Posted October 30, 2013
Any list of 'top/favourite/greatest games' tends to be - for me at least - subjective to the moment, as I often find I've forgotten something :) So, with that in mind, I'm going to try and think of the games that I not only really enjoyed but that also changed my expectations of what I should be able to get out of a gaming experience.
Xenoblade Chronicles - the least Wii-like Wii game ever made, probably. It made the Wii feel EPIC and delivered a great (if slow in places) story, fun combat mechanics, entertaining party chatter, and a cast of characters I didn't hate half as much as I probably would do if someone just tried to describe them to me (I'm looking at you here, Riki!). Every Wii owner owes it to themselves to play this wonderous gem, and anyone who doesn't have a Wii should consider getting one JUST to play Xenoblade Chronicles. Honestly, it's just that good.
Baldur's Gate II - of all the Infinity Engine games, this was my favourite. More thoughtful than the Dales games, more accessible than PS:T, bigger and better in every way than it's predecessor, BG2 ticked all the right boxes for me in delivering what I wanted from an AD&D gaming experience. Over a decade later and I can still cheerfully go back to it and play through it all without chaffing at any aspect of the game, and surely that has to be one of the hallmarks of a truly great gaming experience, right?
Final Fantasy IX - controversial? Meh, I don't think so - although with all the VII lovers and VIII haters I sometimes feel IX gets overlooked in either direction. For me, though, this game put the 'fantasy' back into Final Fantasy, something I felt it had been missing since V (although honestly I didn't enjoy V all that much). The four main characters are great, the scenery is a stunning example of the PS1 at it's best, and the story is both familiar enough so as not to alienate the player and yet also just bonkers enough to keep you hooked. I'm man enough to admit that the ending brought a little tear to my eye *sniffle*
Persona 3 FES - although this isn't my *favourite* in the Persona series, and I possibly wouldn't even call it the 'best', it IS the game that completely kicked aside my ideas of what a cRPG (console or computer) should be and had me lost inside its perfect blend of combat, progression, studying, skill choices, tactics, dating, homework, demons and going to school. Things that seem frivolous are actually often complex psychological and socialogical situations that reward you for understanding and empathising with the character that's experiencing them. This game blew my mind so much I'm surprised someone didn't have to scrape it off my lounge wall. Everyone should play at least one iteration of Persona 3 or Persona 4 before they die - heck, it could probably make you want to live all the more!
Mass Effect 2 - I was torn between this and Mass Effect 1, but the sequel just has the edge. I hated ME2 at first because of all the changes it made over ME1, but as I got into it I realised that if it HADN'T made all these changes, then it wouldn't really be a sequel at all - it'd just be more of the same. ME2 is brave enough to change things that had been successful in ME1 and is a better and different game because of it. The story is paced well, the choices you make have a real and tangible impact on how the game progresses, the cast of characters are possibly the best in any video game to date and just like ME1 I found all the variety made it massively replayable.
So that's five - as you can tell, I'm biased towards RPGs :) I'd also place a lot of value on Dragon Age: Origins, Vandal Hearts, Disgaea, Front Mission 3, and generally any game within the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, but that's another story, to be told another time.....
Xenoblade Chronicles - the least Wii-like Wii game ever made, probably. It made the Wii feel EPIC and delivered a great (if slow in places) story, fun combat mechanics, entertaining party chatter, and a cast of characters I didn't hate half as much as I probably would do if someone just tried to describe them to me (I'm looking at you here, Riki!). Every Wii owner owes it to themselves to play this wonderous gem, and anyone who doesn't have a Wii should consider getting one JUST to play Xenoblade Chronicles. Honestly, it's just that good.
Baldur's Gate II - of all the Infinity Engine games, this was my favourite. More thoughtful than the Dales games, more accessible than PS:T, bigger and better in every way than it's predecessor, BG2 ticked all the right boxes for me in delivering what I wanted from an AD&D gaming experience. Over a decade later and I can still cheerfully go back to it and play through it all without chaffing at any aspect of the game, and surely that has to be one of the hallmarks of a truly great gaming experience, right?
Final Fantasy IX - controversial? Meh, I don't think so - although with all the VII lovers and VIII haters I sometimes feel IX gets overlooked in either direction. For me, though, this game put the 'fantasy' back into Final Fantasy, something I felt it had been missing since V (although honestly I didn't enjoy V all that much). The four main characters are great, the scenery is a stunning example of the PS1 at it's best, and the story is both familiar enough so as not to alienate the player and yet also just bonkers enough to keep you hooked. I'm man enough to admit that the ending brought a little tear to my eye *sniffle*
Persona 3 FES - although this isn't my *favourite* in the Persona series, and I possibly wouldn't even call it the 'best', it IS the game that completely kicked aside my ideas of what a cRPG (console or computer) should be and had me lost inside its perfect blend of combat, progression, studying, skill choices, tactics, dating, homework, demons and going to school. Things that seem frivolous are actually often complex psychological and socialogical situations that reward you for understanding and empathising with the character that's experiencing them. This game blew my mind so much I'm surprised someone didn't have to scrape it off my lounge wall. Everyone should play at least one iteration of Persona 3 or Persona 4 before they die - heck, it could probably make you want to live all the more!
Mass Effect 2 - I was torn between this and Mass Effect 1, but the sequel just has the edge. I hated ME2 at first because of all the changes it made over ME1, but as I got into it I realised that if it HADN'T made all these changes, then it wouldn't really be a sequel at all - it'd just be more of the same. ME2 is brave enough to change things that had been successful in ME1 and is a better and different game because of it. The story is paced well, the choices you make have a real and tangible impact on how the game progresses, the cast of characters are possibly the best in any video game to date and just like ME1 I found all the variety made it massively replayable.
So that's five - as you can tell, I'm biased towards RPGs :) I'd also place a lot of value on Dragon Age: Origins, Vandal Hearts, Disgaea, Front Mission 3, and generally any game within the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, but that's another story, to be told another time.....
