippets of dialogue we get from them as they move around and, of course, the improved graphics which brought a lot more variation in the facial expressions of each characters, well beyond that of Final Frowntasy XII (seriously, I can't remember any of that Ivalice crew smiling, ever - I'm sure they did, but when I think of their faces... all pouty, all the time).

It's true that there wasn't much to do and that did annoy me just like it annoyed pretty much everyone else. I didn't like the fact that I couldn't return to the old areas... but at the same time it made sense for the story. You're refugees on the run, why would you go backwards? As for the story itself, I feel it had the potential to be so much more. I still kind of wish that we saw something majorly dramatic, like Hope actually succumbing to the stresses he was under and turning into a Cie'th and the other five having to kill him. I feel that would have been a very notable moment in FF history. I guess they just couldn't bring themselves to do that. Same with Sahz, although I would have been mortified if he actually went through with that. Still, with all said and done, I really did enjoy the game and I've had the urge to play it again sometimes, so I'm sure I eventually will.

I also really liked the music in this game, which is very underappreciated. I think this is because of the amount of voice acting in the game and the loud sound effects in various locations. Danielle and I use Snow's Theme as our go-to music for boss fights when playing FFXIV. :D

[Slothy]

I don't care if it got a "terrible" score of 83 (critics) and 7.7 (users) on Metacritic

Critics and users were being overly generous. It's a five out of ten at most for being a well polished turd.

[Loony BoB]

I don't care if it got a "terrible" score of 83 (critics) and 7.7 (users) on Metacritic

Critics and users were being overly generous. It's a five out of ten at most for being a well polished turd.
So's your face. :mad2:

[Jessweeee♪]

The soundtrack is amazing. As much as I love Uematsu, I've always enjoyed Hamauzu's tracks more. FFXIII is definitely tied with FFX as my favorite soundtrack (and Hamauzu had a hand in that one as well). I love this game. Sometimes it's my favorite Final Fantasy. Sometimes it's FFX, FFXII, or FFVIII. Depends on what mood I'm in.

The only gripe I have is that it takes so long to unlock everything. It didn't bother me the first time through, but after that it's like "okay it's been two hours now can I do something besides 'Attack'" Which is something I don't say with other Final Fantasies because 'Attack' is all I do in most battles for the entire game. FFXIII made defensive/buffer roles more necessary, which is something I really liked.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

^That's something I actually really like about this game. Not only having attack available for so long, but with how useful the different classes became. The game made me have to think somewhat strategically about how I can utilize most all of the classes available to me. That being said, the strategy became almost exactly the same for every single enemy after a while, but it was at least nice using the different paradigms.

[Shauna]

Thinking about it, I believe that FFXIII was the first time I had ever felt I actually needed to use something other than the Attack (and maybe occasional Cure) command to get through the game. I suppose this is just coming off the back of playing FF7 where to get through the main story I mashed the Attack button and won the game.

But I also thoroughly enjoyed FF13. :3

[Bolivar]

I'm tempted to bring up all the titles on this list that are better and more important than FFXIII but really I just salute you, BoB, for giving a game its chance and liking it for what it is instead of taking to the cynical temptation to unfairly scrutinize it on a message board.

A big part of what I love about FFXIII is absolutely the cast. These were undoubtedly the most fully fleshed out characters in the series to date.

And the music... I think this was the first video game I played in digital surround sound. The detail, subtlety, and overall mastery of dts proved to me that regardless of their reputation, SE most certainly still has some of the most talented people in the business.

Anyway, sure, it was linear, but in the sensational way that a roller coaster is. With its fun combat and emotional story, XIII was a great ride, one I'll definitely be taking sometime again.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

Somewhat unrelated, but I'm really tempted to post the picture you have for XIII up on my Facebook on Saturday for my birthday just because I think it's funny. But none of my friends would have any idea what that game is and would probably think it was serious or something.

[Quindiana Jones]

Hey, my birthday is this Saturday too!

Anyway, the main reason I have never played FFXIII is because the only common statement in everybody's opinion of it is "It gets good after [x] hours". I just cannot be arsed to drag through something because it gets good near the end. I'll give it a go someday, though.

[Slothy]

instead of taking to the cynical temptation to unfairly scrutinize it on a message board.

There's no such thing as unfairly scrutinizing anything. I believe you mean criticize, and even then, none of the criticism FFXIII has ever had leveled against it is unfair. It is truly one of the worst games I've ever played, certainly of the modern era if not ever, and all because they forgot to put a real game in there somewhere. Unless your idea of a good game is removing player agency completely. If that's the case then it was wonderful. 10/10.

As for the characters and story, I can safely direct you to everything Wolf Kanno ever said about it. Most of the time the characters, their motivations, and the story itself have no real direction or goal and often make no sense. And let's not get started on the fact that you have go read the in game encyclopedia to get important, and very much necessary, background information on the world and the people in it. And even on the rare occasion the story isn't busy shitting itself, its still held back by the simple fact that none of the characters aside from Sarah are actually likeable. It's an awful game on every level that actually matters.

