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Post by grey_matters on Aug 13, 2022 11:30:03 GMT
HL2
Portal2
Civ2
SWOS
CM/FM
EU4
Total War: Medieval (+Viking Invasion)
Super Mario Kart
L4D2
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Gruf
Junior Member
Even more taciturn than my name suggests
Posts: 1,604
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Post by Gruf on Aug 13, 2022 11:49:36 GMT
In terms of hours of my life lost in games and level of enjoyment
1.Football Manager. Far and away the most played/enjoyed game
2.iRacing. Another addiction
3.Elden Ring. Probably some recency bias but I just think it is a masterpiece
4.Skyrim - Still remember loading for the first time and just sitting on the title screen letting the music wash over me for 15 mins, then getting lost in the world. Epic game
5.Fallout 3 - continued my then recent discovery and love of action RPG's
6.Gears 3 multiplayer- Many many hours of Gears and beers with buddies, a more simple time
7.Rainbow 6 Vegas terrorist hunt multiplayer -again with buddies. Ubi ruined subsequent multiplayer in rainbow games for me. Thx UBI
8.Battlefield 4 multiplayer. 910 hours on PlayStation, really? Boy I was into this! Hardly played a BF game since.
9.God of War/ Marvels Spiderman. Platinumed them both around the same time so they musta hit the spot
10. Bloodborne/Dark Souls 2/Demons Souls/Dark Souls. Probably, for some, sacrilege to include DS2 with these but really enjoyed it. Completed all of these apart from, bizarrely, Dark Souls to my shame, almost got to the end, then for some reason never bothered completing. I am weird.
On reading others, prompted these "How did I forget that" games
Borderlands 3 multiplayer - Much as I hate Gearbox's ethics and business practices, it was a great co-op game. Miss my US buddies who have long since drifted off to grown up life, they were those multiplayer mates. Sad face.
The original Elite, remember sitting on the bus home and devouring every detail of the many manuals that were in the box. Why did they stop including those, the twats. Game did not disappoint, expanded my mind in terms of what games could be.
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Post by Bird Of Prey on Aug 13, 2022 11:54:30 GMT
How did I forget Skyrim? I've played through that four times, twice with all the add-ons. Like you, I listened to the music for ages and thinking about it, I fancy playing it again.
Also Dragons Dogma for the moment I saw a huge monster moving it's a through the trees across a valley.
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Post by RadicalRex on Aug 13, 2022 13:35:53 GMT
Super Metroid
Zelda LttP
Bloodstained
Mega Man 9
Quake
Q3A
Skyrim
Outer Wilds
Dirt Rally 2
Borderlands 3
As for games that I didn't love immediately, Outer Wilds. I was close to abandoning it about an hour in because I didn't understand what it's about and what I'm supposed to do, as it's just so unlike anything I'd played before. I missed the ship's log which is incredibly important, after starting to use that everything came together and I fell in love with the game.
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hedben
Junior Member
Formerly: hedben2013
Posts: 2,201
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Post by hedben on Aug 13, 2022 13:54:39 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? Cyberpunk and No Man's Sky would probably qualify for that if someone played them both pre- and post-patches. Of course I've played neither, but No Man's Sky especially is touted as a different game, almost. This isn’t what you asked, but Dark Souls was, for several years, the greatest game I’d never finished. I started to lose momentum about 2/3 of the way through, and kind of reached an agreement with myself where, rather than sour what had been a wonderful experience by slogging on to the end, I just… stopped playing. I came back to the same save about 2 or 3 years later and finished the job, then the Artorias DLC. It’s also now one of the very few games I’ve completed more than once, so make of that what you will. |
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hedben
Junior Member
Formerly: hedben2013
Posts: 2,201
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Post by hedben on Aug 13, 2022 13:59:32 GMT
Completed all of these apart from, bizarrely, Dark Souls to my shame, almost got to the end, then for some reason never bothered completing. I am weird. Hey, snap! I hadn’t even read this when I wrote my last post… there’s still time, never say never!  |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Aug 13, 2022 14:01:11 GMT
The last 3 or 4 areas are easily the worst in the game anyway. Everything after Ornstein and Smough. If you've done that, I wouldn't worry too much about not playing the rest beyond completion sake
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Aug 13, 2022 14:33:56 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? I think that's the case for pretty much any game for me. NaissanceE and Fibrillation both have an opening phase before you get to some of the more impressive environments for instance. Big RPGs are almost always slow in the beginning. Some like Icewind Dale and NWN2 took quite a while to click for me. But I don't think I have ever disliked something onyl for it to become one of my favourites. Sometimes I already like a game, but only partially or not that much and then it slowly starts to come together. Sometimes I already did like something, but I gain a deeper understanding of it or the atmosphere starts seeping in. Or perhaps I just manage to not suck at it quite as much anymore.
