Name 10 favorite games

[Swarmalicious]

I'm a video game crack head, so there's no room for all my favs. Some random classics (all console I think):

Final Fantasy Tactics - Just started playing it again, and it still holds my interest. The work and attention to detail that went into the battle design for this, albeit extremely boring-looking game has yet to be outshined by any thing else, for me. I discover something new every time I dust it off (this time around: lightning spells do more damage when its raining, for Christs's sake). Beautiful tunes & spell effects too.


Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo / Mortal Combat 2 - I have life long friendships based on immeasurable hours spent playing these.

King's Field - Another one that's boring if you're not playing it, but dammit there is just something about it. The music maybe? Something... mysterious and spectral about exploring this one. I can remember searching a cave in the beginning of the game, and upon hearing the trickling water of a nearby healing fountain, looking over at my friends with bug eyes as we let out a simultaneous "wow cooool". I don't own anymore - pretty sure the graphics were demolished by Unreal. Still though, totally juicy game. Never got around to the second one...

FF 7- Single biggest contributor to the demise of my college education, and I didn't even get to ressurect Aeris. :P

Super Puzzle Fighter- imo, one of the most ridiculously fun games I've ever played - girls also seem to love this one, so it's great. They don't complain if they're playing it.

And I guess the original Zelda & Castlevania earn placement, since for some reason I can' t think of anythign more obscure to share. (note to designers, based in part on the frustration of dodging the bats in Castlevania: JUMP PUZZLES SUCK - STOP MAKING GAMES WITH JUMP PUZZLES.)


oh oh oh! Forgot Wizards & Warriors. Opening song & the "feather of fall" are merit enough for downloading the rom. :)

[Roland]

Street Fighter II
Revolutionized the Fighting genre, IMHO, and introduced me to some of the best gaming memories I've ever had. A tremendous game, simple yet elegant, and LOADS of fun. I bought this for the SNES after a tour on the arcade machine, and I still own it. "The World Warriors": choose from characters scattered across the world, and fly to their homelands to square off in one-on-one combat. No fancy combos or blistering graphics on this baby: simple cut-out backgrounds with the characters overlaid on top, but a nonetheless complex system of moves (light, medium, heavy). Although there were no official "combos", a skilled player could set up a sequence of moves that acted just like one. Flying at an opponent all balled up, and then dropping into an electric shock stance as Blanka is but one example. :D A tremendously fun game that not only spawned about a hundred different clones (even within its own series!), but brought fighting games back onto the market, big time.

Super Mario Bros.
What can be said about it? Classic platform adventure game, with minimal story, graphics, and gameplay, but more fun than you can box up in an aircraft hanger. Play as one of two lovable plumbers (Mario in SP, or Mario & Luigi in MP), and jump, stomp, and bash your way through multiple platform levels, collecint unique powerups along the way. Classic "hordes of monsters, with an end boss" gameplay of the NES era.

Legend Of Zelda
The best game of all time. Period. Revolutionized the 3/4 viewing style of adventure games (among other styles), and pit your wits in classic hack 'n' slash style gameplay, fighting a variety of monsters in a fantasy world in order to save the lands from evil, and rescue a dashing princess in distress. :) Had a great inventory system, decking you out with loads of items, each designed to aid you in a specific portion of your quest, or sometimes throughout your whole journey. 9 different labyrinths, each more complex and challenging than the last, combining traditional hack 'n' slash with incredibly simple, yet mind-blowingly effective puzzles. Holds a great number of similarities to the Rogue series of games, IMO. :) Simple graphics and music, but some of the best music score of all time (it's STILL remixed to this day). And when you finish the game, you can unlock the "secret quest" to redo the whole thing, with added challenge in more forms than one! :D Truly a masterpiece of a game, that has never been beaten to date.

