What are the greatest games you've ever played?

Started a KOTOR play through yesterday. I will say that the gameplay definitely doesn't hold up as well as some other games I'd put at the top of my best of all time lists. The dice roll combat in real time just feels really primitive given that we've mostly moved away from that, and the movement is clunky as all hell. No idea how controller support wasn't built into the PC version either. Really lazy on BioWare's part considering it's a fucking console port. I got it working via Xpadder but it's not ideal.

The best part of the game is still antagonizing Bastila, though. Glad to see that part held up really well.

And when I talk about gameplay holding up well, I think about a game like Super Mario 3. You can sit down and play that game today and it's exactly as great as it was the first time you played it. It holds up perfectly, which is why it will probably always remain a staple of my top five all time favorite games.

For the record, I think dice roll combat works fine (and makes sense) in a turn-based format, but I absolutely hate it in real time. Some of the early KOTOR fights are just laughably bad as two guys just stand next to each other swinging swords for two minutes and failing to hit each other.

Earthworm Jim and Cool Spot were fun.

I was never sure whether I liked Battletoads or not.

The worst game I ever played was A Boy and His Blob. It was absolutely fucking impossible.

Arcade wise, Simpsons, Mortal Kombat 2 and Ninja Turtles were all fucking amazing.

Streets of Rage 2 was awesome as well.

Red Dead Redemption, Left 4 Dead 2, Witcher 3 and my guilty one that makes me feel gay World of Warcraft

Dating myself heavily here, not been a gamer for years but got to give credit where it is due..

Arcade greats, no particular order
NBA Jam
Mortal Kombat
Street Fighter II
Tekken 2
Golden Axe
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
X-Men

The 4 player setups were just fantastic. The Avengers 4 person was also classic. I'll list as I remember. Virtua Fighter was a possibility here since it started the 3d fighter genre but Tekken had far more interesting characters.

Console, no particular order:
Tetris
Ballblazer
Dig Dug
Goldeneye
Super Smash Bros
Halo

Tetris wasted so many hours. Ballblazer was the rare 3d game on the Atari systems and at least for my brothers n me had h2h replay value. Dig Dug was just great. Goldeneye was the 'next' generation first person shooter that started it all for the consoles.

PC, particular order:
Civilization II
Doom
Wolfenstein 3D
MVP 2005

FreeCiv was an open source, easily nodded version of Civilization. Modded the snot out of both, lots of added play. Doom scared the crap out of me, Damn breathing. Wolfenstein 3d was the true first shooter imo. Doom took it up a notch. MVP 2005 was the last MVP on PC and was stupid easy to mod. Folks updated that game w new stadiums n rosters for years to come.

Jack Brickman said:

Started a KOTOR play through yesterday. I will say that the gameplay definitely doesn't hold up as well as some other games I'd put at the top of my best of all time lists. The dice roll combat in real time just feels really primitive given that we've mostly moved away from that, and the movement is clunky as all hell. No idea how controller support wasn't built into the PC version either. Really lazy on BioWare's part considering it's a fucking console port. I got it working via Xpadder but it's not ideal.

The best part of the game is still antagonizing Bastila, though. Glad to see that part held up really well.

And when I talk about gameplay holding up well, I think about a game like Super Mario 3. You can sit down and play that game today and it's exactly as great as it was the first time you played it. It holds up perfectly, which is why it will probably always remain a staple of my top five all time favorite games.

For the record, I think dice roll combat works fine (and makes sense) in a turn-based format, but I absolutely hate it in real time. Some of the early KOTOR fights are just laughably bad as two guys just stand next to each other swinging swords for two minutes and failing to hit each other.

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Just FWIW, DragonAge, Skyrim, Fallout, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Morrowind, Alpha Protocol, etc... they all use dice rolls just like KOTOR.

The only difference is that KOTOR doesn't hide the dice roll, you have to really embrace the mechanics to get good (especially in KOTOR 2) and in the beginning of the game you do have too high of a chance to miss (too high of a chance at evasion in general) - which is only a poor mechanic if not understood or explained.

I'm not sure if you want me to explain the mechanics as they are a bit complex, but, once you do understand how they work, you won't be amazed to see two people standing next to each other and missing. What that means is that neither of them are built properly (or high enough level) within context of the game. Being spatially separated is not relevant for chance to hit with melee attacks, so being close or far isn't important. Instead, how you've built your character and your weapon and who you're fighting is far more important.

For example, if you build a character low in Strength and Dexterity, but high in other traits; don't be amazed that they can't wield a melee weapon well. If you have high Dexterity but low Strength, you won't be good with vibroswords; and the reverse is true for ranged weapons. Only a Jedi can use the high of both (why I argue one should focus on Strength and not Dexterity, due to late game bonuses).

Also, when you build your lightsaber, you really must focus on your chance to hit. If dual-wielding, you've gotta factor in the lost damage from missing until your base stats are high enough.

To give you an idea, if properly built, by mid-game, you should have a 95% chance to hit on all single-handed saber attacks, or 80% chance to hit on all dual-wielded attacks. (You'll notice dual-wielding is still likely the better option for tanked builds).

Regarding the controller compatibility, Steam's KOTOR 2 re-release has really good controller support, but KOTOR 1 doesn't. I recall reading this was largely due to KOTOR 1 actually being coded to directly interface with the mouse and keyboard, whereas KOTOR 2 used an abstraction layer (the way it should always be done); that's why there is no controller support in the re-release.

My wife and I just played both just a few months ago; I think they play great. Gameplay was phenomenal and still better than most other RPGs out there today.

If anyone has played it, zombies ate my neighbors used to be my shit.

Most of the contra series

Ghosts 'n Goblins- but you got to be one bad motherfucker to beat this game

The original Mario Party was fun as hell. Some of the others were good, but the first one was the most brutally unfair game of all time. In a hilarious way.