Edit: I just remebered that I kind of liked Shadow of Chernobyl on the first playthrough, but I was stuck with a weak PC so I played it with the settings turned down and I only really started to really, really enjoy it when I replayed it with the Complete-mod later with better hardware. I think at that point I had started viewing games differently, appreciating the details more and so on.
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Post by 😎 on Aug 13, 2022 14:36:27 GMT
Seeing as this is officially my thread and not AAs I’m going to ban any Soulslike from being mentioned or talked about.
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Post by RadicalRex on Aug 13, 2022 14:51:28 GMT
The Dark Souls of thread owners
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Post by Vandelay on Aug 13, 2022 18:10:20 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? Already mentioned in my write up, but Dark Souls was definitely this for me. As I said, it wasn't until my third attempt to play that it really clicked. The first time I think the controls felt really archaic to me. It looked like it should have faster, more responsive controls, like a more traditional third person action game. The second time I managed to scrape through the Taurus demon, but then soon after suffered from poisonous rats. At this point in the game you are unlikely to have any cures for poison and your health isn't at a point where you are going to be able to survive until the poison runs out. It was pretty frustrating to see your life drain away and nothing you could do about it. Each time I played it and came away hating it. Then a few months would pass and I would see lots of people talking about it in a way that sounded like it was so up my street, so I would eventually give it another go. Finally, on that third attempt, things just started to click into place. Subsequent play throughs have made me love it even more. |
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torb
New Member
Posts: 208
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Post by torb on Aug 13, 2022 18:48:38 GMT
Who doesn't love doing a list. I'll do 5, in no particular order: 1. Dark Souls - Bloodborne is probably the better game overall, but this will always be special to me. First loves and all that, I guess. It took me 3 attempts to actually get into it, with its slightly impenetrable nature weirdly making it even more incredible to me. The first attempt I gave up against the Taurus Demon, whilst the second was the poison rats under the bridge leading to the Undead Parish (might have actually reached the metal bull, but the rats are what stood out). The third attempt I finally battled my way through those parts and managed to reach the lift between the Undead Parish and Firelink, which blew my mind. The way this seemingly linear path was actually looping me around to where I began, in a way that actually made sense, was amazing and produce a fantastic moment of realising how connected this world was, something that From games have captured quite so well since. 2. Hitman 3 - Really, this is "Hitman 3, when you have all the other games added into it". It is difficult to pick just a single game in the trilogy, as they admittedly each have their dud levels and when there is only 5 or 6 levels in the game it does stand out. With all the levels added into 3 though, it becomes easier to ignore the Colorados or Carpathian Mountains. This is one of those dream games for me, that just shows you an objective and leaves you to go and work out the best (or sometimes the most incompetent) way to complete the level. It can veer between slick skilled assassin to reenacting that sequence from Mulholland Drive in seconds. Blood Money did much of what is great in these games initially, but this trilogy managed to refine it and take it to a whole other extreme, offering multiple murderous playgrounds for you to fool around in. You can spend hours in each one and still not uncover every little hidden detail. It is game I can come back to time and time again. 3. Half Life - Cliched choice maybe, but there is a reason why it always appears in "best of..." lists. It redefined the most dominant PC gaming genre at the time and, really, gaming as a whole. It made gaming more cinematic, whilst doing so in an interactive framework. You perhaps could blame it for many faults in gaming that would follow, but that would be unfair to criticise this game for others' failure to emulate what it did so perfectly. The actual plot isn't much to write home about, but the delivery defined how to do it in gaming, letting the player really embody Gordon Freeman and never pulling you out of his shoes. The stories just playing out around you is still effective, despite the technology, that was already technically not that advanced when it came out. The fire fights themselves may not stand up quite so well, but the AI is still surprisingly effective, even occasionally putting modern shooting gallery style games to shame. Half Life 2 in many ways refined the formula, but did lose some of the charm of the original. 4. Slay the Spire - probably my most unusual pick, but I love this game a hell of a lot. The art style still doesn't do it for me and on the surface it might appear to be just a card game, but this is just an incredibly polished and balanced to perfection game. The four different characters play completely uniquely and have multiple viable options to change up how you play them. I can play this game over and over again and I never get bored of it. For a very long time, this was pretty much the only game I was using my Switch for and it fully justified the purchase of the system just by itself, being ideal for the handheld device. I've tried out a few card games since playing this (Griftlands, Roguebook, Monster Train to name a few) and none have come close to comparing to this real masterpiece. 