[Bolivar]

That's so overwhelmingly cynical to say its an "awful game on every level that matters" especially when you don't dispute our enjoyment of the music and presentation.

The characters motivations made perfect sense to me. What was awesone was how those motivations scraped against and often times collided with eachother with the different character pairings.

XIII had really good writing.

[Spuuky]

XIII had really good writing.looooooooooooooooooooooooool

[Loony BoB]

Actually, I agree with that. The plot might have gone to crap, but I really liked the writing. The banter between characters was believable.

[Karifean]

Final Fantasy XIII may be my least favorite of the series, but it was still a very good game. I didn't think too highly of the battle rating system at first, but it's a good motivator to try and get battles done more efficiently, which ultimately is what makes the combat system so deep, interesting and fun. The challenge of FF XIII isn't to simply get through the battles, but to get a good rating in the process. I feel that too many players never found the enjoyment in it, which is a shame.

I'll never get tired of this series changing.

[Aulayna]

BoB's Top 100 Games - #47: Final Fantasy XIII (yes, Final Fantasy XIII - bite me!)

Pass. Everyone who's been in your vicinity has fallen ill.

[Laddy]

I'm assuming BoB's Top 100 games consist of the only 100 games he has played.

[Jessweeee♪]

I'm half tempted to do a top 100 myself because everyone will hate it.

Phantasy Star Universe
FFXIII
Threads of Fate
Oblivion isn't on it
FFVI was sort of ok
etc

[Loony BoB]

I'm assuming BoB's Top 100 games consist of the only 100 games he has played.
I had an initial list of about 220 games that I narrowed down to this 100, and I reckon I've played at least 300 games enough to be able to give an opinion on them and perhaps that would perhaps go up to about 500 if you include other games that I played for a short while. My biggest problem is probably that I forget the names of the games I played in years past.

[TrollHunter]

I really didnt like XIII's story, I didnt like many of the characters, I didnt like the linearity (even if its justified by the story... I didnt like the story), I didnt like that it had persona syndrome (Can't you just use a smurfing phoenix down on me? No? Okay...) BUT there were many things I liked

I LIKED
The music
The variety of the jobs and how useful they were (but I HATED the ranking system mind you.)
The challenge of even basic battles (they dont hold back because they give you back all your hp/mp after the fight, and some of the fights are BRUTAL)
The music. Oh GOD the music.
The creativity of the environments, even if we really dont get to explore them
and simply, this game is just good eye-candy.

But yea, I dont want to play for hours of the game again just to start maybe having fun. It's not as bad as people make it out to be (many people level their complaints purely at the story, but thats not the only thing that matters). But the thing is even the stuff I liked I doubt I'll ever experience again because it has little to no replay-ability. I will continue to listen to the music all the time though.

[Jiro]

I mean it was alright. I glossed over the plot even more than FFXII so that doesn't help, but the characters were a little more realistic and I kind of gave a shit that they were trying to do something and it was hard (I don't know what they were trying to do or why it was hard but I feel for 'em).

Also re: the smiles comment, it's hard for me to picture Balthier not smiling but other than that yeah FFXII was kind of morose.

[Raistlin]

XIII had really good writing.looooooooooooooooooooooooool

Yeah, I have to agree with Spuuky. Some of FFXIII's writing was pretty good, including parts of the character dialogue and development in the early chapters. But the story writing, especially after chapter 9 or so, was some of the worst writing in the entire series. As in, jaw-droppingly awful.

FFXIII's battle system was actually a positive for me (although I wish it would have built more on FFXII's system), but everything collateral to the battle system was a negative. The weapons upgrade system was a joke, the leveling-up system was very simplistic, and it seemed like gil was only added to the game as a very late afterthought. And, of course, the entire game (minus chapter 11) was wandering down one straight path that was basically a caricature of linearity.

[Slothy]

That's so overwhelmingly cynical to say its an "awful game on every level that matters" especially when you don't dispute our enjoyment of the music and presentation.

I barely remember the music, and aside from the battle theme I don't remember thinking much of it was overly good. But even if it had the greatest soundtrack in human history it would still be an awful game. The music doesn't make it suck less on that front. And I'm not even sure what the hell you mean by presentation? Are you talking art style? Because its art style was also an afront to human senses.The people who made those monster designs in particular don't seem to know anything about making designs that read well visually.

I'm honestly a bit dumbfounded that when I say it's an awful game, that I need to expand beyond talking about the gameplay to make that point.


The characters motivations made perfect sense to me. What was awesone was how those motivations scraped against and often times collided with eachother with the different character pairings.

Seriously? The only person actually bothered by their situation, which is objectively the worst thing any of them could have imagined, is Sazh. Meanwhile, Vanille hides important information from them because reasons, Hope wants to kill Snow for something any moron could see wasn't his fault, and Lightning encourages him to do it in one chapter, then has a change of heart in the next for absolutely no reason which is ever explained.