World Class Track Meet



I don't know how many times I have rolled an ankle or got into fights with my brother from running on this shit.


Tetris - Growing up having competitions with family & friends. That used to be kind of like our Euchre today.

Duck Hunt

Super Smash Bro's - Tournaments with friends all the time for like $1. Our first little taste into gambling

Ken Griffey Jr presents MLB - Spent hours upon hours on this game. Amazing. Jay Buehner was fucking huge.

Resident Evil 1 - One of the first games that had me doing the "switch off the lights downstairs and run as fast as you can upstairs" sprints.

Halo 2 - First game I have made $ on. Seriously considered going pro on that shit But my Mom was on the side of schooling. Sooo, that dream ended quick. Kind of proud that happened too haha. No idea where I would be today as I am probably too old to be a "professional gamer".

I know these were all pretty much covered besides World Class Track Meet and I have a lot more. But will just post those.

I wouldn't say these are the greatest games i've ever played but as far as "holy sh*t" moments throughout my gaming life:

N64 and Goldeneye - Hours upon hours spent playing multiplayer.
PS2 and NCAA Football 2003 - first experience with a next-gen sports game. I remember i was completely blown away...that moment led to a love affair that lasted years. Damn you, NCAA!
PS2 and GTA 3 - I basically lived at my friend's house for an entire week playing this. We would literally play it in shifts, Nam style, with about 8 other people crammed in a basement. Sleep, wake up, play for 3 hours, pass the controller to the next player, rinse & repeat.

Now, that i have over 20+ years experience gaming, there is only one game i can go back to on old consoles and still love...Super Smash Brothers on N64. Still amazing that a game so simple in nature can lead to unique, one of a kind moments, over and over again. When playing this with skilled players, there are few games that recreate that kind of intense competition.

anyone remember a game called descent?

In no particular order:

Portal
Half Life 2
Halo
Torment
Daggerfall
Final Fantasy 2, 3, & 7
Super Mario World
Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Tie Fighter

It's crazy how many hours of my life I've probably put into those games combined. Especially Halo, we played that roughly 8 hours a day 3 days a week for 3 consecutive years at tOSU.

BigErieCavsFan said:

anyone remember a game called descent?

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Of course, it was one of the most popular games for DOS back in the day.

Chris said:

Repped for Red Dead Redemption. When are we going to get another one, man...

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Lol the servers are still pretty active for RDR. Hell I was playing online a few weeks ago and there were 20 people in my lobby

As fas as best games, I cant rank them, but heres a few of my favorites.

Super Mario 64
Metal Gear Solid
GTA Vice City
Sonic & Knuckles
GTA V
Mario Party 2
Toy Story 2 (PS1)
Crash Badicoot 3
Xmen Legends
Warriors (Ps2)...criminally underrated. Great arcade style button masher.
Super Mario World
House of the Dead 2
Modern Warfare 1 (so many late nights with my friends)

PC:
Sims 1
Oregon Trail
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Backyard Football

Ok, how about Impossible Creatures?

Damn I'm old - haven't heard of seen most of the games listed. The last game I played fully through was Tomb Raider - might have been the 1st one, and used the cheat walkthrough the entire way. Some of the portions, in my opinion, would have been impossible to figure out without a walkthrough (moving the blocks in a certain pattern to move through a tunnel, etc). That was back in college (maybe 95 or 96), and I haven't played at all since. Just never had the time to play, and I was too old for the online generation.

Was great at College Football in school. Friends and I set up a tourney that I ended up winning - just knew how to run certain plays that took advantage of defenses being thrown at me.

I always enjoyed watching someone play as well - and would enjoy watching a good player pass one of the games mentioned in this thread. Just for the experience - I literally have no idea what games look like these days. Should probably check youtube, unless any of you have a suggestion on a place to see some of these in action.

I remember winning the original Zelda and being very pleased with myself. Could win Contra and Life Force without losing a life.

Being born in '76 is a blessing and a curse it seems...lol

I don't feel like hammering out a distinct order, but here are some gems:

Half-Life / Half-Life 2 - The first game revolutionized the single-player shooter genre. The sequel is a masterpiece and one of the best games ever made. It's a shame Valve is so fucking lazy, because their games are all incredible.

Portal 2 - I mentioned this earlier, but it is, in my opinion, the most well-written game of all-time. It's a Pixar film that you can play. By all rights it should have no replay value, but I can still go back and play it any time and still laugh at the brilliant writing.

Super Mario 3 - My favorite platformer ever made.

Ocarina of Time - This is probably my favorite game ever. But seriously, fuck the water temple.

Super Mario 64 - It says a lot that this is still the best 3D platformer ever made. It's just that good.

Metal Gear Solid 3 - Probably the best video game ending I've ever witnessed, and the boss fights are awesome even if most of the villains themselves aren't as memorable as those in the first MGS

.Final Fantasy IX - My favorite FF game, and the last one before I lost interest in the franchise. I enjoyed parts of FFX, but Tidus was just such an annoying bitch that it made it difficult to get into.

Deus Ex - This game doesn't hold up at all today, but man when it released it was absolutely mind-blowing.

Chrono Trigger - Baffling to me that this game isn't for sale on Steam when it would be guaranteed to make Square a ton of money (and I know how to pirate it, it's just crazy there's no legit PC version). Definitely my favorite JRPG, although admittedly that was never one of my favorite genres.

Morrowind - The most immersive Elder Scrolls game by far. The world is just no cool and unique compared to the games they've made since. Morrowind is the reason I didn't love Oblivion as much as I probably would have otherwise. It was just so sterile and generic compared to Morrowind. Also, Blood Moon was an amazing expansion.

More to come later.