9 all-time favorite video games: autumn 2015 edition

Miss Miko Mayonegg

Use this (or don't) and use it to make an image of your 9 favorite games. Here's mine!

Imipolex G

of all times?

Miss Miko Mayonegg

ye

Miss Miko Mayonegg

thread title edited for this reason

Imipolex G

I will do this when I return from slavery work

Miss Miko Mayonegg

Okay. ^_^

Miss Miko Mayonegg

Something just hit me about what all 9 of those games have in common, for me... they all have a dark atmosphere.

glennmagusharvey

Freedom Planet also stars a dragon girl, doesn't it?

Tachyon

Yes.

Imipolex G

I said I would do this, so I did.



I think this is virtually identical to how I answered this one before. But spoiler: no one cares

Tre

Doing 16 because pfft, numbers. (I also already wrote about 9 the last time around and they're still pretty much solid as faves, so they're still here. Previous observations can be found here; I'll be dedicating this post to the new additions.)

Borderlands 2

Shoot-n-loot, damn near perfected. Its storyline is a rollercoaster of laughs and pain, its characters are well-developed and interesting, its gameplay is an absolutely masterful combination of two tangentially-related genres, its visuals are top notch, its progression system is great, and it does a very good job of making itself accessible and customizable to all kinds of player tastes. (All of this also applies to the Pre-Sequel, but 2 gets the credit because it did all of this first.)

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc

Old thoughts available here, slightly newer thoughts here. Basically: It's not the definitive 3D platformer in the series by popular consensus, but I hold this one in higher regard than its predecessor because it resonates better with me in terms of mood, visual style and humor than Rayman 2.

Thomas Was Alone

Tearaway may be the only game that's made me cry for real, but I'll be damned if I didn't want to do the same after playing this game. It doesn't look like very much at all because of its minimalist presentation, but Thomas's beauty lies in the execution of its plot; Danny Wallace's narration brings a sense of wonder, whimsy and heart to the journey of the sentient AIs that populate the game's cast. Brought together with the musical stylings of David Housden, Mike Bithell's debut is a hell of an argument for the concept of video games as art.

inFamous 2

I'll admit it; Sucker Punch improved almost everything that this game had to offer with the installment that came after it, inFamous Second Son. That game is prettier, more diverse in its challenges and power sets, has better writing and doesn't increase its difficulty to the point of utter frustration the way that inFamous 2 does.

I don't care, though. inFamous 2 was the game that invested me in the universe of the series, the game that made me love jumping around and shooting lightning at whatever threat was roaming about, the game that creeped me out with its villains, the game that made me cheer when I would bring about their downfall, the game that made me mourn a main character's death. (No, I'm still not over it.) It's special to me because of the passion involved with playing it, something that didn't really happen while watching Second Son (I would have played it, but my brother almost immediately traded it in for some other nonsense).

So yeah.

Fez

Just to get it out of the way, yes, Phil Fish isn't the nicest developer on the block (and, frankly, he doesn't need to be), but the world is better off for his existence because of this game, the byproduct of years of work between him, Renaud Bédard, and a few others. Fez is a great example of a game that takes one simple quirk-- in this case, bringing the 2D platformer into a four-sided 3D world-- and expanding on its possible applications so much that it stops being a gimmick and instead serves as a fairly unique differentiator within the game's genre. The game was created with the intent of being a means of escape from the real world for the player, and it fulfills that desire with aplomb.

BioShock Infinite

I'm not a huge fan of games that make me feel like a terrible person while playing them. It's unnerving to me; it makes me feel like I'm sort of codifying that old "games make you violent" trope I resent greatly. I can make an exception for Infinite, however, because the unsettling I've experienced while playing it goes hand-in-hand with the things that the game has to say about extremism and how far a person will go to get what they want (or, really, to avoid what they don't). It's difficult in both gameplay and themes, but it does an incredible job of balancing that with the joys of traveling with your companion Elizabeth and the beauty of the Columbian skyscape, even in its darkest times.

Destiny

I am trash.

eriophora zia

I always forget about Thomas Was Alone, but dang it's a good game. Nice inclusion there. 

I never thought I'd have so many emotions about colored rectangles before Thomas Was Alone.

Salix Babylonika

Mike Bithell is a super nice person.

Toolsie

Top nine games? Jesus, need to think about this...