Mortal Kombat
The next big step in the fighting genre, introduced massive gore and "Fatalities": finishing moves for after you had knocked your opponent into unconsciousness. Loads of characters, each with their own styles of play. Also vastly expanded upon the "special moves" style of gameplay from Street Fighter II, and paved the way for the "combo" style of gameplay. And, it was a game to truly shake the foundations of the entire market, bringing about the erection of the ESRB.

Killer Instinct
What happens when you cross Rare's incredible graphical and talent abilities with superb gameplay and a truly "killer" soundtrack, all on the best platform (console and otherwise) to ever hit the market? This. Incredible graphics on a 2D fighting game, it revolutionized the genre. Hands-down beat out every fighter to date; only SF2 even comes close to rivaling it. Beautiful graphics, traditional of Rare games (LONG before Goldeneye, there was Killer Instinct, Clayfighter, and Donkey Kong Country), combined with extremely innovative gameplay. Introduced the style of "combos", further enhancing the idea of "finishing moves", and brought forth the idea of changing the color of your character. A decent storyline wrapped up in it all completed the package. Without a doubt, this was one KILLER of a game. A truly must-have for any gaming addict, but particularly those who love a good brawler.

Road Rash
Motorcycle racing at its finest, rather than race over traditional, boring tracks, you rip it across landscapes and cities alike, duking it out with your fellow competition (oftentimes with weapons, like clubs, chains, and baseball bats) while striving to run over as many pedestrians as possible. Fastest win earns you the most cash, with which you can upgrade your bike to a truly monsterous machine. The Sega Saturn version included a REAL soundtrack, performed by such bands as Soundgarden (among others): a truly unheard of feat, that added SO MUCH to the atmosphere and immersiveness of the game. Countless hours of fun, if only to try and hit that poor teacher as she crossed the street to ramp off her body, vaulting yourself so high into the sky that you literally fly off screen. Pure fun, in all its bloody glory.

Warcraft II
Too much for words to be said about this game. Probably THE most addictive game I have ever played, or at least among the top. Superb gameplay despite simplistic "balancing" of the races, combined with (for the time) exemplary graphics, unlimited replay value in MP / SP skirmish modes, and the ability to play the game from two sides, this game had it all. Set in a fantasy medieval world ravaged by war and chaos, and worse things lurking behind the shadows of time, a typical RTS that revolutionized the genre. Command & Conquer ranks right up here with the game, but it wasn't until Warcraft II hit the shelves that the genre truly took off. Featuring far better graphics than its C&C competition, the only thing it lacked was the great cut scenes found in C&C. The game wasn't solely about conquest, either. Oftentimes, you'd find yourself needing to build up your army in order to promote stability in the region, find and rescue imprisoned legions in order to uphold an alliance treaty and enlist their aid for the future, or guard a force (or sole person) as they journeyed through dangerous lands. This game had everything you could ever want from an RTS, and then some. Eventually, it got "upgraded" and re-released, to promote gameplay over Battle.Net, along with a few other new features. It just doesn't get any better.

Descent
The first full 360 degree movement game, this brought about the reality of motion-sickness to gamers across the world. Classic arcade-style space shooter set in an entirely new environment: alien mines filled with mining robots gone berserk. A lone pilot sent in to find out what happened, and turn things around, you fly a ship through humongous, twisting caverns, danger lurking around every shadowy corner (yes, there were real-time shadows and lighting, along with an insane AI). Collect power-ups along the way as you fight through endless hordes, having to use actual strategy in order to outsmart and out-advantage your deadly opposition. One wrong move, and you were toast. This game has never been topped to date, except by its successors within the series. It gave birth to the 3D space-shooter as we know it, and gave gamers around the globe nightmares of killer robots for years to come. Toasters and blenders would never be looked at the same way again.