5. Day of the Tentacle - The Monkey Island games are also great, but for me this is peak Lucasarts adventure game. The time traveling puzzles work brilliantly and it is one of the rare instances of a point and click game where you can actually say that the puzzles are a highlight. Plus you have a wide range of fantastic characters, both imagined and historic (I still to this day picture Benjamin Franklin and George Washington as they appear here). I'm sure I replayed this game many times as a kid and I never found it got old. Also, couple of special mentions: Half Life Alyx - the best VR game created and it ends up putting lots of other VR games to shame. Really shows what is possible with the format when a developer properly invests time and money into it. The Jeff chapter in particular is probably the most incredible experience I have had with any game. If I did a top 10, this would certainly be on it. The Longest Journey - proves games can have great stories too. Almost put this in Day of the Tentacle's place, but it isn't quite as perfect as that game and I expect it hasn't aged quite so well. The superior puzzles also made me think Tentacle just edges it out. Anything by Arkane - particularly the Dishonored games and Prey. I have struggled a bit with trying to replay these, which is mainly why I ended up not including any of them in my 5, but I still love what they do and it is good to see a developer still holding up the torch for immersive sim games. What a great list and write up, especially fun to see Dark Souls, Day of The Tentacle and Slay the Spire on the same list. All games I’d put on my list as well! I also have great memories of half life multiplayer but can’t remember if that was 1 or 2. |
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malek86
Junior Member
Pomegranate Deseeder
Posts: 3,250
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Post by malek86 on Aug 13, 2022 21:05:01 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? I remember having a hard time getting into Morrowind back at launch. Didn't help that it was my first WRPG. Tried again with the Xbox version a couple years later, and it became my most played game yet by a landslide. Something similar happened with Binding of Isaac. Didn't really care for it at first, then it kinda clicked and now it's my second most played game on Steam (first place is, of course, Destiny 2 by several orders of magnitude). |
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Post by Bird Of Prey on Aug 13, 2022 21:27:03 GMT
I just started playing Destiny 2. Reading this thread, I think I should carefully back away from the game before I lose hundreds of hours of my life...
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deebs
New Member
So I was killing this pig with a hammer
Posts: 788
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Post by deebs on Aug 13, 2022 21:57:25 GMT
Deus Ex
LttP
Super Mario Kart
Elite
Doom
Stalker
Skool Daze
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Post by Zuluhero on Aug 13, 2022 23:00:34 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? Because If I was to go into a top ten, I would be tempted to pop Doom Eternal on there. I really wasn't keen on it first time I went through it, however the second time, when I then went on to do all the DLC, I absolutely LOVED it. Re3make was like that for me. It wasn't that I hated it per se, it just wasn't the remake I was expecting after RE2. I love it so much now, it's become a bit of a comfort game, but as we were limiting our lists to 5 entries, RE2 still wins out overall. |
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ekz
New Member
O_o
Posts: 696
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Post by ekz on Aug 14, 2022 1:32:21 GMT
Games I've spent the most time on throughout different parts of my life from tiny lad til now:
Commander keen
Spyfox
Doom
The SNES Donkey Kongs
Goldeneye
Banjo kazooie
CoD2
CoD4 (probably the most played game, >3k hours on xfire)
Aion
GTA Online
CSGO
Stardew Valley
Elden Ring
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 14, 2022 1:57:53 GMT
Alien3
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Post by simple on Aug 14, 2022 7:01:05 GMT
I'm curious. Are there any games on anyone's list that perhaps they didn't love at first, but had a reversal on over time? I’ve not written a list yet but this would 100% be Dark Souls for me. I was playing it offline and didn’t fully grasp how different it would be from your typical modern rpg. It took me the full three years of my phd to complete because I had to keep putting it down whenever I thought I’d run up against something impossible but the final push when it really clicked was probably about a third of the game (+the dlc) and I loved it, I suddenly understood how I could approach things in a way that made sense to me and how interconnected the world was just felt so elegantly done. I think I’d just felt lost every time I opened up a new location before then. Dark Souls on the 360 is still the only Soulsborne that I’ve played. |
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 14, 2022 9:30:06 GMT
I'm from the generation for which FPS was the dominant genre, so many of mine are FPSes:
Jedi Knight - Awesome mix of level design, 3d environments, environmental puzzles, lightsabers, guns, force powers, light RPG elements (when this wasn't a thing in every game), good story and Star Wars(!).