Miss Miko Mayonegg

^_^

Klinotaxis

at the urging of nobody

i played a ton of advance wars 2 multiplayer. had a hotseat mode, so you could forget the stupid cables and pass around the gameboy on the bus.

colony wars is probably the most obscure one on this list, but while i never actually beat it it had a lot of interesting stuff. it was a 6dof space fighter sim, with all kinds of weird weapons and even a grappling hook. the plot was cool, about a rebellion (in space) and it had a super branching storyline - any mission failure just led you to another path until eventually you got ripped apart by federation cruisers or whatever.

final fantasy tactics advance is the one JRPG i really liked. most JRPGs are like, well, boring, you know, push attack, tape down the "O" key, but the tactical element of FFTA really drew me in for some reason. i later found out you can cheese the hell out of this game, but i never did, so i had a lot of fun. plot's alright too.

half life two is awesome. the plot's a pretty dull you're the chosen one save the world from invaders thing, but the design is all around excellent. human rebels use all kinds of thrown together grody bullshit, the vichy troops use a mix of that and alien mumbo jumbo, and the ending's pure alien tech pulls it into full on giger shit. the game itself is challenging and has plenty of shoot mens. i beat it on hard. yeah, baby.

marathon. marathon is the center and marathon is the way.

metroid fusion is cool. i think I 99%'d it which is pretty weird for my attentionspanless self. and those alarm noises. this game has some good alarm noises. my favorite character is BOX. i really identify with BOX.

i played a shitload of megaman battle network, especially the third one. even got to the secret area! i was so engaged that the first time i tried to beat alpha i failed so many times i started crying. i think i had nightmares about alpha.

shadow of the colossus, well, see the pitchfork review.

starfox 64 was the first console game i played. on a real beat up system i got at a yard sale after begging my parents. i unlocked the tank. i got medals. i was basically a badass. my mom wouldn't let me fight andross because he made my brother cry from fear.

Salix Babylonika

marathon. marathon is the center and marathon is the way.

ya get it.

Imipolex G

"my mom wouldn't let me fight andross because he made my brother cry from fear."

GWA HA HA HA ha ha

Imipolex G

since everybody is doing commentaries maybe I'll do one myself

Imipolex G said:

I said I would do this, so I did.



I think this is virtually identical to how I answered this one before. But spoiler: no one cares

Super Mario World: as the creator of the beloved and classic Black Candles I must include a Mario sidescroller, and this is the best one. In my opinion, which is also fact.

Super Metroid: still the ultimate Metroidvania, I must've gone through this one about 49 times.

Metal Slug X: I have to include a Metal Slug and it's either this or 3. The combination of fast shoot-em-up action and humorous animation just makes me happy every time.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: what can I say, exploring the two worlds in this one was one of the best game experiences of my life, I'm not even exaggerating, I never exaggerate.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: what is this game but a miserable pile of being pretty freakin' great?

Gunstar Heroes: for similar reasons to Metal Slug, this is a very inventive, weird, nonstop action game.

Sonic the Hedgehog: all the Genesis Sonics are great, but the original has an odd nostalgia for me that has never faded.

Super Mario Kart: my sister and I probably logged about 2900 hours of this back in the day. I will take anybody on. Anybody.

Doom: while its graphics might seem dated now, the gameplay holds up quite well I think. Besides, who doesn't like shooting rockets at giant demons?

Odradek

I am bad at collages

Imipolex G

so am I, but I still did it!

Tachyon

i tried to do it a bunch of times, kept getting blank squares, and gave up since any list i made was gonna be pretty arbitrary in any case as i don't have a definitive top 9 list in mind

Klinotaxis

yeah so was mine

peer pressure, dawg

SpruceZeus

yeah all right this turned out sloppy and weirdly cropped but im not gonna waste a bunch of time editing images for this



list not to be considered definitive due to changing tastes over time and poor memory. can confirm all titles pictured are damn fine, however

SpruceZeus

honorable mentions from other peoples lists that i have played and loved: yume nikki, anodyne, fez, super metroid, doom, fez, rayman origins, metroid fusion

scratch that the one i played was rayman legends, but yah that game really owns

as far as castlevania goes i feel that symphony was a revolutionary, ground breaking game at the time that was later surpassed by other entries in the series, namely aria of sorrow and dawn of sorrow

Miss Miko Mayonegg

I think the first version of this thread was specifically for not-commentary, but whatever.

Anodyne. My favorite Zelda game, and I like Zelda.

Deathsmiles. Gothic horror loli themed horizontal danmaku shooter. I couldn't say yes any harder.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. This is *the* *ultimate* strategy RPG. You can play this for hundreds of hours. Also it's about cute loli demons in underworld. Yiss~

Freedom Planet. My favorite Sonic game. It's ebin.

Hellsinker. Beautiful danmaku game of byzantine complexity and thematic depth. Yes please. <3

Hotline Miami. Gory, ultraviolent postmodern romp through a 1980s criminal underworld with strong thematic undertones. Delicious.

