The official Piss All Over Everyone's Top 20 Thread

[schild]

Yaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr. Be pissing here.

[stray]

This site is too biased towards RPG's to make any kind of definitive top 20 from everyone's lists....

[Hoax]

The telling thing about the lists is that there are hellsa PC games compared to consoles, or at least it seemed that way to me.  This is doubly true if you take away the C64 oldie stuff.

[rattran]

Lots of console games just don't stand up over time. Some do, but not many.

And there were quite a few things that were so new as to be amazing when they came out for the c64 and pc. My list is biased as I didn't own a console for about 15 years, never got the lurve for the nes/snes/n64.

[Strazos]

I grew up on the NES/Genesis/SNES/N64, and my list is still Heavily biased towards PC.

I mean, FFS, I didn't get a PC of my own until my second year of high school. I don't think I built one for myself until my second year of college.

I cannot explain my list, which is still subject to change.

[stray]

I'm surprised that someone actually played "Tecmo Bowl" on the PC, let alone there even being one in the first place.

[Margalis]

Given that this is a MMORPG centric site PC over-representation makes a lot of sense.

[Venkman]

Anyone got an actual list?

I personally don't. Used to, but my preferences keep evolving. Which is odd, because I'm pretty set in what my top five books and movies are. Something about the constant evolution of games, tech and markets keeps me looking forward.

I really only have a right now list. And it's too predictable to be worth posting. And it's not 20 games long.

[stray]

I'm not too big on making "best of" lists of anything, but I'm fairly certain that at least 15 of my top 20 are about as good an estimation as I could do. The rest could be trumped by sequels or successors (the Grand Theft Autos, the Devil May Crys, etc).

[schild]

Then list the sequels or successors.

[stray]

Uh, haven't played them.. I'm just saying.. DMC4 could be better than DMC3, but I don't know that yet.

[schild]

This isn't about teh futar.

[stray]

You're losing me. Basically, I'm just saying that a game like DMC belongs on my list. By a "game like", I mean a 3D hack n slash/beat em up. As far as I'm concerned, DMC3 is the pinnacle. That could very well change, possibly by God of War 3 or DMC4 or Ninja Gaiden 2, but I don't know that yet. I'm not stuck in the past or anything, and would update that list if one of those games manages to trump it.

It's kind of irrelevant, I guess. I shouldn't have said anything.

[Roac]

My list includes everything from today, to back until I first played a 2600 when I was a kid.  They're all games that made a huge impression on me, that I enjoyed, and changed something about how I view gaming.  There are also a lot of PC games on the later items, because I didn't have a PC when I was a kid, then quit on consoles for about two generations.  Other people's lists will include great games that may have been on my list, had I played them at the time.  Nothing wrong with anyone else's lists, they're just not mine.

btw, I'm surprised at the large number of Archon fans.  It was imbalanced a bit, but rocked at the time.  I'd love a remake of some sort.

[Margalis]

I couldn't come up with any Atari or Colecovision games to put on the list. Maybe Combat. I played that at the New York City Musem of Television and Film (or something like that) recently and it was fun...I also got my ass kicked by the girl I was with who had never played it before.

[trias_e]

I'm surprised that anyone other than me put down Earthbound.  You guys rock.

I'm surprised no one else put Tetris Attack. 

I've missed out on alot of mandatory gaming experiences, from UFO to Ulitma, so my list is probably more incomplete than many others.

[stray]

I've never played Earthbound unfortunately.

I prefer Dr. Mario over anything Tetris. It's all about the pills.

[schild]

I'm surprised no one else put Tetris Attack.

Fucking great game, right on.

If I were a betting man, you could say Tetris Grandmaster from Arika will end up on my list. But it won't.

I also lose bets a lot.

[Sutro]

Y'know, maybe if I had played Torment when it first came out, I'd be a bigger fan of it... but it just seemed tedious when I loaded it up on Gametap.

I actually liked the 'novelization' much, much better than the actual game. Really, it seemed like it was an awesome story held back by mechanics not really suited for it.

That said, I'm not sure if it's the age or not. I still cussed just as much at X-Com and HOMM3 when I loaded them up as I did 10 years ago.

