Best Games You've Ever Played

[Taem]

Title says it all. Lets keep this to a Top-5 list; that means please don't list more than five of your favorite games of ALL time. It would be nice if you included a "why", and the "type" of game your listing, i.e. RPG, action, exploratory, puzzle (item finder), fighting, etc. Feel free to comment on other peoples games. Your not obligated to list 5-games; only one will suffice if that is all you would really recommend for "best". It will be interesting to see what people enjoy the most around here.

[Taem]

My Top #5

#1: Dungeon Master (old Atari ST version)
Genre: RPG
Why: One of the best RPG's I have every played NOT in terms of the story, which was mediocre, but the mathematics behind how the characters gained experience, levels, calculated attack and damage, etc. You got experience for every action you took, so for example if you threw ninja stars everywhere you walked, you would get experience in a "throwing" attribute and some experience in a Ninja class. Spells were not predetermined, clickable weapons, but forms of art where you had to first click a degree of power, then an element, then a form such as, and finally an action. You literally created your own spells, and it was a blast figuring out what different combination of runes did! Mapping your own dungeon on graph paper was a blast too. I wish they make more games like this one!

#2 Heros Quest (Quest for Glory)
Genre: RPG
Why: One of the first games with not only different events scripted for different actions you took (per class), but one of the first cross-class platformers where you could choose Wizard as your class, but get good in fighting and lock picking also. The second and third game in the series were really great also! And like DM above, you got experience based on how often you used your skill in question. One of the best aspects of this game was the open ended "world" you could explore. There were things to do that led to a mild story of sorts - especially for different classes, but it was mostly just for exploring.

#3 Diablo 1 & 2
Genre: Action/RPG
Why: If I have to state why here, then you all fail. I enjoyed D1 particularly for its dark, gothic atmosphere, above and beyond the fantastic controls and leveling system. D2 was addicting as hell. It didn't have the atmosphere, but the slot-machine style game-play kept me an addict for years.

#4 Street Fighter (series)
Genre: Fighter
Why: IMO, one of the best fighting games around, where you actually need skill to win. My kids hate it because I pwn them when we play. They prefer Tekken because they can button mash and win, but not so with Street Fighter. I used to play this game in the arcades and was first to own SF2 Turbo on the SNES. And now SF4, am having tons of fun!

#5 Doom (series)
Genre: FPS
Why: One of the first and best. What can I say, the third one was my fav, but I'm a sucker for scary FPS games. The action was thick, the tension was scripted well, if not better than F.E.A.R., and the story was completed engrossing. One of the best.

And that's my top 5. Hope you enjoyed it.

[Zyn]

1. Chrono Trigger (SNES - RPG)
Why: The reason this is at the top of my list is simply because it got me involved with RPGs and helped me appreciate them. In a genre typically populated by Final Fantasy clones or text based online MUDs, this game came out to a console and rocked my world. It had a deep story line that spanned across different time periods, all following an evil being trying to end everything as we knew it. The combat was intuitive and interactive - and it had a wide variety of party members to bring along. Having different party members active in your team at a given moment also gave you more devastating abilities to utilize which accessed different aspects of each team member's combat style. Take that into account with my first encounter with a "New Game+" feature, which let you continue playing through after finishing the game, but keeping your previous equipment and statistics - and it was a completionists dream. Multiple endings depending on party members didn't hurt either.


2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (XBox 360 - FPS)
Why: One of the most realistic FPS I have ever played. With fast paced action, a story line that spans across the globe and involves current events, and scenes that play out like a John Woo movie right before your eyes. The series defined the genre, and this installment proved to be nothing short of amazing.

3. The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (Xbox 360 - RPG)
Why: Probably the first game I ever played that took the open world concept and let you run with it. The character archetypes were dynamic, the scenery was interesting enough to remind you that you weren't in Kansas anymore and the people surrounding you had personalities that you encounter every day in real life. The quests were interesting and dynamic. The only issue were a few launch bugs that were resolved.

4. Maniac Mansion (NES - Puzzle (I guess?))
Why: Honestly, this game just intrigued me. I don't particularly know why, but I still have a fond place for it in my heart alongside classics like Star Tropics, Contra, and the Mega Man series. This was the first real point and click puzzle game that I got involved with during my younger years, and I still enjoy it to this day.

5. Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360 - Action)
Why: Im a sucker for Westerns. Movies, books, TV shows - anything! This game really took the gritty feel of the West and coupled it with great playability, decent reply value, and characters just as badass as the scenery you ride by. Achievements unlocking new features, looks, and weapons adds to the value for a completionist. Aside from a few bugs, I still play this game regularly.



-Z

[Ashock]

1. Diablo 1&2 - Destruction, shinies, atmosphere, oh my!
2. Baulder's Gate 2 - Incredible story, plot, character interaction.... and dragons!
3. Knights of the Old Republic 1 - Immersion, story, characters. And Pazaak.
4. Warcraft 2 - Fun, FuN, FUN! Revolutionary game, considering when it came out.
5. Rome: Total War - If you chose "auto-resolve battle", then it did not make your top 5, even if you've played it.

Honorable mentions: Dragon Age 1, Age of Empires 1, Starcraft 1, Icewind Dale, Planetscape: Torment, Hellgate: London (j/k).

If I included, MMOs in my list, then WOW would be either #1 or #2, right up there with the Diablos. However, I think that MMOs should not be compared to non-MMOs.

[Zyn]

3. Knights of the Old Republic 1 - Immersion, story, characters. And Pazaak.

Good call, forgot about this one - but it's on my top ten for sure.

-Z

[NuurAbSaal]

I'll throw one of the more obscure games out there, since there's going to be considerable overlap with the games Lurkers enjoy, I guess.

Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord + Sequels.

Turn-based tactical wargame. Ridiculously detailed armor penetration calculations, simulated the importance of communication between commanders and units as well as morale, the list goes on.

I literally spent hours planning out my next 1 minute move, only to have everything fall apart because of a stray artillery shell.

And then came Mac OS X. No support, no way to run it. The discs turned into dead weight overnight.

take care
Tarabulus

[Treesh]

These are in no particular order because I enjoyed the games for such different reasons.

• Diablo series - I was hooked from the first thump, thump, thump of the bow shots through the subwoofer for DI. For DII, it was the sound of frozen orb and the thump of a crossbow with strafe. Well, those coupled with the hope of finding or gambling something really neat. =)
  
  
• The Elder Scrolls series (except Arena since I really didn't play Arena) - I loved the fact that I could just wander wherever I wanted, do whatever I wanted and yet still progress the characters. There was no end to the games and I could get quite attached to my girls since they all ended up with different personalities to me. I LOVED that Morrowind let me get all my interior decorating urges satisfied without spending a lot of money or constantly moving heavy furniture around. Digital decorating is SO the way to go.
  
  
• Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox fighter) This was a button masher's dream. =) This was the first fighting game I actually practiced with the characters to be able to hit fancy little moves at will. The fancy moves weren't as ridiculous as some of the other fighters out there, not as cartoony feeling if you will (*eyeballs Mortal Kombat*) so I enjoyed them more. There were so many different fight styles with the different characters that you could always find one that really fit what your fingers wanted to do that day. You have grapplers, slow powerful punchers, quick punchers, slow kickers, quick kickers, drunken master weirdo, masters of counterattacks and blocks. I got to play them all. Some I was better at than others, but plenty of variety.
  
  
• Dungeon Keeper (RTS, PC) - The first one only. The second one just changed something fundamental in the game for me and it just didn't feel the same at ALL. Basically, you build your dungeon by making your cute little imps dig out tunnels and rooms. If you want them to go faster, slap them! You can pick them up (and watch them dangle from your clawed hand) and drop them wherever you need them to be. You can pick up your troops too. All your units would gain levels and the imps at their max level (I believe it was 10) were crazy. =) I had to lock the door on the torture chamber (for any enemy prisoners you capture) because otherwise all the torture tables would be in use by the Mistresses. It just had such a different feel to it from other RTS games for me. I felt more defensive because this was -my- place. I made my home just how I wanted it, the rooms, the layout, rather than just having some temporary military base to defend.
  