Terminal Velocity
Released a year after Descent, it featured a lot of the same gameplay style: 360 degree movement (albeit of a slightly different nature; more on that later), classic space-shooter, hordes of alien enemies all out to get you. What made this game so unique, so innovative, was that it took the great gameplay, style, and setting of Descent, and combined it with what would become the standard for space-shooters: overworld flight. Racing across huge worlds, you could stop on a time, moving around just like you would in Descent, or more as you would in a flight-sim. Collect power-ups and burn your "afterburners" to speed across dangerous lands, finding your objectives and eliminating them with extreme prejudice. When you're top on the top, dive into a massive "mine" and fly through, dodging lasers and blasting enemies, all while trying to avoiding smashing into the cavern walls. At the end of a tunnel: a huge boss, armed to the teeth and bent on your sole destruction. Everything you'd fought up until then looked like ants compared to what was bearing down on you now. A truly remarkable (and addictive) game, it didn't take off quite like the Descent series, but it nonetheless bolstered the future of space-shooters, and further helped pave the way for the genre's future.

Black & White
What do you get when you cross your classic, empire-building RTS with the innovative gameplay of the Sim City series, set it in a fantasy environment, add the best graphics ever of the genre in a fully 3D environment, mix with the style of gameplay not seen since Populous, and toss in a whole SLEW of unique, innovative additions? Something that falls short of what this game is. Hands-down, the most innovative, unique, wonderfully immersive game ever created. The ONLY thing this thing suffered from was a few game-breaking bugs (that eventually got fixed), which caused legions of would-be followers to get turned off, and made the wonderful starting press reviews flush it down the toilet. You play as a God - not THE God, but A God. You battle it out with other Gods in a fight to control the world. But... will you control it for good, or evil? The choice is yours, throughout the entire game. No set alignment paths allow you to play HOWEVER you want. Be as good or as bad as you want, with anything inbetween, and suffering no real "consequences" or dead-ends for your choices. Being evil is not crippling - in fact, it's one of the more amusing, fun, and powerful ways to play. Being good does not entail immortality - you'll spend your life bending over backwards all while trying to AVOID combat. Incredible graphics, mind-blowing gameplay, and some of the most innovative, INCREDIBLE control ever conceived by man. After playing this game for 3 DAYS STRAIGHT, when I took a break from it, I found myself trying to navigate my computer through the control-scheme of the game - and finding myself disappointed that I couldn't. Build up flowing cities, or tiny little villages. Command the respect (and/or fear) of a multitude of followers - each with their own respective strengths. Choose to impress villages in order to gain their favor (and join your side), or destroy them with utter cruelty, and rebuild from the ashes of the old. Cast spells through the use of prayer power (villagers worship you at your Temple, which itself grows and changes just as you do to match your power and alignment - the bigger you get, the bigger it gets; saintly-hood begets you a spiring, sparkling ivory tower, while devilry begets you a towering, dark monolith of terror), be it to aid your villages, destroy your enemies, or just have some fun. As if all this wasn't enough, you control a Creature - a pet animal that grows with time, and with you, and follows your alignment. You teach it how to act, what to do, and it will carry out your biddings as you have taught it. It has a mind and a will of its own, just like your people, but you cannot directly control it - just like with your followers. You can - and must - only direct it, influence it, shape it; never directly control it. Teach him to be good, and he will help your villages thrive. Teach him to be bad, and he will wreak havoc on anything that stands in his way. And, just as you can cast spells, so too can he - for good, or evil. One of the best games of all-time. Period.

"Are you a blessing, or a curse? Good, or evil? Whatever you are, you are destiny."

FPS Game Pack: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Half-Life, and Unreal
The three games that defined the genre. Wolf3D started out with you roaming through cavernous dungeons, set in WW2 Nazi Germany. Blast Nazis as you struggle to break out of the gigantic Castle Wolfenstein, all while uncovering a secret genetic experiment project by the Nazis, designed to re-animate the dead and create the ultimate fighting soldier. When the blood-haze clears and the dust settles, you find yourself outside, but when you finally make it back home to tell your forces about the Nazi's plans, you're sent right back in to finish them off.