If you consider those characters well written then I honestly don't see how. One of them was. Only one. The rest of spend the whole game being morons and doing things for absolutely no reason that makes sense. Hell, they even switch their intended goals multiple times, to say nothing of the villains whose plan doesn't even make sense when you look at what they're trying to do and how they actually try to accomplish it.

Like I said, in every way that really matters it is an awful game. There's no getting around it. And no matter how much graphical polish, voice acting, and a decent soundtrack they may have tried to cover it up with, it's one of the worst RPG's I've ever watched (saying I played it would be giving it more credit than it deserves since what few things it let me decide were completely obvious and only had one correct choice. So basically, it didn't let me decide anything of value all game long).

[Bolivar]

Vanille hides information because she' arguably the reason the characters are suffering so much. Hope watched his mother die in front of him because of Snow's overly-hazardous heroics. Lightning (maybe) encouraged him because she was still reeling from the anger of blaming him for what happened to Serah, while time (as in real life) dulled that emotion and led to more sober advice.

You still haven't established that it's bad writing without ignoring obvious plot points ("because reasons") or doing so while throwing around insults ("any moron could see"). XIII had fun combat, great presentation, and a story you more or less expect from Square at this point. If we put the same microscope you're using on XIII over the games you like, I'm sure we could bring them down to just as low a level.

Would you disagree?

[black orb]

47. Final Fantasy XIII - PS3, 2009

61. Final Fantasy XII - PS2, 2006
84. Final Fantasy IX - PSX, 2000

>>> Okaaaaay..

But, why FFX is not below XIII? I thought you did not like FFX.
Or maybe FFX is not part of your top100?..:luca:

[Loony BoB]

FFX is most definitely not part of my top 100 games.

EDIT: Sorry for the delays, btw. Work got buys, and FFXIV got extra-fun.

[Ayen]

I commend you for being able to narrow this down to a hundred. Don't think I could get that far.

[Loony BoB]

46. Grandia
PSX, 1997

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo161/kewlguy715/GrandiaLiete-timewasted.png

I'm kind of excited to get this one out of the way as the vast majority of the remaining games I remember much more vividly. Still, I remember enough about this game to remember loving it. When I first started playing I felt like it was going to be way too kiddy-focused for me. The audience the developers were aiming for, was, I felt, much younger than I was because the protagonists were barely teenagers (actually, I don't think either were teenagers). Oh, how wrong was I! This game is awesome and one of the best RPGs I've played outside of the Final Fantasy series.

The battle system was interesting for someone who had spent so much time in FF, while the writing was actually really good, the kind of stuff that I'm sure kids could enjoy but I know that adults can definitely enjoy. It wasn't exceptional but it was still really entertaining all round. The characters grew on me quite a lot, and I found the story quite interesting despite how rarely it seemed to really envelop the game. The settings were actually really nice, too. Just an all round good game in which the longer I played, the more I enjoyed it and the longer I hoped the game would be.

[Hollycat]

Eew.

The voice acting in Grandia is horrible.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I really want to play Grandia someday. I've played most of Grandia II, and that was pretty fun.

[Loony BoB]

Eew.

The voice acting in Grandia is horrible.
The battle-based stuff I just ignored after a while, it kind of phased into nothingness. The rest of it was so rare that it didn't bother me, I guess.

[Shauna]

The voice acting really was not great, but Grandia is a super fun game. :D

[Polnareff]

Eew.

The voice acting in Grandia is horrible.

I kind of disagree with this. It's fairly bad, but especially for its time, it was serviceable. Justin and Feena were definitely the best in the lot though.

Grandia is an awesome game. I have it for PSX, the PSN version, AND the Saturn version. The Saturn one is best because the load times are almost nonexistent. The colors are also a lot brighter as well. The battle system is my favorite part of the game. It was so deep. I have no idea why they downsized the exploration and battle system in Grandia 2. At least Xtreme brought it back to its roots for the most part.

[NeoCracker]

I use to own Grandia! For like, thirty minutes. I bought it, sat it on the shelf, got my hair cut, came back and it was gone, never to be seen again. :cry:

So I still haven't played it! :monster:

[Laddy]

No, the voice acting was not especially good. Considering we got the English version in 1999 and games like Fallout and Torment were out I don't buy that excuse. :p

Grandia was awesome. It felt very Saturday Morning Anime to me, but in a good way. The soundtrack was great, the plot fun, the character likable, and the locations and battle system are up there with some of the best.

[WildRaubtier]

This thread has had terrible pacing, recently. Move it on, Danny boy! I SAID HUSTLE

[NeoCracker]

*Insert me re-posting all of BoB's nagging to post more in my thread*

[Loony BoB]

No, I've not forgotten about this! Work just got very busy lately.