  
• Battle Realms (RTS, PC) - This was the other RTS that I really connected with. It's an oriental themed one where you have your peasants get water from a well, lake or pond to water the rice and harvest the rice while others get on with their training. The farther away from your base you fought, the more points you got to upgrade your troops. This is the first one that really made me a more aggressive player instead of just looking at defense all the time. Plus, who doesn't love geisha's who will just mow down the enemy with their metallic fans while healing your own troops? I can't remember if this one or Dungeon Keeper was the first one I ended up actually playing through all the single player missions, but I think it was this one.

And one honorable mention is WET (Xbox, third person shooter). It was a really close call between Battle Realms and this one for the last spot. WET was a game that I swear was just made for me. Chick who dual wields pistols (unlimited ammo on the pistols), has a katana slung on her back for when bad guys get too close, does a bit of free running while shooting, and has hidden monkeys to find. MONKEYS! =) My favorite moment of the game though was when I got ambushed by a whole slew of guys. I hear her say, quite calmly, "You're all gonna f**kin' die." in just a great tone of voice. This game was it. The one made for me. =D It only gets honorable mention though because it was too short. Or else I played it too often and it just seemed like it was short. I just wanted MORE.

[Jester]

1) Starcraft.

I used to think this game would forevermore monopolize the top spot, some kind of serendipitous masterwork of balance and gameplay. What a game.

2) Star Control II (... these days, The Ur-Quan Masters)

Thanks again, Bolty. What a game - hilarious, inventive, balanced (except for that fershlugginer Androsynth ship...), and best of all - exploratory. A real universe out there to discover, filled with two dozen of the funniest races you'll ever encounter in any game, and what are, for my money, the best villains of all time.

3) A Mind Forever Voyaging

Steve Meretzky's magnum opus. The first game that really tried to go beyond being a "game," and into interactive fiction. Dated, and with a couple clunky "ye olde texte parser" bits to it, but amazing in scope. If I were ever given a design team and tens of millions of dollars, *this* is the game I would remake. The best ruined world I've ever seen, with the possible exception of...

4) Bioshock.

Oh, Bioshock. Ruined, riveting, Rapture. The richness of this game is amazing. Oh, sure, the shooter component gets a little worn by the end, and the first sequel was only pretty good, but those first few levels at the bottom of the ocean were magic. Andrew Ryan asks you a question....

5) Final Fantasy VI.

The greatest of Squaresoft's games, the most entertaining of RPGs, and the quintessential game of my childhood. The first heroic adventure where things actually get ugly. Still the best characters. Walking through the great overworld of life, I still find myself whistling Terra's theme. Plus, Kefka!

(Strangely, all of these involve some kind of apocalypse or ruin of mankind. I think I maybe need help.)

Not on list: World of Warcraft - A way of life. Not usefully comparable to other games.

Honourable mentions: The Last Express, Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, Day of the Tentacle, Baldur's Gate II, Goldeneye 007, Infiltration, Portal, Civilization IV, and all the beautifully flawed games that make it onto the "almost perfect, but not even great" list.

-Jester

Afterthought: Okay, okay, Diablo. The original. For the Tristram theme.

[Jester]

4. Maniac Mansion (NES - Puzzle (I guess?))
Why: Honestly, this game just intrigued me. I don't particularly know why, but I still have a fond place for it in my heart alongside classics like Star Tropics, Contra, and the Mega Man series. This was the first real point and click puzzle game that I got involved with during my younger years, and I still enjoy it to this day.

The first of the Lucasarts adventure games. I've been trying to forget this game for almost ten years, so that I can go back and play it again. Still, PC is better than NES by far - Nintendo censorship legendarily did a number on that game.

-Jester

[kandrathe]

5 - Metroid Prime
4 - Mass Effect 2 (One was fun too)
3 - Final Fantasy VII (VI was nice too)
2 - Diablo I (II is good, I was better)
1 - World of Warcraft (if I were childless, wifeless, and retired I'd play more.)

Honorable mentions in no particular order; Half-life II, TES3: Morrowind, Ultima 7, FMA:Broken Angel; Wild Arms (esp. music); TES4:Oblivion; SW:KOTOR; Starcraft

[DeeBye]

Mario Golf for the Nintendo 64 is the most perfect game ever created, and I hate golf.