Terminator: Future Shock - Like Daggerfall, but not broken. Great mix of semi-open-world FPS with driveable and flyable vehicles + Terminator(!). Great atmosphere as you trudged through ruined buildings across environments littered with skulls. Way ahead of its time.
Doom 2 - This or Quake, both are seminal FPS pure shooters. Probably don't need to explain this one.
Half Life 1 - Probably don't need to explain this one either.
Goldeneye - The ultimate Sunday morning with a hangover couch co-op FPS, but also very cool adaption of the movie for the single player.
Thief - Amazing atmosphere and tension and ability to experiment. I once spent about an hour trapped in a bathtub while guards walked around, trying to work out a way to get out of it without being seen. Rope arrows to the rescue!
System Shock 2 - Thief 2.5 with cool sci-fi and rpg mechanics.
Deus Ex - System Shock 2.5 mixed with Jedi Knight - what's not to love?
Non fps games also get a look in:
Tie Fighter - I wouldn't have the patience for it now, but basically living the dream of being in the Star Wars universe, plus an epic campaign and being a bad guy gave an interesting new perspective.
Portal 1 - Amazing mix of puzzle solving, storytelling and a mind-blowing mechanic, plus much more freeform and open to experimentation than the 2nd.
Mario Kart 64 - The other ultimate couch co-op hangover game.
Ocarina of Time - Perfect mix of story, world, exploration and puzzle solving. Getting a horse in this was the most amazing thing ever at the time.
Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - I just loved exploring this world. The atmosphere was great, the characterization and story of both the Prince and Farah was great, and I'm a sucker for the 'parkour' and puzzle solving.
Braid - Interesting story, but mainly for the super clever mechanics.
Homeworld - Not quite up there with the rest, but my favorite RTS game, and I need some other genres. Great atmosphere and being in space vibe.
I'm realizing at this point that there are very few modern games in this list...
I'm also guaranteed to have forgotten an obvious one.
As you might be able to tell, I love games with environmental puzzles and traversal, mixed with light puzzle solving or sneaking.
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Post by Chopsen on Aug 14, 2022 9:40:07 GMT
My "favourite game now but hated it originally" is Crusader Kings 3.
Bounced off it hard, probably because I was expecting to be like Civ. (Not that I hadn't played Klauswitz engine based games before, but whatever). Then someone explained it as an RPG but with map based gameplay and combat and boom. I'm getting on for 200 hrs on that game now.
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Post by Chopper on Aug 14, 2022 9:49:39 GMT
As you might be able to tell, I love games with environmental puzzles and traversal, mixed with light puzzle solving or sneaking. You really need to get on Prey Mooncrash. |
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 14, 2022 9:53:56 GMT
I need to get on Dishonored too.
You'd think I'd love Assassin's Creed, but so far I've found the ones I've tried boring and uninvolving.
Mirror's Edge nearly made it onto the list though.
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Post by Chopper on Aug 14, 2022 9:55:00 GMT
Demon's Souls. DEMON'S.SOULS.