45. GoldenEye 007
N64, 1997

http://splodinator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Multiplayer.jpg

Man, 1997 was such a great year for gaming. This is one of the two N64 games I would play regularly when we hung out at our neighbours (the other being Mario Kart 64, as mentioned earlier in the list). GoldenEye was all kinds of fun. It was great in single player mode and it was even better in multiplayer. No sneaking around back in those days, either - you had what was happening thrown up on your screen which meant if you tried to camp, you were a dead man in seconds.

I haven't played this in well over a decade but I remember it extremely fondly. :) Not much to add to this due to the length of time since I last played it, but I'm sure you all know what I mean when I say you don't need to remember the finer details because the general memories of fun alone were enough to put this quite high up on the list! Maybe it was the great people I played it with, but given how many other people love this game, I don't think it's merely that. 'tis just that good a game.

[Psychotic]

Ah yes, I love GoldenEye! I have my N64 set up so if you are ever in the area, come see us and we will have a bash.

I have to say the N64 controller set up is thoroughly wrist destroying compared to modern shooters!

[Aulayna]

GoldenEye was the best. Had so much fun doing silly stuff like 1 hit kills on the Aztec temple with just PP7s (that map is notorious for it's short view distances). I think we played Perfect Dark more due to being able to have bots as well, but yeah I definitely lost a lot of my childhood to this game. Was the whole reason I managed to convince my mother's bf to buy an N64 lol

[Jiro]

Oh man, GoldenEye. Even I have fond memories of this and I barely even touched an N64

[Pike]

I think Goldeneye 007 is my favorite shooter of all time. The graphics aged terribly but back in the day I played this for months.

[Agent Proto]

I don't often check these kind of threads, mainly because there's a lot that I have missed but considering you have named Goldeneye 007 as #45 meant that it's a freaking good game! This I do agree with because it's a great multiplayer and shooter. I'm sure I could still pick it up and enjoy it nowadays, but I may cringe at the now slow frame rates. Back then, it was pretty good.

[Bolivar]

Overrated by those hip and stylish rose-tinted glasses, but it's still list-worthy off the strength of the memories alone. I think only Smash Bros. edges it out as the top N64 party classic for me, if only because it still plays and looks good.

[Raistlin]

Yeah it probably is 95% nostalgia, but Goldeneye was so damn fun when I was 10. I don't think I've ever again played multiplayer in another game as much as I did for Goldeneye. I don't think I ever even bothered to beat the single player mode.

[Del Murder]

Goldeneye is awesome. Half my college freshman year was spent playing this with my roommates.

Also I wonder how long I will be in the EoFF grave before BoB gets to number 1 on this list (which will probably be something lame like FFXIII or Journey).

[Loony BoB]

That all depends on how soon you die, Murd. :shifty:


44. Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
aka Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
PC, 1992

http://kunochan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dune2_2.jpg

Oh man! I loved this game so much! I played it like crazy. I won with all sides, of course, but Harkonnen was my favourite because I like brutal high powered tanks. I have a soft spot for the Atreides purely because of Fremen usage (shame Ornithopters were so easily destroyed, though), but hey, this is one game I actually enjoy being the bad guys, so I'll take that. I would build epic fortresses with far too many rocket turrets for any opponent to break through, send out scouts for recon duty and then, when strong enough, send down about two thirds of my forces and pretty much bulldoze the enemy.

This game is pretty much the Godfather of RTS and every RTS since has generally been modelled from the Dune II system, and I adore how well they did everything from the get-go. There were a few key things missing, sure, but this game is still playable today if you have the patience for the lack of group-select system. Handing out individual orders all the time can be a slight pain. Anyways, yeah, just everything about this game was golden for me when I played it. Great fun.

[Bolivar]

Never played it but I'm so immensely thankful for what this game did for the medium. It not only defined what Real Time Strategy is, but think about how many subgenres came out of it, like Real Time Tactics and now, the most popular genre in the world today, MOBAs.

[Skyblade]

Go ahead and play it, Bolivar. It's easy to emulate, and still a decent experience. It's got some technical flaws and issues, but it's still a fun game.

I'd like to point out that this game had a console version as well, and it's kind of fascinating how this remains one of the best console RTS games ever. The controls still aren't optimized for an RTS, but this game does the best it can, and was clearly designed with the limitations in mind (or just working in an entirely new field, as one of the first RTS games period). With a relatively low unit count and slow time system, it lets you use the clunky controls better than almost any RTS since. You have time to react, plan, build up, and even micro effectively if you want to, which is pretty much unheard of in a console RTS game. The PC version is still definitely better, but the console one is worth playing, in my opinion, just to see how well it functions compared to most of those that came sense.

Also, the new house, House Ordos, has some pretty awesome stuff, and is a well plotted out addition to the lore. Though I don't really follow the lore. Sorry, not that much of a Dune fan, I just like the games.