I played the hell out of Gran Turismo 2 for the Playstation 1, and I hate racing games.

I'm a little disappointed that there is no mention of Ocarina Of Time here.

[Tris]

TES 3 & 4 - Still play

D1 - Still play with various mods (MLevel100 TDL with knockback and fastest hit recovery is quite entertaining), three classes of quad immunes, archers installed in hell, hidden types in hell, and all hell diff monster Mlevels raised by 10 - Level 44 LAR (Rogue, the only TDL tanking solution )

SC/BW - still play - Terran, Terran, Uber Alles

BG1 / 2 - BG2 - favorite char - solo chaotic evil sorc
Oops... I'm sorry, did I accidentally drop that Pit Fiend off in your inn? Remember slaughtering some of the posse that responded if your rep got too bad... they had some decent gear IIRC. Never got around to reinstalling BG1, and haven't repurchased BG2.

Other solo chars - Paladin, Druid, Gnome fighter/illusionist - completed all of regular BG2 with each ... ToB was simply impossible to solo at end.

Really liked one thing about BG2, you started out at a decent Clevel. Casters really, really sucked to start in BG1, same for IWD if you were soloing. Starting out with Fireball was really, really nice in BG2

'MechWarrior 2, 3, 4 - for those times when you want to blow sh!t up.

Honorable mention:
Starflight 1/2 - old, old, old games
Quake
'MechCommander 2

Never played FMA - Broken angel. Liked the anime, Brotherhood not so much, but never did any of the games.

[LavCat]

Wasteland. Played on both Commodore and PC. Commodore was better. I still have it installed on PC.

Kings Quest IV. Had great Roland Synthesizer soundtrack. "Not in this dress!"

Diablo. Only game to really terrify me.

D2. I spent enough time playing it. If only the protagonists had eyes.

WoW. As much as I complain, that's where my time goes.

[Crushar]

1. Fallout 3. Put too many hours into this on the xbox.
2. WoW . Played for 6 years enough said
3. Kotor 1/2 Great games aleways been a big SW fan.
4.Ocarina of Time. First long game i played as a kid.
5. Battlefield 3 Is becomming my favorite FPS quickly.

[LochnarITB]

#1 - Wizardry

It was my first. Nothing else will ever come close enough to be on the same list. Best spell ever - Tiltowait: "The effect of this spell is somewhat like the detonation of a small tactical nuclear weapon." The game that ignited my passion for the phrase "just one more" (room/level/monster). I'd move, the game would slightly pause and I'd hold my breath waiting to see what monster graphic popped up in the little window. Always loved drawing the maps. I'm far to jaded to sit and play anything so simple for any period now, but the pleasures I drew from it were beyond priceless (unless you figure the price of my first computer, an Apple II+, which I bought so my younger brother couldn't kick me off his and which I still have).

[vor_lord]

1. Diablo II (I only played about 30 min of D1 *gasp* but I still fire this up sometimes)
2. WoW (too many good memories)
3. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (NES: the game of timing and twitch reflexes)
4. TradeWars (BBS text game: my first truly task-oriented programming was to automate this game... telemate script!)
5. F-Zero (SNES: only racing game I ever liked and I loved this one)


HM: Portal (so short, yet so many laughs), Contra (NES: how fast can you push the button? Turbo is for cheaters), Bioshock, Super Metroid (SNES), Robot Odyssey (life changing experience for me, sad that I lack the patience to finish the darn game as an adult), Ocarina of Time

[Jester]

I'm a little disappointed that there is no mention of Ocarina Of Time here.

To be honest, I thought Ocarina was overrated. Fun to play, and definitely a remarkable game, but the kinds of "best evar" kudos it got were too much.

Now, Majora's Mask? That was a game. The "3 days" mechanic was amazing, and the game was so carefully thought out. Also, A Link to the Past was also better, IMO.

-Jester

[eppie]

1: diablo2
2: digger
3: off road
4:warcraft 2
5tar craft.