Doom expanded upon this unique gameplay style, and boasted an even larger, yet no-less simplistic, storyline. Aliens from Mars hell-bent (literally) on the complete destruction of Earth, you're taken through alien worlds, back to your home planet of Earth, and even into the very depths of Hell to fight all manner of diabolical enemies all bent on seeing you dead - and dismembered. Endless hordes of varying atrocities, blood and gore galore, and home to some of the worst nightmares ever imaginable - everything you were afraid of as a kid was suddenly lurking around every corner. And worse. Blast through hundreds of levels in a suicide-mission, facing off against all the forces of Hell, all to save the world from ultimate Doom - only to get sent back again when it's all over.

Duke Nukem 3D was a Doom clone, for the most part. Alien invaders swarm Earth, but rather than some U.S. Army soldier breaking out of a Nazi prison dungeon, or an elite space marine for a similar organization, you're just a regular guy - Joe Shmoe with a pissy attitude and a lust for guns and carnage. Featured interesting new styles of weaponry (Pipe Bomb, anyone?), along with a serious attitude problem - both in terms of storyline, and gameplay - and all the "bad boy" image you could handle. After a long day's work of blowing apart aliens into little bitty pieces, kick back in the bathroom to let loose all the beer you chugged, and then hobble on back into the stageroom to watch the girls strip and dance for you. Before Mortal Kombat shook the scenes of gaming, there was DN3D - and boy, was it ever BAD. :D

Quake took everything we loved about its precursors, and added an even BETTER storyline, along with eye-popping, edge-of-your-seat terror. Real-time shadows, incredible graphics and sounds, and solid gameplay made this one a huge classic. Terror had a new name - and it was breathing down your neck.

Half-Life was every bit the same as its predecessors - and then some. A thrilling, immersive storyline that pit you headlong into it from the very beginning - WITHOUT having any foreknowledge of events; you weren't TOLD the story, you LIVED it. Mind-blowing graphics that still rival the latest-and-greatest games of today, to this very day, coupled with boggling puzzles and a real need for strategy and tactics - no run and gun gameplay here. You had to THINK just to survive - let alone win. Furthered the idea of "mods" that eventually created company-sponsored and supported mods, paving the way for the future of FPSes, and the modding community in general - who, up until then, had been left on their own to figure things out for almost the entirety of gaming history.

Much like Half-Life, Unreal was a game that set you up with no prior knowledge of events. You had a few bits and pieces of information about what had been going on up until now, and what was currently going on, and that was it - before you got thrust into the biggest event in history. It combined everything that made Half-Life so great with improved graphics, gameplay, and weaponry - and a true taste for terror. Real-time shadows and lighting, immersive sounds and environments that surpassed even those of Half-Life, this game would have you sitting on the edge of your seat every second - and screaming every minute as some new horror stared you in the face as you rounded the corner. It filled the very large shoes of Quake & Half-Life quite well, while still managing to stand out on its own without being bogged down as "just another clone".

Honorable mention (since you said no repeats :P):
Mega Man series (particularly the X series), Final Fantasy series up through 6, Wizardry Series, Ultima series, Baldur's Gate series, Diablo series, Command & Conquer (original, plus Red Alert), Dungeon Keeper (NOT the second one; it wasn't nearly as good as the first, which was INCREDIBLE), Master of Orion.

I picked 10 games, plus a "game pack" - collection of games that redefined (over and over) a genre, that were each important enough to stand on their own and warrant more than just a passing mention.

[ManaCraft]

Allright, I guess I can come up with a few...

Master of Magic

Yes, I know someone else mentioned it, but this is one of those games that I just have got to put on my list. I've never been a great fan of turn based strategy, having always prefered RTS games. This one, however, opened my eyes. I still play the game occationally, and although it does have its share of cheesy strategies to make use of, it still makes for an incredibly amount of fun and challenge. Basically civilization in a world of magic.

Dune II

First real time strategy game, ever. Period. I still remember having to withstand that 15 minute attack wave from all three opposing houses in the beginning of the final mission - boy, what a blast! This one is definitely a classic.