[Loony BoB]

43. Age of Empires
PC, 1997

http://www.agemania.com.br/images/age1-ror/screenshot_2.jpg

The original, because anything involving guns and cannons just doesn't interest me nearly as much as bows, arrows, swords and spears will. My cousin, Sus, had a friend who would occasionally come over with four desktops, set them up in her kitchen and we would all play against each other. It was like RISK... broken alliances were commonplace and as we couldn't see each other's screens, the chuckling/cackling that would occasionally come around would set everyone else in the room on a wild panic. xD

The game was well designed, I loved the balance in it all, and we always had loads of fun. I tried the later AoE games but couldn't really get into them like I did the first. It's like the RTS version of Civ... I like starting from scratch, not with a bunch of technology already under my belt. All in all a great game. :)

[Spuuky]

Wait, but AoE2 has all the characteristics you mentioned but is objectively a better game.

[Loony BoB]

They have gunpowder in AoEII!

[Spuuky]

Only in the latest ages, and only a few.

[Loony BoB]

Exactly. They had it. I guess, really, though, it comes down to experiences. I just never enjoyed the atmosphere of AoEII nearly as much as AoE. I don't know what it was - perhaps the people I played the game with (okay, this definitely played a part), perhaps the lack of a British civilization, I dunno. It just seemed so much more 'fantasy' than the second game.

[Spuuky]

Exactly. They had it. I guess, really, though, it comes down to experiences. I just never enjoyed the atmosphere of AoEII nearly as much as AoE. I don't know what it was - perhaps the people I played the game with (okay, this definitely played a part), perhaps the lack of a British civilization, I dunno. It just seemed so much more 'fantasy' than the second game.Even though it is actually much less fantasy? I see. Well, fair enough. By the way, gunpowder predates the military dominance of the English longbow.

[Bolivar]

I've only played the second game but I'm sure they're all amazing titles and I could see how whichever one you have the most memories with would be your favorite. AoEII was absolutely epic to play over LAN with some buddies, I'm hoping to get the HD remaster on Steam so maybe one day we could keep the good times rolling, yeah?

[Raistlin]

AoE2 took everything AoE1 did and made it better. It's like Picard vs. Kirk: no contest.

[Pike]

AoE2 took everything AoE1 did and made it better.

This is accurate.


It's like Picard vs. Kirk: no contest.

This is debatable. 99% of people who say this have not seen TOS in its entirety and I only accept "Best Captains" arguments from people who have

[Loony BoB]

When I say 'fantasy' I suppose I better mean 'something that ignites my imagination'. The English dark ages do not do this nearly as much as the Roman bronze age, or even earlier times. I loved that there were no British nations in AoE, and that it had a massively Mediterranean / North African vibe.

[Ayen]

I just saw Road Rash II was on the list. That game was freaking awesome!

[Madame Adequate]

When I say 'fantasy' I suppose I better mean 'something that ignites my imagination'. The English dark ages do not do this nearly as much as the Roman bronze age, or even earlier times.

There was no Roman bronze age, it had been over for centuries by the time the Palatine Hill was settled. So, yes, pretty fantastical. :smug:

[Shauna]

Wo lo lo

[Loony BoB]

42. Halo 3
360, 2007

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/27/technology/circuits/27games.600.jpg

Halo 3 is the first Halo I played (I've only played one other - I think it was ODST) and it was a blast. I know that everyone goes on about the high difficulty campaigns and the PVP and "challenging yourself" or whatever, but sod that, I played this game for the pure fun factor that can only be provided by not taking it seriously. That meant I would be the decoy runner in the middle of a wide, open area during team matches, I would be the first player killed in deathmatches and I would occasionally fluke a top rank and be able to brag about it without coming across as a complete dick. I liked that!

It also meant I would play the campaign in normal mode or maybe one difficulty higher, I forget. I played it with Danielle, Jess and Psy and it was seriously so much fun. I genuinely miss PvE FPS gaming with friends. Everyone these days is so obsessed with PVP but it's just not my thing at all. I love co-op, and it will probably show when you look up and down this list once I bother to complete it.

The game itself is really colourful, which was a nice touch compared to many of the considerably drab FPS games that you get even today. The general gameplay was balanced and enjoyable. The weapons were quite fun, I particularly liked the one that fired crystal shards or whatever, I forget all the names. I liked the plot of the campaign enough to bother keeping up with it, and I loved fighting the Flood. The main credit to my enjoyment, even during much of the PVP (and I did play for a fair while, more than I normally would), though, goes to the likes of Dan, Jess, Psy and others who I happened to party with from time to time, because while I did inevitably get bored of being "the awful one", it was great fun while it lasted.

[Psychotic]

Remember when a machine gun shot Danielle and she told you a machine gun did it and you had no idea what machine gun shot her? ("What machine gun, honey?" was the exact phrase)

IT WAS ME

I WAS THE MACHINE GUN

OH GOD

I CAN'T KEEP IT SECRET ANY LONGER I AM SO SORRY :crying2:

[Hollycat]

Your list is just a giant troll isn't it?

