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I'm not talking about a game that surprised you cause it wasn't as bad as you fought it would be, I'm talking about a game that made you take a second look at your hidden "top ten games of all time" list and think " Crap, now I'm going to have to find room cause this game is like my new all-time favorite".
So what was the last game that really blew you away and became an instant favorite?
Morrowind and SMAC both had that effect on me.
(You know, because this is the most surprising thing anyone on this forum has ever said)
The most recent one was The Last Of Us.
It broke so much new ground in video games and storytelling. So many sections had me just gasping in awe. Definitely made its way into my top ten. Possibly even top five.
Bastion was a game that hit me right in the feels and that I struggled to find fault in. It was an absolutely amazing experience.
The Last of Us would probably be my answer if I had beaten it yet, but unfortunately I've gotten a little sidetracked. Barring that, however, LIMBO fits this description wonderfully. It had what I call the "Elephant Man" effect on me. After I finished it, like after watching The Elephant Man, I had to go lay down for awhile.
Game Dev Tycoon. Being in love with video games and video games development that game had everything I could have ever wanted and more. It hooked me on it for hours.
The Binding of Isaac
MGS4. The gameplay and it's scenarios were surreal, with every one of them different from start to finish, something I don't know if any other video game has accomplished. The mission that starts off in the middle of a group execution and lets you go about things however you like was such a mindsmurf.
MGO was also ahead of its time. I couldn't believe you could do all of those things in a multiplayer game.
Runner up is Killzone 2. It was the last game to push the multiplayer shooter formula forward, to me.
>>> Xenoblade Chronicles, it became part of my top 3 all time fav games ever..:luca:
999 and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
This. Not top 3, but definitely top 10. I had lost hope that RPGs could be so good until this happened.Quote:
Originally Posted by black orb
Obvious answer and obsession based opinion incoming: (SPOILER) Sark Douls
NES FF3 was probably the last game the 'blew my mind'; I was constantly impressed by what was crammed into the cart the entire first time I was playing, and it is easily one of my favorites in the series.
Ar Tonelico deserves mention as well, as I initially dismissed the title only to find myself playing through for each ending and enjoying it each time. And that soundtrack. <3
Bravely Default and Xenoblade Chronicles, definitely :) Both of these titles need much, much more love. Really. I know people love them, but they don't nearly get the praise they deserve. Well, okay, maybe Bravely Default, but hardly anybody talks about Xenoblade nowadays :(
Well you are just going to have to make a Xenoblade appreciation thread then. Course it makes sense Xenoblade isn't getting as much love since it was on the Wii (which most people on this forum seem to despise) and it was given a pretty limited run so even people who wanted to play may have missed out if they didn't pick up on day 1.
The Last of Us.
Mass Effect 3. The final hour of gameplay is the most incredible gaming experience I've ever had.
Completely forgot about the Stanley Parable.
Games, regardless of how great they are, don't blow my mind unless they can come up with an incredible plot twist or have some amazing new features. With that said, I'd say that the last time I felt blown away by a game would probably have been Journey.
The last cutscene in a game that blew my mind was probably FFXIV:ARR, which managed to get a character I didn't care much for in a storyline I didn't care much for and have a plot device I didn't really bother myself with much and put out a change of events that isn't exactly mindblowing in itself and turn all of that into something that left me watching it over and over and over and over again, because hot damn that was incredible video.
More recently, the ending of Lightning Returns blew my mind in that for a brief moment I genuinely thought that it was real and that Lightning was just superimposed or something, because the landscape and whatnot was that well done. So that blew my mind for different reasons.
DayZ for sure. I can't get enough of it. I don't know how I haven't been playing this since it came out. I've never played a game that could give me an adrenaline rush like it. No game has had me literally scared to look out a window or a door in fear of my life. Heart racing, cold sweat at times. There's nothing like this game.
Wolf among us is doing a great job. It still has two episodes left though. The pacing and story telling is far better than most games. Telltale is on smurfing par lately. I'm engrossed with the world of wolf its really awesome.
This past year had three games which blew my mind in that way.