[Lt.Dan]

What about the Lucas Arts adventure games,  Day of the Tentacle et al? 

What about classics of C64 and Amiga gaming Racing Destruction Set, Phantasy, Dungeon Master, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge?

All awesome old school games.  Sure they'd never stand the test of time, but I can't recall enjoying any games to the same degree.

[trias_e]

I prefer Dr. Mario over anything Tetris. It's all about the pills.

Tetris Attack is not Tetris. 

What it is is the best 1v1 multiplayer game ever made (that I've played of course).

Y'know, maybe if I had played Torment when it first came out, I'd be a bigger fan of it... but it just seemed tedious when I loaded it up on Gametap.

I'm playing through Torment again right now, and it certainly has it's flaws.  But it's more of an experience than a game.  I think many people get turned off by how much the traditional game aspect has problems, which is fair.  One thing:  It does get better and better as you go along.  So I wouldn't quit on it.

What about the Lucas Arts adventure games,  Day of the Tentacle et al?

I find that Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island really perfected the style.  I mean, DoTT, Full Throttle, and Sam and Max are absolutely pure win and would be in my top 50.  But Grim Fandango IS art in gaming, and Curse of Monkey Island IS joy in gaming.

[Sutro]

Y'know, maybe if I had played Torment when it first came out, I'd be a bigger fan of it... but it just seemed tedious when I loaded it up on Gametap.

I'm playing through Torment again right now, and it certainly has it's flaws.  But it's more of an experience than a game.  I think many people get turned off by how much the traditional game aspect has problems, which is fair.  One thing:  It does get better and better as you go along.  So I wouldn't quit on it.

[/quote]

Eh, I think I pooched that one by reading the novelization. I might try it again, though.

TBH, playing with 2ED rules after being intimately familiar with 3/3.5 feels kind of like working with a stone hatchet after cutting logs with a laser saw.

[Sutro]

God, I totally forgot about the Total War series when I was making my list. To edit or not to edit... damn, Medieval was fun.

[Wolf]

Why are most people choosing Fallout over Fallout 2? It's like choosing Starcraft instead of Broodwar - the original game is genius but the expansion/sequel built on that and made it so much better...

[Signe]

I didn't make a list because it looked HAAAAARD.  I'll just say that nearly every game I would have chosen is on someone's list already.  None of them are MMORPGs.

[Lucas]

I noticed a few ppl put in the good old "Gold Box" games: not only the traditional AD&D universe but also Buck Rogers: in a ideal, longer list, I would have put "Countdown to Doomsday" immediately after the top 20.

I chose "Pools of Darkness", the culminating end of the Forgotten Realms series, because it was really an epic: getting into the demi-gods realms, reaching very high levels, trouncing monsters with delayed blast fireballs...It was fantastic. I  especially remember the frustration during the Zhentil Keep part, with all those resistant drow to battle :P.
---

I think Dungeon Master (which I recently played for a bit) or Eye of the Beholder actually stand the test of time, maybe also because of their VERY colourful style, as well as because of the nice level design.

One big genre that basically no one (or just a couple fellas) mentioned, is the text adventures games. What about The Pawn, Guild of Thieves, Knight Orc, Fish, Jinxter, Gateway, Alice in Wonderland, Corruption and others (Magnetic Scrolls, Rainbird, Infocom)

I'm quite interested in playing them now: when they were popular, I was just a 7-8 years old italian kid who just started learning english in junior school. I remember messing around with them, but I obviously had no clue on what to do.
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I totally lack any knowledge of the console side of things :P. The only system I ever owned was a Dreamcast that basically fried itself a couple months after I bought it. During that time, I managed to play the holy triad Shenmue - Virtua Tennis 2 - Soul Calibur and they all ruled. 

[Roac]

Why are most people choosing Fallout over Fallout 2? It's like choosing Starcraft instead of Broodwar - the original game is genius but the expansion/sequel built on that and made it so much better...