Emperor: Battle For Dune

The latest game in the Dune series. Dune 2000 wasn't very good IMO, and as far as variety and strategy goes, of all the RTS games I've ever played, this one takes the cake. Three houses to play, and an additonal five subhouses just to spice things up. The variety that can be created is hands down staggering. I'll never play a non-3D RTS game again.

Diablo Series

I'm sorry, but not mentioning Diablo and Diablo II is simply out of the question. There are very few games in the RPG genre that can compete with these, even when you take recent releases into account. Baldurs Gate came very close though.

Aliens Vs Predator

You don't know what an adrenaline rush is until you've played this game. Try playing on one of those dark winter nights when you're home alone. You'll be sitting on the edge of your chair throughout all the missions. This has got to be THE most creepy game I've ever played.

Tribes 2

This game is a beauty. It sets a new standard for FPS games in so many ways. The maps in this game are big, too big perhaps for the liking of some, and it also takes quite a while to learn how to play the game properly. I think this is also the reason why it never became quite as popular as some of the more well known FPS games, which is really a shame.


ManaCraft

[Hammerskjold]

>Dune II

>First real time strategy game, ever. Period.

I believe that's true for the PC. But if you mean the first ever, on any system. I thought it was Herzog Zwei for the Sega Genesis?

Anyway for the list.

"Syndicate Wars", by Bullfrog studios. The sequel to "Syndicate". Gang warfare in a dystopian future. With sets that looked like it was borrowed from Blade Runner. Good action. Beeing bad feels pretty damn good.

"Star Control 2". Great story, great gameplay, great music. It also has great artwork, an homage to 50's style of pulp paperback sci fi's. And if that wasn't enough, it has replayability via the hyper melee mode.

[Nystul]

Hmmm, either I'm blind or this thread is severely lacking in roguelikes. So I'll add a couple:

Angband (open source freeware, PC/Mac/Amiga): One town, one dungeon with 100 levels (each of which is randomly regenerated every time you visit), and the game's only quest is at the bottom: to slay Morgoth. Definately a Diablo precursor, and definately worth the download if you don't mind the ASCII graphics.

Ancient Domains of Mystery (freeware, PC): Less random than Angband, more quests, more bizarre Nethackish rituals than Angband. The learning curve for this game is extreme (and even moreso without spoilers) but it can really be fun.

[Swarmalicious]

"... and definately worth the download if you don't mind the ASCII graphics."

<dumbass>

What are ASCII graphics?

</dumbass>

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Swarmalicious,

I'm pretty sure that this forum software is not very friendly to ASCII graphics, so I cannot draw you an example, but it's images created from standard ASCII characters - your keyboard characters make up the greater number of these, though there's a few others (eg accented characters, etc). Walls are typically made of things like | and _ while your character may be an @ or something. Look up NetHack or (Z)Angband, or any other Rogue clone if you want to see some screenies of this.

[Roland]

The using of ASCII characters (i.e. plaintext, like the letters you are reading; further examples are such characters as !@#$%^&*, among many others) is commonplace among many Rogue-clones (such as Angband) and in online MUDs. It allows for a stronger emphasis on gameplay (however simple that gameplay may be) and less emphasis on flashy eye-candy. And, it SEVERELY cuts down on the size of a game. You could, quite literally, fit multiple copies (or even multiple portions of a series) on one, single-sided 5.44" floppy diskette. It's just too bad those drives are so rare, and that you need adapters for them for today's PCs. ;) Ah well; at least we still have 3.5" floppies (although even THOSE are going out now; pretty soon we'll only have CDs and USB devices, as USB boot support is now being introduced to BIOSes).

[Swarmalicious]

...I looked up Angband, and didn't even realize that the screenshots I was looking at were 'ascii' generated - but now I do. :)

edit- btw, if you care - ASCII stands for the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, apparently.