[Loony BoB]

Your face is a giant troll. :mad2:

Remember when a machine gun shot Danielle and she told you a machine gun did it and you had no idea what machine gun shot her? ("What machine gun, honey?" was the exact phrase)

IT WAS ME

I WAS THE MACHINE GUN

OH GOD

I CAN'T KEEP IT SECRET ANY LONGER I AM SO SORRY :crying2:
I... do not remember this. xD

[Hollycat]

Your face is a giant troll. :mad2:

:cry:

[Loony BoB]

I don't think there's anything wrong with finding Halo 3 to be the 42nd best game of all the games I've ever played!

[Bolivar]

Wait, but AoE2 has all the characteristics you mentioned but is objectively a better game.

Of course not, unless you've also happened to play Age of Empires, Final Fantasy IX, Civilization, Toe Jam and Earl, Solitare, etc...

[Loony BoB]

41. Mass Effect 3
360, 2012

http://www.aiyon.com/keke/me3.png

ME3's ending scarred it but we've all talked to death about that by now, so I'll just ignore it. The scanning system for getting resources was fairly dull too, so I'll also ignore that. The team in this iteration was pretty cool, though. I particularly liked the Traynor chick, if only because I really dug that accent.

My favourite parts were the ones that didn't really have much to do with the main story, but to do with the race lore. Legion's missions were really interesting, while the entire Krogan world storyline was just awesome. The banter between characters remained great, although the male Shephard I used remains lacking for the most part (screenshot above being one of the better exceptions to that rule, arguably his finest moment).

Overall, a good, solid game - ending aside. The gameplay itself was solid, too, and the worlds to explore were good fun. The nods to actions made in the previous games were cool, and I hope more games do this in the future, to an even bigger degree.

[NeoCracker]

I don't think there's anything wrong with finding Halo 3 to be the 42nd best game of all the games I've ever played!

And that's why no one takes you seriously.

[Loony BoB]

Like you would know anything about games that aren't RPGs or fighter games. ;)

[Psychotic]

Halo 3 is better than whatever NeoCracklet's favourite game is.

Also I was kind of addicted to resource scanning!

[Slothy]

I don't think there's anything wrong with finding Halo 3 to be the 42nd best game of all the games I've ever played!

You haven't played very many games though.

[Loony BoB]

Not everyone can afford as many games as you guys. :p I've played enough to make a list, though! 300-500 games over the years is what some people would call 'many' and some would call 'few'. *shrug* Relativity.

[Pike]

I haven't played any Halos past 2. Should I?

(This question directed towards people who are not Lonny BoB as he has not played the first two.)

[Hollycat]

Halo 3's campaign is very short, but still feels drug out. It also has a completely arbitrary difficulty curve. It goes from easy to difficult to so easy your grandmother could do it in the space of an hour.

I can't answer for 4, haven't played it.


Putting Mass Effect 3 this far ahead slightly redeems this list. But only a little.

[Skyblade]

You said we would put aside the ending, BoB, and I can understand that for the overview purpose. But I am curious. Had its ending been as satisfactory as the rest of the game, would the game's position on your list have changed?

[Jessweeee♪]

I still don't think the ending was all that bad and terrible. The new extended endings are interesting but I feel like they just don't fit.

Also Femshep has the best voice acting ever in a video game protagonist.

[Quindiana Jones]

I tried to play ME3 but found it unplayably awful.

[Hollycat]

I tried to play ME3 but found it unplayably awful.

You are one of "those" people aren't you? I bet you think xblades was better than god of war, don't you?

Also, Jesweeeeeeeeeeeeee I partially agree, she certainly was a very good voice actress, but I think there have been a few better, unless by protagonist, you just mean the PC. In that case, you are correct.

[Quindiana Jones]

I am one of those people who was intensely disappointed that they made an excellent series boring as fuck, yes. Still never even seen the ending. Never even seen the god damn middle of the game. xD

[Hollycat]

I am one of those people who was intensely disappointed that they made an excellent series boring as smurf, yes. Still never even seen the ending. Never even seen the god damn middle of the game. xD
D:

wat?
Why didn't you like it?

[Quindiana Jones]

It just bored me stiff. I'm a massive fan of the first, and I think the second one was great too, but the third just had absolutely nothing that held my interest. :gator:

[Psychotic]

I tried to play ME3 but found it unplayably awful.
I remember you giggling with glee at being an engineer and having a turret in the multiplayer demo. Don't even give me that!

[Mahad]

My only problem with the game is the much discussed ending. All paths leading to the same end was a pretty lame way to finish the series. But it was a lot of fun, the characters were great and the game play was alright too.

[Jessweeee♪]

My favorite thing in all of Mass Effect is Charge because with the high risk/high reward playstyle you get to Leeroy Jenkins everything. My favorite moment was when I did multiplayer for the first time, as a vanguard because that's what I was comfortable with, and the minute I connected to a lobby the first thing I hear is "OH FUCK YOU!" Then I charge into a banshee and it killed me and the guy was like YOU DUMBASS YOU CHARGED INTO A BANSHEE. And then in Mass Effect 3 at the end you have that moment where you're mobbed by several Brutes and Banshees at once and you're just Nova-Charging from one place to another like a pinball machine trying to kill these things in melee range while avoiding their one hit kill attacks.

