Best video games of all time?

[JohnnyW]

Ok, here's some reasons

1. Portal: Fantastic problem solving based gameplay, fluid motion on my personal favourite engine, and above all, a fantastic narrative from Glados, the crazed computer. Despite it's linear nature, I've played through it 5+ times, and it never gets old.

Thanks for the followup!

I got Portal when it was free on steam (several months ago) and I have to agree it's an incredibly fun game, and the use of the portals is one of my favorite mechanics ever. It is awfully short though and I wanted more from it, though the challenges were quite nice.

 

[tycoonist]

Thanks for the followup!

I got Portal when it was free on steam (several months ago) and I have to agree it's an incredibly fun game, and the use of the portals is one of my favorite mechanics ever. It is awfully short though and I wanted more from it, though the challenges were quite nice.

I agree it is short, but what little there is is perfect.

 

[Catharsis]

Played one a game when I was in primary school called pop.

It was a really basic learning game but you just typed in a verb "run, jump and even pop (explode) etc" and Pop would do the action.

Pretty cool at the time (1987)

That's Podd! I remember playing that in, well it must have been '95 or '96 since it was very early on in my school years, on what was presumably an old BBC Micro.

For illustration on why Podd was the best game ever, observe the following video, taking note of the top-of-the-range graphics and multi-layered gameplay. (The player in this video is pretty decent but notice that he almost slips up by misspelling a word near the end... somehow he manages to claw it back, though. Bit lucky if you ask me)


Link to video.

 

[Akka]

Planescape : Torment is the king of video games. Nothing even approached its greatness. Game, art, intelligence, imagination all packed into one.
A one-of-his-kind wonder, that we will probably never see again, as the industry has moved too far to allow such a thing. Every single other games I've ever played pale in comparison.


Civilization (as a whole) takes probably the second place. Grandiose and taking you from stone age to high-tech, with all the richness and depth of human development. One of the most addicting serie of all times.


In no particular order, there is then a truckload of excellent games that fueled my passion over the years : Mass Effect (especially the second one), Fallout : New Vegas, Master of Magic, Deus Ex, Morrowind... And many, many others.

 

[Rub'Rum]

Hmmm....

Civilization IV: Best in the series I think

Diablo II: Random dungeons, random drops, fun builds to try, many character classes, insanely fun multiplayer. Diablo 1 probably has my fondest memories because I was younger and I played it with friends over phone modem before we even had the internet, ah, good old days.

Morrowind (Elder Scrolls 3): Many dark nights in my dorm room in college gazing at the epic skybox of this game. Holy crap, the sense of exploration, the desolate and far away things to explore, so great *sniffle*

Chrono Trigger or Earthbound: My all time favourite console RPGs. Great soundtrack, superb stories, fun characters, eh. Golden.

Half-Life 1 for its many mods online: So many hours spent with my friends playing online on all the mods, the early versions of Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 1, and other fun mods like Day of Defeat and Firearms and the one about being an action hero (stunts and all included). Fun times.

There would be many more, probably fantasy games from the 90s; Might and Magic and such. Hmm. Ah nostalgia.

I also have some fond memories of NES days with its classic games, Mega Man 2, first Zelda game, Blades of Steel...

 

[Oruc]

In no order

Total Annihilation - Greatest strategy game ever made basically

The Settlers - First game I got into in a big way, mostly here because of Nostalgia

Baldurs Gate 2 - I just loved exploring the place and when you get out of the first dungeon and the music kicks I really got sense I was in a weird foreign world, It also has the manliest elf ever

Planescape Torment - others have mentioned it.

Saints Row 2 - I just thought it was really fun, I was even interested in the story characters

 

[Azale]

Let's go by systems.

SNES:
Earthbound
Chrono Trigger
Terranigma
Secret of Mana
A Link to the Past
FF6
Megaman X

Gameboys of various sorts:
Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow
Pokemon Gold/Silver

PC:
Civ II
Civ III
Age of Empires II

PS1:
FF Tactics
FF7
FF9
Dragon Warrior 7
Chrono Cross
Grandia

N64:
Rayman 64
Super Mario 64
Ocarina of Time
Ogre Battle 64
Starfox 64

PS2:
Shadow of the Colossus
Madden '05

Wii:
Super Mario Galaxy

PS3:
Fallout 3
Fallout New Vegas

 

[JohnnyW]

I know I've been posting about this game a lot on these boards frequently, but the more I play EU3 (+HTTT) the more and more it climbs on my list of favorites. It's giving me the feeling I wanted from civ5, but to an even higher degree! I've played it for ~125 hours now and I'm still learning about the game! I think I'm almost to the point where I will know more about the game than I don't know, but there might be even more depth for me to discover. I'm loving it!

 

[Disgustipated]

my list is pretty much the same as my best rpg list with the exception of throwing a few more games in there like civ 4, civ2, x-com (the original)

1. Civilization 4
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Baldur's Gate 1 (with tutu mod)
4. Baldur's Gate 2
5. Civilization 2
6. Dragon Age
7. X-com
8. Fallout 2
9. World of Warcraft
10. SMAC

 

[Rub'Rum]

You know, I should probably have put World of Warcraft on my list too. Despite its flaws, I had a great sense of wonder on my first playthrough (up to level 70 at the time?). It was so fun exploring the world, I spent a lot of time just doing that. Exploring the world with various characters probably took hundreds of hours. It was fun while it lasted. Had fun with some people and all.

