best video game you've played?

[Kael]

Mods are the only reason I play Oblivion at all, though Morrowind was good enough I can stand to play the normal version. I need to take some computer classes or something so I can learn how to mod. The most complicated editor I ever learned to use effectively was the one in Warcraft III, and even there most of what I did was find the effect I wanted somewhere else, copy it and change the variables I wanted changed. I've always had this super-ambitious project idea of remaking Might and Magic VI and/or VII in a new engine like Oblivion or something. That would rock so hard.

[The Lone Ranger]

I loved X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Oh, man, I wish they'd update those with modern-day graphics and sound and release 'em for OS X. I'd buy 'em both in a heartbeat!

I also loved Jedi Academy.

There was a time when LucasArts made games that were fun to play.

Cheers,

Michael

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

I loved X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Oh, man, I wish they'd update those with modern-day graphics and sound and release 'em for OS X. I'd buy 'em both in a heartbeat!

Absolutely. Those two games were, as it were, DA BOMB.

[The Lone Ranger]

I keep an old, obsolete Blue-and-White G3 Mac for one and only one reason. Every now and again, I'll fire it up and blast some evil Imperials (or Rebel Scum, depending on the mood). The graphics and music are pathetic by today's standards, but those games are fun!


Speaking of Mac games, Ambrosia Software's Escape Velocity and its sequels are a ton and a half of fun. I really wish they'd do a 3-D version, though!

Cheers,

Michael

[erimir]

Hmmmm... So many games... Don't feel like figuring out an order... So yeah, this isn't so much a "best video game ever" as a list of my favorite games...

Square RPGs
Final Fantasy 6 - maybe the pinnacle of 2D classic Japanese RPGs, good story, great villain, great music, refined the classic RPG elements
Final Fantasy 7 - best 3D RPG in that genre
Chrono Trigger - the reason that FF6 isn't definitely the pinnacle of 2D RPGs, cuz CT probably is
Chrono Cross - sequel to Chrono Trigger... not as good as the original, but still quite fun

Metroid series - is good in general, but
Super Metroid - Still one of the best Metroidvania games. Hell, it's the reason why it's called Metroidvania
Metroid Prime + Metroid Prime 3 - successfully transferred that to 3D

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - the other part of the term Metroidvania, the other one that can vie for the best game in the genre. Other Castlevanias since have been consistently good, but none of them are on the same level

Zelda series - one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time, for a reason
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - awesome
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - awesome
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - awesome

Obviously I like Mario...
Super Mario Bros 3
Super Mario World
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario Kart 64

Misc. Square games
Vagrant Story
Secret of Mana
Seiken Densetsu 3 (sequel to Secret of Mana, never released in the US)
Kingdom Hearts - yeah, it's Disney, so it's not exactly "mature", but the series has some great gameplay

Rare games
Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2
Banjo Kazooie
Golden Eye 007

Civilization series (I haven't really played 2, but 3 is probably my favorite)

Mega Man series, but in particular Mega Man 2, Mega Man X and Mega Man 9 (if you have a Wii/Xbox360/PS3, and enjoy classic platforming/shooter action, download that shit)

Super Smash Bros series - first one was a bit rough around the edges but loads of fun. Melee and Brawl are great

Okami - very (3D) Zelda-esque, which is of course a high compliment

Earthbound - very quirky and fun

Spiderman 2 - based on the movie - probably the best game out there for capturing the feel of being a particular superhero, you can spend tons of time just swinging through the huge Manhattan map...

I guess you can see that I am a big fan of Nintendo and Square... There are probably others.

[Kael]

Originally Posted by The Lone Ranger

I loved X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Oh, man, I wish they'd update those with modern-day graphics and sound and release 'em for OS X. I'd buy 'em both in a heartbeat!

I also loved Jedi Academy.

Man, TIE Fighter was a blast. I logged so many hours on that. I wish I had a working copy still...

Jedi Academy was their best in the Dark Forces series, IMO. I do have copies of all of those, and I still haul them out every now and then.

[Wonderbread Leotard]

From Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf.