[Loony BoB]

You said we would put aside the ending, BoB, and I can understand that for the overview purpose. But I am curious. Had its ending been as satisfactory as the rest of the game, would the game's position on your list have changed?
Possibly, but not by a huge amount. If I could have a Krogan in my party from start to finish, it'd probably have had a bigger impact. An ending can have a large impact on how someone views a game. Still, two other games with endings that disappointed me (one more so, one less so than this game) are higher on the list, so it's not the be-all and end-all. I just don't feel ME3 had an amazing enough moment to lift it above the games I've put higher on the list, although I do wonder if that's because I kind of expected such moments to exist in the game because of the first two.


40. Flower
PS3, 2009

http://gamercrash.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/flower-game-screenshot-6.jpg

This game was so very simple. It was a gimmick game - a game that used the six-axis and showed off what it could do when used well. And it's the only game I can recall that used the six-axis well. It was weird watching myself put this so high up the list but no matter how I tried, I couldn't bring myself to drop it down because I just enjoyed it so much, felt it such a beautiful game and still love going back to it every now and then.

I hate watching other people play games, but this was one I, to my surprise, found myself watching Danielle play through to completion before I'd done so. It was that mesmerising that even as someone who wasn't the player, I could simply find myself sucked into watching those petals flow around on that wind forever and ever.

I loved the sunny levels the best, I must say - I wasn't a huge fan of the levels that moved into civilization by comparison. However, they were still worth playing and worth watching. I mean, even the credits were fun. I should really 100% this game sometime... I don't think I'm quite close to that yet. xD

[Pete for President]

Hurray for Flower! It may very well be the best flight game ever created, because it captures the feeling of flying freely like no other.

[Quindiana Jones]

I tried to play ME3 but found it unplayably awful.
I remember you giggling with glee at being an engineer and having a turret in the multiplayer demo. Don't even give me that!

Point given. The multiplayer was and is excellent fun.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I've played through (and watched people play through) Flower so many times in the last couple of years. It's such a soothing game that my roommates and I would bust it out on particularly stressful days.

As a side note, the PS4 version supposedly controls even better than the PS3 version. I'm pretty sure it's free to download if you already own the PS3 version too.

[Hollycat]

I've played through (and watched people play through) Flower so many times in the last couple of years. It's such a soothing game that my roommates and I would bust it out on particularly stressful days.

As a side note, the PS4 version supposedly controls even better than the PS3 version. I'm pretty sure it's free to download if you already own the PS3 version too.

It is, and so is the Vita version. It controls a little better, but it's not too noticeable. However, the PS4 version looks amazing, except for the rock textures.

[Loony BoB]

39. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
PS3, 2010

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_deoxJDOei8/UXuURypHvzI/AAAAAAAADbc/uCYKIfhVt5w/s640/Tom+Clancy%E2%80%99s+Splinter+Cell+Conviction2.jpg

Time for another one of those sort-of-AAA games that never really get much attention and nobody talks about when referring to top 100 games lists! Screw you buggers, this game was awesome. I found out about it when I was searching for good co-op games and heard that it had a really enjoyable, solid co-op campaign. Danielle and I love ourselves some good split-screen action, so I grabbed it. I think I got Resistance 3 at the same time, and we've barely played Resistance 3 enough for me to warrant an opinion on it. This game took up all our time.

The co-op just worked very well for us, it wasn't too tricky but not too easy either, we could certainly find ourselves dying a number of times but the general gameplay was good enough for us to really enjoy ourselves regardless of the difficulty. This is all we need for co-op: Great fun. This was definitely great fun.

What was a pleasant surprise was that the solo campaign was also great fun. It's been so bloody long since I've played a Splinter Cell game and this made me want to buy all the others. I loved the simple things such as getting rewarded for making good use of my surroundings when interrogating the enemy (urinalface ftw) and the gadgets in this game are just all kinds of fun to mess about with. I think it was all rather easy, if I recall correctly. I could have probably gone for a higher difficulty and done it all again, but I'm not bothered. Just great fun using all the gizmos. :D And damn that guy has a cool voice.

I'm looking forward to the games from this point onwards as they are amongst the ones I had to consider much more seriously. The next game had actually been in the top 20 for a while as I made this list.

[Hollycat]

I'm glad you are updating this more regularly now.

[Aulayna]

I'm glad you are updating this more regularly now.

More opportunities to express your J-hipster disapproval?

Oh wait that's NeoCracker, sorry, keep getting you two mixed up xD

[Hollycat]

I'm glad you are updating this more regularly now.

More opportunities to express your J-hipster disapproval?

Oh wait that's NeoCracker, sorry, keep getting you two mixed up xD

I don't even know what a J-Hipster is.