[Roland]

...where I mentioned the Ultima and Wizardry series. ;) Those are classic Rogue clones (at least IMO). I'm actually playing Wizardry right now. Just got done with a multi-hour session. :) I have the Wizardry Archives (Wizardry 1 - 7), as well as the Ultimate Ultima Collection (Ultima 1 - 8, plus one other in the series that isn't 9), and the Forgotten Realms Archives Silver Edition, featuring a slew of Pool of Radiance games. All hard-to-find releases now, but I picked them all up at bargain-bin prices. I probably didn't pay more than $30, all told, for the three sets. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself. :) Probably close to 30 games, give or take. That's less than a buck a game! Can't even buy floppies for that cheap of a price. ;)

I dunno about the others, but thus far WIzardry (only tested the first one) works fine on Windows 2000. But, then, that's because it's a DOS-based game, and Windows 2000 actually does DOS fairly well, for the most part. At least, Wizardry is running flawlessly. I can even Alt+Tab out to my favorite Wizardry site (http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/) without the game crashing at all! Let's see Morrowind boast that! :D ;) (Although, Morrowind IS a massively superior game, for the most part. You just can't beat the nostalgia of Wizardry, though, despite how it's a completely new {but not unheard-of} game to me.)

I just need to get Arena, Daggerfall, and Redguard into my collection. That will complete "The Elder Scrolls" series, and I'll be set. :) After that, Wizardry 8, Ultima 9, and a few others will still be on my list, but I can get those a bit easier.

Just for those who are curious, here's a complete listing of the games:

• The Ultimate Wizardry Archives
  Wizardry - Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
  Wizardry II - The Knight of Diamonds
  Wizardry III - Legacy of Llylgamyn
  Wizardry IV - The Return of Werdna
  Wizardry V - Heart of the Maelstrom
  Wizardry VI - Bane of the Cosmic Forge
  Wizardry VII - Crusaders of the Dark Savant
  Wizardry Gold
  
  Ultima Collection
  Akalabeth - World of Doom
  Ultima
  Ultima II - The Revenge of the Enchantress
  Ultima III - Exodus
  Ultima IV - Quest of the Avatar
  Ultima V - Warriors of Destiny
  Ultima VI - The False Prophet
  Ultima VII - Part 1 & 2
  Ultima VIII- Pagan
  
  Forgotten Realms Archives Silver Edition
  Pool of Radiance
  Curse of the Azure Bonds
  Secret of the Silver Blades
  Pools of Darkness
  Hillsfar
  Eye of the Beholder
  Eye of the Beholder II
  Eye of the Beholder III
  Dungeon Hack
  Gateway to the Savage Frontier
  Treasures of the Savage Frontier
  Menzoberranzan
  Blood & Magic
  Baldur's Gate Demo<>
  [st]
  30 games, for less than $30. Like I said, less than a buck a game. You simply can't beat that. :D Spanning 5 discs (1 for Wizardry, 1 for Ultima, 3 for Forgotten Realms) and several decades, it's one hell of a collection of gaming goodness, not to mention nostalgia! :D I highly recommend any fans of RPGs, particularly these classics, or anyone who's just a fan of old, classic games, try and pick up these box sets (or, snag a copy off someone who does ;)). You can probably find them real cheap, in bargain bins at stores or on places like E-Bay, and you're guaranteed to get more than you're money's worth.

[Raz]

Legend Of Zelda
The best game of all time.

I can't agree more with you on this one. It was THE game that got me into consoles. Fantastic gameplay.

The knights that you could only hit from the sides and the back were hard. This monster was (and is) one of the monsters I fear most in battling in a video game (fighting them with 2 or three hearts remaining was an adventure in itself). Same with those centaur; they did a lot of damage.

Warcraft II
Too much for words to be said about this game. Probably THE most addictive game I have ever played, or at least among the top.

And this one was the game that got me into computers. I loved humans, and I loved making mixed armies and slowly advancing on the opponent. When the B.net edition was on sale, I bought it again. But when I started playing on Battle.Net, and saw how people played (teching to ogre mages all the time), I got bored. I only play with my friends or singleplayer now :). The game has probably one of my 2 favorite single player campaign levels(the last map of the orcs in the expansion and map 6 or 7 of the humans in the original).