1. Demon's Souls 2. Mount and Blade 3. Out of the Park Baseball
4. Dark Souls
5. SOMA 6. The Long Dark
7. Microsoft Flight Simulator
8. Far Cry 2
9. Slay the Spire
10. Deadly Premonition 11. Factorio
12. Superhot VR
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Post by Vandelay on Aug 14, 2022 10:17:59 GMT
I'm from the generation for which FPS was the dominant genre, so many of mine are FPSes: Jedi Knight - Awesome mix of level design, 3d environments, environmental puzzles, lightsabers, guns, force powers, light RPG elements (when this wasn't a thing in every game), good story and Star Wars(!). Terminator: Future Shock - Like Daggerfall, but not broken. Great mix of semi-open-world FPS with driveable and flyable vehicles + Terminator(!). Great atmosphere as you trudged through ruined buildings across environments littered with skulls. Way ahead of its time. Doom 2 - This or Quake, both are seminal FPS pure shooters. Probably don't need to explain this one. Half Life 1 - Probably don't need to explain this one either. Goldeneye - The ultimate Sunday morning with a hangover couch co-op FPS, but also very cool adaption of the movie for the single player. Thief - Amazing atmosphere and tension and ability to experiment. I once spent about an hour trapped in a bathtub while guards walked around, trying to work out a way to get out of it without being seen. Rope arrows to the rescue! System Shock 2 - Thief 2.5 with cool sci-fi and rpg mechanics. Deus Ex - System Shock 2.5 mixed with Jedi Knight - what's not to love? Non fps games also get a look in: Tie Fighter - I wouldn't have the patience for it now, but basically living the dream of being in the Star Wars universe, plus an epic campaign and being a bad guy gave an interesting new perspective. Portal 1 - Amazing mix of puzzle solving, storytelling and a mind-blowing mechanic, plus much more freeform and open to experimentation than the 2nd. Mario Kart 64 - The other ultimate couch co-op hangover game. Ocarina of Time - Perfect mix of story, world, exploration and puzzle solving. Getting a horse in this was the most amazing thing ever at the time. Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - I just loved exploring this world. The atmosphere was great, the characterization and story of both the Prince and Farah was great, and I'm a sucker for the 'parkour' and puzzle solving. Braid - Interesting story, but mainly for the super clever mechanics. Homeworld - Not quite up there with the rest, but my favorite RTS game, and I need some other genres. Great atmosphere and being in space vibe. I'm realizing at this point that there are very few modern games in this list... I'm also guaranteed to have forgotten an obvious one. As you might be able to tell, I love games with environmental puzzles and traversal, mixed with light puzzle solving or sneaking. Great picks. Was tempted to include Jedi Knight on mine too, although very long time since I've played. Should really go back and revisit that series. Would probably pick Quake over Doom myself, but both are excellent. 90s were the best era for FPS games (although modern Doom does a great job of updating that style) |
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mrharvest
New Member
Registered 18 years ago Posts 5,718
Posts: 373
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Post by mrharvest on Aug 14, 2022 10:32:53 GMT
Terminator: Future Shock - Like Daggerfall, but not broken. Great mix of semi-open-world FPS with driveable and flyable vehicles + Terminator(!). Great atmosphere as you trudged through ruined buildings across environments littered with skulls. Way ahead of its time. Whaaat! This looks awesome. But I think you might slightly misremember the graphical fidelity. |
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Post by Bill in the rain on Aug 14, 2022 11:32:06 GMT
Terminator: Future Shock - Like Daggerfall, but not broken. Great mix of semi-open-world FPS with driveable and flyable vehicles + Terminator(!). Great atmosphere as you trudged through ruined buildings across environments littered with skulls. Way ahead of its time. Whaaat! This looks awesome. But I think you might slightly misremember the graphical fidelity. Well, it's the daggerfall engine, so it's of its time graphically. But at the time it was pretty good. Released before Quake 1, but full 3d world + vehicles + enemies. Plus huge open levels that would bring the Quake engine to its knees. 2d sprites for debris etc.. but I never really minded that as it was just added detail. Climbing up through the hollywood hills and discovering a crashed airliner near the broken Hollywood sign was great, and then being able to go inside it. All the little fires burning with flickering light in the corners of burnt out buildings, and driving a jeep along broken freeways keeping an eye out for the freeway sign for your turning. It captured the vibe of the short 'future war' scenes of Terminator 1 perfectly. The only really annoying thing was that it had to do loading screens every time you entered a building. |
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Post by Aunt Alison on Aug 14, 2022 12:38:32 GMT
it had to do loading screens every time you entered a building A feature they liked so much they included it in all their future games |
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Post by RadicalRex on Aug 14, 2022 12:40:40 GMT
Yeah Future Shock was amazing. At the time, as a FPS player you were used to sector-based 2.5D ala 1994's Doom 2, where you couldn't even dream of rooms above each other. The latest iteration of that engine was used in 1995's Hexen, which impressed with enhancements like sliding doors and the possibility of enemies and players being above each other. A few months later, this comes across in full 3D and gratuitous showing off of multi-story architecture, it was mind-blowing (and that's not even talking about vehicular combat etc).
In 1996, even next to Quake, DN3D managed to impress with a highly advanced Doom-style engine with very limited multi-story capability, which was further enhanced but still limited in 1997's Blood and Shadow Warrior. Future Shock being released in 1995 really puts things into perspective.
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Rich
Junior Member
Posts: 1,988 
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Post by Rich on Aug 14, 2022 12:44:13 GMT
I think in no particular order and after only a couple of minutes thinking, my top 5 would be
Metroid Prime
Sonic 2
World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy VII
Resident Evil 4
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