[Lissa]

In no particular order:

Diablo 1 - it seemed like there was infinite replayability here where as D2 wasn't (don't ask me why, I can't put my finger on why, but that's the way it seems to me)

Might and Magic: Xeen (covers MM4 and 5) - This RPG came out in the early 90s and had one of the most engaging storylines of the M&M series, both past and present.

Unreal Tournament - Back in the day I played this relentlessly when I wasn't playing D1. The various modes that it presented over previous FPSes along with the graphics made it an enjoyable game to play.

Mass Effect series - This is the epic story line RPG/TPS. The story is engaging and you can't play through it just once. Can't wait for ME 3 to come out to finish the story (and, hopefully, finally see what a Quarian really looks like without their breather mask on along with maybe what Asari really look like.

Total Annihalation - the RTS that all RTSes epitomise too, yes, even StarCraft. Out of the box, this was probably the most balanced RTS ever and it had a futuristic bent to it.

I'm adding a sixth as well;

Freespace 2 - This was an amazing space combat sim. It had it's foibles, but it was incredibly well done and pretty much has set a benchmark that no one has really reached since.

[TheDragoon]

My top 5:

1. World of Warcraft - This game has come a long way and I have played through most of it. I've played this game way more than any previous game (and probably more than I'd care to admit) and have really enjoyed just about all of it. I'm not sure a lot more needs to be said about it since it's basically in a league of its own.

2. Final Fantasy VI - Before this game, I had played and loved Final Fantasy IV. However, when Final Fantasy VI came out, I was blown away. This game was a HUGE leap forward in terms of story, gameplay, character development, you name it. I have played through this game many, many times and I'm always looking to improve on the last play through (either in minimizing steps, completing things at lower levels, using different characters, using different characters differently, collecting all of the Lores, etc.). Like Jester noted earlier, I can also get the songs from this game stuck in my head (of course that's helped by the fact that I have the game's soundtrack as well as a couple of the Black Mages CDs to listen to.

3. Diablo 1/2 - I enjoyed both of these games and spent a lot of time playing and eventually modding them. I ended up playing Diablo 2 a lot more than Diablo 1 since there was so much more to that game as far as available classes, different talent builds, gameplay areas, etc, but I did enjoy my time in both of them. I still remember the first time in Diablo the first time I ran into the Butcher I fled the room because the "Ahh… fresh meat" made me jumpy, or the first time I picked up mail armor and put it on to see my character's appearance change. There were definitely some great moments in there! I did eventually get an obsidian ring of the zodiac or two though neither were perfect. In Diablo 2, I spent countless hours fighting through hell to smash Diablo, then eventually going after Baal when the expansion came out. Both were great games that I enjoyed until I finally got tired of playing games as such low resolutions.

4. Final Fantasy - I played this game a TON back when I was in elementary/middle school. It was incredibly basic but very fun. I played through the game with quite a few different party groupings though I admit that I never tried the four-white-mages party that I've read about people beating the game with. I even discovered a bug (a place where the encounter table from the northern continent was reachable from the southern continent) that I have never seen other people talk about that could allow you to fight giants, frost giants, trolls and frost wolves WAY earlier than you're supposed to be able to (even before you got the ship, though you'd be pretty much doomed if you ever tried to fight them at that stage!). This game provided me a jumping off point for picking up the later Final Fantasy games when they became available.

5. Super Metroid - I got a lot of playtime out of this game. There were fantastic puzzles throughout the game within the huge areas you could explore and enjoy. If I recall correctly, the first time I beat the game, I was somewhere in the 11 hours, 30 minutes time frame and I had only found roughly 50% of the stuff in the game. From there, I continued to refine my path and finally got it down to the point that I could beat the game (with very low completion percentage) in just over 30 minutes or I could get 100% completion percentage in about an hour and a half. That probably shows how much I played through that game!

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy VII - This is a fun game that is an evolutionary step forward from Final Fantasy VI (better graphics, continued character development, etc). My biggest personal criticism for it is that I haven't been able to play it for some time. I don't own a Playstation so I played the PC version and, while I have the discs for it, the game crashes that I experience nowadays are frustrating and have prevented me for playing through it the last 10 years or so. I did enjoy this game for several years back when it worked for me, though.