Playing Warcraft III now and waiting for The Frozen Throne...
However, I will not be able to buy it until I go to the states and that will probably be until August (I hate that they change the language on games, so I won´t buy it here in Mexico; Mortar teams speaking spanish is creepy.

[Nystul]

I've never played Rogue, so my understanding of the term roguelike may be off. But I don't include the Ultima series as roguelikes. I consider those to be more true to the RPG genre. I found that my ability to complete Ultima 6, for example, had almost nothing to do with the combat ability of my party and much more to do with my ability to interact with NPCs and even do some adventure-style puzzle solving.

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Nystul,

I believe I have Rogue installed somewhere about my system; it's pretty easy to find online at any rate :) I agree though: `roguelike' is typically reserved for ASCII hacks, but more loosely it is sometimes used for all dungeon crawls. Ultima is not really a dungeon crawl: it's considered one of the greatest RPG serials of all time. Personally I think it's over-rated though. Tried, thought it was pretty ordinary, tried again, gave up and played FFVI again ;)

Oh, and someone mentioned earlier that they felt Earthbound was under-rated. I read a while back that it was actually voted the most under-appreciated RPG of all time... however it was also voted one of the worst 10 console games of all time in the same survey ;) That's another one I tried and did not find particularly appealing.

[jms]

Elric,

I felt the same way about Earthboud; the game was certainly different from any other rpgs I had played at the time, but it didn't hold my interest. Lufia II was a decent snes rpg--lot of zelda-esque puzzles and a good story, though not as captivating as any FFs. At the risk of asking a question that has probably been beaten to death at GameFaqs or the like, how do you feel FFVI measures up to Chronotrigger?
---

Some of the computer rpgs I've enjoyed in the past include:

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands
The first Dark Sun rpg for PC, and definitely a precursor in style and interface to the Infinity Engine games. It included a lot of character races and classes unique to the Dark Sun world--Half Giants, Thri-kreen, Preservers, Psionicists (in fact, every character, regardless of class, had limited psionic ability). For its time, it was an amazing game.

Ultima Underworld
Absolute Game of Year material and probably worth the time to play even now. A 3d first person rpg (much like wizardry, m&m, and eob series), Ultima Underworld created a real and believable atmosphere--the avatar has been framed for the kidnapping of the baron's daughter, and thrown into the Abyss. While there, the player discovers entire civilizations of imprisoned people to speak and barter with, a system of virtues similar to that of the overworld, and learns the actual identity of the captor.

Wizardry 8
Fairly recent, and very welcome after waiting so long since Wizardry 7. Very reminiscent of wiz7, and slightly rehashed in some places--just enough to give a nod to fans of series. It's probably available at a bargain bin price now, and I'd highly recommend it.

Also, I realize Roland and Swarm beat me to it, but the SF2 series was and still is the best fighting game--ever! I remember playing Hyper Fighting for the first time in arcades as a little kid, afterwards buying SF2 for snes, and today, I still play Super Turbo and all the latest capcom fighters. Unbeatable!

[Elric of Grans]

Hail jms,

They are completely different games - not quite to the Apples and Oranges extreme, let alone Apples and Carrots, but closer to the Granny Smith and Pink Lady sort of different... I'm ranting again, am I not? *ahem* Anywho, though they are quite different, I'll compare them this way: I enjoyed Final Fantasy VI more than I did Chrono Trigger. It was a good game, and had some great features in it that I had not seen much of in the past (not original, but not common either), so it came to be a good game, but for the most part it was pretty darn linea, and there were not as many options with it as there were with Final Fantasy VI. Because it restricted you more, I didn't enjoy it as much.