[Bolivar]

Conviction was indeed a great game. The co-op missions were insanely fun and I like how long they were, giving you lots of opportunities to retry each individual section in a different manner. I wish Metal Gear would implement this kind of experience; Peace Walker's great, but I want to see what big production value AAA console experience Kojima could whip up.




I'm glad you are updating this more regularly now.

More opportunities to express your J-hipster disapproval?

Oh wait that's NeoCracker, sorry, keep getting you two mixed up xD

I don't even know what a J-Hipster is.

Obviously a gaming hipster with a penchant for Japanese games, which I would wear like a badge of honor, HC!!!

[NeoCracker]

I'm glad you are updating this more regularly now.

More opportunities to express your J-hipster disapproval?

Oh wait that's NeoCracker, sorry, keep getting you two mixed up xD

I'm far more bothered by you mixing me up with Hypo then being called a J-hipster.

[Ayen]

Thanks, BoB. I've been trying forever to remember the name of the game with the guy who has the green goggles on his head. It's been bugging me for a while.

[Loony BoB]

38. Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
PC, 1993

http://www.aiyon.com/keke/excelsior.png

A DOSBox game these days, Excelsior is all kinds of great. It has a lot of the things you would want out of a modern WRPG and for some reason even as I opened it up just to get a screenshot of a duck, I found myself playing the game for a good ten minutes before I remembered I'm supposed to be updating this thread! It's highly addictive in a "one more turn" kind of way, although in this game it's "one more kill" and "just a little more gold..." or perhaps "I just need to get to the next town, but ...oh, let's just explore randomly for a while."

All you see while exploring are the same old trees and mountains and grass and roads, the occasional marsh... but with no in-game map (and it's very tricky to uncover a complete map online given how rare the game is, although I did find one eventually), it's not very obvious just how large the world is nor is it clear whether you're quite heading in the right direction after you get a bit sidetracked going around a dense forest. I mean, it's like you're actually in a new world discovering everything rather than having it hand-fed to you. You can walk for a while and then at some point just sit back and go "Right, I'm definitely lost. I'm running low on food. This is not cool. I need to find a town while dodging enemies, and I need to do it very quickly." Survival is key in this game, particularly in the early stages before you really start hauling in the cash.

The story isn't too shabby, and the puzzle dungeons - while much easier now that I'm older and wiser to such things than I was when I first played this game - are still enough to leave you going back and saying "Right, what did I do wrong there...?" All in all this game has entertained me for about fifteen years now, despite how simple it initially appears. The numerous skills you can unlock and the character creation, it sort of feels like you're playing an Elder Scrolls game at times. In the end, though, it's the lack of the features that we are gifted in modern games that makes this a true gem, and a game that even after playing it for this long I can still get lost in, both immersion-wise and, er, rather literally!

[Skyblade]

Excelsior is a really fun game. The "Phase One" had me confused though. I never realized that there was a Phase Two. Have you played it? If so, how is it in comparison?

Also, since ToriJ's list is now up, I realize that things might get crowded. So I just want to go ahead and call dibs on the next Top Titles thread, once BoB is finished.

[Loony BoB]

Excelsior is a really fun game. The "Phase One" had me confused though. I never realized that there was a Phase Two. Have you played it? If so, how is it in comparison?
I haven't, actually, although I mean to. I'm told it's not as good, though.

once BoB is finished.
Happy new year, buddy!

[Pike]

Ya'll should just do it my way and put your entire list in the opening post.

[Loony BoB]

That would probably generate around 50 posts, while this has generated nearly 500 already. Justified!

[NeoCracker]

...Wow, a game I'd never even heard of. Good job BoB! :thumb:

[Loony BoB]

37. Final Fantasy XIV (as it was at patch 1.23)
PC, 2010

http://www.aiyon.com/keke/ffxiv123.png

At the time I made this list, I was still learning the ropes regarding A Realm Reborn, so this placement is based on the game as it was at patch 1.23. The old game started with all kinds of issues that left most people not bothering to subscribe. Once Yoshi-P took over, though, things started a notable turn for the better.

There are still a number of things I miss about the older game. Helping people in need on your own server was much more rewarding than it is now, and it was far, far easier to make friends. The social aspect was awesome. I loved going into Ul'dah when I was bored, waiting for a person to shout for a L50 quest they needed help with and tagging along with them. I met so many prominent members of the Fat Chocobos linkshell this way, and it's rare that we'll ever get someone new outside of EoFF these days. It still happens, just not to the same degree. Oh, and crafting mattered a lot more in 1.23 and I appreciated that a lot. I can't wait for crafting to take a turn for the better in ARR! I'm sure it'll happen.

I think A Realm Reborn would occupy a similar-ish position if I were to rate it as it is now. I'm not sure. I never ran out of things to do in the old game, and that was without even touching endgame. In this version, I find myself missing that feeling. I'm sure after a patch or two, though, there will be enough to keep even me satisfied. Hopefully with a lot more on-your-own-world partying, because that's how I make friends, and an MMO - to me, at least - is designed for that kind of social interaction.