Mega Man Zero. The darkest, most difficult Mega Man sub-series, and also the only one to ever be officially finished. Also my favorite platformer ever.

Off. Simply put, my favorite JRPG. And I like JRPGs.

Yume Nikki. My favorite video game. It is perfect.

Sredni Vashtar

Riven was easily my favourite computer/video game when I was young. Great game.

Section42L

Miss Miko Mayonegg said:

I think the first version of this thread was specifically for not-commentary, but whatever.

Tre made commentaries in the original thread, too, so...

One-Winged Eagle

 

SpruceZeus

oh we doing this? ok.

the oracle games i played the shit out of as a kid but even today i feel they still stand up as some of the best 2d zelda games of all time. pretty sure that's not just the nostalgia talking. iunno what else to say. its zelda, you know what thats like.

terraria is just addictive as hell and probably the best game in the genre. it's had like, i dunno, three huge free expansions or something? and pretty much every aspect of the game, building, exploration, combat, crafting and character building - are just chock full of content by now. i like this game because it gives you the freedom to just fuck around and do whatever, and make that fucking around hella fun that most open world games wish they could

riven... man, okay, i don't play adventure games much anymore, but the myst series... basically introduced me to gaming. lil babby spruce grew up watching dad play myst and riven on our old pink mac.
myst i feel does not hold up all that well, although i still enjoy it. but riven, aside from looking a little bit dated... uh damn. its still atmospheric as shit, and has tons of devilish puzzles that are really well integrated into the amazingly fleshed out world rather than just being arbitrary bullshit. i still load it up every now and then and just... wander around

risk of rain. my favorite roguelike. sweet art, sweet music, tough as hell without feeling bullshit, tons of items and a diverse cast of playable characters that all play very differently... could play this shit all day. have done so. still play it all the time.

rollercoaster tycoon is another one of those old childhood favorites that still holds up... iunno what to say about it really... it and the sequel are just the best sim games really. theres a reason for all the memes, its just really great ok. the sequel introduced all kinds of awesome stuff but the scenarios are comparatively lackluster... fortunately you can get fan made conversions of all the original scenarios to the new engine, so you can get the best of both worlds.

machinarium! okay i know i said i dont play adventure games much anymore but this is one of the exceptions. this game is gorgeous and cute and has a fantastic soundtrack and the puzzles aren't too bullshit mostly. no really though this game's atmosphere is something else. its by the guys that made samorost, if you know what that is, so. yeah its just gorgeous. the little robot guy you control is the cutest damn thing.

kentucky route zero... heyyyy how did all these adventures games get on this list tho? although idk if krz really falls into the traditional mold as far as that goes. there's not puzzles really. it's closer to a vn than something like king's quest almost... ummm its really one of those things where if you talk too much about what actually goes on in the game, you spoil it. its just kind of a surreal... experience, i guess. i dunno how to describe how playing this game made me feel without sounding corny as hell but it fuckin owns ok

dark souls! and the sequel! pretty much the whole souls series really! shit i could go on for H O U R S about these games yo... but suffice to say... they're really unique, adventurous, ground breaking third person action adventure games that in spite of frequently suffering from all kinds of problems due to how experimental they are still manage to be goty contenders pretty much every time. they're flawed masterpieces really. i put dark souls 1's picture there cuz i figure that between it and the sequel the first game is better as a single player experience in terms of atmosphere and story and such. demon's souls is cool but really shows its age mechanically and bloodborne is a ps4 exclusive and pretty different from the rest of the series... so i figured dark souls 1 would make the best starting point

and lastly... one of the best puzzle games ive ever played, the swapper. this game has a really unique hand-crafted art style and is a fantastic example of successful integration of story and gameplay. the game really makes good use of its central mechanic, exploring it in all kinds of brain-twisting ways without introducing too many extraneous gimmicks. really phenomenal puzzle design. and a really eerie dark sci fi story. pretty short game actually... but well worth a playthrough tbh

SpruceZeus

wow that was... a lot more words than i thought i typed

SPERG OVERWHELMING

Salix Babylonika

left to right, top to bottom:

Halo: Combat Evolved - The best modern FPS, no competition. The second game had a better multiplayer scene, but it wouldn't have happened without the first. One of the few series where the first game really is the best, even though the sequels aren't bad (except 4).

Panzer Dragoon ORTA - The last entry into the Panzer Dragoon franchise and the single best argument for the existence of rail shooters as a genre. Also one of the best games for the original Xbox, and a great argument for design over graphical fidelity, its art style still looks amazing today.

