Just as with books, movies, plays etc the past holds a treasure trove of amazing experiences. Unless you have a lot more free time than I do it’s unlikely you’ve played anywhere near the majority of the classics. Let’s get out those pink sunnies and compare notes on some of our favourite releases.
I’ve recently been going back in time a little on the retro pi and looking at console games I never had.
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I have to say Chrono Trigger blew me away with it’s stunning art, puzzles with surprisingly little moon logic, and beautiful music.
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Mario golf on the SNES is very simple but for tired evenings cuddling on the couch it’s been a winner in our household.
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The n64 Zelda games are surprisingly great too although that awkward period of 3d had some unusual controls. Even the gameboy ones are a blast although the water temple in oracle of ages it a bit frustrating.
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Heroes of might and magic 2 and 3 hold a special place in my heart and I can still dump hours into skirmishing with those (32167 for when hom2 gets too frustrating amiright?)
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I loved neverwinter knights as a kid but recently tried to check it out again and just… idk the magic wasn’t there. I think now I’d rather just play some actual ttrpgs instead of sprawling CRPGs
PS1 is a mystery box to me so I’d love to hear some recommendations from that old thing. All I ever played on it was time crisis at my mates house (which was and is soooo coool, RIP lightguns).
What about you folks? What games hold a special place in your heart? or what have you checked out for the first time recently and found it’s actually pretty good?
Beyond Good & Evil, 2003. It’s been so long since I played it, I don’t remember much other than it was a sandbox and it had some neat mechanics and cute characters and I loved it. The closing credits musical sequence is magical, too.
I think I rented it for the gamecube but never played much. Apparently it’s famously good! I’ll have to check it out.
One of the first games I played that was translated in Dutch with good voiceovers! Loved it and made me more open to localized games.
Not a unique opinion, but Portal is probably the closest thing to a perfect game. Nothing feels unnecessary, and every part of it (story, gameplay, visuals) is not only good on its own, but also work together to make the game better than the sum of its parts.
Portal 2’s also great but suffers from a lot of fluff imo. The analogy I like to use is Portal 2 is like a big feast of really good food, while Portal 1 is just one small dish, but it’s the best version of that dish you’ve ever tasted.
My response to this will look like a who’s who of Dreamcast games. The Dreamcast was the first console I bought myself, so I have lots of fond memories.
- Soulcalibur I & II
- Sega NFL 2K1 (and I was NOT a sports game person)
- Shenmue I & II
- Jet Set Radio
- Phantasy Star On-Line
- Quake III arena
- Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
- Hydro Thunder
- Fur Fighters
One of my all-time favourites is Freelancer, 2003. Just a really fun arcade space sandbox with an engaging campaign and great multiplayer and modding scene.
Had a partner want to practice hacking a 3ds before they closed the shop so I can play PS1 games. The first one I put on that mofo is Azure Dreams, my first and probably favorite dungeon crawler roguelike with a city builder. Also Breath of Fire IV is one of my absolute favorite games ever.
I haven’t even heard of either of these so I’m definitely going to have to check them out!
I definitely think they are loads of fun but they both have amazing soundtracks, too! Breath of Fire IV still brings me to tears!
Both Azure Dreams and BOF IV were great. Haven’t heard mention of them in years
- OpenTTD
- Puzzle Pirates
- Mario Golf on GBA
- Bike or Die, Space Traders, and Fish Tycoon on Palm
TimeShift came out in 2007, and that game was the bomb. Loved the concept with the suits that can control time, and the game play felt really smooth. Nothing beats freezing time and grabbing the enemies’ weapons from them and shooting them with it.
The original Red Alert is still one of my favorites! In the expansion you can even fight Giant Ants!!! (Not sure how many people knew)
There’s always Diablo 1.
But my favorite is Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, which was made by some of the people who created Fallout and has a LOT in common with it. It’s an open world, a combination of classic fantasy with elves, dwarves, and halflings with a rising steampunk technology that competes with magic. There are many schools of magic and technology, as well as social, stealth, and combat skills. The graphics are very crude by today’s standards, but the gameplay is outstanding.
You know, I never tried Diablo 1 even though I grew up religiously playing Diablo 2. Also love the original fallout games, I definitely need to make time for this.
Diablo 1 has the same gameplay as the other games but in terms of scope and concept it’s much more self contained, it’s a different experience. Good game, but d2 is what the sequels have all tried to recreate, so it will feel quite different.
Thanks for the warning, but I don’t mind different; different can be good. I’m excited to see the beginnings of my childhood game, I think it’ll be worth the patience. Though, having a hard time finding it, it’s not on the blizzard downloads list. I’mma do more digging tho, it’s gotta be out there somewhere.
@insurgenRat the king kong movie tie in game its actually really good and extremely innovative and alot of the ideas I’ve never seen replicated sadly we’ll probably never see a remaster cuz 1 it’s a tie in game and 2 it was made by ubisoft
Unfortunately some of my favorite games are no longer around in a playable state.
I friggin loved Atlas Reactor but it shutdown in 2019. Another all time favorite, which is still around but does not have the community to keep it feeling alive is: Shattered Galaxy.
Other games I think deserve to be in the all time best games of all time list are:
- Heroes of Might and Magic 3
- StarCraft Brood Wars
- Dota2
- Civ5
- Diablo 2
I loved the bullet time in OG Max Payne game (2001).
I was addicted to EverQuest since I started playing it in 2001 for at least 10 years. They don’t call it “EverCrack” for nothing. No matter how I feel about it now, it will always hold a special place in my heart.
I also played PlanetSide MMOFPS for at least 4 years since it released back in 2003, and it was so great. I hear both good and bad things about its successor, PlanetSide 2, but haven’t tried it for the fear of it ruining my nostalgia of the original.
Starsiege: Tribes was an awesome game too. I was a beta tester for that one way back in '98, in the days before broadband was a thing. I still have an installation CD hand-signed by the devs that they had to ship to all the testers, because downloading 500+ MB over dial-up was not feasible.
Earthsiege 2 was the game for which I went out to CompUSA and bought a joystick that had swivel function (MS SideWinder 3D Pro).
Every Star Wars fan owes it to themselves to play Knights of the Old Republic, at least once. And if you play it once, you’ll want to play it through again, as a different character class. And if you play it twice, you’ll want to play it through again, as a dark-side Jedi. And if you play it thrice, you may be tempted to play it through again, as a Droid.
It’s a wonderful story, that feels like Star Wars (which, for those of us older Star Wars fans, who at the time were suffering through the cumulative disappointments of the prequel trilogy, became our salving solace), with plots and settings and characters and ships and light-sabers and action and betrayals that were (and still are) as rich as any of the movies or shows.
The people who run the franchise keep teasing canonicity, so play it soon, so you’ll gasp like we do when Darth Revan makes an appearance.
Revan’s introduction in KotOR was mind blowing.
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Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, all of these still hold up, and are totally worth a play even if you never played them back in their day.
Also, Alpha Centauri has SUCH a great narrative. Each faction has a strong identity, each leader has a fitting personality, the whole package is great.
It really deserves a remake to update the controls and UI, it still plays really well if you can get past that though.