The first was Fire Emblem: Awakening. I expected to like the game, yes, and I had heard fantastic things about it when it came out in Japan, so I was excited about it. But I also had loathed Shadow Dragon, and I thought the series itself had been a little hit or miss.
I vastly preferred Blazing Sword to Sacred Stones. Not that Sacred Stones was bad, by any means, but most of the new content (like the monsters) was just kind of "meh", in my mind. I didn't like as many of the characters, and I didn't think the "open world and random battles" addition was nearly as well handled as it could have been (mostly because you didn't get enough new weapons or money, so it just wound up costing you in the long run).
I found Radiant Dawn to be inferior to Path of Radiance as well. The story wasn't as good, in my opinion, and I really, really hated the way it split the story into four main chapters and kept changing up your team (often without real warning, and with no indication of who would carry over).
What's more, I know that my position on some of these titles is not the common one. A lot of the series fans really like Sacred Stones, and I hate Shadow Dragon more than most as well. While plenty of people didn't like the way Path of Radiance changed the art style (yet they don't have a problem with how Shadow Dragon butchered the art style?!).
So, while I was hopeful for Awakening, I wasn't positive about it. Then it releases and WOW. My expectations were shattered. It surpassed any previous mark the series had reached, and is now favorite game in the series (despite lacking Lyndis, who is one of my favorite characters in gaming). The mechanics are solid all the way around. The removal of the weight system was a huge boon to the series, and I really also like the way the Pair Up system was made to replace the Rescue system, which was cumbersome and annoying.
What really shattered my mind about it though were the two huge additions. The children and the DLC. The child unit system was apparently originally used in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy Wars, but that one never released outside Japan, and there's no way I'm going to play an RPG I don't understand (though, if Koe works out well, there may be some hope for changing my understanding of the language). So that system was new to me, and was mind-blowingly awesome. From the characters itself, to the way the system inherits stats and skills. I thought it was a brilliant system, and I loved it.
Awakening also has what are, quite simply, the best DLCs I have ever played in any game. Ever. From the sheer ridiculous humor of the The Golden Pack, to the utterly heart-wrenching moments in The Future Past, to the brilliant character pieces in The Scramble Pack, or the absolutely crushing difficulty of Apotheosis, these DLCs had everything, and made my trip through Awakening that much more fun.
I'll talk about the next two games to blow my mind at a future point.
The Stanley Parable was an incredible game. So was The Walking Dead. Both gave me plenty to write about.
Gonna repeat most of you and say The Last of Us and Xenoblade Chronicles. Last of Us was pretty much a perfect game for its genre, which isn't my all time favorite genre but I can't fault the game for that. It was the best game of this generation or at least on the top 5. Xenoblade was the best JRPG of this generation--by far--and is up there among my all time favorites. It blew my mind.
I've watched my bf play all of Last of Us. While I admit it was good it didn't wow me. Not since Mass Effect 2 and 3 has a game wowed me.
Pretty much the same. I really liked the ME series no other games have WOW'd me since then.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
Banner Saga really killed it for me. Combat is really tense, there's branching paths and choices that actually affect you (which only makes sense, considering some peeps from Bioware made it). Definitely worth checking out, if you like your indie devs. The battle mechanics seem way more simplistic than they actually are. It's hard as hell sometimes, and that fact mixed with the bleak atmosphere make for a really involving experience.
I really don't enjoy Naughty Dog games and I feel like I'm gaming wrong, because apparently they're actually the earthly manifestation of Christ. :(
I just finished Journey. Outstanding game, and I really approve of the creative multiplayer integration. Met a totally awesome person who made the game for me, and met some selfish gobtroutes who made me quit out and continue from where I was without them. I loved having a massive scarf, too.
Whilst playing, I noticed a shooting star sail past me, and it was jolly interesting. Upon finishing, I realised that the shooting star was a player, and I wonder if this is actually the case or if it was just a bit of a clever illusion. I hope the former, and that the people I past in the end credits actually were people, because that's just cool.
Record of the Agarest War.
Oh my god did I not expect a game that good. That one actually did make, more maybe just missed, my top 10 games of all time.