Marathon Infinity - The weirdest, and best, of the Marathon games, Bungie's best pre-Halo offering by a mile. Good enough that it's spawned the kind of fanmod scene associated with Super Mario World (see below) and Doom.

Dark Souls II - The most consistent entry into the Souls metaseries. Heavy, weighty combat and a very interesting world. You could probably put DS1 here too if you wanted.

Diablo II - There are not many games so good that entire genres have been spawned trying and failing to copy them. Diablo II, buggy mechanics and all, is still the best in its category.

Yume 2kki - The original Yume Nikki fangame and by far the best. You can spend days in this game and not even really scratch the surface.

Super Mario World - There have been good Mario games before or since, but this is the best. Nintendo should be remaking this one more often. 

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - The definitive version of the best roguelike/zeldaclone/PDL/shooter ever. 

Warcraft III - The only RTS I was ever good at (though those days are long gone by) and my favorite by far. You can also blame this game for DOTA2, the biggest "eSport" currently around.

Honorable mentions, which you're free to ask me about:

• Halo 2
• Halo 3
• Halo: Reach
• Marathon
• Dark Souls
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
• Super Meatboy
• The LSD Dream Emulator
• Crusader Kings 2
• Europa Universalis 4
• Portal 2
• Antichamber
• Spelunky
• Rogue Legacy
• Shovel Knight
• Terraria
• Minecraft
• Yume Nikki
• Anodyne
• Super Mario Land
• Sonic Adventure

Tre

Now that I can actually articulate why I like it without feeling (as) ashamed of it:

Destiny

This game is nothing if not polarizing. People were expecting the second coming of FPSes with it; they figured that Bungie was going to revolutionize the genre all over again for a new age, after doing so in the past with Halo (though, let's be real, it really happened before that with Marathon).

Instead, we got the second coming of RNGesus. For all of the flaws that the game's struggled with, though, it's a surprisingly enjoyable experience -- the gameplay is excellent, the visuals are impressive, the customization options are quite strong after a certain point, and while the story isn't necessarily implemented in the best manner at first, the lore is incredibly intriguing. It's also extremely addictive-- your throught processes will begin to shape themselves around it if you're invested enough.

After playing through the new Taken King content, I'm starting to see it as a game that will evolve and grow as time goes by, which excites me because of how novel such a concept is to console-based games. A revolution it is not, but it's still presenting a future worth getting excited about.

SF_Sorrow

Yume Nikki | OFF | Space Funeral

Undertale | Submachine | Embric of Wulfhammer's Castle

Ib | LSD | Middens

fuck da haters

Klinotaxis

psh, if you were REALLY hardcore you'd be into Eastern Mind: Lost Souls of Tong-Nou and not some entry level mainstream bullshit like LSD

SF_Sorrow

Klinotaxis said:

psh, if you were REALLY hardcore you'd be into Eastern Mind: Lost Souls of Tong-Nou and not some entry level mainstream bullshit like LSD

consider LSD as representing all of Osamu Sato's works then

Imipolex G

Spanish Stroll

SpruceZeus

and now my image is dead. lol. whatever i did the writeup.

also its kinda funny that i didnt end up putting any metroidvanias on that list because it might be my favorite genre tbh

also also in spite of putting dark souls 1 on there i have played wayyy more of 2. like literal hundreds of hours difference

SpruceZeus

ps destiny is great just because you can make a literal space wizard robot and deck em out in fly as hell threads and look fabulous while you murder dudes with your fancy space guns and wizard powers

SpruceZeus

oh yo how did i forget cave story exists... see what i mean about my memory being shit? yeah that was a great game

Klinotaxis

SF_Sorrow said:

Klinotaxis said:

psh, if you were REALLY hardcore you'd be into Eastern Mind: Lost Souls of Tong-Nou and not some entry level mainstream bullshit like LSD

consider LSD as representing all of Osamu Sato's works then

bet cha played on easy and didn't even find all the skulls. scrub

SF_Sorrow

;_;

Tre

SpruceZeus said:

ps destiny is great just because you can make a literal space wizard robot and deck em out in fly as hell threads and look fabulous while you murder dudes with your fancy space guns and wizard powers

YEAH PRETTY MUCH

(the funny part is that my main character is an Exo Warlock, fitting your description to the letter)

LW

Miss Miko Mayonegg said:

I think the first version of this thread was specifically for not-commentary, but whatever.

Honestly, I am all for people talking about the reasons behind their choices. I just did not do that myself in the original thread because I could not come up with good explanations at the time.

SpruceZeus said:

and now my image is dead. lol. whatever i did the writeup.

I think that mosaic maker site only saves them temporarily, so if you want to keep it, it is probably worthwhile to upload it to imgur or a similar site.