 

[Northen Wolf]

These three are what addicted me to computer games:
1) Civilization I
2) Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf.
3) X-CoM: UFO Defence

And newer games:
4) Morrowind (best open world game that I've ever played)
5) Fallout 3
6) EU3 (complex, yet easy enough)
7) AoE (original back then was awesome, I found it more awesome than warcraft series! I always built up remote villages and settlements and dug all resources before finishing off town heart of enemy player)
8) Gta 1
9) GTA2 (C'mon you never spent countless of hours playing these?)
10) Civilization 3

 

[Terrapin]

Old School coin Op: Tetris
Gauntlet
Stargate Defender

Cartridge Game: Star Patrol (Atari 400/800)
Energy Czar (Civ w/o graphics)

Early Disc Games (3DO, PS1): Final Fantasy 7

PC: Civ 2
Total Annihilation

PS2: Grand theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Madden '04

PS3 God of War 3
Civ Rev

 

[Kyriakos]

2) Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf.

An excellent game indeed

 

[Tani Coyote]

Sonic Adventure 2

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Civ III

GTA: San Andreas

 

[Arakhor]

The best-written game ever, objectively speaking? Planescape: Torment. It literally sold the entire campaign setting to me.

The game I've spent the most time playing? Morrowind, without a shadow of a doubt. I spent five months on the Xbox just playing one character, with hundreds of hours before and since.

 

[MajKira]

I liked playing
FF7, Heroes V, Kings Bounty Armored Princess, Xenosaga, Skies of Arcadia, Persona 3,4, Suikoden 3,4,5,Atelier Iris 1,2,3, Mana Khemia 1,2, Shadowhearts 1,2,3, MagnaCharta, Tales of Legendia, Tales of Abyss, Dynasty Warriors 6, Kesssen 3, Grandia 2,3, Kotor 1,2, Jade Empire, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinternights 1,2, Planescape Torment, Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, Star Trek - Birth of Federation, Pool of Radiance, Curse of Azure Bonds, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Pools of Darkness, Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday, Defender of the Crown, FF12, FF13, Resonance of Fate, Star Ocean 3,4, Legend of Dragoon, 7 Cities of Gold ............. ..............................................................................................................
many many many
Top five:
1. FF7 2. Xenosaga III, 3. Skies of Arcadia, 4. Pirates! 5. Dynasty Warriors 6
But was more out of mood and can vary a little depending on mood
But Top 3 would stay to 90percent

 

[Benefactor]

Glad to see so many pick Planescape: Torment, that really is an utter classic of a game. Also nice to see some picks for Total Annihilation, I always thought it was a shame that game was overlooked so much in favour of C&C, Starcraft, & Age of Empires.
With the 5000 units patch I used to really enjoy setting up massive lines of laser turrets, dragons teeth and rapid fire artillery and then sit back to watch AI get smashed to bits during every attack.


Anyway
1. Planescape: Torment, for reasons above.
2. Deus Ex: Awesome, awesome game, really looking forward to DX:HR in August.
3. Baldurs Gate 1+2+Expansions, got to be the biggest story driven RPG ever.
4. Total Annihilation, for reasons above.
5. Civ III

Not the best by any means, but I have to mention Tekken 5 and the Burnout series as well. I bought a PS2 specifically for those games.

Half Life series is also awesome, as is Portal.

..and the Witcher, really looking forward to the Witcher 2 (only one month to go .)

 

[Iranon]

1. Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress.

Dwarf Fortress is utterly insane and better for it. While giving you only ANSI art by default, it tries its best to melt modern processors generating the world from the minerals up. Climate, vegetation, mythology, a millenium or so of detailed history taking into account different species' different taboos and philosophies... everything but a polished interface really. Why use hit points when you can model tissue layers, weapon shapes, then plug in material properties for the relevant impact calculations?
If everything goes well, you have a wonderful sandbox. If it doesn't... expect to be entertained by graphic dismemberment, vomit, kitten genocide, deadly sociopathic badgers, little plumbing accidents that flood your fortress (water or magma), and exploding booze when someone gets thirsty from being on fire.

2. Nethack. Many roguelikes are excellent, and others have much richer in-game atmosphere instead of being cobbled together from fantasy/geek pop culture. Or more lasting replayability - Nethack can get a little repetitive once you know all the tricks.
It's the same tricks that make it special though... Nethack is full of obscure (mostly item-based) interactions or at least arch remarks about impossible things.

3-5: Ufo: Enemy Unknown, Ultima 7, Civilization 4.

Honourable mention for making me laugh, cry, rage and dance with joy more than many 'better' games: I Wanna Be The Guy.

 

[Benefactor]

Planescape: Torment is terrible as a game.

Heresy!

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Portal, Ico, TIE Fighter and Civilization 2 came to mind first, so I guess I like them. Super Mario Bros. 3, Skies of Arcadia and Sonic 3 and Knuckles also should get a mention.