I was thinking about making a screenshot of my game as Baybars of the Mameluke Sultanate in 1284, headquartered in France (!)... but that would be a grossly indecent thing to do around Christmas.

[Egor]

Forgot a couple of console games:

Einhander. Possibly the best non RPG Squaresoft ever made. It's a sidescrolling 3d flying shooter.

Shadows of the Empire. Possibly the game I played the most at other peoples houses. Everything from the Snow-Speeder fight to the jet-pack part in the canyons while hunting the Fett. What a sweet game!

Mario Cart 64. Let's face it everyone loves Mario Cart how could you not? What is there not to love about Mario Cart!

[Egor]

Baaaagh Why can't you delete your own browser screwed up double posts?

[Egor]

Originally Posted by Sovereign

True about MOO2.

Egor brought up the Decent: FreeSpace series. Good one, that.

OTOH, I never much liked the Wing Commander games, though I've a friend crazy about them. Come to think of it, he's the same one with mastery of the Pirates! cannons in his sleep.

The best part about FreeSpace is that you can still get it for Free:Main Page - FreeSpace Wiki

[S.Vashti]

I think I've hardly played games compared to most. But so far, a modded Morrowind is my favorite, mostly because I can explore and explore, and the landscape is a different planet. And the architecture is varied. It's the awesomeness of being able to explore a different planet, from caves to mountaintops, at my own pace. Only Mist comes close, and you can't deviate from custom paths, so there's no ability to get up close when you want to.

Other than that, I think the other game I've played the most is SimCity.

SimCity is one of my all-time favourites. Stop growing and become restless despite all my best efforts?

Fuck off, Sims! Here come the natural disasters!

[BrotherMan]

So many great games have been mentioned. And only some of them I've actually played!

Going way back:

F-15 Strike Eagle. I loved, loved, loved that game.

Diabo 2 - I missed the first one but the second and the second's expansion were hundreds of hours of hand crippling fun.

Syphon Filter - Came out roughly the same time as Deus Ex. Wasn't as deep, but it was still a good story and fun sneaky romp through enemy lines.

Oh! And Mario Kart - in all of it's incarnations!

Neverwinter Nights (and expansions) - Certainly not as deep as Baldur's Gate but a good standard to judge modern RPGs.

I loved Populous, too. Stop whining to your god! Okay, that's it, pissants, it's time to make the land beneath you sink into the waves! Die, die, DIE!

ETA: Stupid / !

[Deadlokd]

I still have Populous around here somewhere. I loved the noises the little dudes made. Good game. And Sim City is the best ever. Awesome game. I can, and have, played that for hours, days, weeks. And there's always a whining little maggot that wants more parks, more schools, more police. Nothing a volcano can't fix.

[Wonderbread Leotard]

Just remembered Tropico.

The game sees the player taking the role of "El Presidente," the ruler of an island in the Caribbean during the Cold War era from the 1950s onward.

[Egor]

Originally Posted by BrotherMan

Diabo 2 - I missed the first one but the second and the second's expansion were hundreds of hours of hand crippling fun.

Syphon Filter - Came out roughly the same time as Deus Ex. Wasn't as deep, but it was still a good story and fun sneaky romp through enemy lines.

How could I have Forgotten D2! We still Lan that game today it's endless fun!

I also played Syphon Filter it was an awesome game! 2 was also very good, 3 was good but not as much as 1 and 2.

[Sock Puppet]

Originally Posted by Farren

"World of science/World of magic" is just the lamest fantasy device in existence (for the same reason, I hated the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenent" shit my friends kept recommending when I was younger).

I think you have that series confused with something else, possibly Piers Anthony's lameass "Split Infinity" books. There is no sci-fi parallel universe stuff in the Covenant books. [/derail]

[beyelzu]

Originally Posted by Sock Puppet

I think you have that series confused with something else, possibly Piers Anthony's lameass "Split Infinity" books. There is no sci-fi parallel universe stuff in the Covenant books. [/derail]

While I happen to the think the split infinity books are decent and the unbeliever stuff is fucking awesome, I, well, I just wanted to weigh in on how awesome Thomas Covenant the whitegold wielder really is.