SpruceZeus

i dont really it was shitty

Crystal

This was simultaneously much easier than I expected, yet exactly as significantly difficult as I expected. All of these games hold a special place in my heart, and screw arbitrary numbers for very silly things like this, but I felt like joining in Meek's little deal.

Super Mario Advance 2, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Pokémon Ruby; Final Fantasy 4 Advance, Hotline Miami 2 (I flipped a coin between this and the first game), Megaman Battle Network 3 Blue; Perfect Cherry Blossom, Bastion, FTL: Faster Than Light.

SMW2 is one of the defining games as my childhood. If SMW sparked my love of platformers (alongside if more than the first), than this sent that into flames. I played it to the point where the score glitched out and just left me with a "20", obsessively uncovered virtually every little detail short of high-level glitch abuses and whatnot on my own I loved it so much, never mind helping friends get into it too.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is also the game that got me intro Castlevania. I didn't play it nearly as much as the prior game on this list, and stuck to Vampire Killer mode due to obsessing over other things, but I certainly played and replayed it a lot. Getting that Shinning Armor (lol), now that was nice. Aside from some of the stupidly low drop rates, I have trouble thinking about things I dislike in this game, and heck I love the challenge provided by that scarcity. It really is a joy.

Pokemon Ruby is, well, it's Pokemon. There's no reason for me to detail its shortcomings, since everyone is familiar enough with them if you've played even one game. Likewise for the appeals, unless I guess I must. So, disregarding those parts: Ruby was gifted to me at a transitioning period of my life, and managed to be immensely therapeutic for me as I dove into everything there was about this game. It was also the generation in which I got so very into the competitive scene, which I won't bore you with; but safe to say when it wasn't books or comics, I adored it.

Final Fantasy 4 Advance also got me into Final Fantasy, and I ended up buying 1 and 2 not long after milking everything out of this. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what to say? It's all so intuitive to my mind. It's special. I like it a lot.

Hotline Miami 2 is probably one of my favorite games of this last year. It manages to bring in all of the psychedelic fast-paced ultraviolence of the original, and expands that to the variety of new faces. Honestly, I saw next to no use for a good amount of the masks in the original, some of which (Oscar, Jones, Richard, Nigel) aren't even useful! If anything, HM2 isn't less creative in how you can murder folks, even if you're locked into certain people e.g. Evan Wright at various points. I adore the postmodern style, especially on top of how ridiculously arcadey and violent it is. But it works, and I think it works well. I'm cutting it here out of laziness.

Megaman Battle Network 3 Blue saw me with an experience similar to Klino up there, except I only played MMBN3 B. I distinctly recall fangirling over on IRC about this a lot, though it's similarly "intuitive" and I'm not in the mood for elaboration. I just like it a lot.

Perfect Cherry Blossom.

Bastion is a lovingly crafted game, and beautiful at every level, very much something I'd recommend to anyone that likes top-down ARPGs with fantastic voice acting and gorgeous music and art. Thinking about it makes me want to play it again and try to go for all of the achievements.

FTL: Faster Than Light is pretty much my favorite roguelike, even if I've taken to playing Binding of Isaac: Rebirth much more as of late. I have a fair number of issues with the ship balancing, but otherwise think the actual game design is top-notch. To say nothing of Ben Prunty's music, which just hits every tone wonderfully, whether it be the final confrontation with the Flagship or peacefully exploring civilian sectors. Or the depth! It has such a high skill ceiling without being unfair, and despite what a bastard Hard mode can be, the majority of runs are pretty well winnable if you know how to play. I don't usually like space games, though FTL is the shining example of one I do like.

Like I said, I hate arbitrary numbers. However I also didn't feel like making more than 9, or going overly in-depth into any of them beyond the surface level right here. There are a lot of games I'm not going to bother mentioning here, but these 9 were chosen on a whim.

Miss Miko Mayonegg

Crystal said:

Perfect Cherry Blossom.

Oh yeah. This girl knows. :3

Crystal

And you'd be sillier than you already are to act otherwise.

Sredni Vashtar

SF_Sorrow said:

Klinotaxis said:

psh, if you were REALLY hardcore you'd be into Eastern Mind: Lost Souls of Tong-Nou and not some entry level mainstream bullshit like LSD

consider LSD as representing all of Osamu Sato's works then

I need to play this person's games, I swear. LSD alone looks lordly; the others I am less familiar with, but must be at the least interesting.

Salix Babylonika

The LSD Dream Emulator is a great game.

Though it has a very strong Tetris Effect, as befitting it.

Sredni Vashtar

What is the Tetris Effect again?