It was pretty darn easy too: not Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest easy, or Japan-kids/US-only version of Final Fantasy IV easy, but still hardly any challenge. I can complete it taking the long path in a day, which includes levelling up, and buying everyone new equipement the moment it becomes available (therefore have to do cash-runs from time-to-time too). I think my best with FFVI in a single day is getting Setzer to join the team for the first time - that's a LONG game! Actually, to be honest, I think I found Mikey Mouse to be a harder game, but that *may* have been because I was something like five years younger when I played Mickey Mouse compared to when I played Chrono Trigger ;)

[whyBish]

Fallout

Not sure about best game ever, but how can you not mention its' manual. I would've paid for just the manual alone... all relevant details clearly explained and referenced, and the humour!

"Don't let this happen to you!"
- Pic of cartoon guy with arm blown off (Explaining critical failure)

[Fragbait]

These are my favourites:

1) Daikatana
Extremely cool 1st person shooter/ action adventure over 4 aeons and with mythical weapons such as the Daikatana, the holy sword;

2) Starcraft
Best realtime strategy game ever. Period.

3) Quake III
Incredible fun in multiplayer, very nice and fluent graphics for a 1999 game;
Successor of Duke Nukem 3D on our LAN parties.

4) The Need for Speed Series
A lot of fun in multiplayer, especially the Hot Pursuit version.

5) Bleifuss:Fun
Incredible fun in multiplayer. Cute graphics and addictive gameplay. Ended up in extracting our 'fastest lap' tables in an excel sheet and sharing them with each other. Half a second faster then the others already got you A LOT of respect.

6) |)i@6|o Series
Alread mentioned. I apologize.
Simply what many players wanted: character building and equipping by slaying tons of monsters, + nice story. A masterpiece.


Greetings, Fragbait


Edit: fixed some mistakes.

[Kryn]

If you don't mind, I'd like to say a few things about FFVI vs. CT.

I'd personally have to say FFVI is better in every way. In my opinion, the story is much more engrossing and connects you to the characters on a level CT never gets close to. For example, Kefka is much more personal, and you can get a good feel of how cruel and evil he is, whereas CT's main enemy doesn't really have a personality.

Also, I believe FFVI's music is phenomenal. It goes so well with the moods and themes, I love it. CT has some great music as well, but to me, it's just not up with FFVI.

I can't really go into too much detail because it's been a little while since I've played both. Overall though, I feel FFVI is just a superior game. Of course, this is just my opinion, and I'd like to see where other people stand on the subject.

[Drasca]

Just for everyone to know, I didn't specify what types of games at all. Sharing what makes the game special to you matters-- May it be Board games, Electronic, or even Schoolyard tag =)

Edit: Oh yes. One more thing Just to be clear about the point of the "no repeats" guideline:

More description & detail = Good thing
Just names over and over = Pointless

That "rule" is meant to be flexible. Additional discussion, description, generally enriching our experiences with yours of the game is what the whole point of this thread is about. The games I'm familiar with are given beautiful nostalgiac descriptions, and the ones I'm not are refreshingly new. I take off a few days and I've seen much of that. I love it. Keep on going guys.

[Drasca]

There were games like Duke and Commander Keen on old Dos systems. They were fun 2D side-scroller, shoot-em up jump puzzle games. Duke wasn't as much a clone, because I did have its roots and bad-mouthing character beforehand.

If you want to talk about clones, take Shadow Warrior-- now that was an utterly silly FPS game you'd just have to laugh at. Really fake Chinese accent and one-liners, blow stuff up with American-Movie versions of Martial arts weapons onto your Computer screen taking out notoriously B-movie enemies.

I think I'll try out Black & White again, do you recommend the creatures expansion pack?

Daggerfall: In many ways, superior to Morrowind. Similar basis of course, but hailing from a different age all-together. One of the best features is the vast, almost uncountable, array of literature in-game Some of it adult. The quests truly make one choose to alter the epic course of destiny for the world. It is an immersive epic. Sadly, like Morrowind, I never got to finish it completely (not talking about replays), just finishing once. It was that big. You'll enjoy it. However, due to rarity, expect to pay as much as a new game on it 40-50$ on ebay, at least I did nearly two years ago.