I would also like to say that farren does have a point in that the unbeliever comes from our own world and goes to a world of magic. Things that effect one world effect the other.


Anyway, I find it hard to believe that anyone could confuse the two series.

[Farren]

I wasn't confusing them. I was just giving a poor example of what I was trying to illustrate. The Thomas Covenant books, like Harry Potter, were about two worlds, one being of magic.

In any event they were fucking lame

Now I know that's gonna raise some hackles around here, because they're a very popular series. But, you know, that's just my opinion. The plot device was as unoriginal as all hell and so were most of the characters. I became sick of fantasy novels that simply recombine the same tired themes, over and over, when I was twenty.

China Mievilles novels, or Clive Barker's horror-tinted epics - that's creative , original fantasy. Christ, even Michael Moorcock and Piers Anthony were original (although the latter is a pretty lousy writer). Raymond E Feist, whoever the fuck wrote the Thomas Covenant series, the author of those awful books based on a D&D world, for chrissakes - they're all just hacks, copying a template that hasn't moved one inch since Tolkien.

Let the flaming begin

Awww, I enjoy the D&D books. But I have no illusions about them being anything other than derivative pulp, but that makes the lunch hour at work fun!

[Farren]

I can see how someone could actually enjoy them, in the same way I can enjoy a wine almost none of my wine-aficionado friends and family can stomach. Sometimes a tired old formula works for people. I'm very demanding and particular when it comes to fiction, which makes buying books a pain.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by Farren

Now I know that's gonna raise some hackles around here, because they're a very popular series... (snip)

Let the flaming begin

Isn't it just a matter of tastes? Like me. I love Harry Potter, hate LOTR. Love Star Trek, hate ... everything else. Nobody's going to flame me for it, though... are they?

Oh wait, we were talking about video games.

My favorite is Crash Bandicoot Warped. For the PS1.

[Farren]

Originally Posted by Chris Porter

I think I've hardly played games compared to most. But so far, a modded Morrowind is my favorite, mostly because I can explore and explore, and the landscape is a different planet. And the architecture is varied. It's the awesomeness of being able to explore a different planet, from caves to mountaintops, at my own pace. Only Mist comes close, and you can't deviate from custom paths, so there's no ability to get up close when you want to.

Other than that, I think the other game I've played the most is SimCity.

BTW Chris I meant to respond to this previously but I know exactly how you feel. I love the feeling that its actually a whole world on your computer you're exploring. Also, the asthetics of Morrowind are sufficiently unique to really add to the feeling of discovering a new world, rather than a vanilla game world. And as I said to Adam on the Fallout thread, there are an astonishing number of user mods for Morrowind. I still have about 4 GIGS of mods for Morrowind.

Oh, and I have to add because I'm proud of it (even though I've said it before in another thread) and all that probably more than half the mods you pulled down for Morrowind had been tweaked in the editing software I wrote for the game.

[Farren]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

Isn't it just a matter of tastes?

Well, yes and no. I mean even people who are complete ignoramuses when it comes to wine or whiskey like me acknowledge that there might be different levels of skill involved in making a good wine or whiskey, and that people with more sensitive palates and refined taste might make distinctions someone like me doesn't make. And I don't see why that isn't the same for the arts.

I mean, when I was younger there was a really popular punk band who's members were dating friends of mine and they frankly admitted to knowing, like, 3 chords on a guitar. So obviously the fact that a mass of punk kids enjoyed going crazy to their sound didn't obviate the fact that there were musicians out there with infinitely more skill and awareness of musical styles, producing far more sophisticated (by which I mean made with greater care, skill and awareness) music.

And there were people out there that enjoyed other music and would not enjoy that music sound because they had a greater knowledge of and appreciation for sophistication in music. When someone like D.Scarlatti comments on jazz, I can clearly see he has considerably more refined musical taste than I, not just different musical tastes.

And it seems obvious to me the same applies to books, TV shows, what have you.

Taste is what happens emotionally at the recieving end. But I think saying "its just taste" is denying the reality that there might be considerable differences in the actual skill involved in producing a work of art. And some people do delight in recognising such skill, because they can recognise it, and miss it when its absent.