In my case, the selection of one of a series was based on which had the largest leap.  For example, I can't complain at people who love Civ 2, but for me, Civ 4 is Nirvana while Civ 2 was "on the right track".  I also don't think it was a leap enough from Civ 1 or MoM to make the list.  Going the other way, I didn't feel that any of the other Dragon Warrior titles were revolutionary.  Evolutionary yes, but not a large enough leap.  Also, DW was my first RPG on a console, so was an introduction to all sorts of awesome, even though other titles did the genre much better.  Same thing with Starcraft - Broodwar made it a better game, but it was more like a super-patch to me than a huge leap in gaming.

[Sutro]

I share the love of the old Gold Box, but for me, the old Neverwinter Nights on AOL was the pinnacle of it.

[Margalis]

The reasons I didn't put down any text adventure games:

1. I plain forgot.
2. I don't think I could play one today for more than a few seconds.

[Wolf]

The reasons I didn't put down any text adventure games:

1. I plain forgot.
2. I don't think I could play one today for more than a few seconds.

I tried to play arcanum today. Since I put it on the list and hadn't played it for a while. I couldn't even play that one :(

[Daeven]

Agreed. While The Hitchhikers Guide was fantastic in 1982(?), using the the text parser today would cause me to go on a murderous rampage.

And we won't go into how I can't even READ the text in Darklands any more. :/

[Signe]

When I think about my favourite games, I tend to try and remember how I felt playing them at the time.  Although something like Planescape Torment was incredibly fun,  and is one of my favourite,  it didn't make me feel as good playing it at the time as something like the first Ultima game or Wizardry.  The old console games were especially fun for me.  Seriously.  I didn't care if I was playing or watching, Mario and Mega Man made my heart go boom boom.

[Rasix]

Heh, the amount of PC games is completely expected.  I've had a PC just about the entire time I've had consoles and being a RPG fan, there's just certain types of RPGs that generally don't make it to console. 

Fallout over Fallout 2 is a tough one.  I generally liked the whole experience of Fallout 1 better than 2.  2 is the one I've mostly recently replayed even.  Still, it's almost a coin flip.  I'm not sure what massive improvements 2 brought, despite being just bigger.  Both had their problems at launch.  1 had the time restriction with the water chip and 2 was just plain buggy and had bad loading issues.

I'm having a little bit of a hard time with Disgaea 2 over Disgaea 1.  Disgaea 2's combat and other systems were just a whole lot better.  Almost like how Shadow Hearts 2's judgment wheel was better in every single way than the first ones.  I suppose the reason could be similar to mine for Fallout 1.  Some people could have just liked the story better with Laharl.

My list I think has a different tone than some.  There's really very little nostalgia.  There's some games that just aren't there because I've gone back and played them and they fail to hold up (herro Chrono Trigger) or elicit a similar feeling to when I played them in the past.  No game got any points for being first or innovative.   The lack of FPS, RTS and platformers is mainly due to me not playing those genres a whole lot.  Sports games are fun, but nothing has really been great to me before playing skate (I blame EA, which ironically put out skate).  I guess my list is more about me as a gamer now, than my entire history as a gamer. 

MMOs don't make it.  MMOs I rarely leave because I'm just "done".  I leave because the game has become a chore to play or has gone in a direction that has left me wanting something I can't get.  UO may have been great for me for a year and a half, but everything it's done since kicked it off the list.  WoW would be on there if I could play the way I want to, I can't.    Only way you beat a MMO is by canceling your subscription.

Games I expect to be kicked off the list by their sequels: skate, Mass Effect (if it's not farmed out to Obsidian), Persona 3, and Disgaea 2.  Refining the experience or just making it bigger and better will work rather well for these games.  Screwing up the franchise will be really lamentable in these cases.   Games I don't expect to even get close to predecessors I have listed: Deus Ex 3 (tall order) and Fallout 3 (I don't think Beth Soft can make interesting combat).

There's really too many honorable mentions I'd like to list. 

Anyhow, some of these were fun to read.  Some are just before my time.

[stray]

I was a weird kid. My fondest memory of the NES was not Super Mario. Nor was it Zelda. What I remember is being seriously stoked about sniping in Golgo 13.

[rattran]

I think everyone's list sucks, except mine.

And all those people with overlap to my list.